JoshHolden.net
Marketing, Technology & Business 2.0
Walgreens: A Thoughtful Response
Aug 4th
Last week I analyzed Walgreens’ use of Facebook and how they were potentially harming their brand through the current strategy. Since then, I received a post comment from a Walgreens representative that was both thoughtful and honest–a comment that bodes well for Walgreens’ marketing department. Here’s the comment:
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Josh-
Actually, the 2 Walgreens pages that you are discussing were created by actual fans. We’re thrilled! We absolutely see that our loyal fans want to engage with us and we want to join the conversation.
You make valid points about a big brand, like WAG, needing to have a centralized strategy and brand ownership. As we dip our toe in the social media pool, today we solicited ideas from our fans on better ways to interact with them through facebook, twitter, etc.
I’d love it if you’d weigh in also. You clearly have some strong opinions and great ideas.
Thanks,
Emily
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First, to hear that all pages were fan created, is indeed exciting. It certainly says that people connect with the Walgreens brand and want to be brand champions.
Second, it’s heartening to hear that Walgreens marketers are aware of the cultural shift in social media and are admittedly aware that they need to “join the conversation.” That’s exactly what it is… a conversation.
The old methods for distributing a marketing message doesn’t exactly apply in the social media world. How can you parse a set message in honest, real-time conversations?
Third, Walgreens is “[soliciting] ideas from their fans on better way to interact with them.” A multi-billion dollar company is asking their online fans for advice? Ding-Ding-Ding. We have a winner folks. THEY GET IT!
While they may not have the perfect social media strategy in place YET, it’s obvious that they understand the principles and landscape. Now, it’s just a matter of planning and executing a strategy. And, while many people think it’s all about the strategy and execution, I personal think it’s the ethos you must understand. If you understand your “fans,” you will connect with them and they will respond in kind.
Finally, I think this is a bit of a lesson (at least for me). It’s so easy to think a huge company like Walgreens is negligent in how they use Facebook because surely they know what I know, but just don’t care about their online communities.
But maybe, just maybe, they simply need a little advise from us geeks living on the cutting edge.
You can follow Walgreens on Twitter: @Walgreens
And visit them on the web: www.Walgreens.com
Shout out to Table 16 Restaurant
Aug 2nd
This is a quick video shout out to Table 16, an amazing restaurant in Greensboro, NC, that I posted to their Facebook page. The vid pretty much sums it up.
Walgreens: Brand Pirates Welcome!
Jul 30th
Walgreens, the second largest drugstore in America, is pulling a two-face on Facebook and that says something about their online branding strategy: Brand Pirates Welcome!
In a world where everyone and their grandmother has a facebook profile and is continually having conversation online (including about brands and brand preferences), Walgreens looks to have two corporate Facebook pages and a few store/coupon pages. (see image)
Two corporate pages are in the lead: Walgreens (“retail”) with about 6,600 fans and Walgreens (“products”) with about 3,900 fans.
So, if I just went to Walgreens and had a great experience, and am now a “fan”, how do I share my support for the brand or my brand success story? Which page do I choose?
If you think this is unimportant, think again. Having a unified corporate branding strategy is of the utmost importance and that goes for executing online as well.
The sad thing is, this is pretty common even in organizations as large as Walgreens. Take CVS, Walgreens’ rival, as an example–poor things. They look to have four pages, none with more than 1,100.
So, what’s your point?
So, who created these pages? Who is managing them? I see little to no interaction from the page admin themselves, and multiple post from people talking shit about the brand.
Large brands must have a central person within their marketing division responsible for emerging marketing channels. They would consolidate these brand-oriented communities growing online and open dialog with those discussing your brand. Without anyone could steal even the most powerful brand and do serious harm even with benign intentions.
Pandora’s Banner
Jan 15th
Recently I’ve become a big fan of Pandora, a new style of customizable streaming internet radio.
The strange thing is, their banner ad links never work in Safari on the macs I’ve tested. They just keeps trying to load and eventually times out. They work fine in Firefox for mac and on IE and Firefox for PC. Strange. I wonder if others are having this issue.
