MSL China & renren.com: Anyone Could Be Your Brand Ambassador

1

MSL China Executive WhitepaperAnyone Could Be Your Brand Ambassador

Anyone Could Be YourBrand Ambassador

By Stephy Liu, Enson Hu, Phoebe Li and Catherine Cao

MSL China Executive Whitepaper

About MSL ChinaFollowing the union with Eastwei MSL, MSL China is

now a top 5 international strategic communications

agency in Mainland China. With 200 colleagues

across 4 offices, MSL China brings together over

20 senior consultants with more than 12 years

of strategic communications experience in this

key global market. Part of MSLGROUP Greater

China, the largest PR & social media network in

the region today, MSL China provides knowledge

driven, integrated campaigns and advisory services

spanning nearly every industry and communications

discipline. MSL China has received recognition from

the International Business Awards, The Holmes

Report’s “PR Agency of the Year,” the China

International PR Association and China’s New Media

Festival for its creativity and effectiveness in strategic

communications and industry-leading social media

offering.

www.mslchina.com.cn

About MSLGROUPMSLGROUP is Publicis Groupe’s PR, speciality

communications and engagement group, advisors

in all aspects of communication strategy: from

consumer PR to employee communications, from

public affairs to reputation management and from

crisis communications to event management.

With more than 2,900 people, its offices span 22

countries. Adding affiliates and partners into the

equation, MSLGROUP’s reach increases to 4,000

employees in 83 countries. Today the largest PR

network in Greater China and India, the group offers

strategic planning and counsel, insight-guided

thinking and big, compelling ideas – followed by

thorough execution. Learn more about us at: www.

mslgroup.com+ http://blog.mslgroup.com+ Twitter+

YouTube

About the researchMarketing and PR experts acknowledge the

importance of social media in creating a positive

brand image. Based on recent statistics, the total

number of Chinese internet users just surpassed

500 million. According to a 2011 social media report

released by marketing management company InSites

Consulting, over 50% of Chinese internet users are

registered on social media platforms and over 70%

of those users follow brands, and 39% of Chinese

social media users connect via mobile phone.

With trends suggesting increased social and mobile

media growth, many companies are doing more with

social media networks. Many company-run brand

pages and weibos are thriving in this new marketing

environment and are attracting a strong following.

But there are also pages which remain desolate, and

have failed to gain the support of users. So what is

the secret to building a successful, attractive brand

page for social media platforms?

In August 2011, China’s largest domestic social

networking services (SNS) platform Renren

announced that establishing brand pages on its

platform would be free of cost and companies

flocked to the site to build their own brand pages.

In consideration of the sudden influx of brand

pages, MSL China’s social media experts teamed

up with Renren to conduct a joint research project to

understand the most effective practices for operating

SNS brand pages. The objective of this guide is to

provide you with effective brand page management

models, as well as a basic understanding of how

online word-of-mouth can work for your company.

This paper is organized by a series of practical

descriptions and suggestions, such as ‘The Value

of Social Media’, ‘Operating Your Brand Page’, and

‘Measuring Results from Your Brand Page’. We

provide case studies and examples of how to best

manage, leverage, and measure the impact of your

social media marketing programs.

3


The Value of Social MediaIf your customers are not already on social media, then they are on their way

P5 Social media and the different types of social media platforms

P5 Incorporating social media into your marketing strategy

P7 The value of brand fans

P7 A simple and effective marketing model for SNS

P7 Brand pages

Preparing Your Brand PageYour company’s corporate management modeland social media strategy should be complementary

P8 Brands and brand pages

P8 The steps in building a brand page

P10 Setting up multiple brand pages for companies with several brands or product lines

Operating Your Brand PageFinding the brand and consumer social media heartbeat

P12 Brand page managers, and the duties and qualifications of the operations team

P12 What brand fans care about

P13 Ensuring that brand pages maintain a personality and achieve your business goals

P14 Responding to fan comments

P16 Responding to negative feedback and communicating with brand fans during a crisis

Promoting Your Brand PageAttracting fans from the brand page to your store

P17 Quickly gain brand fans

P18 Integrating online and offline activities

P19 Finding and engaging opinion leaders

P20 Using your brand page to increase sales

Measuring the Results of Your Brand PageThe input-output measures of social media marketing

P21 Measuring return on investment (ROI)

The Value of Social MediaIf your customers are not already

on social media, then they are on their way

5


Renren.com, is China’s leading real-name SNS that is highly engaged by university students and young white collar professionals across the country. Renren provides powerful, feature-rich products including News Feeds, Blog, Album, Status Updates, Sharing, Music, Xiaozhan, LBS, Social Games, and Social Commerce to meet the communication, entertainment and shopping needs from over 220 million registered users.

