Social Media Analysis

9/17/17-10/8/17
 Table of Contents

Organizational Background..........................................3

Statement of Purpose....................................................5

Methodology………………………………………………………6

Qualitative Analysis......................................................7

Quantitative Analysis..................................................15

Competitive Analysis…………………………………………17

Conclusion….……………………………………………………20

Works Cited………………………………………………………21
 Purpose
Organizational Background:
J. Crew mailed its first catalog in 1983, followed by the launch of J. Crew Factory—a
subsidiary brand carrying modified designs based on past favorites—in 1988. The company
opened its flagship store in New York’s South Street Seaport the following year. Since then,
the brand has expanded to retail and outlet stores across the nation along with their growing
online and catalogue business.

J. Crew reached a major turning point in 2003 when Millard "Mickey" Drexler joined
the company as chairman and CEO. His commitment to service, quality, and innovation led to
partnerships with several iconic brands, including Jack Purcell, Timex, Thomas Mason, and
Red Wing. In recent years, J. Crew has expanded its partnerships to include upscale brands
like Alden, Barbour, and Baracuta. They also introduced the Garments for Goods Collection in
2013 to benefit nonprofit organizations around the globe (J. Crew, n.d.).

Another notable milestone for the company was the launch of Madewell in 2006 as a
modern interpretation of an American denim label founded in 1937. The brand found success
through brick-and-mortar stores known for their welcoming atmosphere, a strong social
media presence, and an online shop introduced in 2010. Madewell has seen steadily rising
sales despite major issues with the core brand. Profits rose 35% in 2014, which many analysts
attributed to a keen understanding of their target demographic: young women. In the summer
of 2015, J. Crew laid off 10% of its corporate employees. Madewell design chief Somsack
Sikhounmuong was tasked with overseeing J. Crew’s women’s business as part of an ongoing
management shakeup (Schlossberg, 2015).

On a more positive note, J. Crew opened its

first global location in Toronto in August 2011 and OUR
introduced its e-commerce site to over 100 STYLING
countries at the beginning of 2012. The brand has ————————————————————————————————————

continued to expand internationally, opening over a

dozen stores in Canada, Hong Kong, London, and
Paris (J. Crew, n.d.).
Recently, the brand has made efforts to
reconnect with its roots. J. Crew’s early success was
built on its reputation for high-quality, affordable
staples. The preppy-chic style gained a cult
following, with notable champions such as the
Obamas driving its status as a fashion icon in the
late 2000s (Bourne, 2010).
We mix our patterns and block
our colors. We’re into
sneakers with suits, denim on
denim—and believe a little bit
of clash is underrated. We’re
not afraid to bend the rules
and always appreciate a good
surprise.

!3
WE SIDE WITH STYLE OVER FASHION, think
timelessness is underrated and find that clothes look
best when they’re lived in. WE LOVE COLOR-
BLOCKING AND PATTERN MIXING and temper
tomboy with heels. WE’RE FANS OF TOUSLED
HAIR and think everything’s right when something’s
left just a little imperfect. WE WEAR SNEAKERS
WITH SUITS, wing tips with jeans and chambray
on chambray.
WE DON’T BELIEVE THERE’S SUCH A
THING AS OVERDRESSED—and we don’t rent
tuxedos.
WE’RE AN AMERICAN BRAND, but we source
fabrics from around the world: Japanese seersucker,
Irish linen and Italian wool. WE DON’T BELIEVE
THERE’S JUST ONE WAY TO WEAR AN
OUTFIT, but we do have a few ideas on how to pull
one together.
FOR US, THE MAGIC IS IN THE MIX.

OUR
DESIGN
——————————————————————————————————————

We believe that great style

begins with great design. Every
single piece is conceived in our
New York City studio, where
designers sketch, drape, tuck
and bead a collection to life.

