Headstream launched “Social Brands 100 report”, we’re pleased to have ranked #4 overall, just behind big brands Dell, Nike Plus and Starbucks.
Quite an achievement to have been included in the list of 100 and to have pipped Best Buy UK #5 and Zappos #6 who are often used in case studies as brands who “are doing social well”.
Even better, is that we continue to be streaks ahead of others in our industry – further down the list you’ll find: O2 #35; Vodaphone #39; T-Mobile #42 and BT Care #91 – however in saying that, with several big telco brands missing from the top 100, they did well to be included in the list at all.
So what does being a “Social brand” mean?
Headstreams Social brands report says “A social brand is measured by its ability to engage with a connected people by demonstrating three important social principles, consistently and intrinsically, in all it does" which were: active listening, appropriate social behavious and creating win-win relationships – I think giffgaff continues to be a leading example of these things, we were built to be social and our business is constantly changing to adapt to changing customer needs.
Essentially ‘social tools’ such as Facebook, twitter, youtube, LinkedIn, blogs (like Ken’s tech tips), forums/communities (like moneysaving expert, mumsnet etc) and geo-location tools like Foursquare, Gowalla are changing how brands interact with their customers.
It used to be that you could only interact with a company within “their own space”, places that the brand owned (company website, in-store, call centre) or purchased (banner advertising, press ads, billboards etc). Accessibility and availability of these 'social tools' has led to a change of customer expectations - meaning businesses can no longer ignore customers interacting outside their traditional channels (website/call centre number/ shop floor) – they need to adapt their business to enable them to listen and engage with potential and existing customers.
According to ‘Unselling Social Media’ by Innoveer research “70% of customers would like Twitter to be an official customer service channel vs 25% six months ago, which is indicative of the increasing popularity of tools like Twitter.
Facebook reaches almost half of the UK population with over 30 million UK subscribers, 60% look at their profile daily, 90% weekly – Brands are still coming to grips of how influential Facebook has become, according to Creative feed 1 in 4 people have made a purchase via a brands Facebook page (you can order a giffgaff SIM or get help via our facebook page if you like). Equally brands are still working out how to interact with fans to create engagement within Facebook, at giffgaff one example of our fans getting was reaching 10k “likes” to include more minutes in our £10 goodybag, a great example of a win-win situation.
At giffgaff we’ve learnt along the way that we need to have an integrated approach to all our communities - you can’t just pick one social channel and ignore the rest. We completed a “Customer support and content” survey last year, it was interesting although not unsurprising, that over half (53%) wanted forum/community as a support channel. What was unexpected though was that 10% only used Facebook and 2% only use Twitter to find information/support from giffgaff – which demonstrates the need for a business to be flexible and that ‘one size’ communication doesn’t fit all. We’re continuing to make improvements to get the right and relevant messages (support and content) out to our customers and prospective customers across multiple channels.
Getting there. As all businesses as the moment will recognise, the way people interact with your brand is a changin and it isn't easy getting it right - we hope that by trying new things, listening to our members and making changes we’re getting it right most of the time.
We’re proud to have been recognised within this list of 100 great brands, to feature in the top 4 is extraordinary given we’re such a small team, testament to our continuing support from our amazing members who help provide customer support, ideas, occasional spelling and grammar checks and who spread the word through their status updates, blogs and good old pub conversations.
Thanks to Headstream for publishing your findings and for hosting the Panel discussion on Friday, it was great that giffgaff got a few mentions (follow the mentions on twitter #SB100 or Headstream blog)
With our continued support from our members, I reckon we can take the top spot next year.
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