Building an Online Community for E-retailer mimovrste=) Using Social Media Miha Rejc mimovrste d.o.o. Jesenice, Slovenia

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1 Building an Online Community for E-retailer mimovrste=) Using Social Media Miha Rejc mimovrste d.o.o. Jesenice, Slovenia NEED/OPPORTUNITY / mimovrste d.o.o. operates an online store called mimovrste=) at (the name means just pass the queue or skip the queue in English). At the beginning of 2009, mimovrste=) was considered one of the most popular e-retailers in Slovenia and one of the fastest growing businesses in the country. The company began as a small garage start-up in 2002 and employed more than 50 people at the beginning of The company was not the first e-retailer in Slovenia mimovrste=) was second to market but managed to overcome this handicap by delivering on the mimovrste=) brand promise: good prices, a vast selection of products and excellent customer service. In May 2009 the online store had 150,000 registered customers in Slovenia, which at the time was about 15 percent of Internet users and 40 percent of online shoppers in the country. The main traffic sources for visitors to the site are search engines (Google and the local search engine Najdi.si) and direct traffic. These traffic sources amount to 70 percent of all visits to the site. Other visits are either via links from the mimovrste=) weekly e-newsletter, or through paid advertisements or contextual ads on various sites. Although two-thirds of registered users also subscribe to the weekly newsletter, mimovrste=) lacked a tangible online community where people could share experiences, ask questions, solve issues and give feedback to the company. The organization had plans to implement a community section on the main site but could not afford the funds and resources to create a proprietary community site, especially given the poor state of the economy in This meant mimovrste=) had to look outside for places where people were already having online conversations and interactions: social media platforms. Slovenia is somewhat particular in the use of social media platforms. There had been a few dispersed local online communities, but in late 2008 and 2009 Facebook became very popular. In May 2009, 300,000 Slovenians already had a Facebook account. mimovrste=) decided to join in on the conversations people were already having about the company s brand and services, and also offer them a place to talk. The team had already created an official mimovrste=) Facebook fan page in August 2008; despite the page s lack of activity, over 1,000 people had already become fans. This pre-existing fan base played a major role in the team s decision to use this Facebook page as the central hub of social media activities. In early 2009, strategic use of social media by brands in Slovenia was practically non-existent. This presented an opportunity, as competitors were doing nothing on the social media front; however, it was also a challenge, as there were no successful cases mimovrste=) could look up to. The team had to do pioneering work. 1

2 The mimovrste=) team could position the company as a fun, open and communicative brand that listens and responds to what people have to say by establishing conversations directly between the brand and its customers. The customers/users are the main shapers and drivers of the brand image and position; most devoted fans of the brand become brand advocates and evangelists, so providing a mimovrste=) online community was a logical step in encouraging this advocacy. INTENDED AUDIENCE(S) / PRIMARY The most devoted mimovrste=) customers and fans of the brand were the primary audiences. Based on the company s research data (an survey), mimovrste=) customers are predominantly young male professionals and college students, a demographic that is also the most active on Facebook and other social media. Creating a Facebook fan page and Twitter profile were also in keeping with the no-budget nature of the campaign. With the advent of social media, brands can no longer control or enforce their message to the conscious, connected consumer, who now has a strong influence on brand image and reputation. The strongest driver for a buying decision is a recommendation from a friend or family member. The second most powerful driver is online recommendations or reviews by complete strangers who share the same interests. These connected consumers expect information and services/products to be available to them on demand and to have a personal interaction with companies. SECONDARY The secondary audience was made up of people aged 18 35, who are the most prolific users of social media and the early majority of online shopping users, who have not yet had the pleasure of enjoying the mimovrste=) experience. GOALS AND OBJECTIVES / The primary goal was to build, gather and expand the community around the mimovrste=) brand by increasing the number of fans on the mimovrste=) Facebook page to 3,000 by the end of the year. These fans correspond to more than 70 percent of the best customers based on an RFM (recency/frequency/monetary) analysis; the top 5 percent of customers contribute 30 percent of all sales. Through this program, mimovrste=) would strengthen relationships with customers, enable them to get to know the company better and get honest feedback from them. In turn, they would become even more involved with the brand and help drive more traffic and sales to the e- retailing site. By using online tools, all campaign activities were measureable. Objectives included the following: Become the top Slovenian retailer by using social media, gain recognition as a brand that is open and honest with its customers, and connect with customers on a more conversational level. Use social media as a secondary customer care channel (in addition to the customer care center that handles phone and support requests). Conduct simple research by asking fans questions about the brand. 2

