Think for a moment that CWL is your company.

You are an internet company, in a modern society, with the world at your keyboard.....

Currently CWL is not very active with regards to social media directly.

Lots of brands and organizations are using social media for various means. It would seem that if you are not doing social media then you can be perceived as being “not up to date”. What do you think should be the social media strategy and what should it involve/not involve with regard to your company.

I actually dislike social media as I don't think it adds, or will ever add, to my life. What I can't manage via t'interweb and a phone call/text isn't worth worrying about to me. I also dont care if you have arrived at a restaurant, finished your latest book or think that someone else's comment is worth a or a .

If you replace the word "social" with "mass" I think you get closer to the more recent uses of StalkerBook and Twotter etc for companies... bearing in mind that originally these were personal social media products more for individuals rather than organisations. Companies have seen the sucess of the personal social media sites and their marketing bods have spotted the chance to exploit them.

For global brands that seek mass markets it's a good way to pimp your companies latest, worthless, marketing offer to the unwashed masses e.g. the latest MaccyD's or Subway "Special of the Week". For quality brands or niche products I think it could actually devalue the offering by bringing the local chavs and chavettes into a very non targeted form of communication.

I personally would be put off if a previously favoured company started bombarding me with social media updates... not that that will happen as I dont frequent them and dont plan to. Where's my abacus, quill and ink gone. Perhaps I should have replied in The Curmudgeon's Corner

update facebook more often.

post to slickdeals or deal website .. about a NN watch.. i know there are RSS feeds set up everywhere that posts new slickdeals topics. that could get a HUGE new market...

Post some new watches and pictures on reddit.com/r/watches ... i've seen a few newbie accounts from here after someone posted a CW on reddit.

AliBar wrote:I personally would be put off if a previously favoured company started bombarding me with social media updates

They don't unless you request it. You are thinking of spammers and e-mail marketing.

AliBar wrote: I dont frequent them and dont plan to.

When discussed before the forum took a very luddite view to social media and I don't expect that has changed recently. Something to do with age demographics or perhaps people who frequent old fashioned forums to discuss antiquated mechanical things.

It all depends on who their target audience is. I have a Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter account but don't use them that much but there are plenty of people whose lives revolve around them.

I have a friend and ex colleague who does social media and has written a book on it. She specialises in social media strategy for businesses.
http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/1906 ... 190612471X

Summary of methods
http://eileenbrown.wordpress.com/2012/0 ... nline-seo/

Oh also OPEN AN AMAZON STORE!!!!!

Im a regular facebook user though dont have twitter as yet and no plans to start using it either. Facebook is probably not the most suitable platform for CW though a CW fanpage wouldnt be that bad I guess?

As we all know social media is very powerful, its effectively 'made' many companies including CW to an extent?
As long as you get it right in terms of not going OTT or being perceived as tacky when you use social media then Im all for it.
CW has done very well so far but I have a feeling that there are still a few more gears to move through before the company well and truly 'blows up' globally to be put crudely and social media could be the key here.
However they should tread with caution, part of the attraction of CW is the exclusivity....even brands like Hamilton and Tissot for example havent got the same exclusive appeal IMO.So social media should be used in a measured approach.

Would a watch company having a facebook or twitter site persuade you to buy one of their watches?

No.........? Thought not. Me neither. Personally I would think very carefully about getting all of my current systems to work, e.g. automated sales e-mail posts to people who have requested them BEFORE embarking on anything else.

Sadly , I assume this is part of the integrated plan to globalise the brand and take it down the fashion watch path, in which case the type of people who buy such fashion watches will be thrilled at the prospect of tweeting etc .........

Not me though

I've got a farcebook account but rarely go on there. Not really sure how it all works regarding these "fan pages" as all I do is go to "home" and see what friends and family have been up to, post the odd "like" and bugger off again!

Guess, if there was a CW page, I'd have to get edumacated.

Think I'd like to see CW as a better "known" company. It gets tiring explaining to people about the company and where to find the products.

Tyke wrote:Would a watch company having a facebook or twitter site persuade you to buy one of their watches?

:

It wouldnt persuade me to buy one of their watches but 'exposure' is the key here. I came to CW after spotting a Trident in a newspaper....in the same way a random person might see CW on facebook and then look into the brand further.
I have the same concerns about cw becoming one of the usual suspects 'fashion' brands but cant see that happening...unless they start making watches like Guess,DKNY, Armani...and all the rest of those Prestige brands

watchlover1 wrote: I have the same concerns about cw becoming one of the usual suspects 'fashion' brands but cant see that happening...unless they start making watches like Guess,DKNY, Armani...and all the rest of those Prestige brands

They already are if you look in the ladies section

Caution regarding any of these social media options should be taken. Facebook, twitter et al can quickly switch from being a blessing to a curse as several 'celebs' have found to their cost. I'd hate to see the brand get trashed because of some unwarranted public hate campaign that seem to rise at the drop of a hat, cause untold & often unwarranted damage and then disappear leaving only a trail of destruction and broken dreams.

I agree that exposure is the key word but like everything social media comes at a cost and it's certainly not free; an employee will have to manage the content. You can manage your social media by doing it 'lite' with a FB fan page with a few posts a few week and a Twitter account with a daily volume/content. Twitter is a curious venue; lousy for conversation but excellent for telling many, many people about your product. There is also a lot of garbage on Twitter and I agree that it's pretty pointless (for me) to know that somebody has just finished their pizza. But it is an excellent venue for delivering your message; as I said it's a curious place. As much as quite a few people dislike FB (I'm one of them) it is the place to be; many younger people post on FB instead of sending an email. This strikes me as very odd, if I want to talk to somebody I'll email or phone rather than post something on FB and hope they see it. However with the amount of time some people spend on FB per day....it's their main form of communication.

Some good points brought forth so far.....

Although, the point here is not whether we like, or even use social media or not. I too have a Twitter and Linked in account (no facebook). I dont think I have really used either one more than rarely.

The question is, if it is your company, and you are looking to increase market share, and/or expand globally, why would I not want to use these methods that are available to me at a minimal cost?

Assuming I would/should...how do I best go after this... blogs..Facebook....Twitter....Linked In....forums...RSS feeds?

What else is out there and how should I utilize them?

If I in fact I offend some customers by this type of marketing, does my company stand to gain far more overall than I would lose?

I do not use social media. Having said that I believe an Internet co such as CW should use it for those who choose to follow. The info tho should be informative and useful not just hey I am here daily. Pictures of people wearing watches in wild could be interesting action shots, sales of course, info about goings on at CW. Even a webcam of shop in London or pictures would be interesting for US over here.

Tyke wrote:

They already are if you look in the ladies section

Im not one to risk the wrath of the ladies but they are a bit er, 'snazzy' arent they.....


I agree there is a cost to managing social media content and potential downsides...e.g: an unhappy customer decides to post their grievances on facebook/twitter and hundreds/thousands of people see this etc

In response to Kip's qu regarding why I would not want to use social media....my biggest concern would be losing current customers and brand perception. Social media is like marmite,some will love it others hate it. But there must be a fine line to keep most people happy and not offend.....

If I wanted to go ahead with using social media would probably need to use a combination of platforms( forums,twitter,facebook,blogs etc) in order to hit a wide range of people if thats what the objective is.It sounds obvious but look at what the competitors are doing too

Here is a link to the CW Facebook page.

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Christoph ... 5610416390

I have many watch friends on FB and use FB as a vintage watch resource. The International Vintage Heuer Owners Club is very active on FB.