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Numbers of 2013, Pew Research

In business, people are always looking for (new) target groups. Borders are most of the time not a real problem anymore. Emerging markets seems like becoming more popular for companies. Would you take developing countries into account?

As you can see in the table above, the number of users of social media in developing countries is most of the time at least as high as the countries known as developed (US for example). There must be mentioned that the rate is a percentage of the internet users in a country, not of the whole population. For this reason I’ve searched for the percentages of internet users in the concerning countries and placed them between brackets.
Remarkable is that once the inhabitants do have access to internet, they start to adopt social media in their use very quickly! Probably one of the reasons is the eagerly of the developing countries users because social media serves multiple purposes as political coordination to history and culture preservation, to accountability. Social media plays a role in self-empowerment, for example in Egypt though the ability to speak and assemble.  It creates the ability to make things negotiable, for example in Uganda.  RAHU, a Ugandan non-profit youth-led organization  aims to address key issues surrounding Ugandan youth, such as HIV, STIs, and unintended pregnancy.

In addition, the way of internet using differs. Less developed countries using it by mobile phone or tablet  because it is cheaper. They skipped over landlines and moved directly to mobile phones.  Text messages are more common  because not all phones do have cameras.

So you are interested in these emerging markets? I think it is a good idea to think beyond billboards and start social media campaigns. The welfare is increasing and so are opportunities in these countries. You have to find a way to reach the target group.

References

• https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/social-media-developing-countries-martin-brossman
• http://data.worldbank.org/indicator/IT.NET.USER.P2

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Social Networking Sites; for short SNS and also known as the everyday social joy and entertainment of people. Teenagers spend about 3,5 hour a day on social media. (Anderson, 2015)  In contrast to Gerben’s four days ago blogpost, I want to show you  the other side of SNS. The growing use of social networking sites leads to negative consequences for adolescents and can even lead to depression, claims Leidenpsychologyblog.nl. Do the adolescents confirm that they are depressed because of this?

These ‘children’ make a transition from focussing on their parents to focussing on peers. Friendships play a very important role in this. The difference between 20 years ago and now is the shift from real life interaction to Social Networking Sites interaction. Almost 75% of teenagers uses SNS and over half of the teenagers uses it every day. It also means that social emotional development of these adolescents occurs online.

Adolescent online behaviour is hardly similar to offline behaviour, according to leidenpsychologyblog.nl. This means when a person is prosocial in SNS life, it is in real life either.  The same applies to aggression, jealousy and other negative behaviours. The teenagers do not feel  using social networking sites makes a difference in how they feel; for example the level of self-confidence or their mood. But for whom this do make a difference, they assert it is in a positive way. Being less shy and more confident is of frequent occurrence. Besides that the teens claim feeling more connected.

Brian Jung claims that SNS causes some other negative effects associated with the growing use of SNS. At first the consequences of cyber bullying. Especially children are vulnerable and the consequences can leave deep mental scars. Anonymity afforded online will ensure that people across their border. 42% of youth reported that they have been victims already. Besides that, the impact on productivity is considerable. The employees are sometimes more interested in what friends are doing and posting than their work. The impact on privacy is another point Jung is mentioning. The discovery of drunk party photos and stories by your (potential or future) employer will not lead to ideal situations.

We have to watch out for this problem. The adolescents are not realizing the effect of social networking sites on their lives. What will the future bring us? Do we have to protect this generation?

• http://smallbusiness.chron.com/negative-effect-social-media-society-individuals-27617.html
• http://www.leidenpsychologyblog.nl/articles/facebook-depression-the-influence-of-social-media-on-adolescents
• http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/mediatechnologyandtelecoms/digital-media/11597743/Teenagers-spend-27-hours-a-week-online-how-internet-use-has-ballooned-in-the-last-decade.html

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While making the home assignment about online social networks, my attention was tracked to the omnichannel integration between online and offline. The omnichannel business model aims to deliver a seamless customer experience regardless of the channel. (Piotrowicz; Cuthbertson, 2014). The increasing use of mobile devices and social networks makes the separation between traditional online–physical channel redundant, as the lines between channels are blurred. This strategy includes mobile and social networks as new channels, balancing privacy and customization, and redesigning their supply chain network, while at the same time keeping in mind different customer requirements. The need for channel integration, the impact of mobile technologies, the growing role of social media, the changing role of physical brick-and-mortar stores, the need to respond to diverse customer requirements, the balance between personalization and privacy, and, finally, supply chain redesign are key.

