ASSESSMENT TASK 1: case study analysis (LIVE)
| Aligned subject learning outcomes | SLO1: Critically evaluate and apply marketing principles and theories to selected "real life" organisations and case studies SLO3: Evaluate new social media and their value in a marketing context |
| Group or Individual | Individual |
| Weighting | 15% |
| Due Date | Week 5 Sunday by 11.59pm |
DESCRIPTION The Live Case Study aims to provide an opportunity for you to:
1. Demonstrate your understanding of the overall use of social media, and
2. Analyse potential effectiveness with regard to achieving marketing objectives.
Instructions: You are required to select a company or brand and it must be one that (a) has a presence in Australia (b) serves you as a customer and (c) is using digital media as part of its integrated marketing communications (IMC) strategy. The company or brand you select can be a small, local organisation that is attempting to develop a stronger social media presence or alternatively you can select a well-known brand, national franchise or global brand (i.e., Boost Juice, Lush cosmetics, Target, Uber, Airbnb, etc.).
Your task is to critically analyse their social media marketing activities. This includes commonly used social networks such as Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Instagram, Pinterest, LinkedIn, Snapchat, as well as buzz or viral marketing, blogs and in-game advertising. As part of this analysis, you are expected to ‘follow’ the company over an 4 week period.
You are also expected to make one (1) marketing recommendation, outlining a way to improve the effectiveness of their campaign; you are free to detail a social media option that was not considered by the organisation. In the world of marketing many options are possible, and just because a particular campaign was implemented, that does not necessarily mean that it was the ideal option – others may have been better, but we will never know!
This is an opportunity to apply your unique insights as a consumer and to be flexible in your marketing thinking. Having chosen a live case company to analyse, you will prepare a case study approximately 5 pages – approx. 3,000 words (excluding cover, tables, reference list and appendices), briefly describe the organisation, its brand/product/service, target market and the success (or otherwise) of its social 2 media marketing. Here, you form an assessment of whether the business is effective strategically and is meeting its objectives; for instance, does it encourage trial, increase desire, facilitate purchase, brand awareness and customer engagement? Does the company offer its audience compelling reasons to become a customer? You should include metrics such as total followers and customer engagement (i.e., positive or negative comments, sentiment).
Finally, you outline, and justify, one (1) marketing recommendation to help the organisation improve its social media marketing.
The report should include the following sections:
1. Report Cover Page
2. Executive Summary
3. Table of Contents
4. Report Introduction
5. Overview of company: Introduce the company, its brand/product/service and target market; what it is that they do and why social media is important to their business; HINT: Look at the industry they operate within as well as norms/standards for social media use in that industry. Be succinct.
6. Summary of social media use, objectives and effectiveness:
Briefly summarize the company’s current use of social media. Are they using the different tools like Twitter, Instagram Pinterest etc. in ways that are unique or duplicative - of other companies or competitors? In other words are they saying the same uninspired things over and over again across platform or are they a unique voce that adapts to the platform/medium? What are the risks involved? Have their marketing efforts failed on a particular channel? How do they manage customer dissatisfaction? How do they leverage each tool? Do they offer deals? A chart that presents numbers of followers and frequency of posts is a good start for this sections If they are not on a specific platform, try to deduce why they are absent from this channel.
7. Recommendation: Make one (1) recommendation based upon your assessment and research. HINT: Consider a Social Media SWOT analysis that looks at strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats associated with the firm’s use of social media which might points towards recommendations.
8. Report Conclusion
9. Reference List: Demonstrate that you used appropriate materials (i.e., the Dahl textbook and academic readings) with which to base your case study upon. (utilise APA6 referencing format).
Note: all external information must have an in-text citation and a full reference in the References section. All tables need to be numbered, have a title and have their sources referenced. 3 Useful Information: Some tips - this is a business report that presents evidence in an analytical way and arrives at a conclusion based upon that evidence. Avoid first person statements (I or we) in order to avoid poor analysis and defaulting back to belief or opinion. Avoid sweeping generalizations. Avoid over use of qualifying language (excellent, impressive, good etc.) or slang. Present the evidence and let the reader decide based upon your evidence.
Business to one choose from:
The Dog Mum – Clothing and Accessories for Dog and Cat lovers Male and Female
Fuschia Design – Ladies Clothing
Mama Ferrari’s – Pizza and Cafe
Blue Poppy – Café
Millie Meets Lilly – Ladies Clothing store
Queenslands Reds – Rugby Union
DK Stainless – Dog hydration Station and food stations
Brisbane Heat – Cricket
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY should be no more than half a page. It quickly establishes the nature of the report and which company it is focused on. It briefly states major findings and (SMART) recommendations. The Executive Summary is normally the last section you will write.
TABLE OF CONTENTS: Should be comprehensive, including page numbers and section and sub-section numbering. Tables, Figures and Appendices should also be shown individually.
