This Week’s Trends in Social Media Marketing
+ Saks Fifth Avenue is Turning to iMessage to Bolster it’s Sales
“Though department stores are struggling to overcome slumping sales amid slowed foot traffic and shuttering storefronts, Saks Fifth Avenue is taking advantage of last quarter’s period of stabilization to invest in digital.
The luxury department store quietly launched an update to its iOS app last week, incorporating a new integrated messaging functionality that allows shoppers to ask questions about products via iMessage and make purchases directly. The program also permits shoppers to inquire about new arrivals and bestsellers, as well as be privy to images of these items within the messaging screen. The effort is part of a larger attempt by Saks Fifth Avenue, and parent company Hudson Bay, to personalize services and customize the consumer experience, strategies department stores are increasingly realizing are crucial as they attempt to rebuild.” — Via Glossy
+ How Adidas Chooses Celebrities and Affiliates
“As Adidas’s profits continue to rise, the German brand is proving it understands the art of making celebrity partnerships work to its advantage.
This week, the brand announced its appointment of Kendall Jenner as a brand ambassador for the Adidas Originals collection, which features classic looks like the iconic Stan Smith sneaker. Jenner is the latest in a list of celebrity influencers and collaborators recently tapped by the brand to help elevate its status and increase sales — and its efforts have translated to results. Last month, Adidas reported a quarterly net profit increase of 30 percent, to $495 million. When it comes to working with A-listers, Adidas has carved a strategic approach that transcends pure sponsorship, and focuses on partnerships that feel genuine for both its traditional sportswear collections and Adidas Originals.
To avoid weak or gimmicky marketing, Carnes said Adidas works closely with collaborators like Karlie Kloss and Kanye West to design to their tastes and sensibilities, while still adhering to Adidas’s brand identity. Kloss, who was appointed as the face of Adidas Women’s Training in December 2016, felt like a natural extension for the brand after she previously represented and modeled for the Stella McCartney for Adidas collection.” — via Glossy
+24 Sevres Hints at Larger Strategy on Social Media
“24 Sèvres, LVMH’s impending multi-brand e-commerce platform, posted a grid of images on its Instagram account yesterday meant to uncover “24 secrets of the launch.” The move — which followed the creation of multiple Instagram accounts and countless image grids — shines a light on what to expect from the website’s launch on June 6.
“Places aren’t always what they seem, explore our favorite spots below” reads the first row. Beneath it, numerous images come together to make a map of sorts, with a collage of items ranging from macarons to a Keith Haring print scattered across it. It is “Le Paris de 24 Sèvres,” or Paris through the eyes of 24 Sèvres.” — Via Glossy
+How #skintertainment and K-Beauty Has Taken Over Instagram
+Rihanna: From Fashion Plate to CFDA-Awarded Fashion Force
“Barbadian musical artist/entrepreneur has, it seems, officially made the transition from fashion plate to fashion force a mere three years after being crowned a “fashion icon” by the Council of Fashion Designers of America. Or so her positioning on the same platform that has also honored alumni like Marc Jacobs, Donna Karan and Jason Wu would suggest. But is her trajectory from a good celebrity to dress to a serious creative a new paradigm or a paradox? What exactly is the lesson — it was enshrined in a quasi-academic setting, after all — of Rihanna?” — Via the New York Times , May 24th 2017
+What Happened to J.Crew? : How A Once-Mighty Retail Giant Struggles to Find it’s Place
“I was on my fourth J. Crew when I noticed it, the small signage that explained the large problem that is bedeviling this company, and many like it.
It was on a table of men’s pants on the second floor of the Rockefeller Center store. The pants, khaki chinos ($68), were fine — a little stiff, maybe, but not irredeemable. The sign next to them, though, offered a different value proposition.
“The No-Brainers,” it read.
This is, at best, patronizing, a way of communicating to your customers that you know better than they do. Grab a pair or two of these pants, and maybe a couple of these shirts (another sign was on that table) and never again devote a moment of critical thought to your wardrobe acquisition!
