Course Recap

Cant believe we are already wrapping up this course! The 8 week Social Media Campaign course has identified many factors that help to create a successful marketing campaign.  One of the most interesting aspects that I learned, is that a marketer needs to understand who the right target audience is for their product and what social media platform is the most beneficial for their campaign in order to achieve the organizations goals as well as a positive ROI.  “A brand should know that just because a platform is popular, doesn’t mean it’ll be a good fit for their particular target audience” (Lozano, 2018).  It was also important to learn that when executing a campaign, all platforms should be utilized.  Customers are not all on the same platform and more than likely they are not on every platform.  Using the tactic of a test campaign on each channel should give some insight as to where to best focus their resources and efforts to get achieve their goals and get the best return.

In my opinion, the weekly blogs were helpful because they expanded on developing social media campaigns and how different aspects implemented could be beneficial in an overall campaign.  The case study “Two Hearts in Three-Quarter Time: How to Waltz the Social,” showed how viral marketing can be compared to a plague and a virus because it can spread rapidly and affect millions of people.  For example, when Old Spice uploaded a 30 second video on YouTube called “The Man Your Man Could Smell Like.”  This video was viewed “23 million times in 36 hours” (Kaplan & Haenlein, 2011).  Viral marketing provides the convenience of transmitting a marketing message to a large group of people.

I really enjoyed the weekly blog. Throughout the course you gave us the space to express our feelings toward the course. I did not have any dislikes about the course. I look forward to applying all I have learned throughout this course throughout my future in marketing.

References

References:

Kaplan, A. & Haenlein, M., (2011). Two hearts in three-quarter time: How to waltz the social. Retrieved from https://hbsp.harvard.edu/download?url=/courses/647172/items/BH434-PDF-ENG/content&metadata=e30=.

Lozano, D. (2018). 8 Elements Behind Every Successful Social Media Strategy. Retrieved from https://www.socialmediatoday.com/news/8-elements-behind-every-successful-social-media-strategy/521794/.

7-2 Blog: Final Thoughts

As I wrap up the course, and my marketing degree, I have feelings of pure gratitude and accomplishment. I have had such a great experience here at SNHU, and have obtained so much useful knowledge.  In particular this course helped to me to build on and reinforce the content from other courses taken while providing new insights on what is needed to create a successful marketing campaign.  Learning how to find the right target audience and which platforms are geared toward those specific audiences and their sub sectors was beneficial in creating my final campaign for Starbucks.   Realizing that each social media platform has its own audience, it was necessary to learn how to gear content and posts for the particular platforms, used by the brand, in order to increase their following, generate leads, build relationships and increase revenue.  “Consistent messaging on each platform allows consumers to know the brand while giving a great first impression” (Polowy, 2019). Knowing how to effectively communicate with your audience in a receptive way. Engagement on each channel should be memorable and meaningful. 

Overall, this course, has given me a lot of insight on how to create a marketing plan that aligns with the goals and objectives of an organization and where to allocate resources so that there is a positive return on investment.  Consistent messaging incorporated into the campaign and specific strategies for each social media platform are key to targeting the right audience, building brand loyalty and maintaining market share.  The use of influencers can be beneficial if the right people are used and if they can create a buzz about the brand.  Influencers should be those people who are closely matched to the market and in my opinion those who are unpaid have more clout than those who are paid.   

The use of KPIs, such as Google Analytics can help to build an effective campaign and are important to determine which marketing strategies on which platforms are contributing to the campaign’s success and whether or not the organizations goals have been achieved and also helps to determine social media ROI.

Polowy, A. (2019). How to Create Consistent Messaging for an Authentic Brand Experience. Retrieved from https://www.blueswitch.com/2019/04/how-to-create-consistent-messaging-for-an-authentic-brand-experience/. 

