DSW Shares Their Love of Shoes On Social Media

Sometimes social media is more about a connection made with the right consumer, than the amount of hype a hashtag gets on Twitter.  This is exactly how I feel about DSW and their use of social media.  As an avid shoe lover and DSW rewards member, the brand continuously delivers relevant and interesting information to me through Twitter and Facebook.  

There are four main things that DSW is doing right when it comes to social media and connecting with people like me.

The “SHU LUV”Never Stops

DSW continuously uses social media to connect with their consumers and social media followers.  DSW tweets and posts on Facebook between 2-5 times a day, just enough to have a presence on their followers’ news feeds.  Though they post a lot and sometimes retweet, it isn’t too much and I’ve never once considered unfollowing them.  

How active a brand is on social media directly correlates to the presence of the brand in the mind of the consumer.  In my opinion, not enough activity makes social media a waste of time and too much can negatively affect the brand.  Finding the middle ground for an individual brand is tricky and DSW has got it down.

Relevant

They may not have any catchy hashtags or huge Twitter/Facebook campaigns, but they do make sure that all of their content is relevant and interesting for the needs and wants of their customers.  They tweet links to newly added shoes and advertise when sales are happening.  They Facebook pictures from their corporate headquarters and upload pictures of real people wearing their shoes in their everyday lives.  

Most importantly, they don’t try to make their brand more than it is, they simply show their customers what they have to offer and what kind of good deal they can provide.

Relatable

People who shop at DSW are shoe lovers who are looking for a good deal on designer shoes.  That being said, their customers are looking for a company that delivers high end shoes at a low price.  In addition, they are looking for a brand that they can relate to, a shoe company with expensive taste but a down to earth personality.  Not only does DSW offer low prices on good shoes, but they also have friendly employees and an open corporate culture.

Most of the photos they upload of new or seasonal shoes are taken at their corporate headquarters and many of them are modeled by corporate employees.  They also take the time to upload and tweet pictures of employees wearing stylish outfits and shoes sold in their stores.  To me, this shows that they really are the fun and friendly brand that they try to portray to their customers.  

In addition, I personally enjoy the pictures they upload that show of their corporate culture because DSW is a place that I would LOVE to work.  Every time they upload a photo of a holiday party they have at corporate headquarters or they upload a photo of an employee wearing cute shoes at work, it makes makes me want to work at DSW corporate.  Not only do I continue to purchase shoes from DSW, but I also want to be a part of the DSW brand myself.

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FUN

Understanding that their main consumer is female, DSW does a great job of making their social media fun and female friendly.  They have free shoe flash contests on both Twitter and Facebook which help them engage their customers and show off the fun side of their brand.  Every girl loves free shoes and DSW gives their followers plenty of opportunity to try and win some!

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Overall, DSW uses social media to show off their fun and friendly brand in order to engage their customers and keep their brand image consistent.

Twitter and the #Superbowl

When it comes to the Superbowl, unless the Green Bay Packers are playing, I’m normally watching for the commercials. This year was no exception, my volume went down during the game and up during the commercial breaks.

There were a lot of great commercials this year and most of the companies not only presented viewers with a commercial, but also with an opportunity to extend the conversation through social media.  Though many people may say that Oreo made the biggest impact with their Twitter ad during the blackout, Budweiser also did a great job starting a conversation with their “Brotherhood” Clydesdale commercial.

In my opinion, one of the most important parts of making a good Superbowl commercial is making sure to build that strong emotional connection with the viewer, whether that be humor, nostalgia, or any other emotion.  Budweiser certainly sparked the emotions of many viewers and even made me cry with their Clydesdale commercial.  The emotional ties to the commercial made the ad itself effective, but the Twitter conversation that went along with it made the Budweiser campaign a double whammy.

After the commercial aired, Budweiser encouraged it’s fans to name the Clydesdale in the commercial by submitting names to the company via Twitter. The conversation started on Twitter when Budweiser tweeted a picture of the Clydesdale foal and a prompt for followers to help pick a name.  In 24 hours, Budweiser got over 60,000 name suggestions that was linked to the #clydesdales Twitter conversation starter from their commercial.

Overall, Budweiser brought a lot of traffic to their Twitter page through the #Clydesdales hashtag from their commercial, but also from the conversation they prompted once followers visited their Twitter feed.  In my opinion, their social media efforts were overlooked 

In addition, the newest #Clydesdale foal is named Hope, which Budweiser used as another opportunity to show their social responsibility.