!4
 However, despite continued growth, the brand has faced major hurdles over the past
two years. Sales have declined drastically since 2015. The company is now 2 billion dollars in
debt, necessitating 150 lay offs and the removal of 100 job openings. J. Crew closed its bridal
business at the beginning 2017. The brand also recently began distributing through
Nordstrom to boost revenue. Most surprisingly, President and Creative Director Jenna Lyons,
Head of Menswear Frank Muytjens, and C.E.O. Mickey Drexler all stepped down from their
positions earlier this year (Rothman, 2017).

The brand’s struggles are largely a result of a poor understanding of its consumer base.
In its efforts to become a key player in the fashion world, J. Crew lost touch with its core
consumer. Working women were not interested in the glamour and exclusivity of high fashion.
As prices rose and designs became more extravagant, sales plummeted. Although J. Crew had
a strong presence on the runway, customers stopped paying attention. The brand effectively
lost its voice.

Statement of Purpose:
The purpose of this report is to analyze, measure, and evaluate the social media
performance of J. Crew and its subsidiaries over a period of weeks to gauge how well they are
reconnecting with their audience and make strategic recommendations on how the brand can
best leverage social media to regain relevance among consumers.

!5
 Methodology
For this report, I chose to analyze J. Crew’s performance across the social media
platforms upon which it and its chief competitors are the most active—Facebook, Twitter,
Instagram, and the brand’s native blog—for a three-week period beginning September 17,
2017 and ending October 8, 2017. This approach should have captured the majority of the
brand’s social footprint in a key sales period as the brand transitioned into its Fall/Winter
2017 lineup.

During the research period, I followed J. Crew on each of the aforementioned social
channels. I also followed the company’s subsidiary accounts: J. Crew Men’s, J. Crew Factory,
and J. Crew Help, as well as the corresponding hashtags on Twitter and Instagram. I read posts
from the J. Crew blog and subscribed to the brand’s newsletters, as well as analyzing Google
search trends, growth, and category insights for Retail during the research period.

The principle social media listening tools that I utilized during my research were
Sysomos, TweetReach, and Klout. I also used Google Trends and Think with Google to gauge
the brand’s relevance, as well as SpyFu and Nibbler to evaluate the brand’s website.

To determine a competitive set, I took the top organic search competitors from SpyFu,
then compared them to J. Crew in terms of share of voice and follower overlap using data from
Sysomos MAP. I concluded that J. Crew’s most important competitors in the social sphere are
Banana Republic, Brooks Brothers, and Express. I then applied the same methodology to
analyze each of these brands. However, I chose not to include research on their subsidiary
accounts. Focusing only on the primary accounts for each of these brands allowed me to
simplify my findings and create a more direct comparison among J. Crew and its competitors.

!6
 Results
Qualitative Analysis:

When looking at J. Crew’s social media presence, I took a systematic approach in

evaluating the various platforms they utilize. First, I looked at the content that had been
posted on each channel during the research period. I then compared that content between
channels on each medium and between the media as a whole. This allowed me to gauge
whether J. Crew was leveraging each platform effectively. Generally, brands view social media
in one of three ways:

1. Sharing content on various social media platforms increases reach and frequency.

This is the old model of social media usage. In the early days of Facebook and Twitter, brands
used their social media presence to push the same content to users on every platform. The goal
was to reach as many people as quickly as possible. At the time, there was little differentiation
between social messaging and digital advertising.

2. Each social media platform is different and should be used to different ends.

As brands became more comfortable with social media, they began to take a more focused
approach. Companies devoted specialists or entire teams to each platform in order to better
understand their unique capabilities. While this was a move in the right direction, messaging
became disparate and sporadic. Some brands invested heavily in certain platforms and
neglected others entirely. There was no overarching goal.

3. Social media platforms are unique tools to craft a cohesive, dynamic message.

The new model of social media messaging recognizes that each platform provides a different
channel to reach consumers. When leveraged effectively, social media creates an integrated,
engaging presence for a brand. Those who do it well—think General Electric or Nike—have a
strong identity and voice across platforms. They create immersive experiences for their
customers, and they always understand their audiences.

