NIKE +

Since i was a child i was always obssesed with Nike Products., be it their shoes, clothes, footballs etc. Whenever it came to sport, my first choice was always Nike whenever i need any equipment. My parents never really understood why it was so expensive unless they tried on one of the pairs instead, and now my dad is quite obssesed with his Nike shoes and cant think of going for a walk without it.

Neway lets continue and talk about Nike and Social Media.

Nike+: Making Running More Social

Sportswear and equipment giant Nike is one of the most social brands in the world, and has evolved its social strategy over the  years, focusing on expanding globally to reach its huge pool of customers which is constantly growing by the day.

While many corporations have tried and failed to create strong social networks for their customers, Nike was not afraid to give it a go two years ago, when it launched Nike+, a social network for runners who use their Nike + products. The site has achieved great success since its launch as it is really functional and provides great value, allowing runners to track their running records and stats, as well as challenging themselves and friends.

The Nike + Commuity has grown heaps in the past years with the addition of new products such as Nike +GPS App and Nike+ GPS Sportwatch. They have around 5 Million members in the community and they have a "Cheer me on ' feature inside its GPS app which taps into runner friends on facebook for additional support and motivation. 

Nike's online strategy differs from those of other companies, rather than creating a virtual community they simply combined music and running for a new kind of marketing which proved to be highly successful.

HOW DID THEY DO IT?

Nike developed a sport kit sensor ($29) which when synchronized with your ipod or iphone tracked runners speed, mileage and calories burned. When you dock you idevice Nikeplus.com launches and the run data gets uploaded automatically. Altogether runners ave logged 93 million miles on nikeplus.com


So far Nike has sold 1.3 million Nike+ iPod Sport Kits  and 500,000 Nike+ SportBands (at $59 apiece), wristwatch-like devices for runners who don't want to listen to music.

Nikehas also developed something for the basketballers. They have an appication on facebook called ballers network which lets players organize real world games and manage their teams online.


To end Nike has been quite successfull in whatever they have done in social media and have not faced failure in that field. Considering the big company they are they have lived upto its social media reputation quite commendably and rather using social media to sell its products , they have used it in providing more value to their customers increasing brand loyalty.


Below is a video which will give you more dope on Nike+

Do any of you guys use this service?
If yes how do you like it?
If no, are you willing to give it a try afer reading this??

let me know wat u guys think!!!


KEEP RUNNING!!

An amazing Kingfisher Experience!!!

Kingfisher Airlines, based out of India is one of the world’s seven airlines to be ranked as a 5-star airline by Skytrax. They fly to 63 domestic destinations and 8 international destinations with an Airbus & ATR fleet. Headed by one of India’s most flamboyant tycoons Dr Vijay Mallya, Kingfisher has built a strong brand for itself in service and quality over the years. It wouldn’t be unfair to call Kingfisher the Virgin America of Indian skies.

Kingifsher just gained presence on twitter to add to their social media other than facebook. 

I was talking to my friends over coffee and just sharing our experiences, so one of then told me how he had an amazing experience on Kingfisher when he was flying from Dubai – Cochin and Chennai – Dubai.

It was the first time he was flying with Kingfisher Airlines and being an avid tweeter, he decided to tweet on the kingfisher page before departure and instantly received a reply to enjoy their service.

When he arrived at Dubai Airport , and when his turn came to check in, the check in agent took a few moments to check her screen, consulted with the supervisor and gave him a free complimentary lounge access card. How cool is that??

Anyway I dint really get into details of what he did at the lounge,  he continued when he was in the flight and when they started to serve the meals, the crew rolled up the cart first straight to where he was sitting in the middle of the plane and served him first. Getting VIP treatment in the economy class is quite commendable considering economy class is also know as cattle class in India.

My friends was stunned, as the cabin crew knew his name before hand and served him well and all the time came and made sure he was comfortable, which was a genuine way of serving customers well.

But these little personal touches always make a difference to a company’s reputation. 

On his way back, he also mentioned how he almost missed his flight to Bengaluru and missed the bus to the plane and the kingfisher staff ferried him again to the plane in their car just in time. This is quite commendable considering airlines don’t really care if you miss your flight especially if your travelling economy class.

