Picture
Target Corporation is the second largest discount retailer in the United States behind Walmart. They are headquartered out of Minneapolis, MN. Target effectively utilizes the following forms of social media: Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, You Tube and a Mobile Application. 

Facebook:

As of 11/23/12, Target has 20,934,476 likes. They make at least one post per day, in which there were several a day the closer we got to Black Friday. The Facebook page has a Black Friday section where fans can go in and guess what products will be on sale on black Friday. Keeping them engaged and having fun! Another way the Facebook page is keeping the fans engaged is their 'Give with Target' section which encourages their fans to vote for schools. In turn, depending on the amount of votes, Target will provide the schools with gift cards. There are several sweepstakes where fans can win Target gift cards, which keeps things fun and rewarding if they win! The Wedding section advertises Target's wedding registry and has a URL to their wedding catalog. Overall, Facebook page is informational and fun, which will keep the fans coming back.

Twitter:

Target has 484,904 Twitter followers. They tweet a few times a day. They include items such as sales information, product information, reminders (for instance that they were open on Thanksgiving) and notifications (for example about their new Android app). They also tweet fun stuff for their followers such as sweepstakes information (which draws them over to their Facebook site) and trivia. I have also seen notes of thanks and congratulations. They cover the bases of providing information, engaging the customer and making it personal.

Pinterest:

Although Pinterest is a newer form of social media, I think Target has a good grasp on it. They currently have 17,527 followers. They keep their boards up to date, for example, they are ready for the holidays with several boards pertaining to Christmas and many items are 'pinned' daily across the boards.  They include informational and 'how to' content for their followers.

You Tube:

Target has 10,357 followers on You Tube. The content located out there is mostly commercials with some informational videos. I think this is their least beneficial form of social media. They could potentially add different informational videos by department promoting the different products sold in that department to make it a more useful form of social media.

Mobile Application:

I have to admit, I have this app on my iPad and do think it is very beneficial. This app will send text alerts that include deals and coupons that are sent directly to your smart device. Within the app you can find your local store, check the availability of products, refill a prescription. You can also look at the weeky ad. It includes a  bar scanner for pricing. You will also find daily deals here. This is a fantastic way of keeping their customers connected and making things very convenient for them which will draw them into your store.

To summarize it......

I think Target's goals are:

  • Keep customers updated on special deals -- Communicate with them
  • Keep customers engaged and coming back to their sites
  • Keep customers connected to them
  • Make it easy for customers - example: refill prescription via mobile app, get daily deals, check item availability
  • Advertise their products

I think Target's Customer's goals are:

  • Stay informed:
    • sales
    • new items
  • Win prizes & have fun
    • play the sweepstakes games for free gift cards
    • answer the trivia questions
I definitely feel that Target does a wonderful job addressing the customers goals in their social media marketing. They have very active Facebook and Twitter accounts. They do a great job in keeping their customers informed of any upcoming specials and sales with frequent posts. You are able to reach all of their social media channels from their main website as well as from each of the different channels. They make it very easy on their customers to be able to obtain product information, store location information, the latest weekly ad when they are on the go via their mobile app keeping the customer connected even while they are away from their computer. A very cool thing that I observed on Twitter on Black Friday was Target responding to their customers tweets. I thought that was very 'personal'. Which is definitely a thumbs up for how they handle their social media. They also are keeping their customers engaged and coming back with the sweepstakes that they have on Facebook and the other little fun things like trivia on Twitter.  Lastly, I especially enjoyed Target's Pinterest boards. They not only had a lot of product out there, but there was also a good amount of informational and 'how to' items pinned. So with this falls into the category of them not just pushing their products, but providing other helpful, meaningful content as well.  Overall, Target is doing it right!



Leave a Reply.

    Author

    Holly M. is a part time student at LCCC taking a social media marketing class.

    Archives

    September 2012

    Categories

    All