How to Use Social Media for B2B Marketing

Social monitoring report 2: Kiehl's

After I post my first monitoring report of Kiehl’s, something has changed for Kiehl’s since then. However, some problems I found in my first post still exist. In this post, I will continue to monitor some changes of Kiehl’s and considering the problems I find in my post, I will also figure out some steps that Kiehl’s can generate more buzz in the groundswell and enhance customer engagement.

l  Increasing fans in facebook and twitter 

 



                                                     

According to the data or graphs I get from twitalyzer and socialbaker.com, I find that Kiehl’s fans in twitter and facebook keep increasing, though slowly as well. More importantly, I can’t see any obvious peak in the graph. The line is very smooth and looks almost like a straight light. Actually, in last few weeks, several new campaign of Kiehl’s really work, but not very obvious. Considering that after I make a presentation last week in the class, most of American classmates know nothing about this brand, actually, the number of fans of Kiehl’s are relatively fewer than other brands that their tags are beauty. A ranking list of the facebook fans of beauty products in socialbaker.com shows that Kiehl’s is ranked 336^th.

Obviously, Kiehl’s failed to attract more attention in social media, which can prove that Kiehl’s is not as well-known in the U.S.A as I image before I monitor this brand. And I also find something interesting that no one ever rate for Kiehl’s on this website. So it’s necessarily to enhance customers engagement in the groundswell.

 

 

l  Kiehl’s people talking about

 

  

 

                                                                                                                                                                          A graph I gain in socialbaker.com shows an upsurge of Kiehl’s people talking about from Oct 29. The facebook account of Kiehl’s also highlights an increasing trend of “people talking about this” since October 25. I will talk about something that is contributed to this increasing trend below. As a matter of fact, lack of enough buzz in social media is one of reasons why Kiehl’s is not as well-known as I image before in the U.S.A. The trend tool in ice rocket shows an increasing trend Oct 26 and then drop down after Oct 30.    

l  Social mention

The information I gain from social mention shows that on November 5, the strength of discussion and the reach up to 28% and 45%, which is the highest during my monitoring time. However, the passion, only 36%, is lower than the other two days November4 and November 6. Compared with the other two days, the sentiment on November 5 is also up to 10:1. The ratio of the sentiment shows that the majority of the mentions are neutral.

l  New campaigns after I post monitoring report 1

1.        How you stay youthful at heart

Obviously, this campaign is mainly for Kiehl’s new product NEW Rosa Arctica Lightweight Cream and eye cream. Actually, this campaign really works on boosting the number of people who talk about Kiehl’s in social media. We can see this trend in the graph “Kiehl’s people talking about”.

 

2.        Limited Edition Creme de Corps

100% Kiehl’s net profit up to $200, 000 from the worldwide sales of limited edition Creme de Corps will support children’s charities around the world. I only find this campaign in homepage. However, it doesn’t be showed in social media, such as facebook or twitter, which help little to generate buzz in the groundswell. As we all know, the package of Kiehl’s is very simple, which is consistent with its tradition of this brand that is found as an apothecary and dedicated to science. But this time, Kiehl’s have partnered with pop-surrealist artist Kenny Scharf, for its Limited Edition Collection. So, the package of this limited edition looks very beautiful. 

3.  Quick response to the public events

Obviously, this post in facebook has nothing with any products of Kiehl’s. But this action of Kiehl’s bring warm to those who are suffering in that serious hurricane Sandy and leave a great impression on consumers that Kiehl’s is reliable brand.

l  Customers who don't use English to comment can receive replies from Kiehl's

In my second stage of monitoring work, from October 20, 2012 to November 6, 2012, some changes were found on the Facebook page of Kiehl’s. The customers who don’t use English to comment have received replies and particularly, the languages of replies given by Kiehl’s are consistent with the customers did.

l  Compared with my first post, I find fewer negative comments in Kiehl’s facebook and twitter.

l  The responds of Kiehl’s to the negative commens is sitll as quickly as I monitored in my first report.

l  Major problems of Kiehl’s

1.      Lack of enough buzz in the groundswell.

2.      The customer engagement is insufficient.

l  Steps for kiehl’s to generate enough buzz in the groundswell and increase the customer engagement

1.      Listening to the groundswell. “Your brand is what your customers say it is. And in the groundswell where they communicate with each other, they decide.(page 78)” Kiehl’s indeed have a recommendation session in its facebook page. However, all recommendations don’t have a reply from Kiehl’s. Maybe Kiehl’s will carefully read them, but its customers know nothing about this. Listening to the customers and acting on their recommendations are both important. Customers will be encouraged to engage with Kiehl’s when they know that their recommendations really work. And acting on reviews or comments help Kiehl’s build up a trust relationship with its customers and increase loyalty customers.

