SOCIAL LISTENING

Patagonia is an American retail company, specializing in the sale and distribution of silent sports gear and outdoor attires. The company’s value proposition makes it a unique and interesting brand. Unlike most retail brands that focus on inexpensive material, rapid production, and low-cost manufacturing, Patagonia prides itself in sourcing high-quality material ethically. As noted in its mission statement-We are in business to save our home planet-the brand’s primary goal is to promote environmental sustainability. Hence, Patagonia uses social media as an activism platform rather than for product marketing purposes. Ideally, the fact that Patagonia uses its social media platforms to raise awareness among its customers on environmental and social causes, instead of driving sales, intrigued me. Moreover, people are generally responding positively to Patagonia’s efforts, especially on Twitter.

            For example, these tweets by @Meg9Time, @Wendynilsson, and Rachel Maddow from MSNBC show that  Twitter users are responding positively to Patagonia’s environmental and social crusades. In her post, @wendynilsson specifically states that she supports Patagonia’s recent campaign against the proposed voting rules, which are designed to make it difficult for a certain group to vote. Similarly, Rachel Maddow acknowledges Patagonia’s efforts to speak against voting restrictions alongside other top American brands such as Cisco. Lastly, @Meg9Time’s tweet applauds Patagonia’s ethical production of children's outdoor clothing as it aligns with the company’s value proposition of environmental sustainability.

            The company’s marketing efforts are specifically designed to raise awareness on different environmental and social issues. While most brands’ efforts are centered on profits, Patagonia is attempting to use social media as an instrument to spread awareness on current issues such as voting rights and preserving old-growth forests. Considering this goal, Twitter is the most ideal choice for Patagonia’s marketing efforts are due to its learned and active demographics. Research shows that Twitter is the most ideal platform for political initiatives as around 45% of its users have college degrees and it boasts 330 million active users each month (Clarke). These statistics indicate that Patagonia is better placed to reach a wider, informed audience on Twitter than other platforms. However, Patagonia does not engage with its audience on this platform. Social listening is crucial for Patagonia’s social media efforts since it helps the brand to track and analyze what people are saying about the company, thus allowing it to respond accordingly. Essentially, social listening can help Patagonia identify gaps in its marketing and awareness efforts, thereby responding accordingly. In contrast, Patagonia does not respond to any of its replies or mentions on Twitter.

            For instance, in @jackvonstrap’s tweet, Patagonia should have engaged this user to help him understand that activism takes precedence over profits. If I were the brand manager, I would respond to this customer by referring him to the company’s mission statement and explaining that environmental sustainability and social rights are more important than profits. Such a response would be vital in promoting customer engagement. However, it would also help the brand notice one of the gaps in its social media efforts, which is a lack of sufficient product marketing. Therefore, the company would tweet more often about its new products to appease its less political followers.

Work Cited

Clarke, Todd. “14 Social Media Best Practices You Should Follow in 2020.” 26 June 2019. Hoot Suite. blog.hootsuite.com/social-media-best-practices/.