ASSESSMENT 2
VISUAL
COMMUNICATIONS
SOCIAL MEDIA IN BUSINESS
Over The years businesses have become more and more aware of
the advantages of social media as an advertising and marketing tool when
promoting their products or services. As Facebook now has over 1 billion
subscribers and twitter over half a billion - the potential from them alone is
vast add You Tube, Snapchat and the rest….
In this blog I’m going to look at three companies – starting
with their websites, and explore their use of these sites in spreading
awareness of their brand throughout the market and the success of their
strategy.
Lego
Instantly recognisable, the very name brings an image of plastic bricks and childhood memories of many an hour spent building and inventing. An old company founded in 1939 LEGO was the brainchild of Ole Kirk Kristiansen and has been in the family ever since. Lego was a slow burner (literally – the factory burned down twice in the early years!) and grew slowly but steadily until the late 1950’s when production started on its ‘Plastic’ brick which is still in use today. Lego’s popularity grew as it added more pieces (all interchangeable) to its collection allowing imagination to expand and whole worlds to be built. By the 1970’s Lego was recognised as a major force in the toy world and ranked 12th in market studies. An agreement with 20th Century fox in 1980 to produce a Star wars merchandise collection to co-inside with its films was a massive boost to the brand, an arrangement which has been replicated with many other films and characters’ since until it became the No 1 global toy manufacturer earlier this year
HOMEPAGE: LEGO.com
The Lego homepage is very bright and easy to follow thus
allowing it to engage with their main audience which is CHILDREN. The aim of
the website is to entertain and to encourage play and creativity. It encourages
participation and invites visitors to explore all Lego has to offer While
having links to different content under different headers such as “What’s New”
and “Recommended” on the front page allowing direct access to videos, apps and
games with just the click of a mouse. At the bottom is also a link direct to
the shop which allows anything viewed on the site to be purchased direct. The
homepage also has 5 other tabs taking you further into the site these are;
PRODUCTS
The products page
which gives you links to all the characters’ and ranges popular at the moment,
these range from Duplo for the very young to Scooby Doo and Ninja Turtles and
onto Architecture and Ideas for the older generations.
GAMES
CREATE AND SHARE
The create and share tab gives users the opportunity to join
the Lego Club which is an interactive educational group offering exclusive previews,
latest news and special videos and games only available to members.
Competitions and missions for children to complete are also featured and
special offers made direct to email in latest online news and digital magazines
courtesy of its registration process.
Galleries; Visitors are also asked to view the gallery’s ,
comment and give a thumbs up or down on images placed there by other users. We
are invited to upload our own pictures of our own Lego creations and join in
the conversation about them. This page is also linked to the other Lego
websites and relevant content.
Message Boards; this shortcut gives a direct overview of all
the message boards across the whole Lego network, allowing us to search for
information about certain products, developments and ideas being aired. We can
join in the discussions and converse with other likeminded souls.
VIDEOS
The video tab takes us to videos made by or featuring Lego
characters’ and products, asks us to like or dislike the content offered by
Lego and its creative partners such as Warner Bros and Disney. Links to other
products are also offered.
SHOP
All links whether on the website or social media ultimately lead to Legos ecommerce site. Unlike the rest of the site the shop platform is more adult centric with links to all its product ranges, special offers and its VIP club. The shop also gives access to customer services and other stockists of Legos products as well as the opportunity to sign up for email notifications.
There are links to Legoland’s site which offers holidays
and days out at their theme park
The shop also allows the customer to share information about
products and purchases via social media sites.
It also invites visitors to review their purchases and share
their stories and pictures with other visitors. A vast amount of comments are
left about each product, providing a large amount of additional unbiased
information to the buyer.
LEGO’S USE OF SOCIAL MEDIA
Although there are very few links to social media platforms
throughout the site - due to the audience in the main being children, there is
the option to share through their adult content found not only in the shop but
also through the parent and education portals which have links available at the
bottom of each page.
This does not reflect the traffic coming to the site through
links shared on social media. Lego has a large presence on most social media
platforms but in main uses You Tube, Facebook and Twitter. As mentioned earlier
each range of products has its own social media presence and partners, for
instance Lego Harry Potter, Lego Minecraft and the Lego Movie all have their
own pages, with content tailored to their users and links which reflect this.
YOU TUBE
Lego uploads massive amounts of content via its You Tube
channel, whether it be how to videos for those who have lost their
instructions, to fan uploads and animations, news about the brand and new
releases to mini episodes of your favourite cartoon made in Lego. 
Used to entertain as well as advertise the
content is constantly updated and enhanced by Lego to promote its brand and
that of its partners, all content is easily shared, and all pages are linked by
the little red brick to Lego.com.
