The Blog

This article forms part of a study on social media usage amongst FTSE 100 companies.

Each company in the FTSE 100 index was reviewed on its usage of such social media tools as RSS feeds*, blogs, online video, podcasts and social media platforms like Flickr and Facebook on its main website and on occasion, on websites of well-known subsidiary companies.

*RSS feeds are a simple way of delivering fresh versions of a website’s content to online readers automatically.

According to the Guardian.co.uk Business Glossary:
“The FTSE 100 index comprises the 100 most highly capitalised blue chip companies on the London Stock Exchange, representing approximately 81% of the UK market.”

In this article we will be looking at home retail trade sector giants Kingfisher (KGF.L).

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Online/Video Webcasts: Yes

Usage of Social Media Platforms: Yes

(FLickr, Facebook, YouTube, Del.icio.us, Twitter, Digg etc)

According to Yahoo Finance:

Kingfisher: everything for the home Kingfisher is a symbolic figure in the home retail trade sector. The UK Group has almost 80, 000 employees and its 1, 400 stores are to be found in 17 countries across the globe. Split into several divisions supplying home installations and DIY materials, Kingfisher is based on a clear concept – “do it yourself”. Customers can buy parts, for a cupboard for example, which they will then assemble themselves. There are several Kingfisher divisions: Kingfisher Home Improvement aims to improve the home. Its trade names are Castorama, Brico Dépôt and Dubois Matériaux in France (sold to Point P in july 2003), Reno Dépôt in Canada, Nomi in Poland and Koçtas in Turkey.

My pre-evaluation expectation on how the company will fare:

Kingfisher have a big presence in marketing on TV with various TV advert campaigns, so there may also be some use of social media platforms for interaction between consumers and lots of multimedia platforms incorporated into the website.

Commentary:

Upon entering the Kingfisher website its clear there is use of multimedia and social media platforms. We can see an RSS Feeds link on the bottom of the homepage, which is in the “Keep up to date” section, which also includes updates via Email alerts, New in store updates and a Mobile site application for Kingfisher on the move, which includes information on latest share price . Already we can see Kingfisher have got the digital team on board to get more use from the website.

By clicking on the Investors and Media page we can see various links to some of the latest news, stories on the company covered by the new, latest share prices, new products etc. There is an Image Library which has a vast amount of images available from the executive board, to the company logo’s and including overseas stores.

The interesting thing on the Media page is a Feedback link. Any comments sent are received by the Investor Relations and Media Departments, straight away its not easy to find any of the comments that may have been received until navigating to the New instore page, where there are recent comments relating to various products and the comments have been submitted by consumers.

As well as RSS and an Image Library, there is a Video page, with various categories containing a number of videos, there is an Interviews section, Our Brands section containing videos of TV advertisements, a Responsibility category which is videos from various employees talking about company services and practice. And finally a link for All Videos. Some of the videos are playable through the website, via a flash player, while some of the videos are hosted on external websites, some of the news interviews direct to the news channel website, and some direct to YouTube where some of the other videos are uploaded.

There is also an archived webcast for Interim results, this link is found on the homepage and directs the user to another page which requires registration to view the event, I wasn’t able to view the results as not being registered, but as far as im aware those results are in a webcast format.

Kingfisher have a lot of information on their website presented in various formats, they have obviously thought about having an online presence and incorporated lots of useful multimedia into their website, which makes using the website enjoyable.

The only problem is that Kingfisher don’t have a large online presence in terms of social media input, there is only a Facebook page with a Wikipedia description, there are numerous videos on YouTube but many of which are already available on the website. I was at least expecting a Twitter account. But they do have a “Share This” button on most of the pages, allowing users to share information to various social media websites such as Facebook, Twitter, Digg, Del.icio.us, reddit and StumbleUpon. So in a way Kingfisher are happy for their information to be posted uploaded and shared between bloggers etc.

Recommendations:

• Twitter account: On Twitter, there is information which has been uploaded and linked to by other users, if Kingfisher utilised Twitter, they themselves could post links to latest news stories and their New Instore links, which seems to generate a lot of interest and comments from consumers and the general public.
• Facebook applications: Kingfisher have got a very user friendly and information packed website with some use of RSS and videos. I believe in order for Kingfisher to have a bigger online presence and generate more interest in the company, a Facebook and/or iPhone application could be created which allows users to decorate and furnish a room with products available from the various stores, B&Q for example, a kind of home design application. And similarly one for plumbers which could help demonstrate which kind of screw should be used for which situation etc.

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What do you think?

are you a customer, employee, shareholder or stakeholder of Kingfisher? I would love to hear your thoughts on this review. What would you like to see Kingfisher doing in terms of social media? More online video? More interaction between those affected perhaps?

Share your thoughts in the comments!

Need any help?

Do you work for Kingfisher and want some insight into some of the ideas published here?

Or perhaps you look after marketing for Kingfisher and would like a quick chat about putting some of those recommendations into practice. Contact us.