Keeping it Trendy: The Souled Store's social media strategy for customer retention & acquisition

Sneha Yadav

16 Jun 2021 00:00 IST

Updated On 16 Jun 2021 07:17 IST

New Update

Scrolling through The Souled Store’s robust Instagram presence, we sit back to decode The Souled Store social media strategy that packs pop-culture-infused content and marvel-lous experience for its visitors.

The Souled Store amasses a vast range of merchandise that include T-shirts, shirts, dresses, backpacks, mugs, pins, socks, mobile covers, stationery, and now masks. The Souled Store social media strategy reflects the new age brand's ethos. According to Rohin Samtaney, Co-Founder, The Souled Store, Instagram works best for the company in terms of views and engagement.

The online store aims to strengthen the brand's personality visually and make it fun, friendly, quirky, and creative through social media. We find out how...

The Souled Store Social Media Strategy

On Facebook and Instagram, The Souled Store amplifies similar communication, whereas on Twitter the brand adds the occasional product updates. YouTube plays a vital role as it offers an added bonus to garner eyeballs for its video content.

Facebook: 1.2 million likes

Twitter: 9k followers

Instagram: 72k followers

Key hashtags: #thesouledstore, #celebratefandom, #expressyourself #officialmerchandise, #marvel, #onlineshopping, #onlinestores, #officialmerch, #instafashion, #souledarmy #harrypotter

Overall, for reach, top-of-the-mind recall, and higher engagement, Instagram and Facebook help significantly in building The Souled Store shopper community. The company’s target audience, understandably, are young adults who are socially active and exposed to the online merchandising space and are up-to-date with pop culture.

Social Media Engagement

As per an overview of the content getting shared on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram, consumers are seen showing more affinity towards the store’s content related to gadgets followed by movies, travel, cricket, and clothing.

On Twitter the user engagement displays an equal proportion of retweets and favourites. While on Instagram the likes and comments count goes hand in hand.

The Souled Store’s Instagram page garners 4.5k average likes, 14k average video views, and 0.60% engagement rate according to Qoruz.

The Content Divide & Themes

The Souled Store uses its social media to showcase build a holistic brand experience - right from weekly new designs to trending references. “We want to be known as a brand that mixes pop culture and fashion seamlessly in their products. We're also slowly building a stronger content strategy as well where we have more of a voice on pop culture topics such as films, TV shows, cartoons, etc. We also place a strong emphasis on the way we speak online - our tone and voice,” shares Samtaney.

The Souled Store marketing strategy is a mix of positioning the brand as a premium private label brand and focusing on the new unique offerings to keep their online community hooked.

Samtaney adds, “After all, buying is an emotional decision. What we buy says something about who we are as individuals. Since the lockdown in March 2020, we have seen a positive shift in how much time people spend online which acted as a growth catalyst and opportunity for brands like us. We have seen ad costs been as low as in 2013 which gradually increased when the market opened up,”

Product Portfolio

From a T-shirt inked with funny quotes, a mug for Monday motivation, a dress that showcases love for Hogwarts, – The Souled Store has a product for every mood. The company’s Instagram & Facebook pages act as a sneak peek into the vast range of its products complemented by information and curiosity-generating captions.

The customized apparels and accessories showcased online on these platforms helps consumers choose according to their interests gradually leading to website product sale.

The Merchandise Game

The Souled Store brand gained popularity for bringing to India the official merchandise of many content series, themes, and universes.

The company has positioned itself as a user’s friendly neighborhood store, helping them express themself with cool, quirky merchandise since its inception in 2013. Its first-ever license was The Big Bang Theory and the products were customized and designed in a way to make the show a favourite.

With 150+ licenses currently, including TV shows, sports teams, comedians, and musicians - the brand's merchandise game occupies a huge chunk of their social media content strategy.

Marvel and Harry Potter seem to be the top contenders for merchandises as the company continues to expand its theme portfolio with an added affinity towards the OTT content.

Leveraging occasions, The Souled Store’s social media managers ensure that the right content goes live at the best time and creates an equal amount of buzz as the original series or film online did.

