At Reebok, social media is becoming a pertinent way in which we do business. Seeing as our company is so dependent on this platform as a means of marketing and advertising, we strive to expose our company and employees to all types of social media. Our company has gained a lot of exposure and maintained a competitive advantage over other companies in the industry all by means of social media. Furthermore, the use of social media creates a lot of opportunity and strengths for Reebok such as increased brand awareness, increased traffic to website, better understanding of customers perceptions of our brand, able to develop targeted marketing activities, etc.
The following link will direct you to Reebok's White Paper on Social Media: Reebok White Paper
Use of social media at companies like Reebok is very intuative. Just because, the nature of their business is mostly using the social media. Probably, Reebok (or similar companies like Nike, cloth merchandise, jewelley business, consulting etc) are the first ones to embrace social media openly. You might also feel that open culture at your company.
ReplyDeleteI am from manufacturing company background and can see a little conservativeness in social media approach. Of course, my company is staying with the market trend but it still lacks that openness.
Retailers that are looking to embrace the active consumer certainly must make use of the fast paced marketing advatages provided through social media. Since there is no direct measure of social media ROI, I am curious as to how companies such as Reebock, justify the cost of appointing someone internally to monitor and manage these sites. While the media is free, the cost of committing someone's time is not.
ReplyDeleteI like the reference that Reebok views Social Media as gift to embrace and use to the advantage of the company.
ReplyDeleteIt appears that Social Media has provided Reebok the opportunity to build communities with their fans and the sports they enjoy while building Reebok brand awareness.
Reebok can be kind of edgy, I think Social Media is too!
I can definitely see the immense value social media sites like Facebook and Twitter can provide Reebok. Using these sites to engage your target market must be a great way to increase brand awareness and communicate new product launches to consumers. I would imagine that in order to maximize the use of social media in your industry is it critical to be the first to launch new programs and interfaces. Have you seen this at Reebok with your Allure on Demand shopping experience?
ReplyDeleteSocial media to sports companies are becoming more essential. The reason is those companies' targeted consumers. Social media has made it easier for those companies to reach their consumers.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the post Caitlin!
Caitlyn, this is a nice summary of how Reebok uses various social media for marketing purposes. I was not able to detect any uses beyond marketing Reebok product. Does the company have any policy about how and what employees may share via social media? Do employees use social media platforms for internal communication and collaboration?
ReplyDeleteProfessor Kappenman,
ReplyDeleteI apologize for not including anything about social media policies within the company. I have conducted more research to provide you with concerning Reebok and social media.
At Reebok, we provide many employees with access to e-mail, the Internet, voice mail, as well as other electronic communication systems for the purpose of facilitating business communications and enhancing productivity. We expect employees to become well informed regarding the expectations of electronic communications and interactive media usage to create the most favorable environment for responsible use of technology. Electronic messages are company records, and we reserve the right to access, monitor, make copies of and disclose messages and information sent over any of the electronic communications systems. Reebok reserves the right to take appropriate disciplinary actions, including termination, in the event of any violation of this policy and/or misuse of the electronic communication systems. With that said, do not be fooled into thinking that e-mail is a completely secure means of communication. As with any form of communication, there is no guarantee of confidentiality. For this reason we recommend that you think twice before using e-mail or the Internet to transmit critical and/or confidential business or personal information. For all business e-mails sent to those people outside of the Company, you should add a footer stating that the information contained in the e-mail must be treated as confidential.
You should use e-mail and the Internet primarily for business purposes. Always exercise extreme caution when sending or receiving business information on the Internet or via email. You may use Reebok’s electronic communication systems for non-business (personal) purposes, but this should occur only occasionally, and it should not interfere with your job responsibilities or interfere with the function of your computer or Reebok’s network system. We trust that you will not abuse this privilege through excessive or inappropriate personal use and that you will exercise sound judgment. Any such personal use of Reebok’s electronic communication systems must be consistent with this and Reebok’s other policies.
Caitlin, I think you did a really great job of explaining how Reebok utilizes social media to their benefit.
ReplyDeleteTo go off of what Paige mentions above about companies not being able to measure ROI from social media - I think that there are many ways for organizations to measure success from social media sites, even if it is not monetary. If Reebok can measure how many hits per site they are getting, and how many downloads they see, then they know that it is effective and it may be worth putting someone on a job just to manage their social media use.