Digital Media Communications PR Campaign

Digital Media Communications PR Campaign

Social media usage has become crucial for public relations campaigning for their products and services. Companies have learned to target their customers by using social media as it attracts a large number of users. In the United States alone, 77% of the people have a social media account (Harmon & Reddy, 2016). It is estimated that the use of social media advertisement is likely to grow to about $48 billion by 2021 (Harmon & Reddy, 2016). One of the companies that have managed to use social media to its advantage is Lane Bryant, a women’s clothing chain store retail brand that focuses on dressing plus size women. The company was established in 1904 and began with maternity designs. It has grown with time to become the largest retailer of plus size clothes in the United States. It has a chain of about 700 retail stores and a creative website. Half of the women in the US wear size 14 or larger. Lane Bryant focuses on style-conscious 25 to 45-year-old sections of the market (Harmon & Reddy, 2016). Fashion is the priority of the company to its customers to ensure the plus size women have the same fashion trends with other women. Lane Bryant ensures its customers have fashionable apparel that is stirred by global vendors and international designers. Customers are always looking for fashion that reflects their self-acceptance and confidence. The firm has managed to ensure that it provides the best sense of style to these women by offering a diverse range of fashion leading to customer satisfaction. Lane Bryant uses social media platforms such as Facebook and Instagram to get to its customers, whereby it shares sneak peek videos giving the customers something to look forward to attaining.

Evaluation of Digital Tools

The development of technology has led to a lot of changes in the fashion and dressing industry, as seen in lane Bryant company. Digital tools have brought the whole world to the doorstep of the customer just by a click. The increasing penetration of internet and digital channels of communication, new devices, more extensive networks, and functional connectivity has enabled lane Bryant has enabled its customers more informed regarding the value to expect from products and anticipated return to the incurred cost. Social media tools such as Instagram and Facebook have changed the style of communication in the fashion industry by allowing companies to share pictures, videos, and blogs of their products. Use of hashtags enable the public relation campaign to reach the consumer effectively and in real-time irrespective of geographical location and time zone. The use of hashtags enables the information put by the company to rise above the noise and chaos in social media to reach the customers needing the information (Hausmann & Williams, 2016). Hashtags are essential in a Lane Bryant public relation as they assist in magnifying their information beyond those following their social media accounts. New media platforms such as Vero allow consumers to research on products they want. Lane Bryant can use the platform to identify what matters to the customers hence inspire a new campaign. Digital media is useful as it allows a firm to target a specific group of consumers. A large number of users also ensure that a large number of consumers are aware of the firm’s campaign.

Recommendation of Digital Tools

Social media campaign offers the best way for Lane Bryant to connect with its customers as they have become a big driver for its business. Creating the best content for the right audience can be a significant boost to the marketing of products. When recommending a social media site for the campaign, it is essential to consider not only the size of the platform but also how helpful it can be to the campaign. The first site to review is Facebook, as it is the largest with more than 2 billion users each month (Hausmann & Williams, 2016). The site is easy to use as it supports all format works, including videos, images, stories, and live videos, and it is safe. The other social media site is Instagram, with more than a billion monthly users. It has features that will enable the firm to post images and videos to support the campaign. It is also possible to open a business profile that will provide a rich analysis of the profile and allows for the scheduling of third-party tools. The other platform is Tumblr that has more than 642 million users in a month. It is a social networking and microblogging site that allows the sharing of videos, images, audios, links, and more, making it useful to the campaign (Hausmann & Williams, 2016). The fourth site is twitter, with over 335 million users in a month. It is an excellent social media site for entertainment sports and news and has a substantial emphasis on real-time information. Over 80% of customer requests occur on twitter, making it a viable place for the campaign (Hausmann & Williams, 2016). The fifth site recommended for the campaign is Reddit, which has more than 330 million monthly users. It allows users to submit images, links, questions, discuss, then vote for them (Hausmann & Williams, 2016). it also has subreddits that the firm can select from in its campaign. The five tools chosen for the campaign will be directly employed through evaluating the value each one of them is bringing to the campaign and documenting the consumers being targeted to establish a highly focused buyer persona. A social media mission statement is also essential in employing the use of five digital tools.

