4. Social Media – Building a
Relationship with Customers
Create Official
Twitter
RalphLauren.com www.facebook.com/Ra
lphLauren
By using social media, PRL will connect and build relationships with their customers
6. Twitter – Get Involved
Use Twitter for:
•Updates on new products,
sales, events, etc.
•Integrate with Facebook page
– encourage followers to visit
•Exclusive discounts for
followers
•Q&A sessions with RL
designers
8. What Is Everyone
Saying?
Social Media
Monitoring & Blogger
Outreach:
Track all profiles
using application like
HootSuite.com
Google Alerts
9. Success or Failure?
Google Analytics – Website Traffic
Likes on Facebook
Followers on Twitter
Comments on Blogs
Buzz on the Internet
10. Cost - What We Really Care About
Budget:
• Facebook = Free!
• Twitter = Free!
• Google Analytics =
Free!
• SMM = Free!
• Costs: The Facebook
Photo Contest +Blog
Giveaways =
$20,000-$32,000/year
• Wages for Social
Media Team
Timeline:
• Social Media
platforms need to be
used continuously
throughout the year
• The only timeline
suggestion = Facebook
Photo Contest (4 times
per year, coordinated
with each season)
12. Photo Credits
• http://www.seasonsclothing.co.uk/menswear/polo-ralph-lauren - 1st slide picture
• http://www.eurbanista.com/ralph-lauren-american-classic/ - 2nd slide source
• http://www.freelegaladvicehelp.com/business-lawyer/international-
business/index.html - 3rd slide (challenges)
• http://www.simplyzesty.com/category/twitter/ - 4th slide twitter logo
• http://technorati.com/blogging/article/facebook-posting-trips-up-woman-in/ - 4th slide
facebook logo
• http://kelepsodesignstudio.blogspot.com/2010/10/faux-polo-by-kelepso.html - 4th
slide ralph Lauren logo
• http://cometbranding.com/blog/tag/social-media-for-business/ - 5th slide facebook
logo
• http://technorati.com/blogging/article/trouble-deciding-who-to-follow-on/ - 6th slide
twitter picture
• http://xnetcc.net/ - 7th slide blog icon
• http://socialwants.com/5-step-free-social-media-monitoring-process/ - 8th slide –
social media monitoring
• http://www.integrityonlinemarketing.com/internet_marketing.html - 9th slide - online
success
• http://fatosoda.seesaa.net/article/139097358.html?googlesorgu=ralph%20lauren
%20sunglasses%20mens%20photos – final slide photo
Editor's Notes
Notes: Ralph Lauren is in the retail business – primarily known for the clothing. Also known as Polo Ralph Lauren, the company is primarily involved in the designing, marketing, and distribution of up-scale lifestyle products including:
Men, women, and children’s apparel
Various accessories
Men’s and women’s fragrances
Home furnishings
PRL is a global leaders. Major strengths of the company include:
Very strong portfolio of global luxury lifestyle brands
Wide-spread distribution channel
Dedicated design staff
Challenges:
PRL is facing a falling steam of revenue from the wholesale and licensing segment. Performance in this area has been declining, which means lowers revenues for the company and declining profit margins
Increasing competition. PRL needs to keep track of changing consumer trends in order to stay competitive and be a global market leader. With competition at an all time high, it is important for PRL to differentiate themselves from competitors and find new, unique ways to connect with their customers
Goals:
1. PRL wants to continue to be a global market leader in all segments of the company. With that being said, an important opportunity that PRL needs to capitalize on is internet retail and the use of social media. Internet has become a preferred means of shopping among customers. PRL needs to grow and maintain a strong web presence through the use of social media and interactive web.
Social Media Overall Campaign Ideas:
Ralph Lauren does have a facebook page already that is very interactive. They have several different activities that can get the customers personall involved. They also have video links to their unique an innovative fashion shows (4-D fashion show for example). Want to use Facebook to its full potential and get the customers and loyal brand followers involved more with the company
Ralph Lauren does not have an official USA twitter page. This is something that they need to do ASAP. It is another way to interact with the customers and build personal relationships. There are many benefits of using a Twitter which will be discussed later.