2.      Talking with the groundswell. The only social media platform facebook I monitor is mainly for deliver the latest information about Kiehl’s. Most posts in twitter page are for reacting for customers. And also, there are very few viewers in the YouTube page of Kiehl’s. Obviously, Kiehl’s is not good at creating chances for consumers to buzz about it. Particularly, it’s a little boring in Kiehl’s blog, which can’t attract more viewers. According to the marketing funnel, the first step is to get people’s attention. Kiehl’s should pay more attention on how to attract more customers in social media. Besides uploading its latest campaigns and promotions, the blog of Kiehl’s should allow people to add comments. If it doesn’t, there is no dialogue and Kiehl’s are no longer talking with people as they make decisions about its products—and that’s the whole point.

3.      Energizing the groundswell. “With so many products trying to get people’s attention, shouting at them isn’t as effective as it used to be. And once they reach the middle of the funnel, shouting hardly works at all.(page 102)” Energizing the groundswell is particularly important to cosmetic brand. Customers prefer to believe in the recommendation of their friends. It’s disappointed that Kiehl’s haven’t provided a chance for customers to communicate with each other. Actually, the most important thing is to cultivate enthusiastic customers. The power of word-of-mouth is very strong. Kiehl’s can build up a website and take advantage of its official blog to allow customers to share their stories and feelings about Kiehl’s.

4.      Helping the groundswell support itself. Indeed, consumers can get some reviews about Kiehl’s products in the page of facebook or twitter. However, those reviews are not classified by different products. So it’s not convenient for customers to find what they want to know as quickly as they can. As a matter of fact, many customers prefer to read the reviews and comments on the homepage of Kiehl’s. However, customers can’t reply to these reviews on the official website. Consequently, Kiehl’s can provide a website for customers to post their reviews and classify them by the names of products.

5.      Embracing the groundswell.

A single website for customers to post their ideas is good choice for Kiehl’s. And the links of Kiehl’s official site, facebook, twitter and YouTube page can be added on the website. In this community, customers not only can post their ideas but also communicate with and help each other.

 

l  Conclusion

 Kiehl’s, a long-history brand, is still popular among the customers around the world and is dedicated to provide the safest and the most useful products to its customers. Nowadays, the movement groundswell is a trend we can’t stop it. That’s the most important point in the movement groundswell. Just like you are standing on the cliff edge, only flying over canyon with some social technologies tools can you reach the prosperous side. If you turn back, you will fall behind. This is the reality. The history will move on. If you can’t change the world, then change yourselves. An old brand, Kiehl’s, try its best to keep up with the development of this society. Although for now, Kiehl’s haven’t done a good job in the groundswell, it begins to figure out how to thrive on the groundswell. In all, Kiehl’s should try to be more energetic in social media. More importantly, it will be better for kiehl’s to take initiative to listen to and talk to the groundswell instead of just reacting to its customers passively. Kiehl’s needs to build up a more energetic image in the groundswell.

Social Monitoring of Kiehl's

Before beginning my graduate study in the U.S.A, I have already become a big fan of Kiehl’s. Kiehl’s was founded as an old-world apothecary in New York’s East Valley neighborhood in 1851. Today, they serve patrons around the world skin and hair care formulas derived from the finest, most efficacious natural ingredients. By combining tried-and-true methods with the latest innovations from Kiehl’s chemists, they assure the high level of quality and efficacy their customers have come to expect from Kiehl’s for more than 160 years. Since Kiehl’s was built as an apothecary, it dedicates to bringing the safest and the most effective products to its customers. If anyone comes into a Kiehl’s shop today, you will find that the store looks like a chemist’s shop and clerks also dress medical uniform. And if you know anything about Kiehl’s, you will know Mr. Bone, the life-size teaching skeleton and Kiehl’s icon appears in all their shops. Today, Mr. Bones represents Kiehl’s pharmacy heritage, commitment to customer service, education and science. In addition, Kiehl’s also promised that they won’t test on animals, which is another reason I admire this brand.

