Add a company to your friends

Facebook users spend 500 billion minutes on the portal every month. In the same period, 180 million new users appear on Twitter. And 2 million films played on YouTube every day. It’s time to put your company on the net!

Emil Górecki

Hotels and shopping centres – these are two types of properties that make extensive use of non-standard internet communication channels, such as social networking services and internet forums. The former do this because the worldwide web is one the most important sources of knowledge about the quality of a place and the standard offered; the latter do this because the net provides an excellent means of communication about what is happening at a mall two bus stops away from our home. However, these are not the only reasons.

Not holding back on the web

Hilton Warsaw Hotel & Convention Centre has had a Facebook profile for over half a year. Paweł Mirski, who is responsible for the public relations and marketing of the hotel, admits that the decision to set up a Facebook page came from following the example set by the mother company: Hilton’s global corporate profile was created in autumn 2009 and is now followed by 42,000 people. The hotel in Warsaw so far has only 500 Facebook friends; however, it is the word of mouth effect that really matters. In this way a bigger and bigger network of connected people is created. This is why such types of communication channels with clients or potential clients cannot be ignored, despite the fact that there is no direct effect on the turnover of the hotel. “This is grassroots work – a long-term strategy – thanks to which we have generated a good atmosphere around the brand. Our Facebook profile resembles our other, less official website,” argues Paweł Mirski. It is obvious that hoteliers monitor internet forums, where guests can share their remarks and comments on their stay at a particular hotel – and they are much more forthcoming on the internet than at the reception. Readers of such comments very often make their decisions on which place to stay on this basis. Paweł Mirski insists that employees of the Warsaw Hilton are not engaged in trying to influence the texts posted on the forums. 


Marketing through fun

Having a profile on Facebook does not mean a great deal of work or substantial costs. Establishing such a sub-website is free and its administration can be outsourced. “However, this is not necessary. We administer it ourselves. It requires a little effort, but when we gain a few or more fans a day we are very happy,” claims Paweł Mirski

The popularity of a portal results – as all my interlocutors agreed – from its multi-functionality and from the wide spectrum of possibilities offered to involve the users. They can comment on the information posted, hold discussions with the admin on the forum, take part in quizzes and competitions, add photos and offer comments. “The only thing limiting us is our own inventiveness,” says Paweł Mirski, turning over in his fingers something resembling a business card, but one that encourages us to take a look at the Facebook profile of the hotel. The card can be found in many places around the hotel lobby and it can be easily slipped into a wallet or book.

Examples of shopping centres that have Facebook profiles are not difficult to find. They include Galeria Malta in Poznań (Neinver), Galeria Jurajska in Częstochowa (Globe Trade Centre), Bonarka City Center in Kraków (TriGranit), Forum Gliwice in Gliwice (Deka Immobilien), Sofia’s Mall of Sofia (Quinlan Golub and General Electric Commercial Finance Real Estate), Avion Shopping Park in Ostrava (Inter IKEA group) and many others. Does such an approach actually result in an increase in turnover? This is hard to measure, especially taking into consideration the fact that the trend is only a few months old.

The word on the street

Blue City shopping centre in Warsaw took the decision to outsource the administration of its profile to a professional company – Agencja Społem, a social network marketing firm. Apart from maintaining the topicality of Facebook profiles, the company browses internet forums and analyses internet users’ opinions about malls, and in the process identifies forum leaders who have managed to attain a measure of internet authority. Then it tries to persuade these individuals to co-operate as a kind of brand ambassador for stimulating discussions about Blue City. “We have decided, for example, to get the so-called ‘szafiarki’ or street fashion bloggers involved. These are people who feature clothes that they make themselves in their blogs and profiles; it is a very active community, closely connected with fashion. Blue City is organising a special forum for them, where they will be able to meet, exchange clothes and publicise their projects. In addition, the community can benefit from the possibility of contacting the best Polish designers via Blue City. In exchange we expect that the szafiarki will write about these events on their blogs and profiles,” declares Przemek Jędryczkowski, who is responsible for activities on Blue City’s Facebook site.

How much work needs to be done on such a profile every day? It depends. Paweł Mirski reveals that if there are no new announcements on the Hilton site, it is enough to check what is going on there a few times and write replies just so that the site does not look abandoned. There are plenty of such abandoned accounts on the net that might give the impression that the company is not doing very well. And it only takes an hour or so to do this. Przemek Jędryczkowski spends app. two hours a day on Blue City’s profile: he talks to users, replies to users’ posts and browses through discussions. However, if there is a new, important announcement on the site, it is then necessary to attend to the site for longer – sometimes all day and even into the evening.

