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s.mueller

Case Study: How to use Social Media to promote your brand

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There are numerous examples of companies using Social Media for their business purposes. The most common is to promote one’s brand, to allow consumers to experience the brand, allow it to enter their private sphere and even show their affinity to the brand to their peers. I will not enumerate the psychological motivation behind such actions but rather focus on an example – a regional one – in which Social Media activity is being triggered and even had to compete with classical media, a newspaper.

Bischofshof_425

Case Study: Bischofshof Beer Queen Vote

Bischofshof is 360 year old German brewery based in Regensburg, Bavaria. Aside from their regular varieties the brewery also offers the „Bruckmandl“ which seems to be targeted to a younger yet sophisticated audience (the radio spots use American dialect). Breweries in Germany are struggling with a decrease in demand and in Bavaria in particular, the market is colored by a tough competition between numerous small and medium sized regional breweries. To fight beer giants such as Becks or Krombacher, these breweries have to make sure their regional target groups remain loyal and enjoy drinking a local beer.

Among other marketing activities, Bischofshof holds an annual beer queen election. This year, 10 young women have been elected to fight for the title of Bischofshof Beer Queen – two others will become Beer Princess.

The election takes place in several stages. Two jury decisions, an online pool and a weekly newspapers voting contribute to the final decision. Via online poll and newspaper voting the consumers and brand fans are invited to participate by not only voting for their favorite candidate but also by spreading word-of-mouth and online by sharing the news about the election. On the Bischofshof website, visitors can constantly check the current ranking. Facebook turned out to be a preferred medium to spread the news and to activate one’s peers to vote for the favored candidate. It should be mentioned that the brewery does not (yet) have its own facebook fan page. Given the number of votes in the online poll (the leading girl currently has more than 1300 votes) you can imagine that website traffic must have incresed greatly through this campaign.
The other benefit is that the brand is word on the street, especially in the greater social networks of the 10 candidates: their friends, their colleagues, fellow students, family,….

It remains to be seen how well the competition is being documented on the Bischofshof website. And what is most interesting: It would be very interesting to see which medium resulted in more votes – online media or classical media. We will try to get information on that after the new queen has been chosen.

SOM is voting for Daniela Meidinger! Join the vote today! Thursday 22 April is the last day to participate!

Here is the link:
http://www.bischofshof.de/aktuelles/Wer_wird_die_Bierkoenigin_91x6.htm

More info on Bischofshof:
www.bischofshof.de

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s.mueller

How consumers shop online

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Ever wondered how consumer really behave when shopping online?
If you are running your own ecommerce website you can invest a great deal into web analytics. Analyzing visitors paths, conversion rates and visitor loyalty can provide interesting insights. Still it may be really hard to get definite information. Changing IP addresses, inexact origins due to electronice data processing centers and all the common inconveniences of web analytics make it hard for online retailers to analyze their customers behavior.

McAfee Secure now came up with a white paper that summarizes the results of the analysis of 163 million consumers who completed a total of 2.52 million transactions. The results are stunning. And they prove what we already know from real life shopping: We love to promenade through the inner city stores monitoring all the interesting products and comparing prices before we finally come to the obviously bet decision based on the information we have gathered. The same happens online. Consumers do not shop at once (except for spontaneous purchases). The average online shopper is in no hurry. Of course not, as stocks online usually last some time and there is barely any fear someone else might grab the last item available. The average online shopper of those 163 millions shoppers surveyed take their time – on average up to two days – between first visiting a website and finally purchasing a product.

What happens within those 33 hours and 54 minutes? Well, nothing extraordinary. Consumers compare prices elsewhere, read test results and consumer reviews, ask their peers about the product and gather recommendations from other users. An ever growing source of information are social networks and the entertaining social media presences of brands. They may lack elaborate information but they provide a good impression of a brand’s character and its fans. Some ecommerce websites even allow shopping together making use of social media technology. We call it social commere. Paul Marsden, an expert in this field defines social commerce as follows:

Selling with social media – the use of social media in the context of e-commerce (Source: www.socialcommercetoday.com)

What are the implicatios of this analysis for online retailers?

Well in order to assure that shoppers really shop with you instead of finding another place to get the product of their desire, you might want to assure this: clarity / good usability, transparency in terms of costs, shipping and handling, warranty, product details and of course the reputation consumers have of you! You know, price is not everything. Simply treat your customers the way they expect it. And for your own sake, always keep an eye on costs. The best service in the world is useless if it costs you too much and eventually ruins your business. Then customers with a service issue will sadly have to find out that only some months after they bought your products your business went bankcrupt….

For a more detailed list of advice, please see a really good article on this here:

http://www.practicalecommerce.com/articles/1799-Online-Shoppers-Wait-Two-Days-to-Buy

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s.mueller

Don't go Social Media if….

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well, plenty of reasons to enumerate!
As I had been previously writing about the fact that not every company or organization should blindly invest in Social Media campaigns or open up a group, account or whatever wherever possible, I much enjoyed an article by Lisa Barone on her blog. She lists up „10 signs your company isn’t suited for social media“ – which pretty much covers the issue.

