Woolworths : Great social presence; terrible delivery
I am not generally one of those who get up on their soap box and start sprouting negative sentiment until the cows come home. I am also aware that some of my followers and readers of this blog are not fans of “brand trashing” through social channels. But (as there always is) this time I feel that I have been seriously betrayed by a much loved and admired brand in South Africa. Not only that, but there is a major example here – real life – of how brands can damage themselves should they not be adequately prepared.
The story goes like this.
Last week Tuesday I needed to get a R 100 Christmas present for a friend of mine as we were having a get together Christmas party on Saturday evening. I started scouring the internet to look for ideas and the thought struck me to try Woolworths. I had seen their offline ads about their shopping portal and how super simple it was to use. I had also seen the Woolworths SA twitter profile @Woolworths_SA making a lot of noise. So I gave it a shot.
I went online and looked around at the men’s section. I browsed until I was blue in the face and eventually found something that I thought my friend would like. He likes hats; so I found him a hat!
I hit the equivalent of “add to cart”; filled in my delivery address and selected my method of payment. I indicated my delivery time for Saturday morning between 10:00 and 13:00. It was smooth; it was almost nirvana! I proudly sat back thinking, “wow, when online shops like this work, it makes it so much easier – I will be back to do this again!”
I went and spoke to a colleague who was also looking for something and told her to go and order from Woolworths – which she did!
Shattered dreams!
Now the reason why I included the screenshot of the product I was going to buy; and please note that this screenshot was taken on the morning of writing this article, not 4 days prior – when the following transpired.
Friday afternoon at about 16:20; I was sitting in traffic when my cellphone rings with an unknown number. I hesitate before I answer thinking it is going to be someone selling me another cellphone contract; nevertheless I answer.
The gent on the other end of the phone proudly announces that he is calling me from Woolworths EASTGATE (my first suspicion something is about to go wrong). I miss his name as he mumbles it out before plunging in to tell me that the item I ordered from the store is not in stock.He continues to tell me that they cannot source another cap for me as there will be no time to do this before my requested delivery time. My blissful Woolworths dream is about to come crashing down.
After further interrogation; I tell him to cancel my order as if Woolworths cannot supply what I ordered; then I do not wish to proceed with anything further. After a few uhms, he says that he will get the call center to call me and officially cancel my order; after which he promptly puts the phone down (without saying good bye).
Being a proponent on online and social media; I decided to Tweet Woolworths to alert them of my dissatisfaction.
To date I have not heard anything from them in response to this Tweet.
The plot thickens.
I didn’t think terribly much of this until earlier this afternoon. I was speaking to a colleague (the same one who also placed an order last week) and was telling them about my misfortune with my online order. To my shock and horror on Friday afternoon she also received a call and was told that her order could not be fulfilled! Surely this cannot be a coincidence? Two separate orders both getting the same response?
The only difference with her dealings with the call center agent is that she received an email confirming her order cancellation (something I am still waiting for).
I love the quip in brackets about them hoping it was not something that they did! 
What went wrong?
For my money there a few things that have gone wrong here :
- The online brand promise is not being fulfilled by offline promises.
- There seems to be a supply chain issue if the Eastgate store is calling me about an order when my closest store (which I indicated) is Fourways Mall.
- Staff monitoring the Woolworths online social presence are not properly trained in dealing with all their mentions or their monitoring techniques need some revising.
- The stock control for their online store is not sufficiently updated in real time with the in store POS (point of sale). (i do realise the complexities here and understand how difficult this point is to get right).
Social media : are we really that important?
So here is the thing. I was walking through the shops this afternoon; Sandton City to be precise. And a thought dawned on me as I watched everyone buzzing around; “What makes us think that we are so damn important”?
This particular blog is going to move away from my usual writing for a little while and talk about a social issue, which can tenuously link back to social media as well. For the most part though, this is truly just a social commentary tainted with my own social thoughts and ideals…
So here is the deal… While walking through the shops, I took note of a few things :
Now I realize that there are a lot of generalizations in this article, and I realize that it is completely tainted with my own bias – but that is what makes an opinion!
I believe that we are very quickly coming to a point where our very humanity is coming under threat. I use the term flippantly, but where the very thought of “Ubuntu” is foreign in whatever language you phrase it.
