Questions and Answers of Social Media Marketing

What do the customers expect from the organization?
Will social media marketing be worth the effort?
Is it right for the organization?
Does it fi t in with the organization’s other marketing efforts?
Consider the impact of all of the facets of social media on your life – how much would it change if social media was banned from tomorrow?
This chapter introduces the concept that there are three core objectives to any Internet presence – including social media. Debate this concept.
This book was published in the autumn of 2014. In this dynamic subject that means that some of the statistics shown in the chapter could well be out of date by the time you read them.a. Go online to
In this chapter the question is asked: ‘Would anyone like to predict which social media brands will lead the popularity stakes and which will be history in the year 2024?’Consider that question
What changes to Facebook and Twitter have taken place since this book was published in the autumn of 2014? Comment on what you think the reason(s) for those changes were.
In this dynamic subject some of the statistics shown in the chapter could well be out of date by the time you read them.a. Go online to see if there are any more up-to-date statistics.b. Discuss your
Using an organization that you have knowledge of, or your college or university, assess its web-compatibility according to Paul Boag’s criteria.
To what extent are you a ‘reverse customer’?
Go online to fi nd other defi nitions or descriptions of ‘big data’. Discuss the differences and why they have come about.
Discuss the issue of who owns any social media marketing at your university or college. Consider the same question in different industries.
Discuss the notion that many products, brands and organizations have a social media presence but without any recognized marketing objectives.
Consider your involvement in social media. Do you offer any ROI for products, brands or organizations who target you within social media?
Discuss the notion that digital marketing has played a signifi cant role in marketing moving from helping the seller to sell to helping the buyer to buy.What role has social media played?
Do you use social media for service and support? If not, why not? Is it the case that you expect it in some industries or markets but not others? If this is so, why is it the case?
This book was published in the autumn of 2014. In this dynamic subject that means that some of the statistics shown in the chapter could well be out of date by the time you read them.a. Go online to
Discuss the author’s stance on customer relationship management and why it differs from the views of other writers.
Who the target customers are by profi ling the different types of customer who may be interested in the product or service being sold.
Where potential customers are in the social media environment – not everyone goes to Facebook and nowhere else.
What the potential customers are saying about their needs. Such is the nature of social media that users engage in conversations that can be both explicit and implicit in what they are seeking in a
What potential customers are saying about the market or industry in which you are trading. They can also reveal attitudes towards products, brands and organizations which could be you or your
Discuss the issue of the individual’s privacy in relation to the subject of this chapter.
Take another look at case study ‘You only have to look’. Now apply it to your Facebook page or that of one of your friends or family. Consider only the content that is available to the public and
This book was published in the autumn of 2014. In this dynamic subject that means that some of the statistics shown in the chapter could well be out of date by the time you read them.a. Go online to
On the subject of using ‘covert replies’ in social media, see if you can fi nd any examples of marketers practising this poorly and so being caught out by users.
In this chapter on the subject of the product’s, brand’s or organization’s voice I say ‘compare that example with the failing attempts at social media marketing made by organizations that
Discuss the author’s premise that social media marketing is right for some products’s, brands’s and organizations’s and wrong – or at least not right – for others.
Imagine you are the manager or owner of an organization which is now launching into a social media marketing strategy. What skills do you think are required for your social media marketing ‘dream
Why might the human resources department have diffi culty in recruiting people into your ‘dream team’?
The likes of Facebook and Twitter dominate the publicity for social media but in B2B environments the platforms are far more diverse. Pick any industry and see if you can fi nd social media platforms
What are the current ‘trending videos’ on YouTube? Which of them are part of social media marketing campaigns?
Read and discuss Dan Greenberg’s ‘The Secret Strategies behind Many‘‘Viral’’ Videos’(www.techcrunch.com/2007/11/22/the-secret-strategiesbehind-many-viral-videos).
This book was published in the autumn of 2014. In this dynamic subject that means that some of the statistics shown in the chapter could well be out of date by the time you read them.a. Go online to
Take a look at your favourite blog(s). Can you see any evidence that the contributor(s) have accepted any undeclared reward for any of the content?
Discuss the issue of blogs sometimes being diffi cult to identify as such.Take a look at some commercial pages on Facebook and see if any are actually blogs, but presented as Facebook pages. If this
What are the potential problems if a product, brand or organization has a blog written by a single individual?
Consider your most recent non-grocery purchases. Did reviews play any part in your buying decision process? Is this the same for off- as well as online purchases?
Have you ever come across reviews that you suspected were false? What led you to form that opinion?
This book was published in the autumn of 2014. In this dynamic subject that means that some of the statistics shown in the chapter could well be out of date by the time you read them.a. Go online to
Go online and take a look at the 40 leading social networks listed in the chapter. How do you think the others compare with the most popular (e.g.Facebook) and consider why people fi nd them
Discuss the author’s statement in the chapter that social media is most effective for retaining existing customers, not recruiting new ones.
This book was published in the autumn of 2014. In this dynamic subject that means that some of the statistics shown in the chapter could well be out of date by the time you read them.a. Go online to
In the section on videos, mention is made of the sales funnel and AIDA.Can you think of a product or service that can take someone through the sales funnel purely on social media?
This book was published in the autumn of 2014. In this dynamic subject that means that some of the statistics shown in the chapter could well be out of date by the time you read them.a. Go online to
Find an example of a situation where badly-handled customer complaints were displayed in the public glare of social media. How might the product, brand or organization have handled the situation
Find an example of an organization that uses peer-to-peer as an element of its strategic social media marketing.
This book was published in the autumn of 2014. In this dynamic subject that means that some of the statistics shown in the chapter could well be out of date by the time you read them.a. Go online to
On the subject of ‘newsjacking’, have there been any widely publicized examples since this book was published? If you were the social media marketing manager for a product, brand or organization,
Have you ever been encouraged to purchase a product or service based on using social media whilst at the same time watching TV. Give reasons for your answer.
This book was published in the autumn of 2014. In this dynamic subject that means that some of the statistics shown in the chapter could well be out of date by the time you read them.a. Go online to
Happenings such as pop concerts are obviously ‘events’, but can you think of any lesser occasions that are a good opportunity for event social media marketing.
Following on from the previous question: could universities use event social media marketing for delivering modules, for example, in lectures?
Consider the fl ight mentioned at the end of the chapter as an event and suggest how social media can be used to improve the passenger’s experience from deciding to travel to a destination to
What issues in reputation management should the management of a university be aware of as potential problems?
Following on from the previous question, how would you advise a university’s management to prepare for the potential problems you identifi ed?
Find recent examples of bad practice in social public relations and suggest how the organizations concerned could have handled the situation better.
Discuss the statement made in the chapter: ‘fans who are “bought in” with ads bring far less to the product, brand or organization than those fans who have been drawn in by organic exposure. In
Discuss the issue of privacy with regard to advertising on social media.
This book was published in the autumn of 2014. In this dynamic subject that means that some of the statistics shown in the chapter could well be out of date by the time you read them.a. Go online to
Is social media marketing right for our organization? Do we have the right outlook, ethos and culture?
What are we trying to accomplish – what are our objectives for any social media marketing?
Why are we using social media for marketing? Is it right for our product or brand?
Is social media marketing right for our customers?
What kind of social media marketing will help us best achieve our objectives?
Who will build and maintain our social media presence?
Do we have the resources in place to maintain our social media presence;is it a project with a fi nite timescale?
Where will the budget come from – that money might be better spent elsewhere?
How will any social media marketing integrate into our overall marketing and communications strategies?
How will success be measured?
Using an organization that you have knowledge of, or your college or university, assess it against the social media marketing checklist on page 225.