Also Read: When a doll attempts to change the world: Barbie’s inclusive social media strategy

#SoulsofTSS & #SoulStories

Humane stories connect hearts and it is always advisable for brands to have a human bond with their consumers. Amidst marketing its product range, The Souled Store social media strategy takes an inclusive approach where it proudly features its #TheSouls – the company employee. With A #NoteFromASoul, they share their story of how The Souled Store was their ultimate calling.

Thereby getting its consumers acquainted with the work culture that the young company has built with all things cool and trendy. The Souled Store also reached out to its users introducing #SoulStories, where one can see candid stories shared by fans about their beloved characters, and how they've changed their lives.

Celebrity Endorsements

The Souled Store recently partnered with actor Jim Sarbh to endorse their latest ‘Supima Collection’ and the campaign was hailed as moving beyond the cliché of how celebrities launch a new collection. In the campaign film, The Souled Store takes us through the finer nuances of Supima in the words of Jim Sarbh.

From youth sensation Rohit Saraf endorsing The Souled Store winter collection to Vir Das cracking up his favourites to M.S Dhoni unboxing the CSK Replica Jersey during the IPL - through its association with celebrities, The Souled Store aims to amplify the reach and popularity for its products with an objective to expand the consumer base.

Influencer Marketing

With the core audience being the youth and digital savvy group, The Souled Store partners with celebs, bloggers, and influencers to add more relevance and authenticity to the products. Be it official merchandise or a seasonal collection, the influencers adorn the apparel and accessories giving consumers a look and feel of the products. Content created by influencers is actively re-shared on the brand's social media page.

Snackable Content

On YouTube, Instagram and Facebook, The Souled Store social media army takes cue from the video content growth statistics and snackable content for its viewers including subjects ranging from tutorials, design showcase, quick clothing tours, and event sneak peek.

Moment Marketing & Topicals

Almost 75% of the marketers have tried and tested the moment marketing formula to align with their business objectives and ride the ‘cool’ brand bandwagon. However, The Souled Store creates topicals and jumps onto the trends only when it fulfills its company’s positioning and philosophy and averts speaking on all and every trend, shares the spokesperson.

From celebrating Star Wars Day to rejoicing the moment of the F.R.I.E.N.D.S reunion, the moment marketing strategy of the merchandise specialist store is nuanced and accurate.

Contests, AR Games & Discounts

Being an e-commerce platform, The Souled Store harps on the audience’s interest and engagement in offers, discounts, quizzes, and rewards.

It conducts regular Q&As regarding the shows, popular fiction, and trivia on social media to gauge consumers’ reactions and engage them in activities that lead them to buy exclusive merchandise and accessories from The Souled Store at a profitable range.

CSR

Apart from generating consumer traffic for its website through social media, The Souled Store does its bit for society and contributes to its wellbeing by partnering and nurturing initiatives such as PauseForPaws where on its 8th year anniversary, it asked the buyers to buy a bowl that will help provide a better life to stray animals.

Considering the current impact of the second wave of COVID-19, The Souled Store has also initiated a donation drive by urging consumers to donate oxygen for the needy. It also partners with various groups to keep the environment clean and work towards the cause and spread awareness about not-so-discussed subjects such as mental health.

The Souled Store as a private label brand selling pop culture merchandise has a master marketing calendar for the year with important dates connected to their products. The company’s vision is to offer unique design, high-quality products, and a smooth experience to the customers, amplify the messaging through social media which, according to Samtaney, helps them increase repeat order rates which further accelerates the ROI.

For the next quarter, The Souled Store will be looking to add a lot more categories in the apparel space (especially athleisure, loungewear) for women and even children, given the persistent lockdown situation.

When quizzed about the key marketing trends for the year to keep up with the evolving trends in the sector, Samtaney lists Personalization (users looking to connect with a more friendly and open to interaction brand), Video marketing, Extensive use of Data Science into Marketing activities to be efficient in the highly competitive and open digital market.

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