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View Full Version : FW and BL on FB? Gone?



DrLove42
03-26-2014, 01:14 AM
It appears Forge World and Black Library have followed there master compnay and deleted there facebook accounts

This means no more good interaction, model sharing or links to things.

Seems a really backwards decision even for GW

Deadlift
03-26-2014, 01:30 AM
That's such a shame, especially as for the main part the publics reaction to these pages was positive. Could this be not as terrible as we think though.
Could be in anticipation of the rumoured merging of the 3 websites and maybe a new combined Facebook page will be started representing this new site.

Psychosplodge
03-26-2014, 03:34 AM
That's a bit of a ballache.
It was the easiest way to keep track of what the Black Library were upto next.

eldargal
03-26-2014, 03:51 AM
Meh, stopped visiting the FW Facebook page (never signed up for Facebook, just kept an eye on things)after they started being quite deceitful and manipulative about their statements on certain things. It's a shame that that interaction has gone completely though.

RGilbert26
03-26-2014, 03:56 AM
Or it could just be because of the fact that they are re-working the main website and will bring them back with a relaunch?

Deadlift
03-26-2014, 04:14 AM
Or it could just be because of the fact that they are re-working the main website and will bring them back with a relaunch?

I think I just said that ;)

RGilbert26
03-26-2014, 04:35 AM
Didn't read all of your post :P

Tzeentch's Dark Agent
03-26-2014, 05:54 AM
Games Workshop
Interest




Forge World was merged with this page

Bigred
03-26-2014, 10:20 AM
It's amazingly shortsighted - or done in preparation for the new website.

While everyone else in the industry it racing towards more social media interaction and marketing interactions with customers, GW continues to shudder window after window after window.

Blood of Kittens reported the mandate came down from on high quickly and with no notice - taking many staff by surprise. That description doesn't jive with a planned short-term takedown for a website update.

DrLove42
03-26-2014, 11:03 AM
I did get told that apparantly Facebook are starting to charge businesses for Business pages now. Which might be why they got pulled. But even then, i'm sure the interaction and feedback must be worth a few quid in advertising

Bigred
03-26-2014, 11:31 AM
Facebook charges to "promote" your posts to reach a larger audience, but the default page is free. I can tell you Facebook pages with the numbers of followers that GW's had (100K) are considered quite valuable marketing assets. In most companies the serious suggestion of deleting your 100k follower Facebook page would get you walked out the door.

zenjah
03-26-2014, 12:16 PM
I'm guessing they pulled them for the same reason they got rid of their official forums years ago. They like to control their image. It is hard to control forums and social media. They can't stop cranky customers from complaining on the internet, but they also don't have to provide the podium.

hunterbob
03-26-2014, 12:31 PM
I emaild them this morning about this. This was there reply.

"Hi there.

It is with regret that Forge World has decided to stop its Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest sites. As these sites have grown in popularity over recent years it has become increasingly difficult to give them the support and attention required from within the FW team. Therefore we have taken the difficult decision to stop them completely.

If there is anything further we can do to assist you, or if you have any queries about the information we have requested or provided, please telephone us."

hisdudeness
03-26-2014, 12:51 PM
Huh, pulling them because they are too popular and difficult to manage? That's a BS line there.

Veli-Jussi Haanpää
03-26-2014, 01:08 PM
It is with regret that Forge World has decided to stop its Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest sites.

So what I'm getting from this thread is… they had a Pinterest site too?

I'd go along with the site merger theory too. At least to me it seems that GW has not really had people responsible for social media interactions, and they must see the value in social media (although shutting down already established FB/Twitter(/Pinterest) sites is "a bit" harsh), so my theory is that they will be merging the sites very soon, but the details are probably handled even more secretly than usual. This way, they could hire a single new employee, or maybe a team of two people, to take care of social media for all GW/FW/BL.

Then again we have the local store sites… So far, none of them have been taken offline as far as I know, BUT it seems that Warhammer World's site has been taken down / merged with Games Workshop: Nottingham's site? 7991

Eldar_Atog
03-26-2014, 01:17 PM
I don't think this is going to be a merger of the different pages into 1 page..

If that was the case then I would think they would build the new Facebook page and then direct us to like that site on each of their other pages. They then could have waited a few months and then gotten rid of the older pages.

So I wonder what is next? Perhaps taking down their website and having us place orders through snail mail?

Bunny of Doom
03-26-2014, 02:55 PM
So I wonder what is next? Perhaps taking down their website and having us place orders through snail mail?

Thanks Eldar_Atog, I just spit Mt. Dew all over my work monitor. :D

With as wonky as GW has been acting lately, and as sad as it may be, this may wholly be a possibility.

daboarder
03-26-2014, 04:15 PM
Mystery? Wolfshade?