We, particularly the current generation of “up and comers” are so lost in our own self importance that we forget that there is a world that lives and breathes in spite of us and not because of us.
With the technological developments of the recent years, the “always on” lifestyle, and the access to an audience of eagerly listening followers, who would not get an overly inflated ego?!
But at what cost have these developments come? What have we had to give up and lose in the process? I am not asking that we go back to a time when we could not connect with peers in distant lands, where we were forced to listen to what “the Powers” told us to listen to…
Having an opinion is excellent… Having a voice is brilliant… But merely having a view on something does not automatically make your view the right one…
I am certain of the fact that we can all stand to learn an inordinate amount from being connected through social media and from each other in that way; but I am equally certain of the fact that we need to be incredibly careful that we do not forget what brought us here in the first place.
Steve Jobs, Donald Trump, Richard Branson, Barack Obama; these are all great men who have achieved extra-ordinary heights in their own personal lives and in the community at large. They grew up with values and ideals that do not date. Honesty, hard work, respect, loyalty and trust are no less important today than they were when these leaders of men were still at school.
This is the crux of what I am trying to say here. We must not allow access to a voice to share our opinion to change who we are as people, to forget what it is that makes us human, and how those were not as privileged as we are today learnt the value of hard work and earning the right to be heard…
Is Klout becoming more useful?
Klout.com has been getting a lot of flack lately, with many blogs and bloggers saying that it is only as important as you want it to be. But has Klout’s latest move shed some light on their intentions of where they are wanting to take the platform?
In the early days of Klout, and indeed up until a few days ago, Klout seemed largely to be a measure of how much noise a person made online. There was a slight bonus as it let you know what the user was most vocal about and had a few metrics in place to measure how often conversations about certain topics were had as well as measuring how often messages were retweeted or shared, but largely the more you spoke, the higher your Klout score.
So what’s new?
Klout have started rolling out a new aspect to the much talked about platform. Now you can easily identify who is influential on a specific topic. This new dimension to Klout indicates that they are beginning to get to grips with some additional aspects of social marketing and online reputation management.
Essentially, now you can identify users of the popular platforms like Twitter, Facebook and Google+ who you should be following as they are influential on the topic that you are interested in.
Klout have called these new features “Topic Pages” and they allow you to also see content that has been shared frequently.
Essentially their measure of influence now has a purpose which goes a little further than just small bragging rights!
Whatever your opinion of Klout, I think that as The platform continues to develop, it is going to become one of the many platforms that “experts” are judged on when their peers as well as potential clients look at exactly how recognized their opinion really is; not to mention the potential for recruiters looking at finding that special new employee.
Social media for Entrepreneurs who want to be seen as experts online!
Entrepreneurs are arguably the lifeblood of a thriving economy. They are idea people; innovators; inventors and are driven by results (with a bit of cash thrown in for good measure. What an entrepreneur is not (by and large) is a marketer! The way that the internet has grown and developed has made “socal media” the biggest and greatest buzzword in marketing since the advent of the slice of bread. Entrepreneurs need a little guidance as to how to position themselves online, particularly if they are their brand.
How Do I become an Expert?
The name of the game here is “personal branding”. Simply put this means that the entrepreneur needs to understand what they stand for and ensure that everything they are pushing out via their social media profiles adheres to this philosophy.
A good friend of mine, Douglas Kruger, has crafted a motivational keynote presentation which highlights the basic “rules of engagement” when looking at how to position yourself as an Expert in your industry. Now the theory is simple and Douglas packages it with these 4 bullet points :
- Craft a struggle story
- Gain and maintain high visibility in the key outlets affecting your industry
- Distinguish yourself with a unique voice and philosophy
- Craft messages and outgoing Comms using the “expert positioning” model
LinkedIn – the professional network
LinkedIn is not a “social network” by design; it is quite literally a professional network and therefore should only be used when you are publishing professional content! It is not the place to upload photo’s and asinine comments. LinkedIn is the ultimate place to position yourself as an expert to people who are looking at your with their business hats on, not their clown (read: social) ones.
Facebook – where good friends meet (or people you’ve never met before)
Facebook is the grandfather of the social media networks; but it is not showing its age just yet; unless you have been converted to Google Plus! This is the social network where you are allowed to be as outrageous and obscure in your messages and postings as you want to be. This is traditionally where you connect with people who you know incredibly well; your closest friends and family. They know you well enough not to misinterpret your last update to literally mean that you want to move to Siberia for the rest of your life!