RalphLauren.com is a great website with interactive properties and they need to continue to utilize this web platform for retail and information for customers. Also, PRL needs to promote its other social media pages on the website and visa-versa, so traffic on each of these different platforms is directed to the other sites.
Notes:
Ralph Lauren already has a great facebook page that is kept current and has lots of different things for customers to do. However, the page could be a little more interactive for the fans. There is a “build your own video” page where customers can create a video using video clips already provided and make it personal to their own style. There is also links for fashions shows done by Ralph Lauren (4-D Fashion, for example). It is obvious that the page is updated frequently and kept current, which is important with any use of social media.
The only thing I would suggest that Ralph Lauren do with their Facebook page is using Facebook to its full potential. Facebook gives companies to get their customers involved on a personal level, and RL needs to do just that. My suggestion is the “Ralph Lauren Photo Contest”. Details are:
Do 4 different photo contests per year (one each season). As an example, I will describe one for the Holiday season. Customers and fans of RL can submit photos of themselves, families, pets, etc. wearing Ralph Lauren apparal in unique locations or just fun pictures. The RL team can decide together the best 5-10 photos, and then post those pictures for the public to view at the RL Facebook page. Customers can vote on their favorites, and whichever photo gets the most votes will win an all expenses paid trip for 2 to the next RL Fashion Show or event. This gives the customers a chance to get involved and show how much they love RL, and it helps the company build relationships with their customers. This could be done each season (winter, spring, summer, fall) for fairly low costs.
Ralph Lauren does not have an official Ralph Lauren twitter account for the US…there is a Ralph Lauren Rugby account, but no general Ralph Lauren or POLO twitter page.
RL needs to be involved with Twitter ASAP:
This is another way to connect with customers, especially the younger generation and it is also very informal and fun.
This gives the company a chance to be involved in the “conversation” – they can see what customers are saying about them, and respond.
Ideas for the twitter account could include:
*Updates on the latest products, sales, special events, etc.
*The ability to integrate all the social media platforms – encourage Twitter followers to visit the RL Facebook page as well as RalphLauren.com
*Offering discounts (online promo codes, etc.) to loyal followers – this involves the customers and encourages them to follow you
*Discussions or Q&A sessions with the designers, or Ralph Lauren himself – this is a very popular thing on Twitter that a lot of celebrities do – it is just another way for customers to connect on another level with the company
There is a couple a Ralph Lauren blogs, this one in particular. It is hard to say if the blogs are ran from inside the company, or by outside people who are just blogging for their own interests. It the blog is not ran by RL, I think it is important for the company to create a blog. This will just take the Twitter information to a new level – there can be pictures, articles, and customers can have the ability to comment about things and have discussions with one another about products they like.
*One thing that the blog could do is do free giveaways – this is something a lot of blogs do. All it usually involves is customers commenting on specific posts, and after a specified amount of time the blogmaster will chose (at random) a comment and send them a free gift – usually something pretty small. This encourages customers to visit the blog often to find out about contests and also encourages them to comment and get involved with the company.
When using social media and the web, it is really important to use some sort of social media monitoring strategies. It is important to know what people are saying about the company on blogs, Facebook, Twitter, and just on the internet universe in general. It is very easy to track and monitor what people are saying, and it is also very inexpensive.
Monitor what the Twitter universe is saying - reach out to unhappy customers, or customers that report problems or have negative attitude. Ask them what can be done to fix the problem, and maybe figure out why the problem happened in the first place. This will build brand equity
Set up a “google alert” for Ralph Lauren, Polo Ralph Lauren, etc. and receive emails direct to your inbox with the latest information on the internet that mentions your specified keywords. You can have this done several times/day, live as it happens, or just once a week – whatever your preference. This is another way for the company to know what is the viral buzz, if there is any, around their company
Monitoring social media and blogger outreach is essential for building and maintaining a brand image and brand equity
Measuring an online campaigns effectiveness is important and necessary in order to make adjustments to the campaign
1. Using Google Analytics to measure website traffic