Target Audience

Lane Bryant is a women’s clothing retail brand that focuses on dressing plus size women. The campaign is, therefore, likely to target plus size women who want to wear something comfortable. The campaign will focus on plus size women who are trendy and inspired by fashion. The campaign recognizes that customers want to wear what makes them have self-acceptance and confidence. The campaign will be done to celebrate the sense of style in women by offering a range of fashionable items for professional wear, special occasions, daily clothing option undergarments, activewear, shoes, and fashion wear. The campaign will not focus on men of any age and size, and those women wearing a size less than 14. The target audience is mainly for women aged between 25 to 45 years who wear a size larger than 14 (Harmon & Reddy, 2016). The reason for this target audience is because the firm has attained a lot of success with its current target market since its establishment in 1904. Facebook, Instagram, and Tumblr will be used to reach the audience through posting of pictures and videos on the elegant look the clothes provide. Twitter and Reddit will act as a place where the company will interact with its customers to answer some of their questions and obtain customer feedback.

Challenges

The campaign is likely to face several challenges due to an increase in the number of things that should get tracked. The first challenge is the lack of an apparent campaign goal. Lack of well mapped out strategies makes it difficult for the campaign to be successful. The second challenge is the unscheduled campaign schedule. The lack of a clear deadline means the work may not get done in the end. It also makes it uncomfortable to blame other team members on things that have no timeline (Schivinski & Dabrowski, 2016). A missed deadline at a crucial part of the campaign may derail the entire process. The other challenge is a lack of updates on the status and progress of the campaign, and status updates ensure the work goes as planned and keeps team members on the same page. The updates may also consume a lot of time as they are repetitive, and the team may not value a lot of information. Lack of check up on the campaign is also a challenge that may lead to failure. To avoid disaster, the campaign manager should conduct a thorough inspection on the campaign and make adjustments based on advancement and feedback. Digital tools can be used to respond to the challenges as they can help identify the audience’s needs allowing the campaign to have a set goal. The digital tools will also assist in visualizing the deadlines by providing an automated calendar with a due date. They will also provide feedback from customers on how they view the progress of the campaign allowing for necessary adjustments to be made.

Opportunities

The campaign will be essential in tracking how much business has been generated. It is essential to record each opportunity provided by the campaign. The first opportunity of using the social media campaign is that it will make the Lane Bryant retail brand visible to customers. Engaging with people who settle towards the brand will increase the firm’s referrals and sales. The campaign will help to build a real customer base for the business. The second opportunity is that it will be possible for the brand to launch new products in the future as it will provide a chance to attract customer attention that will, in turn, increase the sales and, in turn, the product thrives in the market (Schivinski & Dabrowski, 2016). The other opportunity for using the campaign is that it will attract new customers. Through interaction with customers, the brand has a chance to convince them that their clothes are the best, and they outdo the value of what other brands offer. The social media channels and new media platforms can be used to take advantage of the opportunities as they are cost effective. They will allow the campaign to target a specific audience with a low cost per click. The people will then share the information with others hence attracting new customers. Social media channels will also enable better customer services by allowing interaction with customers to answer their questions and obtain feedback. Loyal customers will be essential in helping the campaign reach new customers. Another advantage is that social media will increase inbound traffic for the campaign. New media platforms are an excellent way to increase this traffic as it reaches new customers by creating a broad audience. The more traffic there is, the more the number of customers visiting the Lane Bryant website.

Current Social Trends

The clothing and fashion industry is always changing, and it is therefore essential that the campaign and Lane Bryant to keep up and look ahead at customer trends. First, sustainability has become crucial, with companies able to recycle praised for their efforts to reduce waste. Social media is the place where the brand can be recognized for its efforts to ensure sustainability. Although it is not the most important thing that consumers look for in a cloth product, it is a massive concern for many people in the United States and globally. The other social trend is staying visible, whereby brands are competing to ensure they remain on top in with growth in followers, web visibility, and search visibility being crucial for the campaign (Tsimonis & Dimitriadis, 2014). To stay on top, the campaign needs to use influencer marketing, which seems to be the perfect way for the brand to remain visible. The other social trend is the rising popularity of nostalgia and revival. For example, twitter made several moments that reminded people of the past, like when famous celebrities are pictured wearing a jungle dress one of the high-profile dresses ever made. Looking back in time is a trend that the campaign should use to ensure it goes viral.

Brand Imaging Strategies

Social media has the power to improve the image of the Lane Bryant brand to enhance its connection with customers. It is essential to ensure that customers identify the brand even if it is the first time they see it on social media. It is about the feeling you give to customers, and it is achieved by building a steady approach in all the interactions they have with the product. The first brand imaging to consider is covering the basics of the brand. It involves having a constant bio, color palette, handle, and logo on social media and new media platforms. Lane Bryant should have a common thread in its profile that people recognize. The second strategy is an extension of visual branding. It means that the brand should have the same font and color reflected in the brand’s images, videos, and graphics. For example, if one visits the brand’s Instagram page, the pop color should be apparent to them. Consistency in posts will make customers aware of new posts, even without having to look at the logo (Tsimonis & Dimitriadis, 2014). The third brand imaging strategy is developing a marketing persona by determining the target audience. Persona identification helps to narrow down content ideas and to adjust the campaign accordingly.