Facebook does however allow you to profile and ring fence (not circle, that’s another network) your “friends” so that you can control to a degree what they have access to on your profile. In other words, you can allow potential clients to be your friends on Facebook, just be sure that you have a specific permission level setup so that they can’t see the stupid stuff you get up to!
Google has recently entered the foray into Social Media Marketing with their Google Plus offering. Google’s social media platform is in direct competition to Facebook and will probably see a lot of unhappy Facebook users migrate to this new platform. At the moment, Google has recommended that businesses don’t claim a profile on Google Plus, so that can only mean that there is something extra special in the works for businesses on Google Plus.
The take out from all of this is that you cannot use your various social media profiles with a spray-and-pray, one-size-fits-all approach. Each network has specific audiences and mechanisms for connecting people. Understanding these and using them to your advantage will ensure that you get the most out of your social media platforms and your networks!
Context and Content within Social Media
I was at the Heavy Chef Session at Deloitte last night and I was privileged enough to listen to Rich Mulholland speak on the misnomer that is ‘Social Media’. What follows here is my interpretation of his talk, as well as a hypothesis of my own, and some problems that we may encounter in the future with this “social” world that we live in.
What went down!
Rich was talking about the lack of context int he social media world; about how there is a lot of content being generated about any topic that you can think of, but if you take a break from being online and interacting in social media networks like Rich did for a week you will quickly realise at least 2 things : (I am paraphrasing a bit here)
- You will not miss the conversation
- The conversation will not miss you
Now this epiphany is rather ground breaking; especially if you are lucky (read popular) enough to have a couple of hundred odd followers; these people that hang on your every word for a drip of wisdom to fall from your lips (erm… fingers)!
But there is the kicker! These followers don’t know you; they “know you”, but they don’t really know you. They follow you because you ,at some stage, had something of value to say and they were, at that moment, impressed enough to take action on what you said and clicked on the all powerful Follow Button!
Where am I going with this?
What this boils down to is context! There was context between what you were saying and what they were looking for. A correlation between a supply and a demand at that moment in time. Sadly though this was, in most cases, a fleeting meeting of minds, likes and dislikes. There is no relevant or credible reason as to why this person who follows you would now be interested in your choice of deserts, holiday destinations or advice on which car to buy. All that they will now be getting from you, when following you, is a lot of content that is not in the slightest bit relevant to you.
So does this mean that we should only follow people that we know really well and would have more than one small thing in common with?
No.
Our social media networks need to converge to give the world a holistic image of ourselves and not an image fragmented by space and time with different algorithms scratching and pasting together bits of info about us.
Perhaps the answer is not within social networking; but rather in context networking. A network that (borrowing from Richard again) underpins the wide range of networks we are currently a part of and gives us true value by showing us information from sources who know us for more than a fleeting second because we both happened to think an orange sofa was hideous!
Context is key and context is, for my money, the future of media – and not just the social kind!
Giving away stuff for free… Does it build LOYAL followers?
If you read this article and forward it, like it or comment on it; you will not win an iPad, a Galaxy Tab or a PlayBook. There is a nasty trend that is developing throughout marketing – both online and offline – and that is the trend of giving away new and popular technology goods to “potential customers” who take action from the and either by liking on Facebook or following on Twitter.
What’s the point?
Giving away a “cool” product that is totally unrelated to your brand will definitely increase your following! But is it a following of potential customers? The simple answer is : no.
All this does is create a large following that is solely interested in winning something or getting something for free! They are not loyal followers who are interested in your product or service, they are fickle and self-serving.
Sure you might maintain a few of them after your campaign is done – but they are th lazy followers who still wouldn’t buy your product.
This is not building your brand adequately and in fact will probably do more harm than good. I am not averse to promotions and giveaways, but I am averse to wasting your time and money to literally just give something away. Rather use this money for some CSI initiative that can do some good if you really feel compelled to give something away.
Followers are NOT everything!
Having a large following or friend list is not the be all and end all of why you are engaging on social media! Social media is there for conversation and servicing a consumers needs. Having a large list who are not engaging with you does nothing for your engagement and even less for your brand.
Rather spend your time and money building a loyal following that is going to engage with you and help you to make your business better!