6-2 Blog: The Key to Social Media Success Within Organizations

 I found the article, “The Key to Social Media Success within Organizations” not only informative, but also forthright and realistic. The authors, Quy Huy and Andrew Shipilov claimed that internal social media initiatives fail to benefit some companies primarily because they lack emotional capital and I wholeheartedly agree with this premise. So, what is emotional capital anyway? As it turns out Huy and Shipilov defined it as the aggregate feeling of goodwill toward a company and the way it operates. Moreover, a company’s emotional capital with its employees can be built by the actions of its executives. In essence, it is representative of the emotional based assets an organization has developed over time with its employees. 

Furthermore, Huy and Shipilov theorized that the connection between emotional capital and internal social media within companies through use of comparative case studies. The outcome of these case studies revealed that executives who leverage social media to build emotional capital in their employees’ communities reap significant benefits (Huy & Shipilov, 2012). For example, communication and information sharing is improved, collaborative efforts increase, employee turnover rates decrease, while higher levels of employee motivation are also apparent. In addition, the article further stated that there are 4 key pillars associated with the formation of emotional capital that companies must develop. They are defined as feelings of authenticity, pride, attachment and fun. Authenticity is created amongst employees when a company follows through on its word. In other words, they do what they tell their employees they are going to do. In addition, pride is also formed with employees when their company publicly recognizes their hard work and achievements. Meanwhile, attachment occurs with employees when they feel that they have become part of a community with shared social norms, values and beliefs. Lastly, fun is felt among employees when they get to play a little at work while being given the opportunity to learn new things and expand their skill set (Huy & Shipilov, 2012). Having said this, there are also some serious shortcomings associated with internal social media, such as exposing or even magnifying a company’s shortcomings. In effect this has resulted in many company executives choosing not to engage in internal social media with its employees and thus skip building employee capital altogether (Huy & Shipilov, 2012).  

Emotional capital is the main theme in this article and how it can affect the media associated with a brand. Emotional capital to me is the value associated with connecting with your audience. It doesn’t have to be basic pictures of products or services, but when you add an emotional element to it, you find a way for a customer to relate to your brand versus just see your products or services as objects they could live without. You create a meaningful connection that provides possibly years of value in that it can inspire brand loyalty. People are emotional creatures, appealing to that nature can be the biggest thing that furthers your brand.

References

 Huy, Q. & Shipilov, A., (2012). MIT Sloan Management Review. Article: The Key to Social 

            Media Success within Organizations. VOL. 54, NO. 1, SMR429.

5-2 Blog: Thoughts on the Course

There are many elements that need to be incorporated into a social media campaign in order for it to be successful.  Knowing a brands goals and objectives, who their target audience is and what platforms and tactics should be used are the some of the most important steps to creating an effective and successful campaign.

Establishing the campaigns goals and objectives creates a common understanding of the brands forward momentum. When a series of objectives are put it place it typically leads to the achievement of a goal. Using the SMART framework which helps to draft goals and objectives which are specific, measurable, attainable, realistic and timely, will help to determine if the goals are possible and how and when they will be achieved (Mind Tools Content Team, 2019). Establishing SMART goals, allows you to create goals and objectives that are not only attainable but also profitable. Throwing money into your marketing budget without clear plans is not productive. Without defined marketing goals and objectives, a business will struggle with achieving its plans because it won’t be clear on what it wants to do or how it’s going to achieve it. 

Once goals and objectives have been identified, a brand needs to know who they will be targeting to create an effective, successful campaign. A brands target audience are those who are moew likely to buy your products or services, and are united by some common characteristics, like demographics and behaviors. Identifying a brands target audience helps to develop campaigns that optimize their marketing budget while advocating the brand message to an audience that is more likely to buy your product/service. Knowing the demographics, psychographics and geographics of the target audience can help to create relevant content and direct resources to those particular customers and will also help to build a more engaged audience. 

