Introduction
Maybe some of you may have heard of Zalora, or even are loyal customers to them. Zalora is an online fashion retailer in Asia-Pacific region, including Singapore. Basically, we are able to shop and purchase fashion items from Zalora online and have them delivered to us. Zalora has seen a rapid growth, as much as 70% increase in their sales revenue in one year! BUT, unfortunately the company suffered EUR 80 million in the same year as well. Why is this so? Because, as much as the sales revenue increased, it did not match up the sales forecast of the company. Hence, the company is “growing” faster (in terms of spending money to expand itself) than it can generate profits. Part of the reason of the slow growth can be attributed from the fact that there is a lack of brand awareness here in Singapore! (as mentioned by Zalora themself in their annual reports)
Hence, this brings me to my research question:
How can Zalora effectively use social media to increase brand awareness in Singapore?
Analysis of social media
So for my paper, I’ve identified Facebook, Instagram and Twitter to do my analysis on.
Zalora have quite a large number of followers on Facebook, with 171,000 likes on their Singapore page. Having such a large number will allow Zalora to potentially engage the large consumer base with the brand. However, the interaction on Facebook is VERY low. They have over 170 thousand followers, but on average, their posts have less than 10 likes and comments. (legit, go check out their page)
Their Instagram have about 26,100 followers and over 2,600 posts. The level engagement on Instagram is slightly better. This could be because, unlike Facebook, they actually post curated content on Instagram. This would better enable their audience to relate to the content. On Instagram, they reached out to influencers such as Joakim Gomez, 987FM DJ and producer, and several few smaller fashion bloggers. This is good because the influencers’ reach is actually larger than Zalora’s. (for eg. the same picture posted by Zalora and Gomez, but Gomez picture have over 3x more than Zalora) However again, engagement level is still low on Instagram. On average, every post have only about 0 to 3 comments.
Zalora’s Twitter have about 6,800 followers and over 16 thousand tweets.
Out of the 16,000 tweets, about…. 95% is replies to their customers. And majority of these replies are pretty much customer services. Customers post a question (more often a complain) on Twitter and tag @Zalorasingapore, and Zalora very actively replies to these tweets promptly! This is good because a lot of customers actually receive prompt assistance via Twitter. However, that’s all about what their Twitter is doing. Mainly, it is just a customer service platform. Out of the 6 weeks of analysis, they only posted 10 non-replies tweet, thats on average 1 to 2 tweet a day. That definitely will not engage its audience at all.
But Twitter have a lot of potential to increase brand awareness for Zalora. Generated from Synthesio, Twitter is the social media platform with the most social media activity of Zalora. But why then is their follower count so low? Further analysis revealed that most of the Zalora mentions on Twitter, are by users who are NOT following Zalora currently.
Recommendations
Out of all 3 platforms, it seems that Twitter is currently the platform that is weakest in social media marketing, and hence holds the highest potential. I will also recommend minor strategy for Facebook and Instagram as well.
A two pronged approach is taken here.
Short aim: Increase number of followers on Twitter account
Long aim: Increases brand awareness and engagement among its customer
In the short run, Twitter should use influencers to quickly and greatly increase its account awareness. So for example, they can get Gomez to also start promoting for them on Twitter. Also, Zalora should make use of Twitter’s promoted post service and get their account known to those active Twitter users who are talking about Zalora, but are not following them.
In the long run, I recommend Zalora to transform their Twitter from a “customer service platform” into a “fashion platform”. The main issue on Twitter is the lack of new content. By introducing #ZaloraInspire, Zalora can post about 8 pictures daily, and these pictures will feature people wearing Zalora’s apparels. This fashion platform will be a platform where their audience and customers will be able to engage themselves by viewing the pictures for inspiration on what new outfit to wear or buy.
Their Facebook have a large number of followers, and I think Zalora should take advantage of it. In the analysis, it was observed that ‘give away’ posts seen a significant increase in their user engagement (everyone want the free stuff, haha). Hence, I recommend Facebook to have a ‘share cap’ for their give-away post. For example, before Zalora issue out a $20 e-voucher to everyone, the particular post have to be shared a total of 5,000 times. As more users share the post on their Facebook wall, Zalora will be able to tap on each individual’s network and increase its brand awareness.
We established that people like free stuff, so similarly in Instagram, I recommend Zalora to kick start with their ZaloraAwards initiative. This ZaloraAwards is an on-going competition where users send in their picture with them wearing Zalora’s apparels. Zalora then will determine a winner, and post their picture on their social media accounts. Winners not only get a monetary incentive, but also recognition. UGC posted by Zalora will also gain the trust and engagement of the users.
So these are my three recommendations for Zalora! They are pretty much summarised in this post, so some details may be left out. Please feel free to give me your opinions regarding them, or ask any questions!
Thank you for reading!!
Jeremy Pek Qing Wei (G2)
Marketing communication 