Why Instagrammers love Toms

VENICE BEACH, Calif. -- Every day at Toms headquarters in Los Angeles, staffers take dozens of photos of products, to feed the Instagram beast.

The app that began as a way for folks to take photos of their food and parties has turned into an important sales tool for brands. Toms, which sells shoes, eyewear and coffee, has nearly 500,000 followers on Instagram, fans of the brand who check out the app for the latest images of its products.

Toms has has a 60% engagement with users there, while most brands have 30%, says Zita Cassizzi, the chief digital officer for Toms. She told me how Toms is using social media to engage with its 6 million social media followers and more on the audio edition of the #TalkingTech show. Click the link directly below to hear the conversation. She also offers her perspective on what needs to happen to even the diversity numbers in tech, and how she tackles the hundreds of e-mails and texts that fly by every day.

Toms has followers on on Instagram,Facebook,Google + and Twitter, but much of its efforts is focused towards Instagram, due to its heavy concentration of millennials.

The heavy 60% response rate--lots of likes and comments--"means we have an emotional connection with our customers," says Cassizzi.

Toms of course is the the company known for its one-to-one sales techniques--buy a pair of shoes, and the company will donate a pair to needy children. It's given away 35 million pairs of shoes to date.

The company deals with inspiration--helping to make the world a better place, and uses photos and quotes to get across the message.

Staffers at Toms Los Angeles headquarters stage photo shoots with its products--offering using staffers as models--to feed the daily Instagram. Recent mobile Tom photos include shots of a young man putting on Toms shoes at the beach, a valentine heart made out of shoes and pictures of Toms sunglasses. Other photos features gift recipients from around the world.

The focus on social media--and mobile, is important, because that's where the customers are, says Cassizzi. The physical presence is also still very relevant--Toms has stores in Venice, Portland, Chicago, Amsterdam and Austin, but when customers come in, "they have their phone with them. So we need to engage with them in a physical and digital way as well. It's just a new way of being, a new way of our world."

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