Geberit: tradition meets transformation

Find out how Geberit, the European market leader in sanitary products in taking its social media management to the next level.

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Today, Geberit is not only a European leader in the field of sanitary products but also successfully operating internationally. The company focuses on quality, reliability, sustainability and innovation. How can these values be transferred to an environment that is becoming more and more digital? How has the customer contact changed and how does the company use social media channels?

Olaf Grewe, Manager Group PR Corporate Communications, gives a brief insight into the communication strategy of Geberit.

A traditional company in the digital age

Geberit puts special emphasis on high-quality and reliable products. This includes providing the customer with advice and support from planning to maintenance and offering expert service. The support usually happens via the established service telephone or by technical advisors when it comes to professional customers. Since Geberit became active on social media, the brand is receiving more and more attention and requests via these channels.

Here, customers expect quick and competent answers to their questions, preferably on the channel they are using and without media discontinuity. Therefore the questions, how to present oneself on different platforms, if and which keywords and hashtags to use, who to address, etc. came up. Simply putting content online was no longer the solution. Also serving different markets in different parts of the world was challenging.

“Om te overleven in een digitale wereld is het van belang om campagnes in samenwerking met verschillende afdeling in te plannen en te implementeren“Campaigns must be planned and implemented in an integrated way between the different communication departments in order to survive in the digital world.”
Olaf Grewe

Dealing successfully with digitalisation

Communicating strategically with customers at various touch points can be challenging. For Olaf Grewe using a media monitoring tool is important for the success of a campaign. A media monitoring tool helps to keep the overview about the effect of a campaign and enables you to take immediate actions if necessary.

“We don’t have to react to every trend,” affirms Olaf Grewe, “but it’s good to be aware of what is going on, and then, if necessary, prepare a communication within a short time.”

Basis: a sustainable strategy

An omni-channel strategy is important in order to implement appropriate measures and campaigns. For a company of this size, with international orientation and B2B as well as B2C communication, this creates the basis for a successful appearance.

Through social many new points of contact with consumers have been created. “But”, Olaf Grewe reaffirms, “we are in a traditional industry, where customer contact often still takes place directly and personally.” However, the communication in the different countries differs at the touch points.

Online dialogue via social media

Pinterest, Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn are used with different frequencies and for tailored activities. This is precisely why a stringent strategy per channel is important, which Geberit regularly reviews and adapts. The strategy sets clear and measurable targets and also refers to the Corporate Guidelines. What is the tonality of the social media posts? How are critical questions and complaints dealt with? The clearer the rules are worked out beforehand, the more efficiently the employee can deal with requirements later.

The decisive factor for success is to test the various social platforms at regular intervals to see whether they meet expectations in terms of reach and interaction.

“Instagram is very important to us today, but LinkedIn is becoming increasingly exciting internationally.”

The All-In-One Solution

The engagement tool of Spotler Engage helps Geberit to monitor and to react to activities on social media channels. When asked if the volume of enquiries that come in through social media channels has increased, Olaf Grew laughs: “Customer contact via social media channels has definitely increased but at the same time we are also more active than before. That is the famous chicken and egg question: Which came first?”

Measure, evaluate, adapt

Are all activities and measures successful or are adjustments necessary? Measuring success online and on social media is indispensable for the social media strategy and the distribution of resources. At present, Geberit reports on basic values and social KPIs such as reach, tonality, commitment or influence. In the future, however, new parameters are to be incorporated.

The future is today

“We chose Spotler Engage because this solution delivers real added value. It is easier and more intuitive to use than competing solutions. Furthermore, Spotler Engage, like us, is internationally active and can therefore be used optimally for us.”

Geberit is a Group with a long tradition that goes into the future with innovative solutions and implements the most modern technologies. With its sanitary products as well as with its services. The social media channels present new challenges for how marketing and public relations activities are organised. Geberit uses a WhatsApp channel operated via Spotler Engage for investor relations.

The all-in-one tool Engage is an important support for the team to keep an overview of all markets and social media communication. In addition to its engagement and monitoring capabilities, the tool is also an excellent topic radar. “Our response time increased and the integration with WhatsApp is also working well,” says Olaf Grewe.

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