Knowing the right social media platforms and being well acquainted with in how they work is beneficial for a social media marketing campaign and can help to bring the most ROI.   “A brand should know that just because a platform is popular, doesn’t mean it’ll be a good fit for their particular target audience” (Lozano, 2018). Business’s use marketing ROI to determine the success of their marketing efforts as it relates to their overall goals whether driving sales, gaining leads, increasing engagement, etc. Measuring marketing ROI is essential, as it provides insights into the effectiveness of your marketing. However, when executing a campaign, all platforms should be utilized.  Customers are not all on the same platform and more than likely they are not on every platform.  Using the tactic of a test campaign on each channel should give some insight as to where to best focus their resources and efforts to get achieve their goals and get the best return. 

Throughout this course my feelings towards social media and social media campaigns have remained the same. If anything, it has strengthened my position on the importance of social media for a business’s marketing efforts. Social media has 3.5 billion social media users worldwide, this outreach speaks to its significance. With this course being amongst the last before completing my degree social media marketing, I’ve learned how powerful social media can be when leveraged correctly. These past five weeks have validated my thoughts on the social media as a momentous marketing tool. Giving me a deeper understanding of why social media is the most powerful form of marketing the world has ever seen.

References:

Lozano, D. (2018). 8 Elements Behind Every Successful Social Media Strategy. Retrieved from https://www.socialmediatoday.com/news/8-elements-behind-every-successful-social-media-strategy/521794/.

4-2 Blog: Risks: The Pepsi Refresh Project: A Thirst for Change

In 2009, Pepsi made a bold move.  They chose to NOT advertise during the 2010 Super Bowl.  Using the $20 billion advertising budget on a new project.  A project that would in no way sell Pepsi products.  The Pepsi Refresh Project would be funded through the money originally targeted toward Super Bowl advertising.  The Pepsi Refresh Project wants people, not necessarily Pepsi consumers, to do good in their communities.  They were asked to submit ideas for grants.  These grants would fund a “refresh” if granted.

From the information given it looks like Pepsi did a good job at follow through with the grants.  Once they were awarded, Pepsi had put in place organizations to help make sure that the winners had the support they needed to succeed and that the money went to do what it was intended to do.  The Pepsi Brand was in great shape.  The company had built a strong social media presence, with the “Refresh Project”.  According to an article written by Michael Norton and Jill Avery, “Prior to the project, Pepsi lagged behind Coke in Facebook fans, with 225,000 to Coke’s 3.5 million: the project added 3 million Facebook fans and 53,000 Twitter followers. The project won the Titanium Award at the Cannes Lions International Advertising Festival, the world’s biggest advertising awards show. Forbes magazine named the program among the “best ever social media campaigns” (2013).

The Pepsi Refresh Project sounds like a success for Pepsi, right?  Great social media campaign, projects got funded to help communities, what more could you ask?  Well if you are a company built on sales, you could ask for sales, but Pepsi sales were still dropping.  The company was at a crossroads, they had diverted money Super Bowl money for the funding of the program, how would they continue to fund it?  Also, they were hoping to really draw in one key demographic with the project, the Millennials.  Research showed that only a small percentage of money went to that age group (Norton & Avery, 2013).

The project was a social media and branding success for Pepsi, but critics were quick to point out that those successes didn’t bring Pepsi revenue.  Summed up in a brash, straight forward manner, Rance Crain, editor of Advertising Age, said, “The bigger question is whether any marketer should put all of its eggs in the do-good basket. It’s risky to build your entire campaign around a cause that doesn’t give any tangible reasons for consuming your product. There’s also the danger that consumers could conceivably tire of causes or decide that Pepsi, a marketer long known for its ability to amuse and entertain, is taking itself too seriously. After all, we’re talking about fizzy soda water here” (Norton & Avery, 2013).

Was it a good idea for Pepsi to invest in the Refresh Project?  I would say this is a draw.  In the end they had great success in getting the Pepsi Brand out there on social media and they did good in many communities through their grants.  However, the bottom line for a company is sales and to have spent that much money and still taken a hit is just a glaring loss.

