DVF’s Holistic Approach to Social Media

No stores would carry Diane Von Furstenberg’s signature wrap dress in 1990 even though it hung in the Smithsonian. “My brand meant nothing,” she says. “I had become a has-been”.

Fast-forward to 1997 when she staged a comeback with the re-launch of the dress that started it all and began transforming her company into a global luxury lifestyle brand.   She went from “has been” “to love her” “to red hot”.   How did she do it?

Fast-forward again to 2009 when she began framing her line to appeal to her new young demographic.  In addition to retooling her website she updated it with enhanced social media functionality,  allowing shoppers to share and discuss DVF merchandise with their friends on Twitter and Facebook.  “We decided to have a presence because it was a very organic way for us to communicate online” the designer said.

DVF’s approach to communication is holistic.  It’s not just about her website.  Or her stores.  Or her Twitter page.  Or her Facebook page.  Or her blog.  It’s about them all and how they link back to the DVF brand.

Her Twitter following on InsideDVF is over 33,000 and growing daily.  When her followers re-tweet, people listen.  Lot’s of people listen.  And when they re-tweet their viral reach far surpasses any budgeted advertising buy.  When they re-tweet the message is believed.  It’s trusted. It’s welcomed.

InsideDVF Twitter followers are privy to photo-shoot details, cool links and info about new products.  It’s reach is global.  DVFLosAngeles’s reach is local.  Tweets about the Nymus dress arriving in-store or reminders about a special local event are shared with the 700+ local followers regularly.

DVF’s blog is also called InsideDV.  This is where Diane takes fans behind the scenes.  They are treated to show preparations, backstage interviews and stories from her life as a designer.  She shares, you share, everyone’s happy.  And happy customers shop.

On the  DVF Facebook Fan page fans get special treatment.  They are rewarded with exclusive invites to online sample sales and there’s a Fan of the Week award.   They can view videos from her latest fashion shows, upload pictures of their favorite DVF outfits and send messages directly to Von Furstenberg.  What makes DVF Facebook pages work for her?  She knows her audience, provides quality, consistent content, encourages discussion and engagement and doesn’t take herself or her brand too seriously.  Don’t you just love her.  Feeling a little like BFF’s already.

With over 400 million Facebook users, more than 75 million Twitter users, and over 133 million blogs indexed by Technorati since 2002, social media is sizzling.  And DVF’s holistic approach is red hot, just like the lady.

How Stores Can Play and Win in Social Media!

Last year many brands were saying “they would wait and see”  about playing in social spaces.  This year the waiting’s over and now they’re saying “We have to play”!  So the question is “how can you play and win”?

First you have to recognize that hard selling and advertising aren’t working like they once did.  All of us are learning and shopping differently so your brand’s marketing strategy has to reflect this.  Your brand has to go where the people are and the people are in social spaces.  About 75% of U.S. Internet users, use social networks and blogs.  And 16 percent of these users are more likely to buy from brands they see or discover in social spaces according to a May 2009 report by Knowledge Networks, a marketing consultancy.

Next you have to build a social strategy that integrates with your marketing strategy.  Anyone can pull off tactics like running a Twitter account or setting up a Facebook page and lots of brands are doing just this.  But a winning social strategy is just part of the bigger marketing picture.

Second Time Around, a 21 store chain of contemporary, designer, consignment clothing & furniture stores gets the big picture.  They wanted to create regional awareness of their Boston store through word of mouth and beyond that national awareness for their 20 other stores.  So they hosted a party called ShopUp in their Boston store.  It was an evening of shopping, eating, and schmoozing built around a crowd-sourced fashion show.  Shoppers were given 20% off during the event, and 10% off coupons for future shopping.   They were also encouraged to bring in designer clothes to consign that evening.

Here’s what they did:

• Pre-event they ran a contest through Twitter, where followers nominated the models for the in-store fashion show.
• The hashtag #ShopUp was used to track conversations taking place around nominations and the event.
• People then voted to select the final four models for the show.
• News about the event was posted on Facebook.
• Guests voted for the best outfit worn by a model during the show via Twitter and the model with the most votes won her outfit.
• The event was shared outside of Boston by streaming live video through UStream, Twittering during the event (using TweetDeck and CoTweet), sending TwitPics during the event, compiling a video of the entire evening on YouTube, and uploading photos on Flickr.
• A post-event survey was sent via BostonTweetUp twtpoll to determine the number of new customers and other information.

Results:

• About 75 people attended the event
• Sales were positively impacted
• 50 percent of attendees were new customers

They played. They won.  You can too!

The Social Life of Facebook

Hello, fashion brands!  Your customers are smart, they’re connected and today they’re part of your sales team.  Thank you social media!  The average American spends 12 hours a week online – that’s close to two hours a day.  They’ve  tripled the time they spend on Facebook since August 2008.  And here’s the upshot for boutique brands and stores: fans can get a homepage news feed from a brand.  This means you – the brand can go to the consumer as opposed to hoping the consumer remembers to visit you-the brand online.  Just imagine your customers becoming a fan of  your brand on Facebook.   Your brand then becomes like a personal friend on your customers home page.  Now you can share compelling content with customers and keep them engaged over time.  You just made your customer part of your sales team!

Jump on the Social Media Bandwagon! It’s Left the Station

If you’re in retail, you’re Social.  Shopping is Social.  From bricks (your physical store) to clicks (your online store) word or mouth is driving traffic into your store and merchandise out the door.

Good old fashion word of mouth conversations on the web – that’s Social Media.  If you’re tweeting, or blogging or talking on social sites you’re sparking conversations.  If your conversations are interesting they get passed and shared on the web.

You could be the next Prabal Gurung, a designer who launched a collection in Febuary.  Then Demi Moore tweeted a picture of herself wearing one of his dresses to her estimated 1.3 million Twitter followers.  Traffic doubled on his web site, his Twitter followers doubled, visitors to his Facebook fan page doubled.

If you’re a brand or store and you’re not using Social Media.  Wakeup!  You can’t afford not to.  Jump on the bandwagon.  It’s left the station.