08 Nov Zara: Facebook Fan Page Example in Detail #11
The torch has been handed down for the 11th installment of Lisa Braziel’s 26 Facebook Fan Page Examples in Detail. For those of you unfamiliar with the glory of Zara, it’s a global retail store where you can get clothing and accessories with a high-fashion look at a relatively low cost. Zara’s business model has its stores constantly rotating products, offering up to 10,000 new designs each year. The company’s dedication to style is apparent on their minimalist Facebook fan page, which has some features that are worth checking out.
Zara Landing Tab: The Mood
Zara takes a stark but beautiful approach to The Mood page that sets the company apart from others that overload their pages with a jumble of tabs and advertisements. Using artful photography of this season’s looks, this page creates a stylish allure that draws fans into the content. With 10,370,807 fans and counting, Zara’s consumers clearly like the straight-forward navigation and chic aesthetic.
Unfortunately, the landing tab doesn’t give much insight into what the other pages have to offer or why you should take the time to explore them. This approach may be fine for fashion devotees and long-time fans of Zara, but it doesn’t work well in attracting occasional shoppers or people unfamiliar with the brand.
Tabs across the top of the page link to main sections that are also listed in the left-hand navigation:
This Week
The This Week tab presents featured looks with different pages for Women, Men, Juniors (TRF) and Kids. Clicking on a photo enlarges it, displays the product name, links to Zara.com and gives you the opportunity to Like the outfit or send it to a friend.
This feature is a great way to make the Zara product line more manageable for buyers. No one has time to pick through hundreds of options at the store each week, but they can easily flip through the featured looks and purchase items they want at the online store. The tab could benefit from a brief intro that explains who chose the featured looks and whether they follow a theme. Zara could extend this app by reaching out to a celebrity or stylist to put together a special featured look for the week.
People!
The People! tab houses a new app that represents a meaningful give-and-take between the company and its fans, an area in which Zara’s Facebook page is lacking. Launched this October, the People! app asks fans who are interested in fashion to submit stylish photos of themselves in this season’s clothing. The best looks of the week are displayed in a series of high quality photos with the option to Like the look or send it to a friend. Fans whose photos are chosen win 300 euros, which is incredibly awesome if you manage to find out about the opportunity! The only place where you can read about the prize is the “Instructions” sub-category on the People! tab.
Despite the lack of advertisement for this app, it’s a great way to engage consumers and make them feel part of the Zara lifestyle. The company has a Twitter account where it gives competition updates, but it doesn’t offer an option to tweet the winning photos from the Facebook app. Zara should take advantage of this opportunity to spread word of the competition.
Mobile
The Mobile tab prompts you to choose between the iPhone and iPad in order to see a preview of Zara’s app on either device. App features include product listings, look books (compilations of a season’s outfits), online shopping, videos, and store locators with contact info and map directions. There’s also a link to the iTunes App Store where you can download the Zara app.
This interactive tab increases awareness of Zara’s app products in a way that’s more effective than simply announcing that they exist. Fans get to actively flip through features to get a better idea of how the app might help them manage each season’s large inventory. However, the app could be improved by extending its compatibility beyond Apple products.
Zara Content Strategy
Zara’s wall features photo albums and videos of the latest fashions, which you can Like or share with friends. The wall also has posts about new products, Facebook applications and upcoming events. There’s a significant amount of fan commentary on wall posts, each getting 100-300 comments and thousands of Likes, but the page lacks two-way communication between company and consumer. Zara is successful in getting the word out about new products, but it could do a better job of maintaining a dialogue with fans and giving them more options for meaningful interaction.
Zara Fan Engagement
In this case, numbers speak louder than words. A quick comparison of Zara’s engagement rates and those of a close competitor, H&M, show that Zara is doing better than others in terms of soliciting fan feedback. The posts with the highest engagement rates were video and photo posts that didn’t ask for any fan participation whatsoever.
What does that mean? Zara has already solidified its reputation in such a way that it can afford to maintain an air of aloofness in its approach to social media. The brand maintains high engagement rates despite running only one fan engagement campaign (People!) because it’s a global powerhouse that’s been around for decades, building a strong reputation and picking up diehard fans along the way. With a history like that, Zara can afford to let their stylish clothes do the talking.
What do you think about Zara’s Facebook page? Let us know by posting your comments below!
