Customer Centric

I have found some presentations done recently by digital and marketing agencies (FutureLab, FullSix and socialmediainfluence) on brand management via social media. There are interesting learnings on Do’s and Don’t based on concrete examples. It reinforces the importance of transparency and customer centric approach.

Enjoy your reading

How to use social media to understand brand perception? (from FutureLab)

Related articles

• 8 guidelines for fostering social media engagement
• How to engage effectively consumers on branded Facebook pages?

I have recently done an analysis on Digital presence of some international luxury and watchmaking brands (Cartier, Louis Vuitton, Piaget, Boucheron, Hublot, Jaeger Lecoultre, Tag Heuer, Vacheron Constantin).

5 digital channels have been covered: eMarketing, eCRM, Mobile, Social Media and eCommerce.

A large part of the marketing investments in 2010 have been geared towards brand building activities (websites, web events, newsletters, Facebook).

However, 2 major questions remain opened:

How to channel anonymous traffic on line into a qualified traffic in boutiques?

Why not converting more on line visitors into shoppers (especially on-line)?
AAhhh the evil is amongst us!

Legend: Red: Not implemented / Orange: In progress / Green: In place

Key findings: Branded websites and social media as the main sources of focus in 2010

• Brands have invested heavily in revamping or optimizing their websites over the last months: e.g Cartier, Piaget. Most of the brands have positioned their branded website as the main platform for traffic and consumer engagement. Home pages are up-dated more regularly and Mini-websites are mainly used for supporting new launches (e.g. Calibre from Cartier) or special event.
• Brands seem to focus more on products (navigation, details, experience) and communicating on heritage and craftsmanship.
• Social networks have been a core area of interest. However, the role of Facebook is often considered as an additional channel for PR (push push!). As a consequence, the engagement from consumers could be limited compared to other product categories. Blogs and forums (especially in watchmaking) are a matter of specialists and are integrated very efficiently by some legitimate brands (e.g. Jaeger-Lecoultre).
• Mobile platforms have been developed for matching Asian usage while circumventing some issues related to Flash based websites (not working with iPhones and iPads)
• iPhone Apps were the Hit of 2009 charaterized by a “Me Too” syndroma from many brands. However, the difficulty to generate evidenced ROI has drastically limited a regular follow-up from brands.
• eCommerce generates still very polarized point of views. However, some brands have demonstrated that it could co-exist perfectly with an established retail network (e.g. Cartier, Louis Vuitton). It will gain probably to be considered more as a potential step within a purchase concluded in a physical boutique. It is still perceived (wrongly I think) as an exclusive channel, competing directly with traditional retail.

CRM = The same newsletter for everyone.
I am exaggerating a bit!

One of the core marketing driver within luxury industry is the customer experience and the possibility to get a personalized services. Major brands have even structured in details the client experience in their shops.

However, eCRM is not considered as a relevant marketing tool. While it offers many opportunities to gather information, to understand and better target consumers within their lifetime cycle. Thus, experiences in other industries have demonstrated that eCRM could support very efficiently a differentiated approach by type of client profile.

I am convinced that the brand which will give CRM the appropriate spin will gain a real competitive advantage…thanks to a Customer Centric Approach. Once again, Jaeger Lecoultre is the only brand from this panel which has taken the direction of an integrated approach.

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• Louis Vuitton’s Digital Focus Will Keep It in Fashion, Says Director

You could find out of these 2 presentations some insights and tips about Social Media marketing. It is a good complement of articles I have recently published on this topic: Social Media Marketing analysis amongst 8 brands (Part 1 & Part 2).

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• Should Everyone Be on Facebook? #B2B #apps (extanz.com)
• 10 Pitfalls to Avoid in Social Media Marketing (socialmediatoday.com)

In the first post last month, we have seen that activities of 8 brands (luxury, fashion, services, sports and drinks) on Facebook could be consolidated into 8 main categories.
Top 3 in terms of number of post are: Events announcement/reviews, interview & multimedia content and product related topics.

The main question remains whether the level of engagement of fans is aligned with the objective of each brands…and we have some surprises

The engagement of fans is measured by comparing the breakdown of likes/comments vs the breakdown of number of posts initiated by the brand for each category of topics.
I assume that more a topic generates likes/comments from fans higher is the level of engagement.

Key findings:

• Each brand has a different profile of engagement with its fans.
• The level of engagement of fans of Louis Vuitton, Jaeger-Lecoultre and Innocent Smoothies is not aligned with the type of topic mostly pushed by these brands.
• Salomon, Sephora, Starbucks and Kielh’s show an alignment between their main topic published on Facebook and the level of engagement of their fans.
• Most engaging topics across brands are: Events announcement/reviews, activities related to retail traffic and products related posts
• Topics generating the lower level of engagement across brands are: Interviews/multimedia content, regular brand activities, on-line sales and sweepstake.

3 key learning’s

• Define a clear role of the branded Facebook page within the overall communication channels
• Keep the nature of promoted topics (e.g. Events) in line with the core business of the brand
• Monitor, track and adapt the content published by the brand with the actual level of engagement from fans
  Even if your CEO has decided to push his favorite sponsored event while being of low interest for your community

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• Insights on Social Media monitoring for 28 luxury brands: Facebook, twitter, blogs and Forums
• Why we follow brands on Facebook and Twitter
• Cashing In On The Social Media Explosion?

Very interesting insights from Altimeter and PSFK leading to ONE conclusion: Customer Centric experience has overtaken Thinking On & Off line