IKEA is quickly becoming one of my all time favourite brands, not only because my room is head to toe covered in their products but also their successful use of creativity and innovation. As I have said countless times throughout this blog, in today’s world the creative minds have to be able to convey their message in new and interesting ways, not to mention be able to successfully utilise social media (which has become an integral part of any campaign)
IKEA spread the word on their new store opening in Sweden with the creation of an online showroom which was hosted on Facebook. The campaign itself was focused on Facebook’s “tagging” and “liking” applications. IKEA uploaded photographs on the social networking site with a profile that was specially created for Gordon Gustavsson, who is the store manager. Over a period of two weeks, 12 different photos of the stores showrooms were uploaded to his profile. Facebook friends (who had requested Gordon as a friend) could then tag themselves to a specific item in each of the 12 photos of the showrooms and in doing so, win that particular IKEA product.
This campaign was a winner in my eyes for many reasons; firstly, because of its utter simplicity. Secondly, its successful use of social networking (which so many businesses are still struggling to comprehend.) IKEA did not have to develop any sort of specific application for Facebook nor create any costly promotional campaign. They adapted two already successful applications on Facebook which the customer was already familiar with, “Tagging” and “Sharing” and then adapted them to suit the business and its objectives.
For those, who may not be Facebook savvy, in a nut shell here is what made this campaign such a success:
1. IKEA, first and foremost gave an incentive that motivated Facebook users to “Tag” IKEA’s Photos. For the users to be able to tag a photo, they must first “Like” the IKEA page.
2. This “like” application created a high level of is visibility through the Facebook News Feeds. The news feed then informs others that one of their friends has “liked” the page. As the news feed came from a trusted source, it caused other users to “like” the page, which then subsequently informed all their Facebook friends.
3. Then, when a person tags an IKEA picture with their name in it, once again their Facebook friends are then notified through the news feed.
4. The “Likes” and “Tags” created a substantial ripple effect throughout Facebook and severely increased publicity of the IKEA page. Curiosity stimulated more users and the above steps started all over again.
5. Also, the amount for anticipation for another online campaign stimulated continual daily active views. The “buzz” of the campaign also kept people interested, without offering users any new incentives.
The above is somewhat hard to follow I know (it’s a lot easier to understand if you watch the video)
Furthermore, IKEA set the timeline of the campaign just over a two week period, which was just long enough to keep the “buzz” of the campaign and keep members interested. Many companies feel that they must build a long lasting relationship with an online community of people, but sadly with the attention span of the average user, you really have to strike when the pan is hot!
In summary, IKEA was able to create a campaign that successfully used crowd sourcing and digital word of mouth; People love being involved in a business, especially when they think they can win something. And when they like something and feel involved they tell their friends. An online community can be an extremely tricky thing to pull off and it can be quite costly. IKEA proved that with a short life cycle, clear objectives and a clear understanding of the online community, you don’t need to spend millions to get your people talking.
This campaign has had two significant outcomes, Gordon’s profile has spread across the globe and he is now friends with people from all over the world. This means that at the touch of a button, IKEA can reach millions of possible customers.
Secondly, with the actual success of this campaign, IKEA has been talked about through the internet and thousands of blogs have posted showroom pictures featured in the campaign, which is increasing an already successful campaign (exactly what I’m doing in writing this blog.)