Dealmoon: Shoping While Saving

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Social Media Monitoring Part 2: Doritos VS Lay's: Which One is Your Favorite

In the part 1, I mainly discussed Doritos and one of its famous marketing campaign, " Crash the Super Bowl". For the part 2, I want to explore further about the relationship between Doritos and the groundswell, as well as how the Doritos' competitor, Lay's, tapped into the groundswell. 

To be honest, Lay's classical salted chip and Nacho Cheese Doritos can be ranked in the top three of my favorite snacks. This makes me even more want to figure out what makes these two brands stand out from the crowd.
Even though Lay's and Doritos are cousin brands, both owned by Frito-lay, the competition within the same corporation can also be extremely fierce.

1. Social Media 
                                             Lay's                          Doritos
Facebook likes                      6M                              15M
Twitter followers                 398K                            561K
Instagram followers            120K                            72.5K


Compared with Lay's, Doritos has more followers on Facebook and Twitter but has less followers on Instagram. Considering the real fact that Doritos' main focus of social media platforms are Facebook and Twitter, it is no wonder that Doritos has less followers than Lay's on Instagram. 
What puzzled me is Lay's, actually, put more effort into improving its social media exposure than Doritos did on Facebook and Twitter but, instead, received less followers' attention. Now, let's take a look at these two brands' performances on social media platforms in detail.

• Facebook

In addition, when it comes to Facebook, what Doritos has done so far, basically, was about updating regular propaganda advertisements or information  related to its products, and answering some of its customers' questions randomly. It appeared that Doritos did a great job on building a  harmonious relationship with the groundswell---at least they did show their concerns to some of its consumers. However, when compared with Lay's, Doritos' efforts in interacting with the groundswell is far from enough.
From what I have found out, Lay's did their best to interact with its followers and cared about its consumers' thoughts or concerns.  Be it from answering followers' inquiries, or from showing concern about their customers' feelings, Lay's tried very hard to shorten the distance between itself and its costumers. You can easily find the dialogue between Lay's and its followers in the comment below every post of Lay's. However, the dialogue is not that often to be seen from Doritos' Facebook page.  

• Twitter

As for both Doritos and Lay's, Twitter is mainly used for advertising and encourage the groundswell to get involved in their campaigns. However, Doritos has low frequency in energizing the groundswell(around one post once a week),  when compared with Lay's(around one post every three days). The good thing is, the interaction between Doritos and the groundswell on Twitter is more frequent than on Facebook. For instance, during the period of campaign of "Crash the Super Bowl", Doritos awarded some enthusiasts a year's worth of Doritos for their honorable mention of #Doritos on Twitter.

• Instagram

Instagram is not Doritos' focus of social media platform, and is mainly used for informing the public about the recent campaigns. So far, Doritos has only posted 123 posts in total. I think Doritos does not use Instagram frequently because Instagram is only allowed to post pictures and videos without links to websites, and interactions with the groundswell.

From the comments below the post of " Crash the Super Bowl" we can see, most people really enjoyed the commercials from the campaign. And it proved again that "Crash the Super Bowl" has brought Doritos a great success.

                          

3. The Trends

• MeltWater IceRocket

As the heat of "Crash the Super Bowl" subsided gradually, plus the low enthusiasm of Doritos in reaching out to the groundswell, the blog related to Doritos on social media platforms remained extremely low when compared with the statistics of Lay's. 

• Social Mention

Lay's 3/14/16

Doritos 3/14/16

As can be seen above, for a specific day (3/14/16), Doritos received a slightly higher social mention number on social media platforms. From my perspective, the primary cause of this situation can be attributed to Doritos' larger follower groups than Lay's'. With more than two times followers base of Lay's, it is reasonable for more people talking about Doritos.

• Google Trends

From Google Trends statistics we can see, the spike of Doritos in February was obviously due to the "Crash the Super Bowl" campaign which did bring Doritos a tremendous success in elevating its degree of social mention. However, when people's interests in the campaign had faded away, the interest towards Lay's was in the lead once again. The reason, from my perspective, is that Lay's was actively promoting on social media platforms all the time while Doritos remained low degree of exposure on social media once again.

3. Thoughts On Doritos From the Groundswell
The book, Groundswell, gives lots of practical suggestions for modern organizations tapping into the groundswell. Combining the book with what we have looked at Doritos's performances on social media platforms, we can see that Doritos has advantages for its brand promotion; however, there are still some improvements Doritos need to make.

• Weakness

Firstly,  compared with Lay's enthusiasm on utilizing social media platforms, Doritos need to pay more attention to interacting with the groundswell. Just like the book mentioned, "the key to energizing is listening first"(P.216. Groundswell). 

