Social Media Marketing Campaign Strategy for UCR - Coursework Example

Social Media Marketing Campaign Strategy for UCR Executive Summary UCR is a men’s basketball team based in Riverside, California. The Flyballers is looking forward to having opportunities to expand the team’s fan base in UCR campus and their local community. The Flyballers is going to promote UCR Men’s basketball team by using the social media site such as Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and YouTube. The paper will discuss the selection of the group, the strategy to be used, and the process. It will give a detailed discussion of the selection of the advertising medium, in this case, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube. After that, the paper will list the goals of the Ad campaign and the discussion of how graphics connected with the target audience. It will then discuss the results of the Ad campaign and finally the conclusion. Introduction The UCR Men’s basketball team has made some incredible performance on the campus of UCR in the last year especially the 77-66 victory against UCLA. This year, Chris Tang, who is known for deep range three point shooting, has become one of the rosters in the UCR Men’s basketball team. This will make the team competitive in 2015. Objectives The primary purpose of this social media advertising campaign is to learn about the demographics on the West Coast, in which specific areas in Riverside most people are interested in supporting UCR. Additionally, the demographics will help in figuring out the effective advertising strategies that would attract potential fans. Target Group Before designing a social media strategy, there are a number of steps that Flyballers have to follow. This is the social media process to be used: Define who UCR are. i) Discuss the goals and objectives ii) Discover the online habits of the target audience iii) Refine the social media brand persona iv) Outline strategies for relevant platforms Set up the social media pages i) Set up social media channels such as Facebook pages, Twitter accounts, YouTube channels, and accounts on other relevant social media platforms ii) Keyword for social media optimization (SMO) iii) Integrate and align SMO with SEO iv) Create and modify the website to include social media technologies v) Conduct follow campaigns to gain followers and fans Create and manage the social media campaigns i) Flyballers should create social objects that engage the fans with basketball matters ii) Syndicate across all interested platforms in social media iii) Optimizing all social objects with the keywords to improve visibility iv) Respond and monitor to influencers, social signals, and conversations Flyballers should coach and tutor staff and organization members i) They should create media policies and guidelines ii) Group and one-on-one social media tutoring sessions iii) Group coaching to outline strategies and policies Flyballers are looking for potential fans from around Riverside, California. UCR’s potential fans that we want to show the advertisement are mainly basketball lovers who are interested in watching sport for fun. Since UCR is looking to expand its fan base in Riverside, Flyballers would like to focus on potential fans around UCR campus and the local community because there is a strong love for basketball game in this region. The advertising campaign would not only target potential fans but would also create a new fan base for UCR. The first thing in developing this social media communication is to know who to talk to. While this seems like a straightforward for in-person interactions, it is challenging in the digital realm. Because of the anonymity of online profiles, social media is a very mysterious place. There are plenty of demographics available on social media. According to research, 67% of online adults are using social networks. Women are 71% compared to 62% of women, Hispanics are 72%, younger adults are 83%, urban residents are 70%, and 72% are those with an income less than $30,000 a year. This means the participation in social networking skews towards younger audiences. Half of social media users are between the age of 25 and 44. Using the demographics data above, Flyballers could determine where the ideal fans of UCR fall. The social media marketing for UCR is in perfect sync with the data. If not, the Flyballers need to rethink how they can better reach those fans, going forward. Facebook remains the most popular social media site. Statistics indicate that 67% of online adults use Facebook, 16% use Twitter, whereas 6% use Tumblr. When marketing in these sites, Flyballers has to divide the online users based on variables such as gender, age, family size, income, occupation, education, religion, race, and nationality. There are a number of ways to appeal to social media users. The administrators of social media platforms need to think about conversations on social media differently from other channels. It is not the same as a usual marketing where a person is duty-bound to push a product. The goals of the administrators can be about interacting with the fans, creating relationships, and building brand loyalty. Flyballers have to know that social media marketing is not a numbers game. There is no need of having a million Facebook fans if none of them are talking to you. Social media strategy is about making genuine connections