Tuesday 2 May 2017

Unit 301 Principles of Social Media Within a Business

Task A

I will be discussing the apprenticeship that I am in at Beacon Books

        1. Describe the type, vision, two aims, two objectives and two goals of the
business.
The first aim is increase people’s knowledge of Islamic text in the English language. The second aim is to have a worldwide audience from many countries in the world.
The first objective is to increase the awareness of Beacon Books by getting a larger following on social media, this will be assessed on a weekly basis. The second objective is to consistently increase sales. This will be measured both weekly and monthly.
The first goal is to increase sales to £50,000 pa this will be done by improving after the monthly review of sales. The second goal is to set up bases in 4 other countries in the world, this will be done by finding dedicated people to head these bases.

     2. Describe two brand statements and two value statements of the business.
The first brand statement is to incorporate our books into everyday lives. The second is to educate people on the core values of Islam.
The first value statement is to have good customer service and try and cater to the best of our ability to their needs no matter what country that they are in. The second statement is that we coordinate with clients/ authors effectively.

   3a. Identify four audience groups of the business.
1.      Islamic academics
2.      Islamic children
3.      Islamic novel enthusiasts
4.      Spiritual minded people
  3bDescribe how the audience groups identified in question 3 a) are made aware of
the brand and values.
The audiences are made aware of this by our social media accounts. This will be done by the different posts that we put out such as inspirational quotes and specific extract from books to why reasons on why the author chose the book and some in house activity to show we are connected with the customers.
     4. Identify how influencers can be made aware of the brand and values.
The influencer are also made aware by  different posts that we put out such as inspirational quotes and specific extract from books to why reasons on why the author chose the book and some in house activity to show we are connected with the customers alongside that they are made aware through email and direct marketing.


5.     Explain, with examples, three ways the business could use Social Media as part of their marketing plan.
Beacon Books could promote events on the social media channels by putting event promotions and posters on the social media channels.
We could also sell our books on the Facebook page on the shop section of the page, this links up to our website.
Beacon books could also promote upcoming books by putting different and interesting posts on the different social media channels.
6a. Suggest the main four Social Media tools/channels that can be used in the
business.
Twitter
Facebook
Pinterst
Instagram
6b.  Evaluate the four Social Media tools/channels chosen in question 6 a).
Facebook and twitter are the best channels for us as most of our audience is on here. Instagram is great for highlighting our new books but that’s about it. Pinterest is only good for showing our new projects, not much audience on this. Facebook and twitter are more versatile as you can do more on it such as have a shop and interact more with the audience.

7.  Briefly describe what success will look like when using each of the chosen Social
Media tools/channels in question 6 a) for a business.
For Facebook, success would be calculated on the number of interactions we get as well as the reach. For twitter and Instagram success would be measured on the number of likes/favourites each post gets as well as an increase in following. Finally, for Pinterest the number of followers we have and the number of images that pinned from our boards.

8. Describe three methods the business can use to measure success of the Social Media tools/ channels.
Google analytics
Hootsuite
The social media platforms in house analytics. E.g. Facebooks insights


9. Explain, with three reasons, why the business should have a Social Media Policy and Guidelines.
To put the right content up
To target the right market segment effectively
Putting content that is non-offensive and has a clear message

10. Explain, with one reason, why the business should have a Reputation Management Policy.

This is because the information that is being put online such as on social media will be representing what the company or an organisation holds as values. For example if Beacon Books started to put more politically minded posts on this will effect there reputation as they will be seen as politically affiliated. 


Task B


For this task, I will be looking at a competitor for Beacon Books. The competitor that I will be looking at is Bloomsbury Publishers. These are the 6 questions that I will be answering:
·       A brief explanation with four reasons why it is important to monitor the competitor’s use of Social Media
·       One observation about the competitor’s website
·       Review of their use of social icons on their website
·       Review of their use of each social tool used
·       Review of conversations for each tool
·       Three suggested improvements to their use of Social Media.

Bloomsbury are a publishers based in London. They have been going for 31 years (1986) there founder was Nigel Newton and there revenue is £110 million. The things they publish include; books, academic journals, digital content products and online resources such as databases.
I will firstly look at why it is important to monitor competitor’s social media. First of all It will help distinguish the proper platform to use as competitors have similar business models in the terms of what we are selling and if they are using a certain type of social media platform that Beacon Books isn’t using then there is surly a market and usefulness to use this platform.
The second reason is that Beacon Books can notice Bloomsbury’s habits. This will such things as different types of content and timings of when they post there content as they may have more effectiveness based on the times they post content on social media.
The third reason why it is good to monitor Bloomsbury’s account is that Beacon Books can learn from Bloomsbury’s mistakes and avoid having the wrong content.
The fourth reason is that there will be opportunity to exploit Bloomsbury’s errors. This could be campaign that Bloomsbury have done that has not been as successful as planned, and then Beacon Books doing a similar campaign that has improved upon the mistakes of Bloomsbury to make it a successful campaign.
One observation of Bloomsbury’s website (http://bloomsbury.com/uk/) is that it is easy on the eyes and everything is neat and in an orderly manner on the pages.
The social media icons they use are Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, YouTube, Google + and LinkedIn. They have put it near the top of the page on the right hand side. It is eye height when the page is opened.
They use Instagram, Twitter and Facebook more often than they do with You Tube Google +, Pinterest and LinkedIn. They put more content on the first 3 then the other 4 social media platforms.
Instagram, Twitter and Facebook are generally used to promote new books, where as You Tube and Google + are used to highlight videos either what is going on in house or event promotions and interviews. Facebook and Twitter also do this. Pinterest also highlight their books and LinkedIn is mainly used for press releases. 

