Over the last few weeks we have looked at how a large organisation such as Coke use SM as part of their marketing activities. In my view, Coke really does it well. One of the reasons is that they have no doubt got quite a large budget to work with and are therefore able to employ the best strategies to make SM work for them.
In "How do the big guns do it", we looked at some of the ground rules that Coke set up on how SM is part of the company and how it should be used to the company's advantage through their SM policy.
The discussions then moved to "Who pays and who plays" where consideration was given to how much SM strategies cost and who the best person is to do the job. Although no exact costs associated with Coke was discussed due to obvious reasons, some indications suggested that a well designed integrated SM campaign could cost as much as $260k. Discussions didn't answer the question as to who the best person is, but it may not always be the person you imagine. Think of the Brown Brother SM guru example.
From there we looked at how you integrate your SM strategies with the rest of your communication strategies in "Communication, I've heard its important". Discussions were around a company that operates across borders where advertising messages were quite different for different countries and the difficulty this created because using SM (facebook in particular was mentioned) provides, on a number of occasions one platform (or fan page) for many countries and cultures. The best way to suggested to use this, speak your central company meaning/motto to all (in this case "open happiness"".
"Objectives" looked at the importance of having objectives for your SM strategies as well as how to best set these objectives. Some suggestions of how Coke does it (which works really well for them) were looked at.
In "Measuring (again!)" the importance of objectives were highlighted again with a link to a blog that suggested that Coke is getting it wrong because they only engaged with 9% of their audience. Suggestions were given that it could be 9% of their audience, but a much larger percentage of their "online audience". A few measuring techniques were discussed, highlighting the importance for future marketing activities and business growth.
"Is it working" was the last post in the series looking at a successful case of Coke's use of SM as a marketing tool.
Now having some understanding how the world's most valuable brand effectively use SM, what can we take from this and move across to a small business.
Small businesses certainly don't have the cash to develop an extravagant campaign sending people all around the world, but my view is that they can certainly learn from this. Too often do we see businesses starting a FB page just because they think they should, do they even know if their target is active on FB. Sure they may get a follower or two, but from what we have seen done very well by Coke, what do you guys think small businesses can learn from this?
Ross
Nice wrap up on previous blogs Ross. I think you're right, I'm finding it tough to attract B2B and B2C like for leisure-Planners but on twitter atleisure_au we have hit the ground running. Feel free to like and follow :)
ReplyDeleteAs you said, Coke has the budget to do almost whatever they want with marketing but for small businesses it might not be important. I don't think small businesses should try what Coke does because they don't have the resources but rather try to learn how to engage with consumers which Coke does well.
ReplyDeleteNice segue from large to small, Ross... are we seeing a change in direction on this blog?
ReplyDeleteIn a way, isn't SM easier for a small business? A small business is often very "personality driven" anyway - think of your local mechanic, hairdresser or plumber. Therefore, providing they are prepared to invest the time on a consistent basis, anything they say on SM will reflect their small business brand values.
Maybe all they need is a little bit of training on how social media works, and they'll be off and running without any problems. Consulting job, anyone?
Great post and interesting comments. One of the things I like about SMM is that it is a levelling platform where a small business or even one individual has access to an audience for a pretty cost effective spend. Authenticity continues to pop up in regards to SMM efforts, taking a local perspective a small business could really build relationships with customers and potential customers through authentic engagement...here the beauty is know exactly who you are 'talking' to as opposed to the large business where it could be one of many people responding. The local bakery example we had a few weeks ago is a great example of the local application of SMM.
ReplyDeleteThank you for your comments all. Whilst I agree that small business shouldn't attempt to do what Coke does for a number of reasons:
ReplyDelete1. Cash flow is the obvious
2. Why invest a large amount of money to market your hairdresser to the world when really you are providing a service to a local community so there is the potential for a lot of waste
3. Time constrains especially for sole traders
However, if my blog so far this semester had a different theme, ie. what coke has been doing wrong, I think it would have been easy for us to say what small businesses shouldn't be doing. So my view on what small business can learn from coke.
Engage, engage, engage! This is what gets people talking. You don't need 30 mil likes, if you are for example a hairdresser, you need perhaps 200 likes that are actively involved likes.
@Amity, as you said, be authentic, spend an hour a week and get involved with the conversations. (think of the example from class about the bakery that tweets their freshly baked products to customers).
Offer something...a free six bread rolls for the price of five if you check in. This way, although you have only a few likes, the people who like your page are likely to reminded of you.
I would love to hear if you have any more suggestions.
Ross
Great response, Ross!
ReplyDeleteAnd to add one more thing... remember the friends and friends-of-friends that will see the "like". It spreads!
Keep up the great work!
another important things is that small businesses should do things slowly and do not promise anything that they couldnt deliver to their customers.. they should try to maintain the conversation with their fans and followers. furthermore, they can utilize some facebook apps (e.g events)...
ReplyDeleteNice post, Ross:)
thank you for your comments all. I will continue over the next few weeks to explore a little more on how SM can help small business grow and how to make this relatively cheap tool work for the business.
ReplyDeleteRoss