Social Lives #3 | Lush is 'switching up social'// Jobs from ESPN, Love Your Local Market and Divadi // Stop being added to WhatsApp groups // Mika
LUSH IS 'SWITCHING UP SOCIAL'
Earlier this week, Lush announced that the UK arm of their business would be stepping away from social media. Instead, any customers with queries about their products would be directed towards their website, email and customer care line . A statement from the company said that they'd made this decision because 'increasingly, social media is making it harder and harder for us to talk to each other directly. We are tired of fighting with algorithms, and we do not want to pay to appear in your newsfeed.' Instead, the company will be looking at ways in which they can place social 'back in the hands of our communities.'
There's been no real clarification on what this will look like yet but many are anticipating it will mean more content from 'personalities' within the business and amplification of their website, possibly adding user forums (well, the 90s are very in at the moment) as well as a greater emphasis on influencer marketing.
As always happens with this kind of news, social media professionals had a field day. A quick look at the comments under Lush's Twitter announcement revealed all sorts of industry experts - and more than one self-professed ' social media guru' - advising them that perhaps this wasn't the best approach for such a large company to take and perhaps they should focus more on creating great content rather than just blaming the algorithm. Many also speculated that the backlash from their anti spy cops campaign last year had led them to take this decision.
The response from the influencer community was more sympathetic to Lush's decision. Like them, many feel that their content - which they've spent hours creating and tailoring to their specific audiences - has been negatively impacted by the algorithm changes implemented by Facebook and Instagram, meaning that less people see their posts. There seems to a growing emphasis upon the importance of blogs as a portfolio for influencers's work, rather than solely relying on social media.
It's certainly an interesting development but I don't think that we're suddenly going to be seeing a wave of big brands deciding to quit social. Most are aware that you can't solely rely on organic content and that a well thought out paid strategy needs to be in place if you want to remain relevant. In Lush's case, it appears as though they weren't running any paid media behind their posts. It can also be argued that they had too many different accounts under one large brand umbrella, diluting their reach. One of the things I've learned from managing brands where various different departments all want their own social media accounts is that consistency is key. If they're all saying different things then your audience tends to go elsewhere.
It's also going to be interesting to see the approach Lush take towards influencers. They've always been known for interesting - if at times, controversial - campaigns and there's real scope for them to get more involved at a grassroots level, working alongside activists and community groups they feel can amplify Lush's brand goals. However, influencers can't (and shouldn't be expected to) help out with customer service queries or provide a brand with backup when a crisis occurs on social. If this happens, what will their approach be? Will their marketing team jump in and respond to comments? Or will they just ignore it and hope it goes away?
What's noticeable is that the North American side of the business isn't shutting down their social channels, which I predict will cause a world of pain for the poor community manager(s) who are going to be telling confused British customers that they can't help them with their complaints. Even if they're two different businesses under the same brand umbrella, that can be a difficult thing to convey in 280 characters to someone who just wants to know where they can buy a rose scented glitter bath bomb. Consumers - particularly those in the 18-35 category that Lush are targeting - tend to be more inclined to turn to social to voice complaints and queries than pick up a phone or write an email.
Lush haven't said what this will mean for their social media team but I sincerely hope that they've put plans in place to integrate them into the wider digital side of the business (and provided them with the appropriate training) rather than just making a whole heap of people redundant because they can't be bothered with Facebook anymore.
Some have said that Lush will soon see the error of their ways and inevitably come back to social. Whatever happens, this is certainly an interesting move and one I'll be keeping a close eye on over the next few months.
What do you think of Lush's decision? Let me know your thoughts by tweeting me at @christinamcmc
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JOBS BOARD
Into your minimalist music? Music website Trommel are currently recruiting a Head of Social. This is a remote working role (hooray!) but you'll need both a good knowledge of both social media and the music genre to be considered.