We'd love to hear your thoughts on this one?
Surely all these armchair marketing experts don't know what they are on about and need that reinforced?

on a serious note: We all knew eddie was just a matter of time before someone came and smote him because their panties were twisted. Its a shame that all those conversions, conversations and ideas are now lost but this is hardly the first time GW has given the bird to the community

DarkLink
03-26-2014, 04:59 PM
I emaild them this morning about this. This was there reply. "Hi there.It is with regret that Forge World has decided to stop its Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest sites. As these sites have grown in popularity over recent years it has become increasingly difficult to give them the support and attention required from within the FW team. Therefore we have taken the difficult decision to stop them completely.If there is anything further we can do to assist you, or if you have any queries about the information we have requested or provided, please telephone us."Translation: Our bosses don't feel it's worth money to communicate with customers.

Eldar_Atog
03-26-2014, 07:09 PM
Just thinking out loud... What's to keep someone else from creating a Games Workshop Facebook page? I'm sure that lawyers would be involved.. either way.

DarkLink
03-26-2014, 07:18 PM
You'd have to do a fan page if you wanted to try that. It would be irrelevant, really, there are plenty of 40k fans on the internet. The whole point of this isn't that there is or isn't a 40k facebook page, but that GW itself shut theirs down.

Wolfshade
03-27-2014, 03:23 AM
Mystery? Wolfshade?

We'd love to hear your thoughts on this one?
Surely all these armchair marketing experts don't know what they are on about and need that reinforced?

on a serious note: We all knew eddie was just a matter of time before someone came and smote him because their panties were twisted. Its a shame that all those conversions, conversations and ideas are now lost but this is hardly the first time GW has given the bird to the community

It does seem a strange move. Facebook and other "social-media" sites are a good way to promote one's business and do direct marketing to fans without them having to either grab the information themselves or read the emails that come through. Then on top of that (depending on your privacy settings) a simple like will make it appear in all of your friends news feeds too.
It seems a no brainer.

I can see why they might be concerned with image control, in which case you just make the page a read only style. Last time I went to complain I found the relevant page but it wouldn't allow posts to it :(. So it can't be that. Yes there are a number of very vocal anti-GW people, but the company needs to hear them (not necessarily listen to them) and a well managed social media can do work to reassure/readdress some of these and circumvent a pr disaster, but ho hum. Looks like GW are still lagging behind the times...

My only hope is that they are combining everything togther with a dedicated social media hub within the web team (though I've not heard of that reorganisation from my sparrows).

In terms of marketing, it is the most that they do (other than shop fronts) to non-GW users. I wouldn't have thought it would cost a lot, a small team, maybe even 1 person (things like hoot suite make it ridiculously easy to schedule and push updates across different platforms), maybe 2 or 3 at most and they would be doing global work, perhaps cost what £18-20k per head, reporting to the pre-existing webteam so no new management needed.

Eldar_Atog
03-27-2014, 09:00 AM
You'd have to do a fan page if you wanted to try that. It would be irrelevant, really, there are plenty of 40k fans on the internet. The whole point of this isn't that there is or isn't a 40k facebook page, but that GW itself shut theirs down.

Nah, not something I care about doing. It's just me being curious.

I've been trying to think of some other company that has retreated from the web quite like GW has. They are down to just a website and a small batch of company stores. Just seems so bizarre... unless they really are getting ready to sell to another company.

Wildeybeast
03-27-2014, 12:42 PM
As a Warhammer World event attender, I've had an email today to say that WW will be launching its own website and blog next week. Could this be where communication will happen now? An in house system rather than relying on Facebook?

Denzark
03-27-2014, 12:51 PM
It's amazingly shortsighted - or done in preparation for the new website.

While everyone else in the industry it racing towards more social media interaction and marketing interactions with customers, GW continues to shudder window after window after window.

Blood of Kittens reported the mandate came down from on high quickly and with no notice - taking many staff by surprise. That description doesn't jive with a planned short-term takedown for a website update.

The thing is I can sort of understand. If GW rely a lot on new blood paying big on entry and care not for us vets, they have to consider that the sort of parents who may push little Timmy into a 'creative' hobby rather than x-boxes. And those parents are internet savvy. And so they go to the GW FB page and what do they see? 80% fanboy love in, 20% bile-ridden complaints. People deliberately dropping in comments like 'Oh GW why so expensive I got me 1 million warjacks for 50p on the privateer website?'.

Its like kids getting a thrill from leaving school then swearing at their teachers. The effort involved with weeding all that out. Compared to the gain from 'interaction'.

At the end of the day, in the same way that us paying over the odds for a non-tight ruleset does not encourage them to tighten up, the fact we don't have the ability to interact with them will not lose them millions.

