Continuation of Samsung Electronics Business Analysis: Social Media Marketing Plan
From Assignment 1, select one (1) of your proposed business actions and create an intrapreneurship plan. Remember, intrapreneurship refers to the process of promoting innovation within your workplace. You might want to review Chapter 6 for more details about intrapreneurship and creativity. The idea is to create a “business plan” to promote your idea to your supervisor.
Write a four to five (4-5) page paper in which you:
Describe in what way your proposed business action is an innovative idea.
Tip: Remember, this is your idea, and you need to be precise in your proposal to obtain your supervisor’s support.
Explain why you think this idea will benefit the business in terms of return of investment (ROI).
Tip: Check Chapter 6, pages 183-184. Click here for help accessing a specific page number in your eBook.
Prepare a plan to present your idea to your supervisor covering the following items:
Create a vision of your idea that explains the value to the company.
Assess the resources needed (e.g., financial, human resources, machinery, logistic, etc.) to execute your idea.
Assess potential interdepartmental and/or interoganizational relationships needed to complete your proposal. Explain and support your reasons.
Propose a potential timeline for completion.
Tip: How long do you think you will need to implement this idea?
Use at least two (2) quality academic resources you have located using the Strayer Learning Resources Center (LRC) / Strayer databases in this assignment. Note: Wikipedia does not qualify as an academic resource, and neither do web-based blogs.
Your assignment must follow these formatting requirements:
Be typed, double spaced, using Times New Roman font (size 12), with one-inch margins on all sides; citations and references must follow APA format.
Include a cover page containing the title of the assignment, your name, your professor’s name, the course title, and the date. The cover page and the reference page are not included in the required assignment page length.
The specific course learning outcomes associated with this assignment are:
Analyze business plans based on an analysis of domestic and global operating environments, market dynamics, and electronic and internal capabilities.
Evaluate the different forms of business ownership to determine the optimal structure in different scenarios and the process for a business start-up.
Use technology and information resources to research issues in contemporary business.
Write clearly and concisely about contemporary business using proper writing mechanics.
Solution
Social Media Marketing Plan
Social Media Marketing Plan Summary
Social media marketing has been increasingly embraced by different organizations as one of the major ways through which they create awareness of their brands to a wider section of the public and at a reduced cost. Social media creates an interactive platform through which potential customers share information about different aspects of their lives, including products (Barker, Barker, Bormann, & Neher, 2012). As such, it is no longer a question of whether social media is an effective way of expanding an organizations consumer base, but about how social media can be used to expand the consumer base. The idea of social media marketing is a highly innovative idea as it creates a unique approach to marketing. Marketing is a costly endeavor for any business. Methods of marketing such as the use of television advertisements, radio ads, billboard ads, newspaper and magazine ads, and brochures, among other methods require huge budgets. Nevertheless, social media networks allow users to create accounts for free, through which they can be able to share information with other members of the public without incurring costs. As such, social media provides for a cost effective approach through which Samsung can not only create brand awareness but also receive feedback from the consumers that will allow for improvements in product and service delivery.
Benefits of social media marketing and branding to Samsung
Embracement of advanced social media marketing will provide Samsung with various benefits in terms of Returns on Investment (ROI). The main purpose of marketing for any organization is to increase awareness of the products or services offered and to attract consumers and persuade them to try out such a product or service (Charlesworth, 2014). The use of social media marketing will allow the organization to develop an insight into the experiences of the audiences with the brand. As such, this is a digitized approach to market research, which will allow the organization to understand its consumers and hence to promote practices that would promote consumer loyalty to the brand and hence increased sales. In addition, the use of social media networks in branding would allow Samsung to improve on the quality of the services offered to its consumers and hence encourage consumers to prefer the brand to others within the same industry. Case in point, this will allow the company to instantaneously address the concerns, comments, and questions of the customers (Barker, Barker, Bormann, & Neher, 2012). When consumer needs are satisfied and their concerns adequately and aptly addressed, they will be more likely to develop loyalty to the brand and hence facilitate an increase in sales and improve the returns on investment.
Another important role that social media branding will play in improving the ROI is enhancing the ease with which content about the products and services provided by Samsung is distributed. The company will be able to easily spread the word and reach the consumers and in turn contribute to referral traffic to the company’s website (Charlesworth, 2014). It requires repetition of exposure for customers to be lured into purchasing products or services. Such exposure could be costly to the company especially if it involves the use of the other forms of advertising. Social media marketing provides a cheaper way through which consumers can be exposed to such products and encouraged to make purchases. In addition, as the company gains more followers on the social media sites, it will gain more influence on the industry. As more people talk about a given brand, it appears as more authoritative and valuable to new users. Such influence is important in attracting new consumers and lays a foundation for targeting new market niches and entering into new markets.
In addition, the most important benefit of social media branding is that it increases traffic flow to the company’s website (Charlesworth, 2014). If Samsung uses social media to share information with the public, more individuals will find reason to visit the company’s website. Without employment of social media, the company’s website can only be visited by those who are familiar with the brand and those who are looking up for keywords that the company’s domain ranks for. It is important to note that all these benefits add up to increased sales and re-purchases of the products offered by the company, an aspect that increases profits made by the company while reducing costs in terms of marketing costs (Barker, Barker, Bormann, & Neher, 2012). This promotes higher returns on investment that the company will get and hence its general performance.
Resource analysis
Proper investment and application of social media marketing at the corporate level requires proper identification and investing in the various social media resources required. It is important to note that the main concern of any business strategy is to establish a connection between resources and competences of the organization with the external environment in order to facilitate attainment of strategic capabilities (Bracker, Keats, & Pearson, Strategic Management Journal). Samsun Electronic will need both tangible and intangible resources in order to effect the implementation of the social media marketing plan. In terms of the tangible resources, the company will need to employ persons good at information technology and marketing, computers, internet connection, social media content management software, and social media performance rating software. On the other hand, various intangible resources will be required, including training of the employees in social media marketing skills and promotion of a culture for social media sharing of information and creating intra-organizational employee back up (Barker, Barker, Bormann, & Neher, 2012). Importantly, the company already has other intangible resources such as a good reputation and a widely known brand name, both of which will be important in facilitating the interest of the public in the content shared through the social media sites.
Vital inter-departmental and inter-organizational relationships
The success of the social media marketing strategy will only be a success if it is well embraced within the organization and received the backing of Samsung Electronics’ employees and the management. As such, the relationships that will exist between the first hand implementers of the plan and other related departments in highly important. To start with, it will be important for a good relationship to be maintained between the sales and marketing department and the IT department. Both departments will play a key role in terms of generating content that will be shared on the sites or ensuring that technical problems are well handled. On the other hand, the company will be required to establish a good relationship with other companies that offer social media marketing services. This will allow Samsung to outsource its social media marketing functions and to maintain only a small team to develop content to be shared and to respond to consumer feedback. In addition, it will allow the company to cut on the costs that come with social media marketing.
Proposal timeline
References
Barker, M., Barker, D. I., Bormann, N. F., & Neher, K. E. (2012). Social Media Marketing: A Strategic Approach. New York: South-Western Cengage Learning.
Bracker, J., Keats, B., & Pearson, J. (Strategic Management Journal). Planning and financial performance among small firms in a growth industry. 2008, 9(1), 591-603. Charlesworth, A. (2014). An Introduction to Social Media Marketing. London: Routledge.