This week, Sears Holdings officially launched two social networks for their customers, MySears and MyKmart. Although these social communities do have a few quirks, the initiative that they represent, coupled with their well-designed social elements, is a sign of how more traditional companies are embracing social media technology to create a better customer experience and a better brand.
A little on MySears and MyKmart...
So what exactly are MySears and MyKmart? At their core, they are social networks for reviews. Products being sold by Sears are up for review by any community member, on a 1 to 5 star scale, with generally short one line descriptions or criticisms.
MySears and MyKmart also incorporate several other useful social elements. They have their own message boards and active blogs. My favorite feature, though, is the Ideas section. This is an area for submitting product ideas to Kmart and Sears, with an up-or-down voting system similar to Reddit. It's a great way for Sears to solicit new ideas and to start a discussion around them. They could also submit their own ideas and get some feedback from loyal customers.
Despite some great features, the two social networks do have a few quirks that raise questions. MySears and MyKmart are linked to social media accounts on Twitter, Facebook, and MySpace, but the Twitter links direct you to completely idle Kmart and Sears accounts, a no-no that projects laziness. It's even stranger when you account for the fact that there's an active account for MySears.
One other strange issue: some reviews date as far back as 2006. MySears and MyKmart had their soft launches in 2008, so we wonder from where they are pulling these much older reviews. Yet despite these small issues, the overall implementation is great. That's probably because Sears partnered with Viewpoints, a seasoned social media company with an emphasis on reviews, to build these community websites.
Traditional brands and social media
What Sears is doing is a more common phenomenon than people may think. Major brands like Ford and Comcast are using Twitter extensively, while other brands like Saturn have their own social networks for their customers.
While many older companies have yet to embrace social media technology, others like Sears grasp the advantages presented by new forms of communication. Building community creates more loyal and caring customers. Twitter and Facebook facilitate a wider discussion and can help prevent PR nightmares. And the shareability of social media helps foster the exchange of ideas between brands and consumers.