246 - Exercise 1 - Desigual's Social Media Efforts

For this assignment in LIBR 246, I was asked to look at the social media used to discuss and build the brand of a for-profit company.  I chose Spanish clothing company, Desigual.  

1. What are people saying about this organization online?

According to the collection of comments aggregated by SocialMention.com, comments about Desigual, an “atypical” and trendy Spanish clothing company, are largely factual and neutral--609 neutral comments, 59 positive, 2 negative.  In fact, most comments gathered were Tweets about the company’s product offerings, store openings, and special events.  

What tools are they using to talk about the organization?
HowSociable.com listed various sites involved in the Desigual discussion: Twitter, Facebook, Technorati, LinkedIn, LiveJournal, MySpace, Ning, YouTube, DailyMotion, Vimeo, Flickr, Ustream.  

2. Is the organization responding to these people through social media?
If so, how effective do you think they are?

With so few negative comments in the midst of the discussion, there is little for Desigual to feel they must address or counteract.  There are no absolutes in fashion, and it is hip to be edgy and to generate controversy.  The company tweets regularly, and has a blog with posts made multiple times a week about events, articles, and products.  Consumers of fashion like to be aware of the “latest fashions,” and Desigual.com’s RSS feed, in addition to Facebook posts and Twitter posts, will push the latest news into the customer’s info-sphere.

3. What social media tools is the organization using to proactively communicate with their user base (rather than just responding)?  How effective do you think they are in building relationships & engaging their customers online?

Desigual’s blog page (http://blog.desigual.com) features links to their Facebook page, Twitter account, Youtube videos, and Flickr pictures, as well as the aforementioned RSS feed.  Their site is colorful, well-designed, and obviously up-to-date, a reflection of their brand and their customers.  Blog posts have 0-4 comments from fans, and icons for social media make it easy for users to share website info with their networks.  According to the Facebook sidebar, Desigual has 342,182 fans, and if you like the brand, you can become a fan now, too, with the click of a button--and subsequently receive updates from the company via Facebook!  As a user and customer of the company, I like their visual website which features their products, the easy link to their blog, the design of their pages, the few links to the social media I use most, and the ability to add them to Google Reader.  

Summer's almost over?!

When it comes to gardening, we don't have much time left to enjoy the fruits of our labor.  In my case, I'll be leaving town for 3 weeks, which means I won't be around to see my garden reach its zenith.  But I'm still glad that I put plants in the ground, softened up the edges of my yard, and that my friend Sarah will enjoy a harvest of tomatoes on my behalf.  It's good to garden, even if (especially if?) our friends reap the greatest reward. 

Maybe I could sneak one of my green tomatoes with me on my trip!

Get Your Plants in the Ground!

If you take advantage of the sales of perennials this time of year, be sure to plant them in your garden before winter!

I have made the mistake in years past of thinking I could let plants I purchased one year sit in their pots over winter while I decided the absolute best spot for them in my yard.  And since I've had a handful of plants die over the winter--and my sister admonished me to just put plants in the ground--I have ensured that I make my landscaping decisions much more quickly.  Now if I buy a plant, it's in the ground about a week after I buy it!

DIY landscapers in warmer climates have the luxury of taking more time to place their plants, but we Albertans have to act fast...and that's not such a bad thing.

Sale at Canadian Tire!

Plants are now on sale everywhere! 

I took advantage of an evening when my husband was out golfing to go plant shopping at Canadian Tire, Home Depot, and Superstore.  I came home with 6 shrubs, and they cost me less than $25!

Three of the shrubs are  juniper shrubs, 2 are juniper ground covers, and the remaining shrub is a rhododendron, destined for a shady spot between our neighbor's house and ours.  It should display lovely little purple flowers in the spring.

Although I told my husband that I was done buying plants for the year, I wonder if perhaps I misspoke!   If any more purple shrubs go on sale, I may have to purchase them to replace a few junipers that didn't survive last winter.

First Day with the New Blog

I've been here before...wanting to put my thoughts to blog-o-sphere, and maintaining that enthusiasm for a good couple months before the passion to pour out personal ponderings perished.

SO, I'm well aware that I can't try to be too deep here, or else this blog will dissolve quickly too...just like all the rest.

By the way, I've started this blog as an assignment for a class I'm taking towards my MLIS, completely online.  Perhaps I could write about what I'm learning in LIBR 240.  Anyone out there speak HTML, CSS or JavaScript?  Nevermind...they are poetry...meant to be experienced rather than read verbatim.