SAScon Day 2: How to make Social Media Fun!

Get a better idea of how to use social media in a fun way and how to measure it

Key Note Speaker:

Yossi Erdman: Head of Brand and Social Media at AO.Com

Now, even before Yossi had begun his seminar there was much anticipation around the tables at lunch at how everyone was looking forward to hearing his talk, because they had heard that he was a fun guy and he knew how to keep his audiences engaged.

Well it has to be said, Yossi certainly lived up to the hype. This was my most enjoyable seminar of the day and one that I was most engaged with based on his energetic presentation skills.
Yossi really does practice what he preaches… as he gave us his insight into how he transformed AO.Com social media channels and made the brand a global phenomenon.

The challenge:

How could he make boring grey and white home appliances like washing machines and fridge freezers more interesting?
Answer….. A creative approach!

Basically, Yossi’s reasoning is that if you’re promoting a new washing machine that holds a 10kg capacity…it’s just a number… do we actually have a concept about what that amount actually looks like? Therefore he introduced a competition whereby he wore layers and layers of clothes equivalent to 10kg and consumers had to guess how many items he took off….but surely that’s to easy …not when it’s played in fast time.

In reality customers don’t get to see a fridge freezer working in action. Their decision for buying is based on looks of the product. Identifying the industry needed a creative approach to marketing these dull products to customers, Yossi really got to grips with making the AO.com FB channel fun.
One element that really makes AO.com stand out is the fact that they use real people. This is shown with their ‘Join millions of Happy Customers’ picture montage.
Why does this work?
It reflects and reinforces brand loyalty, customer relationships, brand affinity: Showcasing real life customers with their products!

Throughout his talk, Yossi had the audience engaged, captivated, laughing and the examples he used to reflect his social media strategy were spot on.

So here is the most valuable information that I took away:

Videos Engage Consumers:

Creating unique content, that does not necessarily push their products, can be shown in this example

this stop motion video showcases how to make a smoothie without pushing the blender itself, the blender takes a back seat. AO.com have received great results in users clicking to watch their videos and exceeding the predicting viewing time.

There videos come in many formats, from product reviews, to competitions, to customer testimonials and customer product review AO.com provide an array of content to keep their audience engaged, after all we all have different needs.

Social Media + Brand Mix:

Social media is an essential part of the brand mix which has support from PR, TV advertising and online video. With these efforts combined, AO.com has gained a high following across their social channels.

Count 1,2,4,5:

Yossi identified that simple elements such as counting how many rubber ducks you see in the picture can engage a huge following and result in the most engaging content.

Don’t ignore your customers:

AO.com has taken on a number of strategies reinforcing the importance of customer service these include:

1.

AO has harnessed this by introducing a call centre service to react and respond to customers’ comments in great strategies to maintain trust in its customer community.

2.

AO has continued to succeed with customer service on Facebook by getting its CEO and founder to respond to positive and negative feedback with personal letters. This in turn gains AO free content as customers are gratefully posting their letters back on Facebook, ensuring and boosting brand awareness. Applies to employees to, with the CEO writing letters to employees congratulating them on their achievement of excellent customer service.

Direct Response:

AO.com have introduced new trends that customers are really engaging with initiating a direct response. Shown in the example to attract shoppers to the website rather than hit the hustle and bustle of the Black Friday crowds.

Drivers Feedback Book: Includes selected feedback about drivers posted on social media, trust pilot and other sites. Post if directly to the home of everyone in the book. The initiative is that at AO.com everyone is part of the team and that includes the delivery drivers delivering the products and it’s beneficial that everyone delivers 5* customer service.

the main message we were being shown by Yossi and AO’s success with social media is the key to putting their products in fun campaigns and scenarios that involve having its customer base to interact back. Remember your marketing on ‘social’ platforms! AO avoids boring customers to death by not pushing the technical aspects of their appliances. Yossi has not transformed the way Facebook works, but what he did successfully do was revolutionise how AO.Com interacts and engages with its audience.

by Tanya Wasiuta on 22/06/2015