Branduri de Top Romanesti

7/26/2019 Branduri de Top Romanesti

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Prezena brandrior romneti de top n onine comportament i strategii de scces

Alexandra TlPuGabriel BRTuCuTimotei VIERAu

Facultatea de tiine Economice i Administrarea Afacerilor

Abstract:n ultimele decenii a aprut i a luat amploare un nou canal de comunicare, Internetul;acesta a adus cu sine o serie de oportuniti pentru marketing. Lucrarea analizeaz aspecte privindcomportamentul brandurilor n mediul online, prezentnd aspecte practice privind brandul n mediulonline i comportamentul companiilor n social media. Pe baza acestei analize sunt identicate n nalstrategii de succes pentru companii n social media.

Cvinte cheie:social media, branduri de top, studiu explorator i descriptiv, strategii de marketing.

Internetul are un impactmajor asupra instrumentelorde marketing, oferind oportuniti noi care nu au fost disponibile anterior prin utilizareainstrumentelor tradiionale demarketing. Fiecare din canalelede comunicare tradiionale are

avantaje evidente i continus e utilizate, dar Internetuleste un canal care este ntrocontinu dezvoltare, bucurnduse de o atenie ridicat i ind utilizat n prezent de pesteo treime din populaia globului.Cunoscnd diferitele avantajei dezavantaje existente ntremarketingul tradiional i celonline, un bun marketer poate mai capabil s ia decizia corect

atunci cnd elaboreaz strategia de marketing.

n cele ce urmeaz voi cutas rspund la ntrebri eseniale legate de marketingul online,precum: Care instrumente demarketing online sunt cele maiutilizate n practic? Cum sepoate diferenia un brand prininstrumente online?

Aceste aspecte sunt importante deoarece alegerea canalelor decomunicare, de vnzare i de promovare este o decizie deloc uoa

i pentru cele cu experien pepia. Rezultatele acestei lucrriurmresc s ajute companiile nidenticarea strategiilor de marketing i s creasc importanaacordat instrumentelelor noi demarketing.

1. Jsticarea temeiLa momentul de fa, mar

ketingului online a acaparat totmai mult din bugetele alocateeforturilor de marketing, marketingul tradiional pierzndteren n favoarea activitilorde promovare online. Succesuldobndit de o organizaie n lumea ofine este radical diferitde cel obinut n mediul online.

Strategiile aplicate n cele doumedii au doar cteva elementen comun.

Conform Facebrands.ro, nRomnia exist la ora actualpeste 8,5 milioane de utilizatori de Internet, din care peste 5,9 milioane au un cont deFacebook i peste 57.000 au uncont pe Twitter. Deja exist peste 20.000 de pagini de Facebook

romneti (care promoveaz ocompanie, un brand, o persoanpublic, o organizaie etc.).

n ceea ce privete comportamentul companiilor dinRomnia, pe parcursul anului2011, 69% dintre companii auapelat la metode de promovareprin social media (n special lapromovarea prin Facebook, dari prin forumurile de discuii),

conform unui studiu realizat deGfK Romnia pe un eantion de410 persoane, decideni sau codecideni pentru activitatea depromovare i comunicare careau realizat sau intenionau srealizeze campanii n reelelede socializare n urmtoarele 12luni.

Avantajele n a prezent nmediul online sunt evidente:depirea granielor geograce,

rapitatea cu care se comunic,accesul non stop la informaii ila achiziii, costurile reduse depromovare, posibilitatea stabilirii unor relaii interpersonale,posibilitatea de a segmenta piaafoarte bine, obinerea cu uurin a feedbackului, expunerea ridicat i lista poate continua.

n contextul n care circa40% din populaia Romnieiare acces la Internet i existmultiple avantaje pentru organizaii s e prezente n mediul


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importan s analizez comportamentul brandurilor de top romneti vizavi de mediul onlinepentru a identica msura ncare companiile romneti desucces i construiesc o prezenonline i practicile de succes pecare acestea le implementeaz.

Aceast lucrare are un caracter practic i prezint o analizrealizat de autor a prezeneibrandurilor romneti de top nmediul online. La baza analizeia stat topul celor mai puternicecincizeci de branduri romnetidesemnate n urma analizei depia realizat pentru RevistaBiz, top publicat n luna septem

brie 2012.Studiul Top 50 branduri romneti a fost realizat de agenia Unlock Market Research,avnd drept beneciar RevistaBiz. Acesta este realizat al treilea an consecutiv i urmretemsurarea puterii brandurilor romneti, alctuind topul primelor 50 de branduri.Msurarea sa fcut din perspectiva gradului de ncredere

i afectivitate care le este acordat de ctre consumatorii intervievai. Sau realizat 1200de interviuri telefonice, eantionarea innd cont de nivelulurban la nivel de regiune, degradul de urbanizare, de mprirea pe sex i pe vrst, lundn considerare populaia major(studiul include i branduri aleunor buturi alcoolice). Studiul

a fost astfel declarat de ageniaUnlock Market Research reprezentativ pentru populaia major din Romnia.

Sa msurat performanabrandurilor romneti lund nconsiderare indicatori precum:performana mrcii (determinat de intensitatea preferinei consumatorilor pentru acelbrand prin alegeri multiple ntre diverse mrci din aceeasi ca

tegorie) i implicarea emoional (determinat prin msurarea

gradului de asociere cu o seriede atribute).

Pornind de la acest studiu,sa urmrit s se analizeze msura n care aceste branduri detop au o prezen online maimult sau mai puin puternic.Scopul nal al studiului esteidenticarea unor practici deonline marketing de succes aplicate de cele mai puternice branduri romneti, att n mediultradiional, ct i n cel online.

2. Metodoogia de cercetare

Datele au fost cutate iadunate manual pentru ecare

din cele cincizeci de brandurin parte. Sau folosit mai multemodaliti pentru identicareaprezenei online printrun website propriu i prin reelele desocializare Facebook i Twitter.

Studiul fcut este unul explorator i descriptiv, datele ind adunate din surse publice iapoi analizate n vederea identicrii comportamentelor brandurilor romneti de top n mediul online. Studiile exploratoriisunt folosite pentru nelegereaunei probleme, a unei situaii.Conform lui Sauders, Lewis iThornhill (2007), studiile descriptive ajut la crearea unorprole comportamentale aleunor persoane, ntmplri, situaii, n cazul de fa branduri.

Studiul de fa are o abordare deductiv, urmrind s teste

ze o serie de ipoteze cu privire laimportana prezenei unei companii n special media.

2.1. Culegerea datelor

Datele primare sunt colectate direct de la companii prinobservarea prezenei i a comportamentului lor n mediul online, ind analizate att aspecte cantitative, ct i calitative.

Partea cantitativ urmretedoar s analizeze numrul debranduri care au un website

Aspectele calitative urmresc sprezinte comportamentul acestor branduri online, ind axatepe analiza nivelul de interaciune, tipului de postri, msuriin care companiile ofer suportclienilor etc.