TABLE OF CONTENTS SECTION
Executive Summary Table of Contents
1. Introduction
2. OVERVIEW OF XXXXX
2.1 Current Location and contact details
2.2 History of XXXXX
2.3 Description of products/services
2.4 Description of industry market segment
2.5 Current target market (s)
3. SUMMARY OF SOCIAL MEDIA USE, OBJECTIVES AND EFFECTIVENESS
3.1 Social media channels utilised by XXXXX
3.2 Social Media activities from DD/MM/YYYY to DD/MM/YYYY
3.3 Main competitors and how they compare in terms of Social Media
marketing
3.4 SWOT of current Social Media activities by XXXXX
3.5 Conclusions from the Social Media Analysis
4. RECOMMENDATION
4.1 Social Media customer engagement improvement recommendation
4.2 Description of Target Market Segment(s) impacted by recommendation
4.3 Implementation considerations
4.4 Potential negative impacts
4.5 Potential positive impacts
5. CONCLUSIONS REFERENCES APPENDICES
(word count starts from this section)
1. INTRODUCTION: The Introduction tells the reader WHAT the report is about (purpose and case study brand or company being examined); WHAT are the main sections of the report; HOW you went about gathering the information AND any LIMITATIONS the reader should be made aware of (e.g. no direct access to owners, no customer surveys etc.). The Introduction should be a single paragraph.
1. INTRODUCTION
This report aims to critically analyse the social media activities of XXXXX. The report addresses areas such as YYYYY. In conclusion it will provide a recommendation as to how XXXXX can improve their social media activities. Secondary research was the main way information was gathered with limited primary research being undertaken in the form of personal observations. The research was limited due to XXXXX
2. OVERVIEW OF XXXXX: Introduces the company, its brand/product/service and target market.
2. OVERVIEW OF XXXXX
2.1 Current Location and contact details
2.2 History of XXXXX
2.3 Description of products/services
2.4 Description of industry market segment
2.5 Current target market (s)
3. SUMMARY OF SOCIAL MEDIA USE, OBJECTIVES AND EFFECTIVENESS: Briefly summarize the company’s current use of social media. Are they using the different tools like Twitter, Instagram Pinterest etc. in ways that are unique or duplicative - of other companies or competitors? In other words are they saying the same uninspired things over and over again across platform or are they a unique voice that adapts to the platform/medium? What are the risks involved? Have their marketing efforts failed on a particular channel? How do they manage customer dissatisfaction? How do they leverage each tool? Do they offer deals? A table that presents numbers of followers and frequency of posts is a good start for this section. If they are not on a specific platform, try to deduce why they are absent from this channel.
3. SUMMARY OF SOCIAL MEDIA USE, OBJECTIVES AND EFFECTIVENESS
3.1 Social media channels utilised by XXXXX
3.2 Social Media activities from DD/MM/YYYY to DD/MM/YYYY (table)
3.3 Main competitors and how they compare in terms of Social Media marketing
(use a comparative table here)
3.4 SWOT of current Social Media activities by XXXXX (in terms of engagement
with their customers)
3.5 Conclusions from the Social Media Analysis
4. RECOMMENDATION: Make one (1) recommendation based upon your assessment and research. HINT: Ideally the recommendation should be based on something identified in the Social Media SWOT (3.4) and be supported by marketing theory where possible. You must identify who the target market segment the recommendation is aimed at. You must justify this recommendation. You must provide an explanation of what is involved in implementing your recommendations and any associated positive and/or negative impacts.
4. RECOMMENDATION
4.1 Social Media customer engagement improvement recommendation (SMART)
4.2 Description of Target Market Segment (s) impacted by recommendation (and
why it is a good “fit”)
4.3 Implementation considerations (practical requirements – time/resources etc.)
4.4 Potential negative impacts (e.g. labour, cost etc.)
4.5 Potential positive impacts (e.g. profit, market share etc.)
5. CONCLUSIONS: This section is where you summarise your findings from the report and provide an overall recommendation (in a SMART format – see section 4.1) based on your report findings to improve the effectiveness of the Social Media activities in a specific manner. For example:
5. CONCLUSIONS
The report investigated the social media activities of XXXXX and found that XXXXXXXXXXIn line with the findings of the report it is recommended that ............................
REFERENCES:
Should be in APA6 format (including doi’s where available). List should be in alphabetical order. Should use a combination of academic articles, marketing theory, industry sources and media articles. Expectation that you will include at minimum of 10 references, at least 5 of which will be academic.
Note: all work that is not yours must have an in-text citation (in the body of the report) and an associated full reference (in this concluding References section)
EXAMPLES OF APA6 FORMAT
Dahl, S. (2015). Social media marketing: Theories and applications.
London: Sage. doi: XXXXXXXXXX/ XXXXXXXXXX
Gaiman, N. [Neil]. (2012, February 29). Please celebrate Leap Year
Day in the traditional manner by taking a writer out for dinner. It’s been four years since many authors had a good dinner. We are waiting. Many of us have our forks or chopsticks at the
[Facebook status update]. Retrieved from
https://www.facebook.com/neilgaiman/posts/ XXXXXXXXXX
Leung, D., Law, R., Van Hoof, H., & Buhalis, D XXXXXXXXXXSocial media
in tourism and hospitality: A literature review. Journal of Travel & Tourism Marketing, 30(1-2), 3-22.
APPENDICES: Each appendix should have a numbered title that aliogns with what you included in the body of the report