Nuffnang Fashionopolis
Blogging as a full time job?
With the rise and rise of blogging in Australia – and in the fashion sector particularly – blogging as a way of earning a living is becoming a more and more viable option for those who started their little slice of the web with an iphone and a laptop in their bedrooms.
Hosted by Nuffnang, the Asia Pacific Blog Advertising Community, Fashionopolis gave bloggers the opportunity to come along and hear from experts about the ways in which a blog can be monetised, how best to build the brand of your blog and how you can actually make a career out of sitting on your couch with the computer.
Your Blog, Your Brand
Popular fashion blogger Phoebe Montague, of Lady Melbourne, hosted the first session of the day – Your Blog, Your Brand – talking about ways in which bloggers can take control of their own personal brand and use this to build an audience and, in time, make money.
Key takeouts included:
- Your blog is an extension of yourself and should reflect this through the authenticity of your voice and originality. Shareable content is what the people want.
- Share your blog/brand across multiple channels. Being on Twitter gives you an authoritative voice; use Tumblr, Instagram and Pinterest as extensions of your blog.
- Imagery is currency and your photography is one of the most important elements of your blog. Smart phones are great and more than sufficient for photos and video. Do get a tripod for digital camera and outfit pics.
- Remember what you love about your favourite blogs and think about your blog from the readers’ perspective.
- Treat your blog and readers with professionalism. Pay attention to what you tweet (behave online to be taken seriously!) and if you can’t blog regularly, be transparent and open about it.
Fashion Torque
This session was followed by a panel discussion with Fashion Torque founders Phillip Boon and Jenny Bannister, with special guests Patty Huntington and Sarah Gale.
While Patty is a veteran of traditional media, she was also one of the first to venture into blogging as part of her profession, with Frockwriter, giving her a unique angle on the subject.
The panel talked about the entrepreneurial spirit of the blogging community and the benefit of bloggers to up and coming designers, especially when traditional media (particularly newspapers) tend to ignore the Fashion Industry in Australia.
Key takeouts from this session included:
- The importance of doing your research. When you already have an interest in an area, take the time to seriously look at the topic and know the background.
- Know what your blog does well. Is it surprising styling, amazing images, etc? Leverage this.
- Bloggers are 24/7 news gatherers. While traditional fashion writers write between 9 and 5 and get paid for it, the bloggers are writing in the middle of the night to ensure they have the story first.
- Networking is VERY important. Have business cards and remember you are a walking endorsement for the content you create.
- Understand how best to work with advertorial. Fully disclose the nature of these posts and don’t post on products that are completely unrelated to your audience.
Monetising Your Blog
The final session of the day bought back Phoebe, and introduced Kyra Pybus of Pybus PR, David Krupp from Nuffnang and Amber Venz from Venzedits, each providing an angle on the subject of monetising blogs.
While there are few bloggers who gain a full time income from blogging at the moment, the door is wide open for the future with endless possibilities in the reach of the bedroom blogger.
Key takeouts from this final session included:
- Consistency – in both regularity and style – in posting on your blog.
- Checking spelling and grammar of a blog post – a simple thing often overlooked!
- Have a point of view that is unique to you – talk about your own experiences, use your own voice and be authentic.
- Content is king, but going forward, imagery must be really, really good.
- There are many ways to make money indirectly from blogging – diversify into selling your images, writing ebooks and charging appearance fees, freelance copywriting or styling etc.
- Value your own experience and know your worth – don’t work for free.
Going Forward
In summary, all the speakers over the day acknowledged the potential that bloggers have to be a driving force in both the bought, and earned, media space. The power the blogger yields is their voice, and their opinions are held in higher esteem because of the perceived unbiased opinions they present.
Going forward, while brands will work more closely with bloggers and bloggers will charge for their services, it will be even more important to ensure a blog remains transparent and true to the personality of the individual behind the blog.
Do you have a blog? How do you feel about blogging in return for products or payment? As a reader, do you think this compromises the opinions and views of the blog?
Social Business – Do You Get It?
You’ll have heard this:
“Great people talk about ideas. Average people talk about things.
Small people talk about other people, and then, sadly, there are the people who love to talk about themselves.”
Why is it then that when brands make a move into social business they are surprised that they struggle to attract ‘friends’ or meaningful engagement when consistently talking about themselves?
The good news is that only 15% of Australian brands have some kind of social business engagement and so the opportunity to get it right from the outset is there.
As we introduce social business strategy (SBS) to brands we are experiencing challenge, frustration and reward. As with any emerging movement a large part of our role is that of education coupled with belief. Education on our part and belief from brands.
We see brands at four levels of SBS acceptance:
1. Some brands get it, put faith in our thinking and reap the benefits of a scalable social business strategy that provides them with a sustainable community of advocates for the longer term. As social business adoption expands into the business the model provides some autonomy within other business siloes but maintains some central coordination for the purposes of consistency and clear communication.
2. Other brands kind of get it but belief they can manage their SBS process in-house usually resulting in an introspective quest for volume of ‘likes’ and ‘followers’ rather than engagement. In time the energy and vision grinds to a halt through internal resistance and volumes level out leaving them wanting for a higher calling that would give people a reason to engage.
3. Then there are those brands that believe the tools are it. They push on with their Facebook and Twitter with no higher calling or content strategy. They believe they’ve ticked the social business ‘box.’ But fundamentally they misunderstand that the paradigm of social business is about giving not taking.
4. Those brands that have no social business play at all and are not sure where to begin or even whether they need to. (85% of brands in Australia)
There is a growing need to understand how to initiate a long term social business strategy. Challenging, frustrating and rewarding but most of all exciting.