Here they are:

1. You have no social skills (and don’t want to fake them)
2. You have no sense of humor/can’t handle criticism
3. You’re going to forget about it in the morning
4. Openness is a problem for you
5. You’re only there to sell
6. You view social media as a numbers game
7. You’re inclined to call people’s wives ‘douchettes’
8. You think Twitter is a social media strategy
9. You don’t have a ‘social’ culture
10. You don’t have permission

For the details, well you know where that is to be found!
Please see her blog for the entire article.

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s.mueller

SOM is back and here's a goodie on B2B Marketing

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After a brief cold that came across my way and totall corrupted my schedule I am back on track. Having barely found the time to provide content for this blog here is a goodie published today on mashable.com.
Social Media still is in every mouth and this is very likely to continue for much longer. These two words combine the hopes of oh so many companies out there, fearing to lose touch of their consumers as times change faster and faster. But Social Media can also be of help in the B2B sector. The only trouble is that solution are not as evident as in the B2C field. Open a Jaegermeister youtube channel or a Nike facebook page. No big deal. But in the B2B area you need to be a little more fact-oriented and less entertaining. To successfully apply Social Media here, you might need more phantasy than in the B2C field. Sounds weird? Well, who would have thought that an electronic devices supplier such as Farnell would successfully establish a community (element14) for its business customers where they can exchange their insights, tips, troubles and so on about Farnell products. And it obviously does work and they do love it!
Another aspect is going out into the existing platforms such as facebook, twitter, and so on. This may not be the ideal place to sell B2B goods, but at least what you can do is learn and find the appropriate partners. Mashable.com’s today article provides you with 10 essential Social Media Tools for B2B Marketers. If Social Media is a topic in your business you might wanna check their article. But do not forget: in the end it is still you who has to find out if Socia Media does make sense and does generate real profit for you business! Enjoy!

Here is the link:
http://mashable.com/2010/04/08/b2b-marketing-tools/

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s.mueller

The US behind Europe in Social Media Usage – or is it the other way round?

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US behind Europe in Social Media?

US behind Europe in Social Media?

This post refers to a blog post by We are Social, a digital marketing and social media agency based in London.
The reason this post caught my attention (I actually found it via Twitter), was a statement in the very beginning of the post which I am citing here:

„Europe is ahead of the US in terms of the consumer usage of social media, and yet little attention is often given to the nuances of what is on one hand is the world’s largest economy and on the other a collection of 48 countries with very different cultures.

Find out why the blogging scene in Paris is 2 years ahead of the US, the Brits are all a Twitter, the Dutch prefer Hyves to Facebook and the Germans will take any chance to give brands a hostile reception in social media.“

This statement by Robin Grant came as a surprise to me. Usually the latest marketing trends do come from the US, not good old Europe. And please not that I am saying marketing and not social media. The latter ist a branch of marketing, not a separate phenomenon. Anyways, I was fairly surprised to see that obviously something may have changed. But has it really? I do have some doubts that this is really true and that it can be stated that easily. German Facebook users may be the most active, England may be in the hand of Twitter but still the companies behind it are from the US. Also, can you name a Head of Social Media in the home of cars, Germany? We do not have a Scott Monty at BMW or Daimler or Audi. And even if we have someone in a similar position, he or she is not yet living up to his US counterparts. Now je ne connais the French blogosphere but I can hardly imagine les Francais are so much more active than the Americans.

I don’t want to take a definite position on this issue and I will leave you with some very nice presentations covering the European face of Socia Media. Please decide for yourself who is ahead in Social Media. Or if maybe it is not about being ahead but perhaps about employing Social Media more profitable…

European Social Media

Iab Social Media Research October 22nd 2010

View more presentations from Tom Smith.
Oh and please make sure you drop by We Are Social for an impression on how others responded to Robin Grant’s post
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s.mueller

What We Expect from Brands

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Strong brands offer us a lot. We in return pay a premium price. But aside from hard facts such as superior product quality, better service and warranty they also provide us with orientation, reduction of uncertainty, trust, the feeling of belonging to a certain group and other much more subtle things. This is what we pay for and what we deserve.

iStock_000008724062XSmall

In return for the high price we expect certain values a brand has come to represent: sportiness with BMW, innovativeness and design with Apple, tradition, expertise and superior quality with a Glashütte watch. I expect you at this point to say „Stop! That’s all premium brands you’re talking!” Well, not necessarily. Volkswagen is traditionally not a premium brand and still there are certain values such as reliability or quality that are associated with it. Mc Donald’s is also no premium brand but would also well fit the list.

In the following paragraphs I picked out three things we expect from strong brands: consistency, service, and change when needed.

Consistency
What most brands have in common is consistency.
We do not want them to fundamentally change their business model, their target group or elementary core values. This would confuse us. A Bmw panel van? McDonald’s selling local food? Chateauneuf du Pape sold at discounters? These things are inconsistent with what we have learned about brands and the image we have in our minds. And thus they confuse us and they cause damage to the carefully grown brand identity.

