The Monitoring Report #2: Target

In my first monitoring report, I talked about my client " Target" successfully use official website, face book, twitter, and Youtobe to get connection with customers. I provided their different active data of each social media tool; through tracking website, social mention, google insight, icerocket to see people's attitude and brand's market popularity about Target. And also conclude the ways and tones when Target communicate with customers.

This time I will observe each social media tool of Target particularly and detailed to see their social media development level and current situation. And summarize the goals of Target, and some of my suggestion for Target.

Target official website

I use compete.com tracking website to see target,com 's popularity, and rank. It also provide the monthly and yearly visit contrast. It helps to analyze their popularity goes up or down, and based on this data to opportune their content and strategies on website. Through the line chart we can see different peak visit in a period of time. In November and December the number of visitors increased for almost 20 million. That also shows that the approximate level of selling performance.

Twitter

As I showed in last post, Target has the pleasant tone to communicate with the customers. No matter the customers complains, feedback, and advices, this kind interactive communication could increase customers' brand identity and conflict understanding.

Through the icerocket.com, we can see the Target twitter rate is 3.4posts/hour. If it doesn't mean anything we can compare with the Walmart twitter rate is 40 posts/mins. It means as the biggest competitor, Walmart could cause more discussion, discussion could attention and market popularity. Target need more fun posts to increase discussion.

Blog

Sometimes discussion on blog are deeper than discussion on twitter, because people are taking more time on this topic.

Through icerocket, on March28, Target post rate is 57.63 per day, connect with the line chart we can see post peak, to see the Target news on the Peak day, we can analyze which action and news could cause discussion. On March 14, Target has daily deals, and a talk show. So maybe that’s the reason to have the peak posts.

Regional interest

This chart shows brand popularity in different region, it is also could be regarded as the potential market. Target has stores in U.S., Canada, and Australia. Depend on this number and the economic data of these countries, Target may consider to decide which is the next market location.

 

Target goals

Those datas are like branches of a tree, all these branches and leaves' exciting come from their origin---tree root. What is tree root? What are the Target's aims to manage social media market? I will solve this question now.

Get connection with customers

I think the nature of social media is fast, convenient and cheap. So social media world is irresistible market for brands to get connection with the customers, attract them, affect them and guide them. I think it's a kind of soft relationship, use twitter facebook to communicate with customers advice, complain, and ideas exchange of products, to affect customers day by day.

Know the market plus save money

Customers' opinions are most important for the company. All the big companies need spend human and material resource to know what the customers think. Social media is the platform to do this job, only more saving and quick. Here is examples of customers leave feedback on tweitter, and Target answere .

Improve company itself

Improvements could happen in many ways. Improve by the customers' feedback, through compare with competitors to adjust social media strategies.

To monitoring the competitors

Monitoring have two direction, you can see people's feedback about yourself, you can also monitoring competitors. To see the different advantages and disadvantages could find the breach to win more in the market.

This chart shows that Target also is the Walmart list competitor.

Advices

make the twitter and facebook attractive, to post some connection knowledge and interesting personality test, to attract customers. For example, when new facial product comes out, post some product based background knowledge like how to fade dark circles..

Based on the popularity rate, to find out which kind of topic, customers like most.

Base on the interests over time, to see the biggest opportunities during the year is November and December. To set more discount activities to sell more in this season, during the off-season to see the potential consumption, to set theme month, to attract different target customers. Through twitter and facebook to collect ideas could cause sensation. 

Compare data with competitors, to find the breach to win the market. Find the lowest data they have compare and consider your market strategies to make a plan to win.

Conclusion

In this monitoring progress, I learned more deeply of how to use social media to do more things for business and for personal. In this report I present the data and analysis I found about my client, their current social media situation, social media strategies, each social media tool’s popularity, and people’s attitude about Target, and the trends. And based on those data I see their goals and try to think deeply to help the client to do better in social media world.

The midterm monitoring report #1: Target

Why: the reason of why do i choose Target to be the monitoring client is because Target is the second-largest discount retailer in the U.S., just behind super Walmart. People have studied and talked about the NO.1 Walmart lots of times with data and market analysis and their influence. i want to find out how is going on the NO. 2, does it have the change to exceed the Walmart, it it is keeping growing? I'd like to go shopping in Target, and I have the interests to learn more about Target, especially in social media world. What are their social media strategies? Do they work well to expand Target influence? I will find out..

Targetcorporation:

Target is an American retailing company headquartered in Minneapolis, Minnesota. It's the second largest discount retailer in United States . The company is ranked at number 33 on the fortune 500 of 2010.

Founder: George Dayton             

1902: Dayton Dry Goods               

1969: Dayton Hudson

2000: Target

Revenue          US$ 67.390 billion(FY 2010)

Operating income   US$ 4.495 billion (FY 2010)

Employees        355,000 (FY 2010)

Market expansion:

-By the end of 2000, Target expanded to 977 stores in 46 states.

-In 2000, it separated its e-commerce operation from its retailing division,     called-target.direct

-In 2006, it expanded to 1488 units and sales reached $5914 billion.

