The FINANCIAL — Facebook, the most popular social network in Georgia, has become the major marketing tool for Georgian companies. Key Georgian companies, including banks, hotels, retail shops, and entertainment centres are actively promoting their ongoing activities via Facebook fan pages, which are without cost and accessible 24 hours a day.
Facebook is now the number 1 most surfed webpage in Georgia according to Alexa.com, California based subsidiary company of Amazon, which is known for its website ranking. Facebook has beat Google.com, YouTube and Odnoklassniki.ru in Georgia.
A survey carried out by The FINANCIAL a year ago revealed that out of 80 companies in Georgia only a few of them actually had their own pages on Facebook. The situation is radically different one year on. Today the majority of companies not only have pages but are also trying to attract more fans with different activities.
“Facebook is an additional low-cost but highly effective marketing channel, with a positive image of increasing sales by 10-15%. Rustaveli/Amirani Movie Theatres use their Facebook page for different activities including creating and promoting events, ads, and premier updates,” said Nika Apriashvili, Marketing Manager at Rustaveli/Amirani Movie Theatres.
TBC Smart Club is the leader in terms of fan pages on Facebook, with more than 26,000 likes.
“For communicating with existing and potential clients TBC Bank has created its Smart Club fan page, which is the largest scale social media project in Georgia. Despite the news about Smart Club products, every week we conduct large, entertaining competitions, where winners are awarded different gifts,” said Salome Kokosadze, Marketing Communications Manager at TBC Bank.
“Social media is a modern form of communicating with customers. With the Smart Club fan page, communication with our clients noticeably increased their participation with Smart Club and TBC Bank. Smart Club is the largest scale project of social media in Georgia. However TBC is distinguishable on a world scale, as it is the only financial institution which is so actively and originally presented on Facebook. As a result of creating its fan page, more people are interested in the product and this is quite well reflected in the number of its club members,” Kokosadze added.
Unicard follows the list of most liked fan pages with more than 15,000 likes.
“Unicard actively uses its Facebook page as a communication and advertising medium. We upload interesting pictures and information about Unicard and partner company news. Each day we have different activities where we give out Unicard points. Moreover we have our partner’s weeks where companies themselves make competitions and provide presents,” said Ana Koshadze, Public Relations Manager at Unicard.
“With Facebook we have direct contact with our clients. Facebook for us and our clients is a page of entertainment, where we place interesting information as well as have different activities. Moreover, our clients can find answers to all their questions,” Koshadze added.
Bank of Georgia, which recently joined Facebook, is actively involved in increasing its number of fans. For such purpose the company has prize-draws after reaching defined numbers of fans. The company has already given out an iPhone4, Macbook Air 2 and after 11,111 Bank of Georgia fans, the company will be giving out a netbook.
In fourth position among Georgian companies’ fan pages there is the Radisson BLU Iveria, with more than 10,000 fans.
As Natalia Luchaninova, PR and Marketing Coordinator at Radisson BLU Iveria Hotel declares, their Facebook page is a fantastic way to spread new offers and promotions for zero cost.
“The idea to build our Facebook page was born together with the opening of our Surface Lounge Club. It was important to reach an absolutely new segment for our hotel in an easy and effective way and Facebook was the best means for it. We were holding events and inviting people from our fan list. It was in the beginning of March 2010. Since that time our page now has more than 10,000 fans,” Luchaninova declared.
“We are updating our fans with news about events, special promotions, special offers and new products on a daily basis. We often have interactions together with our Executive Chef, when during an hour-long session our fans can ask him questions online about cooking, food, recipes and can get answers to their questions immediately from a top professional in the field,” Luchaninova added.
Moreover the hotel offers prizes for their fans by asking questions like “How tall is the Radisson Blu Iveria Hotel building?” or “How many beds does the Radisson Blu Iveria Hotel have?” Winners get prizes like vouchers for Sunday brunch, or one day entrance to our fabulous spa.
Marriott Hotels in Tbilisi have more than 9,000 fans on Facebook. The company is actively using Facebook to promote their F&B activities.
“Facebook is one of the easiest ways of reaching our clients, although not as effective as direct approach by all means. One can find out about any event or special promotion we plan. Communicating with our current and potential customers is of very high importance to us and Facebook turned out to be a useful tool for this,” said Elene Baratashvili, PR and Marketing Coordinator at Marriott Hotels.
“The aim was to provide more information to the interested parties. One can find future events planned at the Marriott as well as events that already took place. So people can look through the photos and get a really good impression of the way Marriott does business. We are very proud of our catering and sharing information about it is essential for our business,” Baratashvili added.
Goodwill is next on the list of most liked pages on Facebook with more than 7,900 fans, followed by more than 6,800 Adress shop fans.
“Adress uses Facebook for better customer service, not only for increasing brand awareness. Our customers can at any time ask questions, and our representative will answer immediately. Also it has become a source to inform customers about sales, offers and new collections. At the same time on our page you can see pictures of clothes which are currently available,” said Ani Chokhonelidze, Marketing Manager at Adress.
“Customers who follow us on Facebook are always informed about sales, offers and new collections. So they get good motivation to come and purchase anything they need. A lot of them are sending positive responses, saying that they already purchased what we recommended. So we can say with confidence that it increases sales,” Chokhonelidze added.
Other most liked companies in Georgia on Facebook include Redix (5,560 fans), Rustaveli/Amirani Movies Theatres (4,950 fans), Magti Club (3,720 fans), Delta Learning (2,970 fans), Geocell (2,665 fans), Beeline (2,630 fans), Elit Electronics (2,550 fans), and Natakhtari (1,200 fans).
Discussion about this post