ZQMS-ARC-REC-002

ASSIGNMENT COVER

REGION: HARARE

PROGRAM: BCOMM HONORS IN

MARKETING MANAGEMENT INTAKE: 3

FULL NAME OF STUDENT: SARAH MASOMBO PIN:P2222502B

MAILING ADDRESS:s.masombo24@gmail.com

CONTACT TELEPHONE/CELL: 0784 949 130 ID. NO.: 63-2064524F75

COURSE NAME: SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING COURSECODE:BMKT 132

ASSIGNMENT NO. e.g. 1 or 2: 1 DUE DATE:___________________

ASSIGNMENT TITLE: Social media creates not only marketing opportunities but
also challenges.Discuss with examples of five challenges companies may face
through the use of social media.
MARKER’S COMMENTS:
_____________________________________________________

OVERALL MARK: _____________ MARKER’S NAME:

________________________

MARKER’S SIGNATURE:_______________________________ DATE: ___________

QUESTION 1
INTRODUCTION
David Chaffey defined social media marketing as the monitoring and facilitating of
customer interaction,participation and sharing through digital media to encourage
positive engagement with a company and its brands leading to
commercial value.This means that social media marketing is the act of marketing a
company’s products and services through social networks,websites and social
media platforms.The ever changing world has resulted in the invention of new
marketing platforms which has been quite advantageous for many firms.As such this
has seen the emergence of social media that is now being used as a marketing
platform since now technology has taken over the world.Hencethe assertion that social
media creates not only marketing opportunities but also challenges seeks to reveal
the problems that emanate from the use of social media as a marketing tool.

GETTING FOLLOWERS
To begin with,the success of social media marketing for companies is determined by
the number of followers that they get when they for example launch their page or
advertise their product or service online.Getting followers to a brand and turning them
as the company’s customers is a big challenge in social media these days.There are a
lot of brands that are trying to get attention from their audience and they work very
hard to get that attention which in turn increases competition.This has proved to be a
challenge as many brands wants to increase their number of followers who can be
their potential customers.Getting followers is a challenge in the sense that a product or
service can only be a success through social media marketing if the brand gets a
positive embrace on the social media platform they will be using.Growing the social
following fits hand in hand with growing the engagement as the more people they
reach is the more people that discovers the company’s brand.For example brands like
Kelly’s Chicken havebeen unsuccessful in getting many followers which has hindered
the growth of the brand as any post or promotion will only be liked by a
few people.For example on their Facebook page they only have 494 followers and 479
likes and this is a clear example of how unsuccessful they have been on their social
media platform.The challenge of getting followers has caused drawbacks in their
marketing campaigns and promotions,assome of them like the Chips and Russian
sausage $1 United States dollar deal only got 11likes on Facebook.The more the
brand’s page gets more followers whether on Instagram,facebook,twitter etc is the
more it will get embraced by many consumers but however the challenge is
getting followers.Hence getting followers is a challenge that companies may face
through the use of social media.

UNDERSTANDING YOUR AUDIENCE

On social media brands have to seek out customers but the challenge is that some
brands have np idea how to do this.Oftenly marketers create the content first and
figure out the target audience later.They have the misconception that great content
converts or attracts many followers that have the potential to become future
consumers even if the content is not targeted.This is a misconception as it proves to be
directionless marketing that has resulted in damaging the many
brands’ credibility.The challenges lies on understanding the audience the company
will be targeting because in marketing there is always a target market that the brand
aims to satisfy the needs and wants of those consumers.As such failure to do so may
result in getting blocked or reported if you bombard people with
irrelevant content.Yes some content is useless to some consumers who see no
relevance of that product or services that will be posted.Undertanding the audience
will help the company identify the right social media platform to use.For instance
there is Tik-Tok,Facebook,Instagram and YouTube and we see that every type of
consumers has their own preference of these social media platforms that they most
likely use.For example if a company decides to use YouTube as its platform it should
determine the consumers’ demographics because not everyone needs that product or
service you are offering.So the questions are who is your target customer that you are
aiming at attracting.Is it men, women
or both?,young or old?,married or single?,the innovators or
the laggards?,this statistical data that helps in understanding the audience is a
challenge indeed.This is so because failure to do so results in failure of the whole
marketing point.For example if you share a poor-quality video that then appears as an
‘add’ on the account of rich consumerswith an attitude,the brand risk the chances of
getting blocked to be unfollowed.Therefore understanding the target audience is a
challenge that companies may face through the use of social media.

