Business | Media Culpa

Social media for property developers

Now and then I’m asked if there is a line of business that shouldn’t use social media, or if there is a type of business that doesn’t belong on Facebook. While I’m sure that you can find reasons for not engaging in these channels, I always fail to come up with an example of an industry that shouldn’t participate in social media. I would argue that most businesses can reach at least some of their stakeholders, be it customers, employees, rectruiting candidates or partners, via social networks, blogs or other social tools. Why do I bring this up? Well, because I find it so interesting when I stumble upon a social media case story from an industry that isn’t your usual suspect of IT or consumer products.

Social media for property developers in Turkey
The property development company Signature International is building Horizon Sky, a community of apartments, penthouses and villas in the bay of Gulluk, near Bodrum, Turkey. In a project of this size, customers and potential customers of course have a great need for information and a lot of questions will arise along the way. In this case, a Facebook group that initially was started by one of the buyers has become as a key source for information and discussions.

“Set up by an entrepreneurial buyer back in 2008, the FaceBook Group has now become a surprisingly important part of our business. With almost 340 members, each at a different stage in the Horizon Sky buying process, there’s always an ‘expert’ online to handle queries and as a developer we’re delighted to observe the debate,” says Daniel Dias at Signature International.

The group includes almost 500 photos, several videos and close to 50 different discussion topics.

“The most fascinating lesson that we have learned is what really concerns our clients. Whilst we assumed that delays in the construction timeline or minor contractual changes would cause the greatest debate, we were wrong. Most postings relate to communication. Providing everyone is in the loop, regularly informed and aware of latest on-site progress, the Group tends to be happy. So we have to make this a priority for Signature International,” Dias continues.

While this is by no means rocket science, it’s a good example of how almost any business can use simple tools like Facebook groups to engage with customers, and to connect customers to each other.

German companies block access to social networks

Two weeks ago, I blogged about how German car maker Porsche was blocking employees’ access to social networks such as Facebook and Xing for fears of industrial espionage. Yesterday, German weekly Wirtschaftswoche reported that more and more German companies are blocking social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter.

“For the majority of our employees many external social media sites are not accessible at work for security reasons,” a spokesperson for Commerzbank said.

Other companies such as Volkswagen, E.On and HeidelbergCement have banned Facebook and Twitter at work for some or most employees. While security reasons may be the most cited argument to block access to social networks, other reasons include productivity loss and increased strain on internal networks as employees download or stream large video files at work.

Footnote: The official Volkswagen page on Facebook has 484,000 fans.

Porsche blocks employee access to social networks

Porsche AG is blocking employees’ access to social networks such as Facebook and Xing, according to an article in Automotive News. The reason is to shield the sports-car maker from industrial espionage.

“Porsche is concerned that foreign intelligence services may be spying on workers posting “confidential” information on Facebook and other Web-based services, exposing the automaker to unwanted observation”, said Dirk Erat, a Porsche spokesman.

“These services imply a certain threat potential,” Erat said. Barring access at workstations to sites including EBay Inc. reflects “principal company policy,” he said.

I think this is wrong on so many levels. Employees that want to access Facebook at work, will circumvent such decisions by using their private smartphones and then the employer has even less control over what information is being shared. And engaged employees are great brand ambassadors that often share positive messages via social media to their networks. If you block them from doing that, they will not only be less inclined to feel good about their jobs, but they will also not be able to support the marketing of the brand.

Then there is the issue of Porsche’s own presence on Facebook. The company has more than 800,000 fans on its fanpage. It’s kind of contradictory to use a social platform to communicate with engaged consumers and then block your own staff from the same site. And as you would expect, negative comments are already starting to appear on the fanpage.

Read stopblocking.org for more information about organizations that block access to social media.

PS. One day I will own a Porsche. One day…

Footnote:
Image credit: kevbo1983 on Flickr.

