The Case for Social Media (M1A1)

1-800-FLOWERS chose to meet their customers where they were, an act that required them to not only establish a Facebook presence (988,670 likes strong) but also to interact with customers more – including allowing purchases online through their Facebook page.

Going beyond contests and giveaways they’ve established a range of products that could be purchased directly from their news feed, effectively integrating themselves into their customers social lives. This strategy is more effective than referring transaction inquires back to their website or storefronts due to the ease of access and their higher profile –  they’ve eliminated the ‘out of sight out of mind’ variable and engaged their customers in a way that positions them as the obvious choice. The most challenging aspect of this social media outreach effort has been keeping pace with changes that Facebook effects periodically, something that is well worth the effort to capture that social media market share. Interestingly enough 1-800-FLOWERS indicated in an interview with Bazaarvoice that their Facebook audience skews more female than their general customer makeup – further indication that they’ve effectively maximized their social media presence to capture the attention of a new range of clientele.

Additionally 1-800-FLOWERS have used this communication platform as a portal to encourage customer feedback on product offerings through campaigns encouraging viewers to ‘like’ the arrangement they’d want to receive and as a method to discuss customer service concerns in a transparent setting. Dragonfly Effect commends them on their multi-pronged customer engagement efforts stating “social media marketing is only as good as customer engagement”, something that 1-800-FLOWERS has proven very effective at.