The Monthly Retail Social Spotlight: Silpada Designs, Boot Barn, 1-800-PetMeds

The Facebook pages for Silpada Designs (174K likes), Boot Barn (590K likes) and 1-800-PetMeds (110K likes) are full of color, variety, warmth and humor. All three brands have a lot of fun with their fans on the social platform, and while not all of their posts succeed, they're earning — and sustaining — engagement.

Over the past month, jewelry retailer Silpada Designs used more than a dozen different kinds of posts on Facebook, including product "showdowns" (bracket-style for March Madness), catalog previews, invitations to host parties, news items (e.g., updates from its national conference and recognition of editorial coverage of the brand), links to blog posts, photos of celebrities spotted wearing Silpada jewelery

and content from Pinterest. It posted a couple times just for fun as well. Its April 5 status simply read, "SMILE … it's Friday!" and was accompanied by a photo of lipstick and the in-image message, "A smile is the best makeup a girl can wear."

Silpada also hosted a major promotion: "SpRING Fever Ring-a-Day Giveaway" (March 19 - April 2). Daily posts about the giveaway were informative ("here's how to enter"), attractive (featuring bright, colorful photos) and conversational. The brand always included text that asked for engagement. For example, "What is your fave Silpada ring?" or "'Like' if you love a pop of color!" One of the brand's most popular posts for the month — its "Queen for a Day Ring" — was part of the giveaway, earning 7,788 likes, 527 comments and 536 shares.

Boot Barn's Facebook posts are as varied as Silpada's. The Western wear and work gear seller's repertoire includes rodeo updates (along with action shots), country

music news, old black-and-white photos, caption contests, featured products (e.g., the brand's jean selection), posts for fun (e.g., "Share if you agree … Surgeon General's Warning: Horses are expensive, addictive and may lead to periods of extreme euphoria"), store openings and ribbon cuttings, boot facts, discounts, customer photos, links to editorial coverage of the brand, historical trivia, and one-liners from Westerns. In addition, Boot Barn's Timeline promoted its own contests (a Battle of the Bands, a Pinterest board challenge and an Instagram photo contest), its own sweepstakes (a trip to the CMA Music Festival) and an Ultimate Cowgirl Contest sponsored by Wrangler.

One of Boot Barn's most popular posts for the month was an image from someecards ("National Let's Skip Work To Go Ride Day"), which the brand posted on April 5 with this update: "'Like' this post if you'd rather be riding."

It earned 4,632 likes and 1,529 shares. Another popular feature for the brand is a challenge to fans to guess the famous country music singer in a series of blurry photos. An April 12 photo of Blake Shelton earned not only 2,544 likes, but also 3,387 comments (guesses).

Like Boot Barn, which concentrates its content on horses, cowboys and country music, 1-800-PetMeds has a clear focus as well: cute pet pics with funny captions, heartwarming quotes, product suggestions, coupon codes, holiday greetings, tips from veterinarians, links to articles on the brand's website, adoption info, etc. The constant? Cute pet pics. But much like Boot Barn, 1-800-PetMeds still manages

diversity. In addition to the varied topics already mentioned, it posts mobile apps for pet parents, Q&As with a holistic vet, trivia challenges, caption contests, product recalls and just-for-fun content like "What would your pet do with opposable thumbs?" Even these posts are accompanied by images.

The photos from 1-800-PetMeds aren't only the focal point of the brand's Facebook presence, they're the best pictures of any pet brand we monitor. The extremely creative shots include "photobombs" by animals (hysterical and trendy), a pug

wrapped in a white towel riding in a bike basket like E.T., a smiling dog with a cheeseburger filling its mouth (captioned "the very picture of happiness") and a half dollar-sized turtle looking ferocious and warning, "I'm a ninja."

Takeaways this month:

• It's possible to have too much of a good thing. Throughout the month, these three brands managed some very engaging posts, but dozens of posts from each also had minimal response. While Silpada posts once or twice a day, Boot Barn posts three times a day (mainly weekdays), and 1-800-PetMeds posts an overwhelming four to six times a day. Through you should experiment to find your brand's ideal pace, many (Edgerank Checker, Social Bakers and Social Media Today, for example) say the right frequency for brands to post on Facebook is about once a day, citing the principle of diminishing returns after that. Carefully monitor "how busy" your Timeline is in other ways as well. Post diversity can be a good thing, but without a unifying principle like Boot Barn's Western theme, it can cause confusion — as can promoting too many activities and contests simultaneously.
• It's not all about brand posts. Don't overlook engagement that happens beyond a brand's own posts. On April 9, Silpada reminded fans that they could upload Silpada-branded cover photos. The post itself received only 160 likes; however, the gallery of cover photo options (available via a Facebook app) shows the photos have been added over 1,700 times. When Silpada posted about its Silpada "Jewelry Organization" Pinterest board, fewer than 625 Facebook fans liked the post, but the board itself has nearly 5,000 followers. Another place to look for engagement? "Posts by others." When 1-800-PetMeds announces "Featured Pets of the Week," only a few fans like the posts. But "behind the scenes" in "posts by others," dozens and dozens of fans post pet photos for the brand to consider.
• Don't limit creativity to Facebook. It's interesting to note that via Twitter (@SilpadaDesigns, @bootbarn, @1800PetMeds), these brands don't seem as engaging. Got interesting updates on Facebook and great images? Without duplicating content, infuse tweet copy with the same energy and take advantage of options like Vine to add more visuals. Similarly, Boot Barn's Pinterest boards have little of the personality that is clear on Facebook. Silpada Designs does a little better on Pinterest, but its boards are extremely heavy on product promotion. Why not add fun content too, like the popular "Smile It's Friday" feature from Facebook? Like Silpada, 1-800-PetMeds has some of the right ideas on Pinterest, but it doesn't go as far as it could. Imagine, for example, how fond pinners would be of an animal-themed "photobomb" board!

Carolee Sherwood is the conversation manager at Media Logic. Carolee can be reached at csherwood@mlinc.com.