Social-media engagement: 5 lessons from Converse

Posted on March 1, 2015 by AnaPrietodeLeon

How are we able to judge the quality of companies’ social media pages? One of the clearest ways, user engagement. Easier said than done, how is this achieved? Here are 5 techniques we can learn from Converse

1. Location. Do you know which platform is more commonly used by your target market? If you do, embrace it. If you don´t, find it! But remember you do not have to be in every social network out there. You must locate those platforms that best match your brand/company communication objectives, research their audience and establish your presence. Converse has certainly found their correct platforms where their target market is located: Pinterest, Instagram, Google+, Vine, Twitter, but by far the most successful, Facebook. With 40,858,837 likes on their page, Converse is the fashion Brand that has the most Facebook page likes in the fashion industry and high level of engagement with over 76,000 people talking about the brand.

However, one of my biggest criticisms for Converse´s social media is that they do not adapt their content to the different platforms. As the social networks they locate themselves are relatively similar, they just post the same content that they use on FB, not giving customers a reason to be curios and active on their other platforms. My opinion, adapt your content to each platform and their users! For example: LinkedIn users expect professional content, whereas Instagram’s want quality and entertaining images.

2. Relocation of budget. Although not realistic to spend big $ for some companies on activities that interest your audience such as the Converse Rubber Tracks Recording studio, that not only helps artists create their music but also generates brand advocates plus engaging content. What is realistic is creating content that is relevant for your target market. Not just that promotes the product/service you sell, but something that goes beyond that and inspires. For instance, a local sushi restaurant that wants to increase their social media presence. Don´t just post a picture of a tasty sushi role, post the story behind it. The team that has created it, the customer that tried it for the first time and loved it.

3. Flexibility. Use current happenings to your advantage. Draw on this and use it for your content creation of that day. Be up to date. For example secondhand selling pages started to joke about selling the blue and black dress or must I say white and gold, adapt this to your brand.

4.Listen to your customers.Social media is the fasted medium to receive customer feedback. Use this to your advantage! Hear EVERYTHING your customers have to say about you, the good, bad and evil. Then, make changes based on the feedback.

5.Test, measure, analyze – REPEAT. What is the optimal time when your posts have most impact? Have you got your own hashtag that people can post about when they use your product/service? Is this hashtag popular? Do customers use it? For example Converse´s Chuck Taylor shoe is promoted with #ChuckTaylor both by the company and customers who want to share with the world their favorite sneakers. AB test constantly, and improve based on these results. This is a never ending cycle.

Conclusion: Manage your social media well and aim to obtain brand/company advocates. Social media today is synonymous with word of mouth.

Brief Overview: ZARA

Posted on November 18, 2014 by AnaPrietodeLeon

From its initial store opening in A Coruña (Spain) in 1975 to now having over 2,000 stores worldwide, been one of the most recognised affordable fashion brands and maintaining its position as the most profitable brand within the Inditex group. This success is no coincidence .

Overall, Zara through its initial idea of “democratising fashion” has managed to gain competitive advantage in an industry with a high threat of new entry by achieving to produce trendy garments at lower prices, targeting a mass market of common middle class family components that enjoy fashion but don´t want to suffer paying for it.

Zara´s short product life cycle enables the brand to adapt to the markets latest demands. This is achieved through its pioneer business model based on a vertically integrated and just in time production process that utilises high frequency information from customer’s reactions to the latest trends to produce its garments. The firm’s flexibility allows them to manufacture limited stock which results in avoiding obsolete products, creating working capital benefits for the company.

Finally, growth and profitability is achieved due to the firm’s expansion towards new markets. This is made possible as a result of: the value of the product perceived by customers, the marketing strategy of creating scarcity and opportunity sensations, thus increasing consumption attitudes from customers, in addition to the promotion strategy of allocating stores in cities best shopping areas.

The Kardashians

Posted on November 17, 2014 by AnaPrietodeLeon

I can already guess your reaction when reading the title to this post: laughs, sighs, a look of disapproval and simply not reading this post. So first, why did I choose to write about them? Love them or hate them, this family has proven how effective marketing strategies and correct (personal) brand management can create a successful millionaire (on its way to becoming billionaire) empire.

In contrast to what many believe, the Keeping Up With the Kardashians reality show is not their main source of revenue. Yes, it does contribute towards the Kardashian-Jenner clan’s reported total networth of $191.75 but their main source of income are their: boutiques, product lines, endorsement deals… What the reality show contributes to is conversations about the family. The Kardashians understand very well the power of publicity and how attention can create a platform of followers which results in profit.

