Like many jewelry brands, Tacori knows its fans like things that sparkle, so it regularly posts photos of brilliant, light-catching and attention-grabbing diamonds. Though blatant product plugs don't work for everyone, Tacori's straightforward Facebook posts earn consistently high engagement. In these posts, the brand leads with a positive statement (e.g., "In love with this classic Tacori stunner!"), follows with a style/product number and ends with a professionally shot photo. It's a strategy that kept Tacori in the top 10 of Media Logic's Retail Social Juice Index (RSJI) almost every day in July.
How heavily does Tacori rely on this content staple? It typically posts two times per day on weekdays and takes the weekends off. That equates to roughly 40 posts for the month, and over half were plugs for its products. And why not? Tacori's fans didn't seem to mind and the posts outperformed all other types of posts from the brand, including contests, customer spotlights and romantic quotes.
Tacori's posts featuring engagement rings were, well, among its most engaging. Without fail, these posts attracted thousands of likes (often over 10,000) and hundreds of comments and shares. Is there any correlation between bigger bling and better fan reaction? Tacori's most popular post of the month — 20,430 likes, 2,481 comments and 1,856 shares — was an Instagram photo of two hands showing off more than a dozen large diamonds and wedding bands.
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Spencer's has found the kind of posts its fans thirst for as well. In the case of this spirited, cheeky brand, it's not surprising that its most engaging posts feature sassy, irreverent remarks. For example, fans loved this: "That moment when you talk to yourself and you start smiling like an idiot because you're just so hilarious." Spencer's presented the text as an image, and it earned amazing engagement: more than 100,000 likes, 1,400 comments and over 17,000 shares.
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Time after time, Spencer's fans showed that they were thrilled by these kinds of posts. Nearly 34,000 fans admitted to talking in front of a fan to hear their robot voice. More than 40,000 fans confessed they still don't have a use for the complicated math equations they learned in school. Roughly 50,000 fans related to running over their fingers on the scooter boards from gym class, and about 62,000 fans agreed with the brand's Jason-themed warnings for Friday the 13th.
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While Spencer's stayed at the top of the RSJI by figuring out how to be wildly successful at tapping fans’ funny bones (a hallmark of the brand), it hasn't quite sorted out how to give similar social juice to its other posts. Unlike Tacori, product posts seem to flop for this brand. One in early July earned the brand only 118 likes, 19 comments and four shares. Nearly as dismal were Spencer's promotions, such as posts announcing giveaways of gift cards, "Dark Knight Rises" merchandise and a Domo-decorated Nissan Cube, as well as those selling bracelets to benefit its cancer-fighting foundation, Boobies Make Me Smile. Curiously, despite the relatively low engagement for these posts, Spencer's repeated them several times during the month, sometimes daily and often with nearly identical pitches.
AutoZone fell into this pattern as well, posting and reposting about giveaways even when response was minimal. Its cash-back promotions, recycling offers, discount/sales announcements and mobile app notices earned relatively low engagement. Only slightly more popular was its weekly sweepstakes for $500 in gas.
So what fueled AutoZone's rise to the top of the RSJI for more than a third of the month of July? Laughter and passion, a cross between Spencer's and Tacori's success stories. AutoZone fans showed their love both for the brand's "caption this" series, through which they could demonstrate their humor and creativity, and for the "would you drive it" series, a string of photos of novelty and muscle cars fans could talk about in order to express their passion for driving. These posts consistently earned a few thousand likes, comments and shares.
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Takeaways from this month's RSJI spotlight include the following:
- Pay attention to what's going on in the world. Brand gaffes make headlines. Though it posted about its "Dark Knight" promotion nearly every day for its duration, Spencer's showed sensitivity by pulling it back for a few days following the tragic events in Aurora, Colo.
- Closely monitor your flow of content. Are you posting enough? Maybe too much? All three brands in this RSJI recap tend to post fairly frequently: Tacori posts one to two times on weekdays; Spencer's posts one to three times daily; and AutoZone posts three to four times a day (though less on the weekends). With the exception of Tacori's product posts, the most repetitious content seemed to have the lowest engagement. Is it necessary to duplicate the same promotion every day? What kind of posts are valued and at what pace? Know where your fans draw the line, then honor it.
- Don't treat promotions like they're from another planet. Invest as much creativity in them as you do other content. The popular notion is that fans want discounts and free stuff from the brands they "like," yet each of these brands experienced lower engagement with contests and promotions than they did when having plain old fun. Know what resonates with your fans, then infuse your promotions with the same juice. Can your promotions be funny? Edgy? Yes, fans want swag, but they want reasons to be excited about it.