I think there will be a new web effort soone anyway - Warhammer World has this up at the mo:

http://warhammerworld.games-workshop.com/

daboarder
03-27-2014, 01:57 PM
The thing is I can sort of understand. If GW rely a lot on new blood paying big on entry and care not for us vets, they have to consider that the sort of parents who may push little Timmy into a 'creative' hobby rather than x-boxes. And those parents are internet savvy. And so they go to the GW FB page and what do they see? 80% fanboy love in, 20% bile-ridden complaints. People deliberately dropping in comments like 'Oh GW why so expensive I got me 1 million warjacks for 50p on the privateer website?'.

are people just ignoring that fact that facebook has comment moderation for just this reason?

DarkLink
03-27-2014, 02:05 PM
Every single other company in existence has figured out how to take advantage of social media despite the difficulties involved.

Eldar_Atog
03-27-2014, 03:24 PM
The thing is I can sort of understand. If GW rely a lot on new blood paying big on entry and care not for us vets, they have to consider that the sort of parents who may push little Timmy into a 'creative' hobby rather than x-boxes. And those parents are internet savvy. And so they go to the GW FB page and what do they see? 80% fanboy love in, 20% bile-ridden complaints. People deliberately dropping in comments like 'Oh GW why so expensive I got me 1 million warjacks for 50p on the privateer website?'.


But on that same note, GW is relying on those same vets to advertise for them. Think about the current situation..


1) The LGS's are moving away from GW products due to the heavy handed approach the company takes towards third party stores.
2) Almost all GW stores are moving to one person operations. Meaning the new player will have to find a play group on their own.
3) GW has no presence at non GW conventions. If there is a 40K game going on, it's the vet players that are running it. Not GW staff
4) Now, GW will have a smaller footprint on the web. They are relying on sites like BOLS to motivate players... while the GW web site functions as nothing but a store. If the new player sees something on facebook/twitter, it's being posted by a player/collector.

I've seen a lot of people suggest that players have a love/hate relationship with GW (which is certainly true) but GW also seems to have a love/hate thing going for the vet players. They want us to shut up and want us to talk up the company's products.

dienstuhr
03-27-2014, 03:24 PM
I emaild them this morning about this. This was there reply.

"Hi there.

It is with regret that Forge World has decided to stop its Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest sites. As these sites have grown in popularity over recent years it has become increasingly difficult to give them the support and attention required from within the FW team. Therefore we have taken the difficult decision to stop them completely.

If there is anything further we can do to assist you, or if you have any queries about the information we have requested or provided, please telephone us."

"Please telephone us"! Because that makes sense!!!

My God, they really believe in the Dark Age of Technology, don't they...

Cheers

d.

Denzark
03-27-2014, 04:01 PM
Every single other company in existence has figured out how to take advantage of social media despite the difficulties involved.

Blockbuster Video and Woolworths were better at social media than GW I'm sure. Both of them have gone bust. HMV does social media, they have been bought out.

I genuinely can't see what GW would gain - I think they think goodwill is overrated because they have enough people buying models without it.

Orange
03-27-2014, 07:42 PM
Just going to leave this here.

http://time.com/34025/the-free-marketing-gravy-train-is-over-on-facebook/

States a solid reason why GW wouldn't want to be on FB. 6% of content posted reaches those who are followers and now you have to pay. Regardless of the cost, this sounds terrible and should look at re upping their usage of their Twitter account and getting some Instagram and Tumblr.

daboarder
03-27-2014, 08:27 PM
or you know, still doesn't! you only pay to promote but having given so much of the community promotes for you all you need is the central hub, which they just burnt down

Lexington
03-27-2014, 09:33 PM
6% of 100k for free is still 6% of 100k for free. That's to say nothing of reposts from fans in groups, which increases the visibility of your content without a dime being spent. It's free advertising. Those should be magic words.

I've worked in marketing, and it's still on the periphery of what I do, and I can say for a fact that there are bigger, smarter companies than GW who pay good money in the hope of achieving the sort of social media presence that GW had without ever putting in much effort. Throwing that sort of engagement away over the Spots fiasco was moronic. If this latest shuttering is part of the same, it's doubly so, and the sort of heavy-handed nonsense that'd get Kirby booted from his position in a better-run organization.

daboarder
03-27-2014, 10:09 PM
6% of 100k for free is still 6% of 100k for free. That's to say nothing of reposts from fans in groups, which increases the visibility of your content without a dime being spent. It's free advertising. Those should be magic words.

I've worked in marketing, and it's still on the periphery of what I do, and I can say for a fact that there are bigger, smarter companies than GW who pay good money in the hope of achieving the sort of social media presence that GW had without ever putting in much effort. Throwing that sort of engagement away over the Spots fiasco was moronic. If this latest shuttering is part of the same, it's doubly so, and the sort of heavy-handed nonsense that'd get Kirby booted from his position in a better-run organization.

pretty sure he's still the controlling owner of the shares and the boards likely packed with his cronies.