that might turn a few online users into team ambassadors or advocates. Flyballers have to spruce up their image. They have to be always active. For instance, if the cover image of Facebook has not been changed in a while, now it is a good time. Experts argue that images are an excellent way to showcase a brand’s personality to drive conversations. Additionally, using the same cover image across social media reinforces branding and makes it easier for people to feel connected with the brand no matter which social media site they are on. Flyballers have to use more videos on their social media pages. Typically, video drives conversations. Viewers will stick around longer. The longer people are on the team’s social media profiles watching a video, the more likely it is they will follow a link and see what the team does and offers. The advertising vehicles are Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and Instagram. Facebook Facebook has an incredible reach. Statistics indicate that there are more than 1 billion active users. Majority of these users log in several times per day and spend a lot of time online. Despite everyone marketing in Facebook, it is an effective platform of marketing UCR basketball team. Facebook has a massive reach. It can avail the exact people you want, in this case basketball lovers. Facebook users leave a lot of information about themselves, starting with basic information like their hobbies, where they live, and such. Therefore, an advertiser can be quite specific when deciding who to buy Facebook ads for. Twitter Twitter is a neat, cute, and simple tool to send messages and distribute content in real-time to UCR fans. Twitter is the webs equivalent of the mobile SMS. However, marketing experts argue that it is not a serious way to market or advertize. They often question its monetization model and believe it can not make money. Flyballers should market using twitter because its marketing platform is maturing. Therefore, they should promote the UCR Twitter handle through teasing and tempting people to follow the handle through a paid campaign. UCR Twitter handle should be featured in search results, and it appears in the ‘who to follow’ section. YouTube YouTube advertisement is all about attracting more views. YouTube nowadays is a channels-based site where subscriptions rule. Flyballers could use the one channel layout. With this, their branding will work across all screens. They can turn non-subscribers into loyal fans, and they can show off more of UCR video content. To gain more subscribers, Flyballers should create channel icon and art, select the channel trailer, upload a trailer, and add custom and social links. The channel should show compelling content. It is important to gain the trust of the viewers with a quick introduction. The videos posted should spark the viewer’s curiosity, or tease the rest of the video with hosts. Additionally, all the videos should start with a quick clip that previews what is to come. Instagram Instagram is a more fun, photo-based social network. Flyballers could use it to promote UCR to potential fans. It is recommended that Flyballers should add a link to UCR Instagram profile. This link should be placed on the bio description because it the only place clickable. Flyballers have to showcase the UCR team, results and upcoming matches in their Instagram profile. It is important to put the products and services in the context, so the audience connects with them. Additionally, administrators of this profile should use text overlays on images. This will ensure fans will not miss the message. It is important to include hashtags in the posts. This will help increase the reach of UCR, engagement, and overall visibility. The above-discussed social media platforms are very useful for UCR because the future of marketing is visual. Studies indicate that marketers nowadays value social media marketing, especially visual marketing. Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, and Instagram are platforms that support visual marketing. Marketers create original visuals and videos in order to engage audiences. They then use the above-stated platforms to reach the audiences. According to experts, 88%, 72%, 37% and 15% of marketers use Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and Instagram respectively. This means that marketers initially use more obvious choices like Facebook and Twitter, but after some time, they discover the value in a wider range of social networks. Proposed Ad placement Account Planning In account planning, Flyballers will manage the 4M’s of marketing communications. They will enter the right markets, with the right motivation, using the right message, and the right media. Account planning solves the old advertising dilemma. Account planning makes advertisement more hard working, better targeting, better researched, deeper insight, newer proposition, more relevant message, and more appropriate media. Because of account planning, Flyballers will use the account planning to understand the fans of UCR deeply. They will always know what the fans are thinking, and they will emphasize on the best advertisement tool. Goals for the Ad Campaign The objectives of the ad campaign were to increase the targeted traffic. The campaign goal was to get visitors to UCR’s site who care about the team and will be with the team forever. Obviously, there