CASE STUDY: Great Facebook Marketing Strategy from Art.com

At Wildfire, we do our best to provide our users and readers with actionable tips and advice that will help them supercharge their social media marketing strategy. Sometimes, however, the best education comes from inspiration. In this post, we will take a look at how one internet retail company, Art.com, has established a sustainable and successful year-round social media strategy.

Art.com is the world’s largest retailer of art and wall decor, with over one million pieces. It encompasses 2 brands that each have Facebook pages, Art.com and Allposters.com (the “world’s largest poster and print store”). Both brand pages have major social appeal, consistently sharing items with their community that influence interactions and user dialogue, not to mention an increased loyalty of the brand. Here are some of the ‘secrets’ to Art.com’s success:

Consistent and relevant interactions

Art.com and Allposters.com both consistently post relevant and interesting updates and messages to their fan communities on Facebook. Art.com averages about two posts per day, and posts are always highly tied to their art loving community with an image included or link attached. The brand crafts messages that include interesting background on the art and artists they discuss, as well as messages that end with a question, spurring audience response. Most updates also reference outside write-ups and scholarly resources, as the brand understands that this is the type of content that the Art.com fan community will find highly relevant.

Places to Go and Things to Do

New Facebook brand pages have several default tabs for administrators to fill out when starting up profiles. However, leaving just those default tabs can make for a pretty drab visiting experience for users dropping by to check out the brand presence. Art.com and Allposters.com both have added customized tabs with interesting content, giving visiting users more places to interact, browse, and create conversations. Both pages hold promotions consistently over the year to rotate new interaction activities through the page. Both pages also have some visually interesting tabs with community specific content, like the Marvel Comics superheroes trivia on AllPosters.com as well as the introduction of the French Museum collection in a custom tab on Art.com’s page.

While launching one “big-bang” campaign for your brand can be initially successful, the growth in community  and gains in user loyalty fade quickly over time without consistent upkeep. This upkeep can be accomplished by repeatedly running new promotions, keeping users returning for more chances to interact or win cool prizes. The Art.com brand pages have served their fans many promotions throughout the year, of varying formats and with changing focuses. Some past promotions included, “America’s Next Master Artist” photo contest, a “Which Art Movement Are You?” quiz, an “AllPosters Twilight Eclipse Sweepstakes,” a “Home Decor Personality” quiz, and many others.

Timely and Relevant Updates to Profile

In addition to consistently running promotions, Art.com and AllPosters.com will make timely and relevant updates or changes to their profiles over the course of the year. While it is a simple change, swapping in a new profile picture with snowflakes or ornaments in its background in time with the holiday season will make the update get driven into the newsfeeds of fans, and is a refreshing and surprising change to keep users interested.

The administrators of Art.com and AllPosters.com are also very active in responding and maintaining conversations with their users who leave feedback. It’s one thing to build a user community that feels comfortable directly interacting with and leaving messages for a brand— it’s another, even more beneficial practice to maintain quick and attentive responses to those users queries.