Social Media Marketing - Case Study Example

SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING Social Media Marketing Executive Summary Social media marketing is a process where businesses gain public attention through social media sites. This is done to create public awareness about the existence of a product in the market and then convince the audience to purchase such it. Tecno-Pocket Friendly is a unique, strategic and result-oriented marketing strategy. This is the ultimate marketing strategy for this smart phone because it is designed in a manner factoring all the social media platforms. Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Instagram, Pinterest, LinkedIn and Google+ are all covered by this extensive plan. Considering the wide range of social media sites covered, this marketing design will have a very wide range of audience across the globe. All the socio-economic classes of the human society are reached out to by this advert, providing a strong base of potential buyers (Safko 2013). In addition to the large social media coverage, this advert gives a detailed and all inclusive description of the Tecno smartphones. The description of the features is brought out in a colorful and eye-catching animations accompanied by step by step audio explanations. The audio explanations are of a wide variety of languages; English, French, German, Kiswahili, Arabic and even some local dialects. This gives first-hand information to the audience because one does not need a translation in order to understand the information being conveyed. Translations are sometimes biased since the translator may say what they think is important. As a result a potential buyer may fail to buy the product because what they were looking for in a phone was omitted by the translator. The advert is also accompanied by a step by step tutorial on the use of the smart phone. This is optional and can be viewed by anyone who has never used a smart phone before (Zimmerman 2013). This is an added advantage as compared to the inserts and user manuals that are usually inserted in the smartphone boxes. Some of the user manuals are typed in very tiny fonts making them stannous to read. An audio version would therefore be preferred by some customers. Brief Overview Currently the smartphone market is flooded by very many brands of smartphones. The major smartphones in the market are; Samsung, Apple, Sony, Alcatel, LG, Infinix and many others. All these smartphones ideally have the same features and applications. The hardware and the brand names are the only variables in this industry. The availability of many brands creates a cutthroat competition, with every company trying to have a bigger share of the market. In order to get the bigger share of the market, these companies have to do extensive advertisement, using any tool available to reach the target populations. In the previous years, the print media and television were the major platforms for product promotion and advertisement. The arrival of the digital era changed most of the things, product promotion and advertisement included. The focus of companies has therefore shifted to the social media as a more direct means of reaching out to the customers (Zimmerman 2013). More and more congestion is added into the market by the counterfeit smartphones, especially from China. These products get their way into the market as a result of corrupt government officials in charge of imports and exports in various countries across the globe. The fake phones mainly target the third world continents and countries. The producers of these phones identified the desire for smartphones in these countries. Being the low income generating people they are, expensive smartphones were out of their reach. The producers of the counterfeit phones grabbed the opportunity to make and supply cheaper options to these people. This caused the market in the third world countries to be flooded by fake phones. At a given point they were almost monopolizing the market in countries like Kenya, Africa. In order to remain relevant in these markets, the smartphone producers had to go back to the drawing board so as to design a counter attack. The only way to remain relevant was to lower the prices and do extensive product promotion campaigns (Zimmerman 2013). As at the 16th day of July 2014, Tecno Mobile Phone Company did not have a very strong presence in the social media. They in fact posted an advert for the position of Social Media Executive officer. They wanted a social media specialist who would interact and attract virtual customers in the social media platform. Up to date the company has continued to grow and build a strong social media platform with the customers. They have been able to do this in Africa, which was their original target market. Nigeria, Ghana and Kenya have been the most interactive with the company in the social media. There are many likes for Tecno products on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube from these three countries. Being a company that came into an already flooded market, this is a huge step for them. This social media marketing strategy will target and engage the other countries in Africa in an attempt to convince and bring them on board. For example, an advert will be inserted into YouTube videos. The customers can view these videos alongside the movies or music videos they search for in YouTube. They will be provided for viewing just before a movie or music video starts, with an option to skip the advertisement after five seconds. The first five