TIME MANAGEMENT
Creating a cross-channel approach has set out many opportunities for companies but it
has come up with several challenges.Using multiple platforms in your social media
strategy allows a company to gain more insights into your
target audience.However this is a significant challenge that most social media
managers in companies face.Creating content,particularlyengaging content takes time
and effort.It involves brainstormimg,research,the actual creation of content and
getting approval.Apart from these,social media managers also have to be on top of
notifications and messages from the platforms they are managing.If a brand is present
on multiple social media platforms,then cross-posting and keeping up with
notifications can eat up time.The messages,notifications and content deadlines are
some of the things that are time consuming,for example big brands like Econet needs
to have an always active team that is responsible for the social media management
activities which means the more the employees is the more the salaries the
company incurs.As such social media tends to be time-consumimg because without an
effective plan the employees might end up wasting time and won’t be able to achieve
the objectives of the company.Furthermore,the other challenge is that companies
might face is when social marketers who manages multiple social media accounts
forget the passwords of the accounts as it is not easy to keep track of the password for
each account.This sometimes results in loss of time looking
for passwords.Therefore it is imperative to note that time management is a challenge
that is faced by companies using social media.

NEGATIVE FEEDBACKS
Roberts and Kraynak 2008 denotes that social media in a wayconverts consumers into
marketers and advertisers, and consumers can create positive or negative pressure for
the company, its products, and its services, depending both on how the company is
presented online and on the quality of products and services presented to
the customer.This means that social media has the ability to make a product or service
more appealing or for it to be criticized to such an extent that the whole marketing
campaign might be damaged.Cheung,Lee and Thadani postulates that unhappy
customers or industry competitors are able to post disparaging or offensive pictures,
posts or videos and there is not much a marketer can do to prevent
these occurrences.For example there was this challenge that Nyaradzo Funeral and
Insurance services faced when there was a post by an unhappy customer that was
about how their policy could not fund the suicides funerals.This post resulted in harsh
and negative comments about the company as some customers ended up labelling
them as fraudsters who were after people’s money.Other examples are that of small
companies that are on the rise for example the maxi drink has had negative feedback
comments where consumers said that yes the beverage was cheap but the taste is
awful and such comments discourage potential consumers thus damaging
the campaign.Still, negative or other non-constructive feedback cannot be ignored but
however the management of these social network to curb the negativity is time-
consuming.Hence one can safely assert that negative feedback is a challenge faced by
companies using social media.

TRUST AND SECURITY ISSUES

The use of social media to promote the company’s brand results in trust,privacy and
security issues. It is of importance for companies to be aware of these issues so that
they can take measures against them.Hoffman et al 1999 articulates
that trust,particularly the unique dimensions of security and privacy plays an
important role in generating customer loyalty social media marketers.A study
by Ratnasingham (1998) has shown that fear of online credit card fraud has been one
of the major reasons customers have not done more extensive online buying.The fear
of being hacked resulting in lots of your money to be stolen has been a challenge to
customers as that causes consumers to be hesitant causing them not to engage.Lack of
trust from potential consumers threatens a future possible relationship between the
consumers and the company.As such this might result in the decline of followers
which will cause drawback on the marketing campaign.Social media companies like
Facebook and Twitter generally have their own privacy policies that govern their use of
consumer data and third-party conduct on the social media platform with respect to
personal data.Trust is a very important factor that has proved to be challenging for
companies as it affects the buying behavior process for consumers online.On social
media you don’t physically see the salesperson you cannot feel,smell or touch
the product.Steinman and Hawkins 2010 supports this by saying that you cannot look into
the eyes of the salesperson and this means that the ways of developing trust on the
internet are eliminated.There is need for the consumer to trust the brand that he/she is
purchasing for example The One and Only thrift shop that sales preloved ladies clothes
from United Kingdom has had the challenge of getting low sales since they sell
products online.This is because the assumption is that thrift clothes may look nice on
pictures but when you get them physically they will not be that attractive.As such this
online store that is published under the name Jermaine Katt holdings has experienced
how customers can drawback because of trust.The need for some consumers
to feel,touch or smell the product before buying it has been a challenge to some
companies that sells their products online.As such this will damage the marketing
campaign of the company hence lack of trust and security issues are a challenge faced by
companies on social media.

