Tag: Austin

Urban Outfitters blog has a knack for conversational posts and a wide-variety of content

This week I checked out the blog for notorious clothing store Urban Outfitters (UO). This blog has a simple title, called the “UO blog,” and is filled with cool music features, tons of hot topics, and a little bit of everything for the Urban Outfitters lover. The page has a clean layout that includes different categories such as shop, contest, and music, to name a few. Upon entering the page I immediately take notice of the social media icons which link the audience to their various other social media sites like Pinterest, Twitter, Facebook, and Tumblr. These icons shows the company cares about linking the audience with their other social platforms to keep us informed on all things UO.

                 

 

The first blog post I read was titled “What I am taking to Coachella”, which highlighted specific outfits the Founder/Creative Director for Love+Made would be wearing for the epic music festival. Pictures and links are provided throughout the post to further link the UO audience to the wide-variety of clothing pieces featured, which includes hats, a fanny pack, shoes, shorts, and a swimsuit. On the same page of this post I noticed a thorough list of cities in a column on the left hand side of the page. Being from Austin I clicked on the link and was taken to the recent UO blog postings from Austin. Recent posts included the SXSW 2013 festivities and the event UO hosted there with numerous pictures, including SXSW fashionistas and their daytime outfits. This is a great way for audiences to figure out what Urban Outfitters is up to locally and how they are participating within your area. The blog also contains a list of topics to click on in the left hand column, underneath the cities. Topics contain a little bit of everything and range from “Music Mondays” to “UO TV“. This gives the audience another great way to narrow down their desired content within the blog.

 

 

After browsing through the blog I noticed posts are short, to the point, and contain extremely relevant content (like upcoming events, recently released movies etc.). A funnier blog titled “Stoner Style: James Franco in Pineapple Express” has humorous captions about the male clothing featured in the film. Posts are not only funny, but edgy and include blunt language like “I love the shit she makes.” This shows that the brand is in-touch with their audience and knows the conversation that they desire. In my opinion not many brands could pull off blog-postings with profanity. Yet, Urban Outfitters seems to have such a hip-edgy tone, that the language goes well with their image. On another note it isn’t anything too vulgar or over the top and used to make blog postings sound more conversational. As you can tell, I think the profanity works well for UO.

Overall Urban Outfitters provides their audiences with an advanced fashion/music blog centric to their hipster audience.  The blog has numerous outlets to further connect viewers and has a good grip on their target audience. The blog contains a clean style and is visually appealing with tons of videos, links, and pictures to keep the viewer interested. I am glad I checked out the UO blog recently and found out the neat topics they are blogging about, as well as, browsed through their clothing selection. The UO blog aligns well with the brands fashion expectations. Just as their fashion the UO blog doesn’t disappoint.

 

Until next time….

Whole Foods Online Connections Are Whole Hearted

This past week we all celebrated Valentines day, single or not. And I thought that I should write a blog about a brand that I may truly love. Whole Foods.

I have learned that through growing up you acquire a love and loyalty towards certain brands. Only certain brands, for different reasons, are able to capture your attention. Once there is a formed relationship with you and a brand, aware of it or not. There is pressure on the brand to continue to make your partnership with them meaningful. With the progression of social media, brands have been able to facilitate meaningful interaction with audiences. These messages online can be interpreted in a variety of ways, but what else is apparent is that the brand must benefit the consumer to continue a loyal relationship.

As I said previously I love Whole Foods. Living in Austin, Texas I am spoiled by our central Whole Foods location. I can go on for days about how they maintain a dynamic store with a vast selection of food products and a little-bit of something for everyone. After a deep-dive into the past week of posting through their Facebook, Twitter, and online blog, I have a more thorough outlook on their presence within social media.

The first page I viewed was the Facebook page of Whole Foods Market. A timeline profile  greeted me with a picture of fresh fruits and green juice. Scrolling through the weeks Facebook posts, it is apparent that Whole Foods has completely mastered their Facebook connections. Posts include a variety of recipes, links to their company blog posts, new store location announcements, and value guides amongst many. Their Facebook posts are relevant to national holidays and events, listing Valentines and Mardi Gras recipes, and National Tortellini day. There are upcoming event and in-store promotions like “Parmageddon” and a milestone giveaway. The product giveaway prompts audiences to enter the contest through commenting on their blog. The majority of Facebook posts range from 60 to over 1,000 likes, and multiple comments despite some spam. Some comments even received direct interaction from the Whole Food’s Facebook account manager.

Next I traveled to Twitter to check out the engagement Whole Foods offers. Just like Facebook, their Twitter account has a wide range of effective interaction taking place consistently during the past week. The Twitter account seems to have more links to recipes and other posts like money saving tips, new store announcements, upcoming event announcements and blog posts. I also found some retweets, hashtags, and a weekly Whole Foods Market chat that includes a Q&A with Twitter followers. Some of the noted hashtags include #vegan #WFMchat and #WFMdish.  Whole Foods Twitter account, like Facebook, has produced meaningful connections with their audience of over 3 million followers.

The Whole Foods company website has a worthy blog that offers insight into ideas for relevant event like holidays, such as Valentines day, giveaway promotions, and finding value in money and health. They have a link to all social media networks they are active on, like Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest, Googleplus, and Instagram. Their blog posts don’t have tons of comments but since their audience is actively engaged with them on Twitter and Facebook this doesn’t detract at all from their online presence.

Since Twitter, Facebook, and the company blog are the best means for interacting with audiences I didn’t do a deep dive into their other social accounts, like Pinterest and Instagram. Overall Whole Foods in a champion in their social media space. The multiple posts on Facebook and Twitter that offer both audiences a wide range of connections, information, and overall brand benefits. The blog on their homepage continues to create ideas and solutions for audiences to further engage and benefit from their brand messages. Whole Foods should be the model for any brand that wants to fully learn how to connect with audiences via social media.

Until next time….