#workshop 2

Chapter 14 social media channels (Col’Cacchio)

Social media in professional terms is the creation and sharing of content by consumers on the internet. Everybody on the internet have the chance/opportunity to be creator and as well as a consumer of content on several platforms, these platforms allow users to; create and engage in social networks, create and share content, bookmark and aggregate content, connect to physical locations and contacts, and the use of other internet users’ preferences to fins content. Most of the social media platforms are free to all users and rely on advertising as a form of revenue. Social media provides information to advertisers looking to direct their sales and marketing towards potential customers.

Chapter questions

Visit www.guardian.co.uk. List the ways in which this print publication is embracing social media.

The Guardian gives the opportunity to share articles via several social media platforms, just to name some; Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Whatsapp, etc. Other ways to use social media or commenting capabilities is the fact that is has a comment section below every article. The comments can be used for discussions and opinions.

 Why is transparency so important to marketing using social media? Has this halted or accelerated the use of social media for marketing?

Transparency means that something is see through, transparency in a company means that everything can be seen and followed easily, this is the same for the information a company has. The customer can have every feeling towards a company this includes the negative messages towards a company giving it a bad name. This has accelerated the use of social media since customers can easily comment on a brand and can have a negative feeling towards it.

 What is the difference between advertising using social media and marketing using social media? What are the benefits of social media to each, and what are the challenges?

The difference between the two is the different amount of interaction used between advertising using social media and marketing using social media. And advertising is a part of marketing. Social media for marketing is communicating way with customers by getting involved with them.  The benefits social media has is for one to target advertisement by usage of cookies and in marketing purpose, it is beneficial to gather info about demographics of social media users so that a marketing strategy can be developed.

 Case Questions (Col’Cacchio)

Why was Twitter well suited to the Col’Cacchio #PirceSlice campaign?

Twitter was well suited since because of the keyword #PriceSlice the comments containing the hashtags could be easily counted for the promotion. Furthermore, Twitter shows the trending hashtags in the world and in countries. And because of the new trending hashtag, people knew more about the promotion. Since more people knew about the promotion more people tweeted with #PriceSlice to make sure that they could get more discount on their pizza.

 How were hashtags useful for this campaign?

The hashtags were useful since they are easily recorded. And because of people having conversations about the promotion, the knowledge of the promotion also increased. This starting a chain of people who wanted the discount and the gaining of the ‘’trendiness” of the #PriceSlice.

 Comment on the interaction between offline and online touchpoints used in this campaign.

Offline wise, they increased the in-store sales because of the promotions which customers have talked a lot online. And online wise, conversations and data have increased in volume.

 Chapter 15 social media strategy (Super Bowl)

Social media can be used in many marketing and communication challenges.  In creating a social media strategy it is required to carefully plan it and this again allows the creator to be more dynamic. When creating a social media strategy there are certain steps that need to adhere, these are; Get buy-in, Understand the landscape, Analyze, set objectives, create an action plan, implement, and TAO (Track, analyze, optimize).

Chapter questions

What are some of the pitfall of engaging difficult customers on social media platforms?

The pitfall is that a customer can easily post their comment on a social media platform and since these platforms are public other customers can see the bad or difficult engaged comment.

 What skills do you think are important for a great community manager to have?

He/she needs to be active in the interaction with the customers and should react to any comment directed at your company in an instant, furthermore, a great community manager needs to be aware of a problem and needs to recognize to give the best service.

 Should all brands be active spaces? What brands have less to gain from trying to create an online community?

All brands have the incentive to be more active on a social media platform, nevertheless, companies which have target groups whom do not have access or wish not to have access on social media platforms should not be active on social media.

 Case questions (Super Bowl)

How would you describe the link between social media strategy and the social customer?

Social customers are most likely found on social media platforms, this means that a social media strategy will work on these customers.

 How would you advise the strategists in the Social Media Command Center to respond to a very unhappy fan?

Negative comments can be recorded as a negative feeling on the sentiment scale, this means that the SMCC has to react fast and well when there is an unhappy fan and try to cheer this person up. Otherwise, your company or event will be known as a bad cause and the sentiment of 2:1 could also be a problem of the increasing negativity.

   How would you define a keyword in this context?