Pros & Cons of Social Media Marketing by Coca Cola by Kevin So

After I done the case study of Coca Cola, I would like to talk about the Pros & Cons of Social Media Marketing.

Pros.

1. The operation cost is relatively low when compare with the traditional media, it is almost free. Even like Coca Cola Facebook website, it is managing by their Fans.

2. Two way communication, a good place to do market research and collect customers' comment.



3. Faster Feedback. It could use for testing the message.

Cons.

1. Heavy work load. You have to always update your blog, Facebook, Twitter, etc.

2. Less control. You cannot expect all comment from the user is positive. It is a difficult issue when managing the comment.



3. It may not in result to increase your sales. According a report from Consumer information company,show that 83% of the Internet population (ages 13 – 54) participates in “social media”, less than 5% turn to social sites for advice pertaining to a purchase decision.

I hope that this few articles can help you have a better idea what social media marketing is. And wish all of you have a great success when using it.

Source:
http://www.helium.com/items/1631045-website-marketing-seo-is-social-media-marketing-right-for-your-company

http://www.digital-clarity.com/blog/general/social-media-marketing-is-it-really-worth-the-effort

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The Cons of the Visa 'Go Fans’ Campaign using Social Media Marketing by Vivian Lo

It is very time consuming to maintain and monitor a social media platform. Visa needs to spend a lot of effort managing the content and comments. Otherwise, viewers will quickly lose interest in the promotion.

This social media marketing campaign will only help Visa to build public awareness and brand loyalty. Since the ‘Go Fans’ YouTube channel did not lead the viewers to Visa linked call-to-action.

Return on investment is not immediate and direct. Social media marketing requires a long-term commitment; it takes time to build the connections with customers. However, the social media marketing campaign of Visa lasts about one month; it may not able to generate long-term sales.

Although social media brings in lots of traffic, it may attract the ‘wrong crowd’ of friends. Traffic and ranking are important, but sales, profits and conversions are the ultimate goals of marketing campaign.

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The Cons of McDonald’s using of Social Media Marketing by Carmen Chong

Less easy to control. Since Facebook and Twitter are opened to public, customers can leave comments easily. It may destroy the brand image if customers leave some negative comments on Facebook or Twitter. For example, there are some negative comments on YouTube that related to McDonald’s post, people would have negative impression of brand.



More time for monitoring. Since Internet is 24/7 (24 hours per day and 7 days per week), McDonald’s need spend more time to monitor the online platform and share the news frequently to keep update customers.

Unable to reach mass audience. Traditional marketing is easy to reach public by commercials and print advertisements. However, Social Media Marketing only targets a niche audience through online platform.

Restrict to enter country. Facebook and Twitter are blocked by Mainland China. That means social media marketing restrict to enter in Mainland China. People can’t see the updated news or corporate information of McDonald’s when they are in Mainland China. It is difficult to build closed relationship with customers.
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Source:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ZdALTZ6aA8

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Supplementary about Coca Cola Social Media Marketing by Kevin So

Although Coca Cola have a specific office handling the social media(and having the second most fans in social media area(see the above pic), they did admit social media failing by the Vice President, Global Advertising Strategy and Creative Excellence at the Coca-Cola Company, Jonathan Mildenhall.

As this is just a supplementary article, I wouldn't talk too much about it, if you are interested, please read this.

It also come along with a interesting story about the Coca Cola Facebook page. The current Facebook Fans page is not created by Coca Cola, it is created by 2 person(not official staff)who like Coca Cola and has group up rapidly. Here is the story detail.

These story shows that the control is very important in social media marketing and social media is customer-oriented.

At the end, I would like to share a video by Adam Brown, Coke’s Director of Digital Communications, outlined how they use social media to promote their brand.

Coca-Cola: Sharing What Matters, Adam Brown; presented by GasPedal and the Social Media Business Council from GasPedal on Vimeo.

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Source:
http://www.wsi-ebizsolutions.biz/blog/cocacola-social-media-story/2009/12/
http://www.famecount.com/all-platforms/Worldwide/all/Brand
http://www.compassnewspaper.com/NG/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=20881:coca-cola-admits-social-media-failings&Itemid=7966
http://wearesocial.net/blog/2009/07/coca-cola-social-media-case-study/

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Havaianas- The cons of using social media marketing by Joyce Lai

Havaianas already have many physical selling points all over the world and many countries already have their official distributor. The establishment of online shop may not in result to enhance the sales; on the other hand, it may cost Havaianas to maintain the operation for the online shop as it needs frequent update.