is no need for putting in time and resources to drive traffic to the team’s site that will then bounce. That is, people who visit the site and leave without visiting any other pages on the site. The campaign was meant to increase the number of fans. In order to increase the fans, Flyballers have to evaluate the site usability, optimize the code, make sure the information architecture is well organized and makes sense to the fans, and the search engines optimized for best practices are in place. The marketing campaign was to make UCR a resource or authority. It was intended to make the basketball team a trusted resource in sports. Furthermore, it was to make the team a leader of all other teams in the region. The marketing ad was to increase the team’s online visibility. On the internet, one cannot be recognizable if they are not online. Having just a website is nit enough. It is necessary to spread the wings and strategically grow the team’s digital footprint off-site. The advertisement was meant to establish the team in local search. Being found in local search is very beneficial. Even if the team has a vision of becoming a global powerhouse, being a local powerhouse is crucial. Flyballers will utilize various platforms including local listings, maps, review sites, social media, and such in order to establish the team in local search. Discussion of Ad The ad was meant to establish the team in social media. It was to build up the team’s social media presence and develop a strategy for integrating it into the marketing efforts. Without a strong foundation and ultimate foundation, social media will not be exciting and powerful. The above graphics consisted of UCR team. There was a person of influence in the team, Chris Tang. He was in the graphic to provide insight. The graphics were simple, so they reinforce the team’s message instead of distracting from it. The graphics supported the point the team was making. The message was that, the team was ready and very focused to take basketball to the next level. The graphics influenced what attracts the fans’ attention, how they perceive UCR and interpret what they see in UCR players, and how it all ends up in long-term memory. The graphics were emotionally positive and pleasant to the fans in order to transfer those feelings to the team. The intention of using Chris Tang in the advertisement was to pass positive information to the fans. Positive information tends to be processed efficiently and accurately and is held longer in memory. The graphics were meaningful and partly emotional because of the use of Chris Tang. This generated a state of cognitive arousal to the viewers. People find boredom unpleasant and find stimulation and activation to be pleasant. Impacts of campaign strategy After the marketing of UCR team, there were a number of positive impacts. There was an expansion of the fan base. A new team had been introduced to a new fan base. Advertisement played a significant role in bringing in new fans to the team. It stimulated the people to support UCR. During the early stages of the season, the team’s management was struggling to fill seats. After the promotional techniques, the stadium was full during match days. The advertisement somehow added value to the viewing experience. Season Ticket sales are the foundation of the team. Because of advertisement, there was an increase in the number of loyal customers. In the end, there was an increase in number of tickets sold. Loyalty is relevant in the sports industry as in any business environment. Advertisements led to the rise of loyal season ticket buyers (Zarrella). The awareness was increased because the internet was leveraged. Many people in the US can access the internet. By developing a social media page, it was a means of promoting the awareness of UCR. Additionally, it is well known that Facebook and Twitter are vital tools in developing brand awareness because they serve as forums where people discuss their lives, including products they love. In this case, when a fan likes the team and tells people about it, he/she is doing free work to increase the sport’s awareness for the management (Zarrella). Conclusion The paper has developed a one month advertising campaign strategy to promote UCR Men’s Basketball team by using the social media site. The team used the social media campaign to increase its fan base in the Riverside. In order to run a successful social media marketing strategy, the first thing to do is choose and build the right campaign. Flyballers have variety of options such as using Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube. The second thing is to try action-getting. Facebook is the most popular place to run campaigns. However, last year Facebook reported that it will no longer allow like-gating. This decision angered many marketers. However, there is another option, action-gating. This involves asking users to do something, such as share their email address. This campaign is very useful in promoting a business. It is critical to ‘get the word out.’ For a campaign to be successful, there is a need for adequate promotion. There are a variety of ways of promoting a campaign, most of which do not cost much because they are resources like the website and social profiles (Zarrella). . Work Cited Zarrella, Dan. The Social Media Marketing Book. New York: "OReilly Media, Inc., 2009. Print Read More