March 14th, 2011 — Business, Designer, Fashion, Marketing, Retail, Small/Medium Business, Social CRM, Social Media
Fashion has been THE entity that has been consistently reinventing itself from time to time, region to region, person to person and so on…
People of every era or region have got their own signature fashion statement and it may be in the form of clothing, accessories or footwear.
It so happens in the Fashion industry worldwide that the fabric is manufactured in some country (for cost effectiveness), designed in another country and eventually sold in another country. The fashion industry has long been one of the largest employers globally, especially in the United States.
When it comes to the ‘Big Players’ in the Fashion industry, it’s not much of a problem to lure their audience to stores. But for small time retailers and local designers, its really an uphill task to reach out to their audience. There is no clear marketing channel for their success. For some, it may be the location of their boutiques and for some its simply word-of-mouth.
This is where Social Media can play a stellar role! Be it haute couture patrons or bargain shoppers, social media can cater to both.
The Social CRM factor, when plugged-in to this boutique work-flow can make life much easier for the local designers. It brings in the element of ‘Engagement’ into the picture, where consumers-old and new can voice their opinions, discuss the latest trends, share their feedback(good/bad) and general experiences with the store and it’s offerings on social media platforms. Listening to these interactions can help the designers work better to suit their customer’s requirements.
The retailers can take to Blogging and put up their latest range on display (with a restricted login ofcourse, so that their designs remain intact!). Facebook page and a Twitter account can be used to divert traffic to this blog. Have conversations over that and give out tips to their followers. This art of creating a tribe and facilitating a continuous flow of conversation is going to make a huge difference to these boutiques.
Special deals, promotional sales may also be promoted on social media platforms. The designers wouldn’t have to shell out big bucks for announcing their latest range to the world. All they need is a smart strategy to get the sales moving.
Fashion retailers with a youth oriented target audience are currently leading the social media show globally. In UK, TopShop is one of the leading contenders in this race. In India however, the trend is yet to catch up.
eDigitalResearch states that Facebook remains the most trusted site for fashion vendors to engage with their customers.
The Social CRM factor can thus accomplish the main objective of every Fashion Retailer/Designer, i.e to convert buyers into evangelists.
February 21st, 2011 — Business, General, Social Media
In continuance with our previous post, here we’d like to widen the scope of Social Media with respect to Customer Relationship Management (CRM), which Businesses these days term as Consumer Generated Media (CGM) or simply- User Generated Content (UGC).
In the coming weeks, the Dot Now Social team will come up with a series of blog posts highlighting how Social CRM can be effectively applied in some Domains/Verticals, keeping in mind the basics of Social Media (i.e- Listening, Engagement, Alignment, Integration, Measurement) and CRM (i.e-Acquiring, Servicing, Retaining) and we’ll also try to bring the SME/SMB perspective into the picture.
This series of blog posts has been named as the Social CRM-Consumerization of the Enterprise(SCE) series
February 9th, 2011 — Uncategorized
At Dot Now Social, we regard ‘Business’ as a Social activity. This clearly implies that to drive a Business, it’s very important to engage with the Community and develop various channels of communication with that community. It may well be in the form of Conversations and it’s ultimately about building relationships with your customers.
With the advent of the ‘Web’, the world has shrunken into a small community in itself and that has made an enormous difference to Businesses, both service oriented and product development firms. We’re living in the era of the ‘Customer’/Consumer or rather the ‘Social Customer’. With such extensive use of Social media– Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, MouthShut, Hotpot, Yelp, Blogs, etc. the voice of the customer is amplified. Here, the customers give opinions and share their experiences with their purchased products or catered services. Potential customers get to have a glimpse of prior user experiences of the Vendor’s offerings (products and services) and get to rethink or retract their decisions. Customer reviews can either make or break sales. Customer feedback can easily push a Business to its zenith of glory or nadir of ignominy.
CRM has many definitions but the one that covers all aspects of CRM is given by our good old Wikipedia, which defines Customer relationship management (CRM) as a widely-implemented strategy for managing a company’s interactions with customers, clients and sales prospects. The overall goals are to find, attract, and win new clients, nurture and retain those the company already has, entice former clients back into the fold, and reduce the costs of marketing and client service.
In Social CRM, as in traditional CRM, the focus is completely on the Customer and there are tremendous efforts undertaken by the Vendor to please the customer and build a relationship with him.
The first step of CRM is to Acquire the customer. This can be done either through proper Contact, i.e. – Ads, referrals or word-of-mouth.
The second step is Servicing/Enhancement. Here the customer is literally treated like a God by the Vendors. This is also the most critical step in the CRM Process. The ultimate objective is offer convenience to the customer. If the Vendor fails to please or falls short of delivering the promised service, he is sure to have a furious customer.(And, seriously there is nothing worse for vendor than having an irate customer posting his feedback or ‘bad experience all over social media). It attracts negative publicity and can even damage the reputation of the Vendor. Nothing travels faster than negative stories on Social Media. This is also the reason why some brands have restricted themselves from entering the Social Media realm.
Lastly, the final step of CRM process is ‘Retaining’. Here the customer is rewarded for his loyalty & faithfulness in the Vendor and his brand. This could be in the form of special offers, discounts, or various promotional deals.
The biggest challenge here is to see how Social Media can make CRM happen and at the same time help the brand to build/further strengthen the relationships with its customers. The key is to Engage with the customers. Engagement simply refers to healthy Interaction and good reception. This will contribute in creating an optimistic brand perception, enhance brand recall and eventually promote loyalty towards the brand, thereby resulting in sales.
Social Media Experts feel the need for B2B models to tread with an ultra-cautious approach on social media. The experts advise an intense market research and to weigh the pros and cons, for this is truly the Consumerization of the Enterprise.
So, if the Vendors see good returns, in terms of sales, brand awareness, etc they should definitely go for it and leverage the power of Social Media to benefit their Business. Your time is Now!