This social media manager role is part-time (10 hours a week), meaning that you could juggle it around other commitments. It's a remote working role, although you will have to be in London for monthly meetings.
Based in the North West of England? Love Your Local Market want to hire a freelance social media assistant for a five week campaign. Some evening and weekend work will be required.
Divadi are a vegan fitness shoe brand and are looking for a freelance digital marketing specialist to work alongside them for three months.
Carol Hayes Management & BEAUTII are looking for a social media freelancer to work across both companies at their offices in Camden Town. You'll need to be skilled in copywriting and paid social media campaigns, as well as have an interest in all things fashion and beauty. To apply, send your CV to jodie@carolhayesmanagement.co.uk
ESPN are looking for a homepage editor to work from their offices in Hammersmith. This isn't a strictly social media role, but you'll certainly need a strong knowledge of all things social to apply.
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TOOL OF THE WEEK: Timing is Everything
Twitter's never been the best social media tool when it comes to data analysis, but kudos to them for launching Timing is Everything which seems like it will be genuinely useful to marketers. Timing is Everything displays historical data showing when audiences are on Twitter watching and engaging with video. This data highlights the best time(s) to Tweet video content with an aim to maximize engagement, conversation, and viewership.
Twitter are keen to state that this doesn't just show when your followers are watching your videos, instead it shows the peak times when everyone is watching videos on the platform. So, if your brand is looking at posting out more short-form video content, this is great thing to utilise. As someone who can get extremely geeky over data, I'm certainly looking forward to using this on forthcoming client campaigns.
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IN THE NEWS:
Fed up with random people adding you to their crappy MLM WhatsApp groups? Here's how you can prevent that.
"The golden age of YouTube — the YouTube of a million different creators all making enough money to support themselves by creating videos about doing what they love — is over."
Is Facebook listening to you? The answer is No, but to quote the platform's favourite relationship status update, 'it's complicated.' (For a fuller investigation into this, listen to Reply All's episode on this topic from 2017.)
This is a fascinating deep-dive into the changing landscape of the influencer industry.
Speaking of influencers, this panel on influencer marketing and ROIs is being held at General Assembly in London on Monday 15th April and looks like it will be really interesting.
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THINGS I LIKE:
Eater London recently published an incredibly well researched map of the best value restaurants in London. My new life goal is to eat at all of them.
BUCKLE UP, TWITTER. This is fantastic (and hilarious) skewering of all those terrible ahistorical threads you've seen on Twitter recently which feature someone yelling at a long dead historical figure.
Extremely late to the party here, but the new Solange album - When I Get Home - is an utter delight and has been on the Cattington office stereo non-stop this week.
Yes, I am a basic b*tch, but I am also a basic b*tch in love with Glossier's new Mango Balm Dotcom.
I'm currently reading 'Paul Takes The Form of a Mortal Girl' by Andrea Lawlor and it's wonderful. Very queer, very fun and sexy af.
My friend Jenny recently tweeted about these adorable ceramic ghosts made by Studio Arhoj and I immediately went and bought two of them for my office. However, I now can't stop calling them 'Little Green Ghouls' in the style of Charlie Kelly.
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CAT OF THE WEEK: MIKA
Mika is the cat who officially lives with my parents. She is extremely fluffy and - at times - has also been known to be extremely grumpy. Her favourite hobbies are sleeping in the most awkward place on the hall, stairs and landing, sleeping in the top drawer of my Mum's chest of drawers, sleeping on top of the wardrobe and taking up half of your bed by sprawling out on it when you've got the electric blanket on. She likes Dreamies and rolling around in patches of sunlight. She dislikes Ginger Steve barging in on her territory. A few years ago, my Dad had a heart attack and I went to live with my Mum while he was recovering in hospital. Each day, she'd curl up by my laptop and purr away while I was trying to work. She's a useless intern, but a lovely feline.
You can follow me on Twitter at @ChristinaMcMc and Cattington at @HelloCattington
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