Wal-Mart Seeks to Redefine Social CRM with New Local Strategy

Though names like Wal-Mart and McDonald’s refer to brands with global reputations and vast online and multinational presences, to many actual customers, they represent a single store in a single town in a single state.

From a social media perspective, the implications are significant.

When a local restaurant attempts to engage customers via Twitter, Facebook or blogs, its message directly reaches the target audience. Yes, even some localized small businesses have reputations that cross borders, but at the end of the day, most people who "like" a suburban New York City pizza joint or diner are going to be people who can, do and will actually frequent the establishments.

From a social marketing or CRM standpoint, that means there is little inherent wasted effort for small businesses. As long as their message is attractive, it will be actionable. There is no unnecessary conflation between the abstract "brand" and the actual retail point of purchase.

For the aforementioned mega-chains, however, the issue is not so simple. When a global retailer or restaurant promotes and engages on social media, it is most notably acting on behalf of the entire brand. Improving brand visibility is good for keeping the chain top-of-mind for customers (and for driving purchases on the e-commerce site), but without dialing customers into the actual storefront they know as "their Wal-Mart" or "their Olive Garden," the connection it creates with customers is fairly weightless.

It is also somewhat crippling for the local franchises. By creating social engagement on the global brand-level, the organizations minimize the ability of the individual stores to mobilize their customers. Instead of speaking to the unique nuances of the local customer bases and developing loyalty to the specific pricing, promotions, staff, customer service and store layouts, the stores are banking entirely on how well the brand clicks as a social media concept.

Is it any wonder that businesses often struggle to trace social media activity to success at brick-and-mortar stores?

Thanks to a new partnership with Facebook, Wal-Mart is hoping to make the "social vs. local" problem a thing of the past. The world’s biggest retailer this week integrated a "My Local Wal-Mart" function into its Facebook presence, which helps put the individual establishments—not just the overall brand—in the direct-line-of-sight of its 9.5 million Facebook fans.

More than just offering a "local" version of a national flyer, the new Facebook feature, which creates an announcement page for the thousands of individual stores, posts updates on "rollbacks, new product arrivals and special events" in the News Feeds of all who register.

"This allows us to make our stores relevant on a local level," said Wal-Mart’s Stephen Quinn, executive vice president for the US division, during a media call. "This addresses our next-generation customers who are using a lot of social media. A national message is often not as relevant."

Facebook’s Carolyn Everson, who confirmed the social network is not yet working on this functionality with any other retailer, explains (via AdAge) that the feature is not simply to tout the awareness of a local store (ala a "locate my store" search) but to establish "fundamentally different business" and a "different relationship" at the local level.

By advertising specific products, specific promotions and specific in-store events, the "My Local Wal-Mart" service gives the individual locations their own personality and relevance with customers—they are not just the "nearest versions of the same, generic, multi-national retailer." As the endeavor continues, it will provide Wal-Mart with insight into how customers from individual markets are responding to specific promotions and the subsequent ability to create localized messages that seize on that insight.

In the very short-term, it is likely the feature will prove more symbolic of change than game-changing itself. AdAge reports that many of the local strategies will be handled by corporate (with the local managers having an "override"), which questions how deeply-unique and customized the local offerings will prove. Further, as the service will adhere to a low-profile two News feed updates per week, the level of visibility might be less than is needed to make a major impact.

Granted, even a "symbolic" change represents a significant step forward for social CRM. Even if the announcements are not quite as custom and frequent as is ideal, the very idea that Wal-Mart will be framing its correspondence as "from the Mount Olive, NJ or Austin, TX Wal-Mart" will greatly enhance the engagement of its message. Just like when a local restaurant posts its daily lunch special on Facebook, the local Wal-Mart announcements will have far more value as "calls to action."

And the potential for improvement is enormous. Wal-Mart, for instance, confirmed it will drive engagement for the in-store "Black Friday" specials by posting maps of the local stores ahead of the post-Thanksgiving deal rush. Other less-certain but still-envisioned plans include customizing the local deals based on the types of products customers "Like" and develop integration with the site-to-store order/delivery system.

Though it appears only Wal-Mart presently has the privilege of a Facebook partnership in developing this sort of strategy, all major companies should be looking at the core lesson: successful social media engagement stems not only from properly framing the brand for the customer, but from considering the proper avenue for turning "engagement" into "purchasing."

For those global companies who wonder why they can have millions of Facebook and Twitter followers but little evidence of an impact on business, consider what it is you are asking fans to "like." Garnering support for a brand is nice, but if the core intent is to drive activity in local stores, dining in the local restaurant or use of local cleaning services, then the core of the social media should be promoting customer engagement with the promotions and services offered by the local establishments.