Connecting consumers in the virtual loop

Robin Jaffray.

The virtual-in-store loop

Bringing social media and physical stores together offers consumers a holistic experience of brands and products, and retail environments that provide a physical home for virtual communities will strengthen brand impact. Nokia has created 'maemo lounges' in some of its larger stores. Linux and mobile technology advocates online, together with Nokia staff enthusiasts, were encouraged to explore the possibilities of maemo - a new open-source operating system for mobile computers - on the web, and then congregate in the maemo lounges for further collaboration and exchange. Similarly, the School of Life on London's Marchmont Street offers a variety of programmes and services concerned with how to live wisely and well, with a seminar room in the bookshop's basement. The concept markets itself actively on a variety of social media from Facebook to Flickr, which allows the brand's fans to become involved with both the bank of digital content it creates, and the 'thinkers' - authors, artists and academics - involved in delivering courses.

People need things to talk about, so give them something to remember in the real world. Seeding branded content is all very well, and incentivising online participation is a useful strategy. However, brands with a physical retail presence have a huge advantage in giving consumers moments of physical surprise and delight. When customers in Apple stores realised they didn't have to queue at the till to buy something, it became very talkable. Vodka brand Smirnoff go a step further by 'creating delight' through hosting branded experiences (such as entertainment provider Electric Cabaret) at venues, then helping their consumers spread the word through Facebook and other social media.

It might be useful to let consumers in a retail environment see what others are saying on the web. For instance, new Canadian wireless provider Wind includes screens displaying comments and suggestions from the public in their retail stores. The content is collected from the brand's online community forum (www.WINDMobile.ca), where visitors are invited to discuss issues relating to the mobile market and also the brand itself.

Simple tools such as addict-o-matic and netvibes can aggregate the online conversation around your brand and show people what is being said. In fact, letting customers say what they think in open online environments - such as Twitter - can be tremendously powerful for creating positive sentiment, as long as brands are seen to listen and then actively respond. Electronics brand Best Buy's 'twelpforce' is a Twitter real-time customer service platform that allows customers both to have an online conversation and to see how well other customers' needs are being addressed. Best Buy is a master at making its social media commitment talkable in its own right.

At the heart of communication

Brands and retailers need to connect with their consumers in social media to create the product or experience. Co-creation might seem like a slightly tired concept - but making customers feel like they are part of a programme of betterment can still reap dividends. MyStarbucksIdea is an owned media community that encourages people to suggest ideas to improve the stores and the service of the brand. The community members decide what is a good idea and what is not. Suggestions have included the brand offering classes on coffee, healthier breakfasts, softer music and more plugs for laptops.

Another of our clients, Unilever, set up a co-creation online community on the Mindbubble platform, which facilitates consumer feedback to companies through allowing participants - women aged 25+ - to collaborate and exchange ideas. Advocates are paid in kind for their contributions. Other brands that have created a presence on Mindbubble are pharmaceutical company Boots, Coca-Cola and Skinny Cow. For Skinny Cow, 12 Mindbubble advocates worked in collaboration with the brand and its research teams - as well as creatives from the advertising agency Farm - to help launch a new advertising campaign.

As a general principle, people are more interested in the opportunities a brand opens up to them than the actual products - it's more about what they can do with a brand's 'stuff' than the 'stuff' itself. This is the essence of brand experiences, and also of communities of interest, which are vital to a successful word-of-mouth platform. Mothercare's Gurgle.com - a successful mother-and-baby social networking site - and the photography movement Lomography are good examples of situations where people are more interested in an activity the brand enables than the products sold.

Backed by Mothercare and social networking and digital marketing experts MediaBurn, Gurgle.com is a joint venture that allows parents to create their own online community, share experiences and gather expert information. Mothers register to access free content personalised to their pregnancy week, meet and exchange tips with other mothers, create blogs to share thoughts about their pregnancy and be in with a chance to win monthly prizes. The popularity of Gurgle.com has grown rapidly, and towards the end of 2009 it was reported that the site had around 300 000 unique visitors a month and over 100 000 members who 'gurgle' regularly with each other.

Meanwhile, Lomography is brilliant at putting the artefacts - in this case, plastic film cameras - at the heart of the experience. However, it is in fact the 'cult' of Lomography's style of photography that fans buy into. Casual snapshot photography is the order of the day, characterised by over-saturated colours, off-kilter exposure and 'happy accidents'. Lomography has created a vast, vibrant online community based on this style, and the Lomography Gallery Stores, including sites in London and New York, have become destinations for their acolytes.

Mobile technology

The fact is that just about everyone's got at least one mobile phone. And if all one's customers are carrying a mobile phone around with them, and most of those devices are now able to access the web, the opportunity to connect social media with in-store experience is made infinitely easier. Customers can tune in to their social networks while they are shopping in physical spaces, and technologies like augmented reality apps, GPS-based services and QR codes (most prevalent in retail environments in Japan, but gaining popularity in other parts of the world) can help link the retail experience and online experience.

Free iPhone app Yowza uses a mobile phone's GPS location service to source store coupons in the shopper's surrounding area. Over 15 000 retailers in the US are participating and customers simply need to open their app when in-store and show the shop assistant at the cash desk their mobile coupon to redeem it. Meanwhile, mobile shopping adviser RetrevoQ - which operates from Twitter - provides instant advice and reviews on electronics goods for customers.

It is imperative to start planning the use or integration of mobile into shopper journeys - and we are going to see a lot more bridging technology from social media to point-of-purchase, with mobile at its heart.

Top tactics

By drawing on the best practices of word-of-mouth marketing, embracing technology and new techniques, and placing a retail experience at the heart of the conversation, brands can develop more interesting and effective marketing platforms. In conclusion, the six top tactics - which will help brands to move forward in this regard - are:

1. Seek out people online with advocacy skills suited to the brand or category.
2. Encourage them to become involved through engaging and original activity.
3. Stimulate broad consumer engagement across a variety of social media through genuinely interesting content and offer incentives, where appropriate.
4. Use a physical retail platform to stage branded experiences or moments of delight that give your customers something to talk about.
5. Stay actively involved, in real time, in the conversations. In addition, use these conversations as a way of identifying new advocates, new opportunities and new communities
6. Measure what you do and adapt your thinking based on what you have learnt.

The sign-off...

It is easy to forget that 'social' in social media does not mean just digital media. Retailers, and innovative brands at retail, have a unique opportunity to join the two activities - to create positive relationships and raise expectations online, and fulfil them with memorable experiences in the retail environment. It will be exciting to see how brands and retailers continue to close the loop between social media and the physical retail space.

Read Part 1 of Robin's "Closing the loop" series here.
Read Part 2 of Robin's "Closing the loop" series here.