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Week 2 Part B--Business Research

This week I have researched five related businesses to learn more about how they use social media.  Here are the highlights of what I have learned:

Ana Ono Intimates

https://www.anaono.com

Company information:  Revenues:  $1M with 6 employees.  International company in the mastectomy/breast reconstruction garment niche.  Started by a survivor in her 30’s.  Innovative and even went to New York fashion week and Soma carries their products.

Social Media:    Links are on their website.

Facebook:  post once per day, last post was 9/8/20.  They have 8281 followers and their posts are all about promotions under the guise of supportive comments.

Pinterest: They are quite active with posts and have 898 followers.  They are a verified merchant.  Boards include:  Lingerie and loungewear that offers comfort, beauty and community through breast cancer. #NEVERALONE; photos about bras and graphic patient photos.  Presenting a hip, real life image.  This is more interesting than Facebook.

Instagram:  They post the same photos as on Pinterest with 16,400 followers.

Overall:  Consistency with branding across all social media.  Relevant to their audience and psychographics.  

 

Design Veronique

https://www.designveronique.com

Company information:  Revenues:  $12 M with 62 employees.  International company in the plastic surgery garment niche.  They are located in the bay area and have very bad Glass Door reviews. Not surprising as I have met their salespeople at trade shows (very non-engaged).

Social Media:  Links are on their website.

Facebook:  post once per month, last post was 8/18/20.  They have 2926 followers and their posts are all about their products.

Twitter: They have 117 followers and post about once per year about their products, often as repeated posts.

Yelp:  They have a 3.5 rating with 17 reviews.  Some (many more recent ones) are one star and have very bad comments.

Overall: Poor social media presence; inconsistence posting and self-serving with product only information.  

 

Marena Group

https://marena.com

Company information:  Revenues:  $1M with 100 employees.  International company in the plastic surgery garment niche.  They are the most uncomfortable unappealing garments which completely make one feel like a patient; functional but unpleasant.

Social Media:    Links are on their website.

Facebook:  post once per day, last post was 9/8/20.  They have 36,870 followers and their posts are all good posts about sizing tips, photos of production factory, pandemic, face masks helping people these days, and include real people videos.

YouTube: They have over 1000 subscribers and are quite active with videos, including a video about an FDA approved device cloth masks vs. surgical masks video and current events.   Interesting, needed and timely.

Instagram:  They have 378 posts with 9410 followers.  There are the same photos and videos as on their FB page.

Overall:  Consistency with branding across all social media.  Relevant to their audience and current events.  

 

Third Love

https://www.thirdlove.com

Company information:  Revenues:  $100M with 350 employees.  International company in the direct to consumer lingerie market.  Since they are so large and so successful, I thought it was a good idea to see what they are doing on social media as our markets overlap.  They have very bad press about what it is like to work at their company.

Social Media:    Links are on their website.

Facebook:  post twice per day, last post was 9/8/20.  They have 556,000 followers and their posts are posts creative and welcoming; about products and reposting public figures fun posts, puns, product spins, quotes, fabric details.

Pinterest: They are quite active with over 1000 pins with a fun look, products, style tips, motivation and inspiration, with 34,000 followers.  

Instagram:  They post the same photos as on Pinterest and Facebook with 327,000 followers.

Twitter:  They post twice per day with the last post 9/8/20.  They have 13,400 followers and post items without branding consistency.

Overall:  They have some really good branding across social media.  They are not always consistent though.

 

DiepCjourney

https://diepcjourney.com

Company information:  Non-profit with 1 employee.  Mostly national resource and suppport group for breast reconstruction patients.  

Social Media:    Links are on their website.

Facebook:  post 10-15 times per day, last post was 9/8/20.  They have 5700 followers.  Closed group. Very responsive, proactive, resourceful, educational.  The group is extremely engaged with comments back and forth, links, Facebook live, snippets from medical conferences, highlights on surgeons, and many resources.

Overall:  They really know how to reach and engage with their audience through social media.  Good place to learn about reaching this niche (I have been a member since the inception). 

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This assignment was a good way to learn about related businesses’ voices across the web.  One can really tell a lot about the personality of a company by how they approach social media; what platforms they chose to engage in and how often they communicate.  It almost seems that some companies do it since they feel it is a necessary part of doing business today.  I feel that through such programmed consistency of posting; ie: twice per day.  I have always felt that quality versus quantity is the best strategy.

 

It is interesting to see the variance of what types of images companies post.  In working with social media strategists, it was always recommended to include related posts about products.  For example, post about color and style trends to appear as an industry expert to encourage followers.  Once you gain their trust, then you can sprinkle in new product information.  Also, perhaps uses for products and customer comments and testimonials rather than just the company voice.  Some of the company’s I researched did that.  I wonder if they had contests to encourage customer photos, but it is a good thing to research.  So much more meaningful if it comes from customers.  It is also interesting what some of these companies have shared to their followers.  Some items are way out of the brand’s circle, though timely.  I believe relevancy is important to encourage engagement.  I am surprised that I did not see 

 

After conducting this research, I am curious to learn more about the various social media platforms and why companies would choose different ones.  Is it to reach a different demographic, different available media types available (only photos, or does the business have videos?), or personal favorites?  I can see if a brand has various demographic targets to reach and if they would perhaps like to showcase their products through videos for training, tips, customer testimonials, and related content.

 

I feel that a social media plan is a good idea to have a consistent branding experience with some wiggle room for items that pop up such as current events.  In the end, much of the social media implementation can be related to available resources; knowledge of the niche, social media platforms, time, creativity, photos, videos, customers, photographers, videographers, etc.  So, one question to explore is to start with one platform and then branch out or sprinkle information on a number of platforms.

 

I am looking forward to learning more about recommendations and ideas from the class, along with the purpose of Pinterest and Instagram and what their advantages and differences are.

More to come….

Marla Hope

Comments

  1. Hi Marla! Very interesting choice in companies. I had no idea about your first two that make bras for mastectomy/breast reconstruction patients. Just curious how you found/chose these companies? Pinterest is a great platform for anything really. For the field I am in I do not use it, but I have a personal account and I use it for finding new styles to try, design inspiration, new food recipes, craft inspiration, etc. I think an intimates company would be successful on the platform because it is geared towards women.

    I also agree having a plan is crucial when it comes to social media. I have so many ideas for what to post on my business sites, but I never plan and I get lost and confuse myself on what I am trying to accomplish. That is definitely something I want/need to improve upon!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Hi Marla,
    I really appreciated your strategy on relating posts to products and appreciated that you gave an example on how to use the strategy. As an outsider to the industry, I think I would have enjoyed a sentence or two at the beginning about the types of businesses you were looking into. It had been at least a week since I read your last post, so I didn't remember what business you were a part of. Sprinkling in details (whether they'er new or not) helps those forgetful people, like myself!

    ReplyDelete

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