Do check out this great article from one of our influencers David Armano. He writes about the opportunity to morph company structures from the Old Trust Framework to the New Trust Architecture.
Here at FRANk we want to help our clients understand the opportunity presented by social media.
Come join us at one of our free social media strategy workshops (the next one will focus on B2B and will be on June 1st) or contact us for a free consultation.
Social Media evolving into Social Business
One day we’ll look back at being a Social Business Agency in 2012 and realise that we were laying the early ground work for helping our clients become social businesses.
A great article by David Armano hit a nerve for me in that he too has formed the view that there is a degree of exhaustion/lethargy around the word “social.”
As with many we saw the change coming and have been carrying the social-torch for several years. In the early days (2008!) the focus was on education, process and inspiration. Skip forward 4 years and now we have a number of great brands inquisitively knocking on our door to better understand how to begin the process of becoming a social business.
In the interim many many brands have embarked on a DIY social media play by jumping onto a tool or two and now 12-18 months later are wondering why not enough people are engaging with them and commensurately are struggling with ROI.
The chart above highlights a number of step-changes spanning the last 25 years or so. It’s the last two stages that interest us.
As Mr A says:
We no longer log in at our desks from 9-5 but are part of a digital and human power grid. For many organizations, local Facebook pages show high levels of activity vs. global corporate Websites and organizations find their employees asking why internal tools can’t be social and mobile. Networks now drive much of the Web’s traffic as billions of people share links and opinions about the world around them. As a result of all of this activity—huge amounts of data or “social data” is currently flooding the current global digital ecosystem. This sets the stage for an era that’s already begun, but is still in it’s infancy (social business).
A Social Business Strategy in our view is focussed on the strategy/need behind the tools, rather than the tools themselves. Social media thus becomes the foundation for social business.
Here are 5 reasons that brands are not further advanced.
- The most senior people ‘don’t know what they don’t know.’
- Middle management are scared as social thinking begins to erode their precious silo
- Very few know how to begin the process of getting it right
- Traditional company cultures/structures are a natural barrier to social implementation
- The fear of losing control (you’ve already lost it!)
Does this strike a chord with any marketers out there?
Social media and Trust
As a social business agency one of our roles is to help clients understand the role and influence of social media.
One of our favourite points of reference is the Nielsen survey which asks “What degree of trust do you place in the following forms of advertising?”
In 2009 (charted here) we saw that the top three were:
1. Recommendations from people you know (90%) – this is the nirvana of all marketing…. positive word of mouth.
2. Consumer opinions posted online (70%) – ie. recommendations from people you don’t know but have a common interest with.
3. Brand websites (70%) – brands stepping up to be transparent, informative and collaborative.
In the world of BOUGHT, OWNED & EARNED media the top 2 fall under EARNED which we define as “the reputation you earn by virtue of your actions.” The tools which underpin EARNED are typically Facebook, Blogs, Twitter & forums. Brand websites fall under OWNED.
TV came in as the most trusted paid-for advertising (62%) right down to text ads on mobile phones (24%).
Three years on, the gap between EARNED and BOUGHT is further opening up as TV and other paid-for media fall away on the trust front.
Worth noting is that ‘emails signed up for’….which presumably means newsletters, holds its ground from ’09 at 50% to raise itself above all paid-for media in ’12. Editorial content has lost ground from 69% to 58%.
Branded websites too have fallen away from 70% to 58% and to me this is symptomatic of the underperformance of expectations that consumers have of brand websites. Every day we all come across websites which are too static, too wordy and too self important leaving us feeling undernourished and wanting.
The key take out here is that the opportunity cost of embarking on a social business strategy is low.
Money invested in paid for/BOUGHT media goes much further in an EARNED environment. For example 1 x 30 sec network spot in “The Voice” on Channel 9 is now purportedly selling for $100,000 +. This spot has the potential to reach approx 16% people (all adults aged 14+) just once. Alternatively $100,000 in the EARNED environment can fund the development and part implementation of a social business consumer advocacy programme for the longer term.
If we agree that trust is a “top 3″ issue in marketing then why wouldn’t you at least explore the potential that a social busines strategy can deliver? A little bit of paid-for media goes a long way in EARNED. We’d be the first to agree that paid-for media still delivers the numbers and you do need it in the mix to drive awareness but you can have your cake and eat it with social.
Be interested in your views.
You can find the full Nielsen report here
How to make the most out of Pinterest for your business
Greetings earthlings! This is my first blog post starting out as an intern for FRANk! I’m so excited to begin my work experience here at FRANk. I hope to learn more about creative social business strategy and be able to apply what I’ve learned here in the future.
So here we go…
Imagine being able to organise and share all the pretty things you see on the Internet. Pinterest is the new pinboard-style photo sharing social network that allows you to do so!
Pinterest defines simplicity. Serving like an online scrapbook where all the Web’s images are amassed into one giant collection; it is fairly simple and easy to use. The site’s popularity is expanding rapidly, attracting users that are passionate about organising their Internet content. It is no surprise that globally, majority of its users are in fact WOMEN (because we just love to organise and clean)! Interestingly though, in Australia, 52% of its users are men and 48% women.
Although Pinterest attracts a large following of female users, it should not be restricted to consumers only. Businesses that are social can use this (apart from Facebook and Twitter) as another platform to engage with their customers.
Here are some ideas:
1. ENHANCE YOUR PINTEREST PROFILE
Nothing says more about your brand than a striking profile! The first thing a consumer is exposed to when he/she opens your Pinterest page is a header with your profile picture, brand name and biography. So make a lasting impression with a memorable bio, profile picture and select keyword usernames that enables easy searches.
