Download Social Media Integration 1 Social Media Integration GB601: MBA

Running head: SOCIAL MEDIA INTEGRATION
Social Media Integration
GB601: MBA Capstone
Miguel Sanchez
Kaplan University
December 11, 2011
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Introduction
The successful implementation of marketing and advertising strategies for an
organization is critical for the success of its product, services, and brands in order to capture
market share. In order for an organization to successfully execute its marketing strategies; it
needs to first understand, what marketing truly means and how it should be implemented to
capture market share. According to Kotler (2003) “we see marketing management as the art and
science of choosing target markets and getting, keeping, and growing customers through
creating, delivering, and communicating superior customer value” (p. 9). Because marketing is a
critical component for the success of an organization, importance should be given and a good
amount of resources should be spend in order to successfully carry on the marketing operations
of an organization. It is important then, that organizations have the need to know the
marketplace, which markets it wants to target, segment those markets, and then develop
strategies to target those markets (Cadotte & Bruce, 2008). The organization needs to stay focus
and have a clear vision on where it wants to go and how it wants to position its products and
services. Clearly, the organization’s marketing team needs to identify the needs and wants of
consumers, create products and services that satisfy those need, and then execute the advertising
strategies that can tell them that the company has those products, how much they cost, and the
place where they can be buy (Cadotte & Bruce, 2008).
The Leading Edge Trends in Integrating Social Media
In the case of the company Elite Pro, it is critically important that the marketing team
identifies the major social media sites that will help the company capture market share for the
products it offers to the different market segments. In the search for marketing strategies and
execution, it is important to note that the traditional way of marketing is no longer feasible. It has
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come the time, when the traditional marketing campaigns need to change to match the current
technological and social trends. It is no longer the typical newspaper, television or radio
advertisement that can convince the consumers to purchase the products and services, and that
tell them about it. With the advent of the internet, mobile devices, and computers; new marketing
channels exists and need to be used by Elite Pro’s marketing management team in order to
successfully execute the marketing strategies of the organization.
Those new channels of marketing include search engines, email, free android and iPhone
apps, and blogs. Specifically social media internet sites such as Facebook, MySpace, YouTube,
Twitter, Pandora, LinkedIn, Mixi, hi5, Google+, MocoSpace, Badoo, Bebo, Flickr, and Fotolog
just to name a few national and international social media sites (Qualman, 2010; Ebizmba.com,
2011). Those social media sites if used properly can help the Elite Pro’s products be known in a
matter of minutes to millions of consumers worldwide, at the countries were those sites operate.
The marketing team needs to identify which sites have the most followers, especially at the
markets where the company is entering. For example, although Facebook is one of the most
popular sites and has perhaps the most followers; it is not however, the most popular social
media site at countries such as Brazil, Japan, and China. Adam Wooten (2011) notes, “Yes,
Facebook’s dominance is spreading internationally, but other social networks still have strong
presences in other countries. In addition to Mixi in Japan, other notable sites include Orkut in
Brazil and VKontakte in Russia. Since Facebook access has been blocked in China since 2009,
Qzone dominates that market with hundreds of millions of users (p. 1)”. Therefore, evaluating
which social media sites to use is a critical task that the marketing team needs to accomplish
proactively and be precise. Not using the appropriate social media sites can lead to a possible
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marketing campaign fiasco; which can have a negative impact in the organization’s performance
to capture market share.
Recommendations for Incorporating Social Media
The Elite Pro’s marketing team needs to identify for each target market segment by
which means of social media sites they can reach those types of consumers. By knowing their
needs, wants, and interests of the targeted consumers, marketers can then execute a marketing
strategy that will help position the organization’s products and services to the consumers mind
(Kotler, 2003). Once the consumers have an idea of what is the product, the price, and where it
sells, then they can make decisions to buy the products. Social media sites can definitely help
shape and execute the marketing and advertising campaigns of the organization. However, in
order to make efficient use of social media sites, the marketing team needs to know the many
different aspect of consumers, from their culture, language, nationality, religious background,
education, to their sex preferences, gender information, and age. “To achieve the best social
media marketing results, international marketers will need to identify the top networks in each
market and develop plans to adapt to the way international consumers behave online. This
adaptation must include localization in the local language and culture to avoid some of the
embarrassing scenarios that have discussed regularly in this column” (Wooten, 2011, p. 1). In
simple words, marketers have the need to create a target market profile for each of the segments,
and then work with that profile to execute marketing strategies and gain market share at those
markets (Cadotte & Bruce, 2008). The products must be designed to accommodate the specific
requirements, needs, and behavior of the target market segments. Then those products should be
promoted accordingly at the social media sites that will help boost the brands name and
reputation.