I wouldn't be surprised if the constitution was worded so as too go right to the boundaries of law in how far he can stretch those powers too

DarkLink
03-27-2014, 10:46 PM
Blockbuster Video and Woolworths were better at social media than GW I'm sure. Both of them have gone bust. HMV does social media, they have been bought out.I genuinely can't see what GW would gain - I think they think goodwill is overrated because they have enough people buying models without it.1) Blockbuster (and presumably whatever the heck woolworths is) did not go out of business because of social media.2) Facebook could not have saved them, because marketing was not their issue, it was their business model that was quickly becoming obsolete.3) Blockbuster is not an indication that using social media is not beneficial.4) Blockbuster is not an indication that GW could not benefit in some way from more marketing.5) Companies can make it without extensive marketing. GW is actually a good example, because they have a dedicated captive market. At the moment, at least. They're losing market share, though. 6) None of this is any reason for why marketing is not a good thing. It is not justification for why they should eschew easy, cheap, and widespread marketing and communication with their customer base. 7) Most every halfway competent business person knows that marketing is beneficial, hence the reason why everyone and their mother has a facebook/twitter/etc to promote their products. Apparently GW missed the memo.8) Most every halfway competent business person will try and keep different departments on the same page. Someone should realize that sending out cease and desists over stuff like Spots the Space Marine is a bad idea, and tell legal to stop doing it, or at least revise their approach.Companies do stupid stuff all the time. Sometimes there's a good reason for it, sometimes there isn't. This is more likely a case of someone up high who doesn't know what they're doing. Which happens. A lot.

daboarder
03-27-2014, 10:50 PM
WOOLWORTHS GONE BUST?

what the **** are you smoking denzark?

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAOH GODHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHve a AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

oh, and yeah they do have social media, thats right even god damned grocery stores have a twitter account

Gotthammer
03-27-2014, 10:59 PM
WOOLWORTHS GONE BUST?

what the **** are you smoking denzark?

UK Woolworths is different to ours (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Woolworths_Group) and no longer exists, going under in 2009.

daboarder
03-28-2014, 12:34 AM
right. well then. what darklink said

Wolfshade
03-28-2014, 04:20 AM
Woolworths in South Africa is more akin to marks and Spencers rather than some overly large grotty newsagent that it was here.

I'm not wholey convinced that having a social media prescence is required.

The rule of sales is that people who are loyal to the brand are the core market audience, that is the people who are already engaged. If they are already engaged then what value does another stream add?

Mileage may vary but for me I already have:
+ BL/FW/GW newsletters
+ Visit the GW daily blog
+ Visit the FW weekly blog
+ Visit FW website on fridays to see "New Stuff"
+ Visit fan made sites and fora

Then on top of that I pop into the shop every so often and there are the WD and visions thingies.

I would say that my behaviour isn't massively atypical so the chances are I already know what is happening before I see it on facebook.

So what benefit does FB do for GW? Well in terms of market audience it enables friends of ours to see the GW posts that we like and so that might increase the potential audience. But the chances are that our friends who may like the hobby we have already spoken to them about the hobby (after all who doesn't want more friends to play with) and they either like the hobby and are engaged with it themselves or they are not interested in tabletop wargaming so despite the amount of exposure we give them they will not participate.

We are the disciples of GW, we proselytise, we advertise.

In this kind of niche environment I am not sure it is useful. Which is totally against my gut reaction.

The other reason for Social Media is fan engagment, which again I think is a good thing. But then it is most likely the people who are most frustrated who will be most vocal about a brand. For instance, I only write to companies to lodge complaints and never to praise and if the correspondance does not end with a way I am satisfied , then off to social media to let everyone hear my grievance.
And unfortunately, GW have already shown to be disinterested in electronic fan engagement. In the GW brick and motar stores, sat in bugmans bar, playing in Warhammer World they are very happy listening to what we have to say and having a conversation.

As an aside, the company I work for recently had their website in the top 600 of global views without any social media presence and without a discernable advertisement campaign.

I am still not happy with this move, it doesn't make sense to me.

Thoguh proper use of social media you can turn around bad pr with proper engagment. I suppose that is the key, proper engagment, not just continual pushing of goods/services. (There was a very good article of a good vs. bad handling of customer complaints on social media but I can't find the link :( )

Orange
03-28-2014, 06:19 AM
Plus, what do they need advertising for if you guys do it for them by leaking products?

Psychosplodge
04-01-2014, 02:39 AM
Plus, what do they need advertising for if you guys do it for them by leaking products?

^
This. Occasional leak here and there, and the community hypes it so much...
Surprised they don't leak fake higher price lists tbh then when the real ones come out...