Social Media Marketing In Singapore – Looking Beyond Financial ROI
December 22, 2009 – 11:31 pm | by Daryl Tay
The Lens Men
About a month ago, I noticed that an optical store here in Singapore called The Lens Men was active on Twitter (@thelensmen) and took the opportunity to ask them about contact lenses and prices. Unlike a few other shops, they were straightforward and transparent and told me that the prices for those particular lenses were set by the manufacturer and thus was the same no matter where I went. They also said they treated customers more like “patients” because eyes are important and should get proper examinations and care.
Based on no other factor other that I would support a local business using digital media in Singapore, I decided to check them out. By the time I had a free evening to head down to their store at Centrepoint it was two weeks later, and even though I didn’t let them know ahead of time I was going down, I was probably treated more carefully than any other optician I’d been to before and it was a good experience.
But let’s get back to the title. What’s the financial ROI here? I bought six boxes of contact lenses for $280. Strictly speaking even if they calculated my value over a year it’d probably hit $840. How many customers like me do they have to reach via social media in Singapore to justify adding “monitor Twitter” as an additional scope of work? Singapore’s too small for such an effort to scale with any noticeable impact.
But how about the non-financial ROI? My net promoter score just went way up, they’ll get a link (and numerous tweets) with this post, engagement with many other people online, more top of mind recall and brand awareness among a subset of digital users, and an authentic, transparent personality to add to their brand equity among other things. This is a great example of a company in Singapore using social media for small business use.
Does that matter? Some managers concerned only about the bottom line will probably say no. Can you put a monetary value to it? Probably not in any objective sense. Should you do it anyway? Probably.
I’ll be the first to admit I don’t have all the answers to ROI when it comes to social media. Tracking KPIs is easy, but it’s not the same as ROI. So do you think it matters to consider the non-financial, less tangible benefits, or do you think looking at cold hard ROI is the answer?
[note: I paid the full consumer price for my lenses and did not receive any form of compensation/discounts for this whatsoever. The Lens Men did not conduct any form of outreach towards this blog post at all]
Tags: brand awareness, financial roi, net promoter score, social media marketing, social media roi, social media singapore
10 Responses to “Social Media Marketing In Singapore – Looking Beyond Financial ROI”
By Desiree Koh on Dec 23, 2009 | Reply
Hi Daryl! Thanks so much for this blog post, and for helping us break down what it means to us (from every angle) for being active in social media marketing.
To be very altruistically honest, our bottom line is always to ensure the best eye care for all customers, no matter how they’ve come to hear of us. We don’t believe in hidden costs or up-selling – literally, what you see is what you get. So you get what your eyes need, relative to your lifestyle patterns.
While we’ve begun to notice that we’ve gotten a small number of new customers and patients from our activities in the online sphere, at the end of the day, to put a finanicial ROI on everything would take the fun out of doing business and practising eye care. We’ve always believed in making all our customers and patients our friends, and reaching out on Twitter and Facebook only enhances that (on Twitter, sometimes it’s the other way around, as in your case!). You’ll often find customers and patients dropping by for a chat or just to say hi for to get their glasses cleaned or adjusted with our compliments. Why not take this fun atmosphere onto the virtual space?
Whatever it is, it can’t hurt our business. And we’re actually glad to read any negative comments, because it gives us an opportunity to set a wrong thing right. I’d like to say that we’ve gone beyond just focusing on dollars and cents and practising what truly makes customer relationship and social interaction sense.
Thank you so much for coming by again, and we’re really glad you had a positive experience. No matter what, it’s still eye care that’s the heart of our business.
By Daryl Tay on Dec 23, 2009 | Reply
@Desiree Koh: Thanks for the comment! Right actually I have noticed that trend that SMEs are less concerned about cold hard financial ROI (and I did write this post with the MNCs in mind) and you’re right – it does come back to the ‘heart of the business’.
If being open and honest and genuine to customers is not in the business’s DNA, then no amount of social media engagement will change that (and in fact it’ll probably expose the company’s true colours).
Thanks for commenting and I’ll be seeing you guys soon =)
By weekee on Dec 24, 2009 | Reply
I think in most MMCs, the use of ROI is more for accountability rather than the accuracy of the measure. It is more of a way to justify budget to be set for the project as well as to prove that the project is successful.
Whether ROI or if other non-tangible metrics are relevant, I think the person you talk to might make a difference. Maybe one is more likely to get away with non-tangible benefits when talking to someone in marketing than in operation.
By Jean on Dec 29, 2009 | Reply
(happen to saw this article via RSS, and what a pleasant find
I have to say I was surprised to find Lens Men up on Facebook & Twitter – and it’s really a real person working for them and not some marketing firm doing it.
That’s where the heart of the business really comes out.
And I fell in love with the friendly service they have at The Lens Men Parkway Parade. And you’re right – they are very honest & upfront about their products.
At the end of the day, there are some things you can’t exactly justify with numbers & figures. Treating your customers well consistently with good service & products might just be the most fundamental thing any business should be looking at.
By Dinesh on Jan 4, 2010 | Reply
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By AngMoGirl on Jan 7, 2010 | Reply
I totally love them on Twitter. But then again sometimes they get so chatty/friendly that one can forget there is actually a business behind the account (not sure if it’s a good or bad thing). Nevertheless, I think it’s great for them to express who they are as a brand though social media.
By Daniel on Jan 15, 2010 | Reply
Hi Daryl,
This is a great case study.
The massive advantage The Lens Men has in the online sphere is also the fact that it has an amazing personality running its awareness and publicity efforts – both online and offline. Desiree’s an old hand at PR, and seems like she has seriously thought about how she wants to engage her patients – current and potential – through various platforms. MNCs and SMEs alike need to adopt a similar approach, instead of just running out and hiring the first “social media guru” they see.
Great job, Desiree.
By Daryl Tay on Jan 15, 2010 | Reply
@Daniel: Thanks for the comment! I think that’s a good point – the reason why they succeed so well is the integration of the “old hand” methods and new communication technologies. Why there are so few of such case studies is because many times companies take the extreme approaches and thus neglecting either component and no one wins.
By Desiree Koh on Jan 27, 2010 | Reply
Daniel – stop making me blush! Thanks so much – I studied how brands and people were interacting before I launched into it for my company. There were stumbling blocks, of course, and I had to learn some things the hard way, but glad we’re off and running now!
By Daryl Tay on Jan 27, 2010 | Reply
@Desiree: That’s another thing people don’t do often enough. They jump in without first observing and listening and think they’re instant masters of the craft. No such thing!!