References:

Avery, Jill & Norton, Michael I. (2013, August 26). The Pepsi Refresh Project: A Thirst for Change. Retrieved from blob:https://hbsp.harvard.edu/e8da0cfc-83b4-40cc-b942-5be6790a6d2b

3-2 Blog: Opinions on Your Social Media Campaign

So far, I am really enjoying this course! While it is only week three, I feel this class will provide me with a ton of applicable knowledge for my desired career. I am both excited and nervous, as this is my last set of courses before completing my degree. I think this course is just the course I need to encapsulate the tools needed to develop a successful social media campaign.  With my degree in social media marketing, I hope to be able to effectively produce social media campaigns for an affluent company. 

For my social media campaign, I chose the company Starbucks. I chose a company that I had done some research on and was familiar with. In a previous class I made the mistake of selecting a company that was quite difficult to find any analytical and statistical data. So, for milestone one I knew I wanted to choose a company that I could find an extensive amount of data to support my campaign selection. I thought milestone one was straightforward and set the framework for our campaign. As for milestone two, we dove into our projected campaign target market. I found this was quite routine, any class/campaign required such. I easily was able to find information regarding my companies target market. I feel as though we are laying the ground work for our campaign, as the course progresses, we will be challenged more in the development of our campaign. I would say it easier than what I had expected, but I also know we have yet to delve into course.

2-2 Blog: Two Hearts in Three-Quarter Time: How to Waltz the Social

Social media and viral marketing have been attributed to go hand in hand. This concept was further discussed in the case study, “Two Hearts in Three-Quarter Time: How to Waltz the Social.” Viral marketing, which in the case is described as, electronic word of mouth whereby some form of marketing message related the a company, brand, or product is transmitted in an exponentially growing way – often through the use of social media”, is a marketing tactic managers are being made aware of to use in order to create a successful campaign. Viral marketing has two elements: growth and social media applications.Viral marketing also needs three basic criteria: the right people to receive the message, the right message, and the right circumstance (Kaplan & Haenlein, 2011). The most critical element of viral marketing is ensuring you find the right people to spread the message. It is especially crucial because 20% of the messengers can carry 80% of the load (Kaplan & Haenlein, 2011). These messengers can transform what is a basic message into a viral sensation.

According to the article, six steps are required in order to waltz the social. First, there is only one way, and that is viral marketing goes social media which is considered a new form of advertisement that allows normal people the ability to connect with others. Second, the two concepts worth considering are word of mouth and viral marketing. Third, there are three conditions, environment, message and messengers. These aspects of the campaign move campaign along. Fourth, the four groups of social media viral marketing campaigns, which are, strokes of luck, triumphs, nightmares and homemade issues. By being aware of these categories, it helps to keep your campaign on the right track. Learning from others mistakes. Fifth, advice that comes with the territory. Finally, sixth, degrees of separation. Knowing full well that by taking these steps, the time might come where viral marketing is not as popular but for now, it is just beginning. 

Viral marketing is an important part of marketing in today’s digital age. This means of communication allows businesses to connect on a lower budget, become more personable through communities on social media and control the environment, the potential of viral campaigns in the future have the ability to maneuver their way into the top of the marketing world. With companies learning how to harness this power, they can make a virus a full epidemic of sales!

Kaplan, Andreas M. & Haenlein, Michael. (2011). Retrieved from: https://hbsp.harvard.edu/download?url=%2Fcourses%2F623797%2Fitems%2FBH434-PDF-ENG%2Fcontent&metadata=e30%3D

1-2 Blog: Social Media and Me

Social Media is truly a highly time-consuming facet of my everyday life. The social media applications I use the most are Instagram and Facebook. These social media platforms give me the ability to stay in touch with distant family and friends. Aside from the communication component of these applications, I look to these platforms to discover new trends and products, follow celebrities, and watch tutorials. Aside from Instagram and Facebook, I also use Pinterest and YouTube.  I do ultimately find social media to be incredibly useful for both my personal and professional usage, and my intention is to continue utilizing these platforms while getting a better grasp on my overall time management in regard to personal usage.

