Social Media Marketing Assignment: Nebraska Marker Project Launch
Question
Task: Write a social media marketing assignment analysing the use of social media advertising for the Nebraska Marker Project.
Answer
Executive Summary
The report on social media marketing assignment analysed the use of social media advertising for the Nebraska Marker Project. Moreover, all zones of social media marketing like earned, shared, owned, and paid promotions were used to raise funds for the marker project. However, the team did not utilize other social platforms and their campaign was restricted to Facebook and YouTube only. Additionally, the other traditional platforms were not fully utilized due to which amount of $37000 could be raised for the funds.
Problem Identification
Nebraska Historical Society had constructed a project named as Nebraska Marker Project. This project was formed to raise funds of $80,000, for repairing many of damaged historical markers. The repair of the marker was undertaken as preparation of the 150th anniversary of Nebraska. Fundraising was an issue so, in the present social media marketing assignment, four types of social media strategies was used to raising funds.
Answers
1. Targeting segments on Social Media
The team of the Nebraska Historical Society had targeted only male segments that are aged above 65 years. In other words, other segments were not targeted due to which the Facebook page had only 100 likes. This indicates that the social media marketing strategy was inefficient in the initial stages. In the era of digital marketing one can choose the targeted audience while also track the impact of campaigns on brand (Alves, Fernandes and Raposo, 2016). Additionally, the targeting helps in customizing the message for each of the targeted groups. Therefore, the marketer can create different content for each of its audiences and increase traffic to the websites (Ismail, 2017).
Nebraska Historical Society considered in the case of social media marketing assignment did not target setting due to which only males above 65 plus age were targeted which restricted the traffic to this age group only. Thus, other segments like corporate houses, parents, social workers could be targeted from the initial stages. This would help in reaching a larger audience and in the end; the team would have collected more than currently raised funds. The team could use other social media channels apart from YouTube and Facebook.
Social media platforms like Instagram, Pin interest, twitter could be used for gaining a high audience in less time. The team collected $37000 from Facebook and YouTube posts; thus, it could raise more funds if other social media platforms were used effectively. In this era, traditional marketing is expensive and time-consuming while digital advertisements are more helpful and cost-effective.
2. What is the use of social media Zones in regards to the scenario explored in the social media marketing assignment?
The team used four types of media outreach that were shared, owned, paid, and earned tactics for increasing their audiences. Each tactic had its prioritized goals and analytics. In the earned posts, the team aimed at creating an audience’s awareness while increasing the web traffic through posting stories and interviews. In the shared content they aimed at larger public awareness, driving web traffic while also raising donations for the project. In the owned tactics, the team created webinars, newsletters, videos, and direct mail for reaching its audiences. This tactic presented in the social media marketing assignment aimed at identifying a new audience while increasing awareness amongst the old ones. It also aimed at raising donations by reaching audiences with increased content. The team also used traditional methods like direct mail which helped in reaching potential donors. The team also used paid Facebook promotions for increasing its audiences. Through this, they aimed to reach new audiences, increasing views while also promoting engagement activities. Thus, he owned tactics that helped in raising about $7000 while overall media strategies raise approximately $37000.
It was wise to use all four zones but the activity started late. The team should have the hype it content from the initial stages. Marketers suggest that all four zones should be mixed for reaching a faster audience base. Thus, using only one tactic at a time delays the audience's awareness and thus, sufficient traffic is not created for the content. The combination earned and paid media helps increasing audience reach and scale the content of the website. Therefore, combining, earned, shared, owned, and paid content. Social media becomes a powerful tool than any other communication strategy. In recent times marketers focus on social media marketing for gaining faster brand awareness and web traffic. This helps in converting potential audiences to buyers (Sajid, 2016). Additionally, the team did not use other social media channels that limited their audience base. The above mentioned four zones in the social media marketing assignment can be applied in other social media platforms than Facebook.
