This week’s blog post was contributed by Ellie Burns, a work experience student with a bright future in Fashion Communications and Promotion. Ellie has her own blog, ‘Ellie’s Favourite Things’ which can be found by clicking here.
Scrolling through twitter recently, I took account of the way in which brands are currently using social media to connect with their customers. At that time, Alexon were wondering if ‘the classic #lbd or a bright #floraldress’ would be taking over their customer’s wardrobe this summer. Meanwhile, Cath Kidston hosted the competition #BirdsvsSpots to win an ‘Everyday Bag’ as a way to interact with customers and to raise awareness of their Twitter profile, while Harvey Nichols appeared to be taking an approach that combined global celebrity news (‘Beyoncé goes for the crop’) with independent stories, telling us their most popular products as they hit ‘the headlines in fashion, beauty, food & wine’ -a way of turning their website into more than just an online shop, and perhaps making it more of a social hub to stay updated and connected. This is a very clever way of keeping customers engaged, and of attracting new customers through subtle marketing messaging delivered inbetween current news stories.
It would appear that more and more are using Twitter as a customer services tool, too, cutting back on waiting time and allowing customers an extra avenue of communication. No longer is it necessary to spend hours listening to an old Coldplay song on repeat whilst we wait for someone to answer the customer services line- things have turned instant. Many brands that work with Retail Assist, like Cath Kidston (@CK_lovetolisten), New Look (@NewLookHelp) and many more, now use Twitter as a customer service as well as a marketing tool, enabling customers to have instant advice and help in under 140 characters using the online social networking service, bringing the in store, sales assistant role online. With 26% of all purchases set to be done online by 2016 (according to the BBC) many other companies are using their Twitter as a way to simply communicate with customers , grow the brand and improve the buying experience.
How do you use Twitter? What do you think is the best approach?