Iniial siteul sa cutat prinmotorul de cutare Google, ncercnduse ca alternativ itastarea direct n browser, deoarece n cazul n care siteuleste penalizat de Google nu vaaprea n rezultate. Sau gsitsiteurile tuturor celor 50 debranduri, 39 avnd un website dedicat brandului i 11 indprezente pe siteul companiei

care le deine.Pentru identicarea conturilor pe reelele de socializare sauurmat paii:

Sa vericat dac acesteasunt listate pe siteul deprezentare, aceast modalitate ind cea mai sigurpentru a identica pagina/contul ocial al brandului, unele branduri avnddeschise mai multe pagini

(de ctre fani sau chiar dectre companie, renunnduse ulterior la acele conturi)

Dac websiteul nu arelistate aceste informaii,sa apelat la cutarea paginii de Facebook prin Facebrands.ro, serviciul demonitorizare a paginilorde Facebook n Romnia

Cea dea treia alternativ a fost cutarea lor prinmotorul de cutare GoogleRomnia, reelele de socializare ind foarte bine indexate de Google, dar indicnd o serie de alte companii i branduri similarede pe piaa internaional

Ultima alternativ a fostcutarea direct prinfuncia de cutare inte

grat pe Facebook.com,respectiv pe Twitter.com


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Dac n urma eliminrii celor patru pai nu sau identicat conturi ale brandurilor ncauz, sa considerat ca respectivul brand nu este prezent peFacebook/Twitter. Concluzia urmnd aceste criterii este c 5 dincele 50 de branduri de top nu auo pagin Facebook, n timp ce 31din cele 50 de branduri nu au uncont pe Twitter.

2.2. ntrebri cercetate iIpoteze de la care se pleac

A. ntrebare: Cte branduri romneti din cele 50 de top auun website?

Ipotez: Toate brandurile ro

mneti de top sunt prezente pe internet printrun sitepropriu sau prin siteul companiei din care face parte.

B. ntrebare: Cte din acestebranduri sunt prezente n social media?

Ipotez: Majoritatea brandurilor de top sunt prezente nsocial media.

C. ntrebare: Ct sunt de popu

lare brandurile de top n mediul online? Ipotez: Cele mai multe din

brandurile de top sunt populare online.

D. ntrebare: n ce msur volumul de postri realizatede reprezentanii branduluiinueneaz numrul de fanipe care pagina i are?

Ipotez: Volumul de interaciuni inueneaz n mod

direct numrul de fani n reelele de socializare.

E. ntrebare: Cte din brandurile prezente n social media aucreat o relaie cu publicul?

Ipotez: Nu toate brandurileprezente n social media aucreat o relaie cu publicul.

F. ntrebare: n ce msur tipulde interaciuni inueneazcomportamentul publicului

int vizavi de acel brand? Ipotez: Tipul de interaciuniinueneaz n mod direct

portamentul publicului intvizavi de brandul n cauz.

3. Prezena brandriorromneti de top n onine

Acest capitol prezint aspecte cantitative ale prezenei acestor branduri n mediul online,lund n considerare aspecteprecum: existena sau nu a unuiwebsite, vechimea acestuia iexistena sau nu a unei paginiFacebook i/sau a unui cont deTwitter.

Crearea prezenei este identicat de Rowley (2004) ca aceafaz din comunicarea de mar

keting digital prin care organizaia i creeaz expunere asupra ofertelor i activitii sale incearc s i creeze o imaginepe pia.

ntrebarea A: Cte branduriromneti din cele 50 de top auun website?

Primul aspect analizat a fostcentralizarea websiteurilor deprezentare al ecrui brand nparte. A avea un website esteun aspect esenial pentru oricecompanie de succes din ziua deastzi. Toate cele cincizeci branduri romneti de top sunt prezente printrun site propriu sauprin siteul companiei de carebrandul aparine. Un total de39 din cele 50 de branduri (reprezentnd 78%) au un websitepropriu dedicat brandului, restul de 22% avnd pagini de pre

zentare n cadrul websiteurilorcompaniilor ce dein acele branduri (evideniat n Figura 1).

Figra 1. Existena ni website dedicat brandi

(gr obint c Exce)

Ipoteza A este conrmat,toate brandurile romneti detop sunt prezente pe internetprintrun site propriu sau prinsiteul companiei din care facparte.

Un alt aspect important esteacela al vechimii prezenei brandului n mediul online. Dac

n 2004 reeaua de socializareFacebook abia lua in, conceptul de World Wide Web (www)

BernersLee la inventat), moment din care sau putut creawebsiteuri. Din aceste 50 debranduri analizate, cele mai

vechi sunt din 1998 i reprezint brandurile: Romtelecom(aat pe poziia 17 n top),Banca Comercial Romn (poziia 18) i Dacia (poziia 19).Media vechimii websiteurilor

acestor 50 de branduri este de8,3 ani. Repartiia websiteurilor n funcie de vst este pre


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ntrebarea B: Cte din acestebranduri sunt prezente n socialmedia?

Importana unei prezene nsocial media a fost evideniatn capitolul anterior i este unaspect analizat n detaliu n prezentul studiu. Au fost luate nconsiderare doar dou reele de

socializare: Facebook i Twitter;acestea au fost alese deoareceocup primele dou poziii canumr de utilizatori dintre toate reelele de socializare. Astfel,78% din brandurile analizate auo pagin pe Facebook, n timp cedoar 38% au un cont pe Twitter(Figura 3).

4. Comportamentbrandrior romneti detop n socia media

Acest capitol vizeaz analizacalitativ a prezenei celor 50de branduri n mediul online,

analiznd popularitatea websiteului, frecvena postrilor,tipurile de interaciuni, msuran care compania ofer suportpublicului int i alte aspectelegate de calitatea activitii nsocial media.

ntrebarea C: Ct sunt de populare brandurile de top n mediul online?

Popularitatea unui website n

mediul online determin moduln care un website este indexatde motoarele de cutare. Googlemsoar aceast popularitate aunui website pe internet lundn considerare siteul n sine imai ales recomandrile celorlalte siteuri web, calculnd pentru ecare site un coecient depopularitate numit PageRank(PR). PR este un algoritm deanaliz a linkurilor din internet

folosit de acest motor de cutarepentru a calcula ponderea unuilink dintrun set de linkuri. Cuct exist mai multe legturicalitative ctre un site, cu attPageRankul acestuia va maimare; algoritmul a fost inspiratdin sistemul educaional undese msoar coecientul de popularitate al ecrui articolprin numrul de citri i prin

valoarea surselor care citeaz.Coecientul PageRank este unnumr ntreg care poate lua

valori de la 0 la 10 (sau dac siteul este prea nou, chiar valoarea n/a), unde 10 este valoareamaxim. La ora actual, foartepuine siteuri au PageRank 10.Pn pe 6 februarie 2012, Googlei Facebook aveau PageRank 10,dar pe n acea zi Google ia actualizat algoritmul i ambele au

czut la PageRank 9. n aceeaizi, opt siteuri au fost promovatela PR 10 printre care Guvernul

Figra 2. Repartiia brandrior n fncie de vechimeasitei (gr obint c Exce)

Figra 3. Prezena brandrior de toppe Facebook i Twitter

Ipoteza B este conrmat pentru Facebook, dar nu ipentru Twitter: Majoritatea

brandurilor de top sunt prezente n social media pe Facebook.


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Statelor Unite ale Americii,siteul companiei IT Adobe itrei siteuri universitare. Am

evideniat datele privind PRulacordat ecruia din cele 50 dewebsiteuri n Figura 4.

