From B To Shining C
H&M
An explosion of fashion and a phenomenal number of social media, dazzling advertisements, movies, tips, trips, cultural promotion, and an array of entry points inclusive of customer service, store locations, and environmental responsibility. This fashion giant, H&M, seems to have the glimmering photographs, splendid navigation, and discounts where appropriate. Nonetheless, there is lacking when compared to some competitors and oddly it is right at the Business to Customer (B2C) level despite all the glory and fireworks when attending their website and social media. Customer engagement is imperative.
Customer Engagement
H&M do a phenomenal job at consumer engagement. At every turn on social media there is a cornucopia of delightful models, blouses, pants, shirts, shoes, men, women, children, exotic travel scenes and the like. They are colourful, fashionable, light, heavy, seasonable, and they know their accessories. However, they are not approachable due to some issues that become obvious and their respective use of social media is more for product promotion than customer engagement.
Social Media and H&M
H&M uses a bounty of social media. They employ YouTube extremely well. It encourages viewership by the breadth of topics of fashionable concern. Beauty, swimwear, makeup, designers, back to school matters and travel. There is little interaction by consumers and each video seems to be well scripted and uses models. Thus far, there is a perception that no consumers are interviewed about the product at hand. Very professional, but not customer interactive.
Facebook is well utilized for promotion, but any customer complaint is dismissive and relegated in the language used. Instagram, though colourful and robust, again, has no customer pictures, nor community. Their “Your Stories” is a ruse by nature of every Instagram photo is a given reflection of a fit model without blemish or overweight persons as reflected in the real world.
Twitter reflects the above. It is an ad nauseam of advertisements and a few seemingly directed comments by alleged consumers. On two social media sights, the Community pages read as “Sorry, this content isn’t available right now”. They also use a magazine format for a blog, but purely for advertising. Where is the communication?
There is little to no customer communicative interaction. There seems to be no real back and forth as is indicative in B2C. It must affect sales as “social Media is not a one-way street and it requires you to listen and interact (Ryan, 2019).
Nordstrom is an excellent model to follow. Through all their social media there are appropriate and well worded responses to customers and effective email marketing that ensues. They deal with customers diplomatically, make appropriate referrals and point them to an array of clubs and discount points where needed. A good blog is in place to facilitate changes in customer and fashion activity (King, 2015).
References:
Barker, Shane, The Most Effective B2C Social Media Marketing Channels to Grow Your Business, Media, Jul 25, 2018, https://medium.com/swlh/the-most-effective-b2c-social-media-marketing-channels-to-grow-your-business-32d4052210f9
Coca-Cola | Facebook. (n.d.). Retrieved February 15, 2017, from https://www.facebook.com/cocacolacanada/?brand_redir=40796308305
Creative Commons Photos:
“at sea” by tamaki is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0
https://search.creativecommons.org/photos/e7de3a13-eacc-4456-8f28-eae09182eff8
“Bee visiting for a breakfast” by Theo Lagendijk is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 2.0
https://search.creativecommons.org/photos/345c203c-3b08-490d-8a38-2f6553741baa
Dalenberg, Alex Inside Tucson Business, TucsonLikes seeks to corral social media for businesses,JUNE 8. 2012, Wick Communications
De Pelsmacker, Patrick, Geuens, Joeri, Van den Bergh, Maggie, MARKETING COMMUNICATIONS Fifth Edition, Maggie Geuens Joeri Van den Bergh, © Pearson Education Limited 2001, 2004, 2007, 2010 , Edinburgh Gate, Harlow CM20 2JE, United Kingdom
H&M, https://www2.hm.com/en_ca/index.html
Harris, Jess, Sales & Service Excellence Essentials, 7 Best Marketing Tools For Small Businesses, How technology can help you increase customer base, HR.com Inc., 2016
King, Kim Ann, The Complete Guide to B2B Marketing New Tactics, Tools, and Techniques to Compete in the Digital Economy, © 2015 by Kim Ann King Published by Pearson Education, Inc. Upper Saddle River, New Jersey 07458
NAC Podcasts. (n.d.). Retrieved February 15, 2017, from https://nac-cna.ca/en/podcasts
Perry, Patsy, The environmental costs of fast fashion; Water pollution, toxic chemical use and textile waste: fast fashion comes at a huge cost to the environment, , Independent, 8 January 2018, https://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/fashion/environment-costs-fast-fashion-pollution-waste-sustainability-a8139386.html
Nordstrom, https://shop.nordstrom.com/content/canada-department-stores?origin=tab-logo
Pexel:
https://www.pexels.com/search/customer/
https://www.pexels.com/search/social%20media/
https://www.pexels.com/search/no%20communication/
Ryan, J., Digital Communication, Lesson 4: Choosing the Correct Storytelling Tools for Your Audience, Lesson Content, Readings, Lesson Notes, B2B vs B2C vs B2G, Algonquin College, 2019
Scollon, Ron, and Wong, Suzanne, LANGUAGE IN SOCIETY 21, Intercultural Communication, A Discourse Approach Second Edition, Chapters 2. Language and Social Networks (second edition)Lesley Milroy, 17. The Language of the News Media, Allan Bell, 2001, Second edition published Blackwell Publishers Inc., 350 Main Street, Malden, Massachusetts 02148, USA
Sibley, A. (n.d.). 10 Things That Take a Webinar From Good to Great. Retrieved February 15, 2017, from https://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/webinar-planning-list#sm.000vynto11461f7ossw2rl26phqxt
Wang, Cheng Lu, Exploring the Rise of Fandom in Contemporary Consumer Culture, University of New Haven, USA, Chapter 8, Charging Fandom in the Digital Age: The Rise of Social Media p. 147 Shuojia Guo, College of Staten Island, USA, Chapter 9,Diversity of Fans on Social Media: The Case of Entertainment Celebrity in China p.163Xinming Jia, Zhejiang International Studies University, China, Kineta Hung, Hong Kong Baptist University, Hong Kong, Ke Zhang, Hong Kong Baptist University, Hong Kon, Copyright © 2018 by IGI Global
Wilson II, Clint C., Gutiérrez, Félix F, Chao, Lena M, Racism, Sexism and the Media, 4th Edition, 2013, SAGE Publications, Inc., 2455 Teller Road, Thousand Oaks, California 91320
Yates, S. (n.d.). 13 B2B Newsletters That Really Shine. Retrieved February 15, 2017, from https://blog.hubspot.com/insiders/b2b-newsletter-examples
As a single millenial, I have spent my fair amount of time perusing the various online dating sites and apps available. I have encountered some nice and decent people and others who, well, I wouldn’t want to come across again.
Yes, it is real, and not just on TV like the popular show 