The three improvement that I would give is that they could openly interact with the customers more, they could increase their activity on Facebook, and finally they could make some creative video’s such as animations. 

Task C

1. Describe 4 marketing tools available for a business.
Website
Social Media
Blog
Email

2. Explain 3 possible benefits to a business of encouraging amplification.
More people will start to talk about it, which therefore increases.
If something amplified more and more then the more and more it will get noticed, such as shares and likes.
Using SEO if someone is speaking and writing about it will increase the ranking on platforms such as Google.

3. Explain 3 possible consequences to a business of encouraging amplification.
Spelling mistakes can effect the SEO massively as what people are searching is based of the what it's about.
If there are bad reviews with comments and it is shared more then this could have a negative effect on the business.
If there is spam on where it has been amplified then that could effect the SEO.

4. Explain 3 benefits to a business of encouraging engagement.  
Engagement on social media will more likely lead to shares.
The higher the engagement on social media the height the chance of sales
Likes and shares will appear on the person who has liked/shared news-feed.

5.  Explain 2 possible consequences to a business of encouraging engagement. 
If there is too much engagement people may unlike the page to stop notifications.
Negative reviews may stop people from joining our page as they are generally stronger then good reviews.

6. Give 5 factors that should be considered when identifying a social media plan for a business.
The product that you are selling,
The market size,
The regions that you sell,
Target Audience,
distribution and logistics

7. for 3 of the factors identified in Q6 above, explain how they should be considered when identifying a social media plan for a business.
The product that you are selling should be considered as it is what is going considered as it is what is going to make you money so therefore marketing it right is key.
The market size should be considered as this will identify how much you can sell.
 How much you can plan.

8 a. Describe 4 different tools/channels that used for Social Media
Instagram
Facebook
YouTube
LinkedIn

8 b. Describe 1 feature and 1 benefit for each too described in 8a.
Instagram: This is Image posting, the benefit is that it is easy too read as a user 
Facebook: sharing posts that are to do with the business and the benefit is that largest SM network in the world.
YouTube: Sharing and posting  videos of all kind, the benefit is that it is an extremely large amount of people are on YouTube at any one time.
LinkedIn: B2B based, showcasing the business, the benefit of this is that you can target your audience.

8 c. Identify 2 potential types of audience for each tool described in 8a.
Instagram: Bloggers and Younger generation
Facebook: mass market and maybe businesses
YouTube: mass market and younger people
LinkedIn: businesses and clients   

9. Explain with 3 reasons why a business should measure the outcomes of the use of social media tools.
To show efficiency, 
The quality of work,   
To see whats working and what isn't

10 a. Define SMARTER targets

S specific
M measurable
A achievable
R realistic
T time-bound
E ethical  
R recorded

10 b. For each of the above, explain why it is important to set SMARTER targets with reference to different Social Media tools/channels. 
Specific: Because of accuracy of what you want doing 
Measurable: To keep track of what you are doing 
Achievable: Targeting ways to keep them within reach of the businesses capabilities 
Realistic: making sure the organisation will be able to achieve them 
Time bound: to make sure you have a time scale on when to achieve the targets 
Ethical: making sure that you do it in a way that is true and proper 
Recorded: to make sure that you keep track on what you are doing

11. Describe four components of a Social Media Policy and Guidelines for a business.    
Monitor the Social media platforms used 
Be ethical when using social media 
Respond strategiclly (PR) 
Educate staff on what should be on SM

12. Briefly explain why it is important to have a reputation management policy. 

It is important as it will help increase sales, build trust within and externally of the company, show the best side to the company and monitor activity

13. Describe one benefit of managing perception changes in a business’s reputation. 
You can change the perception of the business depending to the audience ad the current market.

14. Describe four ways of managing perception changes in a business’ reputation. 
PR
Promote your business ethics
Target SM activity to the audience that you want to attract
Tailor products to the market

15. Explain two consequences of using Social Media on the budget of each of the following types of businesses: 
 - sole trader local 
 - volunteer group 
 - corporate enterprise.
Sole Trader: Time consuming, little paid advertising
Local Volunteer Group: No paid advertising, Organic posts sharing is what they rely on
Corporate Enterprise: Use Paid advertising more often, may not be a priority so may not invest as much time and effort onto it.

16. Describe what success could look like when using different social media tools/ channels for each of the following type of businesses: 
- sole trader local
- volunteer group 
- corporate enterprise. 

Sole Trader: Expanding the knowledge of the company and the products that they sell as well as potential new market reach.
Local Volunteer Group: Get the word of there cause free and to a potential larger audience
Corporate Enterprise: Solidifying the brand reputation.

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