seconds are designed in such a way that is so enticing hence making it very hard for a viewer to skip. Once their attention is grabbed, the details of the product can follow. Another subject that is addressed by this strategy is communication barrier. A big portion of the African population does not very well understand international languages like English, French and German. This creates the need for communication in languages they understand best. Therefore during designing of the strategy, locals were brought in to translate the advert into their local dialect. Analysis of the Competition The smart phone industry is one of the most competitive sectors in the electronic accessories market. Companies like Samsung, Sony, Apple, Blackberry and Alcatel have been in the market for a very long time. This has enabled them to understand and adapt to the market. They have been able to build a strong customer base in the first world countries. When they discovered the first world market was congested, they had to shift their attention to the third world. Currently all the eyes are set for Africa which has a potential customer base. It is said that whoever will win the African Market, will conquer the market. As a result, the smartphone companies employ all the promotion tools at their disposal, social media included. In fact social media is the main focus now. This is because all the major firms are almost at the same level when it comes to television and print media advertisement (Farkas 2011). Among the mobile phone companies, Samsung has been able to exploit the social media as a marketing platform. In the year 2013, Samsung became the world’s number one mobile phone manufacturer. They overtook Nokia which had been holding this position since 1998. Apples’ share of the market was also decreased by Samsung. This did not happen by magic. Samsung discovered the value and importance of social currency, grabbed and used it to get an edge over the others in the market. As per now, Samsung’s Facebook fans are estimated to be thirty million and Twitter followers sixty million. The current worldwide mobile phone users is estimated at three billion hence the need for companies to indulge with customers on the handsets of their choice. MobiThinking in their article titled, Why Samsung is number one handset/ smartphone vendor: why your mobile strategy should emulate Samsung, they say “Companies have to fit their mobile strategy to suit consumer choice.” Samsung provides a variety of mobile phones at prices that take care of both the high and low income earners. They have provided a variety of operating systems, therefore not restricting customers into using a particular operating system. mobiThinking says, “Companies that are prescriptive in their mobile engagement, epitomized by companies that only offer an iPhone or Android app, are pushing all their other customers (both those that have a different handset and those who simply don’t want another app cluttering up their cell phone) into the welcoming arms of their competitors.” Samsung must have understood and employed the “Social Currency Paradigm”, which is the degree to which people share information about a brand with others. Samsung has been focusing on consumer behavior and this has given them a market edge over the others. Their efforts are channeled towards convincing the consumer to consider purchasing the product, the actual purchase and finally consumer loyalty. They also took advantage of the six aspects which social media provides as a boost to businesses; 1. Advocacy, 2. Affiliation, 3. Information, 4. Utility, 5. Conversation and 6. Identity. Samsung’s social media marketing is most significant on Facebook, YouTube and Twitter. They have different YouTube videos for each of their brands. These videos provide a detailed description of the features and improvements from older versions. There are also audio and visual user manuals explaining the usage of these handsets. On Facebook they have a fan page where customers interact with the company. Customers ask questions and provide feedback to the company about their products. This enables them to correct week points. Traditional Advert: Techno Poster An in-depth analysis of this poster reveals a lot of details concerning Tecno devices. To begin with, the poster has a blue background. The dark blue background is bright, shiny and eye-catching. Anyone passing where such a poster is hanged is unlikely to pass without looking at it. The brand name ‘Tecno’ is written in a big font for easy reading to people far away. Images of the various phone models are the most interesting. They are arranged in an ascending order according to their prices. A detailed description of each of the phones is provided; the screen sizes, internal memory, memory card capability, availability in different colors and the capacity of the camera (Farkas 2011). This advert talks about the various phone models that are manufactured by the Tecno mobile company. It tries to convince the customers to buy their products by providing sophisticated phones at low costs. The cheapest smart phone was going at fifty dollars. Goals of the Campaign This campaign purposes to meet the following objectives; 1. To build a strong social media platforms for Tecno and manage it efficiently. 2. To create and review daily content to be posted in the social media platforms. 3. To measure, basing on analytics, the content posted on the social media platforms. 4. To increase the engagement and community size through development of program initiatives in the social media. 