CONCLUSION
In summation there are a variety of challenges that companies face on
social media.Lack of trust and security issues ,understanding the audience etc are
some of the challenges that they face.And as a result one is able to note that these
challenges end up hindering the growth and success of companies since they damage
the marketing strategy.

QUESTION 2

INTRODUCTION
A celebrity is a famous person especially in entertainment or sport.The use of
celebrities by companies to market their products or services has been on the
rise lately.This is because these people already have influence on people and as such
one is able to see why they have been used by many companies.Thelikes of
ZIMOCO,INSCOR,CROCO MOTORS ,NYARADZO and Willowton Group
Zimbabwe have been seen engaging with celebrities in a bid to get more consumers
using their products or services.

CELEBRITY ENDORSEMENT
Celebrity endorsement is a form of advertising campaign or marketing strategy which
uses a celebrity’s fame or social status to promote a product,brand or service to raise
awareness about an issue.Due to the development in the field of
mass communications,as one of the oldest branding tools,celebrity endorsement will
keep its effects.Endorsement is actually encouraging someone to promote a product or
service .Written or verbal statements,posts on social media,website content audio or
video information can all be used as endorsements.When a person or group publicly
declares their support for a product’s quality,benefits and brand in an advertisement
or marketing campaign it becomes product endorsement.Hence celebrities are a
powerful tool for boosting a company’s visibility in
the marketplace.Celebrity endorsement in Zimbabwe is adopted in the name of brand
ambassadors and as such we see companies like Zimoco using Tamy Moyo as their
brand ambassador.Willowton Group Zimbabwe uses the famous
DJ Ollah ,Croco Motors recently engaged with a local famous musician who goes by
the name Baba Harare,Nyaradzo Funeral Services uses Tyra Chikocho also known as
Madam Boss and INSCOR now has Vee Candy as their PIZZA INN
brand ambassador.Hence one is able to see that these celebrities and high profile
personalities are used in endorsements that makes the product or service more
appealing to the public thus increasing consumers who embrace the product or service
of these companies.

Influencer marketing
Furthermore,using celebrities or influencers in marketing the service or
a product,it leverages the credibility of a popular content creator to promote the brand
through paid endorsements and recommendations.Partnering with influencers give the
company direct access to a segment of prospects that need and want to buy the
product or use the service.For example Zimocoalways targeted the elite or those that
have reached self actualization and even top government officials.But by engaging
with Tamy Moyo they were able to get an insight of youngsters who are going to be
their future consumers.As such though already famous,it is now more famous because
of the use of a sophisticated youngster musician who is doing well in the
music industry.Madam Boss or Tyra Chikocho is seen raising flags
for Nyaradzo Funeral Services through her posts on facebook in which she tries by all
means to explain the services offered and how important it is to have a funeral policy
with Nyaradzo.Assuch we see Nyaradzo continuing to be on the top spot in
their field.Recently Ms V Candy became the brand ambassador of PIZZA INN and so
far so good,the radio personality is seen raising flags for Inscor and as such this is
welcomed by positive embraces.The fact that these celebrities already have influence
over their followers makes it easy for them to reach out to consumers who will
positively embrace the brand resulting in high sales for the companies.

