Digital Brand Review of Everlane's Social Media Strategy
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Digital Brand Review
Know your factories. Know your costs. Always ask why.
Erica Oldfield
2015
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Table of Contents
Passion ……………………………………………………………………….. 2
Brand History
Audit Approach
E-Commerce Site …..…............................................................. 3
Social Media ………………………………………………………………… 5
Facebook …………………………………………………………………………. 6
Twitter …………………………………………………………………………...... 8
Instagram
Twitter/Blogs ……………………………………………………………………... 9
Pinterest
Youtube …………………………………………………………………………... 10
Snapchat
Google Trends
Social Mention ……………………………………………………………… 11
Benchmarks
Recommendations …………………………………………………………. 13
Summary
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Passion
I chose to review Everlane because I was interested in how a young company has embraced and
incorporated social media into its business strategy. My review of the brand stems from the
following:
Everlane’s commitment to the Radical Transparency of its merchandise.
The quality and style of its product.
My positive attitude toward the brand.
Everlane was founded in 2010 with the goal to make quality clothing without the high price
markups of the retail industry. The company operates though its e-commerce sites and seven social
media platforms. The addition of pop-up shops, promotional events, and 1-hour delivery in select
locations supplement the brand’s lack of brick and mortar stores. Everlane prides itself on its
commitment to Radical Transparency— the notion that consumers should know the manufacturing
location and costs of a product and why company decisions are made. Everlane operates out of
San Francisco, with a secondary office in New York City.
Brand History
Audit Approach
Everlane’s social media presence was studied over a 13-week period: February 8 – May 2, 2015.
Seven social media platforms and the brand’s website were reviewed on a once-per-week basis,
where follower growth and brand post quantities were gathered. Company activity was also noted.
Social listening data was gathered at weeks 4, 9, and 13. Google Trends were gathered in Week 13.
Benchmark brands were assessed over a ten-week period.
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E-Commerce Site
Everlane’s e-commerce site is the company’s direct storefront and
focuses primarily on the sales of its product.
Landing Page
Features a singular image of an upcoming/popular product or event, situated above-the-fold.
The visual changed 11 times over the course of thirteen weeks.
Provides links to Everlane’s Facebook, Twitter, and blog.
Allows customers to create a member account using Facebook and Google profiles.
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Get $25 Page
Allows members to share links with friends.
Each purchase made through the link credits $25 to the member’s account.
Uses customers as paid advertising, in an attempt to create earned media through word of mouth.
The gamafication loyalty program is shared through Twitter, Facebook, and email links.
Product Pages
No product reviews are present.
Most products do not incorporate any social aspects. Two exceptions are featured below.
Women: The Cotton V
Customer Instagram posts are featured to show the garment on women other than the model.
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Women: The Slouchy Trouser
What Size Should I Wear image slider features women sized 00-12 wearing the pants.
Each image is accompanied by a short review by each wearer.
The slider only shows positive reviews, likely made by an internal company member. The feature lacks the
credibility of an external reviews.
Social Media
Overview
1,220 posts +31,918 followers 0.8% average growth/week
Omnichannel marketing is used to give users consistent content and messaging across Facebook, Twitter,
Instagram, and Tumblr. The use of transmedia allows for a seamless story across social media platforms.
2-way communication is utilized to engage customer questions, comments, and concerns.
Brand accounts interact with users in a personal, conversational way, allowing trust to be built.
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Facebook
Post Growth
Twitter has the most post
activity across six social
media platforms.
Facebook, Instagram, and
Tumblr accounts average
~1 post/day.
Pinterest and Youtube show
almost no activity.
Follower Growth
Instagram showed the most
growth, averaging +1,700
followers per week.
Facebook showed healthy
follower growth, averaging
+800 likes per week.
*Note that all social media but Twitter tracks only Everlane posts. Twitter tracks posts, retweets, and replies.
129 posts +9,507 followers 0.8% average growth/week
Post Content: product, company culture & activity, news articles, videos, and pictures
Uses platform to engage and respond to users.
The cover photo changed 4 times during the analysis, staying current with the company promotions.
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Future: Everlane is an early adopter of the expansion of the Messenger app, announced at the 2015
Facebook F8 conference. The app will allow for more streamlined and interactive e-commerce business.
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I posted on the Everlane Facebook wall to test the company’s interactivity with users. I posted the content
below and received a response in 28 minutes. The response followed 3 of the 36 Rules of Social Media: “If
all you do is respond to complaints, that’s all people will send you,” “People would rather talk to Comcast
Melissa, than Comcast,” and “Always write back.”
Everlane does a good job of responding to positive and negative posts. Everlane utilizes and excels in
2-way conversations with users on Facebook.
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Twitter
846 tweets +1,228 followers 0.6% average growth/week
Post Content: product, company culture & activity
Retweets positive sentiment from customers, promoting earned media.
Responds to customer comments, concerns, and accolades.
The cover photo changed 3 times during the analysis, staying current with the company promotions.
Instagram
149 posts +20,344 followers 1.2% average growth/week
Post Content: product, company culture & activity
Minimal customer interaction on Insagram comment section in regard to questions and concerns.
