Impressively Web 2.0 communications: Toms Shoes

Do you like my new shoes? I do (and not just because they look a bit like clown’s shoes).

Check 'em out (Image: Maddy Milan, via awesome Hipstamatic iPhone app)

They’re my latest Toms Shoes – happy little canvas guys that aren’t just cheap(ish) and cute, but are also doing their bit to make the world a better place. How, you ask? Because in case you hadn’t heard (through the social interweb or the mildly annoying AT&T ad featuring Toms’s founder last year), for every pair of shoes it sells, Toms gives a new pair of shoes to a child in need. Alright, not a huge step toward world peace or the eradication of poverty, I’ll admit, but overall, probably better than buying shoes that don’t benefit anyone but you (and maybe Nike’s shareholders).

Why am I telling you about Toms? Not because I’m boasting about my new things like a four-year-old (actually, that is part of it), or because I think Toms is a nice, socially-responsible company (also part of it), but because Toms’s communications are pretty darned impressive. Toms is living the “engage your customers in conversation and help them advocate for your products” Web 2.0 communications dream, and then some. Here’s how:

1. First things first: Toms clearly knows its audience — young, vaguely hipster, socially responsible types — and tailor’s everything to suit them (voice, products, unique selling point, social media presence etc.)
2. Toms is all over social media, listening to its audiences and talking with them. Twitter (two accounts, one for customer service, one for news and product information), YouTube, Facebook, MySpace (active pages on all of them) – you name it, Toms is on it and using it to involve people more and more with the Toms “movement.”
3. Even better, Toms’s social media content is actually interesting — real people, real enthusiasm, real stories about what Toms does and how its shoes are helping all over the world.
4. Toms makes it really easy to get involved with “the movement” and share your love for their shoes at any level that suits you — take a picture of yourself with your new Toms and upload it to their website, sign up to raise awareness of the importance of putting shoes on children’s feet (?!), rate your latest purchase, host a party to decorate your shoes (again: ?!), or just share a link to the Toms site — whatever it is you want to do, Toms makes it easy, and more importantly, encourages you to do it with repeated calls to action and reminders. Nicely done.

I feel like this list could go on forever. Toms does a lot of stuff to engage, motivate and nurture it’s customers (including asking customers to suggest improvements – Groundswell would be so proud). Which means that thousands of happy Toms customers (this one included) are out there sharing their love for their Toms and for the idea of buying something that does some good.

Of course, it helps that the Toms product is one that’s easy to advocate for — it’s not just a shoe, it’s a cause. But (here comes the serious part) that’s not just a happy accident, it’s part of being a successful business in a Cluetrain/Groundswell/Here Comes Everybody/[insert name of favorite social media book here] world. If you listen to what your customers want (to help the world, to have more fun, to be more efficient, whatever) and give them products that help them do that, you’ll have an army of people ready, able and dying to tell everyone about you.

Sounds simple, right? Ah, if only it were.

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