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Blog post three, Reasearch initiative

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Blog post three: Research initiative

 

 

In my digital marketing strategy proposal for Spotify, I proposed that Spotify used the following, to help enhance customer conversion from free to paid monthly subscriptions.

  • Personalized emails campaigns with the aim of converting free users to paid monthly subscribers.
  • A social media campaign targeting free users, on the likes of Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube.

Obtaining a decent amount of responses from direct marketing from email tends to prove difficult. However, firms now have the capability to send personalized emails to customers, almost every part of your email campaign can be personalized, from the Sending Name, Subject Line, Email Content, Imagery, Dynamic content offers, Product Recommendations, Purchase Abandonment and Behavioral Segmentation. Consumer have come to expect relevant and personalized content in their emails. To try and meet these demands email personalization has moved from 1:many, to 1:1 emails, which provide a more personal touch as they are tailored to the consumer behavior. Emails containing dynamic content combined with consumer behavioral data, make the email more attractive to consumers while still relevant to the consumer and their behavior. Pickton and Broderick (2005) mentions that creativity is very important in email marketing and that mailing to existing consumers offers a better response rate than potential consumers. Response rates can be affected dependent on the type of campaign being run, these can vary from; incentives, personalized letters/emails, design and notifications (Mehta & Sivadas, 1995; Sheehan & McMillan, 1999)

Personalized email marketing could be one of the most inexpensive, yet most effective way to reach your target audience. Email has been proven to be a powerful marketing tool, being inexpensive, fast, measurable and everyone has an email address. Planning out the scale and timing of the email campaigns will lead to greater marketing programs, better results, establish and create relationships and prospects with potential consumers (Sterne & Priore, 2000).

 

However, A thin line divides spam and email marketing. Spam is unsolicited. While spam email, opt-in / opt-out can be hard to distinguish from it’s really down to the company to respect their consumers and manage their brand well and try to avoid sending spam emails out which are often frowned upon by consumers (Sterne & Priore, 2000).  Email marketing demands continuous tweaking to keep subscribers engaged, many people only sign up for the promotional benefit, these people may find the emails annoying and not pay any attention to the incentives.

A social media campaign is a directed marketing push to help reach a business’s goal with the use of one or multiple social media channels. Social media has essentially changed the way business interact and communicate with their customers and public. Before a campaign begins, measures need to be set out so you can track performance and changes throughout the whole campaign. Goals are set around the message and target audience of the campaign. Demographics will also shape and effect which platforms are used throughout the campaign. Paid social media advertising is highly cost-effective way of expanding your reach, social media marketing is a great tool for business to reach out to their customers. When executed correctly social media can bring incredible success, creating brand awareness and even an increase of sales. Social media platforms offer incredible targeting capabilities, these allow you to narrow down and focus your budget on your target audience.

Opposed to other forms of marketing where marketers remain in control of the message, on social media there is no control. Platforms such as Facebook and Twitter allow everyone to voice their opinions, this can be very controversial and spark some interesting conversations between users. This can lead to negative feedback and reviews on your page. There is also a chance for public humiliation as people on social media will not hold back on any mistakes made.

 

However, one of the best advantages of social media is that its free to set up and start, there are no sign-up fees required, so the only investment required is in time, bar the paid advertising feature which is available on most social media platforms. Social media offer a unique advantage in that people like to share and like media to their social network, this will increase the reach as they can share it with their followers who can share it with their followers, giving you a very wide reach with a low cost attached.

References:

Broderick, A. and Pickton, D., 2005. Integrated marketing communications. Pearson Education UK.
Mehta, R. and Sivadas, E., 1995. Comparing responses rates and response content in mail versus electronic mail surveys. Journal of the Market Research society, 37(4), pp.429-440.

Kent, Ray, and Hege Brandal. “Improving email response in a permission marketing context.” International Journal of Market Research, vol. 45, no. 4, 2003, p. 489+. Academic OneFile, Accessed 25 Feb. 2018.

