Building a Social Community

In a world where a good chunk of our socializing is online, the human need for interaction bleeds into our digital lives. Online communities can be formed over literally anything, from common interests to jobs to hobbies. Businesses are grasping social media by the horns and using it to their advantage to gain and engage with their customer base. Some have a reputation for answering back quickly, satisfying their consumers. Others have a reputation to answer sarcastically or reply with memes. And, some businesses have no online presence whatsoever.

I took a look at two brands that I believe showcase not only excellent social media presence but have also built a solid community.

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Facebook: 1.9m – Instagram: 826k – Twitter: 81.1k – Pinterest: 111.3k – Tumblr: Unknown & not active

Loft is a US-based chain store for women’s clothing. They have a heavy following on Facebook and Instagram, and a decent number of Twitter and Pinterest followers. Loft utilizes the #LoveLOFT and #LOFTimist hashtags in many of their campaigns and content. Both have thousands of posts (on Instagram) from customers showcasing their outfits. Loft has commented on a few of them asking for permission to post on their page or leaving positive remarks.

Loft grows its membership through typical channels like emails indicating mystery sales, rewards programs, and offering discounts for teachers. However, they also offer contests and have many “appreciate teachers” campaigns where educators are featured as content.

Loft often goes live on Instagram (I get the notifications frequently) to talk with fashion influencers or stylists. They will sometimes feature prominent fashion or teacher bloggers. A few times I have watched where they are giving a sneak peek of a new collection, and the viewers can ask questions about it (i.e. will that come in green?)

As far as responding to comments, Loft is pretty good at replying to both positive and negative. Below is an example of them responding to a very negative comment.

Unfortunately, their comment game seems to only be good on Instagram and Facebook. Twitter doesn’t have nearly as much activity as Insta and FB, but I did find the same person tweeting on several posts about their disappointment with Loft’s removal of the plus size line. All of these have gone unanswered by Loft, and it doesn’t create a good image.

Besides posting content, Loft will encourage their consumer base to donate to causes they partner with (usually something with teachers), and also for community service in general.

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Facebook: 23m – Instagram: 21.3m – Twitter: 337.5k – TikTok: 2.4m – YouTube: 110k – Snapchat: Unknown – Pinterest: 3.6m – Has own app

I’m new to the world of Shein but it has grown in popularity, fast. Shein is an online, fast-fashion company that services internationally. They focus on women’s clothing but also offer men’s, accessories, home goods, makeup, and much more.

I’ve seen people showing off their hauls all over TikTok and Instagram, which is perfect marketing for Shein. They rely heavily on user-generated content, and it works for them. They are also very generous with discounts (I’ve received a new discount at least three times since signing up a few days ago) and offer free shipping on Sundays.

They’ve recently created started SHEINX100K, which is a challenge that’s very similar to Project Runway. 30 designers are competing for a $100,000 prize. They’re showing this through their app, YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. They were also able to snag Christian Siriano as a guest judge.

Shein also releases new collections often and will follow along with big fashion events and create their own (such as Fashion Week).

@shein_official

SHEIN HAUL Teacher Edition🥰 @shelby.mcdaniel SHEIN SHEINgals SHEINhaul fyp ♬ original sound – SHEIN

For a company this massive and popular, they are awful with responding to comments on any platform. After scrolling through their social media for a bit, I have yet to see replies to negative or positive comments. There are quite a few people who have mentioned that they never received their package. This would be a prime opportunity for them to correct the situation.

Aside from never responding, they have a huge spam problem. Almost all of the comments on each Facebook post have a thread of fake profiles trying to sell something. Generally, you shouldn’t delete comments, but leaving hundreds of spam comments gives off the impression that no one is paying attention to the account, or they plain old just don’t care.