Is Lush missing the point with Social Media, or do they actually understand it better than the rest?

The news this week is that British cosmetics giant, Lush, are closing several of their social media accounts. A telling quote that I read in the report from BBC’s Zoe Kleinman was; ‘they did not want to pay to appear in newsfeeds’. Lush North America is not going to follow suit though, so why is there some inconsistency in the approach?

At first glance, I was shocked to hear this kind of talk from a brand that is ideal for social media. Social media strategy is not just about paying for positioning in newsfeeds; it’s about organic positioning. Gini Dietrich talks about ‘earned’ and ‘shared’ exposure in the PESO model. It’s about your customers checking in, or taking selfies or seeing your products being worn or used by other people. If you have to rely on paying for position then you are not really connecting with your customers in the way Social Media should work.

Reading the report again, a key element is that Lush UK are only going to close some accounts, but they are going to keep others open. This makes more sense to me; you should pick the platforms that work for you. You should also pick the platforms that your customers tend to frequent – there is no point investing in places that will not get your customer’s attention.

The other important point in this report is that things work differently in different geographical locations. What’s working in the UK may not work in North America. This could be down to the delivery of the content, but assuming that it is the same, it could be down to the content consumers. Different platforms work differently – and definitely have different audiences.

Now it remains to be seen if this is the right move or not, but it’s certainly a bold move. Lush UK should be able to focus efforts and ensure they get the right results. The important thing is to put measures in place to check the progress and, of course, to not be too proud to pivot again if they need to change direction in the future – changing your mind is a sign of intelligence, fools tend to stay on a failing path.

Let’s see what happens, but it could be a genius step that sets a trend in the marketplace.