Communicating Using Social and Digital Media

Introduction

Digital media technology has grown tremendously over the last fifty years. This study looks at how a vehicle manufacturing company can exploit the power of social media in effecting its marketing campaign. The first analysis concerns social media assessment criteria and tools. Social media management promotes result-oriented campaigns. The report also analyses content control across significant communication channels. The study ends with an analysis of communication frequency for each channel.

Day 3 Discussion: Social Media Assessment Criteria and Tools

Social media platforms incorporate social media assessment tools. The tools help in assessing the extent to which social media plans are accomplishing goals and objectives. The main assessment criteria include company-competitor comparison, brand recognition, customer-company engagement, and social media influence (Belanche, Cenjor, & Pérez-Rueda, 2019). 

	Social Media Assessment
	Criteria	Appropriate Tool
1	Company-competitor comparison	Fanpage Karma
2	Content Analysis	Zoho Social
3	Customer-company engagement	Sprout Social
4	Social media influence	Sprinklr Modern Engagement

The most important assessment criteria are Content analysis and customer-company engagement. Zoho Social analyses the levels of meetings that occurred for previous posts, hence giving campaign managers an insight on what they should post. Competition Subaru uses Sprout Social to examine customer satisfaction, marketing, and customer argumentation. These tools are beneficial because they are pro-growth and ensure that an organization meets its goals. Fanpage Karma and Sprinklr Modern Engagement are not favorable because they provide little guidance on content regulation (Kingsnorth, 2019).

Day 5: Response to Students

As Kaisher Herger indicated, organizations must tie their social media assessment criteria to measurable business objectives and targets. Apart from analyzing hashtags, Google Analytics (GA) can also give an indication of the average time spent by one user on business social media platforms. As such, firms can establish the intensity of their social media engagement. Herger should consider using Zoho Social in place of Sprinklr. Apart from analyzing social media activity across significant platforms, Zoho guides managers in creating the right content (Belanche, Cenjor & Pérez-Rueda, 2019, p. 86). 

I agree with Gabby Altman, reach, and engagement rate is the only assessment criteria that help organizations in meeting set targets and objectives. As a criterion, influence should be avoided by companies because any confusion results in a deviation from desired goals (Belanche, Cenjor & Pérez-Rueda, 2019, p. 81). Organizations can assess the impression on the same platform with the engagement rate. I do not agree with Altman on assessment tools. Useful tools for assessment are those that allow simultaneous analysis of criteria across various channels. Fanpage Karma does, but Twitter Analytics, Facebook Analytics, and Instagram Analytics don’t (Kingsnorth, 2019, p. 54).

Day 7 Project: The Responsibility of Managing Campaigns

An organization must have a defined criterion for selecting individuals who will be responsible for managing the campaign. Individuals who understand terms and terminologies frequently used in vehicle manufacturing and assembling should be accountable. As such, a company must conduct a recruitment exercise aimed at hiring individuals familiar with automobile technology. Campaign managers should understand applicable official languages to ensure they relay appropriate campaign messages (Kim, 2016). 

Selected Communication Channels

The most appropriate communication channels are those that have the highest number of users. By 2018, Instagram had more than 800 million users from various regions across the world. The rate of engagement among Instagram users is 25 times faster than Twitter rates. Facebook users engage at a 15 times less rate compared to Twitter. Therefore, individuals who are conversant with the nature of communications on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter will be given the responsibility of managing campaigns. YouTube is also a practical campaign challenge (Ryan & Jones, 2017).

Posts have consequences, and messages meant to cause humor can easily be misunderstood, hence resulting in adverse effects. If a campaign is targeting youths, the management team should include people from a younger generation. Companies can also partner with renowned media personalities to enhance the effectiveness of their campaigns (Kim, 2016, p. 127). A vehicle manufacturing company will need a whole team to manage its marketing campaign. The team should include an individual who is conversant with the culture of people in the target market areas. As such, the firm will be able to send the most convincing messages (Ryan & Jones, 2015).

Messages to be Communicated on Each Channel

Official Messages

Official words help communicate issues relating to administration, financial performance, and recruitment processes. Relaying information about the business performance or introduction of new vehicle models can best be done through Twitter (Ryan & Jones, 2015, p. 67). Twitter displays all messages to followers, who then get the opportunity to ask questions or give comments. In most marketing campaigns, a special team is organized to interact with customers on Twitter 24 hours a day, throughout the week. The attacks make use of hashtags, photos, and videos to popularise the introduction of new products in the market (Kingsnorth, 2019, p. 136).

Humorous Messages

Instagram is a versatile channel, applicable either on a personal computer or smartphone. Studies have shown that youths constitute the highest percentage of Instagram users. Humorous messages thrill the young and force them to pay more attention to the message behind a meme or funny video. Therefore, the best platform for sharing witty words will be Instagram (Greenberg & Kates, 2018).

Product Describing Messages

At this stage, an organization can engage a celebrity or other famous individuals such as sportspersons, to attract a more substantial following (Greenberg & Kates, 2018). Product describing messages should go across all the channels that an organization prefers. A company can take a photo of a simplified model looking at their new release with admiration. Social media users would want to know why the celebrity loves the new vehicle. Questions gradually begin to flow, leading to an interaction between the firm management and customers (Blair, 2018).

