Getting Personal via Social Media

Chicago — Working off the idea that “you are what you buy,” Spire preaches a customer-centric approach to path-to-purchase marketing that requires attention to relevance and personalization, according to Brian Ochs, chief operating officer and founder of the Dallas-based analytics and targeting company.Spire, which works with 12 retailers who represent 2,000 stores and reach 30 million households, targets based on a loyalty ladder that breaks down shoppers into “core,” “opportunity” and “fringe” categories, Ochs said during an October presentation at the Shopper Marketing Expo.“We use a lifestyle and life-stage breakdown,” accounting for factors like income level, family status, age, gender and ethnicity, he said. “We let the data create buckets [of consumers]. … We use purchase behavior to target people on social media, especially Facebook.”Spire doesn’t limit itself to Facebook, Ochs said, but that’s where most campaigns typically end up. “We’re platform agnostic. You should want to reach your shopper based on what’s relevant to them.”Since Facebook has 150 million consumers in the U.S. and 1 billion worldwide who use the platform for 20 minutes at a time (of which 76% use it daily), Ochs says, Spire has encouraged all of its retailer partners to have a Facebook presence. “Facebook is easy to use if you want to do your own marketing. You can start really small. You have total control over your budget. It’s not a bad place to start and see what works.”On Facebook, retail marketers can create custom ads tied to their store’s audiences and put it in front of only them, filtered by age, geography or other factors, Ochs said.Grand Rapids, Mich.-based Spartan Stores, a Spire client, has taken a customer-centric approach by using its loyalty card to undertake relationship marketing. This has comprised digital coupons that provide pharmacy offers and fuel promotions, along with “surprise and delight” rewards for particularly loyal customers, according to Spartan director of marketing Ron Cox, who co-presented with Ochs.Spartan has measured 165 million impressions during the past year over 128 campaigns, with an average of 25 views per campaign for shoppers reached, Cox said. “Most of us have Facebook. It’s not our primary selling tool, but it backs up everything else. … It’s a very inexpensive way to go to the consumer.”Spire looks at success drivers such as the percent of the audience that viewed a particular ad, the click-through rate and the ratio of the budget to the target audience size. Those measures help to determine, “Did the content clearly communicate the deal?” Ochs said. “Did the customer have enough time” to absorb the message and act?Ochs provided general results of several recent Spartan social media promotions:A fuel-savings program, which typically offered 25 to 50 cents off per gallon if you spent $75 or more in-store, targeted only households that typically spend less than $75. “We just look at those households where we get those incremental sales,” he said. While the program expanded the audience, the ROI did not work out.A price freeze for Tide detergent reached a tipping point when a consumer saw between three and four messages about it – “where you really started to get some incremental sales.” This worked well against the “core” and “opportunity” shopper segments who were on a budget.A “Grilling Savings!” campaign that targeted meat buyers did not connect well, partly because the chicken featured in the ad did not jibe with the meat-oriented message, and partly because the budget was not large enough to reach the entire audience often enough to break through.A “Proud to Support Local!” campaign, targeted mostly at produce, did not adequately target produce shoppers and didn’t provide enough specific deals, he said.

Getting Personal via Social Media

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