Principles of Social Media within a Business

Principles of Social Media within a Business

I’ve provided some support that’s been requested for this unit below but it may develop for other outcomes so check back for updates.

1.1 Describe a business and its type, vision, aims, objectives and goals.

It‘s not necessary to select your own business to help cover this outcome but can be helpful due to the availability of information to support it. Most of the info is available on a business’s website and therefore whether you choose your own or a different business, details should be available to you.

1.2 Identify the brand and values of a business and how these are portrayed to the audience of a business.

This outcome can lead directly from 1.1 but will require a bit of research where you will have to look at the different channels they use. Take a look at their social media pages, website and perhaps if they have been quoted in the news. Turn this into some narrative to explain what you find and perhaps add some screen shots to support it.

1.3 Describe the marketing tools available to a business.

This outcome is not specifically about Digital Marketing but should include the digital tools as well as traditional ones that are available for a business – e.g. TV, newspaper/magazine and radio.

1.4 Explain the consequences of using social media on the budget of different sizes and types of business.

Lots of money and resources can be poured in Social Media campaigns from utilising professional photographers and film makers, writers and researchers and for a large company with a significant budget this would all be possible. However they will still need to assign someone for oversight but are likely to find themselves convinced by the professional approach they pay for and the values and image they believe their customers respond to could be eroded in favour of a tried, tested and analysed approach by professionals.

For SME’s large budgets are rarely assigned to Social Media and therefore access to resources like those above are unlikely. We find that SME’s utilise existing staff with parallel skills and some take opportunities to train them using available courses. The SME team can ensure that the values and image is maintained but can suffer from the usual errors and challenges less experienced marketers have to cope with. Ultimately this can lead to a successful outcome but will take much longer and can load extra work on existing staff who also have their original job to perform along with their additional Social Media responsibilities.

1.5 Explain the benefits and consequences of encouraging amplification.

Amplification is when your Social Media message is carried beyond your own channels. For example when your posts are shared beyond your own Facebook page this can lead to your message reaching a much wider audience. This is a good guide to help you better understand amplification: http://www.gshiftlabs.com/social-media-blog/social-amplification-part-1-of-3-what-is-social-amplification/

Encouraging the sharing of your message can add to the organic amplification of it (where people naturally like and share your page/post.) Adding ‘Share’ buttons on web pages or other channels you access will encourage amplification beyond your existing followers and create lots of interest in your company. The consequences can be many but for example if you are not prepared or do not have the resources to manage the affects of amplification you could drive potential new customers away if they feel you are not responsive enough.

1.6 Explain the benefits and consequences of encouraging engagement

Engagement begins when a customer/prospect begins to interact with you. Usually this initial interaction tells you a lot about how they want to interact with you e.g. Social Media, email, telephone and normally dictates how they want to communicate with you. To develop this prospect that interaction has to be engaged and therefore when you promote or encourage engagement you must ensure proper preparation is undertaken and team members are assigned to do this. Think about if your new customer calls on the telephone and no one answers – what will your customer do next? The same applies if they contact through Social Media.

1.7 Explain the factors to consider when identifying a social media plan for a business.

What will you do when people leave a comment or review or post to your businesses timeline? What if it’s a complaint? What if it’s a request for information? What if they use bad language? These are some of the factors to consider but there will also be other areas such as who will do what?

 

1.8 Explain how social media could fit into the marketing plan of a business.

Can you think about what elements there might be in a business’s marketing plan? Will Social Media be able to help?  If a company is rebranding or promoting an event then as well as an Email campaign to raise awareness and letters/leaflets to inform, Social Media can support this thorough it’s  natural ability for amplification; particularly Facebook and Twitter where sharing and liking can push your message beyond your organisations own channel.

Outcome 5: 

Monitor how a business is using social media
This is about creating a brief analysis of how a business is using social media. You could perhaps look to see if they business you select are selling, promoting, presenting news, encouraging user interaction, using review etc in social media. You should give your reasons why you think their use seems to be or doesn’t seem to be working for them.

Here are a few businesses you could look at or you could use your own selection or even the company you work for:

Identify improvements to a business’s use of social media.

Here you are asked to look at the analysis you did above and suggest at least 2 improvements that you think the company could make. E.g. many larger companies don’t directly interact with users who comments and this could reduce the amount of interaction a user is willing to make. Is there a way to automate replies and identify key words that could flag up the need for a human response? There could be any number of improvements but you just need to suggest 2 and clearly justify your reasons for them.

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