2. SOCIAL MEDIA INTEGRATION
Connecting your Pinterest account with your existing social networks like Facebook and Twitter will help connect your followers across all platforms. Whenever you post or share something new on Pinterest, users from your Facebook and Twitter accounts will be updated.
3. CONTENT VARIETY
One of Pinterest’s best features is the fact that you can create as many themed boards as you want, with relevant content to target different niches. Perhaps you have more than one target market for your brand? Creating a separate board to represent each market can help direct your consumer/client to the content that is best suited for them. Try to use your own content on Pinterest. Original content is fresh, and will generate more attention compared to recycled material. Also, you’ll want to be driving the enormous traffic potential of Pinterest to your own site, not to others’. Pinterest is not limited to photos only, you can post up videos too!
4. ENGAGE, RESPOND & BOND
By pinning consistently, you can promote engagement among users and encourage them to visit your pinboard regularly. It is always important to interact with your followers; a good way to let them know that they are part of your brand/business. Likewise, follow other people as well, including other professionals in the same industry as well as your consumers. Re-pin useful content posted by them, and this will urge them do the same back to you.
Some really good Pinterest sites to check out:
Kikki K’s Pinterest is separated into different boards to organise their products according to different collections and their functionality. It really works for Kikki K, because their brand is all about organisation!
They have a huge collection of pictures of how to decorate your home, tips on gardning and DIY ideas all neatly organised into different boards.
Ace Bakery’s profile is short but has all the information you need to understand what kind of services they provide.
This is one of Whole Foods Market’s boards, titled “Eat your Veggie”. It has recipes, pictures and also videos targeting specific groups of consumer interests a certain market.
Check out FRANk’s Pinterest! Have a look at our pictures and find out about things that grab our interest, what we do outside of work and more.
Alert the Media: FRANk PR is here
Welcome to FRANk PR. As a social business agency that challenges assumptions about communications and looks at how we can engage with people in media, it was a logical next step that we incorporate PR into our offering, fusing it with our social business know how and connecting the missing link for our clients.
And I am the one who will help you do this – hi!
Who am I?
My name is Sarah Kempson and I come to FRANk Media after a number of years working across a variety of marketing disciplines. My background includes PR, advertising, branding and social across corporate, government and consumer clients, in both agency and client-side. I also produce my own blog and write for online and print publications, helping me to better understand the traditional and new media platforms and how best to engage them.
So what is PR today? And how do we address the challenge of integrating PR and social?
PR today is more targeted than even before. In an environment where most people in media have a Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest – or whatever the flavour of the month is – personalisation is required. Who is the right person to talk to? What is the best way to engage them? Who do they influence? Finding the right approach is paramount – one size does not fit all and it’s important to integrate across all platforms – old and new.
PR now needs to focus on engaged content, rather than just push content
Old vs New
PR Professionals need to be savvy in the way they approach journalists today – a press release emailed to the newsdesk is no longer enough to get your client in the media. Hooks need to be stronger; news needs to be quirkier; a unique point of difference is required. What makes your story special?
And it’s not just traditional media that we are sending a press release to anymore. Whilst print, radio and TV might seem the most logical (or most powerful) choices, are they the right ones? Or are they simply the ones we know and are familiar with? As the graphic below represents, half of our media consumption is now via the internet. Social media, be it viral campaigns, blogger engagement or getting your message across in 140 characters on Twitter – needs to be a part of this mix.
50% of our media consumption is via the Internet
Where to now?
At the end of the day, the basic premise of both PR and social business is the same as it has always been; the building and maintaining of personal relationships. This should always remain at the forefront of any planning for your brand’s PR and social strategy. The communications landscape is changing often and while it may seem daunting to keep up, the key will always be to keep it personal.
What are some of the best integrations of PR and social campaigns you have seen recently? Or, the worst?
Now on offer: Facebook Offers
In a move that surely surprises no one, Facebook this week launched ‘Offers’ in Australia, currently available in beta to a limited number of business pages and soon to be available to all pages.
Facebook Offers follows in the footsteps of FourSquare and the multitude of group buying websites that have sprung up over the past years, leveraging the power of bulk buying and word of mouth.
While FourSquare integrated with Facebook over two years ago, at the time Facebook Places replicated the technology of using the location based services facility that FourSquare offered. Facebook Places was replaced with the tagging location technology soon after.
How Does It Work?
Facebook Offers works in much the same way as FourSquare, without the check-in component – an offer is posted on the business page of a brand, such as a coffee shop and appears on the brand page and in your newsfeed. The offer might involve a buy one get one free, or a discount on a product or service, which is redeemed on the brands page. Facebook Offers differs by emailing the offer directly to the consumer, who then takes their mobile device, or a printout, to the venue to redeem their offer.
The offer can be capped, and made available for a limited time only. Facebook then tracks how many offers have been redeemed, which is displayed on the brand page, and the offer can be shared with friends in the same way other content on Facebook is shared.
Here is a bit more about Facebook Offers.
What Does this Mean for FourSquare?
FourSquare announced this week they have 20 million users worldwide, with over 2 billion check-ins, but Facebook Places had 30 million users within two months of launching in 2010. So, will brands choose FourSquare, which uses location based che
ck ins for their offers, or Facebook, which only requires you to ‘like’?
Questions could also be raised about how to police the redemption of Facebook Offers – what is stopping a consumer from redeeming an offer on more than one occasion, especially if that offer is on a mobile device? And what about staff training and ensuring that your brand ambassadors are across all the offers published in time for them to be redeemed?
Recent evidence from Group Buying sites show discounts and freebie offers generally bring customers in the door, but getting them to come back is the area that needs work. It may be that Facebook Offers provides the key to loyalty marketing in the future, given that most people redeeming the offers will already be fans of the brand.
Will you use Facebook Offers for your business?
