An Open Letter to Victoria’s Secret

Everyone knows what Victoria’s Secret is, the number one store for lingerie. In men you elicit sexy thoughts and you’ve convinced women that underwear can be a fashion statement.

Your brand is incredibly strong, but the Victoria’s Secret market share is under fire. Competition is growing as other stores are creating new lingerie lines, and now is the time for you to explore new marketing venues.

Kohl’s, Target (Charts, Fortune 500), J.C. Penney, Bloomingdale’s, Nordstrom (Charts, Fortune 500), American Eagle Outfitters, Chico’s FAS and Lane Bryant are just some of the retailers that have added new lingerie lines or updated existing offerings by renovating dressing rooms and adding special services like bra fitters, moves that are stealing Victoria’s Secret’s thunder.

So I ask this question; “Why aren’t you using social media to connect with your consumers and to keep them from straying?”

It’s understood that many of Victoria’s Secret consumers are female college students. In fact you’ve created a line just for coeds, the Pink collection. Social media is a great way to market to this demographic of students.

From a marketing standpoint the number that jumps out to me is the amount of time that college students are spending adding 3rd part apps to their profiles, especially female students.

Launching vspink.com is a great first step, especially with the idea of allowing students to vote on the next college to be featured in the Pink line. Showing an interest in social media is nice, but just dangling your toes into it is not enough. With only a single blog, one you don’t even market or use to build buzz with, your online human presence is lacking.

The best way to understand what the Victoria’s Secret online store looks like to the average consumer is to think large unapproachable corporation. But this is exactly what people don’t want.

Customers want to connect with the stores they buy from. They want to see that the company wants to connect with them, and also want to see that others are using the product. Online consumers want to be a part of the company by sharing their ideas, voting on things, or showing off what they’ve bought.

What can you do to make your store and brand more social media friendly? Start simple, create an actual blog. Use it to let people know who’s wearing your clothes, when the next Victoria’s Secret show is, or highlight new clothing. A Victoria’s Secret blog would be awesome, and could turn into a wealth of information for college girls and young women around the world.

Don’t just stop there. You already know your brand brings in a huge number of consumers and many of them are interested in social networking (589,204 FaceBook fans, 216,128 MySpace friends). Take this one step further and create a VSPink social network. Let people share their new clothes, rate what they just bought, and show off pictures of them in lounge-wear and etc.

Finally, how about creating a Twitter account? Let us know about sales, give us tips on what to buy our girlfriends, or remind us that Christmas is coming up.

Everyday that Victoria’s Secret doesn’t utilize social media is a day that you’ve lost out on sales. Hoping that a strong brand today will be strong tomorrow is not a smart marketing idea.

Creating an environment that fosters sales, gives consumers a reason to buy, and highlights new products is what social media is good for. Not only that but it helps create customers for life. So once again I ask you, “Victoria’s Secret, why aren’t you using social media?”

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