Digging For Gold: Levi’s And The “Social Shopper”
Our mission statement here at SociaLink is simple. We intend to grow our client’s brand by building a strong online presence. We do not stop until they have the best social media campaign in the industry. But, as they say, to be the best, you gotta beat the best. Over the next few months, the SociaLink Sandbox will launch a campaign called “Digging For Gold” in which we intend to dig deep and highlight some of the top social media campaigns on the web. We pride ourselves on being up to date on all of the top campaigns and industry news, to ensure that we are the most cutting-edge media group around.
First up is Levi’s Jeans. The Levi’s campaign is one that may now seem common. However, we must recognize Levi’s for being innovative in being one of the first to launch such a widespread phenomenon. They are widely considered the pioneer of the term “social shopping”.
The backbone of the campaign was to integrate the Facebook “like” button with Levi’s online retail store. Using a Social Plug-in platform powered by Open Graph, they were able to attach a “like” button to every single product sold on the site. When a user clicks “like” the product is then featured on that person’s newsfeed and shared with all of his/her friends. Users can also use a recommendation widget to suggest certain products for their friends. Levi’s took it even one step further by adding a page on their site called the Friends Store. This page enables consumers to track lists of their friends’ favorite products and see which ones are the most popular.
Why Do We Dig It At The Sandbox?
The whole theory behind the success of this campaign is the idea of letting your consumers do the marketing for you. We have said this a million times, but it is a fact that people will inherently share what they like. Megan O’Connor, director of digital and social marketing of Levi’s puts it this way; “This is a great way for our brand ambassadors to put megaphones to their lips and tell the world how much they love Levi’s.” This strategy gives the users the opportunity to share their passion for Levi’s products with all of their friends.
Going further, it is the use of this term, “social shopping.” Levi’s was able to understand that their target market is no longer just the ‘traditional shopper’, but rather, now includes the ‘online shopper.’ The problem they faced was how to mesh the two.
Traditionally, shopping is an activity you can do with your friends. Anyone who has seen the movie Clueless, knows that going to the mall to go shopping with your friends is an American pastime. However, the recent online shopping phenomenon is a more quick and personal way of shopping. Levi’s found a way to combine the two art-forms. You can search freely from the comfort of your own home, while still being able to show off to your friends in your own virtual dressing room. You can pick out clothes for your friends and hint to them what you want for your next birthday. Oconnor says, “We have put the consumer at the center of the shopping experience.”
We will continue to monitor and learn from these successful campaigns as well as adopt some of their core values. In this case, it is the idea that any effective campaign must first understand their target market and what it wants. Add in some creativity and technology along the way and you just might find that your consumers will do the rest for you.
We will keep digging…
[...] seems to have their own favorites for the best social media campaigns of 2011, with campaigns from Levis, Old Spice, Volkswagen and more making the various [...]
We featured this Levi’s post on our blog in regards to the best social media campaigns of 2011. You can check it out here http://www.postano.com/blog/best-of-2011-the-best…