Numr mediu al fanilorpe care aceste branduri l aupe Twitter (numii followers)este 582. Avnd n vedere cFacebook numr peste 5 milioane de utilizatori romni, iarTwitter doar 50,000, rezultatul

era de ateptat, proporia indchiar n favoarea Twitter. Celemai active branduri i singurelecare nregistreaz peste 1.000de fani pe Twitter sunt Petrom,Romtelecom i Dacia.

Ipoteza C este conrmat,cele mai multe din brandurile detop ind populare online.

ntrebarea D: n ce msurvolumul de postri realizate dereprezentanii brandului inueneaz numrul de fani pe carepagina i are?

Cu ajutorul gracului de tipRadar (numit i Pianjen), amevideniat legtura existent ntre nivelul de activitate albrandului pe Twitter (numrulde postri) i numrul de faniai paginii. Pentru o evidenieremai bun, am inclus doar primele 10 branduri din punct de

vedere al fanilor, deoarece diferenele mari afectau vizibilitatea corelaiei. (Figura 5). Figurarealizat evideniaz o legturevident ntre cele dou variabile, susinnd teoria i mecanismul acestor reele de socializare, conform crora cu cto companie este mai activ nsocial media, cu att mai multepersoane vor expuse acelei activiti, putnd deveni fani.

Strategia de social media, calitatea postrilor, momentele ncare se interacioneaz, industria din care brandul face parte,publicul creia i se adreseaz ialte multe aspecte inueneaz bineneles potenialul unuibrand de a atrage fani.

Ipoteza D este conrmat,din gura 5 putem concluzionac exist o legtur ntre celedou variabile, volumul de interaciuni inuennd n moddirect numrul de fani n reelel d i li

Figra 4. Repartiia brandrior n fncie de PageRanksitei (gr obint c Exce)

n urma centralizrii PageRankului pentru ecare dincele 50 de websiteuri, media afost de 3,5 i reprezint o valoare ridicat, ceea ce nseamn cawebsiteurile acestor brandurisunt i ele populare n mediulonline. Cel mai mare PR, decicea mai mare popularitate online este deinut de websiteulBRD (www.brd.ro), existndi 3 websiteuri ce se bucur de o valoare a PRului de 6:Romtelecom, BCR i Ursus. Lapolul opus exist dou websiteuri care au PR 0: Kraft Foods

Company (reprezint brandulPoiana) i Petrom. La o analiza performanelor acestor websiteuri, cel mai probabil ambeleau suferit penalizri din parteaGoogle. Acest tip de penalizrisurvin din pricina practicriiunor practici neacceptate deGoogle prin care se urmreteo cretere articial nemeritatde website; cel mai des ntlnitexemplu de practic netolerat

de Google este cumprarea delinkuri pe alte websiteuri.

n ceea ce privete comportamentul brandurilor n socialmedia, un indicator importanteste cel al numrului de fani pecare ecare brand l are pe pagina de Facebook sau pe contul deTwitter. Analiza urmrete sevidenieze n ce msur existo legtur ntre numrul de fanii ct de activ este brandul naceste reele.

Numrul mediu de fani(Likeuri) pentru cele 45 debranduri care au o pagin deFacebook este de 40.120. Ceimai puini fani (sub 20) sunt n

registrai de brandurile Dorna,Albalact i Frutti Fresh, iar lapol opus cei mai muli fani peFacebook sunt pe pagina mrcii de bere Ursus. Alte paginipopulare, cu peste 100.000 defani pe Facebook aparin brandurilor: Timioreana, Primola,Ciuc i Bergenbier. Observmc industria berii este una foarte activ i apreciat pe aceastplatform de socializare, 4 din

cele 5 cele mai populare paginide Facebook aparinnd acesteii d t ii


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Conform lui Rowley, creareaunor relaii este cel deal doilea

pas n consolidarea unei imaginin mediul online. Aceste relaii

se pot crea doar n cazul n careambele pri sunt active: attreprezentanii brandului, ct ipublicul int.

ntrebarea E: Cte din brandurile prezente au creat relaiicu publicul?

Nu toate brandurile prezente n social media sunt iactive. Nu este sucient pentru un brand s i creeze o pagin Facebook sau un cont deTwitter. Conturile trebuie ntreinute, postnduse cu regularitate noi informaii, mesaje, tiri,interacionnduse cu publiculint, implicnduse i oferindsuportul necesar cu promptitu

dine ori de cte ori este solicitat.

Figra 5. Coreaia existent ntre nmr de postri inmr de fani pe Twitter (gr obint c Exce)

Figra 6. Companiie active pe Facebook (gr obint c Exce)

Fi 7 C ii ti T itt ( bi t E )


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Dintre companiile care auo pagin pe Facebook, 78% (35din totalul de 45) posteaz curegularitate. Dintre cele careo prezen pe Twitter, 63% (12din 19 branduri) sunt active curegularitate (Figurile 6 i 7).

Cei mai muli reprezentaniai brandurilor posteaz informaii promoionale (94%), n

timp ce 83% posteaz cu regularitate ntrebri interactivei alte postri menite s ncurajeze comunicarea. Doar 23%posteaz tiri din industrie i/sau din comunitatea din carebrandul face parte, dei acesttip de informaii este considerata atrage interesul i a arat cbrandul este implicat n societate (Figura 8).

Dintre paginile active pe carereprezentanii brandului posteaz cu regularitate, pe 80%dintre ele posteaz i publiculextern. Din totalul de 45 depagini Facebook monitorizate,pentru 62% din ele sa reuitcrearea unei relaii ntre brandi publicul extern prin pagina deFacebook.

Ipoteza E este conrmat, nutoate brandurile prezente n social media au creat o relaie cupublicul.

ntrebarea F: n ce msurtipul de interaciuni inueneaz comportamentul publiculuiint vizavi de acel brand?

Administratorii conturilor cereprezint aceste branduri trebuie s modereze conversaiile,s ncurajeze comunicarea i srspund prompt solicitrilor

venite. O alt ipotez este c,prin ncurajarea comunicrii iprin oferirea unor rspunsuriprompte solicitrilor, publiculint capt ncredere n brandi se simte confortabil s discutei s solicite mai multe informa

ii. Astfel, din cele 29 de paginipe care administratorii posteaz cu regularitate ntrebri imesaje menite s genereze interaciuni, pe 26 (90%) publiculextern posteaz la rndul luintrebri i mesaje destinatebrandului (Figura 4.1). Considerastfel ipoteza conrmat, drepturmare este recomandat companiilor s posteze ntrebri i me

saje ajuttoare pentru a ncuraja publicul int s discute, ssolicite informaii, scopul nalind a l transforma n client i/sau a l deliza.

Figra 8. Tipri de informaii postate c regaritate pe

Facebook (gr obint c Exce)Dintre brandurile care pos

teaz cu regularitate informaii, 37% sunt foarte active iposteaz alternativ toate celepatru tipuri de mesaje (tiri din

industrie, postri promoionale,ntrebri interactive i mesa

je care ncurajeaz publicul scomunice).