SNS relationship circle

Relationships guide interaction

Information guides interaction

Common interests

Family

MeSchoolmates

Strangers

Public Pages

Famous people

Friends

Celebrities

Friends

ClassmatesClose FriendsColleagues

Public Pages

Friends’ Friends

Microblog information circle

Social media and the different types of social media platformsSocial media refers to web-based and mobile

technologies that enable people to write, share,

discuss, and communicate with others. SNS and

microblogs (called weibo in China) are the two

most common types of social media platforms,

designed to accommodate different user needs.

SNS are online communities centered on real-

life relationships and are a powerful tool to build

connections; they include sites like Renren and

Facebook. On the other hand, microblogs are

topic or subject matter focused, and are oriented

toward information sharing rather than building and

Consumer decision making process(Each step incorporates social media)

ATTENTION

comments, web search, reviews, trial

Incorporating social media into your marketing strategyThe popularity of social media is a global

phenomenon, but there are few markets where

it is as prevalent as China. According to InSites

Consulting’s 2011 market report on global social

media trends:

· 15% of people worldwide are connected to at least

one social media, but the figure for China is 44%;

· 62% of all Chinese social media users follow

brands and 90% believe that information about

brands on social media is reliable;

· In China, 39% of social media traffic is via mobile

phone; 78% of mobile users follow brands, and 12%

of them use LBS (location based service) to share

their location with friends when posting content.

Studies show that social media has a clear

correlation with consumer purchases. Based on the

AISAS marketing model, the process consumers

use in deciding to make a purchase can be closely

associated to social media. Companies looking to

reach a larger target audience should infuse social

media into their marketing strategies.

maintaining relationships. Sina Weibo and Twitter

are two popular microblog platforms.

INTEREST SEARCH ACTION SHARE

e-store, marketplace

community, word-of-mouth, sharing

information, advertising, community,

marketplace, word of mouth,

experience

information, advertising, community,

marketplace, word of mouth,

experience

7


A simple and effective marketing model for SNSSocial media provides

companies with a platform

to connect with consumers.

On a SNS platform, anyone

could become your brand

ambassador. One of the

secrets to a successful SNS

platform is being able to

effectively stimulate word-

of-mouth marketing online. Many companies

have successfully adopted the following simple

and effective social network marketing model: 1)

Build up a brand page, 2) Advertise to increase

connections, 3) Publish via their network.

The value of brand fansNielsen conducted an online survey designed

to measure the value of brand fans in social

advertising on Renren. In the report, Nielsen

quantified the value of fans for 50 brands in the

automotive, fast moving consumer goods, financial

and IT industries. The report shows that:

· Brand fans have a clear impact on business.

Research has shown that brand fans are more likely

to purchase from a brand they follow. This tendency

is attributed to brand perception, preference and

previous ownership.

· Interaction with the brand on a social media is

shown to influence future purchases by brand fans;

moreover, brand fans for each industry are more

likely to spend more on brand purchases than non-

fans. For example, fans of a certain computer brand

are more likely to make future brand purchases

compared to non-fans and on average spend

RMB 1,206 more on the brand. This is true for

other industries as well, with bank fans spending

RMB 4,424 more, automobile fans spending RMB

24,000 more, mobile phone fans spending RMB

384 more, and fast moving consumer goods brand

fans spending RMB 180 more.

· Because of their increased loyalty and

opportunities to sell to them, brands should

continually interact and build closer relationships

with their fans.

Brand pagesA brand page is an official public page belonging

to a company, organization or celebrity on a social

networking site. Companies use brand pages to

attract users interested in their brand and add

them as brand fans. Brand fans have access to

brand updates (news, product information, events)

and interact with the brand and other fans at their

convenience.

Brand fan estimated future spending (compared with non-fans) Banks: 4,424RMB more

IT (mobile phone, computer, appliances): 384RMB, 1,206RMB and 1,163RMB more respectively

Fast consumption: 180RMB more

Automobile: 24,000RMB more

1: Establish a brand page

2: Place Social-ads, build connections with consumers, gather Brand Fans

3: Use the News feed to send out brand info. and stimulate Word-of-Mouth

Brands and Brand PagesBrand pages aren’t exclusively for large brands. Small

and medium-sized companies can also set up a brand

page as a way to connect with consumers. The brand page

enables companies to identify opinion leaders, initiate

dialogue and develop online word-of-mouth.

But first, before setting up an account, it is important to consider the following:

The Steps in Building a Brand PageAfter one of our clients decides to set up a social media

account, MSL China will prepare a “Company Social

Media Execution Guide” for the brand and company. This

guide includes: behavior models for typical

fans, a social media map, KPI (key performance

indicator) management, and guidelines on

tone of voice, style and interactive techniques.