Car Magazine tries out Augmented Reality
In an incredibly welcome bold and adventurous move; Car Magazine have started experimenting with the concept of Augmented Reality! This is excellent news for consumers and even for the ailing offline media industry who have been hit considerably hard by the recent recession.
Even though their foray into augmented reality is a small one; it is the start that is going to set Car Magazine apart from the rest of the magazines that play in this space.
Recap on Augmented Reality
Augmented Reality is simply put; using the digital world to enhance the real world through the combination of the two. In other words you can use the camera on your smart phone or tablet; combined with specific augmented reality software to overlay an enhanced image of what you are looking at. So if you are looking at a car through your smart phone and your augmented reality software is geared to “read” the image; it can overlay additional information about the car such as engine size, kilo wattage, price etc.
How have Car Magazine done it?
Car Magazine have inlaid a reference image on the cover of their May edition of their magazine. This image when viewed through the Car Augmented Reality Webpage; with your computers web cam activated, will display a video. Once you have watched this video, you can close it. This will then allow you the opportunity to click on any of the other feature stories on the cover of the May Car Magazine.
The downside to all of this is that if you are not using 2x screens, you are going to have to juggle rather frustratingly between holding the magazine up to the camera and trying to see the screen. In fact, even if you are using 2x screens; let’s hope that you are ready to exercise some upper body strength as you need to keep the magazine up to the camera the entire time that you are trying to play with Car Magazine’s Augmented Reality.
What will this do for Car Magazine?
This will undoubtedly earn Car Magazine some “cool points” with their techno savvy readers and also push them ahead of the competition in terms of ensuring that they are giving their readers something new all the time.
Whether this will get them some additional long terms subscribers is yet to be seen; but seeing this level of integration between offline and online marketing is truly excellent news for their current subscribers and even better news for the greater marketing industry.
I look forward to seeing a lot more augmented reality features from a lot more offline media and cannot wait to see how they try to out do each other - which is inevitable!
Social Media in the South African Local Government Elections
By the looks of things; some South African political parties are finally waking up to the digital revolution and are beginning to embrace online marketing and its integration with offline media. From having a functional website, through to using social media like Twitter and Facebook – the times they are changing!
Of course as with everything; there needs to be a balance and there needs to be integration between everything that is being done offline and everything that is being done online. Added to this in politics is the fact that different parties are trying to attract different sections of the market so we cannot look at their marketing strategies and assume that they are both targeting the voting public. So let’s look at arguably 1 of biggest horses in the Local Government Elections, 2011: The Democratic Alliance and their entrenchment with new media.
Website.
The DA website has a decidedly Barack Obama feel to it; especially compared to when he was running his last electoral campaign.
The site is light and dynamic; it invites you to interact and most importantly it highlights the critical campaign messages of the DA :
- Donate to help the campaign
- stamp out corruption
- build the country together without discrimination.
Social Media.
Helen Zille has thrown herself into social media and opened herself and The DA up to the public. Allowing the public to interact, to ask questions and to most importantly voice their opinions. This social approach has definitely done the DA good as they have ensured that their campaign messages have been heard by a very important voting demographic : The Young South African!
These social media users are literally the future of the country and it is a very strategic and brilliant move; in my opinion; that The DA have realised that this is where the elections will be won or lost.
There are a number of DA Twitter profiles and personalities who are taking advantage of the media. There are Twitter profiles such as : DA News; DA_SA; votetowin and DA_parliament. Each of these profiles is pushing out information relevant to either the local elections; what impact the DA is having in government as well as general party news.
Engagement is the name of the game in politics and social media is the perfect medium to completely engage with an audience in a way which has very quickly become second nature to young South Africans.
From Facebook to Twitter and from Flickr to YouTube; the Democratic Alliance has ensured that they have not left any popular social media platform unattended.
Integration.
Online marketing and by extension social media are merely one channel of communication though and it is the integration between each of these channels which truly makes for a powerful campaign. once again the Democratic Alliance has echoed the last Obama campaign and has ensured that the offline voter has been catered for as well by using TV, radio, print and outdoor media to adequately enforce and repeat the major campaign messages.
Good luck to all the political parties on voting day! But most importantly; good luck to South Africa! Remember, you can’t moan, comment or pass judgement unless you do your part and vote!