Instagram, I use for both professional and personal use. I use it to promote my brand and engage with customers on my account. I love the way that I can link my business account on Facebook with Instagram and post to both at the same time. Saves time and creates a continuity on both platforms for fans that might not use one or the other. Personally, I use Instagram to share highlight photos of my life, as well as engage with others about theirs.  Instagram has progressively become more saturation with advertisements. My feed is being taken over by ads, causing me to lose interest in the social media platform.

Facebook was my social media platform of choice for personal usage for quite a long while. With an incredibly diverse functionality set within the platform that features the ability to connect with a user base of over 2.6 Billion active monthly users from all over the world, the most used features on my application tend to be my Newsfeed for reading updates from friends and pages that I like/follow, Messenger for directly communicating with friends and family, Stories for the viewing a variation of updates from friends and pages, Marketplace for buying and selling items, and Groups for connecting with like-minded people on a varying array of subject matters. I also like how your Facebook feed is curated by popularity, putting the most interesting content first. Overall, there’s not much I dislike about the platform, but at times, the advertising can be a bit of an interruption. They break my attention, often resulting in me exiting the app.

 Pinterest is a platform where users can share, collect and organize a catalog of ideas. I look to Pinterest to draw creative inspiration, whether it be fashion, décor or DIY projects. I like Pinterest’s simplicity; the platform is easy to navigate for users. Pinterest is a popular visual search engine, the platform includes clickable content, in which users who take an interest in a pin will be taken to another page with a more in depth description and commentary. As an avid user of Pinterest, I have witnessed a transformation of increased marketing and advertising within the platform. This particular detail is highly advantageous to marketers as it allows them to understand what future products and services people will be looking for. This allows marketers to curate their campaigns to ensure they’re meeting the needs of their target market. However, the one thing I dislike about Pinterest is the hidden advertisements. These advertisements look like any other pin, often confusing users. 

YouTube is the final social network that I regularly. While many people often overlook the platform as a social network, and rather view it as only a streaming platform as sorts, I find a great deal of enjoyment watching tutorials, travel blogs, cooking videos, movie clips, the occasional roller coaster POV, and so on. I also enjoy the ability to communicate with the content creators that I follow on the platform as well as other viewers in the comment sections and beyond. I ultimately feel the social aspect of the platform could use some expansion overall, which it seems the company is slowly moving towards with the development of its live streaming capabilities. The one dislike I have, is the number of fake videos. Often times creators will use luring titles to get viewers’ attention, with totally irrelevant content. 

Overall, social media plays such a pivotal role in my life simply because I easily put in at least 3 hours of combined usage on most days. From the ability to stay up to date with all of my friends and family, to being able to follow my favorite brands and be instantly alerted to whenever they may have new products or are running a promotion of sorts, or possibly most importantly in the current day, the ability to collect up to the second news updates are all concepts I find invaluable. I truly am unsure how life as a whole would be without the presence of social media in the current day and age.

MKT 432 – 4-1 Blog: Marketing Objectives

Marketing objectives are the broad-based statements and goals of an organization. Companies use these objectives to align marketing activities with their mission and goals. In order to determine which marketing objectives are ideal, an organization will use a SWOT analysis to analyze their strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats. What activities do we need to implement to arrive at our goals? In order for a company to achieve these goals, the objectives help keep them on track on specific points that need improvement. All objectives must align with SMART (specific, measurable, achievable, relevant and time frame) in order to be effective. As technology continues to advance, companies are now able to handle clientele through their CRM (customer relationship management) software, which will allow them to record detailed information. Constantly managing your existing customers as well as promoting to new ones is an on-going objective of many firms. An objective could be determined on how to keep current customers satisfied and happy, while another objective is how to gain the attention of new clients all at the same time.

