BLOOMINGDALE’S BRAND SUCCESS THROUGH SOCIAL MEDIA
Caroline Duley
COM313 – Mass Media and Society
April 7, 2015
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Abstract
4 to February 2015. After discussing these posts, I will discuss how Bloomingdale’s uses
a combination of fashion humor and friendliness with an overlying implicit form of
advertising to market the Bloomingdale’s brand. Through utilizing these mass media
platforms, Bloomingdale’s is able to connect with the millennial generation and create a
much larger brand audience. Thus, the Bloomingdale’s brand generates an incredible
amount of revenue through their social media use. In this paper, I will answer the
question of how Bloomingdale’s uses social media to connect with their customers and,
therefore, create brand success. I will analyze four social media platforms: Facebook,
Twitter, Instagram and Pinterest from November 201
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Introductory Material
The Bloomingdale’s Department Store, founded in 1860, is an American fashion
and lifestyle brand that sells men’s, women’s and children’s clothing, accessories, beauty
and ‘for the home’ necessities. With a majority of it’s top competitors being high-end,
luxury department stores, such as Neiman Marcus, Saks Fifth Avenue and Barney’s New
York, Bloomingdale’s has created a unique niche – selling a high-fashion feel, but
targeting a mid to mid-high level income (Hoovers 2015). Traditionally, Bloomindale’s
has marketed this high-fashion feel to an older and more sophisticated (i.e., young-urbanprofessional or “yuppie”) audience, ranging in age from 25-40; however, more recently,
their use of new media has created a marketing strategy aimed at a younger audience,
ranging from 18 and up (Luxury Daily 2013). As Luxury Daily has suggested, “any
retailer chasing this market needs to leverage the technology associated with the audience
to win them over: smartphones.” While Bloomingdale’s successfully and thoroughly uses
both one-way communication, such as ads, catalogs and billboards, and two-way
communication, such as social media, their website and events, Bloomingdale’s has
effectively leveraged their use of social media.
Literature Review
“In the context of the contemporary global business environment the social media
factor has become an essential component of the company operational strategy. This
aspect is required by the company to be able to effectively reach its global consumer
market and make a significant change initiative” (Abuhashesh 2014). This is particularly
the case in terms of fashion, in that “Style can function as a linking value in the setting of
consumer communities that emerge within the boundaries of fashion and social media”
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(Pihl 2014). With this in mind, it is extremely important and relevant to note not only
how Bloomindale’s is utilizing the social media platforms, but also how the consumers
are applying Bloomingdale’s use.
Method & Sample
With the assistance of my focus group interview guide (See Appendix 1), the
method of analysis used for my research is a content analysis of Bloomingdale’s social
media platforms. The sample for this content analysis was taken from November 2014 to
February of 2015, on four platforms: Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Pinterest (See
Appendices 2-5 for sample posts). During these four months, I chose to evaluate the first
and last three posts from each month from each of the platforms. This created a total of
24 posts for each month with a total of 96 concrete samples1.
Data & Results
In previous focus group research with a young-adult demographic on
Bloomingdale’s use of social media, individuals stated that they “enjoyed how
Bloomingdale’s uses social media in the way that they are supposed to be used,” meaning
that they used these social sites in the same light that the general public does.
Additionally, these individuals commented on how Bloomingdale’s markets themselves
the way that he or she wants to be marketed: fashion-forward, professional, happy, lighthearted, fun, etc.
Bloomingdale’s posts on Facebook once every few days. While this may not seem
to be enough, Facebook is not a social media site where you send out multiple blasts each
1
The appendices section of this paper shows 6 of the 24 posts for each social media platform as
examples to draw from – all from separate months for variety and accuracy.
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day, rather, that is what Twitter is for. Instead, Bloomingdale’s uses it to promote their
new brands and pictures filtered from Instagram. In regards to the posts examined, I
concluded that they use a bit of humor in most posts – they also use pictures. For
example, in the screenshots that I have included in Appendix 2, one post states, “It’s
Saturday night – dress like it,” with a picture of an attractive woman in a red dress. The
post also links to where you can buy the dress- (of course, from Bloomingdale’s website).
This post is similar to the post stating, “Plan your winter escape with Moon and Meadow,
new to Bloomingdale’s,” with a picture of the new clothing brand and a link to purchase.
In another similar post, Bloomingdale’s states, “We love holiday dresses, but jumpsuits
are easier to dance in.” While there is still a picture of jumpsuits sold at Bloomingdale’s,
there is no link to purchase. This is interesting – proving that they aren’t always trying to
directly sell. Likewise, in another screenshot, it shows a picture of a classic and
distinguishable ‘medium brown bag’ with Bloomingdale’s colored balloons in New York
City: No direct selling, rather, just a fun, yet still advertising photo.
In the same light as their Facebook, most of the Twitter posts reflect a
combination of ‘fashion humor’ and marketing. For example, in a post I’ve included in
Appendix 3, Bloomingdale’s tweets, “The only Monday we look forward to all year.