From my findings, I would argue that J. Crew falls somewhere between the first and
second categories. They have relatively high customer engagement. They are smart to manage
different channels for various sectors of their business, such as menswear and customer
service. However, much of their content is standard across platforms. It is not optimized for a
specific media platform. I will show this by looking at each platform in order of relevance (i.e.
number of followers/fans) starting with Instagram, moving to Facebook, and finally
evaluating Twitter.

!7
 I used Sysomos MAP to
generate this page with the
top posts from J. Crew’s
Instagram during the
research period based on
number of impressions.

These posts mostly direct

users back to the company’s
website to shop new
products or view blog
content.

!8
This page shows the top posts from the J. Crew Men’s Instagram during the
research period based on number of impressions. This account has less
than a tenth of the followers and far fewer posts, but it adds another level
to J. Crew’s media presence that helps generate brand loyalty.

The content is aimed at male shoppers. However, the general appearance

and mood of the posts are the same. There are direct overlaps in content
(like the Asics shoe collaborations), and both pages point to one another in
their bios. This shows a clear brand voice while still offering a tailored
experience to a different consumer segment.

!9
 J. Crew has slightly fewer fans on Facebook than followers on
Instagram, but the numbers are comparable.

The page looks very similar to its Instagram account. In fact,

the picture on the far right in the cover photo was cropped for
one of the top Instagram posts (#6) on page 8.

This was the most

popular post on the
Facebook page during
the research period.

Notice that it is virtually

identical to the top
Instagram post on page 8
that was posted on the
same day. The only
difference is the format
of the links to shop the
products.

!10
 This was another popular
post on the Facebook
page during the research
period.

It made it to number 6 on
the J. Crew Men's
Instagram account as
well.

This was the only popular

post on the Facebook page
during the research period
that was not featured on
Instagram aside from an
updated profile picture and
cover photo.

This is a good example of a

feature that is unique to
Facebook that a brand can
leverage. However, J. Crew
only used it to accomplish
corporate goals (i.e. hiring),
not to promote the brand or
add unique content visitors.

!11
 The J. Crew Factory Facebook page is almost exclusively
populated with posts like the one below. As a lower-tier
brand, JCF relies heavily on promotions to drive sales.
Facebook is a simple vehicle to deliver these messages,
which can also be found in the brand’s digital display
advertising.

While this is an outdated approach to social media, it is

fitting for the JCF business model.

While J. Crew and J. Crew Factory do not leverage Facebook to its full potential, they
should be commended for a few reasons. First, they are actively engaging with customers
within the comments on their posts. This is an easy way to build relationships with
customers, and it is especially useful for customer service. Both pages respond to
messages relatively quickly. They have also made a point of sharing contact information in
multiple places so that customers can reach out directly if they have any issues.

Overall, J. Crew is underutilizing Facebook as a platform by not creating unique content.

!12
 J. Crew has a much smaller following on Twitter than Facebook or Instagram.

The picture above was created on Sysomos MAP to display the top tweets on the J. Crew
account during the research period based on number of impressions.

As you can see, the top tweet is the same post that generated the most impressions on the
brand’s Instagram account and Facebook page on the same day. The subsequent tweets were
also shared across social media platforms.

The blue arrow points to a tweet with the same text as the Facebook event mentioned on page
11 of this report. This content clearly doesn’t make sense on Twitter. It is text-heavy, it lacks
relevance without the visuals, and it is much harder to engage with on this platform.

The brand's most effective use of Twitter is the J. Crew Help account shown on page 14. While
it has significantly fewer followers than the primary account, J. Crew Help has over 13,000
more tweets. The account is used to engage directly with customers who encounter problems,
share success stories, and provide product information.

This is an excellent channel to provide customer service. If J. Crew can match unique
communications solutions to each social media platform, the company can create value at
every customer touchpoint and build affinity for the brand.

