Social Media Monitoring Blog Post #2: IKEA USA

OBSERVATIONS FROM REPORT #2

Four weeks ago I posted my first report monitoring IKEA USA social media conversations.  The company has undergone some changes since the last posting.The company announced the launch of the high-end “Stockholm” collection of home furnishings.  The company will release the next part of its premium collection on April 1, 2013, and it is the fourth such collection since 1984.

IKEA also announced on March 20, 2013 its plan to expand the warehouse of its Boston-area store in Stoughton, MA.  This project will include expanding the Self-Serve Furniture Area (where shoppers collect flat-packed furniture to take home on the same day), rearranging customer service functions to the newly built part of the store and enlarging the home delivery area.  This extension will blend into the existing structure.

On March 21, 2013 Reuters reported that IKEA’s trademark meatballs are returning to the company’s food menu after last month’s controversial horse meat scare.  IKEA foods chief executive Edward Mohr announced that the company wants a “traceability standard in place, tracing meat from farm to fork.”  

On March 5, 2013, it was announced that IKEA is withdrawing chocolate almond cake sold in its stores in 23 countries after it was found to contain sewage bacteria.

 Part A –Quantitative Analysis 

For the second observation period I used social media analytics tools to monitor the statistical metrics of IKEA USA. 

1. Consistent increase in fans and followers

The increase in fans on Facebook and followers on Twitter for IKEA USA continued during the last four weeks.  During the period of study (February 27, 2013 to March 25, 2013), the fan count on Facebook increased by more than 133,000 and there was an increase of 6,779 followers on Twitter.  The graphs below were obtained from Twitter Counter.

2. Decrease in blog posts and cyclical trend in search interest

The Ice Rocket trend tool showed an overall decrease in the blog citation of IKEA during the past four weeks.  There was a peak in blog interest on February 25, 2013, which was when the first news reports announced the horse meat scandal.  The Google Trends interest level which measures internet searches showed a similar pattern to the first observation period; peak search interest for IKEA occurs on Sundays then decreases to a low on Thursdays and then increases again over the weekend.  

Part B –Qualitative Analysis 

There have been some qualitative changes since my last report.  There seems to be fewer responses to customer posts, and even when IKEA USA posts an interactive question there isn’t effective customer engagement.  During this observation period IKEA USA was more focused on posting content and less concerned with dealing effectively with customer concerns.

1. Many posts did not receive responses from IKEA USA

2. Some posts did receive responses from IKEA USA

3. Design ideas and interactive posts

During the past four weeks IKEA USA posted a lot of interactive topics on Facebook, including gardening tips, organizing tricks, design questions such as “If you had a spare room in your home, what would you do with it?” and more.   On monitoring Facebook conversations, fans increasingly engaged with these posts and seemed to enjoy the topics.

4. More community initiatives

The IKEA company is invested in charitable giving and many social initiatives.  IKEA is involved in several international charities and has formed a partnership with UNICEF.  Through social media IKEA USA participates in community projects by allowing fans to vote for local community projects.  Through the “Click for a Cause” contest, fans can be involved in helping community projects throughout the country.

5. Crowdtap – where consumers and brands collaborate

Crowdtap is a collaborative marketing platform that enables marketers to unlock real value by partnering with consumers throughout the marketing process.  Users can connect using Facebook and then answer polls to help brands target specific consumers by interest.  IKEA USA’s Facebook page tells fans to share their opinions to earn rewards and unique opportunities.

MARKETING AND PR GOALS

Given my observations in the last two social media monitoring reports, a different approach can have a large effect in terms of impact and customer engagement for IKEA USA.  The company must consider the strength of the groundswell when creating social media presence.

Listening: IKEA USA uses Facebook and Twitter to post a lot of content, however the company should adopt a more active, personal and conversation-building tone of engagement to build more trust and establish better relationships with customers.

Talking: During the period of observation, the company had a decrease in the amount of responses to customer concerns.  Even the TweetCloud (from TweetStats) showed that there was a considerable mention of “help,” “concerns” and “contact.”  There should be a more consistent approach when responding to customer queries on social media.

Energizing: IKEA USA has an official blog which encourages customer involvement in writing about products, creating reviews, and assisting in company marketing.  Additionally through CrowdTap customers can be rewarded for their involvement in company marketing. IKEA USA can also focus its marketing efforts through community and environmental initiatives that demonstrate the company’s values.  The Facebook and Twitter postings and company blog and share space all contribute to inspire, connect, engage and drive action within the community.

