Social Media Usage in the FTSE 100: Company Profile – Burberry
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.”
Here’s how Fashion House, Burberry (BRBY.L) stacked up.
| FTSE 100 Company | RSS | Podcast | Blog | Online Video | Audio | Facebook, Flickr, etc |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Burberry | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | Yes |
………………
Online Video/Webcasts: Yes
Usage of Social Media platforms: Yes
(Flickr, Facebook, YouTube, del.icio.us, Twitter, Digg etc)
According to Yahoo! Finance:
“Burberry so delightfully British, offers a range of clothing and accessories that have embodied luxury and English lifestyle. Since 1865, 60 stores and 10 franchises are offering a window onto a world of elegance.”
My pre-evaluation expectation of how the company will fare:
As Burberry is a high fashion luxury brand I’m expecting a stylish looking website with a good use of multimedia.
Commentary:
Burberry opens with music and Flash images of their new Autumn/winter collection along with links to their online shop and a share tag for Facebook and Twitter.
The Investors tab takes you to the corporate information and opens up a dark, sleek, simple site with information categorised under headings. Along the bottom you can see a link to RSS that opens a page offering five different feeds form financial to corporate results and presentations.
A streamed webcast is offered with an opening form the CEO Angela Ahrendts introducing preliminary results for March 2010. It comes with downloaded audio (MP3) and pdf slides. There is rich interactive video content offered under corporate news, which allows you to view the campaign, cast interviews and behind the scenes with the option to share online.
Navigating through News Releases I came across another video of Angela Ahrendts giving the commencement address to Ball State University. She explores the ideas and values that have inspired her throughout her life and career. This video really gives you a sense of who the CEO is and surely for any investor you want to know who is running the company! Again around here there is a good use of images and captions delivering quick news on new opening markets.
Burberry doesn’t seem to be using social media sites for delivering corporate information as there are no links from the Website. However, it does use these sites very well for branding and engaging with social networks. It was only through a Facebook search that I discovered Burberry’s presence here where they deliver rich informative posts and videos, including behind the scenes from the Chief Creative Officer Christopher Bailey.
I stumbled across Burberry live From their Facebook page. This site is their hub for social media links including Art Of The Trench, a site set up by Burberry to interact with its consumers. There is a well-established YouTube site that includes a post from Angela Ahrendts on preliminary financial results. For those of you who are interested, you can follow the CEO @AngelaAhrendts on Twitter as well as @Burberry.
Recommendations:
- An easily viewable link to their social media platforms on their main page – Burberry has made a made good use of Facebook, Twitter and YouTube with some high quality, dedicated informative content. A viewable link from the get-go on their main page to these sites is needed as a lot of the information is relevant to investors.
- Create a link under Corporate News directing to a social media news room. This would demonstrate to investors how Burberry is interacting with its consumers.
- Post video on Burberry Foundation initiatives showing how the Burberry Foundation has helped and post it on the YouTube site.
………………
What do you think?
Are you a customer, employee, shareholder or stakeholder of Burberry? I’d love to hear your thoughts on this review. What would you like to see Burberry doing more of in terms of social media? More online video? A CEO blog, perhaps?
Share your thoughts in the comments!
Need any help?
Do you work for Burberry and want some insight into some of the ideas published here?
Or perhaps you look after marketing for Burberry and would like a quick chat about putting some of those recommendations into practice. Contact us.
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- Social Media Usage in the FTSE 100: Company Profile – Aggreko
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