Encourages the use of #Everlane in customer posts. The hashtag was used 2,001 times during the analysis,
averaging 182 hashtags per week. The strategy increases word of mouth credibility for the brand.
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Tumblr/Blogs
88 posts
Shares stories and articles on company activity. Gives the brand a platform for more in-depth looks into
Everlane’s current activity.
Everlane also engages the blogging community
through sponsorships with fashion bloggers. A
recent example is the brand’s collaboration with
the site Sincerely Jules. The fashion blogger
dedicated a full post and photo set providing
positive sentiment of the brand, exclusively using
Everlane products. This strategy hopes to
increase earned media through a paid outlet.
Pinterest
8 pins +785 followers 0.1% average growth/week
Uses 36 boards to pin product and culture inspirations.
The low number of pins suggests the brand is using another social platform (Instagram) to share pictures.
Low follower growth suggests less people are using the platform.
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Youtube
0 videos +54 followers
Video content includes product, manufacturers, and Snapchat videos.
The lack of video posts suggests the company is using another social platform (Snapchat) to connect with
its audience.
Platform is used to store content, rather than engage users.
Snapchat
No data available
Uses Snap Stories to allow followers to see “behind the scenes” at the company.
Creates promotional events, including a Secret Shop that could be accessed through Snapchat clues, to
promote customer involvement.
Google Trends
A review of “Everlane” in Google Trends shows a consistent growth in search queries since the company’s
founding in late 2010. The trend suggests the brand is steadily growing in popularity. No seasonal trends
or notable spikes/drops in brand searches were found. The most common query associations were brand
related searches—Everlane review, Everlane backpack, Everlane shirt, etc.
When called up in Google, the query for “Everlane” produces an AdSense ad for the everlane.com, then
an unpaid link to the website. Searches for “Everlane [x]” produce the same query. The addition of paid
ads through AdSense was added during the course of analysis.
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Social Mention
Social listening on the brand was checked three times during the analysis. Four areas were considered:
Strength, Sentiment, Passion, and Reach.
Strength
Everlane’s strength increased 10% over a nine-week period. Strength is the likelihood a brand is being
discussed on social media. The company launched The Street Shoe during this time period, using both
social media and pop-up shops to promote the release. This likely contributed to the increase of
“Everlane” discussion on social media.
Sentiment
Everlane’s sentiment was fair over the course of the analysis. Sentiment compares the ratio of generally
positive to generally negative mentions. Most mentions were positive, but a presence of negative
mentions was noted in week 13.
Passion
Everlane’s Passion score fluctuated. Passion is the likelihood a user will repeatedly mention a brand. The
average Passion score was 26%, suggesting that a small group of users mention the brand repeatedly.
Reach
The reach of the brand increased 20%. Reach is the number of unique authors versus the number of total
mentions. The increase in reach suggests a larger audience of users talked about Everlane over time.
Week 4 Week 9 Week 13
Benchmarks
Everlane’s social media was benchmarked against three brands: Cuyana, Bonobos, and J.Crew. Cuyana
and Bonobos are e-commerce sites for women and men’s clothes, respectively. J.Crew offers men and
women’s clothes. The brands were chosen due to the similarity of products offered.
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For perspective the following are the total gained followers and brand posts for the four companies.
Follower Growth
Everlane gained followers on
Facebook and Twitter at higher
rates than the benchmarked
brands. All brands had significant
follower growth on Instagram.
Everlane had the worst growth
compared to the benchmarked
brands on Pinterest. The data
suggests that Instagram is the
top social media platform when
looking for a high follower count.
Instagram has the most potential
for connecting with new
customers.
Post Growth
Everlane outperformed all three
benchmarked brands in the
amount of weekly posts across all
social media platforms.
The benchmark analysis suggests that Everlane’s social media presence outperforms similar e-commerce
brands in follower growth and brand posts. It also suggests that Everlane has a similar social media
presence of a large retailer.
Follower Growth 31,918 1,926 1,060 165,644
Total Motion 1,220 301 153 839
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Recommendations
After a full review of the Everlane brand’s social media, I have developed a few recommendations that may
be resourceful moving forward.
Product Reviews
Allowing customers to post product reviews is proven to drive sales. A balance of both positive and
negative reviews builds the credibility of a product and a brand. Currently, Everlane offers no direct
reviews on products and only a handful of reviews can be found on fashion blogger sites. Including
product reviews will increase credibility, provide feedback for product development, and open another
platform to connect with customers.
Site-wide Product Instagram Photos
Everlane currently shows Instagram photos of customers wearing the Cotton V on the product’s page. The
photos show a variety of size and body types, other than the model. By adding Instagram photos to each
product page, customers are able to better visualize themselves in the garment. Using fan Instagrams, the
brand encourages crowd participation and increased brand loyalty. In addition to promoting #Everlane,
the brand can also develop category or product hashtags to help compile photos.
Summary
In its entirety, Everlane has embraced and integrated social media into its business practices. The brand
jumps on new opportunities to engage its customer base and evolves with the ever-changing social
landscape. Everlane has achieved success across social media platforms and has set itself up for a
successful future.
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