The Monthly Retail Social Juice Index Spotlight: Wayfair Barnes & Noble

By Carolee Sherwood

This month, furniture giveaways helped home-goods retailer Wayfair.com score high on Media Logic's Retail Social Juice Index (RSJI). Wayfair's fan base, which typically only gives a few hundred likes to brand posts, responded by the thousands to posts about the weekly promotion. A console table giveaway? More than 16,000 likes and 3,100 shares. A chaise lounge giveaway? More than 16,500 likes and 2,700 shares. A Butler Bombe coffee table giveaway? Close to 69,000 likes and 13,157 shares.

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Wayfair's fan engagement wasn't solely based on its giveaways, however. The online retailer boosted engagement on other posts by following best practices, including calls to action in status updates. In addition to using many good ol' standbys — e.g., "LIKE this if … ," "True/False" and "Do you like … ?" — the brand also asked specific questions. For example, in a March 7 update that accompanied a picture of a room with yellow accents, Wayfair posted, "Hello, yellow. Do you feel brighter looking at this space?"

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King Arthur Flour also ran promotions during the past month, but its fans engaged mainly with the brand's noncontest content, which strikes just the right tone. The brand's posts are light, fun and a little bit provocative (in a good way), like this Feb. 28 update: "How could you possibly not like National Pancake Day?"

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King Arthur's Timeline is full of posts — always with images, always with personality — that earn hundreds of likes and shares. Here are a few examples:

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A Feb. 15 tip for pressing cookie dough with different patterns instead of just a fork with this call to action: "Tell us about your favorite cookie tool — and SHARE this tip with your fellow cookie lovers."
A President's Day post about the legacy of the company: "Did you know King Arthur Flour was founded the year after Washington was elected president — and that we were already 19-years-old when Lincoln was born?"
A March 11 celebration of National Chocolate Chip Cookie Week with this prompt: "What's your best memory involving chocolate chip cookies? Or, what's your secret ingredient?"
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Like Wayfair and King Arthur Flour, Barnes & Noble spent a few days near the top of Media Logic's RSJI … but not for the right reasons. During the second week in March, fans took to every available platform, including branded discussion forums, Facebook and Twitter to express outrage with the bookseller for scheduling book signings with controversial athlete Michael Vick. Even after the book's publisher canceled the book tour dates (citing threats against both Vick and the retailer), fans continued to voice their anger at Barnes & Noble. Fans insisted that the brand should have listened to them and canceled the events on its own.