An Open Letter to Juicy Couture
Juicy Couture,
I feel inspired by your successful use of all the tools Instagram has to offer, and the aesthetic of your profile. Something I find particularly hard to do is to get a consistent look on my Instagram profile from the pictures I post. Your brand seems to perfectly capture Juicy’s spirit and culture while maintaining professionality and being eye-catching. I admire the use of bright colors such as pink, red, and gold and the variety of pictures. Some photos show your products, some show beauty, and some are models/influencers. Your profile maintains a consistent, yet fun look.
Marketing-wise, I am able to notice a few positive and negative things about your Instagram account. One positive thing is the bio on your profile. I think it’s beneficial that the first thing users read is “share your photos using: #imsojuicy”. This encourages followers to engage with your brand and have a little fun doing so. However, upon clicking the hashtag there are only 2,433 posts with the hashtag, with many of the photos being from you. Depending on when the hashtag trend was developed would determine if this is effective or ineffective- if it is a brand new idea that is only a few months old, then I would consider 2k+ posts very good. However, if this hashtag has been in your bio for a few years, it is not doing so well. Also in your bio are links to your different social channels displayed by emojis. For the first link it is a music note emoji followed by the handle @JuicyCouture. What is this handle for? A music note emoji is not descriptive enough to explain what social channel this handle is referring to; is it sound cloud, Spotify, or Apple music, or all three? The user would have to do a little digging to figure this out for themselves. After the music channel emoji is the ghost emoji followed by the same handle. This link is much more obvious because the majority of social media users know that the ghost is Snap Chat’s mascot.
Another positive item in your bio is the use of inserting a link. This way, you can insert a link that directs followers to whatever you want to currently advertise. Another positive and beneficial Instagram feature you put into use is making your profile a “business profile”. This changes the format of the profile just a tiny bit by adding features followers can click on to contact the company such as “Shop”, “Message”, and “Email”. Also with the use of the business profile feature you can check out the analytics for your profile.
Another feature I am glad to see Juicy put into use is the shopper tool, which is crucial for any Instagram account whose goal is to sell their product. Whenever a picture is posted with a product being shown, the Instagram user can tap on the photo once and a shopping bag icon will pop up with a direct link to the product on JuicyCouture.com. This makes it easier than ever for shoppers to find what they’re looking for. This feature is used on all of your photos which is very helpful. You can also link more than one product in each post.
The last positive thing that you have utilized is Instagram’s story feature and Instagram highlights. This way users can see all of the Instagram stories you chose to keep displayed by viewing the highlights on your profile such as #SayOuiToColor, “#ThePowerofOui”, “Juicy Army”, and more.
For the negatives, I have noticed some things that may be confusing or unsatisfying for Instagram users, the first being the interaction on the profile. I’ve noticed that many of the posts have very few comments, some having under 10. This is alarming for an account with over 644K followers. Why is it that an account with over half a million followers is only receiving around 2k likes per photo/video? This is usually a tell-tale sign that the company has paid for ghost followers, or accounts that are not active or real.
Another negative thing I noticed is the lack of tagging of models/influencers in the pictures. When I see a particular photo that catches my eye and I want to know who is in it, they are usually tagged either on the picture or in the comments. Juicy does not do this even though it could really increase the exposure for their brand. I can see that model and influencer Devon Windsor is in many of the photos, however she is not tagged, meaning this photo won’t show up on her profile. Since she has 1.4 million followers, this is a missed opportunity to reach more people (her followers).I also believe that Juicy needs to step up their own interaction on their profile. This means responding to follower’s questions/comments in the comment section. This will make them feel heard and noticed by the brand which may increase their liking of the brand.
Overall, there are more positive things that occur through your Instagram account than negative. However, there is always room to improve!