As for Doritos, the degree of listening to the groundswell was not enough to support the processes of interacting and energizing with the groundswell. Because Doritos did not give customers' thoughts enough attention. Under this circumstance, customers may wonder the real purpose of Doritos' marketing strategies. In other words, are these campaigns just out of attracting the public's attention and utilizing the impact of "word of mouth" or out of energizing the public to get involved in? From my perspective, only through sufficient feedbacks from listening to the groundswell can Doritos understand its customers then to choose target customers to energize.

Secondly, Doritos could have done better in reacting to the criticism online. For instance, during the period of "Crash the Super Bowl" campaign, National Abortion and Reproductive Right Action League(NARAL) attacked Doritos' "Ultrasound" Super Bowl ad for "humanizing fetuses". And some customers also showed their disappointments about the hidden "inhuman" content in the commercial. However, Doritos ignored these negative comments like nothing had happened. Even though most of the netizens were on the side of Doritos, I still think Doritos should clarify that the real purpose of this commercial was to be entertaining instead of teasing. Keeping silent will not let these negative comments disappear. No matter for the negative or positive comments, Doritos should always show their concerns about customers.

• Strengths

Firstly, the creative marketing campaigns like the annual "Crash the Super Bowl" contest and the activity of offering activists one year's worth of Doritos snacks have brought Doritos enormous favorable comments and good reputation. 

Secondly, Doritos is a snack brand, which represents there is no specific customer group that Doritos need to aim at: its customer base is from little kids to old people. Besides, with plenty of flavors and more than 50 years' history, Doritos has already achieved a massive consumer base.

Thirdly, with such a large group of followers on social media platforms, as long as Doritos utilize the social media appropriately, it is easy for Doritos to achieve its promoting goals.

Last but not least, Doritos has more flavors and is more filling and heavier than Lay’s, which is an existing strength Doritos should be proud of.

Recommendations

Based on what I have mentioned before; I would recommend Doritos several suggestions as follow:

• Listening is important. Doritos should listen to its customers more often, then to figure out what the customers really want. Only through listening can Doritos make improvements. 
• To answer its customers' inquiries and to interact with customers more frequent. Considering the condition that Doritos did not pay enough attention on interacting with the groundswell on social media platforms, it is necessary for Doritos improving its relationship with the groundswell.
• Tapping the groundswell with Instagram. Instagram can be a great platform for increasing social media exposure. However, Doritos posted videos or photos very few and received a small number of followers than it supposed to have,  which can be a disadvantage of Doritos. Especially considering the fact that Doritos has lots of popular and creative video commercials and pictures, Doritos should not neglect the important role of Instagram in improving its reputation.
• Empowering the groundswell appropriately. Mostly, Doritos was in an active position in the relationship with the groundswell, which can discourage the groundswell to get involved in Doritos' campaigns to some extent. In the future, Doritos should be confident in giving the groundswell some powers to help Doritos make decision, just like they did in the campaign  of " Crash the Super Bowl". 
• Interacting with the groundswell in a genuine tone. Instead of asking the groundswell to get involved in, Doritos should be more genuine to show that they really care about customers' opinions.
• Keeping on energizing the groundswell through creative propaganda campaigns. Doritos did great job on energizing its customers to get involved in campaigns. Although, the campaign, " Crash the Super Bowl", has brought Doritos great reputation and the benefit of "word of the mouth," Doritos should continue to look for other creative and attractive campaigns.

Conclusion

Overall, Doritos has already realized the importance of the groundswell in the process of its brand development, and did a great job in energizing the groundswell. However,  for the development in the future, Doritos should pay more attention on interacting with the groundswell with more frequent conservations on social media platforms, and put the process of building harmonious relationship with the groundswell into its list of future goals. 

The Groundswell Wins, Love Wins

Viral videos are best for punching through the noise--the awareness problem.

(P.139. Groundswell)

Last night, I saw a video from Youtube which was really touching and thought provoking. The video was about a social experiment, which was conducted to figure out the reaction of pedestrians towards homophobia.

Since social media has become so prevalent, its popularity can be used to push social movements, like with same sex marriage. No one can deny the fact that social media plays an essential role in advancing the process of thought evolution towards homosexuality. In other words, with the help of social media, people's acceptability towards homosexuality is unprecedentedly high. And now, for most people, the support of homosexual love can be regarded as a form of ideological emancipation to some extent. 

If you want to have a hot, and have people talking about how hot you are, then Facebook and Twitter are for you. (P.139. Groundswell)

Nowadays, almost all of the corporations have already tapped into  social media as a form of propaganda for its products or services, in order to build a harmonious relationship with the groundswell. If you want to stand out from all of the brands, the ability to create a buzz is essential. 

In order to express the support of basic civil liberties and freedom of expression for gays and lesbians, Coca-Cola was among 379 companies that filed a friend-of-the-court brief with the U.S. Supreme Court in support of same-sex marriage. In addition, Coca-Cola posted a picture on Facebook to show its stance in this whole "love wins" issue, which created a surprising buzz online.