5. To develop an efficient internal communication with the marketing department on the new products the company is offering. 6. To research on the new social media marketing strategies, tools and tactics. This will help the company be updated and remain relevant. 7. To establish a Facebook platform where customers can ask questions and provide feedback concerning the products from the company. 8. To cover the whole of Africa and make it a stronghold for the company. 9. To establish a fulltime online customer service unit. This unit will attend to customers’ concerns at any particular time. 10. To build customer loyalty to the Tecno phones through provision of incentives and competitions with cash awards. Target audience The target continent for this campaign is Africa as a whole. This is because there is a rising need for smart phones in this era of advancement in Information Technology. Africa is a low income continent and cannot therefore afford the expensive phones provided by the other smartphones manufacturers. This creates a market niche for the Tecno phones to cover. Another reason for targeting the African continent is because the other continents have already been monopolized by other companies like Samsung, Sony, Apple and Blackberry (Kabani 2010). In the African continent the target population will be the teens and tweens. There has been an increasing demand for smartphones by the teenagers. They use their phones to communicate with their friends through texting. They consider emailing so outdated and therefore prefer texting. Texting is even more efficient with the smartphones, especially when using the qwerty key pad. Applications like WhatsApp and Instagram enable them to communicate real-time and share photos and images. Another feature that is desired is fast internet access which is made available in the smart phones. The teenagers in Africa need these features but cannot afford the expensive smartphones like Apple and Blackberry. They therefore provide a good customer base (Farkas 2011). Developing Strategies and Choosing Tactics Since the target is majorly composed of the teenagers, a plat form that brings teenagers together would be the most desirable and suitable. Facebook provides such a platform since teenagers spend a bulk of their time on Facebook. Creation of a Facebook will be the first step in attracting the teenagers. This page will be designed by the best web designers to suit the target population, teenagers. Detailed description of the phone models will be made available on this page. The photos of the phones will be clearly taken by professional photographers, formatted and posted to the page. Features such as; screen size, camera strength, flash camera, touch, touch-screen capability, memory card support and the various colors available (Safko 2013). Those who have access to the page will be encouraged to share with their friends. This will be done by providing incentives for those who have the highest number of sharing. This page will also provide a platform for the customers to interact and share their experiences concerning the use of Tecno phones. They can ask questions and get answers on the same page. YouTube is another site that will be used to reach the target population. Full videos giving detailed descriptions of the features of the different phone models will be posted in YouTube for public viewing. Detailed tutorials on the use of the smartphones will also be posted in YouTube for those who do not know how to operate smart phones. Short videos will be made to accompany popular movies and music videos with an option to skip after five minutes. These brief videos will be designed in a manner that is so enticing that everyone would want to view them ( Kabani 2010). Content to create in the Social Media The content to be made available in the media will mainly concern the range of Tecno products in the market. The main focus will be on the smartphones, tablets and ipads. There will be step by step description of the features and performance capabilities of the devices. The points of emphasis will be; 1. The prices of the devices. This must be emphasized to get customers thinking and comparing prices with the other products in the market. 2. Slim thickness. 3. The camera capability. 4. Memory card support. Monitoring and Measuring Monitoring and measuring will be easy to do. Since the main reason for marketing is to increase sales, monitoring and measuring can be done through general sales outcome. If there is an increase in sales then the campaign will be successful but in case of a decrease or constant rates of sale, then the campaign shall have failed. This would require a review of what might have one wrong (Safko 2013). References Barefoot, D., & Szabo, J. 2010. Friends with benefits: A social media marketing handbook. San Francisco, CA: No Starch Press. Blythe, J. 2006. Marketing. London: SAGE Publications. Evans, D. 2008. Social media marketing: An hour a day. Indianapolis, IN: Wiley. Farkas, V. J. 2011. Customer relations. New York: Nova Science Publishers. Fry, R., Idstein, A., & Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (Australia), Victorian TAFE Off-Campus Network. 1990. Customer relations. Melbourne: Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology. Kabani, S. H. 2010. The zen of social media marketing: An easier way to build credibility, generate buzz, and increase revenue. Dallas, TX: Benbella Books. Powell, G. R., Groves, S., & Dimos, J. 2011. 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