"Facebooking" for a living

Maybe all those hours of procrastination spent in Facebooking might pay off after all for some of us business, marketing and communication majors. I was surfing Mashable.com and came across an infographic article with statistics and information on the increasing prevalence and need for social strategists by companies of all kinds.

Social Strategist profile statistics

It seems just sending anyone from the marketing department to manage the company's FB page or Twitter, is not the approach being taken among many in their industries. We are now seeing a new demand for corporate social strategists that can "wear many hats" and have social media experience among other characteristics (see infographic above).

Social Strategist typical duties

So what do you think? How interested would you be in this role and what's the most attractive part of it?

Do you think companies actually need a separate job role for social strategists to manage social media?

Loving the attention

As many of you may be aware already, fashion retailer Gasp has stirred up some pretty intense controversy recently after responding to a Melbourne woman's complaint email regarding her mistreatment by a sales assistant in Gasp's Chapel St. store.


At first, after reading the email and Gasp's response, I thought this must be some kind of hoax and all publicity is good publicity, but it apparently is not. Shockingly enough, Gasp seem to be confirming the genuineness of the email, while Gasp hate groups on Facebook are spreading and growing. Meanwhile the Gasp Facebook page is being monitored by Gasp staff for any negative comments that they feel should be removed, while they are also embracing the public attention and posting plenty of links relating to the controversy.


Extract from the complaint email by Keara O’Neil (Above):
"After waiting down the road for my bridesmaids to come out of the store I was told by one of them that the sales assistant yelled out “Have fun finding something at Supre”, when one of them approached him in regards to his comments, he replied “I knew you girls were a joke the minute you walked in”. When my bridesmaids walked out of the store another two customers walked out with them, they too could not believe the immaturity of the sales assistant."

Gasp Dress

Extract from the response email by GASP area manager Matthew Chidgey:
"...the customer whom is acclimatised to buying from “clothing for the masses” type retailers, is almost frightened by our range.....almost finds our dresses funny, and on occasion noted comments such as 'it looks like a dead flamingo'. When we receive comments like this, we like to give ourselves and our buyers, a big pat on the back, because we know we are doing our job right, and modus operandi is being upheld." 
"Let me guess, you would never, ever hire Chris in the course of your duty, would you? ........Chris is a retail superstar, who possess unparalleled ability, and I am sorry you feel upset by him, but he knew you were not going to buy anything before you even left your house."


It seems a dangerous era for companies to be responding to customer complaints with a 'customer isn't always right' kind of attitude.


I wonder if this has or will affect Gasp's customer base and loyalty, and I wonder if their sales will reflect  poorly or positively after the widespread controversy on the internet through social media networks, news websites and online videos.

Is this publicity gone bad? Is all publicity good publicity? What do you think?

Facing extinction

There's plenty of talk about bookstores closing down as e-readers and the internet make books available electronically and more conveniently, but what about what's happening in the movie rental industry?


 
On-demand internet streaming media and DVD rental providers such as Netflix allow users to rent DVDs or stream movies by paying online. This also works out cheaper for the consumer when comparing the prices paid for movie rentals from bricks and mortar rental stores.

Do you think this threat will cause the extinction of video rental stores?
An IBIS World report stated Blockbuster and Video Ezy closed 270 stores in the past 4 years Australia-wide. Have a look at this article.


Despite this though, some physical rental stores feel they can compete in terms of service and diversification, if not price. 
In my opinion, although the bricks and mortar stores may have to move online eventually, for the time being they should operate as they do currently and add an online rental service to stay relevant. This is what Blockbuster has done, and a strategy the fashion retail industry is picking up on quickly as well.
Here's a video comparing prices and service value of Netflix and Blockbuster.

Is there anything bricks and mortar stores can offer that online rental providers can't?

Are there other strategies for rental stores to stay relevant and competitive in the market?

Why don't they have a website??

It seems like almost every product I consume is made by a business with web presence. So is it crucial to be present in the world wide web for businesses, in order to be effectively competitive in today's tech savvy, internet addicted society?

What if you're not on the web?
- Are you considered less relevant and less innovative perhaps?
- Are you operating less efficiently than competitors that do have web presence?
- Are you missing out on invaluable branding/advertising opportunities?
- Are you missing out on business with a global market?


I'd answer 'yes' to these questions in most cases (check out these 20 reasons for web presence). Whether it's a commercial or industrial business, I feel it is important to have some form of effective web presence in order to compete well, especially in the long run. I also think innovation, whether its product, process, organisational or marketing innovation, is a big key to success in today's global business environment and I think web presence may be an enabler of innovation.

According to an Australian Bureau of Statistics report, the higher the intensity of Informations and Communications Technology (ICT), in particular web presence, the higher the likelihood of a firm being an innovator.

Although the report doesn't necessarily talk about consumer perceptions, do you think we could assume that businesses with higher web presence are more likely to be perceived as more innovative?

I've heard of some arguments that web presence is not necessary for business success and some business choose to focus resources on their physical product and operation offline, but it seems the benefits of being online significantly outweigh those of having no web presence. Even more than that, I feel it's too risky for businesses to operate without it if competitors do strategise with web presence.

What do you think?

'You can see the future, if you know where to look'

Browsing through Youtube, I came across a video for Zapaday.com. This is an introductory video for the website, which aims to scan the internet for any information about events coming up or scheduled in the future and then create "the world's most comprehensive source of information about the future" with calendars for all these events (like a Wikipedia for the future?) See the video for details!

Zapaday's goal: "Whether you're a journalist, blogger, traveler, political analyst, event organizer or art lover, our goal is to help you get insights, plan ahead and save time."


If you watch the video, it mentions Zapaday could be useful for marketers also by helping in planning product launches and monitoring what competitors are planning. The idea sounds promising and if it takes off like they plan, a lot of people internationally might start using it, but I also wonder if it could turn into another kind of "platform" for electronic marketing, even though online tools to substitute what Zapaday could do for marketers, may exist.


Brands could perhaps make their own calendar and distribute it through social networking sites, so consumers could see just what the brand will be up to in the next year, and this could be a way to stay in the minds of consumers between product launches or perhaps help in spreading brand awareness.


What do you think? Could this service really be useful for marketers?

Under the influence

This year, fashion accessories brand Mimco and its advertising agency Taboo were nominated in the 'Most Innovative Marketing Campaign' category for WGSN's 2011 Global Fashion Awards (more info here).


So what did they do to be so innovative? Something pretty simple.


Mimco approached 50 international fashion bloggers to select a product from their new (at the time) collection 'An Unpredictable Revolution', and simply write about it incorporating photo shoot-style pictures and a link to Mimco's collection promo video and website.
Here's a link to one of those blog posts.


This seems like a great idea to me! The more followers a blogger has, the more influential they'll be, and using this concept as a marketing tool I think earns Mimco the nomination (although I'm not sure of the extent of its effectiveness).

The Technorati.com State of the blogosphere 2010 reported statistics from 7,200 bloggers, and revealed 33% of them were approached by brands to post about their brand or product.

Do you think this idea is or will be a big trend in e-marketing? Smart move or waste of time?

Do you follow a blog or have you been influenced by something a blog has said about a brand or product?