When it comes to its fitness division, Sears Holdings faces a unique challenge: Sears is actually the leading retailer of fitness equipment, but customers don’t realize this. As a result, many forget to consider Sears when thinking about making a purchase.
To better establish its brand and to change this perception among the fitness community, Sears’ Jennifer Dominiquini created FitStudio. What started with a handful of fans on Facebook has grown to a community of more than 50,000 members.
A few of Dominiquini’s tips on how the company designed and built the community from her BlogWell presentation:
- Start small. The company began with a simple Facebook page, “Sears Fit Club,” with only 75 members. The project didn’t have much of a budget, so Dominiquini started creating videos and sharing stories about her personal fitness goals. Soon, others joined in.
- Get help. Dominiquini and her team got employees as well as active fitness bloggers and trainers involved in creating content and establishing the vision and voice of the community. This began to snowball into more members and better conversations.
- Support sustainability. With the community maturing — and proving successful — Sears is focusing on increasing its membership by promoting it through public relations campaigns and in stores.
Watch Dominiquini’s live case study. Slides are available.