This manual can help companies and their

PR agencies to improve the effectiveness of

· Is your target audience using social media?

· Is your brand or client currently dealing with bad press? If so, you may want to temporarily delay setting up a brand page – or create a dedicated page to deal with the issue.

· Does your brand have enough content to discuss? Social media are based on daily, high-frequency communication.

· Do you have someone capable of managing the brand page? It needs at least 1-2 dedicated individuals to maintain.

communication so as to ensure that the brand’s message

reaches its target audience. Before launching your brand

page, we suggest taking the following steps.

Determine the brand’s social personality

The brand page provides the brand with a direct, fast and

effective social media platform for daily communication

with target consumers. But to create a meaningful

and effective communications channel,

the company must determine the

brand’s social personality:

human traits

Preparing Your Brand PageYour company’s corporate management

model and social media strategy should be complementary

based on existing brand characteristics. For example,

IKEA’s social personality is based on a 30 year old

traditional Swedish woman: simple, honest, and family-

oriented. These personality traits reflect IKEA’s business

goals and target audience. MSL China will develop a

customized “brand social guide book” for each client,

which contains a variety of useful tips to help the company

effectively establish and maintain a social personality for

its brand.

Determine the brand’s style, tone and content

On a social media site, the brand takes the form of

a person, and frequently interacts with others. So in

addition to the brand’s overall social personality, it is

necessary to determine the brand’s tone and style.

For example, the Singapore Tourism Board uses the

personality of a young, mature, stylish, multi-cultural,

enthusiastic and positive white-collar woman. Obviously,

an immature or overly energetic tone of voice would not

be consistent with this brand’s social personality.

Developing social content is another major challenge

for companies. For effective daily interaction, brand

page content needs to be rich, interesting and sharable.

Do not post traditional press releases on a social media! Press releases have little or no impact on an

SNS site; to the contrary, users may feel that the brand

is dry and outdated. Instead, companies should create

a social media matrix. The social media matrix is a daily

operations guide that is designed to ensure content

is consistent and coherent, and tracks what kind of

content most effectively connects with users. It

also shows which brand properties are most

effectively conveyed, while illustrating

how the brand is presented to

fans through quantitative

statistics.

Social media marketing depends on engaging and

guiding fans to create individualized brand material. It is

important to include interactive components, including

discussion boards, voting, games and events. Often

times, brand engagement inspires users to effectively and

positively spread the brand by word-of-mouth. However,

the design and preparation of successful interactive

events requires intensive planning and coordination.

Understand fans’ specific networking habits

The brand should adopt different communication

strategies for different social media, such as Sina Weibo

and Renren. This is because Renren and Sina Weibo have

different characteristics that meet different user needs.

Sina Weibo caters to a more information-centric audience,

while Renren focuses on real-life connections.

Standardize interaction and site management

In social media marketing customer relationship

management (CRM) is critical. Appropriately responding

to positive, neutral and negative comments is a technical

art form; there are smart and creative ways of dealing

with negative feedback and turning them into positive

opportunities to promote your brand, but this sometimes

requires help from the company’s customer support

professionals.

Staffing

Since social media marketing

is time and labor intensive, a

brand page needs a dedicated team to maintain

it. Depending on each company’s individual needs,

companies can either use an in-house team or employ a

PR agency to operate the brand pages.

9


Setting up multiple brand pages for companies with several brands or product linesAccording to “Social Business Forecast: 2011 The Year of Integration”, social media

expert Jeremiah Owyang describes 5 social marketing strategy models. Any of these

might be the right fit for your organization depending on your operations and objectives.

Similarly, Nike has Just Do It

and Nike Sportswear sub-brand

pages, as well as product pages for

running, female, extreme sports

and basketball series.

Five strategy models for social marketing

Centralized

1) One department controls all efforts2) Consistent3) Less authentic4) e.g. Ford

by Jeremiah Owyang

Decentralized

1) Organic growth2) Authentic3) Experimental4) e.g. Sun

Public Page: Samsung IT WorldType: Electronics and DigitalFans: 181,985

Public Page: Samsung TelevisionType: Electronics and DigitalFans: 99,311

Public Page: Samsung MobileType: Electronics and DigitalFans: 81,565

Public Page: Samsung Appliance HouseType: Electronics and DigitalFans: 18,207

Public Page: Samsung Video and PhotographyType: Electronics and DigitalFans: 29,732

Hub and spoke

1) One hub sets rules and procedures2) Business units undertake own efforts3) Spreads widely across the organization4) Time intensive5) e.g. Red Cross

Multiple hub and spoke

1) Similar to hub and spoke, but across multiple brands and units2) e.g. HP

Holistic

1) Each employee is empowered2) Employees are organized3) e.g. Zappos

· Centralized: Orders come from top down and tasks are assigned;

· Decentralized: Decentralized organization, in a developing state;

· Hub and spoke: A centralized unit decides and coordinates, while other units work

independently;

· Multiple hub and spoke: One unit coordinates several brands or sub-companies;

· Holistic: Each employee has their own privileges and responsibilities;

Companies need to incorporate their own internal management organization when

determining which model to use. Once the company has implemented a suitable model,

each social media platform can be coordinated together to ensure maximum efficiency.