Sheehan, K.B. and McMillan, S.J., 1999. Response variation in e-mail surveys: An exploration. Journal of advertising research, 39(4), pp.45-54.
Sterne, J. and Priore, A., 2000. Email marketing: using email to reach your target audience and build customer relationships. John Wiley & Sons, Inc..
Tuten, T.L. and Solomon, M.R., 2017. Social media marketing. Sage.

 

 

How useful can social media marketing be in building brand awareness for the music streaming industry

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The purpose of this blog is to demonstrate how useful social media marketing can be, when trying to build brand awareness in the music streaming sector. I will cover both the benefits and drawbacks that social media marketing has on building brand awareness.

 

Social media has essentially changed the way businesses interact with customers and the public. What started as an innovative way to reach the marketplace has become an essential tool for marketing, public relations, and customer service. But as easy as social media has made it to connect with customers, it does come with a few drawbacks.

Unlike other forms of marketing, in which marketers retain control of the messaging, there’s no control on social media. This can be great if people love you or your business, but on the other hand it can be a disaster if they don’t. Platforms such as Facebook and Twitter allow anyone and everyone to share their opinions, which makes for interesting conversation, but can be dangerous for marketers.

 

Advantages of social media marketing

  1. Huge audiences

 

Promoting through social media can be a massive advantage to the business, the potential customers a company can reach through social media is huge! Facebook has 1.13 billion daily users and this is only one of the many platforms which a business could use. Sites such as Twitter have 313 million monthly active users and Instagram has even more with 500 million.

 

Although business do not need to use every social media platform going to be effective on social media, creating accounts on a few of the main platforms has potential to give you exposure to millions globally.

 

  1. Free to create

Probably the biggest advantage of them all is that social media accounts are free to create, no sign-up fees are required, so the only investment you’ll need to make is in the form or time and effort.

However, there are options on most social media platforms where you can set up paid advertisement, which is really effective as you can tailor your advert to a specific age, location, date, number of people and what they are interested in. This allows you to really aim your advert at your intended audience.

 

  1. Followers sharing

 

Your ‘Followers’, maybe one of the most unique advantages is the ability to get help from your followers. People like to share things whether it be a competition, a cool photo or a post they like. However big your social media reach is, your followers can always increase this, it’s like a chain reaction in a way, a follower can share it with their followers, who then can share it with their followers, giving you a much larger reach than an ordinary marketing campaign.

 

  1. Valuable insights

 

Social media can be used to gain valuable information about your customers that will help you make smarter business decisions in the future. For example, social listening allows you to discover how people feel about your business and branding. With social listening, you can uncover conversations about your business and answer questions about your what your business has to offer.

 

Disadvantages of social media

  1. Negative feedback

 

The first negative is that on social media users can post whatever they want. This means that unhappy customers can leave angry reviews about your business which anyone could read which could then effect their view on your business. Employees have also been known to let out their anger on social media, which will reflect badly on the business.

 

  1. Social embarrassment

 

You can easily get caught up in social media and be quick to post things without thinking about it, sometimes these can have big consequences for business. For firms with large audiences big mistakes on social media do not go unnoticed, social media users quick reactions to share ect, can have devastating effect on business. News can sometimes reach the major media outlets and business will be forced to make an embarrassing apology which will damage their reputation.

 

  1. Time intensive

 

It takes a lot of time and effort to maintain a big business social media page. It will require team of people and numerous resources to keep the social media page in shape. Social media pages need to be monitored around the clock, answering questions, listening to feedback and posting good media to the page. However investing a lot of time and effort into social media can be very rewarding in the long run.

 

Summary

From the points above it is clear to see some of the advantages and disadvantages when implementing social media marketing. It’s essential to consider how vital social media can be to a business, and how big of a role it can play in the day to day marketing of a business. Social marketing should be taken seriously because when it is done correctly the benefits are huge for the business, however if you slip up the consequences will come flying in.

