Creation of a Digital Marketing Strategy and Plan for BBC News Channel - Case Study Example

Creation of a Digital Marketing Strategy & Plan for BBC News Channel

Introduction

If one takes a close look at the contemporary world one will be able to see that it is significantly different from its counterpart from the past. Indeed, the way in which the humanity lived at the end of the previous century can hardly be compared to the modern day. It must be noted that this difference is not only found on some global level: it is witnessed in small aspects of life, for example, news consumption. Thus, BBC News Channel is often perceived as one of the most popular broadcasting company in Britain. Nevertheless, it order to stay successful as well as appeal to the people properly, it must have introduced changes in the manner in which it interacts with the audience. Today, BBS News has an active user account in the most popular social media. Nevertheless, there are still some points that should be improved. This paper will present digital marketing audit in order to show the current place that the company in question occupies, develop digital marketing mix and strategy which are based on the audit and present digital marketing plan as well as a tool to evaluate its effectiveness.

Digital marketing audit

To begin with, it may be particularly important to apply SWOT model to the current social media representation of BBC News Channel. The obvious strength of the latter is the fact that the content that is being posted online is integrated. In other words, a person may choose a specific social media, for example, Twitter, and still learn all the news that are presented on the web-site. However, if one considers the weaknesses, one should point out that the post posts are not created frequent enough. Of course, it is true that breaking news do not happen every hour; however, sometimes when the last post was made 20 hours ago, the page seems to be abandoned. The opportunity that BBC can use focuses on the creation of smaller posts, yet they will be posted more frequently. Finally, the biggest threat for the company and its representation in the social media is the development of RSS technology which allows people to receive news directly without accessing any platform.

It may also be advantageous to take a close look at the manner in which the major competitors are using social media. The first of them, namely ITV may be praised for the fact that its content often features exclusive coverage. Indeed, Chadwick (2013) suggests that this may be a significant advantage in the world where people are accustomed to seeing the same information from different sources. Indeed, the pictures and videos that ITV is using are unique and will surely grab the attention of the people. However, speaking of the disadvantages, one should point out that ITV often makes the same posts in order to create the illusion of a constant flow of the news. Thus, if one carefully examines the Twitter feed of the channel, one will be able to see that some of the posts that are made are identical with the exception of timeframe.

The second competitor to be mentioned is Channel 4. Even a brief all at the social media representation of it will reveal that the nature of the content that is presented is not strictly official or formal. Thus, Robinson and Taylor (2010) assume that the audience wants a news channel to be something more than a source to learn about the recent catastrophes of crises. In other words, people like to learn not only about the weather, but they appreciate funny pictures that are likely to cheer them up. However, there are some disadvantages that can be identified as well. For example, the Instagram account of the news channel in question has not been updated for almost a year. It seems to be quite abandoned and casts a shadow on the reputation of the company. That is why this is something that should be avoided.

There are several customer groups that and personas that can be identified for BBC News Channel. Scullion et al (2013) point out that news remains to be the major source of information for people who are interested in politics. These groups are comprised of middle-aged people who enjoy a moderate or above average income. They believe that they should keep up the pace of the political world and rely on BBC News Channel as their provider of the information. So, the persona of such a customer may be formulated in the following way: this person is interested in global politics and reads the news regularly in order to know about the current events in the world. One may not even open other categories: the major focus is on the political events. This individual may even leave some explicit comments, believing this he or she is expressing the view of the majority. One tries to follow the trends reads the news on a daily basis.

The second customer group that should be mentioned includes active citizens. Amos, Harrison, and Woods (2012) argue that today many people choose to make their own personal contribution to the society where they leave; however, they need to be informed about the on-going problems. That is why they turn to the news in order to learn about the issues that may require their attention. These people are mostly interested in an event that attracts big audiences and is proficient with hashtags. The personal of this group is the following: one may skip the politics section, considering that this is the area where one is not able to make any significant change unless it is a public event. This person mostly uses the information from the news to back up one's position regarding a certain issue. It is quite possible that one will not make any additional research, fully relying on the journalists from BBC. Nevertheless, the person is likely to participate in every public campaign that is covered by the news channel in question.

Customer Journey Flowchart

Digital marketing mix and strategy

Now, it may be logical to turn to the examination of Internet marketing mix that presented by BBC. Enge, Spencer and Stricchiola (2015) believe that today it is particularly important to pay a considerable amount of attention to SEO. In other words, BBC should make sure that a search inquiry regarding a certain event will direct the user to their website. This can be influenced with the help of SEO and this should be reflected in the text of the news. Another element of Internet marketing mix is the website design. Speaking of BBC News Channel, one would make no mistake suggesting that there two major colours that represent it: red and white. All this creates a wonderful colour range that, on the one hand, seems to be minimalistic and well thought through, but, on the other hand, creates the unique style of the website. Belair-Gagnon (2015) insists that social media should be regarded the next irreplaceable element of Internet marketing mix. If one considers the example of BBC News Channel, one will be able to notice that it did not simply create accounts in the most popular social media like Facebook or Twitter, it even created separate accounts that would suit the interested of different audiences. For example, there are Twitter accounts that are called @BBCNews, @BBCrussian, @BBCWorld, @BBCBreaking and so on. This means that a person can easily choose the one that a person is most interested int. Finally, one should also consider the impact of paid promotion on Internet marketing mix. It is quite understandable that BBC does not pay celebrities so that they would promote their news; however, there may be some strategic alliances where a celebrity enjoys publicity and BBC acts as the major media sponsor. This is clearly a win-win situation.