Figra 9. Msra n care pbic interacioneaz c


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Din cele 28 de pagini deFacebook pe care clienii solicit suport, pe 26 reprezentaniibrandurilor au rspuns la toate solicitrile, pe 20 dintre ele(71%) cu maxim promptitudine (sub 24 de ore). Aceste 20de companii sunt fr ndoialexemple de urmat.

Ipoteza F este conrmat:Tipul de interaciuni inueneazn mod direct ncrederea n brandi comportamentul publicului int vizavi de brandul n cauz.

5. Identicarea norpractici de scces nsocia media

n acest ultimul capitol saurmrit identicarea unui setde practici de succes aplicate nsocial media n Romnia. Pentruaceasta sa analizat performana online a celor mai puternicebranduri romneti comparativcu brandurile de top n socialmedia n Romnia. Pentru acelebranduri comune se va realizaun studiu comportamental.

Pentru a putea identica acele branduri romneti cu adev

rat de succes i n mediul tradiional, i n cel online, studiul seva raporta att topului celor mai

puternice 50 branduri romneti, ct i topului celor 50 debranduri de top din social median Romnia. Top Social Brandseste un clasament realizat deaceeai agenie, avnd ca beneciar to revista Biz. Topul reunete cele mai active 50 de branduri n social media, branduri

ce sau remarcat pe parcursulanului 2011 prin campanii careau integrat inovativ n mixul decomunicare strategii de mareimpact de social media.

Exist i alte studii care scotn eviden branduri de succes,dar am ales acest calasament datorit metodologiei de calcul folosit, avnduse n vedere rezultatele nregistrate de branduri n3 clasamente preliminare:

topul realizat pentru revista Biz n proporie de 45%

topul realizat n urma voturilor exprimate de ungrup de specialiti online(ind format n principaldin specialiti de onlinemarketing ai principaleloragenii interactive i decomunicare din Romnia) n proporie de 35%

topul meniunilor pe ZeList n proporie de 20%.Pentru a sublinia impor

are asupra modului n care unbrand este perceput, sau comparat urmtoarele 2 topuri careclasic branduri prezente pepiaa din Romnia:

Top 50 cele mai puternicebranduri romneti

Top 50 branduri n socialmedia n Romnia

Primul pas n identicareastrategiilor de succes a fost compararea celor dou liste pentrua alctui astfel topul brandurilor romneti n social media.Exist 10 branduri comune celor dou topuri (20%): Petrom,BCR, Rom, Romtelecom, Ursus,Bergenbier, Timioreana, Dacia,

Domo i Farmec. Este importantde menionat c n topul celor 50de branduri de top n social media n Romnia se regsesc doar12 branduri romneti, restulde 38 ind branduri ale unorcompanii internaionale.

Cele 10 branduri romnetide top n social media vor sta labaza identicrii unor strategiide succes n online pentru companii. Toate aceste 10 branduri

au un site dedicat brandului io pagin de Facebook cu peste15,000 de fani. Din aceste companii, una singur nu are contpe Twitter (Bergenbier).

Practici de social media desucces identicate:I. Realizarea concursurilor prin

aplicaii FacebookAceast strategie ajut la

atragerea fanilor i creterea no

torietii n mediul online. Deieste o metod controversat datorit existenei multor vntori de concursuri care sunt interesai mai ales de premii i maipuin de brand, avantajul ei esteacela al generrii unui numrfoarte mare de fani ntrun timpfoarte scurt. apte din cele 10branduri analizate au organizatun astfel de concurs n ultimelepatru luni la momentul analizei.

II. Postarea unor mesaje balansate ntre promovare i co

i

Figra 10. Reaia existent ntre postrie de ncrajarefcte de reprezentanii brandrior i msra n care

pbic extern soicit nformaii (reaizat de ator)


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Observm din guri c toateaceste companii de top folosescpagina de Facebook drept uninstrument de marketing, promovndui direct produsele i/sau serviciile. Cu toate acestea, ecare din aceste brandurianalizate alterneaz postrilede promovare cu alte postriinteractive despre industrie, cuntrebri menite s ncurajezecomunicarea i cu alte postriinteresante, nu neaprat directlegate de activitatea rmei, postri menite de asemenea s genereze interaciuni.III. Promptitudinea n oferirea

de suport

Pe o singur pagin din cele10 analizate, publicul externnu posteaz ntrebri companiei. Din celelalte nou pagini pecare publicul extern adreseazbrandului diverse ntrebri (informaii suplimentare privindoferta, suport n achiziie sau nutilizare etc.), toate rspund solicitrilor venite cu promptitudine, ntrun interval de maxim ozi.

IV. Utilizarea unui design personalizatSocial media este o lume in

tangibil, iar elementele de design sunt principalul contactpe care un utilizator l are cu ocompanie. Prin includerea logoului, a sloganului, a culorilorreprezentative i a altor elemente distinctive pentru brand,pagina se difereniaz de ali

competitori, iar publicul intpoate recunoate cu uurin unbrand pe care este posibil chiars l cunoasc din mediul ofine.Folosirea unei imagini de prolreprezentativ i includereaunui poster personalizat (numit Cover Photo pe Facebooki Twitter skin pe Twitter) vaajuta publicul int s se familiarizeze cu acel brand i s lidentice cu uurin cnd l n

tlnete att n mediul online,ct i n mediul ofine.

Figra 11. Pagini care posteaz tiri prin Facebook(gr obint c Exce)

Figra 12. Pagini care se promoveaz prin Facebook(gr obint c Exce)

Figra 13. Pagini care posteaz mtrebri i ate postricare ncrajeaz comnicarea pe Facebook


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Toate cele 10 branduri au opoz de prol i un Cover Photopersonalizat pe Facebook, iar peTwitter toate au o poz reprezentativ de prol, iar 7 din cele9 branduri prezente pe Twitterau i un Twitter skin personalizat cu elemente reprezentativebrandului.

Cheia succesului n socialmedia este greu de identicatpentru ecare companie, daraceste practici utilizate de companiile de top ce au stat la bazastudiului sunt fr ndoialaplicabile i recomandabile oricrei companii.

6. Conczii

Analiza conceptelor de branding i a teoriilor existente aavut drept rol evidenierea msurii n care mediul online vascdea sau va crete importanabrandului. O serie de autori aususinut c importana brandului va scdea odat cu dezvoltarea mediului online, oameniiavnd acces la o serie de produse i preuri, putnd alege maiuor varianta cea mai convenabil. Studiul a cutat s demonstreze contrariul (susinut deali autori), artnd c n onlinebrandurile au o importan maimare datorit lipsei interaciunii zice cu produsul i cu personalul, dar i datorit uxuluicovritor de informaii. Mediulonline i puterea unui brand

sunt interdependente, brandulind obligat s in pasul cutehnologia i s e prezent pepiaa unde consumatorii pot gsii.

Experiena online a unuibrand este siteul i contactul avut cu brandul prin socialmedia, n timp ce n mediul ofine, brandul este reprezentatmai mult de atributele produselor. Mai mult dect n cazulwebsiteului, social media arepotenialul de a crea relaii cu

consumatorii, de a interacionacu acetia i de a i deliza, motiv pentru care sa urmrit analiza comportamentului brandului n social media, 90% dinbrandurile analizate avnd oprezen n social media, dintrecare 78% sunt i active n acestmediu.