Service
Another important thing we expect from strong brands is excellent service.
Personal service, listening to our problems, understanding what troubles us and working hard to satisfy our wishes and desires. We want to feel the assurance that we or rather every single one of us matters. In total, we expect a degree of service that trade brands cannot provide (financially). The markup we are willing to pay does include this extra service -when we need it.

Change when needed
The final of the three expectations towards a brand which I am dealing with today is the ability to change when needed.
This might at first sound contrary to the consistency point. Time changes and so brands have to respond to changing market situation and technological developments. One example would be the increasing time we spend online. Brands (not necessarily all of them) need to follow their customers just like predators follow their prey. The key challenge is to adapt while still being consistent. That is also why I argue that whatever viral or social media marketing actions a brand takes – it always has to be in line with the overall marketing and brand strategy.

Case
I just recently had trouble with a brand new pair of really nice Timberland Splitrock boots. After only 1,5 months both laces were close to tearing which might have been caused by a too sharp eylet. I emailed Timberland USA and informed them about my troubles. It took only one day and I had a friendly email in which they provided me with the contact details to Timberland Deutschland. In the meantime I had also twittered about the issue, wondering if my tweets maybe would be heard (Social Media Monitoring). After two days I received an email from Munich, in which a customer service agent excused for the quality issue and promised to send me a pair of similar hopefully more durable laces. That was two days ago. Today I received a small package by mail with two pairs of laces similar in color to the original ones. Great work, Timberland! Checking through my personal Twitter account I saw that Timberland Customer Service is now also one of my followers. I do not know about their internal processes, but from what I experienced, I can say that they are obviously doing things right. They created a strong global brand, with loyal customers all over the world. They listen to their customers’ troubles and do their best to maintain our loyalty. The result: I feel important, taken care of, appreciated. I pay a premium price for the product, but also get a lot more than just a simple pair of shoes…

Timberland Splitrock

Timberland Splitrock

Update: Timberland Customer Service responded via Twitter:

Timberland twittering

Timberland twittering

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s.mueller

The New Democracy of Social Media

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Just the other day I read a statement by David Hughes, director of e-commerce at Marks & Spencer: „..the customer trusts the reviews more than the brand.“ Wow what a statement if you think about it. But what does that mean for brands? Are they becoming less important?

Brands usually serve as lighthouses. In the jungle of oversupply, businesses have to invest greatly into marketing and branding in order to make their products stand out from the rest. Usually it was like this: if your brand was not strong enough your quality was sometimes of no importance to the affluent consumer. The price tag provided the orientation. High price equals high quality. Low price must be low quality. Although strong trade brands by Aldi, WalMart, etc proved the opposite this was still a truism for many consumers.

Social media now further changes the game. A cheap DVD player may get better and more user reviews than the expensive alternative. Thus there seem to be new opportunities for economic brands: if their quality is convincing, their product features meet the consumer’s expectation and the consumer really has the impression to have made a good deal you are all set to be successful. This list sound familiar? Indeed: these are the ingredients for strong word-of-mouth. Why talk about a 200 dollar dvd player that is none the better than any other model? But if there is one model out there that offers the same features and decent quality for 100 dollars – that is something your friends might be interested in.

In the overall look, this is one manifestation of the new democracy provided by social media. You brands out there better prepare! You can no longer hide behind your brand image! Bad quality will be unveiled faster than you think with more reach than you might expect.

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s.mueller

Altimeter on understanding customers' social behavior

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Understand Your Customers' Social Behaviors

View more presentations from Charlene Li.

Another very good presentation by the guys from Altimeter, found on the page of we are social
Again everyone, thanks for sharing your insights!

We will comment on it as soon as we find the time to do so!

So far, enjoy!

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s.mueller

Why Social Media Is Not For Everyone

Our comment on the recent article published on mashable.com

You cannot repeat it often enough!

Social Media does have great poential, no doubt.
It enables companies to reduce the ever growing distance between them and their consumers, between producer and buyer, takes them closer to their target groups and provides answers to the increasing desire for personalized products, or to sum it up: unpredictable consumer behavior.

But blindly investing into this miraculous segment may also cause harm. Not only in terms of an investment.
Social media is, as the name implies a social sometimes even personal phenomenon. No impressions are stronger than personal ones. But if whatever you do or say is not credible, the strength of the personal, social contact turns into the opposite of what had been desired: ignorance, distrust,  and negative word of mouth. It is like selling insurance contracts to family members in order to fulfill goals set by an insurance company you work for.  This will ruin social relationships forever. The same goes for companies who half-heartedly use Web 2.0 to boost profits .
Not every company fits into this personal sphere. And not everybody wants to be addressed this way. You cannot push a brand into the personal sphere of a consumer. Especially not if a company or brand does not possess the required desirability.
Consumers may be „victims“ or information overload, unlimited product varieties, etc but they still have control over their private sphere. This has to be respected at all time. They decide what brands they „pull“ into this sphere.
Usually it is brands they trust, have known for quite a time, that accompanied them during their life, brands they long have been admiring, or they use to transform features of the brand onto themselves.

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