Jacqueline Gold, the CEO of Ann Summers, delivered her social media manifesto – and even a bit of a slap and tickle – to send off the Elite Business National Conference and Exhibition in style.
Throughout the anecdotes of remote control massage devices, 70-year-old product testers, bullets in the post, as well as strong messaging conentrating on female empowerment, which kept the Elite sell-out crowd firmly in their seats, Gold reiterated the importance of social media and how it can have a positive impact on business.
“One of the reasons for our success is the instinct and desire to know what our customers are thinking. Twitter provides an amazing opportunity to gather feedback from customers,” she said.
“If someone had told me two years ago that I could have the opportunity to engage and interact with any one of my customers and 10,000 colleagues, 24/7, 365 days a year, I wouldn’t have believed them. But this is what spcial media has enabled us to do.”
She urged other businesses to jump onboard the social media bandwagon to help boost their brand and bottom line.
“It saddens me that there aren’t more CEOs doing this. I think it really does create a much more trusting environment between retailer, or business and customer. I believe all brands need to be tuned in to what’s happening in the social media space.
“One of the reasons our engagement with social media is so high is because we follow our customer’s lead. Social media is a fantastic way to make the aspirational accessible and to communicate with our customers, not at them.”
We’d certainly agree with that one, Jacqueline. As did the audience who left with smiling faces. We’re confident that October’s next conference can match this one – although it’s certainly going to take some beating. 