Brandurile trebuie umanizate n social media, pentru aputea s stabileasc contactecu publicul int. Companiiletrebuie s se concentreze pencredere i primul pas constn crearea de loialitate fa debrand. Social media nu este unmediu tradiional, ind un canal

de comunicare mai asemntorcu telefonul dect cu televizorul.Studiul a urmrit s analizezemsura n care reprezentaniipaginilor brandurilor de top folosesc astfel de strategii de umanizare, comunicnd nu doar mesaje promoionale, dar i alt tipde interaciunile. Companiilede succes care au fost premiatepentru activitatea n social media alterneaz aceste tipuri de

mesaje, ncurajnd interaciunile i conferind brandului atribute umanizate.

Social media plaseaz persoana, informaiile i mesajulca elemente centrale, mpreuncu ceea ce se comunic, deoarece individului i este dat posibilitatea de a comunica liber nspaiul online public i deschis,fapt ce duce la dezvoltarea rapi

d a acestor reele. Acest mediueste ntro continu dezvoltaredatorit libertii de exprimare i a accesului liber la acesteplatforme. Comunicarea este detip pull, n acest caz clienii cutnd i selectnd singuri companiile i produsele de care suntinteresai i cu care doresc sstabileasc o relaie. Companiilefolosesc n social media practicide marketing pull, deoarece cli

enii sunt cei care le caut, manifestnd un interes. Ei aleg n

cadrul cror companii dorescs e membri, iar pentru a iatrage fani, activitatea de socialmedia trebuie s transmit personalitatea brandului, n careclienii trebuie s se regseasc.

Crearea unor relaii dintreclieni i brand se realizeazatunci cnd clientul i organizaiile lucreaz mpreun i relaia ntre cele dou pri evolueaz pe msur ce crete numrulde interaciuni. n plus, nivelulde cunoatere al unuia fa decellalt crete prin ecare tranzacie, dialog, feedback, nregistrare de utilizator, i cu ecare

vizit fcute pe websiteul or

ganizaiei. Nu toate brandurilecare au prezen online reuescs i stabileasc o relaie cu piaa int. Dintre paginile activepe care reprezentanii brandului posteaz cu regularitate, pe80% dintre ele posteaz i publicul extern. Din totalul de 45 depagini Facebook monitorizate,pentru 62% din ele sa reuitcrearea unei relaii ntre brandi publicul extern prin pagina de

Facebook.Cheia succesului n social me

dia se bazeaz pe strategii binepuse la punct, pe informaii cupotenial viral, ind identicatei un set de practici utilizate decompaniile de top ce au stat labaza studiului. Acestea nu suntsuciente i trebuie adaptate lanivel de brand, dar sunt fr ndoial aplicabile i recomandate

oricrui brand.

Mmiri

Aceast lucrare este susinut de Programul OperaionalSectorial Dezvoltarea Resurselor Umane (POS DRU), ID76945nanat din Fondul Social European i de ctre Guvernul romn.


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Bibiograe

Aaker, D.A. (2002): Building StrongBrands, Simon & Schuster,Londra.

Biz, 50 cele mai puternice branduriromanesti in 2012: http://www.revistabiz.ro/50celemaiput e r n i c e b r a n d u r i r o m a n estiin2012668.html (Site accesat la: 18 Martie 2013)

Dayal, S., Landesberg, H. & Zeisser, M. (2000): Building DigitalBrands, McKinsey Quarterly,Numrul 2.

Evans, L. (2010): Social Media Marketing: Strategies for Engagingin Facebook, Twitter & OtherSocial Media, Editura Que.

Facebrands, Date demograce Facebook Romnia, http://www.facebrands.ro/demograce.html(Accesat la date de 22 Aprilie2013)

Kabani, S.H., Brogan, C. (2010):The Zen of Social Media Mar

keting: An Easier Way to BuildCredibility, Generate Buzz,and Increase Revenue, EdituraBenBella Books, Dallas.

Kerpen, D. (2011) Likeable social media: How to Delight yourcustomers, create an irresistiblebrand and be generally amazingon Facebook and other social networks, Editura Mc Graw Hill,New York.

Lindstrom, M., Andersen, T.F.(2000): Brand Building on the

Internet, Kogan Page: Londra.

Rowley, J.(2004): Online Branding,Online Information Review, Volumul 28, Numrul 2.

Safko, L. (2010): The Social MediaBible: Tactics, Tools, and Strategies for Business Success (online). Disponibil la: http://gu.eblib.

com.ezproxy.ub.gu.se/patron/FullRecord.aspx?p=624598 (Accesat la date de: 29 Martie 2013).

Saunders, M., Lewis, P., ThornhillA.(2007): Research Methodsfor Business Students, Editura Pearson Education Limited,Ediia a IVa, Harlow.

Sndulescu, L. (2012): Top SocialBrands (online). Disponibil la:http://www.revistabiz.ro/topsocialbrands565.html (Accesat ladate de: 11 Aprilie 2013).


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Top Romanian Brands Onine Presence behavior and sccess strategies

Alexandra TlPuGabriel BRTuCuTimotei VIERAu

Faculty of Economics and Business Administration

Abstract:During the last decades a new channel of communication, the Internet, emerged and grew;this has brought many opportunities for marketing. This paper analyzes aspects regarding the behaviorof brands in the online environment, presenting practical aspects of online brand presence and corporatebehavior in social media. Based on this analysis the paper ultimately identies successful strategies forcompanies in social media.

Keywords:social media, top brands, descriptive and exploratory study, marketing strategies.

The Internet has a major impact on marketing tools, providing new opportunities that werenot previously available usingtraditional marketing tools.Each of the traditional communication channels has obviousadvantages and continues to beused, but the Internet is a chan

nel that is in constant development, enjoying high attentionand being currently used bymore than a third of the worldpopulation. Knowing the different advantages and disadvantages between traditional andonline marketing, a good marketer may be able to make theright decision when developingthe marketing strategy.

Throughout this paper I willseek to answer key questions related to online marketing, suchas: What online marketing toolsare most used in practice? Howcan a brand be differentiatedthrough online tools?

These issues are importantbecause choosing the channelsfor communication, selling andpromotion is not an easy decision for both new companies

and those with experience. Theresults of this study are intended to assist companies in

identifying marketing strategiesand to increase the emphasis onnew marketing instruments.

1. Theme jstication

Currently online marketinghas taken over more and moreof the budgets allocated to mar

keting efforts, traditional marketing losing ground to onlinepromotion activities. The success gained by an organizationin the ofine environment issignicantly different from thatobtained in the online environment. Strategies for the two areas have only a few elements incommon.

According to Facebrands.ro

in Romania there are currentlyover 8.5 million Internet users,out of which over 5.9 millionhave a Facebook account, andover 57,000 have an accounton Twitter. Already there areover 20,000 Romanian Facebookpages (promoting a company, abrand, a public organization andso on).

Regarding the behavior of

companies in Romania, during2011, 69% of companies havet d t th d f ti

through social media (particularly promoting through Facebook,and through discussion forums),according to a study conductedby GfK Romania on a sampleof 410 people, decision or codecision makers for promotingand communication who haveconducted or intend to conduct

social media campaigns in thenext 12 months.