Companies who have many brands or product lines often use a multiple hub and spoke

system on SNS. One department is responsible for coordinating many sub-brands or

product lines and operates multiple brand pages.

For example: Samsung has set up different brand pages for its IT, television, mobile,

digital and home appliance brands on Renren.

Nike SistersApparel20,368 Fans

Nike RunningAthletics25,071 Fans

Just Do ItApparel53,073 Fans

Nike SportswearAthletics150,365 Fans

Nike SkateboardingAthletics6,499 Fans

Nike BasketballAthletics76,976 Fans

As of August 2011, brand pages can be created for no cost

In this free version, Renren is preparing to open up an App Store. Renren and third parties will design apps that companies can use as free and effective marketing tools.

Creating a Renren brand page is simple

If you do not have a Renren account: you can directly register a brand page account and go from there.If you already have a Renren account: Log in, apply for a brand page, select a brand page name, add a profile picture and description (Note: these will appear in the news feed, and your friends will see it. Use this to start gathering your brand fans), then apply for a URL (page.renren.com/your_brand_name) and you are set. Afterwards, you can add various apps, customized themes and content to attract fans.

Renren brand page allows the use of API for third parties

Renren’s application programming interface (API) allows third parties to read and write network resources with permission from Renren by logging into their network accounts. Your company’s technical support staff can visit wiki.dev.renren.com for additional information.

The main components of a Renren brand page

· The brand page is built similarly to a personal page; however the brand page possesses several features that encourage fan interaction. A number of apps are also available to meet different marketing needs.

· Basic features: news feed, comments, personal detail, status updates, album, blog, share, private message, mailbox, gift box, music, friends and related pages.

· Special features: video, voting, forum, rating, friends' album, “Renren like” (a third party application that allows users to share and recommend items on their news feed and allow them to become the public page’s fans with one click).

· Renren App Store custom features:

- Personalized tools: welcome tab, wallpapers, flash wallpapers;

- Multimedia tools: video add-ons (Youku, Tudou), maps, LBS information

sharing, customized themes;

- Applied marketing tools: digital store, coupon downloads, product

Q&A, online market research, group purchasing, grab-a-deal, brand member

registration, auctions.

Custom themes stimulate fan interaction

Companies can post videos, music, animated GIFs, and other multimedia features on their brand page. The brand page can also use flash and iframe features to increase interactivity with fans.

11


Operating Your Brand PageFinding the brand

and consumer social media heartbeat

Brand page managers, and the duties and qualifications of the operations teamIn order to begin operations, the company needs a

dedicated team of up to 2 or 3 people. For effective daily

management, the brand page’s staff needs to:

· Track and analyze feedback: Companies can leverage

user comments and messages to understand fans’

opinions about the brand. As the number of fans increase,

it may be necessary for the site to manage several

thousand messages per day and conduct analyses on

consumers’ perception of the brand. Using this feedback,

the company can then make any necessary adjustments

to the brand page.

· Release content: The brand page strategically and

systematically releases fresh and interesting content

for fans, including albums, blog and status updates. As

the brand page develops, the company will strengthen

the brand’s influence on consumers. Designing and

organizing events that attract users to close the gap

between the company and consumers and maintaining

fan activity is an important daily task. Events require

intensive planning, from wording and image selection to

award design and management.

· React rapidly: During daily operations, the brand will

run into problems such as user complaints, as well as

“trolls” – users who post inflammatory, extraneous or off-

What brand fans care aboutMaintaining brand fans is like keeping in touch with real-

life friends. Consumers will want to know about the latest

brand updates, share the opinions of other consumers,

and be informed of upcoming promotions, events and

new product releases.

topic messages that may be sent by competitors and need

a quick and strategic response. Social media is gradually

evolving into a catalyst for major news events. As every

marketer knows, if these latent disasters or developing

crises are not effectively dealt with in early stages, the

consequences could be dire.

· Pay attention to competitors: While maintaining your

page, you should take note of competitor pages and

analyze their interactions with fans. You can learn a lot by

how they act as well.

Operating a brand page requires in-depth knowledge and

ongoing effort; it demands strong content production

capabilities, market awareness, social communication

skills and crisis management experience. PR agencies

have experience managing multiple brand pages and

can set up a completely new brand page in a relatively

short time. PR agencies can also make quick and accurate

strategy adjustments as new situations emerge. If the

brand needs to simultaneously manage two or more

brand pages or needs to coordinate with another social

media platform, professional PR agencies often have the

collective resources to coordinate them more effectively.

