L13 Social media marketing – Marketing management

What is social media

Social media is any tool (apps) that uses the internet to enable conversations. They offer more one-to-one ways to interact with consumers compared to traditional advertising like television and magazines that are one sided.

Social media presents both opportunities and challenges for marketers: Can both be an amazing tool and problematic

- A problem - marketers don´t control the interaction or the content on social media since customers share and interact however they want e.g if marketers do something it can go another direction e.g. negative perceptions instead which marketers can´t control. It can blow up.

- Customers can share experiences quickly with many people, meaning marketers cannot limit sharing and how the posts are exposed - reach many people.

- Social media allows marketers to listen to what is being said, providing insight on how customers react. Marketers hear about the brand, industry, competition and the customers and pays attention to who is saying what and act upon that. Having a social media team can help monitor that.

- Social media is a sophisticated way to measure how organizations meet and react: People may say things on social media they would never say otherwise.

- Marketers can have direct and meaningful conversations with customers: Engage with customers to understand why they feel a certain way

Consumers use social media to:

- Exchange information.

- Collaborate with others.

- Have conversations

Social media and organisations

- Marketers are interested in online communication due to its popularity e.g. help to say the right things in the right way.

- Employees posts´impact the perception of the organisations therefore organisations are strict with that and research their social media before employing.

- The need to train CEOs on how to use social media. Or do not allow employees on social media.

Social commerce - people use social media for various types of reasons e.g:

- Peer-to-peer sales platforms: e.g., eBay, Tradera (C2C - consumer-to-consumer).

- Social networking websites driven by sales: e.g., Pinterest, Twitter.

- Group buying platforms: e.g., Groupon.

- Peer recommendation sites: e.g., Yelp.

- User-curated shopping sites: e.g., The Fancy.

- Participatory commerce platforms: e.g., Kickstarter, Threadless. These involve research on funding.

- Social shopping sites: e.g., RenttheRunway

Explain how to create a social media campaign

Creating a social media campaign is part of Integrated Marketing Communication (IMC) where consistency across different marketing channels is important e.g. same mission, info etc.

- Social media is positioned in the middle, connected to websites, vlogs, paid advertising, or being written about by others.

Campaigns can leverage different types of digital media:

- Owned media:

- Earned media:

- Paid media: This involves the use of traditional media like display advertising or paid search words and direct online advertising. This includes paying for social media platforms or influencers to mention products.

Owned media

This is the brand's presence on social platforms, such as a brand's Facebook presence, YouTube channel, Twitter presence, Pinterest presence, and presence on other social platforms.

Paid media

Refers to word of mouth or online buzz about a brand e.g. viral videos, retweets, comments on blogs, and other forms of customer feedback resulting from a social media presence. It involves people sharing content, which helps it spread. It can be hard to achieve because people tend to follow others they agree with.

Stages in Creating an Effective Social Media Campaign

1. Listen to customers

2. Set social media objectives

3. Evaluate and measure success you

1. Listen to customers

1. Marketers must actively hear, pay attention about who and what they are saying and act upon what is said about their brand, the industry, the competition, and the customer. They can set up social media monitoring activities to do this formally. It allows them to identify concerns and desires, trends and opportunities, respond to negative feedback, build stronger relationships.

2. Set social media objectives: Campaigns must have a clear goals that can be accomplished through social media and measured. These objectives are in different categories such as:

a. Listen and learn: Understand market trends and customer opinions.

b. Build relationships and awareness: Strengthen brand reputation and connect with customers.

c. Promote products and services: Use targeted content to drive engagement and sales.

d. Manage your reputation: Respond to crises and build brand trust.

e. Improve customer service: Offer quick, effective solutions through social channels.

To evaluate and measure success you:

a. Calculate total spending on social media, including all costs like content costs.

b. Connect social media objectives with business goals, such as lead generation, awareness, conversions, sentiment (feedback), customer experience, satisfaction, confidence, or risk mitigation.

c. Identify and track metrics that align with social media objectives e.g. reach, audience engagement (likes, comments), site traffic (number of visitors), leads generated (number of sign-ups), conversions, or revenue generation. Metrics can include reactions, likes, and comments to see the value of posts.

d. Creating a ROI report that illustrates the impact of social media, clearly showing the benefit the organization gets from using social media. Tracking can be done through methods like cookies.

Consumers exhibit various social behaviors online. There are different types of people on social media based on their behavior, and individuals can show combinations of these behaviors:

· Creators: Produce and share online content like blogs, websites, articles, and videos.

· Conversationalists: People who post status updates on social networking sites and microblogging services. They post comments and posts frequently, perhaps every single day.

· Critics: Post comments, ratings, and reviews of products and services on blogs and forums. They say they bought something and provided feedback.

· Collectors: Use RSS feeds to collect information and vote for websites online.

· Joiners: Maintain a social networking profile and visit other sites. They try to make people join.