Digital Influence- how to cause effect, change behaviour and drive measurable outcomes
Brands seek more and more to influence their consumers via digital and social channels. But how exactly can a brand influence consumer behaviour online?
According to a recent Altimeter report, digital influence is all about three things: REACH, RESONANCE and RELEVANCE
These three pillars form the basis of influence for brands in the online space:
REACH: In this case a combination of popularity, affinity and potential impact of a brand
RELEVANCE: Authority, Trust and Affinity
RESONANCE: Frequency, Period, Amplitude
Altimeter provides some details and case studies around how to achieve the above pillars here. Not sure if we agree with these steps totally, but there are some really good points here. For an alternative view, check out some of our pasts articles here and here.
Let’s have a look at how do you measure online reach, relevance and resonance. And what is the ROI of having digital influence? Here some thought starters:
- Sales/Referrals: online sales vs offline sales but also monitor where your sales referrals come from, e.g. via your blog or Facebook page
- Brand Awareness: Awareness = Sales – simple as that. Measure where your brand is in the social space and aim to increase the awareness gradually
- Brand Resonance: Similar to awareness, resonance measures how often your brand is mentioned in the social web (via Radian 6 or Sysomos for example)
- Reach Through Advocacy: Brand Advocates are powerful “sales people” as they influence their peers for your brand- too easy!
- Sentiment/Shift: Negative views or perceptions can be shaped into positive ones. Ensure you have measures in place to make a grumpy customer happy again
- ETC.
These above metrics are a good starting point for any brand to get a grip on their online influence. Metrics change from time to time so you might want to add metrics or adapt existing ones. Let us know how you go!
Get Your Social Cool On
So, Facebook just bought Instagram. A company founded 2 years ago with 30 million users is worth $1 Billion.
I’m not going to touch on the strategy around buyout or the value of the investment. It’s about a word that’s been repeated in news about the buyout… COOL.
An article in CNN declared (after buying Instagram), When Did Facebook Become So Uncool; and another from Social Media Today, Instagram, You Sell-Out, you’re no longer cool. To top it off, my Dad also said to me with confidence, “I hear Facebook is no longer cool”. Thanks for the heads up!
Cool stuff used to be about discovery. The new band, that awesome pair of shoes, the hidden coffee shop with real hipsters. The joy finding something that is yours to share…it’s what makes it COOL.
So what happens when the band goes platinum, everyone owns those shoes, and the hipsters are now a lot of hipsters? Boo. It’s no longer cool.
So, enter social media. Oh cool how far you’ve come!
- You provide a service that connects 800 million people around the world. Everyone’s a hipster.
- It takes 1 post (and an instant) to reach hundreds, thousands, millions. Your tweet went platinum.
- Your discovery, thoughts & ideas are now instantly global community property. Everyone has your shoes.
So, is anything really cool anymore after you push send? There is still hope…
In social, cool is no longer being the first to discover, it’s being great at what you do. It’s always been and is still about sharing.
The same applies for brands with a bit of extra care..
4 Brand Tips to Gain Social Cool Cred
Your strategy must first start with the value of your product or service and how it best meets customer needs. Look at the US based Real Estate Agents Century 21. At the surface, a seemingly uncool product, but they have created a sensational social presence providing customers with real-time service and connectivity.
2. Promote sharing within your community
Don’t just talk about your product or service, but what is means to your consumer. Insurance agency Allstate have created an app called GoodRide – a social platform that lets motorcycle riders (not just Allstate customers) connect with others, track and share their routes, and offers planning tools to make the riding experience safer and easier.
3. Be transparent
Brands aren’t perfect, but they can be honest. It wins trust and will build affinity with your consumers.
…and social cool should follow!
Facebook admitted their photo sharing app was crap, so they bought the best one to make their service better. Instagram wanted to expand their service by linking with the biggest sharing platform on the planet. I don’t mind if Facebook or Instagram are no longer deemed the old cool (thanks Dad & CNN) – they are both still great at what they do.
Sephora’s Digital & Social Makeover Is Right on Trend
Our latest FRANkademy session on social business and retail has tweaked all our brains into retail mode! We spent quite a far bit of time hunting for great examples of retailers putting social and innovation into their offerings. But they’re really not too uncommon these days. One stellar example is the cosmetics retailer Sephora, which is best known for its bricks-and-mortar stores that not only offer a huge variety of brands and products, but continually enhances the retail experience for its customers.
The 1,600 store retailer is taking its US digital operations to the next level with what its calling “a social and mobile makeover”. The updates include an overhauled website with ultra specific search functionality and improved mobile web and iOS apps, all of which go a long way in helping customers find the products they want, helping them buy with greater confidence and improving efficiency.
“Digital is a must for the future of retailing,” said Julie Bornstein, senior vice president, Sephora Direct. “With the social, digital, mobile and website updates, we’re giving our clients the most customizable experience in the beauty industry, and connecting clients with our experts in the ways that are most relevant to them. We’re excited to makeover the future of shopping.”
Website functions to help the customer, whatever their needs are
The revamp has been three years in the making, and the result is the best-organized search for beauty products on the web. The newly improved search function on Sephora’s website enables anyone to find the product they are looking for. Each product on the site has been tagged with over 25 attributes (for what age, colour, ingredients, benefits, fragrance, formulations, price etc.). And of course, this detailed product tagging creates massive opportunities for search engine use as well. Sephora has enhanced their online shopping experience to make it as easy, hassle-free and flexible as possible. Once shoppers have found the product they want, they can buy it online (in half the time as before), or they can check if it available in one of its physical stores.