Moreover, the use of social media like facebook, Youtube are not easy to control, you can not expect all the comments or shares on these social network platform are positive, sometimes negative consequences will be extreme as message spend so fast through social media. For example, there was recall of some Havaianas for kids’ flipflop category in 2009 and a time that the sales of Havaianas brand in recalled area slowed down because of the hurt of creditability. Finally, Havaianas had made a voluntary pull out and promote a series marketing campaign to stop the impact.


Recall of Certain Havainanas Flip Flops

REF:
http://www.philstar.com/Article.aspx?articleId=470402&publicationSubCategoryId=108
http://www.aguavivausa.com/recall.htm

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The Pros of the Visa 'Go Fans' Campaign Using Social Media Marketing by Vivian Lo

Visa has launched its Go Fans campaign on YouTube from June 1 through July 11. This social media marketing campaign allows Visa to reach customers that traditional marketing misses, the potential for reeling in new leads is unlimited.

Visa has organized a lucky draw which allows viewers to have a chance to win various prizes if they find a goal call video with a golden tint treatment. This canincrease the click through rate and improve its search engine rankings.

Visa’s World Cup Match Planner on Facebook provides a unique platform for fans to express their views and connect with friends from around the world. By encouraging open communication, Visa not only can build brand loyalty, but also can interact and establish relationship with customers.

Visa can learn more about its target audience through their comments and study visitor analytics. This information can prove invaluable when planning other marketing campaign.

The extensive promotion via social media enables Visa to generate and boost sales. According to Visa, their credit card spending up 65 percent over 2009 levels with 51,000 transactions on average a day in the first half of the tournament.

Source:http://corporate.visa.com/media-center/press-releases/press1029.jsp

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The Pro of McDonald’s using of Social Media Marketing by Carmen Chong

Enhance the interaction of customers. McDonald’s posts news on Facebook or Twitter, customers can express their opinions on immediately. Therefore, McDonald’s can get the feedback accordingly.

Build relationship with customers. It can show social responsibility to public when McDonald’s post corporate news that related to community or sponsorship on Facebook or Twitter. Customers may have good impression of McDonald’s.

Reach of niche market. Using of Facebook and Twitter are relatively low cost method of directly reaching a niche audience or a mass audience. It can reach a niche audience that use Internet frequently.

Relative low cost. Establish Facebook and Twitter account are free of charge. It is a low cost method to promote the brand and build close relationship between McDonald’s and customers.
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Social Media Marketing Case Study (Continue): Coca Cola by Kevin So

Besides the method mentioned in previous article, Coca Cola also open the function of discussion board. Sometimes Coca Cola join the discussion or answering the question.



Coca Cola also post some exclusive photos on Facebook. Some of the user will post comment on it.



Both of these method increase the interaction and involvement between the Coca Cola and the user.

Besides Facebook, Coca Cola also have Flickr page. The target is slight different from the Facebook page. It is more targeted to the advocator (die-hard fans, collector). Fans can post the photo of Coca Cola collection to share with other. It will increase the loyalty when comparing with other collector.

At least, Coca Cola have a Twitter page as well. It is even more interactive that it will tweet to individual user. The user will think Coca Cola really listen to them in order to increase the loyalty.



At the end of the case study, I would like to post a video by Adam Brown, Head Of Social Media at Coca-Cola, in a quick 3 minute interview on his new Social Media Policy for Coke. Please enjoy!



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Source:
http://www.thecoca-colacompany.com/
https://twitter.com/CocaCola
http://www.digitalbuzzblog.com/coca-cola-launches-new-social-media-policy/
www.flickr.com/groups/colastuff/

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Havaianas- The advantages of using social media marketing by Joyce Lai

Havaianas has its own online shop platform to capture customer information by introducing opt-in option through creating customer personal account or register of newsletter. This can help Havaianas for personalisation and maintain relationship of existing customer.

Moreover, the introduction of facebook community, micro site of specify campaign, sharing videos showing how Havaianas use social media tools to create content that attracts attention, generates online conversations, and encourages new or existing customers to share it with their social network.

The Havaianas Pledge Original Campaign is a very good example that applies social media marketing successfully. It encourages people to make their pledge "to wear only original" by submitting a photo of with their favorite Havaianas flip-flops through the micro site. In a span of only 57 days, the micro site got 54,000 visits (44,000 unique visitors) and 3,700 photo submissions on the pledge wall with virtually no ad spend on-line / off-line.


REF:
http://www.havaianasphilippines.com/original/

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Visa Go Fans With Social Media During FIFA World Cup... continue by Vivian Lo

Visa is using popular social media channels – YouTube and Facebook to launch their first-ever global FIFA-themed marketing campaign. The Go Fans YouTube channel has attracted more than 5.6 million video views from to date, it marks the digital success of the campaign.

