How Zappos Revolutionized the Shoe Industry Through Social Media Strategies

Through the eyes of founders Nick Swinmurn, Tony Hsieh, and Alfred Lin–collective founders of Zappos.com—to become a successful online shoe company took a redefining of a culture, one step at a time. While rummaging the rows of a local mall shopping for a pair of Airwalks back in 1999, Swinmurn pitched the new concept of an online shoe store to his future partners. At the time, footwear in the U.S. was a $40 billion per year market with a 5% market share sold through direct-mail catalogs. The business opportunity certainly was there.

After an initial capital investment, Zappos brought a whole new marketing concept to a big industry. This later began to rake in profits over a billion dollars before becoming an official subsidiary of Amazon.com. Catering to every niche from Nike-lovers to the American-made shoes, vegan shoes and even in hard-to-find sizes, Zappos grew in volume through the simplicity of a loyalty business model based on relationship marketing way before implementing social media marketing strategies.

Zappos didn’t employ themselves as a company, but rather a culture. In addition to providing the world with a new way to shop for shoes, the company also provides customers with an 800 toll free number, free shipping, and a return policy. During a time when message boards and Facebook feeds are swamped with spam messages and annoying advertisements, trust has become a huge issue. Zappo employed core values with Hsieh himself believing, “If we get the culture right, then everything else, including the customer service, will fall into place.” Ten years later, form has since followed function.

Zappos uses the spirit through their social media strategies, using the “Like” button not as a means to get a name on a news feed, but rather to use it as an immediate call to action with a series of incredible promotions that give back to the fans. As The Next Web Puts it, “This isn’t to say that Zappos doesn’t ‘get’ social media; it simply gets when to use it and when not to. This hasn’t affected its social media activity, as they boast a very active Facebook page with great elements such as a featured fan of the week and have over 128,000 fans. But it isn’t afraid of using the Like button call to action where it fits, as the screenshot from this tab on its Facebook Page shows.”

With a diverse model of hiring employees with robust human resources practices, trust is in the core character of everyone who works at Zappos…and enjoyment. Customers who shop at Zappos know they are among people who are passionate about and love their work, and genuinely love to be there.

By giving back, or just giving, Zappos has been able to get more with a stable, secure, and reputable service in the world of shoes. When considering customer service and social media strategies, put yourself on the other side of the counter, make yourself the user reading their own personal news feed with photos of their families and kittens, and see in what ways you can reach out. Because you may be surprised, they might just grab on to you.