Sephora's new web functions
Their new website also allows users to create favourite product lists, learn the latest trends through frequent style updates, get personalised advice, watch tutorials from the editors, and interact with experts instantly. All these features are also available on the mobile site, reflecting the company’s dedication to creating a seamless experience across all channels.
In-store digital and social integration
After perfecting its in-store app-powered scanning capabilities, Sephora will soon begin installing iPads in more than 100 of its stores this year, to let customers navigate Sephora’s thousands of products, menus of services offered at the Beauty Studio, and get tips on makeup and styling. The iPads will help personalise the shopping experience for customers and offer help and advice on demand. For example, a customer considering booking in a treatment or buying a product can view videos of the treatment. Customers can scan a product in-store on the iPad and see all its details, and what others are saying about it via social media and online reviews. They can also look up their own personal shopping history and their wishlists, which all get synced between the web and mobile apps.
Every store will also be outfitted with iPod Touches for sales staff to use for mobile point of sale, to look up customers’ purchase history or access customers’ loyalty points. For example, after a customer gets a complimentary makeover at the Sephora Beauty Studio, staff can scan the product beside the customer (who is seated at the mirror admiring themselves) which is added to the customer’s profile. The customer can pay right there and then and walk out – no lines and no hassles.
Social plays for awareness and reputation building
The company has also developed an official Pinterest integration, adding “Pin it” buttons to all its brand and product pages. Staff have been invited to create boards so that shoppers can see what products the experts are using. Sephora is already running a popular sweepstakes on Pinterest:
Sephora’s new Instagram feed (which is also a board of its own on their Pinterest account) gives followers a behind-the-scenes look at the company and its staff, and what trends and products are driving buzz in the beauty world.
Many retailers are hesitant to bridge the online and offline world, but Sephora is doing it right – putting the customer at the centre of their strategy and constantly creating value for them.
FRANkademy for retail
Last Friday we had a FRANkademy session in the lovely hall next door to our Prahran office, this time with a distinct retail flavor. This was our 12th FRANKademy but was the first time we have focused on a specific business sector. For those who couldn’t make it, we discussed the importance of social business and how it can work for retail to facilitate customer service, drive customer loyalty and sales. We also covered off the trials and tribulations of some of the popular social media tools such as Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, etc. and ways to integrate up and coming technologies with the platforms to excite and engage customers.
Many curious people attended from all different business types ranging from boutique businesses to large national corporates. It was an interesting session that generated a lot of questions and discussions afterwards.
Here is the presentation in case you missed the session, or would like to recap and share it. Please feel free to comment on it and ask questions if you got any – we are happy to help and talk you through any points you find particularly interesting.
FRANkademy: Social business for retail
Thank you for everyone who attended:
Kotex – Pinterest ‘gift–giving’ campaign
Pinterest is certainly the new black at the moment and is growing rapidly amongst brands.
We recently came across one of the first Pinterest based campaigns out of Israel by Kotex.
They wanted to do something for their ‘Women’s Inspiration Day’ and identified 50 influential women on Pinterest and sent them an individualised gift based on the content of their pin boards.
From the 50 gifts that were sent out, almost 100% posted about their gift, creating 2284 interactions and 694,853 impressions.
Why generosity is key to any social business
Generosity. Wikipedia defines it as “the habit of giving freely without expecting anything in return [...]“
It is a desirable character trait in a person but you hardly come across generous brands. I think these times may be changing. As social media and social business redefine how brands and its customers interact, we see more and more generosity from brands. Giving back to consumers and adding value to their lives is BIG in social business- in fact it is the key to a successful social business.
But what do brands gain exactly by being generous? Well, let’s have a look at this fine example of generosity (aka random act of kindness) from Denmark:
Anthon Berg, a chocolatier in Denmark recently opened a pop up store for one day only selling its chocolate. The twist: you can’t buy the chocolate with money. Customers could only get their hands on the delicious chocolate by promising a good deed to a loved one. Suggestions for good deeds were attached to all chocolate boxes and people could “buy” the chocolate by promising to serve breakfast to your loved one, don’t talk behind your friends back for a month, etc. Thousands visited the store that day and happily queued to get into this innovative pop up store.
Customers who “bought” chocolate recorded their keeping their promise on Facebook and also the recipient of the good deed was selected via Facebook. Customers later posted their loved ones fulfilling their promise on the Anthon Berg Facebook page and thanked the brand for the yummy chocolate. This kept the buzz around the brand going for a long time after the store had shut.
So what’s in it for Anthon Berg? How does generosity pay off for a brand? The pop up store generated a lot of buzz internationally with heaps of blogs picking up the campaign. From a PR perspective, it could not have been better. If you looked at some hard metrics such as brand awareness, brand sentiment as well as sales, I’m sure Anthon Berg saw some rather impressive results.
Trendwatching, the leading independent trend firm for consumer trends, agrees with brands’ generosity. It says that “for consumers long used to (and annoyed by) distant, inflexible and self-serving corporations, any acts of kindness by brands will be gratefully received. For brands, increasingly open communications both with and between consumers (especially online), means that it’s never been easier to surprise and delight audiences with R.A.K.: whether sending gifts, responding to publicly expressed moods or just showing that they care”.
So next time your customers needs you to be a bit generous, just do it. It can pay off big time!
P.S.: another generous brand is Red Balloon- watch the video to find out how generosity is part of the brand values:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nXKMGjbjhoY&feature=youtu.be
Sources: http://www.psfk.com/2012/03/buy-chocolate-with-good-deeds.html and http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_cNfX3tJonw&feature=youtu.be
FRANkademy Retail and Social Business
As we approach “FRANkademy Retail and Social Business” this Friday I thought I’d whet the appetite with some observational snippets.