!13
!14
 Quantitative Analysis:

TWEETREACH SNAPSHOT FOR

@jc re w
ESTIMATED REACH EXPOSURE

1,028,039 IMPRESSIONS

545,026
52

22 21

ACCOUNTS REACHED 3 2
< 100 < 1k < 10k < 100k 100k+
Bars show number of tweets sent by users with that many followers

ACTIVITY

100 95 3 17 replies

TWEETS CONTRIBUTORS DAYS

45 tweets
80

60

40
38 retweets
20

0
Oct 6 Oct 7 Oct 8

TOP CONTRIBUTORS MOST RETWEETED TWEETS

27
Luxury & Fashion Mag @WTFSG
780.5k @jcrew
Garden Party: J. Crew Spotlights Floral Styles
wardrobetrendsfashion.com/j-crew-florals… @jcrew
IMPRESSIONS #JCrew @JLJablonski… twitter.com/i/web/status/9…

3
J.Crew @jcrew
Lattes & layers #fallpairs
3 @jcrew
RETWEETS

2
Legacy West @LegacyWestPlano
Shop the hottest trends for fall like stripes and ruffles
@jcrew #legacywest legacywest.com/directory/j-cr…
https://t.co/Vexn6s2C6w
97 @jcrew
MENTIONS

This data from TweetReach shows a typical three-day period (10/6/17 - 10/8/17) for J
Crew’s primary Twitter account. In that time, J. Crew generated 45 tweets, 38 retweets, and 17
replies, reaching 545,026 accounts—significantly more than its total follower base of 390.3K. The
most retweeted post (27 times) was an article J. Crew shared from an Asian luxury fashion site
discussing the most recent J. Crew Style Guide. The brand has been successful at reaching users
outside of its immediate network by sharing interesting and relevant content.

!15
 J. Crew’s Twitter account has a Klout score of 81
based on its activity and engagement with other
users. Its areas of expertise include categories
related to its product line (e.g. Fashion, Outerwear,
Shoes), major competitor (e.g. L.L. Bean, Ralph
Lauren), and media vendors with content pertaining
to the brand (e.g. Financial Times and VICE). They
also include major influencers who are affiliated
with the brand such as Michelle Obama.

These charts were pulled from Sysomos Map

data. They reflect the positive and negative
sentiment surrounding mentions of J. Crew
on Twitter during the research period.

Consumers have a relatively positive

perception of the brand overall. While most
of the mentions were considered neutral,
there were almost twice as many positive
mentions as negative ones.

!16
Competitive Analysis:

This chart from SpyFu shows the top organic competitors for J. Crew in unpaid search. The
ratings were determined by keyword overlap, revealing which competitors are directly
competing for the same organic clicks on the same search terms.

These are the brands I chose to compare against J. Crew’s social media. GAP, Banana Republic,
and Old Navy are all owned by the same parent company (GAP, Inc.) So, I decided to focus
specifically on Banana Republic since it competes most directly with J. Crew in terms of
products, content, and service. The two brands have very similar target audiences.

The table below shoes the top organic keywords for J. Crew in September 2017. Naturally, the
brand name was the top search term by volume. The other two were related to the brand’s
now defunct bridal business and a popular collaboration with Nike being restocked.

!17
The Sysomos chart above provides an overview of
the Twitter accounts for each of these brands.

J. Crew has the greatest number of followers, but

has far fewer tweets than its competitors. This
can be taken as a good or bad sign. On one hand,
J. Crew needs to share more content to keep up
with its competitors. On the other, the
discrepancy may prove that the content J. Crew is
producing is of more value to its consumers.
Quality trumps quantity in the social sphere.

Interestingly, Brooks Brothers has the most

tweets, but by far the fewest followers. However,
they are also following the fewest accounts. They This pie chart from
may have a problem engaging with customers. Sysomos and the bar
chart to the left
reflect the Share of
Voice for each brand
on Twitter. J. Crew
generates the most
mentions, followed
by Brooks Brothers,
with Express and
Banana Republic
trailing at the bottom
of the pack.