3 Gain positive insight from the most devoted users. Drive additional sales through the Facebook page 40,000 of revenue through the end of SOLUTION OVERVIEW / mimovrste=) is an online retailer whose early adopters are gadget and Internet aficionados, most of whom are part of the digital generation and thus are quite familiar with participating in online communities and social media. The plan was to build an official fan page on Facebook and get people to join via organic methods interesting, meaningful valuable content posted by mimovrste=) and other users of the site. KEY MESSAGES We highly value your commitment and love of mimovrste=). We want you, the most devoted customers and advocates of the brand, to become a part of an ever growing community and part of the mimovrste=) brand. We are always open to hearing your ideas about how we can become better with you and for you. mimovrste=) is a young, dynamic company that is always looking for new ways to get closer to its customers (and a step ahead of the competition). We are always here for you. The mimovrste=) experience of excellence in customer service is now available on social media that you use in your daily life. Ask us anything no questions will be left unanswered. mimovrste=) wanted to give fans genuine value in joining the Facebook fan page; therefore, the team drew up a plan with communication activities, which was divided into three segments: Sales: These activities were to be carefully coordinated with the sales department. Every week, sales would prepare a list of interesting products that would be available on mimovrste=). Because the online store started with only one department in 2002 (computers and accessories), the decision was to select and post products from the other 12 departments in order to show fans that those departments might also interest them or their families. The links to products with interesting tidbits were to be posted on the Facebook fan page at intervals that corresponded to the peak traffic times on the online store (early afternoon and between 8 and 11 p.m.). This was in line with the broader strategic sales direction of the company to push departments other than computers. Customer care: mimovrste=) puts a lot of emphasis on customer care and customer relations, as this is an area where the company wants to exceed the expectations of customers. The strategic direction was to open up a secondary customer care channel on social media outlets where mimovrste=) could answer questions from customers, solve their issues and generally help them out. These issues were to be solved in public, for everybody to see, not through one-on-one interaction on the phone or via . This meant the communications department had to become familiar with the workflows and tools that were in use in the customer care department. Brand/company communication: The team aimed to communicate interesting information about mimovrste=) to its most devoted fans; thereby positioning mimovrste=) as an open brand with an honest and down-to-earth relationship with customers. This would make fans feel more a 3

4 part of the brand itself, giving them reasons to continue coming back to mimovrste=) and to tell their friends and family about mimovrste=). Execution: Conversations about mimovrste=) were already taking place online. mimovrste=) wanted to join these conversations and encourage new ones to get the most devoted customers to share their experiences (good and bad) about the brand. Facebook (facebook.com/mimovrste): Facebook was selected as the core of the social media activities because of its ever-growing popularity as a social networking tool and the vast amount of Slovenian Internet users who were already using it. Soon after starting the campaign, mimovrste=) saw a massive leap in the number of fans who joined the page to express their love of the brand. A Facebook fan page is great because it exposes the brand not just to fans of the page but also to their friends. Soon, fans started posting their own content, making the community alive. The team decided to enable the display of both mimovrste=) s and fans posts on the wall, thus showing the conversational nature of the social media presence. Twitter (twitter.com/mimovrste): The team created an official brand profile on Twitter to enable mimovrste=) to join in on the conversations going on about shopping, online shopping, product reviews and similar topics. This enabled them to broaden the scope of conversations that mimovrste=) was present on as a brand and to reply to any mentions of mimovrste=) or online shopping experiences. Blogs/forums: Conversations about mimovrste=) were also occurring on blogs and forums. These conversations are much more dispersed but can (on the most popular blogs and forums) reach a large number of people. The team decided to monitor these communication platforms by using online clipping tools and react to any mentions of the brand by joining in the conversation. IMPLEMENTATION AND CHALLENGES / There was no budget except for limited, inhouse resources. TIME FRAME The Facebook fan page became an active part of the communication activities in May The team created links to the Facebook fan page on the main mimovrste=) site. They custom designed the Twitter profile in June. All activities continued in CHALLENGES The biggest questions were: Will customers accept the mimovrste=) brand into their online lives? Customers were already talking and connecting online with other people, but what about connecting with a brand? mimovrste=) wanted the fans to join in on their own terms without any additional push from the company (i.e., using advertisements or offering rewards to people who chose to declare themselves fans of the mimovrste=) brand). The quality of mimovrste s social media presence and its ability to deliver on the brand promise had to be enough to make people passionate about the brand. 4

5 The customer care department had big doubts about the potential negative feedback of dissatisfied customers available to possibly thousands of people. The team resolved this issue by making the department realize that it s better to show how passionate they are about solving issues. Issues will always happen; it is how you solve them that really wins customers over and makes them loyal to the brand. The communications department used case studies about other companies solving customer issues on blogs and forums as leverage. Another challenge was the fact that the team could only dedicate one person to the campaign, and he had other responsibilities aside from running this campaign. This was possible only with careful planning and coordination with other departments. The lack of funding for the campaign also presented a challenge. The team managed to work around that by using social media platforms that didn t require investments in creating or customizing the brand page or profile. MEASUREMENT/EVALUATION OF OUTCOMES / The number of fans on the Facebook fan page doubled in two months, reached the goal of 3,000 fans in mid-september, and ended the year with over 4,000 fans. The mimovrste=) brand became the most popular e-retailer on social media with eight times the fans on Facebook than its main competitor, Enaa. The largest Slovenian retailer brand (Mercator) had half as many fans as mimovrste=). The company became recognized as a pioneer in social media, got media coverage on the subject and was invited to speak at two conferences. Solved more than 100 customer issues. Because these issues were solved openly and publicly, the customer care center didn t have to deal with similar issues later; thus reducing workload. When they needed to do simple research into the most common fears people have about buying online, the team posted the question on the Facebook page and received almost 20 answers in a matter of hours. On another occasion, they asked fans how they could better display and explain information about the availability (stock) of a product. There were 28 answers in a few hours. Received numerous positive posts from fans, describing their complete satisfaction with the mimovrste=) brand. This feedback was exposed to thousands of other people, and was useful in strengthening the engagement of associates. Made 55,000 in additional revenue from customers who came to mimovrste=) directly from the Facebook page. Facebook also became an important traffic source (ninth place) to mimovrste=) and the second top referring site (right after slo-tech, the most popular computer&gadget forum in Slovenia). In addition, the team used Facebook and Twitter accounts as primary channels for crisis communication when the mimovrste=) newsletter system was compromised on 9 September. Honest and early communication about the issue and an explanation that the of the security problem was not severe helped to prevent widespread panic among users. mimovrste=) also discovered that social media platforms are a very responsive channel for acquiring new associates, as they were talking to a pool of people who already had a strong commitment to the brand. 5