(2007) (2014)

So what is the Kardashian brand exactly? This is a brief summary (please note that for simplification purposes I will only be talking about the Kardashian sisters that form the main Kardashian brand, Kourtney, Kim and Khloe):

Brand	Breakdown
THE KARDASHIAN SISTERS (Kourtney, Kim and Khloé):	BUSINESSES: Kardashian Beauty by Kourtney, Kim and Khloe Keeping Up With The Kardashians DASH Kardashian Kollection (SEARS) Kardashian Khaos Kardashian Lingerie Kollection (SEARS) Photo shoots for magazine covers ENDORESEMENT DEALS: Quick trim weight loss Teeth Whitening Glamor Tan sunless tanner Perfect Skin Tria Beauty in-home laser hair removal OPI nail polish (Kardashian Kolor)
Kourtney Kardashian (net worth $15M)	$50,000 per KUWTK episode $15,000 per tweet endorsement < $125,000 per appearance Owner of Smooch (children clothing), jewelry designer. Participated in: Kourtney and Khloé Take Miami, Kourtney and Kim Take New York, Kourtney and Kim Take Miami.
Kim Kardashian West (net worth $40M)	$80,000 per KUWTK episode Between $10,000-25,000 per twitter endorsement. $100,000 and $1,000,000 per appearance Modelling plus individual endorsements such as Sketchers. Kim Kardashian Fragrance Collection Kim Kardashian mobile app game. Participated in: Kourtney and Kim Take New York, Kourtney and Kim Take Miami.
Khloe Kardashian (net worth $11M)	$40,000 per KUWTK episode $13,000 per twitter endorsements $75,000 per appearance. Unisex frangrance with former husband Lamar Odom “unbreakable and Unbreakable Joy” (ended) Co-Host US the X-Factor (ended) Participated in: Kourtney and Khloé Take Miami & Khloe and Lamar

Why so much money for twitter endorsements? Because together they reach over 50M people worldwide. Kim alone has over 25.6M followers and is the 17^th most followed twitter personality in the world.

The mastermind behind the creation of this empire is “momager” Kris Jenner. Whilst the key to the success of the three Kardashian sisters businesses is once again product diversification, where Kris´s true marketing and business mind is demonstrated is in the ability to create a unique brand from each daughter´s personality and be able to capitalize on this thanks to different business ventures which best enhance each Kardashian sister character. As a result, they have been able to target different niche markets under which consumers identify due to different reasons like body shape, personality, life situation… This is demonstrated through the trust that big consumer reach companies such as Sears have put on the Kardashian sisters, their collections with this company demonstrate their big diversified target market and ability to reach them thanks to the different brand meanings that each sister evokes due to their personality but that is gathered under one same brand name “Kardashian Kollection”.

Although not all business ventures have succeeded, for example the Kardashian debit Kard what the Kardashians have very clear and what we can learn from them is that no business cycle lasts forever, maximize all opportunities whilst you can. However, how much is too much product diversification? The Kardashians must be careful that they do not extend too much their product mixes as they risk deviating from their core brand and meaning, causing confusion with the targeted consumers and fans.

Brand Audit: Armani

Posted on November 14, 2014 by AnaPrietodeLeon

For one of my classes here at UBC (Brand Management) for the final class project we were asked to do a brand audit. Using taught techniques such as the brand associations test, my group and I embarked on the adventure of understanding how consumers in the Vancouver market perceived the brand Armani and analyzed one of its category extensions, Armani Casa.

I highly enjoyed doing this project with my amazing team, and thus want to share with you our results and conclusions.

Founded in 1975 by Giorgio Armani, Giorgio Armani S.p.A. is an Italian luxury fashion house best known for producing high-end apparel for both men and women. Since its launch, the brand has ventured off into a variety of sub-brands tailored towards various demographics. Giorgio Armani himself has maintained decision making authority over the company with an effort to communicate a consistent brand meaning across all product lines and advertising channels. Armani Casa, launched in 2000, it´s Armani’s entry into the high-end furniture category with distinct designs and colour combinations that further emphasize Armani’s high-end branding. Currently, Armani is competing in the hyper-competitive luxury fashion segment with top brands such as Dolce & Gabbana, Hugo Boss and Louis Vuitton.

