Case Study: Jebsen Group Makes Social Media a Priority

Social media is currently a must-have for the Jebsen group, a B2B organization that brings premium products to Greater China, as part of its integrated marketing plan to complement TV, trade shows, and customer events.

The marketing and distribution organization represents more than 200 popular brands across consumer, beverage, luxury, and industrial verticals from Porsche, Champagne Bollinger, Casio to Pentax.

It is also in the midst of launching a B2B e-commerce portal for Greater China that will allow customers to place orders in multiple currencies starting with automotive aftermarket parts and food ingredients with plans to incorporate discussion forums, live chats with Jebsen’s sales reps, and social media plugins to build an online community at a later stage.

Meanwhile, here are a few approaches that the B2B firm uses to integrate social and mobile to reach out to existing and prospective employees as well as business partners.

Sina Weibo fans jumped fivefold following micro movie

Jebsen leveraged Tudou, China’s video-sharing site, to roll out an interactive micro-movie campaign during Singles Day last November where viewers were encouraged to come up with either a romantic, creative, or hilarious ending to win attractive prizes.

The video was promoted on Jebsen’s Sina Weibo account that already had more than 4,000 fans before the campaign.

Within a week of the launch, the micro-blog fan base increased by five times.

Today, the organization has close to 24, 500 fans on Sina Weibo.

Recruitment marketing on Facebook

The organization has had a presence on Facebook since 2010 and is increasingly extending it for talent recruitment.

Its careers page on Facebook features a snapshot of jobs available in Greater China that also links directly to Jebsen’s corporate website for prospective employees seeking more information on its trainee program, including a comprehensive list of all job listings.

“Apart from reaching out to fans and clients, Jebsen sees social media as a channel to establish thought leadership and an extension to our current corporate newsletter,” said Darren How, branding and communications manager at Jebsen.

The company also focuses on delivering lifestyle-oriented content rather than purely corporate updates on social media, he added.

To measure social media success, Jebsen looks at fan numbers and interaction but did not elaborate on the type of engagement metrics used.

Leveraging Meltwater for crisis monitoring

To achieve its branding and marketing goals, Jebsen hired a PR agency to push out press releases and organize events for its portfolio of brands, but with the proliferation of media outlets in China in the last few years, it was proving inadequate.

For instance, automobile brand Porsche is becoming popular in China with increased media coverage in all parts of the country, which makes it critical to monitor and understand the market better.

Jebsen decided to use Meltwater, a social monitoring tool, to keep the organization informed of the dynamic landscape.

“With a massive portfolio like Jebsen, we needed a tool that helps us stay on top of any potential crisis,” he said.

QR codes and mobile-centric communications

QR code is not new but Jebsen uses it at campus recruitment to engage students for a chance to win prizes through simple games. It also uses QR codes at exhibition booths for visitors to find out more about products and services.

The company has also gone mobile for communications. Its moments newsletter is only available on mobile devices and internal communications with staff are executed via a mobile app that can be downloaded from the Apple App Store and Google Play.