One may outline the following SMART objectives that BBC News Channel is expected to achieve. The first one may be formulated in the following way: the company should increase the number of subscribers in every social media that it is represented in over the year. Thus, every social media have users and they are able to develop a connection with BBC with within this framework. The number of users can be easily measured since this information is often shown in the statistics. The goal is perfectly achievable since there is always a potential to attract more users. It is relevant to what BBC does since it is interested in reaching more and more people. A year seems to be a reasonable period of time over which this can be accomplished. The next SMART goal is the following: increase the activity of the users in terms of likes, reposts, shares, and comments over the year. The goal outlines the major aspects of user activity and it can be easily measured. The current rate of activity is relatively slow and it can be improved, It is relevant to the strategic goal of the company and the time allocated to it is fair.

The strategy that will be proposed in this paper will be based on RACE model. The first step of it focuses on reaching the people. Dahl (2015) holds that today it is particularly important to make strong connections between different web-site and platform so that a person can easily go from one to another, ultimately finding the forms that suit ones needs the best. This means that this is likely to have a positive impact on the number of subscribers or followers. The second aspect to be mentioned is act. It may be crucial to engage the audience in different actions. In other words, they should refrain from seeing themselves as passing observers. This BBC might initiate polls that would encourage people to vote or will value comments more. The next dimension that should be emphasised is conversion. Paquette (2012) draws the attention to the following fact: over the day numerous people may access the web-site of BBC News Channel or its account in a social network, but it is not the number of visitors that should be counted, but the number of people who converted from passive observers to active users. Indeed, if people from the audience had not left their comments, the accounts of BBC would have been very boring. On the other hand, it is the interaction of the people, their comments about the current events and remarks that they make what brings life to these accounts. The last element of the model that needs to be stressed is engagement. There are numerous ways in which the audience is able to make their own contribution. Thus, multiple social media platforms allow them to share information that they obtained from a particular source. Moreover, users are able to write long comments that would express their detailed opinions, starting a new discussion.

Digital marketing plan and performance evaluation

First of all, it is crucial to see whether BBC News Channel has the require resources that will ensure the effectiveness of the proposed plan. For example, Ryan (2015) points out that the network may be in need of a larger amount of content. Indeed, BBC News can hardly be criticised in terms of the volume of news that is produced; however, it is quite obvious that the current volume is not enough to make sure that new posts appear at least every four hours. All this leads to the understanding that the group of journalists that oversee this activity should be expanded since more people are able to write more content that will be unique. Another suggestion is that an on-going even may be presented from different points of view and new aspects of it can be shown in news posts. However, there is another aspect that should be mentioned when it comes to researcher. Since one of the objectives focuses on the increase of activity of the users, it is crucial to be able to provide accurate as well as up-to-date calculation of the user's activities. This means that they usual tools that are provided by the social network may not be suitable. As a result, the company may need to hire analysts that would monitor the changes in real time and make sure that the management receives constant updates on the effectiveness of the changes that are being made. The existence of this group is vital since it will show the actual progress that the company is making with the audience. In other words, if the figures do not change after a change was introduced, then it is quite possible that the change did not have the impact that was expected. This will provide BBC with a sufficient amount of time to think about alternative measures.

This is the outline of a tactical plan that may be used by BBC News Channel in order to improve its presence in the social media. First of all, it should work on the titles of its news. They should be informative, yet not too formal. In other words, they should be able to catch the attention of the viewers without exaggerating the information in the article. Secondly, BBC News should work on the length of the news. In the contemporary world, especial in the social media, people do not have a lot of time to read. That is why they should be able to receive the maximum amount of the information in the shortest time possible. Thirdly, it is important to increase interactivity of the news. For example, every piece of new may feature a mini-poll that would ask the opinion of the people regarding the issue. In other words, long, yet polite comments should be encouraged.

There are several ways in which the performance of the company in question can be evaluation. Ganis and Kohirkar (2015) believe that one way to measure the activity of the users is to compare the number of shares, likes or comments over the period. For example, two months may be compared: in case the current month features a higher activity than the one a year ago, then it is quite possible that the proposed plan is working. Another way to do this is to call the first day of the implementation of the plan Day 0 and count all shares, like or comments over this period and divide them by the number of days. In this case, BBC News Channel will be able to see how many shares, likes or comments it was able to encourage a day. It is quite obvious that the bigger this number is, the more successful the implementation of the plan is. Sterne (2010) also points out that it is important to keep an eye on the number of people who subscribe to all the account of the company in question. However, as it has been mentioned before, the goal is not to attract the biggest number of people possible, but to make sure that they did not simply subscribe, but are actively engaged. Indeed, it does not take a lot of thought to hit a button that would subscribe a person to a channel. It is much more important to make sure that this person takes the new source of information seriously and is willing to use it accordingly. It is true that not every person way be willing to leave some sort of a comment, but it is quite easy to like a post, share it or express one's attitude to it in a number of ways. Therefore, the implementation of the plan should be reflected in an increased activity of the attracted audience.

Conclusion

Having examined all the points which were mentioned in the paragraphs above, one is able to come to the following conclusion: BBC News Channel has a rather positive image on the social networks; however, it might benefit from implementation of a different marketing plan. At the present moment, the biggest strength of its social media presence if the fact that the content that is presented is integrated. However, the frequency of the posts can be improved to a certain extent. There are two major competitors of BBC News Channel, but their representation in the social media has both positive and negative aspects. The customer groups that the company in question targets includes people who are interested in politics and active citizens. The Internet marketing mix of BBC News Channel consists of several elements, among which are SEO, website design, social media and paid promotion. The objectives include increasing the number of subscribers as well as their activity. The implementation of the plan can be evaluated in several ways.