From our analysis of Armani’s advertising and modes of corporate communication including annual reports, websites and social media, Armani is attempting to create associations that not only place them within the premium fashion category, but differentiate Armani from the stiff competition in this tier. The meanings that Armani is intending to evoke include high-end, elegance, luxury, uniqueness and sophistication. Armani is attempting to create these associations through its traditional Black and White, simple and provocative

The primary research suggests that Armani is largely failing in its attempt to create associations of “Elegance” and “Uniqueness”. While consumers understand that Armani is high-end fashion, comparable to luxurious European fashion houses, there are no factors of differentiation to uniquely identify Armani. Secondly, while consumers understand Armani’s overall positioning in the luxury fashion segment, they fail to understand the personality and the abstract meanings that the fashion brand tries to evoke. Lastly, a major area of concern in our analysis was that negative brand associations were potentially brought about by the lower-priced brand Armani Exchange (A|X).

Armani is still considered a fashion icon in the industry but its brand has reached a maturity stage and is beginning to decline. Armani suffers from weak scores in the Young & Rubicam Matrix in differentiation, knowledge and esteem. Low knowledge may result in low relevance, esteem and differentiation, because the consumer does not know what the Armani brand offers. The only sub-brand of Armani that was mentioned more than once was Armani exchange; this is evidence that few individuals inside the target market are aware of the higher-end Armani products and their positioning. Overall, we have given the brand a rating of B.

Several key recommendations that will strengthen the Armani brand include employing a more credible spokespeople to represent the brand, employing vastly different advertising mediums and messages to differentiate between A|X and the more premium Armani brands, and lastly employing tactics (e.g. selection of credible spokespeople) to differentiate the brand between other high-end fashion brands.

PS: If you wish to read the whole report please do not hesitate to message me and ask for the document.

The Christmas Ad Super Bowl

Posted on November 13, 2014 by AnaPrietodeLeon

With less than six weeks until Christmas, creation of momentum and a festive spirit has begun in many parts of the world. Today I wanted to talk about this pre-holiday time period over in the UK. Known as the equivalent of the US Super Bowl of adverts, this time frame for major companies and retailers operating in this market has become over time a critical period to showcase their Christmas offerings in a creative and touching manner. Whilst UK networks have begun filling their channels with holiday commercials, businesses plus brands compete to gain customer attention, memorable experiences and unforgettable adverts.

I enjoy seeing these advert´s evolution and what resonates most with consumers each year. Last year´s John Lewis “The Bare and the hare” advert won 2014 best Christmas advert. The Disney like drawing advert emphasized friendship and “Somewhere we know” sung by Lilly Allen reminded consumers of the simplicity of Christmas, impacted plus touched customers.

http://youtu.be/XqWig2WARb0

So what about this year? What is occurring? The supermarket retailer Sainsburry´s is taking the lead and grabbing headlines with their First World War Christmas Truce inspired advert. In less than 24h, their YouTube video had more than 1.8M views However, can you see the similarities with last year´s winner? They are using the same nostalgic approach towards the creation of impact. So I must question their creativity and innovation. Nevertheless, I must admit that their timing to create an emotional connection with the UK population is perfect as it is the centenary of WWI and the advert was launched days after the Tower of London Poppy event.

Other adverts grabbing headlines this Christmas season in the UK: M&S, John Lewis, Coca Cola, Waitrose, Aldi , Debenhams, Boots and Sky. Which is your favorite?

But, just a quick thought. What happened to all of the joyful Christmas adverts that make you smile and be happy? Does that not sell and impact consumers anymore (or at least in the UK)? Why so much nostalgia?

Blogs, advertising platforms?

Posted on November 6, 2014 by AnaPrietodeLeon

Blogging has now become a potential multimillionaire business. Execute it right, and you can earn millions. Take some of the most influential fashion bloggers: Chiara Ferragni of The Blonde Salad , Mary Seng of Happily Grey and Chrissy Ott of The Perfect Palette.

But, why and how do they make so much money?

They have millions of followers
They have a genuine fan base that can be influenced by the bloggers posts and opinions.
Viewers engage and (actually) read their posts
There is a feeling of connection, friendship and affiliation between the viewer and blogger.

The successful blogs have the power of attracting lucrative advertisements, modeling and/or being brand ambassadors. Overall they have the power of pushing through products to consumers, in a genuine and credible way.