IKEA victim of Facebook hoax

A while back, more than 200,000 Swedes were fooled to join a Facebook group that promised to donate 2 SEK per fan to the victims of the Haiti earth quake. Only problem was that once the group reached the goal, it changed name and added some really outrageous content. I was somewhat amazed that all these people didn’t see through that scam because when something seems too good to be true, it often is.

The latest scam is a Facebook campaign by IKEA that promises to give you a 1,000 USD gift card if you became a fan of the Swedish company. Of course, this is not really a campaign that is really run by IKEA. If you have any knowledge of the IKEA culture I’m convinced that you would agree that IKEA would never give money away in a stunt like this.

IKEA spokesperson Mona Astra Liss says the “false offer” is not some half-baked publicity stunt by IKEA. “It’s absolutely not a publicity stunt and absolutely not endorsed by IKEA,” she says. She adds that Facebook performs closed investigations of scams, so IKEA doesn’t know who’s behind the hoax.

Tags: ikea, facebook, ikea. Ping.

80 Swedish businesses on Twitter

I started a wiki a long time ago with the ambition to build a repository for Nordic businesses and their use of social media. Now I have finally started to fill it with information and I would be very glad if more people would consider adding links to good cases from corporate use of social media in Sweden, Denmark, Norway, Finland and Iceland. To edit the Social Media Wiki you just sign up for an account at Wikidot.com and then join my wiki with the password “mediaculpa”.

Among the pages that I have started to build, the most extensive list is Swedish businesses on Twitter. It already contains 80 companies (or to be more precise, 80 Twitter accounts, since some companies run multiple accounts).

Tags: social media, twitter, wiki, twitter, sociala medier, wiki, twitter, digital pr. Ping.

Twitter etiquette for businesses

Swedish businesses are starting to explore Twitter with varying degree of success. SMS loan company Folkia recently launched its Twitter account and quickly added several hundred users to follow, something that was discussed on Jaiku. It also published only promotional information about their own services and a few days later the account got suspended.

The same strategy was used by Myspace Nordic which added some 2,000 people in a few days. This procedure is called “aggressive following” (a large number of people are followed in a short amount of time) and is one reason (update: new link) a Twitter account may get suspended.

With these incidents in mind, here’s 10 advice for businesses that are about to engage on Twitter (parts of this is also published in Dagens Industri today).

Be clear about who the sender is. Is this the official Twitter channel then make that clear. If you can specify who is doing the tweeting it will be easier to get a more personal relationship with the company and it will also set the right expectations.
Twitter is a great tool for listening to customers and for dialogue in general. Answer direct questions and comments that are directed to the company on Twitter.
Give your followers something of value for following you. Share your knowledge, both from your own company but also from other sources. Excessive linking to your own site might be considered spam.
Retweet good tips from others. It shows your are willing to give cred to others and that you are up to date on things within your line of work.
Use common sense. All information (apart from Direct Messages) are public so normal confidentiality rules still apply.
Respect the privacy of others. Just because you have heard that transparency is the new black, that doesn’t mean it is ok to tweet about colleagues without their approval.
Add other sources of information to your Twitter feed if you think they are of value to your followers. It might be press releases, Flick photos, YouTube videos or promotional offers. But be careful, a feed with just press releases is extremely boring.
Don’t ask for retweets, unless you are posting a question you want many to see. That’s something you deserv by posting interesting information.
Don’t start following hundreds of people at once. It is called aggressive following and is one reason your account may be suspended by Twitter. But adding a small number of interesting people may be a good way to start building your network.
Avoid ghost twittering if you can. You can support the person in many ways but in the end the words should be his/her own.

Here are some examples of Swedish businesses on Twitter (many taken from a list on Webbsverige).

3
Acne
Björn Borg
Boxer
Dustin
Electrolux
Lantmännen
Pyramid
Rebtel
Scania Group
Skanska Group
Spotify
Tele2
Telia Sonera Services
Ving
Vulkan
Ängavallen