Generating sales through social media in Singapore: Case studies

Here's the thing about social media: many professionals perceive it as an interactive platform that allows for smooth communication, but not a viable option to increase sales or revenue.

That could not be further from the truth.

Seven in 10 businesses in Asia already have some sort of presence on social media — be it on Facebook, Twitter, or YouTube. And while many business owners see social media merely as an “interactive”, “fun” way to communicate with their audiences, the truth is that social media, when used purposefully, can be a very powerful marketing tool that should be incorporated into the core marketing plan.

Is It Expensive?

Many people think that social media requires a lot of investment to turn a campaign viral and create sufficient impact to increase sales.

It is possible, however, to achieve an increase in your bottom line directly from affordable social media marketing programmes. It starts with using the right system and having the right process.

The C³ System

The C³ System is a three-step governing framework that provides directions to social media campaigns to generate revenue in the most efficient and profitable way possible.

The three steps include: listening to Conversations, increasing the Community, and engaging the Customers.  These steps come together to cover a brand’s interaction with their audience, from start to end.

Beauty by Nature

Beauty by Nature is a multi-brand beauty product retailer with several stores in premium malls in Singapore. It also distributes its beauty products from over 300 outlets across the country. Using the right social media marketing strategy, Beauty by Nature has seen an increase of 34% in footfall to its stores and a 23% increase in sales.

In the first step, it started listening in on conversations. This involved using social media monitoring tools such as ThoughtBuzz to find out what consumers discussed when talking about their hair problems in general. Was it hair loss? Was it dandruff or damaged hair?

Through this, the company realised that itchy scalps were one of the most prominent and talked-about topics in hair conversations in the region. This was valuable information for the company that has products and solutions for itchy scalp.

But before any product was actively promoted on social media, it was necessary to go into the next step, which was growing the community. Beauty by Nature has a Facebook page and the next critical step was to ensure that the brand was able to reach out to the right audience — people with itchy scalp problems.

The Facebook page was used to gather not just ladies who are above 25 years of age, but those who suffered from itchy scalps. To do so, Beauty by Nature leveraged Facebook’s interest graph, a Facebook advertising tool to reach individuals, who have subtly indicated on their Facebook profile that they had scalp itching problems.

Once the target customers were identified, the next step was to offer a great value proposition. Many people may think that a great value proposition needs to be something huge, like a $20,000 cash prize or even a car, but actually it does not need to be a costly investment, as long as the value proposition has a highly perceived value to the target audience.

Cosmetic Brand

An international contact lens brand was the beneficiary of the C³ System. Their social media objective was to create awareness for not just a single product, but for a series of sub-brands under the same product. The wide range of products offered many options for contact lens users, but the huge amount of products on offer caused consumers to be unsure of the individual benefits, affecting their buying decision.

In order to educate consumers on the different benefits, ThoughtBuzz was used to collect data on the consumers’ sentiments towards the brand (Conversations). Results showed that most of the connected consumers talk about the brand in the context of purchase intent, followed by fashion-related topics like colours and make-up.

It also proved that consumers were actively discussing which sub-brands were better, providing an opportunity for the brand to engage with their consumers.

The brand’s community was big enough, so there was no need to include expansion as part of the critical strategy. The campaign direction then moved towards engaging the consumers.

Research showed that consumers were most interested in eye-related makeup and eye-care tips. Based on this, the brand released content linking each sub-product to its unique feature.

At that point, consumers were going online to search for solutions to makeup and eye-care tips, and no one was providing information of the sort. The brand came in and satisfied the consumers’ need for the product, educating them on the benefits of the sub-brands.

The brand also ran a “Guess-this-Product” campaign (Customers), where participants had to submit their email addresses. Using this new database, participants were offered exclusive membership and garnered 150 fans purely form word of mouth. Overall, $2550 was saved in email acquisition costs.

3M Singapore

3M Singapore saw major success with the C³ System during the haze in Singapore last year. 3M made good use of the C³ System to understand what the public was saying about the haze, subsequently augmenting their authority in the market and generating a lot of value.

3M’s key objective was to inform and educate the public on the measures they can take to avoid falling sick, so they kick-started their campaign by listening to online chatter (Conversations) regarding the haze.

They found out that the public was unsure of what they could do to ensure their own health, and were asking of a lot of questions regarding the types of masks they should get.

Based on the information 3M got from research, they released content that educated the public on the haze and related issues. Examples include an infographic on the different types of masks available and which ones work, as well as a FAQ on various haze-related issues the public is concerned with.

By providing information that no one else was providing on the social media landscape at that point, 3M managed to gain a lot of traction from their content and slowly increased their fan base (Community), presence, and authority on the internet as a reliable source of information.

Now that 3M’s reputation was improved, campaign moved to its final stages: engaging their Customers. 3M replied queries on their Facebook page diligently, encouraging their fans to continue the interaction and thus coming across as a relatable and trustworthy brand.

During the campaign, various popular online influencers took the initiative to give out free masks to those who needed them. 3M went one step further by recognising their efforts, giving out customised gifts to them and personally thanking each one of them. These influencers then showcased these gifts, which had 3M’s logo on them, online. On a lean budget of just $2000, 3M managed to gain $409 000 in media value.

CTC Travel

February is always a hectic month for travel agencies, as the NATAS Travel Fair is a huge influence on those looking to travel. CTC Travel is a travel agency veteran that has been around for two and half decades, and yet the increase in travel agencies and their promotions within this short period in February showed that even industry giants like CTC Travel were not immune to a declining reach and industry awareness.

As with the previous cases, CTC Travel listened to online chatter regarding travel (Conversations), and they found out that younger people are increasingly interested in going on a free-and-easy drive tour in Australia.

Following that, CTC Travel created a Facebook Page, “CTC Travel to Australia”, and released content about how it is like to travel to Australia. The content was well received by the younger audience and both the travel Page and official CTC Travel Page saw an increase in fans (Community).

CTC Travel slowly built excitement towards their own travel fair, and when they finally made their sales pitch, they saw a 25% increase in walk-ins and $20 000 in revenue, a ROI of 167%.

Social media has evolved from a simple platform of communication to a viable (and very powerful) marketing tool. To ignore its influence would be a huge mistake.