The advantages of being present in the online environmentare obvious: overcoming geographical boundaries, increasedspeed of communications, 24hours per day access to information and procurement, low costpromotion, the possibility of establishing interpersonal rela

tionships, the ability to segmentthe market very well, the easein obtaining feedback, high exposure and the list goes on.

In the context where about40% of the population hasInternet access and there aremultiple advantages for organizations to be present in theonline environment, Ive considered of a real importance to analyze the behavior of Romanian

top brands regarding the onlinemedium, to identify the extentto which successful Romanian


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companies build their onlinepresence and the successfulpractices which they implement.

This paper has a practicalcharacter and presents an analysis conducted by the authoron the online presence of thetop Romanian brands. The topfty most powerful Romanianbrands designated as result ofthe market research conductedby the Biz Magazine, publishedin September 2012, representsthe basis of this analysis.

The study Top 50 Romanianbrands was conducted byUnlock Market Research

Agency, with the beneciary Biz

Magazine. This study was conducted for the third consecutiveyear and aims to measure thepower of Romanian brands,putting together the top 50brands. The analysis was donein terms of investment of trustand affection that is given by theconsumers interviewed. Therehave been 1,200 telephone interviews, the sampling considering the urban region level, de

gree of urbanization, breakdownby sex and age, considering thegrownup population (the studyincludes the brand of some alcoholic beverages). The study wasthus declared by Unlock MarketResearch agency representative for the Romanian grownuppopulation.

The performance for theseRomanian brand was measured

taking into account indicatorssuch as brand performance (determined by the intensity ofconsumer preference for thatbrand through multiple choicesbetween brands in the same category) and emotional involvement (determined by measuringthe degree of association with anumber of attributes).

Starting from this study itwas sought to analyze the ex

tent to which these top brandshave an online presence stron

l t Th lti t

goal of the study is to identifysuccessful online marketingpractices used by the most powerful Romanian brands, both intraditional environment and inthe online one.

2. Research Methodoogy

The data was searched andcollected manually for eachof the fty brands separately.Several methods were usedto identify the online presence through own website andthrough the social networksFacebook and Twitter.

The study performed is both

exploratory and descriptive, thedata being collected from publicsources and then analyzed toidentify Romanian top brandsbehaviors in an online environment. Exploratory studies areused to understand a problem, asituation. According to Sauders,Lewis and Thornhill (2007),descriptive studies help buildbehavioral proles of people,events, situations and in thiscase brands.

This study has a deductiveapproach, aiming to test theabove hypothesis regarding theimportance of a companys social media presence.

2.1. Data gathering

The primary data was collected directly from the companies by observing their pres

ence and behavior in the onlineenvironment, both quantitativeand qualitative aspects beinganalyzed. The quantitative partonly aims to analyze the number of brands that have a website and a presence in social media. Qualitative aspects are intended to present the behaviorof these brands online, focusingon analyzing the level of inter

action, the type of posts, the extent to which companies providecustomer support, etc.

Initially the site was searchedusing the search engine Google,direct typing in the browser being tried as an alternative, because if the site is penalized byGoogle will not appear in theresults. We found the websitesfor all top 50 brands, 39 havinga dedicated website to the brandand 11 being present on thecompanys website that ownsthat brand.

In order to identify accountson social networks the followingsteps where made:

It was veried that theyare listed on the presentation site, this being the

most reliable way to identify the page / ofcial account of the brand, somebrands having multiplepages open (by fans or bythe Company, later givingup on those accounts);

If the website hasnt listedthis information, Facebrands.ro was used tosearch for the Facebookpage through its search

functionality; The third alternative

was searching for themthrough the Google Romania search engine, social networks being verywell indexed by Google,but showing a number ofother similar companiesand brands in the international market;

The last alternative wasdirect search through theintegrated search functionon Facebook.com, respectively Twitter.com;

If after completing the foursteps the brands accounts havenot been identied, it was considered that that brand is notcurrently on Facebook / Twitter.The conclusion following thesecriteria is that 5 of the 50 top

brands dont have a Facebookpage, while 31 of the 50 brandsd t h T itt t


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2.2. Investigated questionsand starting hypotheses

A. Question: How many of thetop 50 Romanian brandshave a website?

Hypothesis: All Romanian

top brands are present onthe internet through an ownwebsite or they are featuredthrough the companys website.

B. Question: How many of thesebrands are present in socialmedia?

Hypothesis: Most top brandsare present in social media.

C. Question: How popular arethe top brands in the online

evironment? Hypothesis: Most of the top

brands are popular online.D. Question: To what extent the

volume of posts made by representatives of the brand inuences the number of fansthe page has?

Hypothesis: The amount ofinteraction directly affectsthe number of fans on social

networks.E. Question: How many of thebrands present in social media have created a relationship with the public?

Hypothesis: Not all brandspresent in social media havecreated a relationship withthe public

F. Question: To what extentsuch interactions inuencethe behavior of target audi

ences regarding that brand? Hypothesis: The type of inter

action directly affects brandcondence and the target audiences behavior regardingthe brand in question.

3. Romanian top brandsonine presence

This chapter presents the

quantitative aspects of the presence of these brands in the online environment, taking into

account issues such as: the existence or nonexistance of a website, its age and the existence ornot of a Facebook page and/orTwitter account.

Creating presence is identied by Rowley (2004) as thatphase of the digital marketingcommunication through whichthe organization creates exposure on its offers and activityand attempts to create an imageon the market.

Question A: How manybrands of the top 50 Romanianones have a website?

The rst aspect analyzed wasthe centralization of the presentation websites for each brandseparately. Having a websiteis essential for any successfulcompany of todays time. All topfty Romanian brands are present through their own websiteor through the companys website to which the brand belongsto. A total of 39 of the 50 brands(representing 78%) have theirown dedicated brand website,the remaining 22% with presentation pages within the websitesof the companies that own thosebrands (shown in Figure 1).

Figre 1. The existence of a website dedicated to the brand.Figre obtained with Exce.

Hypothesis A. is conrmed,all Romanian top brands arepresent on the Internet throughits own website or through

the companys they belong towebsite.Another important aspect

is the age of the brands presence in the online environment.If only in 2004 the social network Facebook come into being, the concept of World WideWeb (WWW) has existed since1990 (when it was invented by

Tim BernersLee), at whichpoint companies and userscould create websites. Of these50 brands analyzed, the older

ones are present online since1998, namely: Romtelecom (located on the 17th position in thetop), the Romanian CommercialBank (position 18) and Dacia(position 19). The average age ofthese 50 brands websites is 8.3years. The distribution of websites according to age is shownin Figure 2.


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Question B: How many ofthese brands are present in social media?

The importance of a presencein social media was highlightedin the previous chapter and isan aspect analyzed in detail inthe present study. Only two social networks were taken into

account: Facebook and Twitter;they were chosen because theyoccupy the top two positionstaking into account the number of users from all social networks. Thus, 78% of brandshave a Facebook page whileonly 38% have a Twitter account(Figure 3).

4. Socia media behaviorof the Romanian topbrands

The next chapter concernsthe qualitative analysis of thepresence of the 50 brands in the

online environment, analyzingthe popularity of the website,frequency of postings, types ofinteractions, the extent to whichthe company provides supportto the target audience and otheraspects regarding the quality ofsocial media activity.