Supporting: It would be helpful for IKEA USA to have a more streamlined and inclusive official website that can better assist the customers.  For example, the IKEA online catalog does not contain customer reviews and assembly tutorials are only available on YouTube.  It seems as though customers who required support seemed lost as far as where they could pursue assistance.  Thus I recommend that IKEA organize their official website with the features the customers need most: reviews, tutorials, and support options.

Embracing: The current IKEA USA share space blog allows only employees to create blog posts and allows customers who register with the site to add comments.  If customers were allowed more participation with creating original content, there would be more inspiration, connection, and action among fans and followers. 

CONCLUSION

While tracking and monitoring IKEA USA, I found that the company does a great job of energizing their customers but needs to improve the existing support system.  The company needs to focus more on connections and relationships with their audience through responding to and acknowledging concerns.  The company has been very successful with creating interactive Facebook and Twitter posts and now should take the next step to increase the amount of personalized responses to the postings and messages.  IKEA USA should also allow customers more control over creating blog content and product reviews.

IKEA USA should continue to focus attention on their community initiatives and I encourage the company to use more social media space for community and environmental projects.  The IKEA products are indeed state-of-the-art, however there are concerned customers who feel disgraced by the amount of raw material used in such a large corporation.  It would benefit the company to designate a larger amount of social media presence to the acknowledgement of environmental responsibilities.

The company has done a great job of using social media to engage the customers.  With a few tweaks involving personalized customer interaction, customer-created content and community enterprises, IKEA USA can increase its reach to the customer base and improve their customer connections.

Corporations’ Creative Use of Social Media

Internal communication can be an issue regardless of an organization’s size.  As the Groundswell authors describe, information tends to flow down the management ladder, but getting insights back up to management and encouraging collaboration among people throughout the enterprise is harder.  As a result, many companies have been encouraging employees to connect on internal social networks, collaborating on wikis, and contributing to idea exchanges. 

In my professional experience I have found it very empowering to be allowed to take part in decision-making communication.  Even when supervisors and managers have good intentions, it seems as though all too often their plates are just too full.  After all, how can one know how to prioritize items without data or feedback?

More effective communication – bringing information to the appropriate channels

The example of Best Buy’s “Blue Shirt Nation” shows how time and money can be saved through the implementation of internal communication systems.  The authors describe various situations where actions that would have normally taken weeks to resolve were dealt with in a few days.  The BSN solves a variety of problems and shows employees that their opinions are valued.

I work in a public school that does not have a union, and over the years there has been an increase in teacher involvement in decision-making.  The administration has formed a teacher committee that works with the principals to have more fair and democratic collaboration.  This has increased employee satisfaction because it shows that our voices are appreciated and important.

Wikis – working together to tackle problems

I found it really interesting how the authors described the Razorfish CEO’s blog post requesting that people respond with their favorite guitar solos.  The post didn’t serve a specific business purpose, but it allowed for employees to be connected to the leadership.  This post showed how management was using creative techniques to engage and interact with employees, and it goes on from there.  Razorfish’s internal intranet site, which is a wiki with blogs and collaboration spaces, has allowed for enhanced teamwork between employees and also for management to monitor the “pulse” of the organization.  The communication channels at Razorfish even allowed for effective communication as the company went through an acquisition.  The wiki – with its inherent skills of talking and listening - eased the company through a crucial transition period.

Idea exchanges – change from the bottom up

Bell Canada created ID-ah! Which allows anyone in the company to submit an idea and then have the employees vote on it.  This seems like a brilliant solution to the fact that new technologies may involve a lot of data-mining.  Instead of management being overwhelmed with thousands of new ideas or suggestions, top ideas can be harvested based on number of votes received.  From this selection, management can choose which to implement.  Employees are involved with decision making in a more controlled and quantitative fashion.  This shows how internal groundswell creates new ways for people to connect and work together.

These different strategies show how there is an increased emphasis on culture within organizations.  A common theme throughout the Groundswell text is that choices should not be centered on technology, but around managing and changing the way organizations work.  The case studies described in this post show how companies are achieving a balanced approach to managing their employees in a considerate and open-minded manner.