Although I have been blogging before about how useful facebook can be for companies, i have found some research that is claiming the opposite. Brand Republic - a market-leading website for the online advertising, marketing, media and PR sectors - has recently done some street interviews in the UK asking people about their opinion and experience with fan sites on facebook.
These are the snapshots of the interviews:
According to this study people seem not to be really interested in becoming a fan of brands on facebook. These interviews were of course only made with a small group of selected people, so that one might argue that the results are not representative. Nevertheless, it seems to me that a majority of Facebook users (including me) don't see the benefit of becoming a fan of most of the brands on Facebook. This issue goes back to one of my previous postings about Victoria's Secret and Facebook. Facebook is only an effective marketing tool if the company finds a way to differentiate itself from its competitors on Facebook and clearly shows its customers the benefits of being their 'Facebook fan'.
But aren't companies dealing with the same issues in the offline marketing world too??! I think that with some creativity there are many ways to use Facebook to your advantage!
Showing posts with label facebook. Show all posts
Showing posts with label facebook. Show all posts
Thursday, January 7, 2010
Tuesday, November 3, 2009
Email that brought Hugo Boss 87% more Facebook friends in 1 day
Building on my last post, I wanted to share with you a good example on how a fashion company attracts customers to join their Facebook fan site. Hugo Boss used a direct marketing method and increased its fan base from around 2,300 fans to more than 4,300 fans within a day, which is an increase of more than 85%! I don't know how large Hugo Boss' email list was, but I think it is still a large jump within a day. And this is how it looked like:
In my view this was a great method as it was only sent out to people who have agreed to receive the Hugo Boss newsletter. Therefore, it was not considered as spam. It was very personal (“meet new Hugo Boss friends”) and well targeted. If I had received this email, I would have felt honored to receive a personal invitation from Hugo Boss. The company did a great job in creating a user-friendly email that is clearly showing the contact details as well as links to online store and store locator.
One could argue that Hugo Boss is only targeting already convinced customers. I think, however, that people might forward this email to their friends (using the link “tell a friend”), who have not been in Hugo Boss’ database. Overall, a good execution of combining direct marketing with social media.
In my view this was a great method as it was only sent out to people who have agreed to receive the Hugo Boss newsletter. Therefore, it was not considered as spam. It was very personal (“meet new Hugo Boss friends”) and well targeted. If I had received this email, I would have felt honored to receive a personal invitation from Hugo Boss. The company did a great job in creating a user-friendly email that is clearly showing the contact details as well as links to online store and store locator.
One could argue that Hugo Boss is only targeting already convinced customers. I think, however, that people might forward this email to their friends (using the link “tell a friend”), who have not been in Hugo Boss’ database. Overall, a good execution of combining direct marketing with social media.
Sunday, November 1, 2009
Do fashion brands need Facebook?
Facebook being one of the social media sites with the highest traffic worldwide, I was curious to learn how strongly fashion companies are using the site within their online marketing strategies. According to Mediapost.com, fashion brands need Facebook, as it provides fashion companies a unique environment that is more powerful than traditional marketing. As also discussed by Mike Moran in his book ‘Do it wrong quickly’, Web marketing through social media allows customers to segment themselves based on their needs which he calls marketing personalization. And Facebook is a great example for this.
But to what extend do fashion companies need Facebook? I think fashion companies should not rely too heavily on sites such as Facebook, as it cannot replace traditional media. However, it is important to not underestimate the importance of having a facebook presence. Marketers need to consider this channel as a messaging opportunity next to other channels leveraging the fact that their customers have deliberately decided to become a fan of their favorite brand.
Pink, a Victoria's Secret Brand, is a great example how an apparel retailer can use Facebook effectively to reach a specific segment. Pink was able to attract almost 1.5 million fans by uploading for example fun videos about two guys travelling around USA. Some of them are really funny and definitely worth watching:
But to what extend do fashion companies need Facebook? I think fashion companies should not rely too heavily on sites such as Facebook, as it cannot replace traditional media. However, it is important to not underestimate the importance of having a facebook presence. Marketers need to consider this channel as a messaging opportunity next to other channels leveraging the fact that their customers have deliberately decided to become a fan of their favorite brand.
Pink, a Victoria's Secret Brand, is a great example how an apparel retailer can use Facebook effectively to reach a specific segment. Pink was able to attract almost 1.5 million fans by uploading for example fun videos about two guys travelling around USA. Some of them are really funny and definitely worth watching:
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