Question C: How popularare the top brands in the onlineenvironment?

The popularity of a websitein the online environment determines how a website is indexedby search engines. Google measures the popularity of a websiteon the internet considering thesite itself and especially the recommendations of other websites,calculating a coefcient of popularity called PageRank (PR) foreach site. PR is a Internet linkanalysis algorithm used by the

search engine to compute theweight of a link in a set of links.The higher the number of quality links to a site, the higher thePageRank will be; the algorithmwas inspired by the educationalsystem which measures the popularity coefcient of each articlethrough the number of citationsand the value of citing sources.The PageRank coefcient is aninteger that can range from 0 to10 (or if the site is too new, evenn/a), where 10 is the maximum.Currently, very few sites havePageRank 10. Until February 6,2012, Google and Facebook hadPageRank 10, but on February6 Google updated its algorithmand both fell to PageRank 9. Onthe same day, eight sites werepromoted to PR 10, includingthe U.S. Government, IT com

panys Adobe site and three university sites. We highlighted PRdata for each of the 50 websites

Figre 2. Brands distribtion according to websites age,

Figre obtained with Exce

Figre 3. The presence of top brands on Facebook andTwitter

Hypothesis B is conrmed for

Facebook but not for Twitter:most of the top brands are

present in social media on

Facebook.


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Following Page Rank centralization for each of the 50websites, the average was 3.5and represents a relatively high

value, which means that thesebrands are also popular in theonline environment. The biggestPR, therefore the most popularonline, is assigned to a websiteowned by the bank BRD (www.

brd.ro), also another three websites enjoying the value of PR 6:Romtelecom, BCR and Ursus.In contrast there are two websites that have PR 0: KraftFoods Company (representingthe brand Poiana) and Petrom.When analyzing the performance of such websites, mostlikely both have suffered penalties from Google. These penalties occur due to engaging in

practices unaccepted by Google,seeking undeserved articialgrowth of the website; the mostcommon example of nontolerated practice by Google is buyinglinks on other websites.

Regarding the behavior ofbrands in social media, an important indicator is the number offans that every brand has on itsFacebook and/or on its Twitteraccount. The analysis aims to

highlight to what extent there isa connection between the number of fans and how active theb d h k

The average number of fans(likes) for the 45 brands thathave a Facebook page is 40,120.The fewest fans (under 20) areregistered by the brands Dorna,

Albalact, Frutti Fresh, and atthe opposite pole the beer brandUrsus has the most Facebookfans. Popular Pages with over100,000 fans on Facebook be

long to the brands: Timioreana,Primola, Ciuc and Bergenbier.Note that the beer industry is

very active and appreciated onthis social platform, 4 of the 5most popular Facebook pagesbelonging to this industry.

The average number of fansthat these brands have onTwitter (called followers) is 582.Given the fact that Facebookhas over 5 million Romanian users, and Twitter only 50,000, theresult was expected, the propor

tion was even in favor of Twitter.The most active brands and theonly ones that have more than1,000 followers on Twitter arePetrom, Romtelecom and Dacia.

Hypothesis C is conrmed,most of the top brands beingpopular online.

Question D: To what extentdoes volume of postings made byrepresentatives of the brand inuences the number of fans the

page has?Using the Radar chart (alsocalled Spider) the author highlighted the link between theactivity of the brand on Twitter(number of posts) and the number of followers of each account.For a better highlight, we included only the top 10 brands interms of fans, because large differences affect a visible correlation. (Figure 5). Figure shows a

clear link made between the twovariables, supporting the theoryand mechanism of these socialnetworks, according to whichthe more active a company is insocial media, the more peoplewill be exposed to that activityand can become fans.

Figre 4. Brands distribtion according to site PageRank,graph obtained sing Exce

Figre 5. The correation between the nmber of posts andth b f f T itt g h bt i d i g E


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The social media strategy,the quality of the posts, the timings when the users interact, theindustry the brand belongs to,the audience to whom it is addressed and many other thingsaffect the potential of a brand toattract fans.

D hypothesis is conrmed,Figure 5 showing that there isa visible connection betweenthe two variables, the amountof interaction directly inuencing the number of fans on socialnetworks.

According to Rowley, building relationships is the secondstep in building an image in theonline environment. These relationships can be created onlywhere both parties are active:both the brands representativesand the targeted audience.

The question is: How manyof these brands have conductedpublic relations?

Not all the brands presentand active in social media. It isnot enough for a brand to createa Facebook page or a Twitter

account. Accounts must be maintained regularly, by posting newinformation, messages, news,interacting with the target audience, engaging and providingnecessary support, promptly,whenever required.

Among the companies thathave a Facebook page, 78% (35out of 45) post regularly. Amongthose who have a presence onTwitter, 63% (12 of 19 brands)are active on a regular basis(Figures 6 and 7).

Figre 6. Companies active on Facebook, graph obtained sing Exce

Figre 7. Companies active on Twitter, graph obtained sing Exce


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Most of the brands representatives post promotional information (94%), while 83% regularly post interactive questionsand other postings to encouragecommunication. Only 23% ofthem post industry news and/

or on the community from whichthe brand belongs, althoughthis type of information is considered to attract interest andcondence that the brand is in

volved in society (Figure 8).

Among active pages thatbrand representatives post regularly on, on 80% of them, theexternal audiences also post. Ofthe 45 Facebook pages monitored, 62% of them manage tocreate a relationship betweenthe brand and external audiences through the Facebook page.

Hypothesis E is conrmed,not all brands present in socialmedia have created a relationship with the public.

Question F: To what extentsuch interactions inuence thebehavior of target audiences regarding that brand?

Account administrators rep

resenting these brands haveto moderate conversations, encourage communication and torespond promptly to requests.

Another hypothesis is that byencouraging communicationand providing prompt answersto requests, the target audiencedevelops brand trust and feelscomfortable to discuss and request more information. Thus,of the 29 pages on which admin

istrators regularly post questions and messages designed togenerate interaction on, on 26(90%) external audience alsopost questions and messagesintended for the brand (Figure4.1). Thus I believe the hypothesis to be conrmed; as a resultits indicated that companiespost their questions and helpfulmessages to encourage the tar

get audience to discuss, requestinformation, the ultimate goalbeing to transform the publicinto a client and/or retain him.

Figre 8. Types of information posted on a regar basis onFacebook, graph obtained sing Exce

Among the brands that postinformation on a regular basis,37% are very active and alternative post all four types of

messages (industry news, promotional posts, interactive questions and messages to encouragethe public to communicate).

Figre 9. The extent to which the pbic interacts with thebrand throgh Facebook, graph obtained sing Exce


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Amongst the 28 Facebookpages that customers requiresupport, on 26 representativesof the brands have responded toall requests, 20 of them (71%)with utmost promptness (under24 hours). These 20 companiesare undoubtedly examples.

F hypothesis is conrmed:The type of interaction directlyaffects trust in the brand and

target audience behavior regarding the brand in question.

5. Identifying sccessfpractices in socia media

In this last chapter wesought to identify a set of practices successfully implementedin social media in Romania. Forthis we analyzed the online per

formance of the most powerfulRomanian brands compared tothe top brands in social mediain Romania. For those commonbrands a behavioral study willbe carried out.