I have been monitoring the social media works of Kiehl’s from September 30, 2012 to October 19, 2012. In the last three weeks, I used several tools below to finish my monitoring work, Social Mention, Facebook Insights, Ice Rocket, Google Insight, Twitalyzer, Tweetstats, Famecount and Alexa Web Infromation Tool . From the data, graphs, website I collect during this monitoring, I have a further understanding of how Kiehl’s, a brand that has a long history, thrives on groundswell. In addition, though overall, Kiehl’s performs well in social media, I still figure out something that Kiehl’s should pay more attention on and improve them.

 

• The presence of social media platform



The appearance of Kiehl’s products is simple, not as gorgeous as other cosmetic brand. This kind of style is also showed in different aspect of this brand, such as its r social media platform, facebook, twitter, or youbube. According to the snapshots of website, an obvious feature is general appearance of snapshots don’t seem colorful. The design keeps consistent with brand’s tradition and also its formation of target audience--almost half consumers are male.

• The landing page of “Kiehl's” official website

 

•  The target audience



From Alexa Web information tool, we can see that unlike other cosmetic brand, male customers cover almost half of the website visitors in Kiehl's. However, the major customers are females who are in the age between 25 to 34. Most of them have children and brows  from school or work. According to the chart, about half of them receive college education.

• The followers of twitter and facebook

 



 

  

                                                                                                                                                                                          From the tools facebook insight and twitalyzer, the number followers of Kiehl’s drop down and almost keep the same since October begin. From the graph, we can see that from Sep 18 to about Sep 25, the number of people talking and new likes increase sharply and then showing a reduce trend after that. Considering I haven’t began to monitor social media work till September 30, I check on the internet and know that a 20% off big sale, friends&family, was held from September 18 to September 24. However, after the big sale, without any other campaigns or promotions, the increase of followers in facebook and twitter become very slow and almost stay the same.

 

• The social memtion analysis

 

Through observation from social mention, besides on october 14, the strength reach 17%, the percentage in sep 30, October 5 and October 19 are almost the same. Obviously, sentiments on that four days show a similar trend as strengths do. The majority of the mentions are neutral. From the graph, it’s very obvious that besides passion, the percentages of strength, sentiment and reach are much higher than the other three days, which is attributed to an introduction of sales promotion through facebook on October 8 and October 14 is the last day.

• The citation in blog

The blog citation begins to rise from Oct 11 and reach to the top on Oct 12. However, the overall graph looks relatively smooth instead of noticeable up and down. Speaking of blogs, the blog of Kiehl’s doesn’t show interactive communication with its  consumers.

     

The blog of Kiehl’s doesn’t be updated very frequently and I find something special that I can’t add a comment in the blog except sharing it with other social media tools. Consequently, maybe the major mission of this blog is talking to its consumers. Because of limit time, I just take a glance at the content of blogs. About half of the blogs are about Kiehl’s products, and the rest are the campaigns of this brand. Perhaps Kiehl’s doesn’t need to collect feedbacks of its consumers from blogs. However, interactive communication is not just to collect information from customers. More importantly, it can encourage engagement of consumers with this brand. And it’s not difficult to open comments function in the blog

• The campaigns of Kiehl's

Many campaigns launched by Kiehl’s are about Kiehl’s Gives. For more than 160 years, Kiehl’s since 1851 has been committed to the betterment of the communities where it serves its patrons. Kiehl’s Gives is an ongoing global, philanthropic initiative that supports Kiehl’s three pillar causes — HIV/AIDS research, environmental issues and children’s well-being.

“Kiehl’s Gives is a celebration of our causes, our customers and our communities.”

--Chris Salgardo, Kiehl’s U.S. President  

 

                                                                                    



In this campaign, customers are encouraged to like this post to show their support of children’s health, which is a good example of talking and energizing with the groundswell.

 

The data show that the number of people like this is much more than those actually share stories with others. Maybe Kiehl’s should make some improvement on engagement of customers with this campaign.

 

Sharing your stories with others

Every female is dedicated to keep a younger looking in her whole life. There is no doubt that cosmetic products, just like Kiehl’s, provide a chance for us to have a healthier skin. Besides that, something in your life keeps you young at heart are also important. Kiehl’s tries to attract its audience psychologically through this campaign.

