It's a fascinating glimpse into how eleven retailers - more specifically, Best Buy, Amazon, Zappos, Dell, Nordstrom, Threadless, Starbucks, Dunkin' Donuts, Burberry, Walmart and Loblaw - have not only "embraced ratings and reviews as a proven (online) moneymaker, but ... have taken social applications and outreach further" per Empowered's Josh Bernoff.
I wasn't surprised to see most of the retailers listed. I was curious, though, to see how each promoted its social media activity on its website.
Several retailer websites share a similar format - with social media presence listed via a link in a footer reference section sometimes above the fold - see Nordstrom, Best Buy, Dell - but also below the fold - see Zappos, Walmart and Threadless.
Starbucks prominently features its social media presence, including its last 3 blogposts, on its home page, as you can see from the screen shot above - the only one from this list to do so.
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| Nordstrom "Connect With Us" |
Threadless displays its Facebook icon at the top of the page [it now uses Facebook for customer service] as well as in a footer below the fold with Twitter and RSS feeds. A link to its blog is listed under "Info".
It took me some effort to locate Dunkin' Donuts' social links. Nothing on the home page. I had to go to "About Us" and then to "Press Room" to finally find sign of Twitter, Facebook and news. [By the way, same goes for Baskin Robbins.]
Burberry offers no sign of its very engaging flash-based Art of the Trench on its website [Note that music plays on both sites.] You'll enjoy spending time there exploring, learning all about the trench and sharing it all with your Facebook friends.
I was surprised to discover that Nordstrom has so many Twitter and Facebook accounts and delighted to notice YouTube videos. To reach this page, you need to click on a cryptic 'connect with us' on the home page. I found no mention of the "popular blog 'threads' referred to in the Trendspotting post, although I did come across a broken RSS feed. Perhaps the missing blog? See Nordstrom: Connect With Us.
Walmart's social media icons all connect to a page "Values, Tips & Tidbits" listing several Twitter, Facebook and RSS options focused on saving. I was surprised, though, not to see the elevenmoms.com site featured anywhere on the Walmart site despite being an official Walmart Moms' site.
Amazon and Loblaw are included in the list because of their ratings and reviews.
I applaud what these 11 retailers are doing right with social media.
At the same time, I'd love to understand why all retailers - especially those doing social media right - don't visibly flaunt their social media presence. Don't you like what Starbucks does?
After all, "if you got it, flaunt it!" - even with discrete placements of those recognizable social media icons...
Don't you think?
1 comment:
I agree with you Christine. If you are going to put yourself to the bother, time and effort of taking part in social media then what would be a good reason for not shouting about it from the rooftops - yey Starbucks! Phil Pond of Scarlet Opus
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