Useful Videos to provide further information

 

Refrences

 

Jackson D. (2017) 38 Benefits of Social Media Marketing every Business needs to know [online] Available at: https://sproutsocial.com/insights/benefits-of-social-media/ [Accessed on 6 January 2017]

Copp E. (2016) 10 benefits of Social Media for Business [online] Available at: https://blog.hootsuite.com/social-media-for-business/ [Accessed on 6 January 2017]

Carbone L. (2015) What are the benefits of Social Media Marketing? [online] Available at: https://www.business2community.com/social-media/benefits-social-media-marketing-01140985 [Accessed on 6 January 2017]

How important is social media marketing in the music streaming services industry?

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How important is social media marketing in the music streaming services industry?

 

The top five firms in the music streaming sector are:

  • YouTube
  • Spotify
  • ITunes
  • Amazon music
  • Soundcloud

 

The purpose of this blog is to audit how firms in the music streaming industry use ‘Social media marketing’ and advise how they can improve their current use of digital marketing.

Dave Chaffery’s 6 digital Marketing Channels.

 

‘Social Media Marketing’ is the use of social media websites and networks to market a company’s products and services they have to offer. Social media helps provide companies with a platform to reach and engage with new and existing customers. Social media websites allow marketers to use a wide range of strategies and tactics to promote their content. Multiple social media networks allow users to provide detailed geographical, demographic, and personal information, which allows marketers to adapt and tailor their message to what is most likely to resonate with the user. The main social media platforms which currently dominate the market are, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, these are all key social media platforms used by all firms.

 

The music streaming industry now has 112 million users of paid streaming subscriptions, with total revenues for 2016 reaching $15.7 Billion. The digital income in 2016 accounted for half the global recorded music industry’s annual revenue for the first time (IFPI, 2017).

Which sites or services have you used in the past three months to stream/access, or share music tracks or albums through the internet?

 

Audience participation

 

  • Audience participation Is the interaction of customer you are targeting? On social media platforms, such as Facebook, Twitter and Instagram this can be through videos, posts, retweets, shares and comments.
  • It is key that you get your audience to interact in your social media, so it is important to have fresh ideas and also media which consumers can also interact with. Media should be posted regularly to keep customers informed and up to date. Media shoud also be varied in kind eg, Videos, photos, GIF’s, Competitions and statements.

 

Managing social media Presence

  • Firms should be heavily active on all social media platforms, such as Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
  • Firms should have multiple accounts if they are operating in multiple countries as their strategy’s will differ from country to country. It will also increase their presence and make contacting the firm a lot easier.

 

Viral Campaigns

  • Viral marketing is a strategy or technique that uses pre-existing social network services to help increase brand awareness and to help achieve firm’s marketing objectives.
  • Viral campaigns lead to faster growth at a lower cost. Mainstream media exposure can be huge for firms, they can rapidly increase brand recognition.
  • For example coca cola have their Christmas campaign, where the big coca cola Christmas truck passes through the town, this campaign aims to link and tie in their product with Christmas.

 

Customer Feedback

  • Customer Feedback is the information communicated back from customers to the firms normally with either satisfaction or dissatisfaction of a product or service that a firm offers.
  • Feedback is very important to firms, it helps address current issues within the firm and issues customers are experiencing. It’s important to listen to customers and address these issues to keep the firm moving forward. Feedback can also be positive and firms should acknowledge this positive feedback from customers and use it to their advantage.
  • Asking for customer feedback makes the consumer opinion feel valued and helps to build relationships between the customer and firm. Customer feedback should be taken very seriously as this could help shape the business towards success.

 

Refrences

Chaffey, D. (2012.). Digital marketing.

. (2017). Global Music Report. Available: http://www.ifpi.org/news/IFPI-GLOBAL-MUSIC-REPORT-2017 . Last accessed st Dec 2017.

. (2017). leading online services used for music . Available: https://www.statista.com/statistics/291716/leading-online-services-used-for-music-streaming-downloading-and-sharing-in-the-uk/ . Last accessed 1st Dec 2017.

