If you don't know, ask
Regional - If you don't know, ask. That was the message Karen Tam, assistant general manager, promotions and marketing, Harbour City Estates passed on to marketers on the second day of the Luxury Marketing Summit.
Tam (pictured), speaking about how Harbour City got its social media strategy in place, said it's a constant process of learning and brands should not hesitate in asking the right questions to the right people.
When Harbour City set out to carve a social strategy for its brands, it called up the Sina office in Beijing for a tutorial. "That's how we got started," Tam said.
Now it boasts a robust presence on Facebook, Twitter, QQ, Sina Weibo and most recently, Instagram. Tam said the company leverages different social networking sites to target different audiences, mainly the Chinese and the English speaking ones. But what broke down the language barrier for the brand was Instagram.
"We found we could do a lot more with images and pictures without having to worry much about the language." Similarly it uses QQ regularly with posts during weekdays and more on weekends, to target customers in the second-tier cities.
"It took us some time to understand Chinese social media," she added.
Tam also shared that once on Sina Weibo and Facebook, it put together its Twitter strategy and relaunched its account in 2011 which helped it connect to a much wider and a global audience.
Also, speaking in the second half was Manmeet Vohra, marketing director, Tag Heuer, LVMH Watch and Jewellery India who said luxury brands need to maintain exclusivity.
"Exclusivity is crucial for Tag Heuer. We are guarded about brand position and our image," she said, highlighting the brand's four key promise to its customers. The promises are product prices at par or better than overseas markets, all products to be launched at the same time as globally, retail environment and buying experience comparable to the rest of the world and a great, seamless after-sales experience.
Vohra also mentioned in detail about Tag Heuer's brand association with Shahrukh Khan saying that brands must choose the right ambassador who embodies the brand spirit.
The second day of the summit ended with cocktails and dinner hosted by UNRESERVED with all delegates and guests in attendance.
The Luxury Marketing Summit 2012, is an exclusive event for top marketers from Asia's leading luxury brands.
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