In order to identify thosetruly successful also in the traditional media also in the inthe online one, the survey willreport both to the top 50 strongest Romanian brands as wellto the top 50 brands in in socialmedia in Romania. Top Social

Brands is a ranking conductedby the same agency, havingBiz magazine as the beneciary. The top brings together themost active 50 brands in socialmedia, brands that were notedthroughout 2011 through campaigns that have integrated inan innovative way social mediastrategies of great impact in thecommunication mix.

There are also other studiesthat highlight successful brands,but I chose this ranking becauseof the calculation methodologyused, taking into account the results achieved by the brands in3 preliminary rankings:

The top made up by BizMagazine at a rate of45%

The top made from votes

cast by a panel of experts_ (consisting mainly ofleading online marketingspecialists from marketing and interactive communication agencies inRomania) in 35%

The top entries on ZeList up to 20%.

To highlight the importancethat the online environment hason the way a brand is perceived,

the following two tops classifying brands present on the mar

ket in social media in Romania,where compared:

Top 50 strongest romanian brands

Top 50 brands in socialmedia in Romania

The rst step in identifying successful strategies was tocompare the two lists in orderto to compile the top top romanian brands in social media.There are 10 common brands ofthe two charts (20%): Petrom,BCR, Rom, Romtelecom, Ursus,Bergenbier Timioreana, Dacia,Domo and Farmec. It is important to note that among thetop 50 brands in social media

in Romania only 12 romanianbrands can be found, the rest ofthe 38 brands beeing owned byinternational companies.

The top 10 romanian brandsin social media, will form thebasis of identifying successfulstrategies in online for businesses. All these 10 brands havea site dedicated to the brandand a Facebook page with over15,000 fans. Of these compa

nies, only one has no Twitter account (Bergenbier).

Successful social media practices identied:I. Creating contests through

Facebook applicationsThis strategy helps to at

tract fans and increase awareness in the online environment.

Although it is a controversialmethod because of the existence

of many contests hunters whoare particularly interested inwinning the awards less thanknowing the brand, its advantage is that of generating a hugenumber of fans in a very shorttime. Seven of the 10 brands analyzed organized such a contestin the last four months.II. Posting messages balanced

between promotion and communication

35 Pages on which the

company posts

28 Pages on which

fans post

26 Pages on which

both the company

and the fans post

Figre 10. Reationship existing between encoraging postsmade by representatives of brands and the extent in whichexterna pbic reqests information (made by the athor)


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We see from the gure thatall these top companies use theFacebook page as a marketingtool directly promoting productsand / or services. However, eachof these brands analyzed alternate promotional posts withother interactive posts aboutthe industry, with questions designed to encourage communication and other interesting posts,not necessarily directly linked tothe companys posts also meantto generate interactions.III. Promptness in providing

supportOn one page of the 10 ana

lyzed the external public doesnt

post questions for the company. Of the other nine pages onwhich the external public posts

various questions for the brand,external public address questions (further information onthe offer, purchase or use support etc..) all respond to requestspromptly, within a maximum ofone day.IV. Using a custom design

Social media is a intangible

world, and design elements arethe main contact that a userhas with a company. By including logo, slogan, representativecolors and other distinctive elements for the brand, the pageis different from other competitors and the target audience caneasily recognize a brand thatits even possible to know beforefrom the ofine environment.

Using a representative prolephotos including a personalizedposter (called Cover Photo onFacebook Twitter Skins onTwitter) will help the targetaudience to become familiarwith that brand and identify iteasily when it meets it in bothonline as well in the offlineenviromnment.

All 10 brands have a prolepicture and custom Facebook

Cover Photo and on Twitter allhave a representative prole

h t d 7 f th 9 b d

Figre 11. Pages that post news throgh Facebook, graphicobtained with Exce

Figre 12. Pages that are promoted throgh Facebook,graph obtained sing Exce

Figre 13. Pages that post qestions and other posts onFacebook that encorage commnication on Facebook,

graph obtained sing Exce


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present on Twitter have Twittercustom skins with representative elements of the brand.

The key to success in socialmedia is difcult to identifyfor each company, but thesepractices are certainly applicable and recommended for anycompany.

6. Concsions

Analysis of the concepts ofbranding and of existing theories served to highlight the extent to which the online environment will decrease or increasethe importance of the brand. A

number of authors have arguedthat the importance of brandwill decrease with the development of the online environment,people having access to a rangeof products and prices whichshould easen chosing the mostconvenient option. The studysought to prove otherwise (atheory supported by other authors as well), showing that online brands have greater importance due to the lack of physicalinteraction with the productand staff, but also due to theoverwhelming ow of information. Therefore the conclusionis that the online presence andthe brand strength are interdependent, since the brand wasforced to keep up with technology and to be present on the market where the consumers can be

found.The brands experience in theonline environment is the siteand the contact with the brandthrough social media, whilein the ofine environment,the brand is represented moreby products attributes. Morethan in the case of the website,social media has the potentialto create relationships withcustomers, interact with themand retain them, which is why

the study was aimed at analyzing the behavior of social media,90% of the brands analyzed having a presence in social media,out of which 78% are active inthis environment.

Brands must be active in thesocial media in order to establish contact with the target audience. Companies must focuson trust and the rst step is tocreate brand loyalty. Social media is not a traditional setting,being a channel of communication more similar to the phonethan to the television. Thisstudy sought to examine the extent to which representatives of

these top brands pages utilizesuch humanizing strategies,communicating not just promotional messages, but also otherinteractions. Successful companies that have been awarded forwork in social media alternatethese types of messages, encouraging interaction and awarding the brand with humanattributes.

Social media puts the per

son, information and messagesas central elements along withwhat is communicated becausethe individual is given the opportunity to communicate freelyin the online public open space,which leads to the rapid development of these networks. Thisenvironment is in constant extend due to freedom of expression and free access to these

platforms. In this case, the communication is pull type, in thiscase customers searching andselecting themselves the companies and the products they areinterested in and with whichthey are willing to establish arelationship. Companies use insocial media the pull marketing practices because customers are people who search forthem, showing an interest. They

choose in which companies/

pages they want to becomemembers; in order to attracttheir fans, the social media activity must transmit the brandspersonality, in which customersmust nd themselves.

Creating relationships between customers and brands isdone when the client and the organizations are working together and the relationship betweenthe two parties evolves as thenumber of interactions increases. In addition, the knowledge ofone another grows through eachtransaction, dialogue, feedback,user registration, and with each

visit to the organizations web

site. Not all the brands that havean online presence succeed inestablishing a relationship withtheir target market. Among active pages on which brand representatives post regularly, on80% of these pages the externalpublic posts back. Of the 45 pages Facebook monitored, 62% ofthem managed to create a relationship between the brand andthe external public through the

Facebook page.The key to success in social

media is based upon welldeveloped strategies and upon information with a viral potential. Inthe end the author identied aset of best practices used by theleading companies that were thebasis of the study. These are notsufcient and should be adaptedfor each brand, but are certainly

applicable and recommendableto any brand.

Acknowedgement

This paper is supportedby the Sectoral OperationalProgramme Human ResourcesDevelopment (SOP HRD),ID76945 nanced from theEuropean Social Fund and bythe Romanian Government.


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