MAN REPELLER The Social Media Powerhouse That Turned A Blog Into Business Emily Peterson emily.peterson2@loop.colum.edu October 28th, 2016 701-818-7068 1
TABLE OF CONTENTS MAN REPELLER...3 ONE FOR THE WOMAN...4 SOCIAL MEDIA POWERHOUSE...5 INSTAGRAM...7 YOUTUBE...8 THE MEASURE OF SUCCESS...9 RECOMMENDATION...10 CONCLUSION...11 2
MAN REPELLER Man Repeller was founded in 2010 by Leandra Medine, who quickly turned a blog into a business. Man Repeller has become an award-winning multi-media business and a global community of bright, interested and interesting people who know that fashion, humor and intelligence are not mutually exclusive. With the effective mission of being true to yourself. Man Repeller holds the principle belief that style is a meaningful form of self-expression. And the most empowering thing you can share is your point of view: through clothes, through words, through whatever shape it might take to better connect with others. Man Repeller covers everything from style, feminism, culture, beauty, wellness, relationships and careers with honesty, wit, enthusiasm, and grace. 3
ONE FOR THE WOMAN Man Repeller is a very fitting namesake when uncovering the audience of the brand. With a target audience of middle age women who are in the middle-upper class system. These women are employed, professional, bright, fashionable, independent, with a quick sense of humor. Man Repeller attracts a willingness to learn, and absorb new things and these women love that. They lean toward liberal/democratic, and while they are very busy they spend time on their style and appearance. They are always on Google researching all the latest trends and designers, but also have news apps they access everyday. Man Repeller does an amazing job of bring awareness to their brand among this audience forming trust through their activities, and keeping them engaged. 4
SOCIAL MEDIA POWERHOUSE Man Repeller has used social media to grow their brand into the powerhouse it is today, paving the way for many others on its way. Dipping their toes in many of the provided platforms social media has to offer they have achieved and maintained a massive following. Man Repeller has specifically championed Instagram, and used Youtube to provide a separate service binding their journalistic tendencies with their apparent passion for fashion. Their social media profiles have provided for much of their success by generating consistent interest and traffic back to their website and to their collaborations. They know how to use social media channels to achieve different objectives and reach their audience. Their effective use of social media has been the key to their success, period. Facebook is not Man Repeller's best platform for engagement with their followers, and born more out of necessity than anything else. [307K page likes, 4.9 out of 5 stars review rating, engagements on posts relatively low] Twitter is crucial because it allows for their followers to access their stories, but it also sends out Tweets with the same satire of the website, and that interaction generates a loyal following. The small, seemingly nameless tweets that keep them laughing and engaged. [364K followers, 35K tweets] 5
Pinterest gets founder Leandra's style out there to the masses, and for that it is very useful. Her style, personality, and voice founded the company so recognition of her is important. It is not very useful at getting much traffic back to their websites or stories though, just in their general style and taste. [49 boards, 6.5K pins, 102K followers] Tumblr is great for the fashion side of things, because most posts are photos and the captions are often overlooked. The links provided ensure some traffic back to their webpage, although limited. However, most of it is from people who have not been there before. [engagements vary] Bloglovin is vital as Man Repeller started as a blog it is important to stick to their roots to ensure their followers they are still attached to their humble beginnings. [113K followers, engagement low] Fantail is useful because it makes Man Repeller s Instagram feed shoppable by photos becoming links to products, stories, etc. Which makes it very good for getting traffic back to website, and generating revenue as a blog. WhoWhatWear- It is important for Man Repeller to be featured by other fashion blogs because it helps their image as a fashion source. 6
INSTAGRAM Instagram is the bread and butter behind Man Repeller and has proven essential for their success. It is the platform in which they have gained the most followers with 1.5 million, and it is also their most active profile. As they are a style blog they use their Instagram post to showcase styles and upcoming trends. However, they share quality content that varies as much as their website, but also seems totally and uniquely them the whole time. Their Instagram keeps the flow of traffic to their website heavy, along with their collaborations, and to their advertisements. Instagram also goes a long way to engage new members in their existing audience, and new markets. They find Man Repeller first on Instagram, and then quickly find their way to the website and soon Man Repeller takes up residency in their hearts. Man Repeller uses all of the social media objective when it comes to Instagram, which explains the success in their performance on Instagram and bringing it back to their business to meet their goals. 7
YOUTUBE Youtube provides a visual to the quirky, wit that is behind Man Repeller. It showcases the brand personality, and founder Leandra Medine in a new lightness. Youtube allows for an offshoot of Man Repeller s written journalism with interviews, meetings, and fashion related content. It is engaging because many people have grown to love founder, Leandra and her personality and they really enjoy her videos. It also becomes a platform to support others to share their style, campaigns, and their work especially women while also featuring Man Repeller s own collections and collaborations. 8
THE MEASURE OF SUCCESS How does one measure success? Is it by audience engagement? Engaging new markets? Remaining profitable? Steady attention of advertisers? Collaborations with major brands? Implementing and achieving business goals? Successful social media? If yes to and or all of these, then Man Repeller is immensely successful. It is within their business goals to maintain a space for women while sharing about style, culture, beauty, wellness, relationships, and careers with humor. They are still growing as a business, ahead of their already great success. They are making money, selling products, forming collaborations, and proving their stake as an entity for journalism as well. Man Repeller is pushing the barrier between business and blog and showing the rest of the world how it is done. Exhibit 1: Goals turning reality 9
RECOMMENDATIONS Man Repeller should redistribute the focus that remains on Instagram to growing their presence on the social media platforms where their engagement is lower, like Facebook. That engagement could generate a whole new development of consumers. Facebook has the potential to be as successful as Instagram, and facilitate all five of the social media objectives. Learn a thing or two from the AirAsia Friendsy Campaign which grew the AirAsia Facebook fan base by 30 percent, and reached 2.3 million people. They should establish some new social media policies and guidelines to help direct the growth of platforms that already exist, but with lower engagement. Create content feature uniquely on Facebook Sweepstakes to win recent collaborations by like, share, comment on Facebook Paid post promotion on Facebook Make an app featuring website content with more convenience *Don t get PFSD* 10
CONCLUSION There is no denying Man Repeller s success in virtually every stake of their business, but that does not mean there is not room to grow. Man Repeller is very self-aware of their goals as a business, and remaining true to their colors. They use social media like a well-oiled machine, but they need to reprogram that machine to reach higher and wider. They could reach markets internationally with a different approach to Facebook, and with the innovation of an app. It is all within their reach, they just need make a few tweaks to have it all. 11