· Spectators: Read blogs, listen to podcasts, watch videos, and consume media. They just scroll and don't comment, wanting to see what others are doing.

· Inactive: Do none of the above. Maybe they don't use social media. A downside is not knowing anything about this group

Various Types of Influencers

Influencers vary by follower count:

· Mega-influencers: Often celebrities like actors, singers, artists, or athletes who have more than a million followers on social media platforms. Wide reach and visibility.

· Macro-influencers: Have between 500,000 and 1,000,000 followers on social media platforms e.g industry experts, content creators, well-known personalities.

· Mid-tier influencers: Have between 50,000 and 500,000 followers on social media platforms. Strong audience engagement and credibility within their niches. Brands us for targeted promotions.

· Micro-influencers: Have a smaller number of followers (10,000-50,000) but are still influential in specific areas, focus on niche audiences. They may not require significant payment and can often be more powerful. More authentic and trustworthy recommendation.

· Nano-influencers: Have the smallest follower count (1,000-10,000) on social media. High engagement rates within small communities, more relatable and genuine.

Social Media Tools

Various social media tools are available to marketers

- Blogs,

- Microblogs

- Social Networks

- Media Sharing Sites

- User-Generated Content (UGC):

- Social news sites

- Location-Based Social Networking Sites:

- Review Sites

- Virtual Worlds and Online Gaming

Blogs

- Publicly accessible webpages acting as interactive journals where readers can post comments and include:

o Corporate blogs (sponsored by a company and maintained by employees).

o Noncorporate blogs (independent, not associated with a company's marketing efforts, such as those by fashion designers or athletes who write what they want.

Microblogs

- Blogs with shorter posts than traditional and have strict length limit. Effective for disseminating news, promoting longer blog posts, sharing links, announcing events, and promoting sales.

Social Networks:

- Sites that allow individuals to connect with friends, peers, and business associates. Examples include Facebook, LinkedIn, TikTok, and Instagram

Media Sharing Sites

- Allow users to upload photos, videos, and audio to a website accessible from anywhere. Users can share media with the world or a select group e.g. YouTube, Vimeo (Video); flickr, photobucket, imageshack (Photos); and Podcasts. Some, like YouTube, have had issues leading users to seek other platforms, e.g., getting demonetized however audience couldn´t switch platform.

User-Generated Content (UGC):

- Content is co-created between the brand and its consumers. The level of involvement can range from low to high depending on resources. Brands market consumers posts e.g. trends like

o Starbucks #RedCupContest to encourage submissions of coffee photos for a chance to win a girft card

o Wayfair's #WayfairAtHome and #WayfairPetSquad campaigns where customers showcase their home setups or pets with Wayfair products

Social news sites

- When users decide which content is promoted by voting up or down e.g. Reddit used for promoting campaigns, creating conversations and building website traffic. Content voted up can go viral and more shared.

Location-Based Social Networking Sites

- Combine social networking with location-based GPS technology e.g. Pokemon Go where they can collect pokemons based on where they visit. - foursquare.

Review Sites

Where consumers post, read, rate, and comment on opinions about products and services. Give business the opportunity to respond directly to customers and present the business positively, useful tool for local and national businesses. However, fake reviews exist where people are paid to write reviews e.g. Amazon.

Virtual Worlds and Online Gaming

- Present opportunities for marketers to engage consumers. Marketers can buy in-game items or pay to have characters wear or interact with products

- This includes:

o Massive Multiplayer Online (MMO) games (e.g., World of Warcraft),

o Competitive online games (e.g., League of Legends)

o Online communities/virtual worlds (e.g., Second Life, Poptropica, Habbo Hotel).

Describe the impact of mobile technology on social media 1-5

- Edutainment: The rise of content that is both entertaining and informative.

- Video Production Budgets: Increased investments in quality video production equipment and staff to aid brand storytelling.

- Creator Economy: Influencer content is watched significantly more than branded content (13 times more) and will continue to be leveraged.

- Employee Advocacy: Employees speak on behalf of the organization, acting like inside influencers.

- Authentic Sustainability: To avoid issues like "greenwashing," corporate social responsibility announcements are accurate and transparent.

Describe the impact of mobile technology on social media 6-9

- Customer Surprise and Delight: Going above and beyond in customer interactions to create personalized experiences.

- Social and Legal: Legal teams are involved to ensure brand content adheres to regulations.

- Metaverse Technology: Augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) are still on the rise. This includes going into virtual worlds to buy things.

- Artificial Intelligence (AI): Companies use AI like ChatGPT to create tailored, engaging, human-like text to increase human productivity.

Developing a social media plan involves key steps

1. Listen to customers- about the brand, industry, competitors and who is saying it

2. Set social media objectives- SMART

3. Define strategies - using trends and best practices

4. Identify the target audience - pay attention to how that audience participates and behaves online.

5. Select the tools and platforms - choose the social media tools and platforms that will be most relevant.

6. Implement and monitor the strategy - make changes as needed