Happy #CyberMonday everyone!” and includes a link to their website for the biggest
online shopping day of the year. Similarly, another tweet states, “”Bow” them away with
our seasonal edit of fabulously festive, sure-to-delight holiday gifts,” with a link to store.
These tweets reveal the use of humor and puns to connect with customers and, therefore,
sell product. In a more serious tone, Bloomingdale’s retweeted a post from Child Mind
Institute that tagged the department store, stating, “We love this year’s Little Brown
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Bear! Get yours in store at @Bloomingdales and support children’s mental health.” This
post shows the broad range of products and audiences that Bloomingdale’s is able to
connect with. The audience that follows Child Mind Institute clearly cares about
children’s mental health, making them more inclined to go purchase the bear from a
Bloomingdale’s store; therefore, that one tweet increased their audience capacity as a
whole. Another Bloomingdale’s tweet similar to this more serious tone states, “Stop by
the 2nd & 6th floors of 59th St. today to pick up a @JPGaultier tote bag for
#WorldAidsDay! Purchases support @amfAR AIDS research.” This also broadens their
audience. The people whom support AIDS research non-profits are more inclined to go
into Bloomingdale’s and purchase the tote for a cause they support.
In regards to Bloomingdale’s activity on Instagram, the company successfully
posts one photo each day – a very normal amount of use for other general Instagram
users. On this social media site, Bloomingdale’s primarily acts as friend you’re following
would act. Rarely explicitly promoting Bloomingdale’s, the company receives thousands
of likes and comments on every post. For example, in a post I’ve listed (See Appendix 4),
Bloomingdale’s posted a photo of a toy taxi car in New York City with a caption, “When
you can’t find a cab, get creative! #Bloomingdales.” This is a prime example of
Bloomingdale’s just being a friend to their customer, creating laughs and therefore a bond
with their audience. Additionally, in another Instagram, Bloomingdale’s posted a photo
of jewelry creating the letters “TGIF” with a caption stating, “Talk about statement
jewelry… Have a great weekend everyone!” Overall, Bloomingdale’s use of Instagram
may be the most successful at creating a sense of bonding between the company and the
customer. Rarely, if at all, does Bloomingdale’s even mention a product for sale.
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Lastly, I’ve analyzed Pinterest slightly different than the previous three sites.
Because it is nearly impossible to find the exact dates of when things were posted on the
site, I chose to analyze three different “boards” on their Pinterest site. This use of social
media, similar to Instagram, rarely markets Bloomingdale’s products. Rather, it was as if
you were just following a friend of yours’ Pinterest site. For example (See Appendix 5),
four of these boards were not related to Bloomingdale’s whatsoever, such as “fab fruits,”
“lazy Sunday,” “drinks” and “good advice.” These boards are purely to interact with the
customer on a more friendly and even deeper level. However, there are still some boards
that market Bloomingdale’s products, such as, “stay warm” and “tech, toys and fashion.”
These pinned items all linked to the Bloomingdale’s site where you can purchase them.
Discussion
With over a million followers on their social media platforms, it is clear to see
that Bloomingdale’s is definitely doing something right, but what exactly is that
something? By utilizing social media, Bloomingdale’s has been able to connect with the
millennial generation and, therefore, have a much larger demographic. Senior
management consultant of retail strategy and change, Dave Rodgerson stated,
“Bloomingdale’s is certainly making it no secret about its desire to attract a younger
audience. Traditional catalogs are very expensive and this audience is much more likely
to visit the [web] than spend time paging through a magazine.”
The consumers are aware of the fact that the television ads or the billboards are
developed by the corporate sector to influence their consumption behavior, hence
they form a defensive attitude regarding these advertising mediums. These
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individuals have a more open orientation on the online community, as it is an
innovative marketing platform (Abuhashesh 2014).
In this light, consumers are more likely to use this online community, because they feel it
is more open, honest and, of course, innovative. Furthermore, as the Bloomingdale’s
social media experience expands onto individual social media sites, such as fashion
bloggers, “style may initially be an individual expression of the bloggers but transforms
into a collective expression as it is embraced by the wider community” (Pihl 2014).
Through this interaction, an entire online social community now embraces the
Bloomingdale’s brand. The Bloomingdale’s brand has quickly become an experience and
lifestyle. Overall, this overwhelming success for Bloomingdale’s, in regards to their
connection with the millennial generation, is vastly because of their social media use.
Directly correlating with one another, social media presence has increased the
Bloomingdale’s audience and will ultimately keep revenue at an incline.
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Appendices
Appendix 1
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Appendix 1
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Appendix 2
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Appendix 3
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Appendix 4
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Bibliography
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“Bloomingdale’s Inc. Competitors.” Hoovers: A D&B Company, March 2015.
http://www.hoovers.com/company-information/cs/competition.
Bloomingdales.inc.html
“Bloomingdale’s Eyes Young Demographic Via Spring 2013 Catalog.” Luxury Daily.
March 2013. https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/717/05/
Pihl, Christofer. “Brands, Community and Style – Exploring Linking Value in Fashion
Blogging.” Journal of Fashion Marketing and Management, Jan. 2013.
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