Australia remains emerged in a culture of austerity, caution and uncertainty. This is reflected in part by:
- Australians have increased their savings rate, since the economic turndown in 2008/09, to 10.5% (the highest rate since 1984).
- Consumers are becoming used to price reductions and expect to purchase items on sale, increasingly fuelled by group buying sites.
- A high Australian dollar is a double edged sword for Australian retailers – cheaper for retailers procuring goods from overseas but also cheaper for Australian customers to purchase goods from international online stores.
- Australians are prioritising reducing their debt.
(source: PwC 2011 “Australian & NZ online shopping market insights”)
Some of the issues we shall cover include:
ONLINE SHOPPING; before we all freak out about creating tundra-like conditions at shopping centres let us not forget that of the $216 billion spent annually only 11 billion comprises online, less than 5%! (source: NAB Study).
GROUP BUYING SITES’ business model is that discounts are loss leaders and loss leaders only work in the context that consumers spend—or return and spend—above the loss leader. The reality is that many retailers don’t see repeat customers from online promotions. Group buying are on the wane, likely to become smaller as they serve a particular group of attractions and specialty services.
CUSTOMER EXPECTATIONS have forged ahead as the retail category resolutely has resisted the cost of understanding and innovation. Retailers need to stop second guessing the customer and begin to listen & learn.The shift from an under resourced, under paid & under informed service offering towards a seamless integrated experience needs to happen. Last month’s CMO Survey indicated that consumers priorities have shifted from low price (-32%) to service (+56%)
TECHNOLOGY INITIATIVES do not make for an overall retail strategy meeting the needs of a community. Just because it’s technologically possible doesn’t mean people want it.
BRICKS & MORTAR RETAIL are in a position of strength and can leverage their advantage to fulfill peoples basic needs; to participate in a communal experience of sharing, hearing gossip, escaping from daily life, haggling for a bargain and to feel a sense of community. Part of this dynamic is being recognised and feeling appreciated, enter Shopkick, which introduces real-world incentives to recognise and encourage checking in.
Here’s 4 things to know about Shopkick:
- It rewards customers for walking into selected stores & in-store behaviour
- It generated $110 million in-store revenue for partner retailers and brands in 2011 (source: TechCrunch)
- Conversion rates of walk-ins to sales can be measured directly by counting specific shopkick offers in the basket at retailers, by rewards for purchases through POS integrations, and conversion rates of product scans to product sales can be measured through in-app questionnaires and POS integrations. (source: Founder, Cyriac Roeding)
- Whereas 80% of Foursquare users are male with 70% aged 19-35 the Shopkick profile is 55% female with 49% aged 25-39 and 13% aged 40+
Here’s a slightly cheesy video from their site
We’re looking forward to a lively session and hope to see you there!
Dinosaurs, Forbes, and Social Business (it’s all happening)!
Forbes magazine has been an institution for big corporates since 1917. Not hiding any modesty, the motto of Forbes magazine is “The Capitalist Tool.” Forbes is steeped in the traditional business model, so you can guess their content is anything but trendy. So when Forbes declares – “Social is today’s extinction event for organizations. Companies need to adapt or they will fail to survive” – doubters better take note…and more importantly action.
An insightful and blunt article from Forbes: “What Do the Extinction of Dinosaurs and Social Business Have in Common?”, has offered a big wake-up call for any corporations not moving with the change to social business. Likening big corporates to dinosaurs, and social business the ‘extinction theory’, it highlights quite simply the failure to adapt is the failure to survive.
The Forbes article, inspired by a talk from social business group Dachis, focused purely on the need for social businessl. The social business model does not begin with tools, platforms or campaigns – it begins from a core business need from within.
Some success factors highlighted by Dion Hinchcliffe:
1. Listen, analyze, and engage, continuously
2. Integrate social into the flow of work
3. Plan for change and the unexpected
4. Turn on the network effect
5. Remove barriers to participate
6. Enable everyone to participate
Seems simple, yes, but for most corporations the ‘simple’ is muddled within a sea of opinion, information overload, lack of data, and leadership hesitation. The core business needs remains the same – the fact of the matter is consumers have changed, and businesses must adapt.
So why is it so difficult to adapt? In the 1920s the average lifespan of a company was seventy+ years, today its fifteen years according to Dave Gray of Dachis Group. Forbes highlights this extremely well in pointing out that since the existence of corporate – it has always been a controlled top-down model: drive efficiency, control margins, manage customers. Social business flips this business model on its head. In order to survive in the current market, top down control has turned to ground up, listen and learn. So, how to get there…
Dachis group spoke about evolution on a 10 point roadmap:
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Establish a business case and social strategy that solves a real problem.
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Gain organizational alignment around a shared vision.
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Listen to the sentiment of the market.
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Get your employees ready for change by involving them in the change process.
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Pilot the social solution and measure the results.
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Develop realistic roadmaps made up of short mini-projects.
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Continually train, educate and inform employees and stakeholders.
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Break your organization up into small semi-autonomous pods.
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Integrate social across the organization.
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Extend social externally and measure results.
Consumers are past just being saavy – they are informed and have options at their fingertips. The culture of your corporation must embrace this shift in power. A transformation into a social business will take time, but needs to start with the decision makers. Here at FRANk, we didn’t need any convincing about the future of Social Business, so some strong advice from the powerhouse of Forbes doesn’t hurt! With the average lifespan of corporates moving from 70 to 15 years…we’d suggest it’s time to go social.
Social media Necessities
I’ve just started to read Brian Solis’ book “The End of Business as Usual.”
Lots to get through but what strikes me in the early stages are the variety of bite sized foundation-comments which underpin the necessary approach to a fruitful social business strategy.
