Social Media Monitoring Project - Final

Social Media Monitoring Project Final

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Skullcandy, headphones… they have a pretty strong web presence, but they didn’t when they had issues in the past – so their story is one to look back on and learn from – which it looks like they did.

As we will see, their practice of a free rebate on their warranted products wasn’t enough for today’s consumer driven world. Yes, it’s a great policy and shows their commitment, but customers still needed to feel catered to and listened to, online.

- Day I was putting the final together, they launched a new advertising campaign, so that turned my project in an unexpected direction. I’ll talk more about their target audiences later, but this is their new campaign – models in swimsuits… and oh! Skullcandy headphones, which you barely notice.

- Skullcandy’s online marketing campaign previously only targeted their extreme, sports-enthused, athletic audience - which is male dominated. They still sponsor athletes who ski, snowboard, and skateboard and promote their products through these endorsements.

- Judging by the reaction online, they did a fairly good job of pushing this new campaign. Stats the day it started were high, and it prompted a spike in web activity according to Social Mention and Compete.com

- While this may have been in some ways a successful advertising campaign, it is not in line with what I suggest to the company. Their previously marketed to demographic was almost exclusively male.

- Their quality headphones could really be sold to anyone who appreciates music. Skullcandy should focus more on crossing groups than focusing on one target. TARGET women, hipsters, and DJs. These three categories alone would yield some great benefits. Hipsters and DJs are notoriously “into music” and already buy large, noticeable headphones. Skullcandy should be smart and target this audience that is already willing to spend the extra money for this specialty product.

- According to TwitAnalyzer.com, Skullcandy’s demographic is only 55% male, and this may have been brought on by their male-centric advertisements.

Twitter – good reactions. Most astatically pleasing page – after noticing how some companies synch their various web interfaces, I think SK should too, to give customers a wholly fluid and comfortable experience

Facebook – same as Twitter – using is now to reply to customers and get them excited about products. – contests – replies to concerns

Flickr – looked into it because their product is very image based – tweets indicated that people enjoy being seen using them. Groundswell shows that there is a desire to show this in images - I think Skullcandy (either through Flickr or Facebook) should start a campaign to promote people being seen using their products. Have a weekly contest to get people to post photos using the products and where they like listening to music.

The Blogosphere

Here’s whers Skullcandy has been lacking primarily. In the past, they were worse off – they had no real web presence besides their website, and no one-on-one interface with customers. Now, customers get replies via Facebook, Twitter, and their website’s message boards, but almost a year ago, when Skullcandy’s website was experiencing issues in allowing customers to get their warrantee rebates, customers were furious, and the best way for them to speak out about it was through the Blogosphere.

Happy Ending

A year after the problematic last of customer service and website issues, it looks like Skullcandy finally learned their lesson – that a good warranty and product-based customer catering just isn’t enough anymore. While that practice helped them get a good reputation and word of mouth publicity, their revamped web-based consumer outreach and engagement is what they’re putting their efforts into now.

This article explains how Skullcandy has put the things we learned in Groundswell to the test. They are letting their customers speak for them, showing their trust, engagement, and consideration for the individuals they serve. Online chat is now available, and other customers are at the reigns.

An Active Consumer

After doing our mid-semester social media monitoring projects, Groundswell makes even more sense. Once you take a look at how important social media is in creating a company and defining its objectives and actions, you realize how much of a role the active consumer plays in any company in the 21st century.

Chapters 11 and 12 discuss connection and transforming through the groundswell, as well as what happens to a company after the groundswell is acknowledged and given a chance to thrive and steer the decision making.

In my social media monitoring project, I focused on a company that has a particularly intense interest in its groundswell. Skullcandy replaces broken products for its customers with no questions asked; this is a specific example of how the active consumer, social media, and the company's actions are online reputation have all come together; Skullcandy prides itself on its policy to please the customer, and the groundswell echoes this sentiment. Customers are proud to choose a company that chooses them. It's a positive feedback loop, and everyone plays a part.

In Chapter 11 of Groundswell, Unilever and Dell are given as two examples of companies that let their market lead their decisions. Unilever's example is one we're all familiar with; their campaign was incredibly popular, and it's obvious that they used the idea of what the groundswell wanted to motivate their ads.