On his way back when he was eating his noodles, 2 of the kingfisher staff came upto him and said “Mr Gandhi we were looking for you”, and they once again made his day. After a few minutes, he was escorted to a lounge at Chennai Airport, and the staff told him that they will fetch him when it is time to board the flight. After 30 minutes, the sir hostess was back and escorted him to the door of the plane, where he did not have to wait in the line for the security check in and the crew accompanied him in the bus to the plane. I am sure he must have managed to grab quite a few envious looks by then and his mind was flying before the plane ;)

When the flight landed, at the door of the plane , he met with another  gorgeous Kingfisher staffer who walked him through immigration and security , once again without standing in the queues and introduced him everywhere at a guest and  placed him in the premium lounge at the international terminal, where all his food and drinks were on the house. How cool is that!! Who doesn’t like free food and drinks??l

And finally he left for his house and it was the end of hos Awesome Kingfisher Tale, which frankly speaking made me quite jealous.

Below i have posted kingfishers twitter link if anyone wants to follow:

http://twitter.com/#!/flykingfisher

My question is do Kingfisher offer the same red carpet treatment to everyone who tweets?? Perhaps not but then again they have won a loyal customer who through word of mouth might win them more customers.

How important is it to offer value, engagement and surprises to customers even through something like a single tweet or facebook post?? Can this caring to listen and daring to surprise through social media make a huge difference? Lemme know wat u guys think??

To sign off, brands engaging in social media take off to a new level when they are able to consistently and creatively offer value, engagement and delightful surprises to their audience.  It all starts from caring to listen and daring to surprise.

Indian Premier League and Social Media

India is a Cricket  Crazy country with millions of followers. Considering the recent cricketing seasons of the World Cup where India won the trophy and Indian Premiere League 4th edition, it has become quiet a case in itself. IPL being the biggest tournament in India and almost one of the biggest around the world, it was no surprise that they would use Social Media in order to increase the viewership.

These social media campaigns and activities of the different teams and the whole tournament managed to gain quite a lot of attention not only in india but also around the world. 

 

Online Streaming

The matches were broadcasted live on youtube,with youtube being their official sponsor during the 3rd edition of the ill,however for the 4th edition they switched to indiatimes.com which enjoyed more hits due to their additional features such as customizng features,match videos,highlights,score cards, etc and also due to the increase in internet users in 1 year.

 

Twitter

IPL made extensive use of twitter ,  where tweets were broadcasted LIVE on TV during the matches. It was a good strategy of reaching out to a credible mass where announcements were made regarding following & tweeting to the official twitter handle of IPL.

 

 

Facebook 

Facebook being the No. 1 Social Network in India, there is no doubt the IPL fanfare on Facebook was going to be any less. 25 Million users and and all of them interested in cricket, it was an interesting affair to see how the awareness increased. Infact the Live streaming & official website with facebook connect lead to a lot of impression on the network. The Universal “Like” button reached places which increased the reach and awareness for IPL.

 

 

 

Statistics

• The official IPL fan page on Facebook has 774,980 active fans.

• The Mumbai Indians (one of the IPL franchise teams), have more than 1.5 million fans.

• Cumulatively IPL and Teams (Official Fan Pages) have around 3 million fans on Facebook

• The number of views for IPL’sYoutube channel so far is 972,25,776. With 99,446 subscribers, the channel is the most subscribed channel in India.

• Indiatimes being the official channel managed to source 2,41,52,839 views only for its videos. No live streaming numbers have been recorded for the same

• The IPL account on Twitter has 68,052 followers. While all franchise teams cumulatively have 1,30,549 followers

• Celebrities like Shahrukh Khan and ShilpaShetty and cricketing figures like Shane Warne and HarshaBhogle also tweet to their thousands of followers about the IPL on a daily basis.

• #IPL is the top trending hashtag in India since day one of the IPL (almost all days)

 

With Youtube live streaming, Twitter broadcasting and Facebook integration, Social Media has had quiet an influence on  IPL. Clearly the hoopla is growing year on year and one can only expect a much greater version of the IPL  on Social Media So What do you guys think??