3. Use Mixed Marketing Techniques
In the era of digital marketing, applications of traditional marketing strategies have been reduced. However, traditional marketing helped the team to raise funds and awareness. Traditional marketing is expensive than social media marketing but it helps in brand awareness and promotion on a larger platform. It also helps in customer acquisition, accessibility while also approaching a huge potential audience. The accessibility of traditional marketing is higher than digital marketing. In the USA, the majority of the audience has access to newspapers, televisions thus marketing through these channels helps in reaching potential customers. However, the audience reach is difficult to track in traditional methods of marketing (Felix, Rauschnabel and Hinsch, 2017). Using both the channel impacts the marketing budget but it yields the best results for commercial organizations. Moreover, it can be said that the contribution of traditional marketing cannot be denied. In recent times, social media is used in circulating fake news amongst the audiences. Thus, amid millions of posts and advertisements, it becomes difficult for the audiences to choose amongst fake and authentic messages (Shareef et al, 2019). On the contrary, there may individuals that believe advertisements on TV or in newspapers. Therefore, it becomes easier to mold the audience through digital and traditional methods of communication.
4. Rules of Facebook Advertisements
As per the investigation carried on this social media marketing assignment, Facebook had a rule that images not more than 20% of texts can be posted for paid promotions. There are certain rules when the promotion is paid by the brand. It is observed that audiences do not prefer textual images. In advertisement terms, it can be said textual images are not attractive and hamper web traffic. As paid promotions guarantee web traffic and increased audiences’ awareness therefore
Facebook paid adverts to permit images and content that can easily reach to the audiences. It can be summarized in the present section of social media marketing assignment that tampering the textual image was not legal and ethical. The image had a blurred appearance through which no message could be delivered to the audiences. Thus, it is a waste of money to work around the image against the rules of Facebook.
As mentioned above within this social media marketing assignment, other social media channels like Instagram, WhatsApp groups, twitter, Pin interest could be successfully used for reaching out to the audiences. These channels of social media are also impactful like Facebook. Thus, the user could have raised more funds for the project. Additionally, the four zones of media outreach like earned, paid, shared, and owned can be used in all the channels of social media. Moreover, google ads could also be included in the budget for social media marketing.
5. Using other platforms
The team of Nebraska Historical Society could also use other traditional methods advertising that would increase the funds. Partnering with commercial units and organizing different public events help in raising funds from the family, corporate house, and other sources. The organizations of events help to gain larger public awareness and help in recording data for further donations. Thus, it also helps in maintaining healthy relationships with donors. The team could have used celebrity endorsements for raising funds. There are many celebrities and public figures that endorse campaigns free of costs. This tactic could also be used for high public awareness (Stephen, 2016). It can be said herein social media marketing assignment that higher socialization helps in gaining attention from the larger audience. Socialization could be increase by printing small pamphlets and distributing in near societies for awareness and donations (Iankova et al, 2019). The team was only restricted to social media and direct mail thus, other tactics were not utilized thus, an only a limited amount of funds could be raised.
References
Alves, H., Fernandes, C., & Raposo, M. (2016). Social media marketing: a literature review and implications. Psychology & Marketing, 33(12), 1029-1038. . DOI: 10.1002/mar.20936
Felix, R., Rauschnabel, P. A., & Hinsch, C. (2017). Elements of strategic social media marketing: A holistic framework. Journal of Business Research, 70, 118-126. Doi : 10.1016.
Iankova, S., Davies, I., Archer-Brown, C., Marder, B., & Yau, A. (2019). A comparison of social media marketing between B2B, B2C and mixed business models. Industrial Marketing Management, 81, 169-179. Social media marketing assignment Doi:10.1016.
Ismail, A. R. (2017). The influence of perceived social media marketing activities on brand loyalty. Asia Pacific Journal of Marketing and Logistics, 29 (1), 129-144 Doi : 10.1108
Sajid, S. I. (2016). Social media and its role in marketing. Business and Economics Journal, 7 (1), 1-5. Doi:10.4172/2151-6219.1000203.
Shareef, M. A., Mukerji, B., Dwivedi, Y. K., Rana, N. P., & Islam, R. (2019). Social media marketing: Comparative effect of advertisement sources. Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, 46, 58-69. ailing and Consumer Services (2017), Doi : 10.1016
Stephen, A. T. (2016). The role of digital and social media marketing in consumer behavior. Current Opinion in Psychology, 10, 17-21.
