Managing a Digital Presence ~ A Quick Canon Case Study
Just this morning I received an email from my brother with a link to the official Canon website asking me to look at an HD video recorder he is considering for purchase. (To be very transparent, I am a huge Canon user and own quite a few of their products.) I clicked on the link to check out the item but when I got there I was immediately hit with a pop-up asking me to take a survey of my experience with the Canon Site. Screenshot below:
You might be asking yourself the same thing I am, “If I have not even visited the site or have even had the chance to glance at it, how will I be able to leave you feedback?” The second question and probably more important than the first is “Why do I want to leave you feedback? What’s in it for me?”
As Evident by the first question there is clearly a common sensical strategy fail here. Most likely what happened was third party company X came in with a digital solution to poll the website visitors and gain valuable information about the effectiveness of the site. Seems like a very reasonable thing to do, but clearly common sense was not applied to it’s implementation.
How could Canon have handled this better?
Well, besides the obvious of not having the pop-up initiated upon arrival they could do a timed release of their pop-up. Maybe they do no pop-up at all! How about a small banner in the site that asks for website feedback and upon completion they will receive a free downloadable e-book written by one of their pro staff members on how to shoot better night images? There is a multitude of possible creative opportunities here, but it looks to me like Canon got caught up in what I call the ‘Me Mindset‘ The goal here was clearly to gain information about the User Experience of their website, but they forgot ‘You’ part of the equation. By offering something of value to the customer visiting they would most likely gain much more valuable data.
Where is the blog?
We talked recently about companies that are a natural fit for new media and the new social web. Canon in my humble opinion is natural fit and they seem to be taking a backseat in their social engagement. With the thousands of Camera Bloggers, Amateur Photography nuts and passionate Canon users you would think that offering a blog keeping their customers and potential customers informed about industry improvements might be of huge value! Least of which would continue to keep the company top-of-mind for further purchases. That covers the ‘Me’ or business case around the blog, but again what about the you? You have stories to tell and you tell them with the images you take every day. Why not enable sharing and collaboration among passionate Canon users? You use your gear for professional use shooting weddings or shooting wildlife photography. Why not provide a resource for these users to better maximize the gear they have purchased with their hard earned money? It seems like a natural fit to me and again goes back to the old adage of “It costs $10 to find a new customer and $1 to keep them.”
Support existing communities
This graph shows us the top brand mentions in the social media space. Including Blogs, YouTube, MySpace, Bebo, Photobucket, Flickr, Digg, Magnolia, and Delicious; Canon ranks number 5 for most mentions. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out that the social space is LOADED with passionate geeky users of their product (Fish where the fishes are!). Again, in my opinion Canon (and they are not alone) should be better supporting the existing communities that exist throughout the internet. I have no doubt that they have been pitched on a social media style implementation that would live on their own site. Most likely a muti-million dollar project that would enable Canon to crate a thriving social community around their brand. If your a big brand manager you field pitches like this daily! My suggestion would be to locate and help enable existing communities that are already in existence. Here are two ways this could be done.
Note: Twitter is not listed here, but a quick twitter search revealed over 100 mentions of the brand in the time it took to write this article.
1. Event Outreach – Much like the way Pepsi sponsored South by Southwest last year Canon could do the same thing. Realize that their are thousands of people who are running around with their cameras tagging and posting their content! Enable them. Give them a site to upload photos to and create a contest. Bring in a industry celebrity to have your photo taken with. Engage with the community by having a desk of experts to answer your questions. Again, not rocket science, but it satisfies the business (Me) end and the customer (You) end. Strategically speaking there are many ways to measure the effectiveness of this type of event outreach.
2. Podcast & Blogger Outreach – There are hundreds of photography Podcasts and blogs out their. Just google Canon blog and you will quickly locate dozen of niche blogs dedicated to the passions of the users. Reach out to these content producers and provide them with content they can use. Offer them new release information before the main stream and engage with their communities. Right now it’s exceptional to have a factory rep or pro-staff member offer commentary on a blog. n a few years it will be expected.
The Power of Listening
As we discussed above with the pop-up fail Canon was seeking honest customer feedback on the usability of their website. One of the most powerful and underused tools by many large companies is social media monitoring. what is being said about their brand, competitors, and products real time can be invaluable market research. Tools as simple as google blog search and as detailed as Radian 6 have the ability to monitor mentions and conversation in real time. The products and services that you think your customers are looking for by doing a brainstorm in a boardroom rarely align with the actual needs and benefits that the customer is seeking.I have personally witnessed marketers and executives be blown away by the feedback their customers give them.
Bolting On
Originally this post was going to be about being aware of a digital feature sets like the pop-up that prompted this post. So my advice is simple:
1. Align your business objectives with toolsets and features that make sense to the end user.
2. Put yourself in the ‘You’ mindset first and you will and you will reap what you sew.
3. Make sure all or your digital initiatives are measurable and baked into the process. Bolting on a feature without proper integration and though often turns a potential customer away and makes you look sloppy.
Closing
As I mentioned at the beginning of the article I am a huge user of Canon products. This post was not meant to be a bash on their initiatives but rather to help them and make a point. I wont be so shy as to admit that I would love to work with them. Social media and digital marketing is a natural fit for a company like this. We are all navigating this landscape together and I hope something here sparked your creativity or opened your eyes to the possibilities. Feel free to comment with your thoughts!
Keith Burtis is a social media and digital marketing professional. If you or your company are looking to REV THE ENGINE on your digital efforts contact Keith today! Specialties include: Blog design/Integration, Custom Facebook Pages, Social, Digital and Interactive Content strategies.
Comments
W. Kirk Crawford Nice article. I too am offended with POP-UPs.
What was Canon’s response?
W. Kirk Crawford
Tularosa, New Mexico
CC, I agree and should have med it more clear that I do not know if canon is or is not monitoring the space. I sure hope they are! We are both big canon users and yes…I hope to see them engage in the space soon. One thing I always tell people and companies is to listen first. Have an understanding of the culture and engage when ready. Lets hope they are ready soon!
Kirk, So far no word from canon. I did not contact them directly about the pop-up, but who knows…maybe they’ll respond here. 
keithburtis´s last blog ..Managing a Digital Presence ~ A Quick Canon Case Study 
Hey Keith,
Some solid analysis on your part, here (and thanks for the mention). I hope they’re listening, too! It’s always a thrill for me when I see a company come across constructive feedback and respond. Validates what we’re all in this for in the first place.
Waiting with bated breath…
Amber Naslund
Director of Community, Radian6
Amber Naslund´s last blog ..How much time does it take to listen?
Hey Keith,
funny thing.
Exactly the same happened to me today when I was looking for new handles for my bicycle. When opening the website http://www.fahrrad.de, a German online bike shop, for the first time I immediately had the pop up of a survey of my experience as a customer with the company. I gave them the link to your article. Let’s how they will react.
As a Canon user myself I have sat back and watch Nikon and Kodak both do great things in the social media space and I look forward to Canon taking the dive as well.
The survey was a DUMB thing for sure, but I’m assuming it popped up because you had a cookie or something letting it know that you had been there before.
I’m also making a big assumption that Canon IS out there listening, looking and planning something. I’ve realized that just because a brand is silent online doesn’t mean they are not paying attention. There is a difference.
In fact I heard rumors (but never did get confirmation) that reps from Canon have been attending several recent big conferences so I’m sure they are seeing everything that is going on and someday when it is right for them push forward.
I look forward to that day. I’m sick of using the other camera companies as examples in my presentations and would love to someday use Canon.
Let’s hope they get there at some point.