Visa also has created a branded social media application Visa Match Planner to allow fans to create customizable, dynamic FIFA World Cup viewing schedules to share with friends via social networking channels such as Facebook. This application is available in 4 different languages (English, Japanese, Spanish and Portuguese) across the 32 qualified countries, and it has been downloaded by more than 50,000 football fans. The Visa Match Planner also allows users organize match viewing parties, chat with friends, track scores and standings, and obtain exclusive offers from merchants such as the FIFA Official Store on FIFA.com.

Source:http://blog.visa.com/2010/06/24/fifa-and-visa-score-gooals-for-social-media

Source:http://newsblaze.com/story/2010062909292100001.bw/topstory.html



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Case Study (2) - How McDonald's Uses Social Media Marketing by Carmen Chong

Another channel is Twitter. McDonald’s establishes a team to upload the latest news, promotions and a few surprises on Twitter as well. McDonald’s team share their daily life experiences on Twitter especially. Followers can comment and quote their post to their blog. It can enhance the interaction with customers and followers can know the news immediately.



Moreover, there is another account of McDonald’s called “About McDonald’s”. McDonald’s team monitors it. People can find more news that related to McDonald’s as well. Sometimes, they would like to introduce corporate news in Twitter. For example, they mentioned “McDonald’s Shek Forever After Happy Meal launched today in France”. It is a one of the promotional channel to public.





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Sources:
http://twitter.com/AboutMcDonalds
http://twitter.com/McDonalds
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Social Media Marketing Case Study: Coca Cola by Kevin So

Coca Cola is one of the biggest company in the world and it is using massive social media marketing, including Facebook, Twitter, Flickr , Myspace and Youtube.

They have integrated those social media to increase the effectiveness. The Coca Cola Facebook Page have more than 6 million Fans. Once they have record a video and upload to the Youtube Coca Cola Channel, they will post it on Facebook. The fans could make comment on it and spread(share) it in their Facebook.




Coca Cola also create a Facebook application.
(http://www.facebook.com/coca-cola?v=app_161193133389&ref=ts)

Though this application, you can find more applications developed by Coca Cola. Moreover, the Fans Highlight, The detail of Pages creator and the link that direct to the Coca Cola main website. It increases the involvement from the Fans and the traffic of the Coca Cola main website.

I will post another article about the Coca Cola social media marketing strategy in coming days. Don't miss it!




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Source:
http://www.facebook.com/cocacola
www.youtube.com/user/cocacola

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Case Study- how do social media marketing apply to Havaianas? by Joyce Lai

Havaianas is an international brand of rubber sandals which are sold worldwide in over 60 countries in 5 continents. To further develop and add value to their business, they applied social media marketing by introducing international online shop, facebook community, application of newsletter, share vedio of events on Youtube etc.

We can see Havaianas successfully developed a huge customer database by introducing opt-in application in online shop by create personal account/ profile and the application of newsletter. To enhance customer interaction, they have applied downloadable wallpaper on website and create micro site for specialize campaign as below to promote their products.

REF:
http://www.havaianasphilippines.com/original/
http://ca.havaianas.com/en-CA/mania/


Moreover, they have developed facebook fan page by regions and encourage immediate comments on facebook and organize events or activities. No matter on the online shop or facebook platform, Havaianas keep consistent update its products catalogue and promotion campaign by press, videos on Youtube to mass customers and encourage personalization by sending e-mail to their opt-in customers.



International website by regions http://www.havaianas.com/




Online shop with facebook application and Newsletter application http://www.havaianashk.com/women.html

Hundreds of people applaud the arrival of summer in Brazil
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RXt-WHyR93I



REF:
http://ca.havaianas.com/en-CA/contact-us/faq/
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Case Study: Visa Hits YouTube For World Cup Campaign by Vivian Lo

The heat is on! The once-every-four year FIFA World Cup is hitting the world again. Visa is inviting football fanatic around the world to share their passionate and funny goal shouts on Go Fans YouTube channel.

This campaign invites fans to create their own goal call and submit their videos from now to 11 July to win weekly prizes including Visa gift cards, and the grand prize will be a free trip to Brazil to attend the 2014 FIFA World Cup.

Celebrities such as football player Cafu and Jorge Campos, NBA star Steve Nash were filmed and uploaded their goal call videos to encourage participation.

Other than this, Visa has also launched the Visa Match Planner application that allows users to create their own personal World Cup viewing schedules and share it with their friends via social networks such as Facebook.

Source:http://corporate.visa.com/media-center/press-releases/press1030.jsp

Source:http://www.youtube.com/visagofans



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Case Study (1) - How McDonald's Uses Social Media Marketing by Carmen Chong

To use social media marketing effectively, company should update their news frequently to build long term relationship with customers. Moreover, company can share their knowledge, sharing and entertainment to deepen and enrich the brand’s relationship with customers.