Creative Brand awareness

Celebrities are used in campaigns and invited to be part of the niche and it is a great
way to increase brand awareness and driving sales.Creative brand awareness using
celebrities is whereby celebrities are filmed using your product or taking pictures of
celebrities using your products.When Tamy Moyopartnered with Zimoco she was
given a brand new Haval and the whole process was filmed and there were several
pictures of her being given the car.The same goes for Baba Harare who was given a
Ford ranger and Madam Boss who bought a car at Crocomotors which resulted in her
being the brand ambassador of that company.There is also Ms V Candy the PIZZA
INN brand ambassador who posts videos enjoying her pizza and some photos
wearing tshirts branded with the PIZZA INN log.Madamboss was given a car branded
with Nyaradzo logs and DJ Ollahis always posting pictures of Willowton Group
Zimbabwe with the products they sell.As such one is able to see how creative brand
management is implemented through the use of celebrities by companies.Since these
people are well known and have influence over people,this will mean
that everytime they are seen with something that has got to do with the brands that
they are representing it’s a constant reminder to the consumers and customers that the
brand is there.And after all who doesn’t want to be seen with the brand that is
trending or a product that is being used by a celebrity.

Contests and giveaways

When consumers go out to make a purchase,their decisions on which items to by are
usually influenced by opinion leaders.Ona national and international level marketers
would turn to celebrities as opinion leaders.Celebrities would make great opinion
leaders as they have a huge following and great influence over their fans.Celebrities are
not only people you admire but lately they have become people you want to emulate
and this is prevalent among youngsters who follow them on social media networks such
as Twitter,Facebook and Instagram.For companies like Nyaradzo,Willowton Group
Zimbabwe and PIZZA INN host several competition activities with celebrities on
the forefront.Willowton Group had competitions in which many people partipated and
they won different prices.Pizza inn constantly does competitions on the breakfast hour
with Ms V Candy their brand ambassador asking several questions to fans and whoever
wins always get a reward of two boxes of pizza.Lately there has been a competition
where people won Nyaradzo tshirts and cloth materials that are branded with the logs
of the company.This was initiated through the use of madam boss wearing
the Nyaradzo attire and as such this has become a uniform in many funerals where those
who won on these competitions wear these attires.One is able to see that there is
increased brand awareness through the use of celebrities and this has been further
enhanced by competition activities that are led by celebrities.These contests and
giveaways excite potential customers and and gets them talking abo the brand of the
company.

Roadshows
Roadshows are designed so that they can relocate easily and quickly permitting
nationwide brand promotion.Roadshows help in raising brand awareness,promote a
specific product or service,give away free samples,run competitons,collect data or
feedback from the public.Nowadays companies who conduct the roadshow marketing
strategy use celebrities in a bid to get more attendance and more influence on
the market.A roadshow enables a company to reach their audience wherever they are
and whenever they want and the use of celebrities has got a great impact that causes an
increase on the sales of a company.Assuch Willowton group Zimbabwe conducts
roadshows where they market their products and DJ Ollah is always on the forefront of
these events.Zimoco is seen hosting car shows with Tamy Moyo perfoming at such
events and the same goes for Nyaradzo with Madam Boss doing their shows telling
people about the benefits of engaging
with Nyaradzo Funeral Services.Now that Croco motors has teamed up with Baba
Harare who happens to be a famous Jiti musician,it is quite promising that the brand is
going to escalate its sales because of the wide follower base that the
musician has.Not forgetting Innscor’s PIZZA INN that has always practiced this
marketing strategy but now the brand has made it more appealing by partnering
with Ms V Candy who also has a wide following and is a role model to many
young people.As such this has made the brand more appealing and the already popular
Pizza in the country is now seen more as a good brand where consumers buys pizza
from to make them feel belonging.

CONCLUSION
In conclusion,consumers wants a marketing message that is less scripted
and unfiltered.They want something that is informational at the same time
more fun.Unlike sales-driven posts,celebrities posts uses a conversational tone and
human narrative to catch customer’s attention and engage audiences.Their reputation
adds a layer of trust that converts followers into sales.So companies are now practicing
celebrity endorsement to market their services or products.

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