[2.6] BMP - Critique and Analysis  MKTG 3340: Principles of Social Media Marketing Your requirement is to deliver a well-developed and edited professional business analysis of your product/brand.  The

[2.6] BMP - Critique and Analysis 

MKTG 3340: Principles of Social Media Marketing

Your requirement is to deliver a well-developed and edited professional business analysis of your product/brand.  The following sections direct you to subject matter. However, at this point you should be the pro on your brand and it's situation. Develop headings as warranted by your analysis and develop the content accordingly, citing pertinent evidence to support your arguments/observations.

Introduction:  

BRIEFLY introduce your company, product/brand – what do they do and why social media is important to their business. Did they build their success on social? Is it important for their industry? Is it an afterthought? Hint: Look at the industry they operate within as well as the norms/standards for social media use in that industry; BUT be succinct. If you have a major brand, we know who they are – don’t elucidate the obvious when it comes to who they are.  But, if you’ve been creative and chosen a brand that needs explanation for me to understand your paper – then by all means, educate me! You may also embed a link about your company – if warranted.

Thesis Statement: 

Since you are taking a position in your paper AND backing it up with evidence, facts, and statistics, you need to include a thesis statement (a strong thesis statement requires proof). This should be a statement (or two) on the position you are taking and how you intend to analyze/evaluate it.  This is specific to your company and industry – thus, contributing to “best practice” in the industry landscape. It can also be considered your Hook. The remainder of your paper should be the support for this statement. It should help to guide and control what you put in your paper. 

Summary of Social Media Use:

Briefly summarize the companies’ histories/current use of all social media.  Hint: A chart that presents numbers of followers and frequency of posts is a good start and appreciated. 

Results / Analysis: 

In this section, you will summarize what you learned about the company, product/brand after a semester of social media listening. You should organize the information by category and sub headings.

Organizational use of social media

Some things to consider: Can you tell who manages SM for the business? Are they using various tools in unique ways that adapts to the medium or are they redundant? How do they leverage each tool for its best use? If they are missing from a channel, can you deduce why? 

State how your brand uses each social media tool to move the customer through the purchase process (see page 23); provide examples; infer primary purpose. The same tool may be used in different ways and/or different tools may be used primarily for different purposes. This is what we’re interested in. Analyze each company's social media use on each platform to discern strategic purpose. Are they effectively using social in ways that encourage trial, facilitate purchase, raise brand awareness, or deepen customer loyalty? Be specific in your analysis. You should also review the tools used for Purchase Decision Stages (see Table 9.1, pg. 290). Do not simply describe their post. Tell me what you think the posts are trying to achieve in terms of IMC objectives. 

Competitive position with respect to the use of social media marketing best practices (what social media marketing applications are used most effectively for a similar company, in the industry, for a similar product/brand): 

Ultimately, this project was designed for you to come to conclusions regarding social media best practices in the type of company/industry you have evaluated – so make sure these “best practices” are part of your evaluation.

SWOT/Competitive analysis based on social media conversations. Make a Chart – be creative.

Here is the explanation of the Social Media SWOT in more detail:

Strengths (Social Media implementations (social media programs, campaigns, etc. initiated by company) that positions (company market positioning in industry – ranking more market share for product/brand; ranking more profitability (ROI), etc. for product/brand) the company or focuses the company, product/brand competitively)

Weaknesses (Social Media implementations that allows the competition to better position themselves against your company)

Focus on the internalenvironment - the situation inside the company or organization 

Factors tend to be in the present 

Opportunities (Social Media implementations that can make the company position better and provide more market share or revenue for the company, product/brand) 

Threats (Social Media implementations that need to be dealt with in the future that could have a negative impact on the company, product/brand position).

Focus on the externalenvironment - the situation outside the company or organization

Factors tend to be in the future

For example:

SWOT Analysis for Facebook from 2013

Strengths:

• Allows integration with many websites and applications
• Has more than a billion active users
• The user experience is excellent
• Understands what the users need and want

Weaknesses:

• Weak click-through-rate of advertisements
• Lacks of some features like video chats, group chats, dislike buttons, etc.
• Advertisements on Facebook is the only major source of revenues
• Attitude towards users’ privacy creates a negative image
• Lack of website customization
• Weak protection of users’ information

Opportunities:

• Number of Facebook users who access the social media via mobile devices are increasing
• Expansion to China
• Add more sources of revenue
• Open Facebook marketplace

Threats:

• Increasing number of mobile internet users
• Users have ad-block extensions
• Online marketing’s slow growth rate
• Privacy issues like identity theft
• Weak business model

There are plenty of SWOT analyses for companies available on the Internet. I better not see ANY of those. This is a social media SWOT analysis. If you include anything else, it better have some impact on the use of social media and be clearly stated.  Your SWOT shouldn’t have too much replication of FB 13 listed here either.

Assessment and Recommendations / Practicality: 

In this section you will summarize what you have discovered about your company’s social media implementations; what they use, how they use it, and how you feel about their use. You are the managerial decision maker in this case.  If you were in charge of Social Media decisions, what Social Media implementations would you suggest the company use in the future?  Make at least (3) threerecommendations based upon your assessment and research. Give evidence (refer back to something, reference materials, examples, etc.) as to why you have come to these conclusions! 

Sources 

Sources: goes without saying, right? Demonstrate that you used appropriate materials with which to base your analysis. List them here. No, you don’t have to use APA, MLA, etc. – the urls will suffice.

NOTES:

*This is not an essay, meaning, this is not an exercise in sharing your opinion or how you feel or what you believe. This is a business report that presents evidence in an analytical way and arrives at a conclusion based upon that evidence. Avoid first person statements (I and we) in order to avoid sloppy analysis and defaulting back to belief or opinion. Avoid sweeping generalizations. Avoid over use of qualifying language (excellent, effective, impressive, good etc.) Present the evidence and let the reader (me) decide based upon your evidence.

** I expect a professional, well-written, edited (grammar, spelling, etc.) document. I recommend using the Writing Center in the library to help you if your writing skills warrant it. That is to say, don’t let your writing undermine your great ideas. 

***The grade given to average work on all assignments is a C.   B or A indicates impressive achievement above the average.  A indicates especially exceptional work.  Grades below a ‘C’ indicate inadequacies in any or all of sections/criteria. This paper is the culmination of your work all semester and will be graded as such.

Grading Criteria:

First, keep in mind the weight given to this assignment – 275 points!

Organization quality (e.g., language, format, ability to follow instructions, organization, edited, sources, etc.). 

Evidence of Research Thoroughness (e.g., limited history highlights; thesis statement, competitive landscape comparison/position; identification of marketing objectives; social media SWOT analysis; identification of best practices (“commercial or professional procedures that are accepted or prescribed as being correct or most effective”), etc.).

Practicality (can the company actually use the information developed from this project).