Apparently, what Coca-Cola has received strong appreciations and applauses. People were talking about not only  Coca-Cola's impressive courage, but also its brand. That was exactly what Coca-Cola wanted to achieve. In fact, we all know, among those 379 companies, it is impossible that every company truly accepts the recognition of same-sex marriage; however, under the pressure of the groundswell, they have no choice but to choose what the majority of people believe in. Anyway, they can never go wrong with listening to the groundswell. 

The whole thing about homosexuals striving for their legal rights reminded me of an embarrassing news article I saw several days ago. The article was about how the China Center for Children's Welfare and Adoption denied receiving an adoption application from a lesbian couple in the U.S. What was even more surprising was the adoption center claimed a so called "traditional morality and customs", which considers homosexuality against social norms. 

As a typical Chinese person, I think I have every reason to speak up for the majority of people in China. One adoption center can't represent the whole country. Although it's true that China has a long way to abandon some outdated conceptions, it requires the whole country to work harder than you can image to achieve this. Luckily, as a member of the Millennial population, the younger generation is more open to accepting the ideology transformation, which makes the journey of ideology evolution much easier to pass through.

Overall, the whole book brought me lots of new viewpoints about the impact of the groundswell towards not only society, but also the fate of an organization, which I have never thought of before. Do you find the book useful for you as well?

Are Groundswell's Supports Always Right?

The book---Groundswell mainly emphasizes the importance of the close relationship between the company and the groundswell. Even though I couldn't agree more with this viewpoint; however, it also reminds me of a dilemma situation. Is it a worrying situation if the relationship between customers and the company is so strong that customers still willing to choose the company even if they have found out the company was actually on suspicion of copyright infringement? 
Well, in fact, this situation is actually happening on Forever 21.

Forever 21 is an American chain of fashion retailers which sales all kinds of fashion items from clothes to accessories. The brand name---Forever 21, obviously, perfectly illustrates its objectives and seems like attractive enough for female groups. According to Los Angeles Times, Forever 21 is known for its trendy offerings and economical pricing. 

The fashionable design and affordable prices helped Forever 21 achieve remarkable accomplishments all around the world. And just because of this, the rumor and criticism always go hand in hand with the development of Forever 21.

Saint Laurent(left) And Forever 21(right)

Since Forever 21 got popular among female groups, it has faced with various controversies, ranging from labor practice issues and copyright infraction accusations.
In fact, Forever 21 has been sued more than 50 times for allegedly stealing the work of other designers and passing it off as their own. 

Forever 21---$29.9

Mansur Gavriel---$495

The two pictures above are two products from Forever 21 and Mansur Gabriel respectively. Do you find anything interesting? The same design and style but with surprising price differences--- $3490 versus $23. Can you believe it? I have to admit that I have been lured by the remarkable low price at the very start.

However,  faced with infringement accusations, Forever 21 has never responded to the requests directly, pretended like nothing happened.

As for a company, I have to say, what Forever 21 has done is not an appropriate public relations strategy for crisis management. Because you can remain silence once, but you can't keep silent forever. The accusation wouldn't disappear by itself. 
However, the problem is the customer base of Forever 21 even becomes larger than ever before.

As for this situation, what comes to my mind first is females always believe they have one less dress in their wardrobe. However, the fact is, even though the female consumption power has become stronger than ever, not every female can afford a dress which cost hundreds or even thousands of dollars.

Generally, girls who come from mid-class families can't afford to buy a dress at the luxury level. Therefore, the desire for following the trend of fashion drives them to shop at Forever 21. Because from their perspectives, Forever 21 only inferior to the original products but with more attractive prices. 

Nowadays, the fashion trend is transferring at a surprising pace. You would never know which kind of fashion style will go viral in the future. Besides, it seems like women are born to be shopaholics. Because they would never be satisfied with what they already have. Especially when it comes to something related to fashion fields, women can lost their senses immediately.

Ironically, what Forever 21 has done, to some extends, can be regarded as another form of listening to the groundswell. 
Forever 21 understand quite clearly about, for most of women, what is its customer base really wants from the fashion field---most of women want to buy the cloth not only in fashion, but also with economic price. Therefore, in order to cater what customers want, Forever 21 provides perfectly substitutes for famous apparel brands to its customers and thus successfully stands out from other fashion apparel brands. I think that is one of the main reasons why such a large customer group choose Forever 21 regardless of its rumors.
However, whatever the reason is, Forever 21 should be blamed for its infringement. And it is always wrong for a company to listen to the groundswell selectively: listen to what the company wants to hear, and ignore what the company thinks is unfavorable.
Most importantly, sometimes, the demand from the groundswell can be misleading. As for a company, to meet the need from its customers, it should apply reasonable ways, instead of being opportunistic.
Even though it is impressive that Forever 21 has the ability to satisfy customers' craving for fashion, however, it would be better for Forever 21 to choose a more appropriate way to achieve its objectives.

















For girls who come from middle-class families may can't afford for a dress of