Why Social Media Reigns Supreme In This Day and Age
Why Social Media Reigns Supreme In This Day and Age
The Warby Parker Story
The popular eyeglass company Warby Parker is one that I have never heard of until today. Granted I didn’t even get my first pair of glasses until about July of this year so makes sense as to why I didn’t know about the company. My experience getting glasses was quite the process. I had to make an appointment a few weeks in advance, go there and get an eye exam, try on a bunch of expensive frames that were not aesthetically pleasing, and then settle for ones that were somewhat stylish and hand over $400 on top of all of it. I wish I would’ve known about Warby Parker beforehand. This company has done some amazing for it customer
First off Warby Parker offers affordable glasses solutions that is not only helpful to their consumers’ wallets but according to Mahoney and Tang (2017) in their book Strategic Social Media – From Marketing to Social Change, the company is even socially conscious. Historically the company has had their “Buy a Pair, Give a Pair campaign helping provide over 500,000 glasses to those in need but during the 2020 Global Pandemic, Warby Parker donated portions of glasses purchased to help personal protective equipment and preventative health supplies for healthcare workers and communities in need. To read more on Warby Parkers’ social responsibility initiatives click here
I could go on and on about how great this company is but for Marketers analyzing the “Why and How” behind Warby Parker’s success really stems from two major concepts implemented into their business model;
Low-risk trial
Authentic community-based engagement.
Let’s start with the low-risk trial, Forbes writer Stephen Hetzel explains in his article Free Trials: an efficient and profitable way to generate sales that free low-risk trials entice consumers by giving the ability for growing businesses to show their product instead of just “telling” consumers about the product. Warby Parker saw that within the eyeglass industry consumers, like me in July, were unsatisfied with the process of attaining better eyesight. Therefore, the implementation of their “trial at home” reduces the need for any aggressive selling tactics when breaking into the eyeglass market and ultimately created a more personalized experience for their customers.
The second reason they saw success was how the company leverage social media and community engagement to their advantage. Rather than just using social media as linear advertising, the company transformed its intention by using it as a way to educate, inform, and invite others to share their experiences with the company and its products. Again, Mahoney and Tang explain that the company has created informative YouTube videos like this one here clearly demonstrates how the company uses its name and platform to engage its community and create personalized experiences online. This type of strategy is important to note because it is what set them apart at their start in 2010. Similarly, Warby Parker displayed the fact this company intentionally chose to use social media with an authentic objective and created a space where their consumers felt taken care of and free to generate their content about their experiences with the company.