Forrest Shopping Co., Ltd. is an online shop that sells apparel and miscellaneous goods, and has a store in an online shopping mall. From purchasing products to creating sales pages, the company does everything in-house.
There are several departments within the company, such as the Product Department, Public Relations Department, and Production Department, and each department works together to carry out their work. The Public Relations Department works with external ambassadors to carry out sales promotion activities.
Influencer Peafowl has partnered with Forrest Shopping Co., Ltd. and is assisting in public relations activities as an external ambassador, posting reviews of new products on social media.
After receiving the product, Peafowl will write a review. After that, in line with the instructions of the PR department and the start of the campaign, they will post photos and videos of their experience using the product on social media sites such as X and Instagram, and provide attractive content.
*This process improvement story is fictional and has no relation to any real people or organizations.
1. Issue : Forgetting to share social media posts
Once the sales page for a new product at Forrest Shopping Co., Ltd. is completed, the PR department sends the product to an external ambassador, who posts a review on their own social media. The PR department then shares the review on the official social media at the optimal time for promotion and conducts promotional activities.
However, because the PR department is working on multiple projects simultaneously there is insufficient information sharing within the department, which has led to problems with complicated progress management. In particular, because schedule management is done manually, each person in charge manages their own progress individually and centralized management is not possible. As a result, there is an increased risk of delays in communication and poor coordination of when information should be shared, leading to omissions and delays in sharing.
Under these circumstances, the product may not be fully advertised and may not attract the attention it deserves immediately after the sale.
2. Solution : Automatically add shared dates to the shared calendar
The Process Owner adds the automated step “Google Calendar: Add Event” to the Workflow.
This means that the planned social media sharing dates for each product will be automatically reflected on the common calendar, allowing them to centrally manage overall progress.
Before
View workflow diagram details
Product shipping
The public relations representative will send the products to be promoted to the ambassadors.
Shipping notification
A notification for the shipment of the products will be automatically sent to the external ambassadors.
SNS post
Ambassadors who have used the products will post a review on SNS. This request will be canceled if the post is not made by the deadline.
Official SNS post (share)
The PR department will share the ambassadors’ review posts on the official SNS. If there are any inaccuracies in the product details, the PR department will ask the ambassadors to correct their posts.
Share with related parties
Once the review post is shared on the official SNS, the stakeholders will be notified.
Advertising expense settlement
The Accounting department will process the payment to the ambassadors.
Payment notification
Ambassadors will be notified of the reward payment.
After
View workflow diagram details
Product shipping
The public relations representative will send the products to be promoted to the ambassadors.
Automatically add share date
The scheduled share date on the official SNS will be added to Google Calendar.
Shipping notification
A notification for the shipment of the products will be automatically sent to the external ambassadors.
SNS post
Ambassadors who have used the products will post a review on SNS. This request will be canceled if the post is not made by the deadline.
Official SNS post (share)
The PR department will share the ambassadors’ review posts on the official SNS. If there are any inaccuracies in the product details, the PR department will ask the ambassadors to correct their posts.
Share with related parties
Once the review post is shared on the official SNS, the stakeholders will be notified.
Advertising expense settlement
The Accounting department will process the payment to the ambassadors.
Payment notification
Ambassadors will be notified of the reward payment.
3. Effects
By automatically adding scheduled share dates to a common calendar, manual schedule management is no longer required, which facilitates smooth information sharing among the various staff members and greatly improves the efficiency of progress management. This is expected to prevent omissions and delays in sharing and maximize the effectiveness of product promotion.
Improved Progress Management
When multiple projects are underway simultaneously, calendar integration makes progress management smoother and reduces confusion.
Maximize Advertising Effectiveness
Timely sharing on social media can maximize the promotional effect immediately after the product launch and increase attention immediately after sales.
Strengthen Collaboration With Ambassadors
By coordinating the timing of ambassadors’ posts with shares on official social media, promotional effectiveness will be improved and collaborative relationships with external partners will be strengthened.
4. Other Business Applications
Event Operation and Management
When preparing for an event or seminar, or when doing public relations activities, using reminders and calendars to manage your work schedule can help you avoid inadequate preparation or problems on the day.
Customer Service and Support
By registering customer inquiries and follow-ups in your calendar and sending reminders, you can prevent missed responses and improve customer satisfaction.
Task Management for the Whole Team
By sharing each team member’s tasks and progress on a calendar you can prevent duplication of work or omissions, leading to increased productivity across the entire team.