Planet Fitness : Not Making Friends or Winning Members
My usual disclaimer when starting a controversial post. This article is a real rant about the last few communications that I have received from Planet Fitness. I want to illustrate how business operations can greatly affect your marketing campaign and leave you with little control over the backlash is to follow.
Setting The Scene
Around 2 weeks ago, I received an email from Discovery letting me know what my monthly rates for Planet Fitness would be for 2011. That’s where my first inkling of annoyance started. I am on Discovery as a medical aid primarily because of the fact that Vitality allows me to – for a minimal monthly fee – be a member of the fine fitness institution that is Planet Fitness. There was no talk, when I joined up, about additional monthly fees.
To further my love for Planet Fitness, I then received a further sms, from Planet Fitness themselves this time, letting me know that my bank account would be double debited on the first of December for my membership fees.
(Cue the boiling blood…)
Now a few questions sprang to mind at this point :
- What on Earth is going on with Planet Fitness and Discovery’s relationship!?
- How dare Discovery pass my banking details across to Planet Fitness?!
- Where can I find a new gym?
Luckily I went to gym that afternoon and joined the picketing masses at the front desk demanding to know what on Earth was going on. We were curtly told that, “these messages were not meant for you, delete them and move on.”
Which I did. Ready to put this whole tirade behind me. But then….
The plot thickened…
This morning I received the following sms from Planet Fitness :
“Due to SA power demands, Planet Fitness will reduce our operating hours from 1 Jan 2011. We will nolonger be open 24 hours. Contact your club for details.”
The thing that really irks me is that Planet Fitness must think that I am stupid. Don’t lie to me and pretend that you are closing early to reduce the load on the Eskom power supply within the country. You are closing early because you are not making money between 02:00 and 04:30!
Let’s look at the damage.
From the beginning Discovery and Planet Fitness have been guilty of database mismanagement. They should have segmented their database enough to realise who on their database was a Vitality member and then NOT send the fees messages to them. Both of these messages have left bad tastes in their members mouths. Couple to this the fact that the Planet Fitness level of service delivery has dropped significantly (my opinion) over the last few months and you have a lot of members not loving Planet Fitness.
On another level, with Planet Fitness choosing to cut their operating times, they are losing what I deem as being one of their biggest differentiators. Now their offering does not differ significantly to Virgin Active.
In my opinion, Planet Fitness now have a huge mountain to climb to re-elevate their brand. They would need to start managing their online reputation. Second to that they need to evaluate what it is that they are bringing to their target market that makes it different from their competitors.
Let’s hope they don’t choose a wannabe comedian to be their spokesperson though…
The Business of Buzz Words
Going forward let’s be sure to space bank the Web 2.0 technologies that we are currently utilising and ensure mind share and top of mind awareness. This will allow our social media to gain traction and stickiness with our top line strategy.
How many times have you come across most of the buzz words in that sentence!? (With my personal favourite being “going forward”…. Well we sure as hell aren’t going to time travel and sort it out now are we?!?)
The point that I am trying to make with this post is actually 2 fold and a personal bug bear of mine as well as that of some notable copywriters. The 2 guilty groups of people are.
Sales People maskerading as marketers.
This one has caught all of us out from time to time. Buzz words get thrown around as a way to trick and confuse us. Think about a car salesman who has sold you a car with SDI; VVT or HDI. They all sound incredibly awesome and we nod our heads and agree that we must have these things! But the truth of the matter is that we are too embarrassed to say that we actually have no clue about what we are being sold.
The trick here is to ignore the buzz words “wow” value and ask what it means and how it really adds value to what they are selling you and what it actually means. Very often the sales person has learnt that they can get by with only learning the acronym and as such don’t learn what each letter stands for.
Copywriters trying to fill out their content.
My other favourite is when copywriters use impressively fragrant and superlatively impressive words (see what I did there?) to fill out the space that they have to fill. These are buzz words as well. They might not confuse you – but an unnecessary adjective is there to fulfill the same objective as a normal buzz word : confuse and trick.
Turn The Buzz Off.
When looking at copy (as a copywriter or a consumer) cut out all the flowery language and get down to the real message behind what is being said! As a copywriter your copy will be far more compelling and easier to read. As a consumer you will quickly realise how often you are being lied to!
So the next time you are being bombarded with buzz words by a over zealous sales person; get them to stop and repeat everything that they are saying in plain old English; you will be better off because of it.