. (2017). Rise in Revenue from music streaming services. Available: http://uk.businessinsider.com/one-chart-shows-the-rise-in-revenue-from-music-streaming-charts-2017-9 . Last accessed 1st Dec 2017.

. (2017). Social Media Marketing . Available: Social Media Marketing (SMM) https://www.investopedia.com/terms/s/social-media-marketing-smm.asp#ixzz501dru2bV . Last accessed 1st Dec 2017.

. (2017). weekly music consumption. Available: https://www.statista.com/chart/11728/weekly-music-consumption/ . Last accessed 1st Dec 2017.

Champion Clothing – Website

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The Champion clothing website is a transactional website, where people can go to buy Clothing from this brands website.

Champion is an American manufacturer of clothing, specializing in sportswear. The brand is a subsidiary of HanesBrands Inc., which was spun off by the Sara Lee Corporation. Founded in 1919.

https://www.champion.com/

The website is fairly basic but easy for customers to use. The website has multiple intended audiances from Men, Women and Kids. From there each drop down box has numerous options to choose from to browse the different clothing on offer from Champion.

The Champion website also offers a search bar, this allows users to search for items that champion have to offer, this can be alot quicker than navigating through the drop down boxes and departments.

Once on the selected product the customer can then choose their size, colour and quantity, they then have the option to add their selected product to their basket or to save it to their ‘Favorites’ where they can find the product at a later date, as it is saved to their own personal account. When the customer has done their shopping and added all the products which they desire , they then have one last chance to alter their basket before they procceed to the checkout, where they will be asked to fill in their payment and delivery details.

However compared to ‘Nike’s website it dosen’t look as professional. Nike’s website looks very professional, interactive and easy to use. They have multiple drop down boxes to choose from and interactive media, when you click on the media which normally represents an item they are selling you will taken straight to this product on their website. This then loads a page where you can pick your size and colour then you have the option to add it to your basket.

“Online shopping abandonment is often a sign that consumers failed to achieve their objectives, which often leads to frustration and reduced brand engagement.”

Hernandez, A., & Resnick, M. L. (2013, September)

Champion could take some inspiration and ideas from Nike’s website, it is a very good example of a transactional website, it’s easy to use, navigate and looks very professional. Champion could improve their media because at first glance the website looks stripped back and empty. The additional media would improve the look of the website aswell as the functionality for the users. It would also help with brand engagment as consumers will be able to complete their objective on the website and not be left frustrated by the website.

 

Hello World

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  • Background IKEA is a multinational group of companies that designs and sells ready-to-assemble furniture, appliances and home accessories. As the world’s largest furniture retailer, the organization employs almost 1 60,000 people across 365 stores in 45 countries.

The Ikea case study covers their brand and how they operate as a company, it shows that they understanding of social media but they are inconsistent throughout their marketing. One of Ikeas issues was that successful and innovative practices undertaken within the business were not reaching other departments that would of benifited from such information.

With guidance from the digital development team, deciding that creating a listening hub for the organisation would be cruical in taking steps in the right direction to becoming a socially intelligent business. The Listening Hub would be a physical space, strategically placed in Inter IKEA Systems headquarters where senior staff and other relevant teams would observe and engage with the center.

“The Listening Hub within IKEA’s headquarters provided the perfect setting to triage social intelligence”
After setting up the Listening Hub, key IKEA stakeholders were able to view what customers were saying about the brand in a digestible and engaging way.
“Information is being shared and directed to the appropriate departments for action, and a tangible culture of wisdom and experience sharing is emerging.“
The data is then able to analyzed then they can split the data into countries and then tackle complaints and issues from there.
“The Listening Hub provides stakeholders real insights into life at home for customers who are talking about IKEA online.”
The listening hub ulitmatley help prove to the organization that social data can have myriad benificial applications and encourage postive change across the enterprise. Information is being shared and directed to the appropriate departments for action.

Hello world!

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