Lego has a lot of creative partners;
USER CONTRIBUTIONS
This is in my opinion
Legos most successful Social network site due to its compatibility with its
products, ability to showcase its Apps, Games, comics and even clothing lines
as well as its traditional toys. It is also used to great effect as a marketing
tool, allowing it to not only to promote and advertise new and upcoming
products: But also to allow visitors to engage and interact with Lego itself by
leaving their views;
Lego also has access to data on all its content on you
tube via its Statistics tab found under ‘More’ allowing its marketing
department up to date information on the popularity of its content and themes to keep their product lines fresh and relevant
Legos Facebook page has 10,665,597 likes on its main page
which is used again to promote its latest lines and products, speak to its
customers and listen to their ideas and views. It provides links to outlets and
other businesses selling and holding events involving Lego and competitions and
articles on its sister pages such as Lego Architecture.
Links to Toys R Us events
links to Legoland Windsor
Lego also provides links to educational sites and news
stories for instance NASA and the water on mars below, making them more
understandable and accessible to the young.
However the most common links are regarding their
sub-brands or partners such as the Mixels cartoons –as below. Thus promoting
their other sites as well as their own links to the content
Lego also uses its Facebook page as a customer services
portal offering quick and accessible advice and information combined with links
– much better than waiting in a queue on the phone or email reply. By clicking
the Contact Us button at the top of its Facebook page you are taken directly to
the customer services page on www.Lego.com
which provides links to different avenues of contact with the company.
Facebook is also a very useful tool for Lego to promote
awareness of the brand and its uses.
TWITTER
Lego also uses twitter as a customer services portal,
most of its tweets and replies concerning missing or defective parts or
problems with the products but can just be a source of information for the
customer.
As with the other social media sites twitter provides up to
date information and advertisement on it and its retail partners new releases
and promotions.
On a more personal level it interacts with customers wishing
them a happy birthday or congratulations on their achievements.
Legos Twitter page also links too many other companies
through its invitation to like on its twitter page
CONCLUSION
Lego’s use of social media is impressive – over all the
platforms it invites customers to interact and share its uploaded content and
although it does not routinely use customers own content it often ‘likes’ and
comments on fan pages and pictures as well as those of its creative partners.
It
hosts competitions right across its joined sites and announces winners on
Social media.
Asking people to give their views, comment on designs
and build their own models to be shared is a great marketing strategy as is
their use of Lego Ideas which asks customers for suggestions and comments on
what they want to see produced as new lines, which others are asked to vote on
via the website and social media platforms, when 10000 votes are reached Lego’s
research and development team then review and can develop the range for
production - crowdsourcing at its best.
Lego also uses surveys to keep on top of their changing
market and sites and to provide feedback, these appear on all their platforms
and are an invaluable source of information on current trends, products,
services and how their customers see them.
Overall their campaigns are sound and complement their
brand raising their profile and keeping them at the number one spot in toy
manufacturing. Their presence on social media is marked and successful as seen by their Facebook stats
BOOHOO.COM
BooHoo.com is an online only fashion retailer established
and launched in 2006 by the Kamani family from Manchester, who have been in the
clothing business since the 1960’s starting in market stalls and moving to
production and supply in the 1980’s. The
family supplied cheap designs and stock too many high street retailers such as
New Look and Primark before seizing the opportunity provided by the growing use
of the internet to launch its own online site – selling direct to its
customers. It was floated on the stock market in 2012 raising 560 million
pounds although the Kamani family still own a 44% stake.
Boohoo.com targets 16-35 year olds with its own fashion
branded clothes, shoes and accessories, now selling to over 100 countries but
with a real presence in the UK, Australia and the USA, direct from its website
at Boohoo.com. Boohoo does not stock any
merchandise from any other company keeping everything in-house - allowing them
complete control to develop regular new lines at low prices and therefore
update their online collection daily.
As
a Dot Com company the majority of its marketing is online based via its website
and social media campaigns
The BooHoo.com website is very simply laid out,
headlining with their offers and discounts. The tabs across the top of the page
offer quick links to their main collections, ideas and sale pages these are
subdivided further down the page into particular products and brands allowing
ease of browsing and quick links to products.
At the bottom of their homepage are the links to their
customer services, social media accounts and information about payment methods
accepted. Customers are also invited to sign up for their newsletter (delivered
via email) and through that receive special offers and discounts. To
give customers confidence they also proudly display and provide links to the awards they have achieved from the likes of Cosmopoliton Magazine.
FACEBOOK
Boohoo.com has 2,237,178 likes on their Facebook page, used
to promote its latest campaign’s and fashions available, it contains whimsical
posts as well as advertising and links to celebs and style icons to appeal to
its demographic of young trendy hipsters. It encourages customers to post on
its site, like and comment as well as share with friends. Visitors can contact
Boohoos team directly via the Message tab and go direct to Boohoo.com via ‘Shop
Now’.
