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IBF Gets Social in China

Constance Korol

@demandplanningWith Help from

“Our Man in Shanghai”

@OurManinSH

#SMCLI

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What We Do Here at the IBF

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How Do We Do It?

• Global events where forecasters share lessons

learned/best practices and worst practices

• Through social interaction in Facebook/Twitter/Linkedin

etc.

• Global corporate and individual membership

• Similar to CPA/CFA Certified Professional Forecaster and

Advanced Certified Professional

Forecaster..validating their skill-sets and knowledge

in the field.

• Corporate Training

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Our Members/ Speakers/Customers

are Worldwide

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Why China• China’s economical strength is the

manufacturing sector, most of our audience

• Educate and train teams from multinational

companies and from local Chinese companies

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Adding Social Media into the

Marketing/Customer Service Tool Box

• Two way communication in social media

• We listen and learn from our members and followers and

modify our programs accordingly

• We moderate conversations, adding discussions and

polls.

• Our customers/followers/members are learning from the

shared knowledge.

• “Most of the learnings do not come from within these

four walls.” – M Wachtel VP Demand Planning L’Oreal

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When it Came to China

We Hit the Great Wall

• Global followers in Linkedin, Facebook,

Twitter etc.

• We were not familiar with Chinese culture

• Time Zone Difference

• Language obstacle, which is a key

challenge for foreign companies

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Linkedin as a Source

• Our global connections spearheaded the

campaign to their Asian team/partners

• Needed more outreach

• We needed a team in Mainland China

• Understanding of culture, understand what we

do in supply chain and speak the language

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Enter “Our Man in Shanghai”

@OurManinSHhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1oxbPw1yCX8&hd=1

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Sina to penetrate local market

• You don’t understand China social if you

don’t understand Sina Weibo

• Microblog that far surpasses Twitter in

functionality (threaded comments, groups, audio

messages and direct video uploads).

• Has more than 100 million registered users, expects to

keep growing rapidly, and perhaps even exceeds Twitter

in active users.

• Valued over $2 billion USD

Resource: Mashable 2011 http://mashable.com/2011/03/18/china-top-

social-network/

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Sina Weibo cont.

• Points From Our Man in Shanghai team:

– Sina provided a good way to increase

customer loyalty

– Chinese companies are using Sina to engage

their customers and gain visibility.

– IBF does not have an Asian office/language

barrier, so Sina provided a way for followers

to contact the company directly with ease

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Sina Weibo Points from Our

Man in Shanghai cont.

• Almost every Sina microblogging user will check their

account frequently throughout the day

• Similar to twitter, users sharing breaking news in 140

characters or less.

• Becoming more and more popular recently.

• Compared to Sina, Renren's target audience are

undergraduate/ graduate, main purpose for

friendship/matchmaking.

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Long Term Relationship

• Continue the conversations in Sina Weibo with Our Man

in Shanghai team

• Post conference: Encourage those attendees to continue

the conversation and learning's in the networks

• Side note: Work with government for them to understand

our Association. Their support can amplify our

promotions as they directly communicate with company

leaders.

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Results

• Partnerships were established with local Supply

Chain organizations

• Increased outreach and promotion efforts

• Customer service issues were resolved with

ease

• Lead generation campaign, grow followers and

relationships organically

• Overall penetrating the local market’s social

networks

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Challenges

• Red Seal of Company (China company

requirement) needed to open and operate

a business account in Sina Weibo

• We were originally denied a Kaixin

account for similar issues. Now we are in

review.

• Language barrier, difficult to closely

monitor the conversations back home.

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IBF Social Media Outlets

• Facebook.com/demandplanning

• Twitter.com/demandplanning

• YouTube.com/demandplanning

• Plancast.com/demandplanning

• Quora.com/demandplanning

• IBF group on Linkedin

– Subgroup: IBF's Demand Planning and Forecasting in China

• Blog: www.demand-planning.com

• Sina: http://t.sina.com.cn/demandplanning

• Kaixin: http://www.kaixin001.com/home/?uid=100520603

• All network calendars updated with our event schedule

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Thank You!Please Give to the Red Cross

and help #Japan

• http://wishes.causes.com/wishes/250900?

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