• Conversations in facebook and twitter

No matter the comments are positive or negative, Kiehl’s replies its customers in a short

 

I still find something that Kiehl’s needs to pay attention on. That is some foreigners don’t use English to comment in facebook. If Kiehl’s can use these customers’ spoken language to reply them, which is a good way to get closer to foreign customers.

• Conclusion 

After monitoring Kiehl’s social media marketing, I make a conclusion as below. Obviously, Kiehl’s is a long history brand and a good reputation among its customers. Consequently, the most important thing for Kiehl’s is to increase loyalty of its customers and then develop prospective consumers. It’s good to see that the tradition of Kiehls, pharmacy heritage and commitment to science, pass from generation to generation. The major way Kiehl’s talk with the groundswell is from facebook and twitter. Actually, they have done a good job. According to my monitoring, Kiehl’s upgrade its facebook and twitter to introduce its new products and its campaigns. As a matter of fact, Kiehl’s is not a brand have new products very frequently, because some formulas of its start products have been existed for a long time and texted by the time and customers. In addition, besides high quality products, Kiehl’s also provide good service. No matter the comments are positive or negative, almost every comments can get a reply in a short time.

 However, compared with twitter and facebook, Kiehl’s blog seems gaining little attention from customers. It surprise me that the blog can’ be acted a comment, which reduce engagement of customers. Actually, besides the 20% off big sale, the campaigns launched recently didn’t generate enough buzz in the groundswell, which doesn’t be shown in the noticeable increase followers in facebook or twitter and   remarkable raise in blog citation observed in ice rocket. Especially in the facebook, there are few comments under the campaign. As far as I am concerned, as a long history brand and not attracted by customers with its frequent new products and nice design of pack, especially male customers cover almost half of its market. The most important thing is to raise royalty and engagement of its target audience. An old brand also need some fresh air and learn how to thrive on groundswell

In the next few weeks, I will continue to monitor this brand Kiehl’s about its social media work.

 

 





 

 

Not just talking, but experiencing a green life

www.baidu.com
 

Innisfree is a natural brand, from South Korea, that shares the benefits of nature from the pristine island of Jeju allowing for vibrant beauty and pursues an eco-friendly green life to preserve the balance of nature. This brand not only produces its cosmetics with natural ingredient from Jeju Island, but also advocates a green life. Since 2010, innisfree launch an eco-handkerchief campaign, using a handkerchief instead of tissues, in order to protect green forest and reduce global warming.  

                               

In April, 2012, innisfree accessed to Chinese market. Since then, this brand begins to talk to Chinese customers with groundswell about its green life conception. To begin with, it has an official microblog account, the most popular social technology in China now (I’ve made a brief introduction of microblog in my first original blog), to talk to its target customers and interact with them—introducing new products, covering news about innisfree, disseminating knowledge about protecting environment or introducing beautiful scenery of Jeju Island.

 Secondly, innisfree has a home page in Youku (the most popular video website in China that permit users to upload video, just like Youtube in the U.S.A). In innisfree’s home page, there are many video, such as advertisements, the introduction of products of some famous beauticians, or video shared by customers about what they think about the products they used. What’s more, some microbloggers will leave questions for these cosmetic specialists about recommendations of choosing appropriate products of this brand. To some extent, positive attitudes of authorities toward products are more persuasive than companies speak highly of their own products by themselves.

 Another way of innisfree talking with groundswell is micro movie. However, this is not a common micro movie that looks like an advertisement to show how great their products are. This is an interactive micro movie. In order to catch their customers’ mind—most of them aged between 18 and 35, especially for girls, so they invite Korean pop start Lee Minho to endorse innisfree in Chinese market, Korea market is Lim Yoona. The name of this micro movie is "First Love". In the movie, you can upload your photo, your name and picture to become Lee Minho’s first love, then your pictures will show inside the frame, which can make your unique movie. What’s more, in the movie, its celebrity endorsement plays a role as the CEO of innsfree in the movie and show audiences around the beautiful scenery of Jeju Island, especially Jeju organic green tea field which belongs to innisfree. I will embed this micro movie below (The English subtitle is on the top of the screen.) 

