Geberit: tradition meets transformation

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.

“Campaigns must be planned and implemented in an integrated way between the different communication departments in order to survive in the digital world.”

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.

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.

The platforms Pinterest, Instagram, Twitter, Facebook and Linkedin are used with different frequencies and for tailored activities. It is precisely for this reason that a stringent strategy per channel is important, which Geberit regularly reviews and adapts. The strategy sets clear and measurable targets and it 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 will be able to 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 engagement tool of OBI4wan 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?”

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.

“We chose OBI4wan because this solution delivers real added value. It is easier and more intuitive to use than competing solutions. Furthermore, OBI4wan, 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 OBI4wan for investor relations.

The all-in-one tool OBI 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.