Before I delve into some paraphrases here’s a quote which stands the test of time……guess who said it? (answer at the end of this post)
“A customer is the most important visitor on our premises. He is not dependent on us. We are dependent on him.
He is not an interruption in our work. He is the purpose of it.
He is not an outsider in our business. He is part of it.
We are not doing him a favor by serving him. He is doing us a favor by giving us an opportunity to do so.”
To me this is at the very core of the revised attitude most companies need to adopt. They may have paid lip-service to this over the last century but today and in the future this attitude has to prevail, there is nowhere to hide anymore. The challenge for more established organisations will be the sediment of a long held internal culture. It will take years for many organisations to make the necessary shift towards an open and collaborative platform BUT it’s a shift that has to happen.
By way of offering some enlightenment here are 4 paraphrases and my narratives from Brian’s book:
1. “The change in social media is happening so fast it is impossible to be an expert. We’re all just students, literally learning something new every day”
No one has the keys to the digital castle and some of us are more informed at-the- moment. At best we are navigators of the opportunities before us. Avoid know-it-all smugness, accept that no questions are stupid and be generous with sharing insights.
2. “The good thing about social media is it gives everyone a voice. The bad thing is …..it gives everyone a voice.”
This taps into the common fear that many organisations have; losing control. Too late you’ve lost control. Do not fear. A successful social business strategy (external) needs to be coupled with being a social business (internal) and that entails, in part, having policies, processes and guidelines which can manage negative reactions or controversy. Knowing yourself as a company and understanding your customers’ desires often negates disruptive feedback, minimising risk.
3. “The true character of any business is revealed in the collective experiences of its customers. It’s about what people say when you’re not around.”
As people continually connect with one another vast networks rich with interaction abound. It’s not brands with ‘clever messaging,’ attractive tool-based promotions or creative activations that control this space, its people; you and me.
4. “Businesses that aspire to a higher purpose will outperform businesses that focus on the bottom line.”
This graphic says it all. Give people a common interest, add value to their lives and give them a reason to share experiences. Another challenge for most organisations is that they are socially inept, never having the need or desire to ‘give’ rather than ‘take.’
I’ll follow up with more observations from Brian’s book as I work through it.
The fabulous quote came from Mahatma Gandhi!
Put the Fashion back into Fashion Retail
The L’Oreal Melbourne Fashion Festival is with us – you can feel the anticipation in the air from young and old fashionistas alike. Creativity and inspiration has always been synonymous with the fashion industry. With the changing online & social landscape – what does this mean for the future of fashion retail?
A few of us FRANk crew were lucky enough to attend the LMFF Herald Sun Marketing Breakfast on Wednesday to get some perspective on the future of retail.
Key note speakers Chris Clarke (LBi UK) and Kevin Panozza (Engage P/L AUS) both gave thoughtful commentary around the new world of brand & consumer. A few highlights covering: building meaningful relationships between brands and customers, engaging the technology empowered consumer and transforming customer experience.
Brands are embracing & testing social, with great examples for the likes of Diesel, Jimmy Choo & American Apparel. From global corporations to corner shops, retailers are making social an extension of their brand and consumer. Off the back of the LMFF Herald Sun Marketing Breakfast and in conjunction with some brand examples – we’ve highlighted a few core concepts for fashion retailers to consider in social media.
1. Don’t forget this IS and HAS ALWAYS been about the consumer!
No one doubts the fashion retail industry has changed. There is, however, an uncertainty and fear residing in “what next”. Moving this aside, it’s important to remember what fashion means to the consumer. Fashion remains exactly what has always been – a passionate creative outlet. Regardless of marketing trends & social tools, the heart of fashion will always lie with the consumer. Think of them first, and then build your social strategy.
2. The opportunity for fashion brands to connect is more exciting than ever
If anything, the social space has inherently given the fashion world a whole new audience. Take for example 13-year-old ‘Style Rookie’ Tavi Gevinson . Fashion is one of the most visual categories, giving way for social media to provide the perfect display platform. With the immergence of Pinterest, and Facebook gearing more towards visual sharing, the shift in social media is aligning to be a great tool for the fashion industry. Within this framework, the possibilities are endless how you want your brand to be represented and shared. Check out this recent example of fashion blogger Christine Martinez using Pinterest to do ‘live pinning’ from a photo shoot.
3. Fashion is Sharing
The consumer bible of fashion commentary has always been fashion magazines. So when we refer back to point 1, the cultivation of fashion & branding hasn’t changed …just the who & how of sources. Fashion blogs are one of the highest viewed blogging categories online. Once brands can relinquish a bit of content control, you will find you have a new network of connected ambassadors. A great example of blending brand & sharing is fantasyshopper.com. Fantasy Shopper allows consumers to browse through style brands and create an ideal wardrobe. This linked to Facebook allows their friends to see, comment and suggest.
4. Start Fashion with a Social Business
1 in 10 full-time workers on the planet are in retail. These are not just employees, they are your ambassadors. They are the last interaction the consumer has before deciding to purchase or not. Put on your consumer hat – how much more likely are you to purchase from a person that is engaging, knowledgeable and friendly. Make sure they love coming to work. This doesn’t just apply to in-store, your ambassadors can be online & ready with the “engage a live person” chat mechanic. Engaged consumers online are x4 more likely to purchase! See tedbaker.com as a live example.
So, no…the world of fashion retail is not doomed. In fact, we are excited to see what innovations will emerge when brands and consumers work together to start making it all about fashion. On the 30th March, FRANk will be hosting our own FRANkademy session , covering a broad spectrum of Retail & Social Business topics. Would be great to see you there or hear some nice examples of fashion in social.
Random Acts of Marketing and Social Media – Are you Socially Guilty?