                         

However, innisfree not only talk with groundswell, but also let its customers to be engaged in the green life through groundswell. In July, 2011, innisfree randomly select some followers in its microblog to take part in an activity “My Green Tea Tour”—visiting Jeju Island, main source of ingredient of innisfree, especially organic green tea filed and a meeting with Lee Minho who endorse this brand in Chinese market. During this tour, these customers can truly understand and pay more trust in this brand. Generally speaking, the majority of people will think that what you see is more reliable than what you hear. What’s more, these lucky customers will post some pictures, video or words about this tour in microblog or other social technologies, which can largely deliver messages to its market. According to the marketing funnel, “Once people are aware of your product, a new dynamic kicks in: people learning from each other. (Page 102)” Consequently, this is an effective way to deliver your messages and in another words, to deliver your trust. In addition, innisfree will also post some information about green life style in its social technologies, such as relaxed light music, beautiful sentences or some tips for healthy life. Obviously, every brand has its core conception, innisfree is green life. So you should let your target audience to believe in your conception and be part of it.

                                                                                                 

    


Nowadays, social media help companies a lot  talk with their target audiences. There is no doubt that executives can deliver their messages to the market through groundswell. However, more and more company will use this method and in a certain stage,  after awaring products, people will be more likely to hear from each other. So finding your most enthusiastic customers and provide a chance for them to experience produce process, from ingredient to end product. More importantly, the messages a brand delivers cannot just contain information only focus on products themselves, but instilling corn conception of a brand into customers’ mind. And “use the groundswell to supercharge the power of their word of mouth. (Page 68)”. Innisfree done a good job on letting its customers identify themselves as part of green life.

Microblog: helping online shops reach out to cunstomers in a new way

 

   I am a big fan of online shopping in Taobao and sina microblog. As a matter of fact, both of them are very popular in China now. Considering that microblog is a new and widespread social media tool, no one can ignore its influence on this society. The online shop in Taobao marketplace is no exception. Since the majority of other countries’ people know little about microblog and Taobao marketplace, next, I will make a rough introduction of them.



http://www.weibo.com/

  Microblog is a broadcast medium in the form of blog. It’s very popular in China now, especially in some big cities and among the young people. Microblog differs from a traditional blog that its content is typically much smaller, in both actual size and aggregate file size. And it allows users to exchange small elements of content such as short sentences, individual images or videos. (source from Wikipedia) In all, maybe I can use a formula to summarize this tool:  microblog = twitter+facebook+youbube+news. And a video from YouTube can let us have a general understanding of this tool.

 

 



http://www.taobao.com/index_global.php

   Taobao marketplace is the largest website for online shopping, founded by Alibaba Group. It facilitates consumer-to-consumer (C2C) retail by providing a platform for small businesses and individual entrepreneurs to open online retail stores. (source from Wikipedia) With the online shopping becoming more and more common and popular, many people, especially the youth, regard Taobao as their mainly shopping destination. However, compared with the large corporation, most of the online retail stores can’t afford the fee to do some research in this market and survey their consumers through some professional companies or experts. Consequently, microblog is an easy and useful way for them to listen and talk to their customers, energize their stores and help their customers support each other.

What’s more, I will use an example to demonstrate this issue. Eunchae’s house is a store, I shopped a lot when I was in China, that mainly sells cosmetic product and some interesting stuff from South Korea.( http://eunchae.taobao.com/) The storekeeper has a microblog account(http://www.weibo.com/eunchae) that helps her a lot in the selling. Next part, I will take Eunchae’s house as an example to talk about how microblog help the online shops reach out to their consumers in a new way.
 1.  Listening. Since the most of whom play microblog are young people, as well as those who prefer to shop online. So the target audiences are microbloggers, which means that shopkeepers can use this tool to listen to their consumers and better understand them. The shopkeeper Eunchae introduces some new products in the microblog and makes a simple survey whether her consumers will like it or not.

2. Talking. It’s more likely that consumer will search their microblog than shop in the online shop every day. So shopkeeper Eunchae will put some advertisements— part of the products are in a big discount or you can post your comments of the products you have used before  to earn the present—in the microblog , which can spread her ideas to her target audiences.

3. Energizing. Based on the function of the microblog, you can @ your friends to share something interesting with them. So when consumers think that this store is deserved to shop in and the products inside are high quality, they will let their friends know.

 

 

 

 

4. Supporting. Considering that consumer will post some reviews of the products they used, exchange some information about the products or resell something that are unsuitable for them, other consumers can get some advices from microblog. It means that they can support each other from this tool.
 

 

 

  In conclusion, microblog is a useful and efficient tool for online shopkeeper—it is worthy to have its place in their groundswell strategies. For online shopkeepers, keeping an eye on their target audiences is crucial to the success.