An example to introduce this as a company is the Fliike real-time Facebook ‘Like’-counter. It updates the Facebook page likes of a company in real time. The companies put a scoreboard in in their store and people can see how much other people like the Facebook page of the concerning company.
Another example is CloudTags. The customers will get a tablet while shopping offline. By this, they are able to see all the information, videos and recommendations about the products. The customer can buy their stuff offline in store or online with their account at home. The store is able to track the activity of the user online. It improved the customer experience, data for the company but also the sales! (Nichols, 2014)

When customers feel valued, they will be more willing to buy, what is key for companies I think. The example about the likes will lead to attention for the store and their Facebook page at that moment. More people will like the page, which means the company is able to get their attention for a longer time. The expectations of consumers become higher; they want to compare prices, quality, brands but also experiences. CloudTags is a good example of combining these stuff in their online and offline store. I think there are two important focus points. At first, create a social network strategy. Companies are able to learn from the free(!) opinions of customers and are able to reach a lot of people. Besides that, the content is very important. When you look at the example of Cloudtags, it is proved that people do appreciate information about the products they are interested in. Retailers need to continue focussing on creating valuable, relevant content. This content has to be distributed when the customers need it (wherever in the customer buyer journey), online and offline.

• Boyd, D.M., and Ellison, N.B. 2007.Social network sites: Definition, history, and scholarship. Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication 13(1) 210–230.
• Borgatti, S.P., Mehra, A., Brass, D.J., and Labianca, G. 2009.Network analysis in the social sciences. Science 323(5916) 892-895.
• Kauffman, R.J., Li, T., and Heck, E. 2010. Business network-based value creation in electronic commerce. International Journal of Electronic Commerce 15(1) 111-142.PDF
• Piotriwicz W., Cuthbertson R. 2014. Introduction to the special issue information technology in retail: toward onmichannel retailing, International Jounal of Electronic Commerce 18(4) 5-16.
• http://socialmatters.nl/social-media-integratie/integratie-van-online-en-offline-media
• http://www.smartinsights.com/online-brand-strategy/multichannel-strategies/integrating-omninchannel-retail/

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Companies are getting a lot of attention. Positive or negative, friendly or funny and from everyone worldwide. These days, with social media and social networks, the whole world is able to see the opinions and troubles of customers and companies. It is hard to deal with complaining consumers, tough competitors and the amusing people behind their computers and smartphones. I want to focus on a point which is able to turn this threat into an opportunity:  the use of humor.

Let’s start with the business-to-consumer communications: a company responding to (one of) their consumers.  For example the customer service team of JetBlue. They responded very quickly to a complaining tweet in a funny way. When Lindsay Kolowich landed, a parade was waiting to welcome her at the airport.

Besides that, another group to discuss is the business-to-business.  Below you see an example of two Dutch beer companies. Bavaria thanked Heineken for being useful to open their beer bottles. Heineken responded to that with a 180 degrees turned  picture where Bavaria was opening their beer bottles. [Heineken: ‘Thanks, we would like to give our own spin on it! RT @Bavaria We love you @Heineken, seriously. #WorldKindnessDay’]  Don’t let people walk all over you! This is an example of reacting in a fun and friendly way.

 

This social media posts will provide more satisfying and higher brand loyalty for customers. Comments and responses like these will be shared, liked and discussed by lots of people. Companies can get incredible attention without spending costs on billboards and commercials. Recently, when I am scrolling through my Facebook timeline, the posts of the Facebook page ‘Klantenservice’ [Dutch word for ‘customer service’] got my attention. They are tracking the social media pages of companies for complaints. They comment on these complaints as being the customer service their selves.  A lot of people think these comments are meant seriously. (Let’s hope for them that’s because of the adrenaline through their complaint..). Hilarious and entertaining conversations are results of that. ‘Klantenservice’ takes screenshots of this conversations and put them on their page. The real customer service of the companies  is responding very differently to this. Let’s call the communication  to these type of attention: business-to-‘amusing people’-to-consumer.
Picture left: woman complaining the staff did not speak Dutch in Germany, ‘Klantenservice’ responding in German to her. Picture right: Specsavers (glasses company) responding to ‘Klantenservice’: “Thanks for the sharp respond, we bet your glasses came from us”.

 

My opinion is that humor in the communication of companies can be extremely important. The responds from, for example KLM and Heineken, contribute to a high brand loyalty for myself. All companies should respond in a business-to-consumer, business-to-business or business-to-‘amusing people’-to-consumer’  right and funny way;  they have to use these attention as a challenge and opportunity!

References:
http://www.lindanieuws.nl/nieuws/8-x-de-leukste-social-media-reacties-van-bedrijven/
https://www.facebook.com/wijhelpengraag?pnref=lhc

Examples Of The Good, The Bad & The Ugly Of Customer Service On Social Media!

Real-time social media marketing: de magie van de inhaker