Fermob, a well-known outdoor furniture brand, faced the growing challenge of managing an expanding global presence on social media. With 40% of its revenue coming from outside France, including major markets like the U.S. and Germany, Fermob’s challenge was clear: The company needed to streamline their social media operations across diverse markets.
Fermob’s goal was to regain control of its social media presence, unify its brand across key markets, and scale efficiently.
After the furniture brand implemented social media management tool Agorapulse, Fermob experienced a transformation. Now, Fermob was able to centralize their social media operations, improve their response time, and significantly boost content output.
Fermob Before Using Agorapulse
When a new social media manager, Maxime Bretin, joined Fermob, Maxime immediately identified the chaotic state of the company’s social media accounts. Multiple pages were either dormant or duplicated content from the main accounts, with some lacking quality control.
For example, Fermob had a dedicated account for South Korea created by a local reseller, but it didn’t reflect the company’s premium brand identity. The social media manager’s first task was to streamline Fermob’s presence by consolidating pages and reducing the number of international accounts. They decided to keep key pages in markets like Australia and the U.S., where localized content made sense, but closed redundant accounts in other regions to focus on fewer, higher-quality profiles.
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The Challenges of a Growing Global Company
As Fermob’s global footprint grew, so did their social media complexity. With social media accounts scattered across regions and no centralized tool to manage content and conversations, Fermob struggled with moderation and content production.
“When I arrived, there was no moderation tool at all.” (Maxime, Fermob’s social media manager)
Before Agorapulse, Fermob relied on a manual moderation process that involved using Excel spreadsheets to track customer inquiries. This system was not only inefficient but also slowed down response times, especially when coordination with customer support teams was needed for more technical questions. For instance, questions about the delivery timelines for large B2B orders or issues with furniture during high season would bottleneck without an efficient way to track and respond.
The volume of inquiries was highly seasonal, peaking during the summer months. In off-seasons, Fermob’s social media manager could handle inquiries almost alone, but during peak periods, Fermob’s previous setup struggled to keep up. When Fermob launched new product lines or seasonal promotions, the social media inbox was flooded, making it difficult to stay on top of customer messages without dedicated tools.
Additionally, Fermob’s content strategy was outdated. They relied too heavily on static images, with only a handful of videos posted annually—far below what’s needed to satisfy social media algorithms. In 2023, for instance, they had only posted around 10 videos throughout the year, which was insufficient given the increased demand for video content.
Fermob’s issues boiled down to three major challenges:
- Decentralized social accounts. Fermob had an overwhelming number of local social media accounts managed by various resellers. This led to inconsistency in brand representation and ineffective control.
- Lack of moderation and response management. Without a unified system, responding to customer inquiries was chaotic, especially during peak seasons.
- Outdated content creation strategies. Fermob relied heavily on static images, which limited engagement in a world shifting toward dynamic video content.
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The Journey to Agorapulse
Maxime had prior experience with Agorapulse and knew it was the right tool to address Fermob’s challenges. After Maxime conducted a market audit that included competitors like Iconosquare and Meltwater, Agorapulse stood out, particularly for its robust moderation capabilities.
“I knew Agorapulse had authority when it came to moderation. The other features were a bonus.” (Maxime, Fermob’s social media manager)
By adopting Agorapulse, Fermob could finally centralize its social media management, eliminating redundant accounts and streamlining global brand presence.
Transformation with Agorapulse
The deep impact of Agorapulse on Fermob’s operations was swift and immediate.
Here’s how the social media management tool helped:
1. Centralized moderation
Using Agorapulse’s inbox assistant, Fermob could automatically filter and prioritize messages, especially during its peak sales season.
For example, Maxime could now handle the influx of customer inquiries largely on his own during the busy summer months. Agorapulse lets Fermob centralize all social media messages—whether from Facebook or Instagram—into one easy-to-navigate inbox.
With Agorapulse, Fermob could monitor and respond to social media conversations across all platforms in real time.
“Before Agorapulse, our moderation was non-existent. Now, I can handle everything in one place—even during the busy summer season,” says Maxime.
This improvement resulted in faster response times and better customer engagement, especially during high-traffic periods.
2. Efficient content creation
Before Agorapulse, Fermob’s reliance on an external agency meant that video content was secondary.
Now using Agorapulse’s collaborative publishing features and the ability to schedule and organize campaigns, Fermob’s team was able to double its video output—from 50 in 2023 to 100 planned for 2024.
Agorapulse’s scheduling and content library made it easy to keep up with social media algorithms (which prioritize video and dynamic content).
“We’ve moved from being reliant on photos to producing high-quality videos, which is critical for engagement on platforms like Instagram and TikTok.” (Maxime, Fermob’s social media manager)
Also, Fermob now could scale its team. The furniture brand onboarded a dedicated team member for their international markets and another for creative content.
With Agorapulse, Fermob could now maintain control over who could publish, ensuring quality control, while still allowing different team members to take ownership of various social media tasks.
3. Global brand consistency
Fermob streamlined its presence by reducing redundant local social accounts and focusing on key markets, such as the US, Germany, and Australia. Using Agorapulse’s collaborative features, the furniture brand now manages a few focused, well-maintained accounts.
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Results and Impact
By implementing Agorapulse, Fermob saved valuable time and increased its social media efficiency.
Here’s a look at some of the many specific results:
- Increased response time
Fermob dramatically improved response times. During its peak season, the volume of items in their inbox doubles. They can get as many as 1,500 items. - Content output growth
Fermob grew from creating just a few videos per year to producing more than 100 in 2024. So, it has been able to keep pace with social media trends and audience expectations. - Better strategic focus
Fermob implemented a more robust content strategy that now includes Agorapulse’s saved hashtags and UTM tracking. So the brand can now demonstrate the ROI of their campaigns. - Improved engagement (likes, comments, and shares)
Fermob experienced a 2X increase. - Greater organic reach for video posts
Fermob’s reach doubled once it used Agorapulse. - Improved social media presence
With dedicated accounts for key markets like Australia and the U.S., Fermob can target local audiences more effectively, growing brand awareness and driving sales in these regions.
Lessons Learned and Unexpected Benefits
Through this journey, Fermob discovered the power of centralization and automation. The unexpected benefit of using Agorapulse was the time saved during moderation, which allowed their team to focus on higher-level strategies like video content creation and exploring new markets, including TikTok, where they recently launched.
Customer’s Advice
Maxime’s advice to other brands facing social media chaos is simple: “Don’t hesitate to invest in a tool like Agorapulse. The time you save in moderation alone is worth it, not to mention the improved consistency and growth in content production. It’s a game-changer.”
Fermob, with the help of Agorapulse, turned social media chaos into a well-oiled machine. The furniture brand saved massive amounts of time and scaled its global strategy. By streamlining operations and embracing the latest trends, Fermob not only increased engagement but also redefined how the brand approaches social media.