So their blogs might have influence. But how can that they earn over a million of net income? The key, product diversification. The most influential bloggers today go beyond just having adverts on their page, yes, they do have them because it brings a certain amount of revenue, but the true money comes from this product diversification. We can see now bloggers having books, shoes, clothes lines, jewelry lines, apps… essentially whatever reaches their imagination (and target market). Take as an example the $8M revenue model breakdown of Italian fashion blogger Chiarra Ferragni:

30% Website (20% Advertisements; 10% Brand collaborations)
70% Chiarra Ferragni collection (Jewelry, shoe line, book)

Moreover, the blogs serve as free advertising platforms. When a new product or business venture is launched, there is no need of using traditional forms of advertising and product awareness strategies, these bloggers already possess a big platform (and database) with followers, fans and initial target consumers located in one place, their blog. Could it be easier than that? Not only are they able to directly influence with their own creations, the bloggers can earn extra (or majority) revenue, plus give their fan base something tangible to buy, to relate to and feel closer to the bloggers.

Finally, I´m going to raise a question I have always been curious about, will we ever see an IPO of a blog? We never thought it was going to be possible and happen with social networks, and look what happened with for example Facebook and Twitter. Do you think this could be possible? What do you think will be the next step for social media?

A&W

Posted on November 6, 2014 by AnaPrietodeLeon

In class yesterday, we had the privilege of having a guest speaker from A&W´s social marketing team, he explained to us their strategy when deciding to enter Facebook. Much to my surprise, A&W only made its Facebook debut in 2013, making it one of the last major brands in Canada to join the social network. Nevertheless, this had its advantages, they were able to see what worked and what hadn´t on other brands.

After hearing the speech, I wanted to share these insights with you. A&W´s strategy concentrated in 3 main points:

Connect
Engage
Influence

Their main objective was to acquire likes from those that really felt passionate and loved the brand, true fans. So instead of offering fancy prices if consumers liked their page, the burger chain simply asked:

A&W

Short but effective. Through this simple question, A&W´s social marketing team assured themselves that only those who were truly interested in the brand formed part of the Facebook page. A brilliant tactic to identify A&W´s true fans and screen out those who simply want to “contaminate” the page and the brand.

In order to engage, A&W tries to post things that are in coherence with Facebook user’s news-feed, posts that resonate with us and that can identify with: a child enjoying her smoothie, a mother with her fries…. A transmission of happiness when you eat at A&W.

woman

When it comes to influencing, A&W tries to communicate that their meat products don´t contain any artificial by-products. The strategy used to effectively communicate this is creating posts that are initially targeted towards customized audiences so a good first response is achieved.

The intention is that these three strategies are in coherence with each other. Although I understand that sometimes it´s inevitable to put adverts, A&W´s recent posts are too commercial. They emphasize too much how their products are not produced by animals who are given antibiotics, show too much product and not enough contextualized situations. The result, not enough content that consumers can identify with and posts that are just one more advert on A&W´s fans news-feed, breaking the coherence between the three strategies plus increasing the likelihood of Facebook users scrolling past the posts and not engaging.

My recommendation, get creative again, influence and engage with posts that complement each other and attract consumers interest.

Battle of the GREEN Colas

Posted on October 4, 2014 by AnaPrietodeLeon

With growing health-conscious consumers, obesity reports blaming sugary beverages, calorie concerns, diets and knowledge about the impacts of artificial sweeteners, Pepsi and Coca-Cola consumers are shifting away from soda towards other healthier beverage options. The giants have reacted to this substitution effect by creating new soda formulas and expanding their product lines. The result: Coca-Cola Life and Pepsi True.

The content of both of these products is essentially the same, (apart from of course their super-secret formulas which make the “unique” Coca-Cola and Pepsi taste) the giants with this green cola are creating a mid-calorie beverage with stevia, a natural sweetener, to target the growing health-conscious customer.

