The Sarota PR agency started providing social media services for SAPPHIRE with creating and maintaining the SAPPHIRE’s Polish division fan page on Facebook. Thanks to the achieved results, the client decided to commission the maintenance of its
Overview
The Sarota PR agency started providing social media services for SAPPHIRE with creating and maintaining the SAPPHIRE’s Polish division fan page on Facebook. Thanks to the achieved results, the client decided to commission the maintenance of its global Facebook community called SAPPHIRE Technology Club to the agency. SAPPHIRE decided to use the global fan page as an important brand communication channel supporting the marketing and PR activity performed so far. In order to do that, it was necessary to engage a professional agency. Starting from March 2011 – until today – Sarota PR has been fully maintaining the fan page (in English).
Objective
The main project objective is to use the potential of social media (Facebook in this case) for building the SAPPHIRE’s brand image and communicating with its fans. Using Facebook tools to interact with fans and provide them with interesting resources is aimed at building the image of SAPPHIRE as a brand which is open to its users and understands their needs and interests.
SAPPHIRE, as a manufacturer of mainly computer components (graphics cards, mainboards), is a brand that attracts customers interested in broadly-taken IT, especially in hardware for PCs. Apart from amateurs and everyday users of computer hardware, important part of the target group includes also IT professionals. The maintained fan page is assumed to attract and engage the above-mentioned profile of users in a community built around the SAPPHIRE brand and to constitute a supplementary channel for promoting the company’s products.
Communication strategy
The strategic principle of the project was to create a special connection between SAPPHIRE and the audience that would positively stand out in the context of their relationships with competitive brands. The strategic concept was expressed as a metaphor of a bar. According to it, the fan page should become a meeting place where you like to come back and invite your friends. It’s a theme bar where you can find information that’s relevant for its visitors. You can also freely talk with the bartender (i.e. the admin) – share your problems, seek help, or just have some fun. At SAPPHIRE Technology Club, everyone will find some entertainment in the form of games and contests. Motto of the strategy says: “There’s always good stuff at SAPPHIRE Technology Club!”
Accomplishment
In order to succeed in achieving the established goals, the project extensively uses the tools offered by Facebook.
– Posting
Current updates of the fan page’s status with the option to generate interactions. Notifying about product and technology novelties, the company’s promotional and sponsorship activity, reviews, industry highlights. Uploading videos and photos, announcing contests, creating surveys, and more.
– Graphics
Co-ordination of the fan page’s visual content – photo albums, welcome page, pictures and app icons, banners, ad graphics. Updating graphics for current Facebook-specific activities as well as for general company’s activity (such as new product launches).
Support and integration with company’s other communication channels – the website, YouTube channel and an independent community of SAPPHIRE fans – SAPPHIRE Select Club.
– Advertising
Designing and running advertising campaigns on Facebook regarding current actions performed at the fan page (for example contests) and specific products. Creation and optimization according to the schedule, copywriting, graphics, target adapted to company’s profile and planning the budget with current monitoring of the campaign performance.
– Contests
Designing, organizing and full maintainance of contests with awards for fans. Preparing competition concepts and methodologies, communication plan, schedule and dedicated applications. Organizing contests related with external events (for instance, a series of world’s greatest e-sport DreamHack tournaments) or just contests that are are an integral part of everyday life of the fan page (such as biweekly Manic Monday contests).
– Communication
Maintaining two-way interactions with fans, both on the Wall and through a special app. Replying to comments and questions.
– Applications
Creating and running fully functional apps for current activities (such as contests) or dedicated permanent apps. The latter include CardSelector which finds the best cards suited to user’s needs and enables to compare them. Another application of this kind is Contact Form used for sending comments and questions to a special mailbox from which answers are sent out.
– Monitoring
Permanent monitoring of activity on the fan page. Tracking statistics, running analyses and making conclusions.
Results
When SAROTA PR was assuming the fan page’s maintenance, the page had nearly 5000 fans. During a year and a half of the agency’s activity, the number of fans increased over 30 times, to more than 150,000. The number of views increased 20 times, to over 13 million. Over this period, posts were commented or liked over 60,000 times. The agency organized 25 contests and 11 advertising campaigns. These and other actions created an integrated community with a specific profile (PC hardware enthusiasts) with a large group of top contributors. When compared to fan pages of the most immediate SAPPHIRE’s competition, the SAPPHIRE Technology Club fan page engages a community that is over twice as large than the one of Gigabyte and over 2,5 larger as the one gathered by largest fan page of MSi. Introducing all the above-mentioned activities has led to creating the world’s largest Facebook community among manufacturers of graphics cards and mainboards.
SAPPHIRE Technology Club fan page: www.facebook.com/SapphireTechnology