I read a post today on the SAS Get, Grow, Keep blog that featured a great video with the CIO of Chico’s FAS, Gary King. It’s a part of SAS’s “Nuts and Bolts of Social Media” series, so there was a focus on how Chico’s FAS is using social media to build their brand. And it was fascinating.

A couple of my favorite parts are:

1. The FAS in Chico’s FAS stands for Folk Art Store. This now huge apparel company, featuring three brands (Chico’s, White House Black Market, and Soma), began as a seller of folk art. In the video, Gary says that the sweaters on the side table of the store were selling better than any of the folk art, so they became a clothing retailer. I love that they were so open to adapting to the market and evolving to fit their customers. That mindset has obviously served them well, as they now have approximately 1,100 stores all over the United States and Puerto Rico.
2. The Soma-hosted Facebook Pajama Party. For four hours, their intimate apparel brand, Soma, hosted the world’s largest pajama party on their Facebook fan page, where fans had the opportunity to “celebrate and share their thoughts about their favorite pajamas, movies, stories and recipes, as well as participate in personality quizzes and surveys and chat with Soma Intimates style experts.” What a creative way to engage your customers! Not only was the event far reaching and related to the product, but it helped to build a relationship between the company and the customer. I can only imagine how much fun these women had participating in an event that reminded them of their younger years, creating a warm fuzzy feeling among them for the Soma brand.
3. What color underwear are you wearing? A while back, there was a game circulating the Facebook world where you were supposed to post what color underwear you were wearing in your status line. The White House Black Market brand president saw this as an opportunity for customer engagement, and immediately offered an incentive for people to participate in the survey. At the end of the weekend, they randomly picked a name from the participants and the winner received a gift card and shopping spree at the store. This was a great move because the survey had already acquired its own publicity, and White House Black Market basically got to ride that wave into customer engagement and buzz that the brand is fun and relevant in the community.

You can find the original Get, Grow, Keep post here.