German mobile discounter Simyo has created a Facebook fan page in a weird move to connect with consumers. The page, which can be viewed here: http://www.facebook.com/simyoDE, is an attempt by the company to further embrace social media and enable consumers to rate, slate, sing and dance about the mobile discounter.
The Facebook page is the latest knot in the social media strategy which includes a blog, Twitter page, YouTube Channel and online customer care centre.
Now, far be it from us to dismiss a social media strategy but Simyo’s self promotion could be just a tad too much. Indeed in the mobile space a discounter must focus on cost and service to keep consumers loyal and talking – but encouraging users to become “a fan” of a service that they pay for via Facebook seems surreal.
I mean we are not talking Obama here. Or indeed BMW. Politicians need guises for success. BMW makes sexy cars that people desire, so becoming a “fan” is OK. But Simyo?
SIMYO? The cheap, low-end, 9 cents a minute, penny pinching tariff that spawned out of meat-and-two-veg liberalism? Dear me. This is just a messy flawed social media strategy that has “let’s try it all and hope for the best” written all over it.
Thinking about it from another angle, what does Simyo actually expect to achieve from Facebook? Why does it need fans?
Anyway, so I have been checking out the Facebook page and the digital strategy and what do I find? Not a single, toothless poor person in sight on the Facebook page. No. Simyo, despite being a cheapo operator, seems to have only professional style gurus or funky young people as fans.
So now we get it. The “fanism” is to give Simyo a new personality. To shed the cheap and cheery image and to position it as a company that has educated (!) Facebook followers. The social media push must not be about traffic, but about image and targeting the slightly more qualified user.
So, now I understand… or at least I think I do: image is everything, Simyo is a rockstar, and “cheap” is a dirty word that needs to be replaced with “price savvy”.
Dear Bena, I am in charge of PR at simyo Germany and just read your analysis with a smile on my face. First of all, thank you for covering our apearance on facebook and thanks for sharing your thoughts on it. What gave you the impression, we have a cheesy, cheap image? Why did you think, people that value a low price offer that doesn’t bind them to 24 months contracts are toothless people? Don’t get me wrong, we are welcomeing the toothless as much as the once with full dental panorama. But it does sound a tid like hybris. Our customers and those that chose other mobile discounters, are smart, are usually online and now where to spend their hard earned money and where to save it. Our strategy is, to offer dialogue with our customers and those, that are interested to know more about us. That’s a fact since the cluetrain manifest covered it in 1999: markets are conversationsconvenience. Therefore we are present where the people are talking about mobile telephony in general or about simyo specifically. It’s an offer to talk and rate us. Nothing more. I’d be intrigued to further discuss our brand image with you. Please feel free to get in touch with me under my email adress, left with the replay. Kind regards, Ira
Hi Ira, I am glad you saw the amusing side! Thanks for your comments and with all our teeth in we will sign-up simyo and give the tariffs and service a good polishing! Bena
simyo created this account to get closer with their customers. all they’re trying to do is to listen to the people, critics whether good or bad. that was always their intention… also the public dealing with negative feedback, like this. i’m a simyo customer since 2005 and they were the first who lowered the quite expensive tariff cost.
Cheers!
Pingback: zweipunktnull » Blog Archive » simyo zeigt Vodafone, wie man Kunden anspricht