Ensuring that brand pages maintain a personality and achieve your business goalsFind the Social media heartbeat of your brand and target consumers

Social media marketing differs greatly from traditional

media marketing. For example, consumers tend to

be skeptical of sales promotions, but in social media

marketing, users often enjoy promotions and are eager

to participate. The key is finding the brand’s social media

heartbeat. After a company determines consumer needs,

wants and desires, it becomes easy to know what topics

and content will deliver the best results. The company can

use this content as a resonating point for both sides and

ultimately form the company’s “social media heartbeat”.

Create a friendly relationship with target consumers· Plan posting frequency to prevent negative feedback

from oversaturation;

· Write material from the viewpoint of fans, posting

information in a friendly and open style;

· Monitor and collect feedback, and make changes to the

brand page accordingly.

However, when posting this type of information, it is important to note:Promotions on a brand page work differently than in

traditional marketing. Consumers’ tend to initially be

skeptical when encountering a store promotion. However,

when information is shared between friends, the level of

trust is substantially higher. Social media provides brands

with the opportunity to form a direct link to consumers in

the form of a friend-to-friend relationship. Of course, this

friendship requires long-term maintenance. Below are a

few techniques to ensure that this relationship can take

shape:

· Daily greetings;

· Timely responses;

· Regular and interesting updates;

· Helping fans resolve issues;

· Seasonal and holiday greetings;

· Discussions on common topics;

· Following social hot topics, and appropriately

participating in discussion.

Case study: Watsons brand page product classificationWatsons brand page separately classifies content

using special tags. Classifications include

informational tags about products, promotions and

events. Fans can comment or share information on

these tags and generate word-of-mouth.

Finding social heartbeat

Watsons uses Sina Weibo to advertise in-store promotions, using tags for each category. Above, Watsons “Sharing Beauty” tag informs fans about a Labor Day promotion for club members.

13


Responding to fan commentsResponding to fans requires tact. Below are a few

techniques that will help you better interact with fans:

· Regular responses: It is important to respond to

fan comments in a timely manner, especially in the

early stages of developing a brand page. We suggest

maintaining a high ratio between fan comments and

responses; even if it is a simple greeting, each reply

cements the relationship with your consumer.

· Respond within a set timeframe: brand page responses

should be conducted against a set deadline. This

cultivates fan habits of regularly checking responses from

the brand page, and will avoid negative feedback due to

late responses. Brand pages generally do not update on

a daily basis, so we believe this is an opportunity to do

better than the competition and suggest that at the end of

the work day the brand page responds to user comments

to ensure that they keep visiting the page.

· Develop opinion leaders: Each brand page should have

its own loyal fans. In the early stages of operations, the

brand page should regularly comment on user status

updates, and maintain communication with more active

fans. Through daily interaction, these users will eventually

develop into the brand page’s opinion leaders.

· Carefully resolve crises: When fans post complaints

or negative feedback, be careful how you deal with

such comments. Try to avoid deleting comments. It is

also unacceptable to publically attack or directly refute

commentators. Instead, you may be able to deal with

these situations by:

- Responding to complaints or negative feedback with positive

responses.

- Leaving a response, and then if appropriate deleting the original

comment after gaining the acknowledgement of the poster.

- Using the brand page’s mailbox to actively keep in touch with

fans, gaining the acknowledgement of those fans and then deleting the

comment.

Although it is not necessary to delete all negative comments, you do

need to delete excessively negative comments by “trolls”, “spammers”

or other destructive users.

Case study: Li-Ning – one journal entry leads to a comment warOne of Li-Ning’s sub-brand pages published a

journal entry entitled “Summer Youth Dreams: MCC

tide of new summer products”. Li-Ning had no

idea that the entry would result in a comment war

between fans. The day after the entry was posted a

fan asked a question regarding the market position

of Li-Ning in a completely neutral tone. Another

user responded and said that there was no way that

Li-Ning could boast the second largest share of

the global market compared to other brands. This

post was followed by a third user comment that Li-

Ning boasts a large share of the Chinese domestic

market and it is already good enough that China has

a large domestic athletic brand that can support

itself.

On the morning of the third day, Li-Ning responded

to the three users respectively in a polite and open

manner to express its appreciation. Afterwards,

the first fan responded that he hopes for Li-Ning’s

continued growth and believes the brand can make

Chinese consumers proud.

In social media, brands will receive fan support and

affection, and at the same time can be targeted with

criticism and doubt. Brands should react quickly

and use a positive tone to influence negative voices

and work to convert them into potential brand

ambassadors. Through this case, Li-Ning was

able to turn negative feedback into positive brand

support.

