Social Media Case Study Team P.B. Co. Pachia Xiong and Bailey - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

Social Media Case Study Team P.B. Co. Pachia Xiong and Bailey Budnik

Background ● Women’s clothing store ● Created in 2006 ● Connected with American Eagle ● Focuses on body positivity ● In 2014 they launched #AerieReal, eliminating retouching from their photos and social media pages.

Company Background ● Found by Roy Raymond, and his wife Gaye, in San Francisco, California, on June 12, 1977 ○ Was created out of embarrassment of going to a store and feeling out of place. ■ Felt like an intruder ○ “Ugly” selection ● Studied lingerie for 8 years before launch ● First store was in Palo Alto, CA. ● Named was after Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom to associate with the Victorian era ● The company went bankrupt in 1983 ○ So the rebranded to focus on women ● Rebrand to focus and do what a woman wants

Overview of Website: Comparative Analysis ● Aerie website is a tab amidst the American Eagle page ● organized effectively and displayed their promotions successfully ● There are only embedded links to American Eagle’s social media accounts even though Aerie possesses their own separate ones ● Hinders people’s ability to connect with the brand across platforms since it challenges the user to spend more time looking for their accounts.

Comparative Analysis - Aerie Twitter ● Google Plus ● 105,000 followers ○ ○ 231 followers Average 50 Likes/10 RT’s ○ Very few audience ○ Snapchat ● engagement Posts behind the scenes with designers and ○ Instagram ● models ○ 746,000 followers Facebook ● 25,000 likes/100 comments ○ 1,843,078 Likes ○ ● Aerie Blog Average 30 likes/1-2 comments ○ Posts same content as ○ Tumblr ● Tumblr Promotes positive lifestyle with reblogs ○ ● YouTube Wanelo ● 9,879 followers ○ 2,716 followers ○

● Content is the same across these four platforms ● Frequency of posts: daily ● Content include media of some sort, either a picture, gif, or video, as well as a short caption that relates to either a promotion or social convention that their audience would recognize. ● Does very little interacting with customers though ○ Apart from Twitter where they regularly like buyer’s positive comments ● Does not show complaints ● Tailors content to time of year and relatability to audience ● Continuously reinforces the brand’s message of positivity Bailey Budnik

Twitter Vs. Facebook Posts ● Facebook has 10 times amount of followers ● Same amount of interaction ● This is one area Aerie needs to work on

● By putting a face to their movement, their brand becomes more relatable ● Audiences are now moving towards Snapchat in recent years ● However, their YouTube channel is not fully optimized ○ Only posts about once a week ○ Receives average of 1,000 views per video ○ Does not share YouTube videos on other platforms such as Facebook or Twitter

Overview of Victoria’s Secret Website ● Very bold page with subtle and mature colors to attract women ○ Their Pink line is brighter and more colorful for Teens ● Purpose of the page is clearly stated upon homepage ○ Selling the product, specials and the models ● Organized tabs on the to portion of the website ● Lots of visuals throughout website about promotions and models ● Social media links on bottom right corner ○ Facebook ○ Instagram ○ Pinterest ○ Twitter ○ YouTube

Facebook, Instagram and Twitter Social Media Type Followers Average Likes Interaction Facebook 27.3m 2603 0.04% Instagram 57.5m 108,090 0.0009% Twitter 11.3m 811 0.12%

Facebook, Instagram and Twitter ● Same content posted on each platform ○ Posts are every few hours ● Each platform differed through usage per social media platform ● According to Dream Grow… 1. Facebook 4. Twitter 2. YouTube 5. Reddit 3. Instagram 6. Pinterest ● Contents mainly focused on product and models wearing product. ○ Models are the “ideal thinness” ○ Does not have a positive body overview, but does focus on confidence and sexiness

Pinterest YouTube ● Boards created with different ● Second lowest followers themes and product theme ○ 1.3million subscribers ■ 14% interaction ● Hard to tell activeness ■ 192.2k views (average) ● Not used often ● Why is this the most successful? ● Only 435, 881 followers ○ More accessible ● A topic that not many people ○ Can be posted via other platforms to attract more viewers tend to use Pinterest for ○ More focused on models and their lifestyle, prepping for runnways, and more visuals of models

Overall ● The social media practices of Aerie and Victoria’s Secrets were investigated. ● Both these companies promote themselves mainly to women audiences. ● As well as investigating their marketing strategies, their efforts on creating body positivity through their social platforms was also looked at. ● Primarily, each company’s website was analysed, evaluating their overall theme and how they infuse their other social platforms onto the website. ● Then, Aerie’s Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Blog, YouTube, Snapchat, and Wanelo was inspected. ● Victoria’s Secret’s Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Pinterest, website, and YouTube accounts was overlooked. ● Aerie highlighted their body positivity campaign across all platforms while simultaneously targeting audiences for promotional marketing. ● To enhance Aerie’s social media effectiveness, they need to increase audience interaction. Even though they possess many followers across various platforms, the company ceases to gain likes, comments, and shares from their posts. ● However, Aerie’s Instagram proves the most success for the brand as it encompasses their positive marketing strategies and is received by audiences well. ● Through Victoria’s Secret’s social media platform their objective was made clear through investigation of their content and it’s “sexiness” portrayal to their audience.

References Andsager, J. (2014). Research Directions in Social Media and Body Image. Sex Roles , 71 (11-12), 407-413. doi:10.1007/s11199-014-0430-4 Behm-Morawitz, Elizabeth, Lewallen, Jennifer, “Pinterest or Thinterest?: Social Comparison and Body Image on Social Media” (2016). Social Media + Society. Retrieved from http://journals.sagepub.com.proxy.uwec.edu/doi/abs/10.1177/2056305116640559 Chock, Makana J., Kim, Ji Won, Body Image 2.0: Associations between Social Grooming on Facebook and Body Image Concerns” (2015). Elsevier. Retrieved from http://www.sciencedirect.com.proxy.uwec.edu/science/article/pii/S0747563215000217 Diedrichs, Phillippa C., Fardouly, Jasmine, Halliwell, Emma, Vartanian, Lenny R., “Social Comaprisons on Social Media: The Impact of Facebook on Young Women’s Body Image Concerns and Mood” (2017). Elsiever. Retrieved from http://www.sciencedirect.com.proxy.uwec.edu/science/article/pii/S174014451400148X Dupré, E. (2017). American eagle outfitters and aerie give customers the gift of chatbots. DM News, 39 (1), 12-13. Retrieved from https://search.proquest.com/docview/1869197237?accountid=14790

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