The Dove ads are particularly interesting to me. A company that sells makeup, creams to fix your skin, and all sorts of beauty enhancers has somehow managed to use the antithesis of their products to sell their products. It's brilliant, when you think about it. By giving the illusion that they support "real beauty" and an un-Photoshopped model, they win. While the customer-oriented aspect of their campaign was the focus of the book's discussion of Unilever, I can't help but touch on their brilliantly ironic marketing. When it comes down to it, they want to make money, but they know that in order to do that, they must appeal to their audience and use them to make their decisions. They had to loosen their control to come out on top.

The Dell example was great. The individual's emails to the company were such a real example of why customer support matters. Jeff's descent into "Dell hell" as the book calls it, and his mention of the new "seller beware" attitude show how strong the groundswell can be. Thanks to Dell's

decision to let this push their new social strategy, they survived this negative response. Without listen to the groundswell and incorporating them into their marketing, Dell would not have fared so well.

Similarly, Skullycandy's recent decision to have online live service for its customers will probably help quell the discontent over frequently broken headphones. Although Skullcandy already has a very awesome policy in place to please customers with product issues, customers will still have to put out the effort to retrieve the replacement product. With online customer support, perhaps they will be more complacent when these issues arise.

One of the examples in Chapter 12 perplexed me. The Best Buy Blue Shirt Nation anecdote is so ideal. Every employer wants someone like the person they profiled, but how often -- especially at a low-paying retail sale associate job - does this happen? Having worked at the bottom of the totem pole at a poorly paying job, it was constantly a struggle to provide good service with the idea in the back of my head that nothing would ever change the fact that I didn't matter to the store's owner; no one there did. While groundswell and customer service are paramount, it cannot be overlooked at a supportive infrastructure of business associates is also necessary.

Midpoint Social Media Monitoring Project

I chose my company based on my own personal experience with their products and their customer service. The company that I decided to profile is Skullcandy. They manufacture high quality headphones. The company was founded in 2003 and has a long history of being uniquely dedicated to their customers. The company’s policy of a free, no questions, 100% refund on broken or damaged products has earned it a good review as far as most customers are concerned.

As a Skullcandy customer, I can attest to the brand’s desire to please customers and deliver a good product. While some clients have questioned the quality and durability of the product, Skullcandy markets itself to an active individual… which is really ironic because unfortunately, their products break pretty often.

Although their demographic widely covers anyone who has a particular interest in music and good sound quality, Skullcandy specifically markets itself to sports enthusiasts and those interested in living an active lifestyle. The brand sponsors professional athletes and offers a line of headphones with professional sport team logos. They commonly market their brand at extreme sporting events, but can also be purchased at various retailers and online.

An example of some of the stats on Skullcandy. Provided by SocialMention.com

Examples of the related material: Flickr photos, Twitter posts, and Wordpress feeds.

They have great web presence: Twitter, website, Facebook, etc. Highly updated and are constantly trying to reach out to customers and create a sense of community.

Here are some examples of my findings:

2/9/12

First glimpse:

Users enjoy sharing that they got Skullcandy headphones. It’s cool and shows they’re into music, but there are issues.

Lots of word-of-mouth engagement.

Problems:

Twitter: “SkullCandy headphones died already. Not even 3months old. This has put me in a bad mood!!”

“Back to my broken @Skullcandy's … #musicismylife”

Graph of their hourly Tweets

2/22/12

Same issues:

People enjoy posting on Facebook and Twitter about getting them and receiving them in the mail. They’re excited, but then later post about having malfunctions with the product. “So pretty much.. Skullcandy's are the shitt! until they break.. and they ALWAYS break right at the plug in thing.. hahah, like if you agree”

Users are also having problems cashing in their points to purchase their new headphone – new online system needs work?

But customers are still excited to flaunt the product: “Bought my skullcandy

headphones today everybody hatin :p hahaha” and “Thanks Skullcandy for the SWAG”

3/12/12

Blogger talks about how Skullcandy is increasing its customer service with live chat.

In conclusion, Skullcandy’s decision to unquestionably fix its customers’ broken headphones was a good decision and shows how customer service means everything. If they broke as often as they do, although Skullcandy makes the best earbuds I’ve ever listened to, they probably wouldn’t be in business today. I’ve been using them since freshman year, and have gone through more pairs than I can remember, but to have them free and such good quality, it’s worth it.

A graph of Skullcandy's web use

The goal for Skullcandy should be to acknowledge that some of the lower end models do break occasionally and to supply better service online. When users struggle to get their rebate that they feel they already deserve, this creates a lot of frustration. They should also market to another branch of consumers – the hipster. Hipsters love music you’ve never heard of and love wearing huge headphones. Skullcandy could really benefit by tapping into this market.