It
highlights its current advertising campaigns and videos of television adverts
which usually are preceded by a hashtag i.e. #WeAreNow and #OnsieWednesdays.
These asks customers to upload pictures of themselves wearing Boohoo clothes
and to show their style, give feedback about collections and tell the company
what they want to see on the site
The site offers links to artists and musicians involved in
their adverts for instance this links you to the Apple store under #talktome by
Nick Brewer.
It also compares trends and endeavours to replicate
celebrity looks with their own products while providing links to the celebs own
sites as with Kim Kardashian West and Lily Aldridge below .
It encourages visitors to add apps to other Social
media sites Boohoo uses and likes to other fashion sites and media outlets in
which they have been featured.
It also provides through its timeline - links to blogs, hair
and makeup sites and general fashion news outlets.
Boohoo.com encourages all visitors to interact with them
using the comment button usually replying back within an hour of the original
post, this encourages its Facebook page to be used for customer service
enquiries and to alert them to any problems with their distribution network.
Boohoo also welcomes audience participation using
competitions whether it is on its latest campaign where you can win £150 worth
of credit for their site with your upload on #Wearenow or
Being the face of the company in its new Christmas campaign
or being at the launch of its new collection at fashion week in London. These
competitions all encourage new visitors, discussions and a growing social media
presence.
@Boohoo is the company’s twitter page which has 422
thousand followers, while hosting much the same content as Facebook there are a
few slight differences apart from the 140 character limit
·
Instead of being asked to like you are asked to
follow which means you get tweets straight to your account on a daily basis
keeping customers up to date with the latest deals.
- · The ability to retweet interesting tweets from other companies.
- · The use of promoted tweets targeting the correct demographic of other users not following boohoo but with the same interests.
- · Immediate contact and interaction with other users.
- Boohoo.com has used Twitter to great effect since joining in 2009 with quick response times and up to the minute comments about unrelated content such as the great British bake off and the Xfactor giving it a very human feel – encouraging more interaction by users when not shopping for clothesbut watching tv and so more retweets and more awareness of the brand.
It It also retweets about subjects which are of interest
to its followers be it the eco structure to the economy, sharing links,
information and giving hints unofficially of the company’s own views such as
this retweet from the Clean Space advertising their new app
YOU TUBE
Boohoo.com uses its You Tube Page to showcase its latest
adverts, interviews and events it has been involved with. It provides links to
Blogs uploaded about it and to customer uploads entered into its competitions.
Boohoo is consistently encouraging fan interaction – whether
it is by uploading their own blogs to be viewed, giving a thumbs up or
commenting on videos. They host lots of different content on their YouTube page
from music to style news and advice.
For each of the videos uploaded we are asked to subscribe to
boohoo.com, share across all of our social media sites and comment – the
variety of content is staggering with a little something for everyone.
Under the Discussion Tab at the top of the page, users can
speak to the company directly, just to give a comment or even discuss a
problem, they can talk about any issues they are having with their peers and
share news and advice.
CONCLUSION
As a Dot Com company BooHoo.com has a keen grip on its use
of social media to raise its status and increase its market share of customers.
With the clever use of promoted accounts and a very active social media team
working round the clock it has now become a global company. Its understanding
of its main demographic has made its campaigns inclusive and enjoyable to
follow.
The information available and the reaction to the content it
shares online are also good market research tools indicating what is successful
and what is not at a low cost.
As the company continues to grow so does its social media
presence and vice versa the two are irreverently linked as is the nature of
online companies.
These Facebook statistics show that they continue to grow
and 106,539 people are talking about***
BOOTS
Boots the Chemist is a well-known high street chemist,
established in 1849 by John Boot to selling herbal remedies in Goose Gate
Nottingham. Passed onto his son Jessie, Boots was the first company to buy
drugs straight from the manufactures halving prescription charges and making
medicines accessible to everyone rather than just the rich. During the first
world war, with medicines such as aspirin no longer available for import, the
company began researching and producing its own drugs –during the second world
war Boots was responsible for the production of penicillin (although not the
discovery) for the government sending large amounts to the front line in milk
bottles. The scientists at boots worked on many remedies and made many
discoveries – the most famous of those being Ibuprofen which is now used throughout
the world.
Boots is now a
multinational company offering not only prescription pharmaceuticals but lines
in sun- care, makeup, toiletries and even electricals. Boots became a partner to Americas Walgreens in
2006 making it a truly international company.