A couple of similarities and differences:

	COCA-COLA LIFE	PEPSI TRUE
Calories per can	89 (330ml can)	60 (212ml can)
Distribution Channel	Wholesalers and Retailers	Amazon.com
Target consumer	Health conscious	Health conscious
Available in	Argentina, Chile, USA, frontier of Mexico, Sweden and UK (in selected stores and locations).	US and global reach of Amazon
Main form of Promotion	Coca-Cola Life Boutique (in London)Spokesperson: Model Rosie Huntington-Whiteley	Online, advertisements on Amazon.com

OK, awesome, a new beverage with a green label to represent health? The story does not end here. First introduced by Coca-Cola in 2013 in the Argentinian market and expanding to others ever since through the conventional manner, its competitor has been a bit more creative. Pepsi whose sales have been lately on a constant decline, reacted not only by creating a similar product but by launching it on Amazon.com (side note: Pepsi took 3 years to develop Pepsi True). Welcome to battle of the brands. Theme line? Who can play it smarter, react quicker and win the most customers.

Pepsi True which will be available in mid-October only on the online retailer (for the moment), is a new step for the beverage company who by doing this is taking their e-commerce to a whole new level. A smart move by the multinational who will be able to analyze the markets where the product sells best and then take action (if viable) to further implement it.

However, although it is a good innovative move, what will these new distribution costs via Amazon really be? Especially if in order to not damage relationships with their bottling partners their bottlers will be compensated for revenue they would have received when purchases are made through Amazon in their territories. Moreover, Amazon could pressure Pepsi into lowering price, which would mean a reduction of profit margin for the multinational. And a last concern, what are Pepsi consumers going to think about this product only been available on Amazon? How many will actually bother to buy the product more than once here? Will their sales volume be affected and impact price?

Overall opinion:Pepsi- Smart move to test your new product. As for both green colas, I am very intrigued to see consumers reaction and if this new product is a success or a flop.

Cute, short and effective

Posted on September 26, 2014 by AnaPrietodeLeon

With so much media noise, companies have it harder than ever to send their message. Effective communications are now earned, not rented or bought. Instead of pitching information and values you want to get through, you must go one step further, engage, innovate and interest your audience. If you deliver credible information, there is a higher likelihood that the consumer will reward you with loyalty. As a result, companies try to achieve impacting, original campaigns in hope of going viral, being a trending topic and the talk of all.

KLM is the latest star in content marketing.

The Dutch airline has managed to create this viral video with relevant and valuable content which consumers want to watch and listen. This is not only cute, it has a purpose and it evokes various messages:

Superficial: “Doing whatever it takes to return your lost items”. The KLM team and Sherlock will find whatever passengers loose.
Intrinsic: KLM cares about its customers, has outstanding service and will make your flight the best experience possible.

The aim of this video is to leverage brand associations and to strengthen the meaning of KLM to consumers. It´s pushing through “taking care of customers”, strongly correlated with its mission, vision and customer focus statements.Through branding, differentiation is achieved with the purpose of attaining sustainable competitive advantage, key for a business operating in a highly competitive, low profit margin and high fixed costs industry.

Marketing and advertising stunt? Lost and found team member or KLM´s new mascot? I will let you be the judge of that to avoid disappointment. However, if Sherlock does find one of your lost items, please take a picture and share it with us!

#QuantityAndQuality #Of #Hashtags

Posted on September 24, 2014 by AnaPrietodeLeon

Do you follow a friend, colleague, blogger or celebrity that simply can´t get enough of hashtags and uses an insane amount every time they write something? If the answer is yes, that makes two of us.

Originally created by Twitter for categorization on social media, hashtags have expanded to other social networks such as Facebook and are now a feature your business (or you) must be using for your tweets/posts/comments to be truly effective and searchable. But we must ask, is there a certain amount we should be using? Does it impact our engagement?

I´m not saying no to hashtags, I´m just questioning the quantity and quality of them. Yes fine, our friends who are just trying to be funny are excused from this, but what about the others? Those who are (trying to) make a living out of the internet and just won´t stop with those hashtags? Well… as the graph below shows, overall less is more.

Whilst research on Twitter suggest that there is a 17% drop in engagement for those that tweet with more than two hashtags , in Instagram, the more the better. Completely different to Facebook as the posts with no hashtags are the ones that perform the best.

So how do we know what to use where? A couple of suggestions:

Look at your influencers, what are they doing? What are they using?
Search around, are there any non-related hashtags you should be using?
Analyze your data! What hashtags are attracting the most volume? What posts/tweets/comments are receiving the most engagement?
Don´t put too many words in your hashtags #canyouevenreadthishashtag
Don´t put too many hashtags. Visually it just looks awful!

In conclusion, try to optimize your hashtags, think rationally about what you post and just don´t overdo it! #ExcessLeadsToNoSuccess

Unlocking E-Marketing

Ana Prieto