Palác Flóra in Prague’s Vinohrady district is one of the Czech shopping centres that uses Facebook for marketing purposes. The facility belongs to AFI Europe and was built in 2003. It has been active on the portal for over a year, in which time it has gathered over a thousand users. Photos of recent events are regularly posted on its wall, as well as films, announcements about sales and upcoming events. Despite several attempts, the discussion board on the forum has not been successful. “We do not really have enough time to work on the profile as much as we would like to. But this will change,” promises Anna Škábová, who is responsible for the shopping centre’s marketing. She goes on to add that the company receives many offers from specialist companies to maintain the profile, but she has yet to decide whether to employ their services. “The profile is an excellent channel of communication – especially with younger people, who are the potential customers of the centre. A social network is created through which up-to-date information is conveyed quickly, creating a positive aura around the brand,” adds Anna Škábová.

Twittering around the world

Facebook is the fastest growing platform so far, which is why companies looking to get involved in such internet marketing often go to it first. However, it is not the only non-standard communication medium around. Warehouse developer ProLogis is one company that has gone slightly against the grain. “What is the aim of these activities? A lot of our current and potential clients log on to it quite often, as well as journalists, ecological activists, solar energy enthusiasts and brokers. They have their own profiles and closely follow all the innovations connected, for example, with warehouse construction technology or the novel green solutions implemented in our logistic parks. Social network services are a popular and effective way of communicating, which is why we wanted to exploit the possibilities that this new tool provides and reach all interested individuals in this less traditional but faster and relatively low-cost way,” says Marta Tęsiorowska, who is responsible for 
CEE marketing and communication at ProLogis.

Twitter has a slightly different specificity, focusing on sharing information rather than having fun. ProLogis, which has offices stretching from Osaka to Seattle, is looking to use the platform to communicate to the widest possible audience the most significant news about the company: important contacts, events involving employees of the company and the winning of industry awards. It has several authors working from different offices, but is co-ordinated from the company headquarters in Denver. “We publish several ‘tweets’ a week. Since we appeared on the portal in the middle of February, we have been joined by 376 registered users. This is a very good result for such a niche activity,” asserts Marta Tęsiorowska, who is also involved in the Twitter communication. ProLogis also monitors what is written about it on internet forums and other social network portals. “We want to know what people write about us, as this is a necessity nowadays. So far we have never had a crisis situation on the internet that would require us to react, but this medium is incredibly fast. This is why every serious company needs to have its finger on the pulse,” adds Marta Tęsiorowska.

Talk to - not at - internet users

Nobody needs to be reminded of the troubles of Orco Property Group. However, everyone is aware that the collapse of the company seems to have been staved off. Orco is starting to pay off its debts after a number of favourable judicial decisions. How does everyone know this? Because of its excellent PR. The marketing department and the company’s press agency provide regular information about the events currently happening around the company – and that’s not all. Orco is active on Facebook and Twitter, where it is creating a community around its Złota 44 development called ‘Przyjaciele Warszawy’ (Friends of Warsaw). In addition, the president of the company, Jean-François Ott, has been blogging since March 2010. According to him, his posts in fact constitute a personal journal, and not the viewpoint of the management board of the company. However, his posts concern only his professional duties, work and observations on this area; in addition, the marketing department of the company seems to be helping the president to translate his posts into Czech or Polish, because all the information is posted in four languages. And as there are no comments or discussions with other internet users, the conclusion might be reached that it basically represents another form of communication channel diversification. “I need such an unofficial communication channel for myself, as Jean-François Ott – and not as the president of Orco Property Group. Please remember that I was being attacked by Millenius and Co. not such a long time ago. My blog was initially dedicated to my defence. Fortunately, I have been able to start writing about other, more pleasant subjects recently, such as the development of our projects or my observations about market trends. There is quite a big audience out there, and every post is visited by 1,800-2,000 internet users, such as journalists, shareholders of companies, my friends, employees and sometimes even government officials,” explains Jean-François Ott.

Among the blogs related to economic issues on the Onet.pl platform, if you try hard enough you can find a site set up by advisors from the Emmerson real estate agency. The reason why it is hard to find is that there has been little attempt to grab the attention of internet users, for example, by posing rhetorical questions related to the sector. The content of the site has not been not adjusted to this kind of channel in any way. It only features mini-reports with graphs, which journalists receive in their e-mail boxes on a regular basis anyway and in an identical format. Does this attract people to add the site to their favourites? Not really.

Keeping ahead of the competition

Although non-standard online marketing offers many possibilities, you need to know who to attract and what for. Companies selling apartments have already started colonising the YouTube service, where they can advertise their offers to potential buyers. Shopping centres are announcing sales, special events and posting other news on social networking portals that might be of interest to their internet friends. Companies are organising online communities to help create a positive and modern image, support their message and sometimes to lobby for them. And they are also holding internet discussions with clients and trying to get partners interested in them. Online they can do everything that their inventiveness and time allows for.

You do not need a lot of money to do this, but you should not expect any sudden growth of interest or in the number of clients. Non-standard internet marketing is a much more subtle tool, which is why it requires a great deal of effort and patience. But at the end of the day will it pay off? It is hard to tell at this juncture. However, it is always worth being one step ahead of the competition. ν