Social Media

SOCIAL MEDIA

Introduction

Social media offers companies unprecedented access to the minds of potential customers. Tracking purchasing information at your store gives you data but lacks a certain depth to the information and is much more statistical in nature. Conversely, conducting surveys and test studies provides great information but is not scalable. With access to social media, companies can get interesting insights on a huge market that includes existing and potential
customers.

It may seem obvious but it merits mention that people use social media in a variety of different
ways, and provide different levels of information to companies. One end of the spectrum is my grandma. She has an iPad and is on Facebook and also uses Pandora online radio. She uses Facebook primarily to look at pictures of grandchildren. Conversely, I use Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, Pandora, and LinkedIn. I am on these social media websites everyday using it for a variety of different uses. There are a number of other different “types”; each provide a different
level of insights to companies culling the data.

For this blog, I will examine the information that we could elicit from Melanie, the persona for my
group’s Nordstrom project. To briefly summarize, Melanie is a thirty-one year woman, married with a young son. She works full-time as a VP at an advertising firm in Austin, Texas.

What are her “tools” and what social media applications does she use?

Melanie has a work computer, an iPhone, and a Macbook she shares with her husband (for use at
home). Melanie uses Gmail for personal e-mail and subscribes to Groupon and Living Social.
She is also a regular user of Facebook and Pandora online radio. She uses Pandora at work on regular basis (on her work computer), but only checks her Gmail and Facebook periodically during the work day (normally on her iPhone). She spends more time online, either on Facebook or just surfing the web, at night and on the weekends. However, her son keeps her from being the type of person to sit on the computer for an extended period of time

What kind of info would you try to elicit?

Gmail – Nordstrom can work with Google to get ad banners on Melanie’s computer for web searches and e-mails that contain shopping related terms. This is more of an advertising outlet though as compared to a social media tool on which Nordstrom can gather information. However, Nordstrom can send her e-mails that become customized with input from Melanie.

Pandora – It would be interesting to see what demographic information could be pulled from Pandora users, either directly from Pandora or from surveying current Nordstrom customers (to see if they use and Pandora, and if so, what they listen to). It may be difficult to zero in on “stations” Pandora should advertise on, but advanced technology may provide insights on
what stations Melanie and other potential customers tend to listen to.

Facebook – To the extent this is possible, Nordstrom would benefit by being able to gain information on what brands (and what other retailers) Melanie is exploring on Facebook (either by posting something, “liking” someone else’s post, or clicking on a Facebook advertisement). Combining that knowledge with general information on Melanie that could be obtained from Facebook (female, mother, lives in Austin) could provide significant value to Nordstrom. A secondary benefit of obtaining information on Melanie’s Facebook usage is finding out other non-shopping information on Melanie. Learning what else interests her (restaurants, news outlets she accesses from Facebook such as HuffingtonPost and New York Times, etc.) can help us build out her persona.

How would you get at that information in a way that would be most accurate and telling?

This is the most difficult part of any information gathering effort, regardless of the tactic. Information that is not relevant or actionable is closer to data and could quickly become just an exercise in burning through cash. Also, if the information is misunderstood, it has the potential to steer a company like Nordstrom in the wrong direction with respect to its marketing strategy.
Social media is still a very new frontier for companies trying to extract information regarding current and potential customers. One of the most important ways Nordstrom can obtain useful information regarding potential customers is to have staff whose responsibility is to execute Nordrsom’s marketing strategy in all social media outlets (including Pinterest and Twitter) so that you build institutional knowledge within the organization on how to navigate this medium. The use of cookies and coupon codes can be used to track how individuals reach Nordstrom’s website. While the company should do its best to obtain info in a cost-effective manner, senior management should realize that trial-and-error is somewhat inevitable and should push its marketing employees to be sure to learn from each action, whether or not it succeeds in driving
sales.