-On March 4, 2009, Target expanded outside of U.S. continent. 2 stores in Hawaii and 2 stores in Alaska.

-On Jan 13, 2011. Target announced its expansion into Canada. It will open 100-150 stores in Canada by 2013.

Market Strategy:

Target corporation has many different forms of store. Like target, a chain of discount store carrying clothing, shoes, jewelry, healthy, beauty, electrotonic products..etc. Target Great-land, a chaine of general merchandise superstores, carry a large  selection of general merchandise. Super Target, a chain of hypermarket, and feature double entrance on one-story stores. And also City Target and Urban store

Social media monitoring

On Target's official web site, there are some social media links like Target twitter, Target face book, and Target Youtobe channel. These are the tools for target to connect consumers. And also through some website like Addicttomatic.com, IceRocket.com, Social Mention .com.and Gooogle Insight.com .I can monitoring Target social net work's growing.

This data I found in social mention.com on March 20, it shows when people talk about Target, most of them are without positive or negative trend. As I found in other web site, people who are talking about Target are most about the coupons, discount, and gift card. Maybe there are number of people talked about Target's revenue or strategies, they are in the neutral attitude. Compare with the date I collect on March 14( positive 156, neutral 448, negative 25), there are no big differences. There are more positive talks because on that day, Target provide lots of discounted new products.

This chart shows the key words people use when they talk about Target, compare with the ones in March 14( founded 55, symbion 5, phones 4, free 4, goal 4,.. Etc) we can analyze the data are more active on March 20. Comparing people talk about some brand products, people on March 20 talk more about the economic data.

Positive and Negative

Which part of Target people like, and which part people are complaning, through some key words, the managers could overall have the expression.

Negative                                                                                                              Positive

 

There are also provide these talks are mainly from which tools, this is one of the most important one,Target managers will see which social media work well to rise people's attention or participation. Compare the data in Mar 14, the twitter, blog, flicker, youtobe are the stable channels.

On Addictomatic.com and IceRocket.com, the top topic are about new products ads, target feature video, target commercial, gift cards, and target market plan or financial news.

Google Insights provides some chart about comparing Target with their competitors' social media activity.

We can through this chart see which topic people are most concern about Target.

Target on Twitter:    299,929 followers by 3/19

                                 299,117 followers  by 3/14

                                 5851   tweets

Target Twitter interact with the flowers, the followers feedback, complain,advice, and share intersting ads with Target.

Target on Face book:  10,015,088 likes 3/19

                                      9,962,475 likes 3/14

Target update new post almost everyday, mainly about their new coming products, coupons, or some links to know more about the products.

Target Youtobe: Target owns its own Youtobe Channel

Subscribers 7507

Video views 23,545,395

Upload video 419

Target featured video 63

Current TV spots  98

Web Exclusives  24

Favorite video   9

Holiday ads     61

Video has its vision tension to attract people's attention to see Target, there are also some famous people take part in some activities in Target. People like to watch them, it's a kind of successful advertising propagate. This is the most popular video in Target Channel, David Beckham sold perfume in Target.

Overall, this report explains the reason of why I choose Target as client; Introduction of Target; Target market stategies and expansion; Target's interaction with social media users; tracking the cutomers' attitude of Target..i will keep monitoring to see if Target's social media influnce is expanding or not.

Connect with Your Employees Inside the Company through Groundswell

The first 10 chapters explained how to get connected with the customers step by step， through listening to the groundswell, talking with the groundswell, energizing the groundswell, and embracing the groundswell. these are all about attract customers outside of the company; chapter 11 and 12 are talking about something happened inside the company, company’s transform through groundswell and communication through groundswell inside the company.

I have more feelings about get connection with employees inside of the company. “They are a natural constituency for social connections.” (p234) Employees are actually a part of the company strategy to win the market; employees are the ones to give you inspiration to make company goals, they are the ones to work for your goals, they are the ones to directly get connection with the customers, and they are the ones to show your enterprise’s spirit and figure. So employees and employers’ relationship like water and fish, they live with each others.

We can see the importance of employees, so in the groundswell environment, companies need to pay more attention on the internal communication, through the groundswell to give employees the platform to get connection with each other; express skills, feelings and even stress internal the companies. These will make the companies more comfortable for them to work; they will feel respect and will get the sense of belonging.

So it’s a good idea to pay attention on groundswell work in the internal of the company. But what the groundswell can work for this? Like internal net, chatting room can allow better participation and an overall better atmosphere in the workplace. Groundswell can also be used as tool in which it can effectively bring an employer closer to employees. And most important, because of the platform is used to share the ideas; it could cause some creative ideas. They employees communicate each others and come out with brilliant ideas, before it showed up to the decision making desk, all the employees who are participating in the discussion will contribute their ideas about feasibility, practicality. And it would save the “new idea costs”.

We can’t ignore the power of internal participation.  When employees of a company can share ideas with top management, they feel more attached in helping a business succeed; this gives those who are in low rankings of the company the feeling that they are worth more to the company then in the past, they are important that cased motivation.

I have been thinking what build great success. It must require good inside various elements of “chemical reaction”, and the strong outside attract strategy and campaign.