Lululemon Monitoring

Social Media Monitoring : Lululemon

I have been monitoring the company Lululemon for my social media monitoring project. Lululemon  has done an excellent job of using social media in it's marketing strategy. The brand employs many of the strategies that Li and Bernoff speak about in their book: Groundswell. 

Firstly, they understand the groundswell. Li and Bernoff state that "The groundswell has changed the balance of power". This is true, and lululemon has done an excellent job of recognizing and using this to their advantage. For example, they respond to tweets about their clothing, both good and bad, almost instantaneously. In the past, companies did not have to be as responsive to customer complaints or their bad experiences, both because there was no forum for them and because it was very difficult to follow up.  Now, individuals have the power to share their experiences, good and bad in a very public way, leading to a far greater incentive for the company to keep their standards high. 

Lululemon also engages in both listening to and talking to the groundswell. Their various social media sites are full of responses to comments and tweets made by the customers. This leads to the consumers feeling valued by the company, as well as becoming engaged in what the company stands for and is doing. As an international company trying to build a local presence, lululemon has done an excellent job. Each store has its own unique facebook page, and these pages let community members know about events happening in and around their community. 

There are tons of classes held in all of the stores. These classes are all free and taught by both community yoga ambassadors as well as store employees with an interest in yoga.In this way, lululemon is able to engage with the groundswell in their own communities, and also to have the benefits of being a large multinational corporation.

The company keeps standards high and customers happy by efficiently responding to tweets. The following are some examples that I feel demonstrate lululemon's excellent strategy in terms of twitter.

 This one encourages a dialogue about a costumer's experience of buying a new shirt and it's effects on her athletic endeavors. There are countless tweets and responses similar to this one on the twitter. I believe that they are essential to lululemon's marketing because they are far more than a clothing company. Their marketing strategy presents their clothes as a gateway to an active and fit lifestyle, and following up with how their clothing made this possible for individuals is an excellent way of mobilizing the groundswell, as well as finding new ideas for future marketing.

This tweet and it's response show lululemon's commitment to all customers, even temporarily dis-satisfied ones. It is important for a company to respond to all sorts of feedback, and their response shows this writer that her troubles are faced by many more out there, but that there is a way to get the new colors. This doubly benefits lululemon marketing, because not only is the customer a bit more satisfied and feels heard, they will now be on the website even more, increasing the probability of future sales. Additionally, if this individual feels so motivated by the product that they have tweeted the absence of a product, they will likely tweet when the product becomes available, leading to even more sales. 

The brand also engages the groundswell, in their local advocate campaigns. By engaging local athletes to become advocates and advertisers, they create a mutually beneficial message. The athletes get publicity in the form of the posters displayed around lululemon, as well as discounted clothing. The brand gains publicity through the athlete's endorsement of them to local communities. This is how I heard of lululemon myself. It is very engaging for communities to see their own members featured in stores, and provides a greater incentive to shop there. In this way, lululemon has very effectively engaged the groundswell to become a part of their brand. 

As previously mentioned, lululemon tends to have a fairly high rating on social mention.com. Here are some screen shots of lululemon on social mention. The first is from March 14, the second from March 20, and the third from March 27.
 

The strength is a little low, but seems to fluctuate a bit. I would recommend that lululemon increase their customer base to aid this problem. The sentiment remains consistently high, with few bad things being said about lululemon overall. Passion is fairly high, indicating that individuals who purchase lululemon clothing and are involved in the community tend to be very involved.

Additionally, as this graph by google of interest in lululemon as measured by searches on the web, they have a fairly steady web presence. 

Twitalyzer graph:

Lululemon's web presence is very solid, but I do have a few recommendations. They have tapped very well into the athlete community, but could benefit from tapping into other communities that would enjoy their clothing, but are not necessarily pursuing athletics at this moment. The in store classes are wonderful, but may be intimidating for those who are not practicing yoga or Pilates at the moment. 

I would advise a few things in terms of their Facebook pages. Their Facebook presence seems to be much lower compared to their Twitter presence. Although they seem to be doing a fair amount of posting on each page, these posts are viewed relativly infrequently. I would advise locating Twitter followers on Facebook to gain a larger following.

