Strategic Management

Assessment Task 8

For companies in general, identify and discuss three opportunities and three threats
associated with social networking activities on the Internet.

Opportunities

Market Research

An often-lost marketing strategy opportunity is social media as a tool to eavesdrop

on your target audiences. By listening in on the conversations they are having, you
can build on your buyer persona profile, gaining valuable first-hand insight into their
challenges, pain points, aspirations and preferences.

This should be your initial objective using social media: Get to know your audience
and influencers before targeting them. Listen and learn before you participate and
you will then know precisely what they are looking for from social media
engagement and be able to deliver that experience.

Build Brand Awareness

Social networks offer an incredible opportunity to promote your brand and improve
your online presence. While the principles of inbound marketing encourage using
social media platforms as a channel to distribute your educational content to build
brand awareness, this needs to be achieved subtly.

We also know that social proof is playing a larger role in search engine rankings
than before and if your content is being shared out more regularly on social
platforms, chances are that you will build better organic search engine rankings too.

Customer Support

When discussing social media as an engagement tool, we often hear the objection
like, “But what if they say something bad? ” The reality is that they are already
talking about your business, whether you are there or not, and non-responsive
businesses earn worse reputations than those that do.

Being active on social media allows you to manage these conversations and deal
with compliments, complaints or support queries openly and honestly. In doing so,
you show both existing and potential clients that they can rely on you to provide
 support and service post-sale, on the platforms they are most comfortable with for
engagement.

Threats

Inconsistency

Businesses often rush into social media without knowing what they ’re getting into or
a plan of action. Incomplete or outdated social media pages will reflect poorly on
your business if not managed. A company Facebook page that hasn ’t been updated
in a year is no way to represent your brand. The best way to avoid an inconsistent
online image is to create a social media plan and stick to it. Know the platforms that
are worth using, and the ones that can be avoided. By sticking to a plan and
routinely updating your pages with interesting content, your brand will keep a
consistent image and remain competitive.

Overuse

On the flipside of having outdated media pages, some businesses make the
mistake of overwhelming their followers with too many posts that are tedious or
unnecessary. The best advice here is to not mistake quantity for quality. Just
because you’re posting often doesn’t mean you ’re posting well. Social media posts
should entertain and educate customers, not beg for their attention and
engagement. Know what your customers want to see and limit it to that. A good
place to start is by researching how often leaders in your industry post on social
media.

Account hacking

Your business’s brand is constantly subject to online scrutiny, and the last thing you
need is a hacker compromising the integrity of your product or service. The smallest
mistake in your social media use can lead to mistrust from your customers. Major
businesses have fallen victim to the threat of online hackers. Although these types
of security breaches are a very real threat, companies can safeguard against cyber
invasions by updating their passwords and creating a central management system
with built-in firewalls for their social media pages. Companies should also consider
performing social media risk assessments to help spot flaws in their security system
and keep unwanted invaders out.

Do you agree or disagree with the following statement? “Television viewers are passive
viewers of ads, whereas Internet users take an active role in choosing what to look at—
so customers on the Internet are tougher for marketers to reach. ” Explain your
reasoning.

I agree that TV viewers are passive viewers of ads, and Internet users take an active
role in choosing what to look at. But I disagree that customers on the Internet are
tougher for marketers to reach. I believe that they are easier to reach as an audience
than TV viewers. There are certain differences in both platforms and both of these
options can help businesses sell more. But I think internet may be a better option to
consider for a particular business model and sales methods.

One of the differences between TV advertising and Internet marketing is the level of
specificity that advertisers are able to achieve. With TV ads, advertisers typically send
out a message to a large audience all at once. This results in some wasted resources,
as many people see the ads who are not interested in it. With online advertising, it is
possible to zero in on a specific audience. For example, with search engine ads, your
ad is only shown when someone types in a specific keyword.

Another difference between online advertising and TV advertising is the budget

required to accomplish both. With TV ads, you typically need a larger budget to get
started. For example, you might have to spend thousands of pesos or more to start a
TV ad campaign. By comparison, with an online campaign, you could realistically get
started with any amount of money. You could potentially start a search engine
advertising campaign for as little as P 500.00.

How important or relevant do you believe “purpose-based marketing ” is for

organizations today?

Times are changing. When choosing brands to do business with, today ’s consumers
care about more than just what products or services they offer. They care about what
kind of impact brands are making in the world. And if you want to take your brand to the
next level, you need a sense of purpose —a sense of purpose your audience truly
connects to. Purpose-based marketing can have a major impact on how your brand is
viewed in the market and can be the driving force behind your success.

Brand purpose represents your reason for being and what you stand for above all
else. Purpose-based marketing makes you irresistible to those you hope to serve.
Prospects are drawn to the idea that their spending can do more than just help them
acquire goods and services. It can help them feel like they are part of a bigger effort.
 Purpose-based marketing is important because it shows your customers that you ’re
not just your products, services, or advertising campaigns. You have a purpose and it ’s
bigger than just turning a profit. A rising generation of consumers is looking for brands
to stand for something bigger than the products they sell. They want brands to embody
inspiring ideas, bring a strong point of view, and take action to make a positive impact in
the world.

Why is it essential for organizations to segment markets and target particular groups of
consumers?

Market segmentation is an important basis of many successful marketing strategies.

Carefully chosen segments allow tailoring the marketing mix to more individual
customer needs. Thus, they help to invest marketing spending more effectively.
Analysis of market segments enables decisions about intensity of marketing activities in
particular segments. A segment-orientated marketing approach generally offers a range
of advantages for both, businesses and customers.

Market segmentation is necessary because in most cases buyers of a product or a

service are no homogenous group. Actually, every buyer has individual needs,
preferences, resources and behaviors. Since it is virtually impossible to cater for every
customer’s individual characteristics, marketers group customers to market segments
by variables they have in common. These common characteristics allow developing a
standardized marketing mix for all customers in this segment.