In essence, the objectives/SMART goals of a company’s marketing plan will require hard work and dedication to achieve the specifications of each to serve their purpose. How many visitors do you want to the site? Determine a specific number, not just “more.” A company needs to track these goals and see how they are impacting the business overall, and each objective simultaneously. Do not set un-reachable expectations. Objectives need to be direct statements of what the company is capable of, not to set the team up for failure no matter how hard they work towards each. An organization must provide their teams with the appropriate resources and needs in order to meet these objectives. Set a realistic end date, a specific month, date and year. Another resource an organization can apply to these SMART goals are key performance indicators (KPI) that they will use to determine how they are progressing toward each goal. Tracking the number of webpage views, page likes and un-subscribers are all KPI’s that will relay beneficial information on the progress. In simple terms, an organization creates a SWOT analysis to determine their objectives, SMART goals are developed to reach these objectives, and KPIs are used for data-tracking of each goal.

Legally speaking marketing objectives and their ensuing campaigns should be honest. The desire to reach objectives shouldn’t lead to dishonesty. Objectives should be attainable, and to the benefit of the company, but they shouldn’t set the bar so high as to overwhelm those doing the work or to mislead potential investors and customers. Setting the bar too high may lead to big investment, which may in turn lead to a big decline in value if the results don’t meet expectations. Most importantly marketers should always be straight with the customers, they should paint a picture of the product in its best form, but no more. False advertising is a gateway to distrust, failure and lawsuits. Ultimately you can never truly go wrong with honesty and transparency.

  References:

Ranasinghe, M. (2012, February 22). How to Develop Marketing Objectives. Retrieved September 20, 2020, from https://www.slideshare.net/maxwellranasinghe/how-to-develop-marketing-objectives

Strategy Beam. (2019, March 12). How To Align Your Marketing Strategy With Your Business Goals. Retrieved September 20, 2020, from https://www.strategybeam.com/blog/how-to-align-your-marketing-strategy-with-your-business-goals/

3-1 Blog: Market Segmentation

There are quite a few tools that can help marketers define their target market when developing their marketing plan. The two tools I am going to focus on is Geolocation and Google Analytics.

First, Geolocation has been an up and coming advantage in the marketing world over the last couple of years. With the constant advancement of technology, marketers are now able to use Geolocation in tracking not on the location of consumers, but also where they focus their attention. Marketers can use consumer search history and location to suggest an advertisement on a local offer or event near them based on their surroundings. Event marketing can successfully target ads about local specials and offering deals to attract them to the event or store promotion. Brands are even able to use local weather data to advertise umbrellas if it’s raining or promote a new sunscreen product if it is beach weather. With Geolocation, marketers are able to reach consumers on a quick and personal level that will create an even better customer experience.

Another tool to help marketers decode their audience is Google Analytics. Google Analytics provides insight into who site visitors are and what they do when they come to a website.  It is a very useful tool that helps you find out the interests of a specific audience. Marketers can extra specific data related to a chosen audience demographic. This includes location, age, gender, behavior, device being used, interests/hobbies, language, and so much more. . This can show you how your content marketing strategy is performing and which specific areas you can improve. The data can help plan successful marketing campaigns that suit the targeted consumers perfectly.

A new product or service can be revolutionary but still fail entering the market because of the wrong target market. A new marketer or marketing team must understand what the company is offering and what type of consumer will respond best. Identifying the target market can seem like a daunting task; however, modern technology has made it easier than ever. Both of these resources, along with other helpful marketing tools can improve a brand’s target market and their strategy in order to obtain new and loyal customers. 

References:
Kulkarni, C. (2017, February 6). 15 Ways Geolocation Is Totally Changing Marketing. Retrieved September 16, 2020, from http://fortune.com/2017/02/06/geolocation-marketing/

How to Use Google Analytics to Measure and Improve Your Content Marketing. (2020, January 23). Neil Patel. https://neilpatel.com/blog/google-analytics-content-marketing/