Additionally, as I have stated above, lululemon is far less known among non athletes than athletes, but additionally is not very well known among college athletes. Colleges and Universities, as  well as high schools have to outfit their athletes with warm ups. Lululemon could expand to this market and create an enormous amount of new business for themselves. 

In short, I think lululemon is doing an excellent job of marketing themselves. They combine local business mentality of engaging the groundswell by community with their power as a large company to provide an excellent product to many people. 

Kony??

I just watched the viral video about Joseph Kony. In addition to being emotionally moved by the images in this film, I was reminded of this class. The film documents the beginning and evolution of the Invisible Children movement. Invisible Children is a group formed to bring a voice to children in Central Africa who are affected by the violence of a group called the Lord's Resistance Army.

 The video informs us that this group is led by a man named Joseph Kony. Kony has committed a huge number of heinous crimes, including abduction, rape, and sexual slavery. He is the number 1 person on the International Criminal Court’s list.

            The video was made in order to spread awareness about the events happening in Africa. Invisible children has led a largely social media based campaign to raise awareness and to gather enough support to create enough of a presence for the government to act. The US government deployed troops to aid the Ugandan troops in finding Kony. This video acts as a way to ignite enough interest in the campaign to continue the support of US troops, and most importantly, US technology in Uganda. The video has a great man images that show just how the groundswell is a part of changing the decision of the largest institution around: government’s mind about funding. The video also employs an image of a triangle turned upside down to show how the groundswell has shifted the balance of power.

            The morning after watching this viral video, I found a great deal more about the subject on Facebook. It seems that the world had indeed taken notice of the attention the video had garnered, and a great deal of this was negative attention. Many who had been active in all along in this cause were very irritated that a viral video was spreading what many deemed faulty, baised information. 

Guest post: Joseph Kony is not in Uganda (and other complicated things)

Posted By Joshua Keating  Wednesday, March 7, 2012 - 5:18 PM   Share

Click here to see photos of the evolution of the LRA.

This counter post appeared here.

There was backlash at Invisible Children, for spending a great deal of their funding on video production when there are far greater uses for this capital. There were amusing backlashes, as well as harsh ones. Willy Wonka had a great deal to say on the subject. 

Among the criticisms of the video were the fact that Kony is not, and has not been in Uganda for many years, and the video led people to believe false information, the fact that the individuals in the video being activists were mostly white, leading to a belief that Africa cannot solve its own problems without the charity of the Western world, or "White Savior" and so many others. The viral video has sparked its own trail of comments and response videos, as well as accusations that there are many other warlords and international criminals receiving little to no attention. This article chronicles the social media backlash and offers solutions for the future. The Los Angeles Times also has published an article on the subject and its ramifications for activists.

Groundswell Part 3

The Groundswell Transforms

            In this third part of Li and Bernoff’s book Groundswell, the authors focus upon the transformation that occurs once the groundswell has occurred. In Chapter 11, the authors focus upon the necessary transformation within a company for a groundswell to occur. Companies must give up some of their control to reap any of the benefits of the groundswell. In a case example about the Dove Evolution video, the authors estimate the savings of the company at millions. 

The Youtube sensation, which has over 5 million views, is compared to the Dove Superbowl ad, which had about half of this amount and cost $2.5 million for a 30 second slot. 

The evolution video was free to Dove, and came as a result of the company’s embracing of the groundswell. This led to far lower costs and a much wider viewing audience. However, to attain these prizes, the company had to relinquish a great deal of control into the hands of its consumers.

            The authors also speak about the internal groundswell, or the groundswell within a company of its employees. It is “all about creating new ways for people to connect and work together, and to that end, it is about relationships, not technology.” As with the groundswell at large, it is the relationships that matter and are the driving force behind this groundswell, and as with the groundswell of consumers, the groundswell of employees allows individuals to connect and to better themselves and their products. The formation of a community allows each person to tap into others resources, therefore becoming much more effective. The authors speak about Blue Shirt Nation, or the community of Best Buy employees. 

Best Buy invested in their employees to build a technological network of email and forums that enabled employees to cut through a great deal of red tape and become far more effective, reducing frustration for both themselves, and for their customers.

