By Chris Lee

In this truly globalised economy it is tempting to forget that not everyone wants to operate in the English language and that the way different cultures treat social media can vary wildly from country to country.

NMK caught up with Etienne Viellard, European marketing director at Neolane, a French provider of a ‘cross-channel’ marketing conversations platform, to learn more about how UK firms looking to establish a social media presence in France should position themselves.

What are the key social media platforms for business in France?

For a number of reasons, innovation on new digital one-to-one channels including social media is vibrant in France. It’s my view that digital media and social media are inseparable. [Research group] Forrester recently referred to the splintering of the Internet - the “splinternet” - into walled garden/proprietary platform communities. The challenge for marketers is how to build cross-channel coherent and interactive customer experiences across this growing number of platforms and channels.

How are French companies using social media that may differ from the UK?

In many ways it’s similar. For example we are seeing equivalent adoption of Facebook, for example as sources of fans for music industry initiatives. In France we are observing greater integration of mobile applications and avatars to direct marketing than we are in the UK.

If a UK company were to set up in France, what would it have to learn about social media engagement there?

What’s really clear is that in France companies pursue social media engagement within a broader cross-channel strategy – social media is being used from day one by leading French organisations alongside other channels via which they communicate to their customers. This lets them benefit from shared/cross channel intelligent “next best offer selection”, offer rotation, accurate one-to-one personalisation for example and manage contact frequency/marketing pressure cross channel too.

What’s a great example of a social media campaign that has worked wonders in France?

The harvesting and monetisation of fans by EMI France via social Web sites is a very strong example. In its effort to establish a relationship with fans for the artists it manages, EMI France posts surveys across the various “spontaneous” fan communities on social media including Facebook.

One artist for whom this is extensively used in female rap artist Diam’s, whose Facebook fan page lets fans subscribe to her newsletter. EMI France also uses Facebook Connect to authenticate fans into the official fan website it maintains for its fans. Fans enter the EMI database. From then on, they are entered into cross-channel relationship programmes. Initially, they are offered “free” content in exchange for information about their musical tastes and consumption patterns. When information has been gathered, they enter “monetisation” initiatives whereby they are offered paraphernalia, concert tickets or other musical products such as exclusive anniversary CD box sets.

You mentioned avatars earlier. Give us some explanation as to what Groupe Mornay is doing. What evidence is there that avatars really work/engage more effectively with customers and why might this be?

When prospects and consumers reach the financial pension product provider’s homepage, they are requested to log on. If they are recognised as already in the database, the language of the avatar that guides them throughout the website - including helping them fill out qualification questionnaires - is personalised based on their known profile and existing financial product subscriptions.

This encourages prospects and consumers to spend more time on the website (upwards of nine more minutes on average). The information gathered at that time is then used to better qualify them for a follow-up call in the call centre. The avatar does not compete with call operators – on the contrary, it provides them with valued added qualification information that helps them be more productive and efficient sales reps. Switching from siloed to cross-channel campaigns and conversations lifted conversion rates by 50 per cent. If a customer interacts with the avatar they are three times more likely to buy.