A quick hello & intro from me – my name is Bec, I’m new to the FRANk team . I’ve been told I’m not official until the first post, so here it goes…
I was driving through Chippewa, Wisconsin – population 480 – and there it was, right in front of me at the local petrol station, written with a sharpie & duct tape: “JOIN OUR FACEBOOK PAGE!”
It’s quite endearing thinking about the motivation behind this, but the marketer in me says…why?
This is what we like to call Random Acts of Marketing & Social Media (RAM or RASM). We don’t know why, who we’re targeting, or what the purpose is, we just know we need to be on Facebook/Twitter/FourSquare/Pinterest! You’re inviting consumers to your party, forgetting to provide nibbles and locking them inside. Bad host!
RAM has been around for years, and has pretty much gone un-noticed. Without little consumer insight or ROI, it’s gone as quickly as it appeared.
With RASM, however, you’ve baited your consumers with the promise of (insert content strategy, sales pitch here). Your brand is linked with your consumer’s social circle and they are expecting you to deliver. When you fail to, or no longer deliver content, your brand sits stagnant. You’ll lose your consumers trust and potentially their business.
Unfortunately for the consumer, it’s not just Mum & Pop shops that are taunting us with RASM, the big brands are doing it too.
Take this all too familiar corporate example from our friend Tom:
Big Boss Man: We need a Facebook/Twitter/FourSquare/Pinterest strategy!
Digital Chief: Social is a long-term strategy. I’m not sure what you mean.
Big Boss Man: We need a Facebook/Twitter/FourSquare/Pinterest strategy!
Digital Chief: I can pull money from “ x” and put in on Facebook/Twitter/FourSquare/Pinterest
Big Boss Man: Perfect – Now we have a strategy!
In comparison to the slow evolution of ad dollars to digital, at lightning speed, social media spending is about to explode.
So, like “Big Boss Man” above, some brands are quick to jump at whatever is trending without first developing their social strategy. Like it or not, social is in it for the long haul. Take this as your opportunity to prepare yourself for wherever the constantly evolving social landscape takes you.
Your strategy behind social should be approached as any other platform: with business values & consumer needs at the core.
So, if you’ve realized you may be guilty of Random Acts of Social Media – you should expect your business results to be just that: random. Not sure where to start? Give yourself a FRANk social business check.
Come across any interesting RASM lately? Share them below…
How social disrupts customer, product and operating cycles
I came across a great blog post by Neil Davey – “Is social consciously deployed in your customer management model?” which talks about how social is disrupting traditional models of customer management. It’s great to see organisations recognising the growing importance of social but many see social only in its salient manifestation (Facebook, Twitter, etc.) and not the social business philosophy it encourages (the internal culture).
The charts below from Neill’s post highlight how the ‘social’ philosophy, when made the heart of the organisation, can aid a multitude of processes – and isn’t just limited to being a channel for disseminating marketing messages.
Customer cycle – to make people aware of the brand, encourage and facilitate purchase, encourage and facilitate consumption/use, and help manage dissatisfaction through another channel for customer service and reputation management. The value-added offering to customers can result in greater channel advocacy which then drives further awareness.
Product cycle — help design new products, increase their speed to market, build early sales quicker so as to maintain a price premium for longer, or to understand the functions and features customers would appreciate most.
Optimising costs of sales, marketing and services — by providing new communications channels to supplement traditional media, providing new distribution channels offering lower transaction costs, or enabling peer to peer self-help and service channels, listening to issues to reduce the ‘cost of failure’.
A guide to Social Business by Banksy
What is Social Business? There are many definitions and there will be many more to come as the social space evolves. It is certainly not a new business concept but it is still very new to most companies. And in the absence of a definite guide to social business, many continue to struggle to understand it. And some definitions are just a bit airy fairy and open to too many interpretations.
Banksy, THE street artist from the UK, however has put it in words like no other. In his rant about advertising, he actually talks about the fundamental rules for social business. If you like, social business is the exact opposite of advertising. Some call it therefore also Unvertising:
VIA This isn't Happiness http://thisisnthappiness.com/
I have read this blurb many times and think Banksy hits the nail on the head with this article. So I’ve taken some key statements, reversed them and formed 5 fundamental rules of Social Business.
Rule #1: Banksy writes that advertising people “butt into your life, take a cheap shot at you and then disappear”. Reverse this approach and voilà you know what social business is about: never butt in, engage by adding value, develop long term relationships.
Rule #2: Advertising, as Banksy puts it “bullies and laughs at you”. That is a big NO NO in social business. Social Business empowers its community and creates compelling content for the community to share. The community is respected and valued. Have a laugh together and bring some magic into a boring day.
Rule #3: Advertisers hide behind “trademarks, intellectual property rights and copyright law” and prevent the community from speaking up. Social Business does not live according to the rule of Fight Club “You do not talk about Fight Club”. Social business wants the community to take content, share it, talk about it and even improve it. Social business thrives on the community feedback and creativity to come up with a better and stronger brand.
Rule #4: Advertisers “re-arranged the world to put themselves in front of you”. Social business is not about that. Instead, social business fits into the community’s life without being disruptive or unsettling. It is a subtle, quiet but powerful approach that lets the community chose when and how to interact with your brand.
Rule #5: Sticking feathers up your butt does not make you a chicken (also from Fight Club). Social business does not pretend to be something it isn’t. Advertising on the other hand is pretence and makes “flippant comments [...] that imply you’re not sexy enough and that all the fun is happening somewhere else.”
There are of course other aspects of Social Business but I think Banksy did a fine job outlining the fundamentals in his rant about advertising. What do you think about Social Business? Do you have any definitions that are different to our understanding? And can you guess what movie I watched recently? (Hint: look for clues in purple font)