Since its launch in 2011, Dollar Shave Club has become a household name in the men’s health and wellness category. One of the many factors contributing to their success is their digital marketing and online presence.
I will be doing a brief analysis of Dollar Shave Club’s digital presence. I will focus mainly on a qualitative analysis, not a quantitative one, as I don’t have access to their data.
I’ll be focusing on three critical areas for a healthy digital presence.
- Organic search
- Social media marketing
- And video content
Finally, I will review my recommendations for this brand based on my research. So let’s get right into it.
Organic search
Organic-search traffic is the best kind of traffic, and while we all want to rank first on Google, it takes a lot of relevancy to rank for a specific keyword.
I used an incognito window to mask my search history from Google for a more accurate SERP (search engine results page). Unfortunately, Dollar Shave Club did not rank on the first page for the keyword “shaving” or on the second page or third. I found this odd, so I investigated it a little further.
The #1 spot for the keyword “Shaving” went to “The Art of Shaving,” a competitor of Dollar shave club. The Art of Shaving has been hard at work creating informative blog articles, increasing the domain relevancy for their primary keywords in the eyes of Google.
Dollar Shave Club does have a blog. However, it’s hidden on their website. They call it “original content,” which I found confusing (just call it a blog). So if you don’t see that section hidden in a hamburger menu, the site feels more like a sales page than a place for helpful information. And we all know Google loves to rank sites with helpful information.
When searching for “Dollar Shave Club” on Google, I was pleased to see a healthy amount of schema data structure, metadata, and rich snippets allowing for the brand to take up much more of the SERP, such as this knowledge panel on the right side of the Google search.
I’d also like to note that “Dollar Shave Club” did show an ad while searching for the keyword “Dollar Shave Club.” They use paid advertising for their keywords to protect their brand from the competition. It’s out of the scope of organic traffic, but I thought it was important to mention it as this allows the brand to take up more of the SERP.
Now that we have briefly touched on Dollar Shave Clubs’ organic search results, Let’s move on to our next topic. Social media marketing.
Social media
Social marketing is much more than paid ads on a social media platform. It’s all about how the company engages with current and potential customers. A humorous, lighthearted campaign can do wonders for a business (think Wendy’s, for instance). With every reply, the brand becomes more human and relatable, giving the appearance of a real person behind the keyboard, not just a corporate employee.
A quick search for Dollar Shave Club will reveal several of their social media platforms, so let’s look at how these platforms are being used.
Their Facebook page looks like a home run with nearly 4 million likes at 3,871,366 (including 7 of my friends). But it’s not 2008 anymore, and followers without engagement mean nothing. I was glad to see each post had a healthy dose of comments and shares. Some more than others, but overall, they are doing something right.
Posts like this one have a significant amount of engagement. However, I have to deduct points considering they are not replying to any of the comments left on their posts. I didn’t do too much digging, but I only saw one instance of a reply, and it was related to sales.
Next up is Twitter
Their account sits at 86.1k followers and an impressive 9,775 tweets, meaning they take this account very seriously.
Unfortunately, however, I see a significant lack of engagement from Twitter. Take this post, for instance, that got so many comments on Facebook. It seems Twitter followers are not nearly as engaging as FB followers. And again, I don’t see them liking and replying to all of their comments.
Their Instagram account measures up to 210K followers, an impressive amount of followers for any brand. The page looks great, and the story’s layout and thumbnails are coherent with the brand’s image.
But once again, I do not see a significant back-and-forth between the brand and its audience. It’s more of a monologue than a dialog.
YouTube
It took some time to get to their current sub-count of over 35,900. Their first video was uploaded over seven years ago. Since then, they have uploaded 66 videos, with their first video getting huge viral buzz, currently sitting at 26 million views.
With YouTube being such a great platform for building trust and answering questions, I was again surprised to see Dollar Shave Club not replying to any of its comments. This is something that all successful YouTube channels know how to do, especially in response to positive comments.
