A SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING PLAN FOR A MEDIUM-SIZED CONSUMER GOODS COMPANY

A SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING PLAN FOR A MEDIUM-SIZED CONSUMER GOODS COMPANY

ABSTRACT

The objective of this study is to develop a social media marketing plan for the case company to integrate it into its existing marketing communications. The case company of this study is a medium-sized consumer goods producing company that advertises its brand and products using traditional methods of advertising (radio, television, flyers and event promotion). At the moment, these methods seem to be lacking in efficiency and effectiveness caused by the saturation of marketing information which is missing the target group of people. But since the modern communications are developing beyond geographical boundaries when selling and creating awareness of companies’ product and services on the internet, the case company intends to start using social marketing to expand its consumer audience.

This research employs a case study approach to tackle the company’s problem. The out-come of this research is a Social Media plan for the company. It enumerates the need for the enterprise to embrace the opportunities that social media communities offer in reaching target groups with customized messages about their brands and products. This proposal is based on the success stories of some SMEs within and outside developing countries; it is designed to suit the method of operation of the case company.

The outcome of this paper is a social media marketing plan for the case company to integrate social media marketing into its existing marketing strategy. The plan outlines strategic ways in which the case company can utilize the usefulness of online communities to their businesses, and the ways in which these recommendations can be implemented.

1     Introduction

This research aims to develop a social media marketing plan for a customer goods producing company. It explores the existing best practices and literature, and investi-gates practical examples and social media marketing strategies of real companies. The resulting social media plan intends to suit the social marketing needs of the case com-pany which is a Small and Medium Enterprises (SME).

1.1    Overview of the Business Problem

Owing to the fast growing pace of social communities on the internet, the world virtually knows no boundaries during interaction over the internet. Although there are some negative sides to the use of social media communication, customers are caught up in an improved method of communication over the internet (Strom and Strom 2012).

Social media communities are such that people tend to cluster, forming common groups of common perspective, goals and ideas, thus making it possible for knowledge and capabilities to be distributed across the members, within and among such groups. (Cadima, Ojeda and Monguet 2012)

Currently, the internet social media communities are also having a big impact on the modern business world. This is the reason why the case company wishes to capitalize on this fast growing trend in social media marketing communication. The case compa-ny aims at taking advantage of the positive side of internet social communities for ex-panding its business and creating awareness about its brand and products. The incor-poration of a social media method of marketing into its existing integrated marketing communications has also become highly important for the case company wishing to meet the ever pressing needs and expectations of its customers.

A SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING PLAN FOR A MEDIUM-SIZED CONSUMER GOODS COMPANY