In this day and age, business is more commonly being conducted over the internet. This has proven to be an enormous stepping stone in helping companies to reach more of their customers while also engaging with them. Social media has provided many different opportunities for companies, marketing being one of the most common. Mashable defines social media marketing as “the process of gaining website traffic or attention through social media sites.”
An example of a company that is successfully using social media as a marketing tool is home improvement giant, Lowe’s. A case study surrounding Lowe’s, shows us how it ties social media into it’s marketing strategy. It is specifically using Pinterest to market it’s products to customers by creating boards that not only involve products photos, but also suggestions on how to use the products and DIY ideas. This gives consumers the opportunity to envision the products in real life scenarios, not just in the store, which could help push them to make a purchase decision. By investing it’s time in it’s Pinterest page, Lowe’s is building a new type of relationship with it’s customers, by expanding their customer service expertise to an online platform that can be accessed at anytime, by anyone, anywhere. A few boards worth mentioning are:
Lowe’s is taking it’s social marketing very seriously, it’s even added the Facebook, Pinterest and YouTube icons to its television commercials.
Lessons for Others
With the wide variety of social media platforms available, it’s important to focus and be really good at at least one of them. Doing a mediocre job across all platforms might not get you very far. With 3,621,133 followers on it’s Pinterest account, Lowe’s proves to be really good at pinning. The dedication that is shown to Lowe’s customers through this specific platform is a completely new form of marketing, which is changing the relationship between the customer and seller. There are most likely going to be many other breakthroughs like this for social media marketing, so it’s important that companies are always paying close attention to social media capabilities.
References
Case Study: How Lowe’s is Maximizing their Pinterest Marketing
Lowe’s Pinterest
Mashable
Submitted By: Jessica Kleiner, SMBP Student, University of Waterloo
To contact the author of this entry please email at: jessicansummers@hotmail.com
If you have concerns as to the accuracy of anything posted on this site please send your concerns to Peter Carr, Programme Director, Social Media for Business Performance.