Boots online site is well laid out to promote all that they
have to offer right across all their departments, customers can shop from home
with next day delivery to their nearest store or if that’s not convenient to
their homes.
Clicking on each of the tabs at the top of the page opens up
a range of options which include making appointments at instore clinics,
reordering regular prescriptions or even arranging an eye test with the instore
optician. The online clinic allows certain conditions to be treated and
prescriptions to be completed without a trip to the doctors for instance immunisations
before going abroad.
B Boots
has a very healthy presence on Social Media with links on its homepage to
Facebook, Twitter – You Tube, Snapchat, google plus and Instagram. Boots uses
these sites to raise awareness of their products and promote its online shop
and home delivery options, they inform customers of health campaigns and allow
affiliation of charities and causes such as Breast cancer awareness or
Macmillan Nurses. It has direct links
from its homepage to its partner sites WebMD and Macmillan cancer research.
Facebook
B Boots Facebook page gives the option to share their articles
on health, beauty tips, special offers
and competitions with other users and friends on Facebook, it allows items to
be liked and commented on, it also gives direct access to its online shop and
customer services using its “shop now” and “Message” buttons at the top of
the screen.
n Boots also provide clear links to other pages supported by facebook for instance No7 or Soap and Glory and to other social media outlets such as instagram.
EEVENTS – Boots events tab allow events to be publicised and draws
customer’s instore whether it’s a demonstration of the latest makeup to a
special point’s event. It allows customers to give their opinions and
discussion between visitors.
Like most large businesses the company’s Facebook account is
used for customer inquiries and complaints, boots tries to get back to
customers within an hour.
Boots uses its Facebook account to promote the manufacturers
and products it sells, linking to videos and info from a host of other
companies on its timeline..
BBoots use the FB page mainly for promotion with special
offers, its advantage card and competitions it promotes healthcare campaigns as
well as other sites affiliated with them. Asking
people to get involved and help.
It
advertises other services such as its app which regularly updates with offers
and discounts based on personal shopping history via competitions
BBoots also have two Twitter accounts one to
advertise and promote and another for customer services, the first found at @BootsUK has much the same content and focus as its Facebook
page inviting
comment, likes, tweets and retweets.
It uses pictures and links as well as the 140 characters to catch the attention of the public also using promoted accounts and competitions from a lot of their suppliers to keep their interaction with the public.
Letting customers know of the latest offers and technology available in store.It
encourages user interaction through competitions, using its app and events like
world smile day.
The Boots customer care account can be found at @Bootshelp and is linked at the top corner of the main twitter page.
This twitter account takes all the customer service enquires, complaints and even occasionally thanks from customers - it does not have as much visual content as their main page but has a quicker response time than the main page, its main function is to converse with the customer advising and soothing.
YOU TUBE
Boots use You Tube to host videos of their latest adverts, competitions and help videos. They have links to WebMD which give heath advice and recommendations.
They host videos from Macmillian, the Heart Foundation and other charities. Each asking for a thumbs up or down.
Their main use is to educate and advise whether it be for medication, nailcare or applying fake tan, customers are asked to subscribe to their channel and those of their partners.
There are links to share on other social media sites and to view other related channels which are featured on their page.
CONCLUSION
Boots like the other two companies featured use social media to strengthen their bonds with their customers, to communicate, be approachable. They do this very successfully as far as their marketing is concerned and even more successfully from a pharmacy point of view. Allowing customers who may not have a local branch or chemist, those that are housebound or infirm access to their services from home.
Education and information is also very important to to the company and their use of social media highlights this.
Their Facebook statistics reinforce this opinion showing a steady growth in views and public interaction.
Boots like the other two companies featured have a lot in common with their on-line and social media strategy.
- Each have full time dedicated teams specifically focusing customer awareness through social media.
- Each uses Hashtags # throughout their campaigns and sites. not just Twitter
- Each uses Social Media to deal with Customer Service enquiries.
- Each updates their content on a regular basis keeping it interesting for followers.
- Each hosts competitions and offers on their sites.
- Each asks to be recommended to your friends.
- Each uses social media to enhance and complement traditional advertising methods.
SOURCES
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Boohoo.com
http://www.boohooplc.com/about-us/company-overview.aspx
Data from: Wikipedia · Freebase
History of Lego timeline
:http://www.lego.com/en-us/aboutus/lego-group/the_lego_history :
https://www.facebook.com/pages/?frompageid=6665038402http://linkhumans.com/case-study/lego
HTTP;//twitter.com/boohoo
https://www.bing.com/search?q=boots%20uk%20on%20youtube&qs=n&form=QBRE&pq=boots%20uk%20on%20youtube&sc=0-16&sp=-1&sk=&cvid=80BD2EEFE2F6443CA794FA1CF76BE739