McDonald’s ranks number 62 out of a list of the top 100 “most social’ brands in 2009.
McDonald’s establish Facebook account to share latest news. There are 2,393,114 people become a fans of McDonald’s as on 1 July 2010. And the number of fans is increasingly time to time. People can receive the latest news once when they become fans of McDonald’s.

There are different pages in Facebook to introduce the products including Burgers, Dollar Menu, McCafe, Happy Meal etc. Customers can know more about the promotional news and the corporate news from McDonald’s Facebook easily. It is a public way to share their information on Facebook.

Moreover, there are some interesting news on Facebook posted by McDonald’s regularly. For example, McDonald’s posted its commercial on facebook, more than 650 fans left comments and 2,800 people liked this. It is a good way to communicate with people and McDonald’s can get the feedback from customers immediately. People left comments on facebook and shared the posts with their friends. It can spread out the message through internet immediately.




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Sources
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ZdALTZ6aA8
http://www.facebook.com/#!/McDonalds?ref=ts


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Definition of Social Media Marketing by Joyce Lai

Social media are media for social interaction, using highly accessible and scalable publishing techniques, such as shared video on YouTube or build up social network community in facebook. Social media marketing consists of the attempt to use social media to persuade consumers that one's company, products and services are worthwhile. We can see nowadays company not only use traditional tools like TV commercial, newspaper advertising, but using combination of both traditional and social media to promote their products.

I will study how success of the brand Havaianas, an international brand of rubber sandals who applied social media marketing successfully by introducing its international online shop, facebook community to the world.

REF:
http://usa.havaianas.com/en-US/international-sites
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_media
http://sbinfocanada.about.com/od/socialmedia/g/socmedmarketing.htm
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The definition of Social Media Marketing by Vivian Lo

Social Media Marketing is the most recent component of integrated marketing communications plans. Social media marketing consists of the attempt to use social media or social networks to persuade consumers to purchase or to use a company’s products or services.

The appearance of Web 2.0 technologies has led to the rapid growth of social networking. It provides a set of tools that allow people to establish social and business connections, to share opinions, insights, experiences, and perspectives via text, images, audio and video. Social media marketing typically use technologies such as blogs, podcasts, YouTube, Twitter, Facebook, MySpace, etc which can help to observe where customers are online, what they’ve saying, engage in online conversations and expand the client base.

Social media not only provide an effective way for the organization to promote their products and services, it also allows the organization to receive direct feedback from their customers and targeted markets.


Source: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122884677205091919.html

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The Definition of Social Media Marketing by Kevin So

Nowadays, social media is the most popular on the Internet(Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, etc), everyone are sharing their life and experience, interacting with others. It created a word-of-mouth effect on Internet.

The marketers know that it is a perfect place to promote their products and services. thus they developed a series of strategies and apply it to those social media.

Social Media Marketing is relatively low cost compare with traditional media. It helps you to spread the message in a conversational way.

It is interactive and 2 way communication. It is internet or mobile based. It provides a way that the marketer could communicate with potential customers as well as current customers directly. Through this, it make the company "real" to the customer.

In coming week, I will further explain Social Media Marketing by case study of Coca Cola.

Source 1: http://marketing.about.com/od/strategytutorials/a/socialmediamktg.htm

Source 2: http://marketing.about.com/od/internetmarketingstrategy/a/socialmediamrkt.htm

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The Definition of Social Media Marketing by Carmen Chong

Social Media which are defined as “a group of internet-based applications that build on the ideological and technological foundations of Web2.0, and that allow the creation and exchange of User Generated Content”

Social media marketing is the process of promoting your site or business through social media channels like Twitter, Facebook and YouTube. By utilizing the social aspect of the web, social media marketing is able to connect and interact on a much more personalized and dynamic level than through traditional marketing. And it is a powerful strategy that will get you links, attention and massive amounts of traffic.

Nowadays, many companies use social media marketing as a tool to communicate with customers since the cost is lower than traditional marketing and easy to build relationship with customers. As the following, I will discuss McDonald’s how to promote the brand through social media marketing. Finally, there is a Pro and Cons sections to summarize the case.

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Sources:
Kaplan Andreas M., Haenlein Michael (2010) Users of the World, unite! The challenges and opportunities of social media
http://www.escpeurope.eu/nc/faculty-research/the-escp-europe-faculty/professor/name/kaplan/-/research/
http://www.doshdosh.com/the-importance-of-social-media-marketing/
http://webtrends.about.com/od/web20/a/what-is-social-media-marketing.htm

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