Li-Ning’s brand page operations team responds to

each and every comment on a daily basis. Li-Ning

responds to product purchase inquiries, product

Li-Ning responds to each fan. Li-Ning notes a fan’s concerns and promises to consider their feedback to improve their product and brand. Li-Ning thanks the fan for their input.

Case study: Lufthansa responds to questions and requestsLufthansa Airlines recently changed their Renren page

name to “Lufthansa Flight Clan” with the goal of attracting

Chinese users who are interested in, or live in, Europe.

On Renren, Lufthansa provides fans with information on

European tourism, study abroad, and other related topics.

Fans can participate in monthly prize contests and

promotions, and use the site to learn more about

Lufthansa’s China operations. Lufthansa responds

patiently to each user question and comment, from

inquiries on special price tickets, flight routes, and

luggage, to frequent flier programs.

On the morning of the third day, Li-Ning responded

to the three users respectively in a polite and open

manner to express its appreciation. Afterwards,

the first fan responded that he hopes for Li-Ning’s

continued growth and believes the brand can make

Chinese consumers proud.

design suggestions, brand advertisement views and

product quality complaints. Some fans will even

talk with Li-Ning about personal matters, including

marriage announcements. Of course, Li-Ning will

congratulate the fan, just like a friend would.

Lufthansa provides the link for frequent flier membership for a fan inquiry.

A fan asks about luggage weight costs for a flight from France to China. Lufthansa responds saying that student tickets generally allow up to 30kg of luggage, but the program is not available France. Lufthansa then makes an apology.

A fan asks for student itinerary for a roundtrip flight between Shanghai and Edinburgh, Lufthansa redirects the fan to a page listing price and times for flights.

A fan suggests adding a new direct flight between Nanjing and Dusseldorf, in addition to the Frankfurt route. Lufthansa patiently responds saying that it would regretfully not be possible due to a lack of infrastructure.

A fan is having problems with their frequent flier card and their miles are not being counted. Lufthansa responds saying that the miles can be added on and provides the fan with a link to customer service.

Responding to a fan commenting that they prefer the company’s previous logo, Li-Ning explains the reasoning for adopting the new logo and its background.

A fan asks about Li-Ning’s newest product line, wondering if they carry a woman’s size. Li-Ning then points out which shoes are for men and women in the new line.

A fan is curious if Li-Ning will sign on tennis players for future promotions. Li-Ning responds that they already have deals with international and Chinese tennis players and lists them.

A fan makes an inquiry on sponsorship for an activity that fits with Li-Ning’s positioning. Li-Ning gives the fan an email address to send their plan to Li-Ning. Li-Ning thanks the fan for their support and says they will consider their plan.

A fan makes a complaint about the sizing and shape of Li-Ning shoes. Li-Ning responds by asking the fan to provide details on the problem and will redirect them to the sales department to resolve the issue.

As mentioned, some fans will share their personal life with Li-Ning. One fan makes a wedding announcement on the Li-Ning brand page, and Li-Ning gives them a big congratulations!

15


A general guide to dialogue flow in resolving an issue/crisis

Do you want to respond?

Positive

Yes Yes

Yes No

Yes

No

Yes

Yes

Yes No

No

No

No

Yes Yes

No

Negative

No Response

Leave a well-thought

response

Thank the person

Can you add value?

Assess the message

Evaluate the purpose

Unhappy customer?

Are the facts correct?

Appropriately and carefully correct the

facts

Take reasonable actions to fix the issue and let customer know

Does customer need more information?

Explain what is being done to correct the

issue

Ignore and monitor complaint

Dedicated complainer?

Are the facts correct?

Seeking attention?

Is the problem being fixed?

Responding to negative feedback and communicating with brand fans during a crisis

During a crisis, companies should take a calm approach

and avoid panicking or lashing out. While interacting with

fans, praise and criticism are two sides of the same coin.

Once negative feedback or a latent crisis emerges, the

brand should actively respond with positive feedback as

best as it can, listen to fans’ opinions, and then works to

resolve the crisis in a timely manner. Below is the general

procedure for resolving social media crises.

Quickly gain brand fans

Promoting Your Brand PageAttracting fans

from the brand page to your store

· Social Ads: Social ads provide exposure and clicks, but more importantly they enable users to spread the advertisement themselves. Creative advertisements and user interactive features (sharing, liking, voting, downloading, attending, one-click purchase, etc.) can act as a trigger for word-of-mouth marketing.

The brand page and advertisements should include sharing functions for fans, such as the “like” button, to enhance promotion. Sharing features provide greater exposure for your brand. The more fans the company has, the more advertisement exposure increases and the higher the ROI. Also, Flash Box

allows users to directly interact in advertisements and post flash content in the news feed.