Look at this YouTuber, who always likes and replies to all of his comments. Ok, yes, those are just my videos, but I think a company worth billions can do the same.
Overall, their social media strategy is looking solid. And while their marketing messages are congruent with the brand image, I have to commend them for not simply posting the same content to each social media platform as I see content on Twitter that’s not on Facebook and Instagram and vice versa meaning they are taking their content to the specific platform they are using.
That was it for social media, but while on YouTube, let’s get right to our next topic. Video content.
Video content
As mentioned, their first video received a lot of buzz and sat at 26 million views. Impressive, considering it is nothing more than promotional material. And the secret to its success is no secret at all. It’s all about humor.
The video follows the company’s founder with his eyes locked on the camera as he makes his way through the warehouse, telling us what makes Dollar Shave Club different and unique with comedic bits at every turn. When I first saw it, I didn’t click the skip button because it was unlike any ad I had ever seen. It’s funny, unique, and has all the right ingredients for a viral video.
I’m glad Dollar Shave Club’s videos have maintained a healthy sense of humor. For example, their latest video, “Magnifique: A Father’s Day Gift | Dad Bod,” showcases a group of middle-aged men wearing nothing but tighty whities, dancing erotically in the dark. Trust me, it’s not as sexy as it sounds, but it is creative and humorous and maintains true to the brand.
It’s also worth noting that while they have been pumping out videos consistently, which is a good thing for digital presence, most of the videos average under 3 minutes long, some as short as one minute, which is not great for the YouTube algorithm.
Recommendations
So now that we have briefly touched on Dollar Shave Clubs’ digital presence, what are my recommendations for the brand?
Make your blog easier to find
They need to make their blog easier to find. I didn’t think they had one at all. If it were not for a separate search on Bing, I would have completely missed it. The art of shaving blogs was right in the front where they should have been. This is undoubtedly hurting SEO, as people are not spending enough time on Dollar Shave Club if they are not ready to purchase and see no other reason for remaining on the site. This leads to an increased bounce rate and a lower organic ranking.
More dialogue, less monologue
They should reply to all comments. In fact, Facebook Business Manager has a tool to help brands reply to all Facebook and Instagram posts from one place. They should take advantage of these kinds of devices or hire them out. They can afford it. The brand will look better for it.
Longer videos
Longer videos. Out of 66 videos on YouTube, only five are over 10 minutes long. This problem is because YouTube changed its algorithm a while back, rewarding videos with longer watch times than view counts. So, to succeed in YouTube today, it’s a rule of thumb that a video should be at least 10 minutes long.
They can easily be achieved if they take some of the well-written “original content” posts on their site, make a video out of it, and possibly show up on the coveted YouTube recommended panel.
Are you a visual learner? Check out my video below titled “Analysis of Dollar Shave Club’s Digital Presence (Marketing Including SEO and Social Media)” from my YouTube channel, as I show you all this firsthand.
Frequently asked questions (FAQ)
Do you still have questions? Below are some of the most commonly asked questions about dollar shave club.
Was Dollar Shave Slub bought out?
Dollar Shave Club, a DTC favorite, was purchased by Unilever for $1 billion in 2016.
Is the Dollar Shave Club still a dollar?
The Dollar Shave Club pricing depends on your order, unlike other subscriptions. The trial items are around $2 apiece, and the most popular trial package has three of them for $6. The Ultimate Starter Kit from Dollar Shave Club costs $18 and contains razors, blades, and supplies.
Is the Dollar Shave Club worth it?
Dollar Shave Club provides some of the greatest razors made of high-quality materials with free delivery if you’re seeking for a nice shave at a reasonable price. We suggest Dollar Shave Club for a low price for a pleasant shave since they manufacture wonderful goods.
Conclusion
Well, that was my evaluation of Dollar Shave Club’s digital presence, along with my recommendations. What do you think? Let me know in the comments below (I read and reply to every comment). If you found this article helpful, check out my full blog and subscribe to my YouTube channel. Thanks for reading!