            The groundswell is an infinitely powerful force, because those in the groundswell are the consumers. As the groundswell transforms and grows in power, it reshapes industry as we know it. Previously in history, only a select few could create the media, and those selling the product carefully crafted advertisements. As consumers grow more and more informed and savvy about products, they are becoming integral to corporations. The insights and communities formed by consumers can make or break products, and as such, these communities and the ideas that they form are being taken seriously in a way never thought possible or viable by executives everywhere. 

Lululemon Monitoring 1

 

I am going to be tracking the yoga clothing company Lulu Lemon. Lulu Lemon is a manufacturer of high-end yoga wear. The company is not just yoga wear, but tries to facilitate a healthy and fit lifestyle, as evidenced by their yoga workshops and goal setting. According to Social Mention, the most common search words for lululemon are 

           

Lululemon engages the community through an ambassador program: local athletes, instructors and role models in our lululemon store communities who embody the lululemon lifestyle. New lululemon ambassadors are chosen every year. Our ambassadors test our clothing to its limits and give feedback.

           

Lululemon has had a couple of important events in the last few months. Firstly, its CEO, Christine Day, has been named CEO of the year by Canada’s Globe and Mail business report. The Vancouver based company has experienced a great deal of growth since Day became CEO in 2008. “Lululemon saw its stock climb to almost $60 this fall, up over 280% from when Day joined the company, and a whopping 250% gain year over year” I am interested in what marketing is happening through social media to create that growth.

            Secondly, Lululemon bags and apparel have always been full of inspirational quotes and sayings. However, earlier this year, an Ayn Rand quote was used to great controversy. The bags, which read "Who is John Galt?" -- a phrase from "Atlas Shrugged" -- offended those who disagree with Rand's theories on unregulated capitalism and selfishness as a virtue. Lululemon responded to this criticism by stating that the quote was a favorite of the founder, and was meant to "great impact on his quest to elevate the world from mediocrity to greatness”. As this is also the company’s mission, and their pants sell for about $100, it is not overly surprising to see, but did create quite a controversy.

I am looking at the social media presence on February 14, Valentines’s day. Here are the social mention statistics on Valentine’s day.

They are fairly high, but nothing out of the ordinary as compared to a random day, like today, March 10th. 

Overall, there was no great change in the statistics from a holiday to an ordinary Sunday. The strength on the non – holiday is significantly higher, but the other measurements stay about the same.

The topic of most of the posts on both days are the clothes, specifically the newly released clothing.  With new tweets every two minutes, lululemon seems to have a fairly established we presence. Additionally, their website is very user friendly and well organized.

It includes its own blog, with the author's preferences and uses of her lululemon lifestyle documented. 

Lululemon has a very solid presence on Facebook. There is a brand page, which has 23,668 following, for general questions and enquires, as well as store specific pages. I looked at the Natick Collection page, which has store hours and location, as well as specific products that the employees think customers would enjoy. The wall has events and specials going on in the store, as well as news of new releases by the brand.

Their Twitter is even more popular:

@lululemon

Tweeting from the lululemon head office in Vancouver BC. Yoga. Love. Run. Peace.

Vancouver, BC · http://www.lululemon.com

                  27,719 TWEETS
110,654 FOLLOWING
191,213 FOLLOWERS

On their twitter are comments that range from announcements of new clothing to job opportunites. They do an excellent job of responding to tweets, as seen below. 

Their twitter also helps to grow a community by announcing new events that lululemon endorses 

There seem to be very few negative tweets or even mentions of lululemon. Overall, negativity comes from one of two places: the Ayn Rand quote, and the price of some of the clothing. 

Lululemon could potentially combat the Ayn Rand negativity by coming out with a new, very memorable slogan. Their bags are known for their words of wisdom, and new ones are always cropping up. 

However, overall lululemon is doing very well. Google charts their searches at 

showing a tremendous deal of growth. 

Lululemon has tapped into many key segments. They have run a very successful yogawear campaign, aimed primarily at individuals who are already active and are ready to take the next step with their fitness. Lululemon has also targeted moms especially with a great deal of its marketing. I think an excellent next target for them to hit would be college students. College students often have limited funds, so perhaps a line of more economic products could boost sales among this new demographic.