· Application encoding: Renren offers users with a number of social game apps and provides space for ad placements in each game. Companies can make use of the popularity of

certain apps to guide fans to their brand page. Your company can use the free game app and infuse advertisements into the game. Dell placed an advertisement into the popular Renren Restaurant app, and within four days attracted 104,398 new fans with 38,893 joining in one day alone.

· Integrate with other digital communication channels: You can use Renren brand page to post information from other platforms such as Sina Weibo. Conversely, you can use other platforms to advertise your Renren brand page, for example by adding a button on your company website.· Using offline communication channels: You can provide the address for your company’s Renren brand page on other promotional items such as coupons, brand publications and printed advertisements, and invite them to follow the brand on Renren.

· Search engine optimization (SEO): Brand Page search engine optimization is similar to having a good URL; choosing a good name, description and keywords are essential for the success of the page.

17


Integrating online and offline activities

Closing the gap: let fans take the lead in offline events “Renren LBS” motivates fans to shop

In November 2010, Renren released “Renren LBS”, a

location based service for mobile phone users. Using its

large number of mobile users, “Renren LBS” is a powerful

tool for social, local, mobile (SoLoMo) technology. Case study: Li-Ning is more than just an online friendSocial media provides a way to maintain

connections for users and brands, but relations

should not be limited to the internet. Social media

gives brands and fans an opportunity to meet in

person and build real relationships. Li-Ning invited

brand page fans to attend an offline rebranding

event. Attendees were given a voucher for limited

edition Full-String line running shoes, met with

the designers of Li-Ning’s Cross-Border line,

and interacted with Play designer Rei Kawakubo

and illustrator Filip Pagowski. Brand fans were

able to witness Li-Ning’s brand in action, and

many attendees also had their own personal

experiences with Li-Ning. One member of the Li-

Ning sponsored Tsinghua University shooting team

was in attendance and shared his experience with

the brand. Li-Ning also selected a few attendees

and had them share experiences that changed their

lives. Videos of their stories were posted on Li-

Ning’s website and SNS site for the company’s 20th

anniversary celebration.

Case study: Master Kong Daily C ‘check-in and win a drink’In June 2011, Master Kong Daily C used “Renren

LBS” and Sina Weibo’s LBS service in 16 cities for

a new beverage promotion. Mobile phone users

could log on to the LBS service at any of the 39

drink sample locations in China and instantly

receive event information and coupons. Once a

user successfully checked-in, the system would

send a news feed post to their friends. Within 12

days, over 10,000 users checked-in and over 90%

of participants exchanged their coupons for drinks;

60% of users checked-in via Renren.

Tip: If you want to use “Renren LBS” to attract

customers to the store or an event, don’t forget to

also promote it on the brand page. The brand page

provides a forum for users to meet before going to

the event.

Case study: Watsons’ strategy for developing opinion leadersDuring early stages, the brand page should set

up a strategy to develop opinion leaders. Watsons

monitored and evaluated fan participation levels,

and developed evaluation standards as the

number of fans increased. Based on data analysis,

Watsons discovered which fans were opinion

leaders for the brand. These fans had relatively

similar characteristics: as a group, they were active,

possessed a high understanding of personal care

and Watsons products, and were willing to help

other fans by posting and responding to comments.

Watsons fostered dialogue and designed special

interactive events for these active users, including a

competition to determine the “best commentator”

on its brand page. Through material and verbal

encouragement, these loyal and active fans

became opinion leaders for Watsons.

Finding and engaging opinion leadersFinding and engaging opinion leaders is key in developing

a brand page. Opinion leaders provide reliable brand

testimonials, and are often more effective at interacting

with other fans than the company itself. There is a number

of effective methods to discover and foster opinion

leaders.

Use daily observations and analysis to find the most active fans

It is easy to find that there are a few particularly active

fans on the brand page when you conduct your daily

maintenance or use analytical tools. The company should

pay attention to this group of fans and learn their interests

and behavior. It is important to give these fans extra

encouragement because they are likely to influence other

fans. By doing so, you will help build brand loyalty and

these fans will gradually develop into opinion leaders.

Develop opinion leaders based on marketing goals

Spontaneously developed opinion leaders have their

own personalities. However, if the company wants to

have some opinion leaders precisely convey corporate

information, it can actively cultivate these types of

fans. Employees, for example, often have the greatest

understanding of company ideals and goals. By having

real employees convey company viewpoints and

communicating with others through a personal social

media account, content becomes more credible for other

fans.

Use celebrities or grassroots figures who have a tone consistent with the company message

Celebrities have an obvious and powerful effect in media.