Frequency of Communicating Messages from Each Channel

Instagram and Facebook

Compared to Twitter, studies have shown Instagram, and Facebook shares almost similar attributes in terms of the kind of messages sent. Most messages sent through Facebook and Instagram relate to day-to-day livelihoods, culture, and social norms. As such, most users assess these sites during their free time (Blair, 2018, p. 15). Many people get time off their busy schedules in the evening and during the weekends. Therefore, firms should communicate through Instagram and Facebook, mainly on weekends and in the evening hours. During these times, messages accompanied by funny videos, memes, or emoji should have a high frequency (Belanche, Cenjor & Pérez-Rueda, 2019, p. 90).

Twitter and YouTube

Twitter is more associated with official communication compared to Facebook and Instagram. Therefore, people on official duty would frequently log in to their Twitter accounts to get necessary updates. Organizations can set up a team dedicated to responding to questions at any time of the day (Soboleva, Burton & Khan, 2018). YouTube videos are meant to show product performance and to give a vivid explanation of all variants that exist within a given model. A YouTube post can only be impactful if the product in question has already gone popular through the other channels. Therefore, YouTube posts should be made less frequently compared to other channels (Jarboe, 2018).

Conclusion

Content analysis and customer-company engagements are the best criteria for assessing productivity and controlling the impact of social media campaigns. Zoho Social and Sprout Social enhance the exploitation of social media capabilities for maximum economic gain. Individuals who understand the operations of a given organization should be assigned the responsibility to manage social media campaigns. Firms can increase the frequency of Instagram and social media posts in the evening and during weekends. Most people prefer Twitter for updates relating to official messages. As such, a campaign team should keep posting on Twitter throughout the day. YouTube is more productive when used after a product gains popularity on other significant channels.

References

Belanche, D., Cenjor, I., & Pérez-Rueda, A. (2019). Instagram Stories versus Facebook Wall: an advertising effectiveness analysis. Spanish Journal of Marketing - ESIC , 23 (1), 69-94. doi:10.1108/sjme-09-2018-0042

Blair, M. K. (2018). Using digital and social media platforms for social marketing. Oxford Medicine Online , 4-23. doi:10.1093/med/9780198717690.003.0012

Greenberg, E., & Kates, A. (2018). Strategic Digital Marketing: Top Digital Experts Share the Formula for Tangible Returns on Your Marketing Investment . New York, NY: McGraw Hill Professional.

Jarboe, G. (2018). YouTube and Video Marketing: An Hour a Day . Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons.

Kim, C. M. (2016). Social Media Campaigns: Strategies for Public Relations and Marketing . London, England: Routledge.

Kingsnorth, S. (2019). Digital Marketing Strategy: An Integrated Approach to Online Marketing . London, England: Kogan Page Publishers.

Ryan, D., & Jones, C. (2015). Understanding Digital Marketing: Marketing Strategies for Engaging the Digital Generation . London, England: Kogan Page Publishers.

Ryan, D., & Jones, C. (2017). The Best Digital Marketing Campaigns in the World: Mastering the Art of Customer Engagement . London, England: Kogan Page Publishers.

Soboleva, A., Burton, S., & Khan, A. (2018). Marketing With Twitter. Social Media Marketing , 285-322. doi:10.4018/978-1-5225-5637-4.ch015

Appendix

Editorial Calendar for August 2019

Week	Themes and Topics	Frequency of Media use		Frequency of Interaction
		Each Weekday	Each day; weekend	Weekdays	weekends
1 and 2	Great Power; Subaru Legacy	T: 10 posts	13 posts	M: 1 hr. E: 3 hrs. (#Greatpower)	Mid: 1 hr. E: 3 hrs.
		I: 5 posts	15 posts	M: 2 hrs. E: 5 hrs	Mid: 3 hrs. E: 4 hrs.
		F: 5 posts	10 posts	M: 2 hrs E: 3hrs (#Greatpower)	Mid: 2 hrs. E: 4 hrs.
3 and 4	High Efficiency and Durability; Subaru Legacy	T: 10 posts	13 posts	M: 1 hr. E: 3 hrs. (#Efficient and durable)	Mid: 1 hr. E: 3 hrs.
		I: 5 posts	15 posts	M: 2 hrs. E: 5 hrs	Mid: 3 hrs. E: 4 hrs.
		F: 5 posts	10 posts	M: 2 hrs E: 3hrs (#Ultimate Companion)	Mid: 2 hrs. E: 4 hrs.

Key: T – Twitter, used for descriptive messages.

I – Instagram, used for humorous and descriptive messages.

F – Facebook, used for humorous and descriptive messages.

Y – YouTube, used for test drive videos on model variants.

M – Morning

E – Evening

Mid – Mid-day

Figure 1: Facebook Post by Competition Subaru for Week 1 Aug. 2019

Figure 2: Twitter Post by Competition Subaru: Week 2 Aug. 2019