Do you see the problem here? I may be at the extreme end of the yes-brainer approach to shopping, but consumers are better informed and more curious than ever, and taking a stand, even a casual one, against that movement indicates a kind of frailty of imagination. It also suggests a lack of confidence in the idea that people, given a range of options and a functioning occipital lobe, would choose your products.” — Via the New York Times. May 24th, 2017
+How Glossier Uses Data to Make Content and Commerce Work
“Over the past three years, Glossier and Into the Gloss have traced behavioral customer and audience data across the two properties in order to better position its readers to become shoppers, and vice-versa. The most clear relationship between the two is found in Into the Gloss’s vocal community of commenters, who have provided inspiration for several product launches. When launching the Milky Jelly Cleanser, founder Emily Weiss kicked off the production process by asking readers what properties their dream cleanser would have, and then the team dug through the 381 responses to distill what their readers were looking for. A similar method helped form inspiration for its addition of serums and a sunscreen.” — Via Glossy
+Snapchat Rolls Out Ad Tools to Marketers both Big and Small
“Snapchat, the image messaging service with 166 million daily average users, on Monday introduced products to make its ad delivery platform more useful to mobile marketers. The self-serve Ad Manager tool, which was announced a month ago, lets customers buy ad space with credit cards in the U.S. The prices will be set by auction and will allow small businesses a way to advertise on the platform, according to CNBC. The company will review all ads for quality. Next month, the company will provide advertisers with access to the Snap Publisher tool to create campaigns that appear in Snapchat’s unique vertical video format. The tool imports brand-related images, trims horizontal videos for the vertical format and provides templates for different campaign objectives, among other features.” — Via Mobile Marketer
+McDonald’s Beefs Up Applications with Snapchat
“McDonald’s, the burger chain with 14,000 locations in the U.S., is enlisting Snapchat to help fill 250,000 jobs this summer. Potential employees can start their application process with a “Snaplication,” which shows a 10-second video ad of McDonald’s employees talking about their jobs. After swiping up on the ad, a smartphone user will see the chain’s career page and a way to apply for a job at a nearby restaurant, Business Insider reported.” — Via MobileMarketer
+Google Adds Phrase Suggestion, Drawable Emoji Search to Keyboard App
“Google updated its smart keyboard app, Gboard, on Monday with new shortcut features to expedite typing on a smartphone. By tapping on certain button and sketching an outline of an emoji, a user will quickly get a list of possible emoticons to use in text messages or chats. As a blog by Google product manager Reena Lee demonstrates, drawing a face with triangular ears will suggest various emojis of cats, a demon and a dancing girl wearing bunny ears.” — Via Mobile Marketer
+Instagram Tests Tag for Identifying and Tracking Sponsored Posts
“Istagram, the Facebook-owned photo-sharing application with more than 700 million monthly active users, is taking steps to more clearly identify when user posts are sponsored by marketers. Posts and Instagram Stories from celebrities, social influencers and publishers will be marked with a “paid partnership” tag when a brand confirms the sponsorship, according to a blog post by the company” — Via MobileMarketer
+Facebook Puts More Control in The Hands of Advertisers
“Facebook is implementing changes to Audience Network, Instant Articles and in-stream ads that will give advertisers more control over where their ads appear, according to a company blog post.
Advertisers will have pre-campaign transparency that allows them to view a publisher list of where their ads might run prior to launch. The feature is being tested with a select group on Audience Network who are working toward a video views objective, but the goal is to extend the program to all advertisers later this year. Advertisers will also be able to block publishers on the account level beginning on Audience Network and Instant Articles with in-stream ads added later. Finally, video advertisers on the Audience Network will be able to specify their placements by format such as in-stream, native or interstitial ads.” — Via MarketingDive
+Twitter Updates their App to Appeal to a Wider User Base
“In an effort to better cater to newcomers, Twitter once again is redesigning its app across mobile, desktop and the web. The revamp isn’t a radical departure from its prior look-and-feel or user experience — unlike when it introduced its own stories-like feature called Moments, for example, or when began reordering the tweets in your timeline. Instead, the update involves a series of smaller tweaks to things like where your settings are located, the typography used, the shape of its icons, and more.” — Via TechCrunch
+For Fashion Brands, the Material of the Future is Ocean Plastic
“For the fashion industry, the future may very well be in plastics.
Fashion brands are increasingly rolling out products made from discarded plastics, part of a two-pronged strategy that allows them to build cause marketing campaigns while simultaneously cutting down on the 8 million tons of waste dumped into the sea each year. As the technology to transform plastic into technical fabric improves, these retailers are identifying ways to streamline recycled plastic into production so it can potentially serve as more of a staple than a gimmick.
Adidas debuted its second shoe made from recycled sea waste earlier this month. The shoe is part of a collaboration with Parley For the Oceans, an organization that identifies solutions to cleaning up the oceans. At the same time, brands like Timberland and G-Star have started incorporating recycled plastics into their supply chains, while Stella McCartney just launched a partnership of its own with Parley on World Oceans Day last week.” — Via Glossy
+Podcast Episode of Note: “On Entrepreneurship, Creativity, Social Media and Becoming a Better Marketer” with Buffer App
Excerpt: “Things start to go well when brands truly begin to question how they can connect with their audience as real human beings. If you’re engaging, human, real, and interesting, then that’s a massive benefit to your audience.”