The company can invite a celebrity with an image and

persona similar to the brand to participate in an online

event. With continued celebrity support, the levels of

fans will increase and negative comments tend to drop as

spokespeople lend credibility through endorsement.

19


Using your brand page to increase salesRenren provides brands with a platform for communication

with fans, and in this self-defined space companies can

post physical store information or promotion activities on

the brand page. The key is figuring out how to generate fan

interest and transform it into sales.

Case study: How Dell sells PCs on RenrenTo facilitate sales, Dell moved its entire flagship

store onto its Renren brand page. Currently, Dell

maintains daily interaction with over 730,000 fans.

Keeping close ties with fans has generated real

sales.

Building a flagship store

In order to

encourage fans

to interact with

the Dell brand

page, Dell set

up a flagship

store on its

brand page.

Fans can use coupons to buy products from the

online flagship store, gather product information or

talk with sales associates.

Building up a network

Accompanying

the flagship

store, Dell

also set up an

online “campus

ambassador”

page. Dell

posted

company agent information directly on the brand

page which allows users to click on an icon and

enter each ambassador’s personal page. On the

page, users can make inquiries, interact, and make

appointments.

Exclusive offers for fans

After amassing

fans through its

representative-

led activities,

Dell initiated

a series of

exclusive

offer events through the company’s brand page.

In December, 2010, Dell launched a Christmas

promotion combining an interactive game on their

brand page with a coupon promotion, marking the

first time coupons and an interactive event were

combined on Renren. The event attracted many

first-time fans to the page. Users played onsite

games and earned points. Fans then converted

their points into coupons for Dell products.

Turning relationships into sales

In April 2011,

Dell launched

the “Dell

Money Jar”

program. The

event took

advantage of

Renren’s real-

life user relationships and converted them into

actual sales. “Dell Money Jar” encouraged fans to

use Renren to earn points and buy Dell products.

Fans could complete tasks and gain the support of

others to earn credits and then convert them into

coupons. After 15 weeks, Dell gathered 125,179

new fans and successfully sold 3,887 computers,

generating over $US2.88 million. Most surprising

is that over 300 of the computers sold through the

event were high-end gaming laptops—this reflects

the purchasing power and brand recognition of

social media users.

measured by simply adding impressions and clicks. This

standard for Social Advertising must take into account the

secondary transmission effects of users disseminating

brand messages, as well as the new fans earned across Paid,

Earned and Owned meida.

Brand recognition, preference, pre-orders and recommendations

Nielsen examined the results of several brands’

advertisement placements on Renren and noticed that the

exposure and page views originating from word-of-mouth

had a key influence on the brand and sales. Word-of-mouth

has an obvious impact on brand recognition, consumer

preference, pre-orders and recommendations that surpasses

paid advertisement placements.

The value of brand fans

Apart from word-of-mouth, companies are particularly

interested in the value of brand fans. Nielsen released a

report on the consumer value of 50 companies’ brand fans

to help companies precisely estimate the value of each fan.

Synchronizing Renren’s brand page statistical report system

with Nielsen’s findings allows companies to more effectively

gauge the value of fans and better operate their Renren

brand page.

Measuring return on investment (ROI)Many companies still use traditional methods of measuring

ROI by using cost per mile (CPM) and cost per click (CPC)

in social media. Actually, the value of social media should

not be strictly limited to counting the number of clicks and

views; there are also hidden values such as word-of-mouth

exchanges and the inherent value of fans.

Measuring the value of social media

In November, 2010 Renren released “Renren Effect -

Standard Metrics for SNS Social Advertising” as a way to

measure the values of Paid, Free and Owned Media.

This model quantifies word-of-mouth exposure and view

totals as a factor in ROI. Renren Effect shows that in social

networking site real relationships are able to develop

into a unique social advertising and communications

mechanism and enables each fan to become a potential

ambassador for the brand. Companies can pay for

advertisement placement, establish free word-of-mouth

exchanges through fans, and also use their brand page as

a standalone advertising entity.

The value of an Internet Advertising can no longer be

Measuring the Results of Your Brand Page

The input-output measuresof social media marketing

Enhanced effects for different social-ads

Ad recollection

Based on 10 brands on Renren

Ad content recollection

Brand recognition

Brand preference

Brand pre-orders

Brand recommen-dations

21


MSL China regularly publishes Executive Whitepapers with insightsand comments on trends, the industry and society as a whole.To get information from MSL China or to subscribe to futurewhitepapers, as well as to contact us for any other matter, please sendus an e-mail on [email protected] call us +86 21 5169 9311 (SH) or +86 10 8573 0688 (BJ).

MSL China Executive WhitepaperApril 2012Copyright ® MSL China

Documents

MSL China & renren.com: Anyone Could Be Your Brand Ambassador