Like all businesses out there we here have been trying to figure out social media and how it can help us to connect with and learn from our customers in new ways. Like everyone we have built a facebook page, and we are getting ready to stick our toe in the twitter pool. And while we hope to continue to use those tools to connect with our customers – none of us here really got super excited about it. In the end, even though we feel like we share some funny or interesting things on facebook, it feels too much like we are talking to our customers about our product – and that’s kind of boring. We already do that every day. We kept hearing that social media was supposed to be this great new way to connect with our customers…but having “fans”, that we told about our sales, didn’t really feel like we were connected.

We had toyed with the idea of starting our own blog where we can tell you about events in stores and new designs on the horizon – but this kid of has that same feeling. It’s just us talking to you. We kind of want you to talk to us and you to talk to our other customers and on and on. And with that, a light went off.

One thing we always do get excited about is when a customer shares a photo or a sweet memory with us via e-mail.  These stories and images are priceless, and it brings such a sense of pride to our designers and entire Strasburg Family. Even more exciting is running across a mommy or daddy blogger sharing with the world how incredible their kids looked while in our clothes at some monumental life event. We pass these links around the office, and many times we find ourselves going back to those blogs to check in and see how things are going with the family. We realized we wanted this to be our social network. The moms, dads and grandparents of the world telling stories about the kids in their lives, as well as just telling us about thier lives in general. This was something we could get excited about. So we sent out a survey to a bunch of our customers and asked them “would you be interested in participating in a Strasburg Children blog”. Luckily it turned out we had a lot of people that were interested.

We did not go out and seek bloggers to write commercial posts for us. We went out seeking customers that wanted to write about their lives and  asked them if it was OK to put those stories here. The vast majority of the bloggers we started this with had never written a blog post prior to the first one they wrote on our blog. We have never, and never will, tell them what to write about. And while we do not necessarily pay our bloggers, we did feel it was only fair to give them store credit for their efforts. They are not required to mention our clothing or even say nice things about us to receive this credit, only to stay an active blogger and continue to write about subjects the community is interested in. We know how precious time can be when raising children, and we have asked them to take some of that time and share with us. We feel that should be rewarded.

We are not 100% sure what direction this will go. We do know we want some of our designers to jump in and give the community a sneak peak from time to time. And our associates in the stores always have amazing stories about our customers that we would love to pass on as well. But for the most part it is our hope that through the voices of our actual customers we can share and build a community that enjoys more than just a beautifully made piece of children’s clothing.  It is our hope that we can share what it is that actually makes Strasburg so special – your actual life and enthusiasm for living!

Feel free to comment, laugh, cry, and enjoy the lives of actual Strasburg superfans!