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It is important to consider the governments’ involvement in social media sites. The
reason for such is because since not all countries have freedom of speech or are not democratic
nations, governments at this type of nations might block the access of citizens to social media
sites; as is the case with China (Wooten, 2011). Therefore, it is critically important to carefully
study the target markets’ social, political, economic, and technological environment to ensure
that the marketing strategies reach the targeted audience. The company needs to ensure that the
social media sites it uses adheres to the government regulations at the hosts countries. Otherwise,
there can be problems for Elite Pro engaging in business operations at the countries where it
wants to sell its products. A critical component for the success of the social media advertising is
to ensure that the markets have the appropriate technological infrastructure as well.
It is important to evaluate every single social media site to ensure that those sites match
the target market’s profile. Every single characteristic of the market should be analyzed and
plans should be made to accommodate the needs of such. There is the need to evaluate every
detail of the target market. The base profile should not be used as a general profile for all
markets, because each market segment has their unique requirements and needs. “After you
develop a broad understanding of your market, the next step is to gather very specific
information about your competitors, end users, and channel partners” (Cadotte & Bruce, 2008, p.
108). While it is important to gather information about every social media site that will be used;
it is important to consider how the competition will react to the product offerings.
Integrated and Differentiated Requirements
It is important to consider the need to include honesty, truth, transparency, and integrity
at all levels of the marketing and advertising campaigns. In today’s information age consumers
have become smart shoppers; they no longer guide themselves from what they hear in the news
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and advertisements. Because of the ease access to the internet via mobile devices and computers,
they simply can go to a search engine and seek for information in regards to the quality, security,
support, service, and durability of the products. In the best case, they can simply log in to their
Facebook or Twitter account to see if anyone of his/her friends or followers has posted some
information about the particular product or service. Elite Pro’s marketing team should not at all
strive to use deceptive marketing decisions, because such will only ruin the reputation of the
organization. Only when consumers are convinced it is then that they make their purchasing
decisions. Therefore, it is critical for the success of the marketing campaign that the company
Elite Pro embraces honesty and transparency at all times as it communicates to consumers via
the social media sites. “The goal is to build a loyal set of followers who have a strong preference
for your particular product or company by providing superior service and performance over
repeated purchases and use. Customer loyalty is earned over time, not in a single event or
purchase” (Cadotte & Bruce, 2008, p. 157).
Transparent communication is a key component in order for Elite Pro to convince
consumers about its products. As the company embraces transparency, such needs to be executed
by the company’s actions towards consumers. It should not only be in paper or in the advertising
itself, but in should be in the form of value delivered to the consumers via the products. The
value delivered should not just be in the utility of the product, but also in the support, quality,
responsiveness, and security of the products. The social media sites should be used to
communicate to the consumers Elite Pro’s customer value proposition. According to Philip
Kotler (2003) “companies address needs by putting forth a value proposition, a set of benefits
they offer to customers to satisfy their needs” (p. 11).
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References
Cadotte, E.R. and Bruce, H.J. (2008). The Management of Strategy in the Marketplace.
Knoxville, TN: Innovative Learning Solutions, Inc.
Ebizmba.com. (2011). Top 15 Most Popular Social Networking Sites. Retrieved from
http://www.ebizmba.com/articles/social-networking-websites
Kotler, P. (2003). Marketing Management (11th Ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson
Education, Inc.
Qualman, E. (2010). World's Top Social Media Sites. Retrieved from
http://www.socialnomics.net/2010/11/22/worlds-top-social-media-sites/
Wooten, A. (2011). International social media marketing is more than just a Facebook page.
Retrieved from http://www.deseretnews.com/article/705395524/International-socialmedia-marketing-is-more-than-just-a-Facebook-page.html