Facebook: The Tale of Two Retailers
It was the best of campaigns and it was the worst of campaigns… It was Target vs. Walmart
Back in the summer of 2007, two mighty retailing giants, Target and Wal-Mart began waging marketing campaigns on Facebook. What were the results? Well the campaigns are still going on, but by March 2008 Wal-Mart has gathered 116 fans and Target has 20,321 fans. Why the huge difference? What went right for Target and wrong for Wal-Mart?
Wal-Mart
Wal-Mart has not had acceptance on Facebook, partialy because the retailer giant is widely known as the practical shopping store with discount pricing. They tried to position themselves as the stylish shopping place with their “Roommate Style Match” campaign in an effort to connect with college students. They presented themselves as the fashion and style store. This was viewed as Wal-Mart straying from their core values and being unauthentic.
Wal-Mart decided to restrict comments and feedback. Comments were restricted to “wall posts” instead of having discussion boards. This was viewed as one-way marketing.
People are also put off by their controversial policies such as their anti-union stance and their impact of stores on local businesses and local wages.
The result was a flood of negative wall posts that quickly spread to many blogs creating a strong controversy.
Target
Target took a different approach than Wal-Mart. They created their “Dorm Survival Guide” to help students who found themselves in a new situation of worry and anxiety of moving off to college. Their approach was not to market products, but to promote social interaction with discussion groups on topics such as recipes, design advice, and topics students were interested in.
The communication was not in typical corporate talk, but in everyday informal student vernacular. Words such as “awesome” were common. Students were encouraged to swap out photos and videos with their own dorm room pictures. The result was an environment that encouraged interaction and discussion.
Target product promotion was low key. Their focus was on offering aid. This created advocates who would tout the Target brand.
So what were the differences? The Wal-Mart page looked more like an interactive ad while Target’s was much more inviting. Target promoted discussions, while Wal-Mart restricted discussions. Wal-Mart came into their campaign surrounded in controversy over their policies. In the end, Target succeeded connecting with college students, while Wal-Mart has failed.