Media Logic's RSJI has been measuring social engagement for hundreds of national retailers since November. Data for this post was compiled with engagement scores through July.
Media Logic distills data from Facebook and Twitter daily into a score for each brand — a single number that represents the effectiveness of the brand's interactions with its fans and followers. Brands can access their scores for free and compare with their competitors' scores. For additional comparison, the RSJI publishes daily averages for various sectors and for the overall index.
Carolee Sherwood is the conversation manager at Media Logic, an integrated marketing services and social marketing solutions provider. Carolee can be reached at csherwood@mlinc.com.
The Monthly Retail Social Index Spotlight: Tacori, Spencer’s and AutoZone
Like many jewelry brands, Tacori knows its fans like things that sparkle, so it regularly posts photos of brilliant, light-catching and attention-grabbing diamonds. Though blatant product plugs don't work for everyone, Tacori's straightforward Facebook posts earn consistently high engagement. In these posts, the brand leads with a positive statement (e.g., "In love with this classic Tacori stunner!"), follows with a style/product number and ends with a professionally shot photo. It's a strategy that kept Tacori in the top 10 of Media Logic's Retail Social Juice Index (RSJI) almost every day in July.
How heavily does Tacori rely on this content staple? It typically posts two times per day on weekdays and takes the weekends off. That equates to roughly 40 posts for the month, and over half were plugs for its products. And why not? Tacori's fans didn't seem to mind and the posts outperformed all other types of posts from the brand, including contests, customer spotlights and romantic quotes.
Tacori's posts featuring engagement rings were, well, among its most engaging. Without fail, these posts attracted thousands of likes (often over 10,000) and hundreds of comments and shares. Is there any correlation between bigger bling and better fan reaction? Tacori's most popular post of the month — 20,430 likes, 2,481 comments and 1,856 shares — was an Instagram photo of two hands showing off more than a dozen large diamonds and wedding bands.
Spencer's has found the kind of posts its fans thirst for as well. In the case of this spirited, cheeky brand, it's not surprising that its most engaging posts feature sassy, irreverent remarks. For example, fans loved this: "That moment when you talk to yourself and you start smiling like an idiot because you're just so hilarious." Spencer's presented the text as an image, and it earned amazing engagement: more than 100,000 likes, 1,400 comments and over 17,000 shares.
Time after time, Spencer's fans showed that they were thrilled by these kinds of posts. Nearly 34,000 fans admitted to talking in front of a fan to hear their robot voice. More than 40,000 fans confessed they still don't have a use for the complicated math equations they learned in school. Roughly 50,000 fans related to running over their fingers on the scooter boards from gym class, and about 62,000 fans agreed with the brand's Jason-themed warnings for Friday the 13th.
While Spencer's stayed at the top of the RSJI by figuring out how to be wildly successful at tapping fans’ funny bones (a hallmark of the brand), it hasn't quite sorted out how to give similar social juice to its other posts. Unlike Tacori, product posts seem to flop for this brand. One in early July earned the brand only 118 likes, 19 comments and four shares. Nearly as dismal were Spencer's promotions, such as posts announcing giveaways of gift cards, "Dark Knight Rises" merchandise and a Domo-decorated Nissan Cube, as well as those selling bracelets to benefit its cancer-fighting foundation, Boobies Make Me Smile. Curiously, despite the relatively low engagement for these posts, Spencer's repeated them several times during the month, sometimes daily and often with nearly identical pitches.
AutoZone fell into this pattern as well, posting and reposting about giveaways even when response was minimal. Its cash-back promotions, recycling offers, discount/sales announcements and mobile app notices earned relatively low engagement. Only slightly more popular was its weekly sweepstakes for $500 in gas.
So what fueled AutoZone's rise to the top of the RSJI for more than a third of the month of July? Laughter and passion, a cross between Spencer's and Tacori's success stories. AutoZone fans showed their love both for the brand's "caption this" series, through which they could demonstrate their humor and creativity, and for the "would you drive it" series, a string of photos of novelty and muscle cars fans could talk about in order to express their passion for driving. These posts consistently earned a few thousand likes, comments and shares.
Takeaways from this month's RSJI spotlight include the following:
Media Logic's RSJI has been measuring social engagement for hundreds of national retailers since November. Data for this post was compiled with engagement scores through July.
Media Logic distills data from Facebook and Twitter daily into a score for each brand — a single number that represents the effectiveness of the brand's interactions with its fans and followers. Brands can access their scores for free and compare with their competitors' scores. For additional comparison, the RSJI publishes daily averages for various sectors and for the overall index.
Carolee Sherwood is the conversation manager at Media Logic, an integrated marketing services and social marketing solutions provider. Carolee can be reached at csherwood@mlinc.com.