Small business seem to be slow adopters of social media as a marketing tool. In Australia, Sensis (2011) found that only 14 percent of small businesses use social media.
A successful example of a small company that uses SM as part of its strategy is Hotel Renew, a small boutique hotel in Honolulu Hawaii. They have an active Facebook page, as well as and active Twitter account. What makes this an interesting case, they offer more than just an online service to sort out guest issues and retweet positive tweets from guests. As you will note on the two pages, the Hawaii International Film Festival (HIFF) is happening soon and to keep likes and tweets active, they are offering guests the chance to win tickets to the HIFF by stating what their ultimate HIFF experience would be. This has nothing to do with the hotel. In a way, it is a very unique way of getting your brand out there. You are not pushing your brand to the consumers (which a lot find annoying), you are simply engaging them with your brand by offering them something.
Looking back at some of the coke examples, can we see any similarities? I think so. Have a look at a recent post on FB by coke:
They posted something about an artist that is liked by the general public. This created a fair amount of discussion and likes and shares. Although the numbers are small compared to Coke's overall number of likes, but as we know, a post on FB can quickly disappear in the newsfeed. The same as Hotel Renew, they offer something that the general public likes, this in turn gets people involved with the brand, even though there is no hard selling.
I would love to hear whether you think that this opens a case for smaller businesses to learn from the larger companies, and whether you think there are any more examples of how a small organisation has (at a smaller scale) used SM the same way as a larger business, especially if you have a successful example. I doubt very much that Hotel Renew is approaching this the way they are because Coke is, but when looking at examples such as this where there seems to be a link between success and what was done, I think there is a case where smaller businesses can learn from bigger companies.
Ross
Great blog post Ross!. I think this is a good example of how an small organisation like Hotel Renew can use social media in a smaller scale than Coke but in a very creative way...I don't have an example of another small company, but Telstra today post on Facebook something similar (http://www.facebook.com/Telstra), because they launched its new mobile broadband 4G network today and facebookers can win a 4G modem if they state how 4G could supercharge their life. interesting, isn't it?
ReplyDeleteVery interesting Blog Ross! This kinda links to my recent blog about Facebook being generous on giving free ads for small businesses. I do think that small businesses can learn from big businesses, but it would be interesting to see and know what small businesses can take from large companies and if they have the same abilities to run its social media marketing :)
ReplyDeleteI think your post hits one of the cores of SM and how business, be they big or small should approach it - its about content and conversation first, that's where SM started. I agree that continually going the 'sell' on social media channels will eventually turn your audience away.
ReplyDeleteA way that I can relate this to 'non SM digital' experience is when you have a chat to a sales person about something that is not centered on their products i.e. in a sports store chatting about results. The next time I need new sporting gear (which is a lot!) I know the store I head back to first because I enjoyed my last visit...
Great post, and equally brilliant comments, in particular from @Mike.
ReplyDeleteIN\n a way, I tend to think that SM is easier for a small business, as they have fewer customers, hence it's easier to manage the many conversations that SM can generate. There is no way Coke is able to respond to every customer comment or question on SM, but a small business can (should they choose to!).
Keep up the great work!
I forgot to say how I knew that Hotel Renew's SM activities were successful. I had a chat to one of the staff members and this is how I know. They don't want to sell rooms through SM, all they want is conversation around the brand, whether directly about the brand or indirectly. To them its just about having the brand in the conversation. They are one of the few small hotels in Waikiki that have made it for longer than a few years. For those who haven't been there, Waikiki is the main tourist area and there are hundreds of hotels all over. These small guys do tens to get lost between the Outriggers and Hiltons, so for these guys, just getting their brand name in conversation is important, and they are achieving this objective!
ReplyDelete@Mike, agree with you completely, SM is just another marketing channel so shouldn't be given any less attention, your example of just having a chat with the sales person is exactly this. SM is just another chat with a staff member of a brand!
Ross
interesting post ross. i have an example about OAT shoes, which the innovative shoes could be the used in planting as its natural materials. It only has store in netherlands, but the brand spread quickly in FB, which get lots of attention from people in FB. It also increase its sales in online store. It is a very new brand, but get an effective brand awareness by using FB.
ReplyDeleteGreat post Ross, especially interesting that they don't want to promote the hotel rooms too much. Seems that they are genuinely informing public about events happening around Hawaii and it is a great way to interact with consumers and get the brand name into their consideration set.
ReplyDeleteWith Coke, Guetta is somewhat an ambassador for them. He is in a partnership with Coke where Guetta is promoting their energy drink 'Burn' and Coke will produce a documentary movie about him. That's why Coke doesn't seem as genuine with their posts as the hotel from my point of view. But genuine or not, at least they are providing some new information for the followers and at the same time promoting themselves indirectly. Coke just does it well every time!
Thanks for your comments all. I think it is vital for small businesses to adopt some form of SM strategy, even if for nothing other than staying with the pack. In saying that, they shouldn't just hop on the bandwagon, they should have some clear strategies when using this medium. They should consider everything from the simple marketing tactics such as segmentation and targeting to how to plan for contingencies if a situation turns bad.
ReplyDeleteRoss