!18
Shared Twitter Followers (Sysomos MAP)

J. Crew shares the greatest number of

Twitter followers (87.1K) with Banana
Republic. This is significantly more than its
other competitors. The two brands also have
the closest number of total followers, and
their shared followers skew heavily female,
which makes sense given their core audience
demographics. Interestingly, the shared
followers between J. Crew and Banana
Republic are less heavily concentrated in the
United States than the other brands. This
might indicate that Banana Republic is the
biggest threat to J. Crew internationally.

Brooks Brothers has the least total

followers (75.6K) of the four brands by a
large margin. This is probably the result of
higher price points and a more niche space
in the luxury market: old-fashioned, upscale
menswear. The stronger U.S. audience base
is likely due to the Ivy League heritage of
both brands. Their shared followers skew
slightly more male than female, which is a
dramatic shift from the gender gaps
between the other competitors. Brooks
Brothers is the primary competitor for J.
Crew’s men’s business.

Although Express has a much greater number

of total followers (259.8K) than Brooks
Brothers, it shares much fewer followers (18K)
with J. Crew proportionally. Their shared
followers skew more heavily female and are
more concentrated in the United States than
either of the other brands. Express has much
less of an international presence than its
competitors. This means that Express
competes more directly with J. Crew in the
United States than the other brands,
potentially stealing a greater Share of Voice
and national sales volume from J. Crew.

!19
 Conclusion
Insights:

J. Crew is not particularly innovative on social media. The brand generally shares the
same content—blog posts highlighting new product releases or interviews with brand
ambassadors—across all of its social channels. They do occasionally leverage platform-
specific tools like Facebook events. However, the brand takes an old-fashioned approach to
social media usage, prioritizing reach and frequency over tailored messaging.

Despite J. Crew’s limited application of social media platforms, the brand is still
strongly outperforming its major competitors in terms of share of voice, engagement, and
brand sentiment.

J. Crew faces domestic competition from the lower-priced Express. It’s men’s business
competes with luxury brand Brooks Brothers both domestically and abroad. However, the
most direct competition for J. Crew internationally and on social media platforms is the
similarly priced and styled Banana Republic.

J. Crew does not need to leverage social media in unique ways to maintain market
dominance, but it must continue to take advantage of its subsidiary services such as J. Crew
Help on Twitter.

Recommendations:

• Developing unique content for each social media platform

will help J. Crew create better user engagement.

• J. Crew can utilize social media as a Customer Service

channel to provide a better, more engaging user
experience.

• A more immersive user experience on social will set J.

Crew apart from all of the major competitors in the space.

!20
 Works Cited
Account, J. (2017, October 08). J.Crew (@jcrew). Retrieved from https://twitter.com/jcrew

Account, J. H. (2017, October 8). J.Crew Help (@jcrew_help). Retrieved from https://
twitter.com/jcrew_help

Bourne, Leah. (2010, January 20). The Cult Of J.Crew. Retrieved from https://www.forbes.com/
2010/01/20/jcrew-shopping-sales-forbes-woman-style-jenna-lyons.html

Facebook. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.facebook.com/jcrew/

Facebook. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.facebook.com/jcrewfactory/

Hello, J. Crew. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://hello.jcrew.com/

J. Crew. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.jcrew.com/

J.Crew (@jcrew) • Instagram photos and videos. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://
www.instagram.com/jcrew/

J.Crew Men's (@jcrewmens) • Instagram photos and videos. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://
www.instagram.com/jcrewmens/

Rothman, J. (2017, June 18). Why J. Crew's vision of preppy America failed. Retrieved from
https://www.newyorker.com/business/currency/why-j-crews-vision-of-preppy-
america-failed

Schlossberg, M. (2015, June 27). How J. Crew's smaller sister brand is defying the company's
curse and taking over America. Retrieved from http://www.businessinsider.com/why-
madewell-is-thriving-when-j-crew-is-failing-2015-6