‘Every little helps’ as the famous ASDA catchphrase goes, and it seems this was also the case as they ‘tip-toed’ into social media.
EDIT: ASDA’s catchphrase is “happy to help” – as my Grandad would say- “School-boy error” on my part there.
When they first started exploring the big bad world of Twitter and all things social they did it slowly, carefully and with confidence.
What they did first
ASDA key PR employees were the first to take on the social media role, beating the likes of the web team and marketing to the task. They started by simply tweeting under their own names, getting a feel for what Twitter was. A simple but effective move, I strongly believe in learning at your own pace, and with such a big brand to look after, pace and speed of execution is vital.
They quickly began to understand that Twitter is like a great big free focus group and soon the CEO wanted to be part of the action and have his own blog. (Talk about buy-in from the top). The PR team smiled and allowed this to happen.
Next thing to happen was the roll out of the @ASDAserviceteam Twitter account which would help individual cases come to a resolution, good and bad. (They’re doing a great job of this, using Twitpics to display results to customer issues).
What ASDA think of social media
- It’s a brilliant way to be alerted of issues
- You must turn listening into action, turn #FAIL’s into #DOINGGOOD
- Take thinks to the store level, not just head office
- You don’t need a digital strategy, you need a strategy that is ready for the digital world.
- Go there willingly now, or be dragged there.
- Be prepared to be big enough to take on the good and the bad.
How ASDA are using social media now
ASDA believe they are a media owner, with their instore radio having more listeners than Chris Moyles and their magazine being the biggest woman’s magazine in the country. They now have a huge ORB style structure (Online Reputation Booth) in their PR office which has live Twitterfall feeds (the good, the bad and the ugly ready for everyone to see), they listen to real noise and customer insight intently.
They have also launched ‘Your ASDA’ and the ‘Green room’ social networks in their own rights.
They communicate the following messages through social media:
- Their story
- To lift the lid on how they do things
- And to bring out how they are different
Welldone ASDA, you’re doing a great job!
