The retailer I chose to analyze is TOMS shoes. I think the website looks great and is very easy to navigate. The design is both consistent and reflective of their products. It is very clean looking and modern so you are drawn to looking at the different aspects of it. 

Because they are a company with a cause, it is important for them to illustrate that on their website. “Our Movement” is one of the tabs at the top and gives you a few options of pages that will explain their mission as a company. Here they have a video that shows what their mission is as a company:

When you are on the TOMS homepage, you will first see that they have a blog. That link is located at the top and is clearer than the other social media sites. If you scroll to farther down on the page (which isn’t long to begin with), there is a box labeled “CONNECT” which includes Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, YouTube, and RSS buttons. I also noticed that as you move onto other pages, that are not sales pages, the buttons more to a more prominent, left side of the page. 

I think that because an important part of this company is their cause, it is perhaps more important for them to build community with their customers. When you click on the different buttons, you are encouraged to “follow” or “like” in order to “stay up to date with the movement. I think that this is a good tactic for getting customers involved because they feel connected to the company after having bought their product. I think that this investment will make them more likely to want to stay up to date on the progress of “the movement” and more likely to be involved socially. On Twitter, TOMS gives links to videos, products and promotes other causes so I think they are speaking to the right market. 

Overall I feel that TOMS is doing a pretty great job of building community through social media sites. I think that they are aware of their target market, and are doing a good job of speaking to them. They have a certain way of using design and photo to be consistent and compelling in their advertisement and website. I think if anything, TOMS could improve by maybe just tweeting more and having a larger presence on Facebook. I think they are a pretty well known and respected retailer, so that they could have even more success in the social media world.