Predict Future Trends

Future trends indicate that the brand should consider working with influencers as it will become more prevalent in the future. Women research social media before buying a product. Influencer marketing will, therefore, become more prominent in the future. Influencer generated 3% to 7% of digital media posts in 2018 (Gharde, 2016). However, the posts have increased to about 33%, and it is predicted that it will continue rising (Gharde, 2016). The use of models is also another future trend that is likely to generate a lot of reaction on digital media. For example, by hiring a top model to showcase the Lane Bryant brand and create posts, it is possible to trigger millions of reactions that will prompt customers to buy the product. It will make the brand to be among the topmost engaging brands on social media. Future trends also indicate that the brand should consider what real people want to wear and use it for the campaign. Lane Bryant should use models with real bodies on social media posts to attract more customers. Another future trend is that customers are ever connected, or they are already online and ready to purchase. It means that the brand should focus more on the brand and not the home page. The product page will become the landing page in the future.

Sample Copy

When using digital media, it is essential to come up with a creative write copy that may spark a conversation with consumers. On Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, crafts related to the brand standout. A sample copy that can be used by Lane Bryant is “the exciting thing about #partytime is that elegant look.” This approach is effective as it gives customers a chance to engage with the brand and identify with it. It shows that the brand cares about the consumers by showing love using witty replies. The copy also allows the brand to talk to customers in a casual way that is direct to the point. It provides a sense of being friendly rather than being a big corporate company. It also provides a sense of humor that is engaging to the customers. The creativity in the copy makes the content achieve its goal of attracting customers.

Return on Investment Report (ROI)

When carrying out a social media campaign, it is essential to evaluate whether the business is gaining anything out of it. It enables the brand to identify how the marketing efforts are benefiting it. Return of investment in digital media can be designed to measure the number of website visits, sales, calls, and email subscribers. Examination of metrics regarding tweets and likes cannot be used as a measure of return on investment as they are hard to monetize. The ROI for social media should account for the soft leads it generates. Digital media helps Lane Bryant build its brand identity. Soft leads exchange something valuable for email addresses. The precious item may be in the form of an eBook, white paper, or physical entity (Gould & Nazarian, 2018). The soft lead through email marketing develops to hard leads in the form of customers. Exchange of an email address for a product is typical in social media channels such as Facebook and Instagram. Social media ROI can be measured using built-in platform analytics tools. These tools track shares, likes, and engagements. They, however, do not show how social media actions transform into action, which happens on the brand’s website outside the media platform (Gould & Nazarian, 2018). The other way to measure ROI is by using google analytics, which is the most powerful tool. It shows the effects of social media actions and which platforms are contributing the most. It also indicates the most preferred content and how social activities lead to conversions. Network referrals measure ROI when using social media. It shows how many visitors the digital media bring in. The referrals can then be compared with the number of site visits the brand receives. Data hub activity shows how people are sharing, liking, commenting, and saving the firm’s content on various platforms. Landing pages show which content is receiving most reactions and how the brand website is receiving visits from social media referrals. Conversions show the social media site that results in the most conversions and the value of each conversion in terms of the dollar (Gould & Nazarian, 2018). Conversion measure digital media ROI by monetizing social efforts. The conversion tab helps to identify the social buttons being used in the site through plugins. Visitor flow shows the path taken by users as they move through the content on the digital media site. URL tracking allows the brand to identify the amount of traffic generated by the campaign. These measures will help Lane Bryant to calculate its ROI and discover the value of the digital campaign to the brand.

References

Gould, D. J., & Nazarian, S. (2018). Social media return on investment: how much is it worth to my practice?. Aesthetic surgery journal, 38(5), 565-574.

Gharde, A. A. (2016). Influence of Factors on Clothing Sales and its Future Trend. Journal of Textile and Apparel, Technology and Management, 10(2).

Tsimonis, G., & Dimitriadis, S. (2014). Brand strategies in social media. Marketing Intelligence & Planning.

Schivinski, B., & Dabrowski, D. (2016). The effect of social media communication on consumer perceptions of brands. Journal of Marketing Communications, 22(2), 189-214.

Hausmann, V., & Williams, S. (2016). 12 Measuring brand awareness, campaign evaluation, and web analytics. Digital and Social Media Marketing: A Results-Driven Approach, 279.

Harmon, J., & Reddy Best, K. (2016). Plus Is Equal?: Analysis of the Social Media Commentary of Lane Bryant’s Campaign.