Competitive Analysis of Major Players in the Social Media Market

Question:

Discuss about the Social Media Marketing Strategy of Teddy Bear Ship in Singapore.

In the current business scenario, social media marketing is one of the most effective modes of promotion and marketing for the contemporary business organizations. This is due to the reason that, internet is having huge market penetration around the world and with the revolution of smartphones, a major sections of the current generation is being active in the social media[1]. Thus, contemporary business organizations are more opting for social media marketing in order to target the major sections of the customers. Moreover, with the initiation of the social media marketing, business organizations are being able to determine the market requirement and change in the taste and preference pattern of the customers[2]. This is due to the reason that, social media marketing involves two way communications between the customers and the organizations. It engages the customers to share their opinions and feedback to the organizations and enables the organizations to modify the offerings accordingly.

This report will discuss about the social media marketing strategy of the teddy bear shop in Singapore. Competitive analysis between the major players in the social media will also be discussed in this report. Along with this, goals, strategies and target market policies regarding the social media marketing of them will also be discussed. Implementation strategies along with the monitoring and evaluation strategies will also be discussed in this report. Budget and return on investment for them the social media marketing will also be discussed.

As discussed earlier, social media is having huge market penetration in the current global scenario due to the revolution in internet facility and availability of cheap smartphones around the world[3]. Thus, with the initiation of the internet facilities, more sections of global population is active in the social media and the growth of entering in the social media is increasing rapidly. One of the key reasons for social media channels to gain huge popularity is the facility of personalized interactions with one another. With the help of the social media, more people are getting connected from around the world. Thus, it provides huge opportunities for the contemporary business organizations to reach out to this population by interacting with the customers directly and determining their feedback[4]. Major players in this sector include Facebook, YouTube and Twitter, which constitute the major market share of the social media around the world. The following sections will discuss about the competitive analysis of these players in order to determine the most effective one for the social media marketing.

Particulars	Facebook	Twitter	YouTube
Followers	968 million active users on a daily basis. 1.49 billion Active users on a monthly basis. 844 million are the mobile users[5].	316 million users or followers on a daily basis. 80 percent users are the mobile users.	YouTube do not require creation of accounts by the users. However, still they are having more than 1 billion active users on a monthly basis.
Sentiments of the followers	Users in the Facebook remain active on more casual basis without being interacting with anyone. However, the photos and statuses being shared by the users are one of the key determinants of taste and preference pattern. Facebook is popular more among the teenagers compared to older age groups.	Users in the Twitter are more active compared to the Facebook. This is due to the reason that, Twitter is more closed format compared to the Facebook. Here, users follows each other and provides feedback on any posts. Twitter is having same penetration among the teenage groups and the middle age groups.	YouTube is not having any chatting portal like the Twitter and facebook. Users in the YouTube subscribes different channels and watch videos of their choice. It is more like online video portal than a chatting portal. Chance of interaction among the stakeholders is less. However, the comments being given by the users are one of the key sources of gathering information regarding the market.
Rate of corporate posts	Due to the fact that, Facebook is having more number of penetrations in the market, thus the number of corporate posts is more in this medium. According to various reports, more than 1 million posts are being added in facebook on a daily basis.	Twitter is having less number of active users compared to the facebook, but they provide more reliable and authentic return on investment due to the fact that, users are more active in Twitter compared to facebook. It is being reported that, on a daily basis, more than 20000 new official posts are being added in the portal.	As earlier discussed, YouTube is not having any system of creation of valid accounts of the users. Thus, the medium of posting is to post video on the portal, which will be given feedback by the users. On a daily basis, more than 10000 advertisement videos are being added in the portal.
Feedback	Due to having the highest number of active users, generation of feedback is also more compared to other social media platforms[6]. However, the feedback in the facebook ranges from serious and authentic opinions from casual and offensive feedback. Thus, the huge data is being generated from the facebook but the rate of authenticity is less.	As earlier discussed, Twitter is having more reliable and active users in their portal. In addition, the market penetration of twitter among the middle age group is more compared to the facebook. Thus, the feedback being generated from twitter is more authentic and reliable compared to facebook. Moreover, the feedback generated from twitter is having more singular approach compared to twitter.	Though, compared to twitter and facebook, YouTube is having less active users. However, they are having one of the most reliable form of generation of feedback from the users. In posting the advertisement video in the portal, advertisers gather the feedback by the form of comments accumulated in the portal. The rate of comments of the users is less compared to other two medium, but feedback from YouTube is having more authenticity and reliability. Moreover, the comments being given by the users are majorly directed towards the video being posted.
Average response time to feedback	In the case of facebook, the average response time is less compared to the twitter and YouTube. According to various reports, the average response time in facebook is 5 minutes per post. In the major cases, organizations opting for social media marketing in facebook are having separate and dedicated social media cell.	In the case of twitter, the average response time is more than facebook. According to reports, average response time in twitter is 15 minutes. Moreover, the probability of giving response in twitter is less compared to facebook.	In the case of YouTube, the probability of providing response is least compared to other two mediums. This is due to the reason that, marketing through YouTube is mostly being limited to posting the video in the portal.

Target Market and Strategies for Social Media Marketing

Figure: 1

Demography profile of Facebook[7]

Figure: 2

Demography profile of Twitter[8]

• To generate positive word of mouth among the potential customers.
• To generate at least 10 percent of the investment as the return of investment form the social media marketing.
• To create minimum of 1 million of active users or followers in the social media platform.

The social media strategy will be to target the teenage population due to the reason that, the target customers of teddy bear shop will be the younger generation. Thus, the social media marketing will be implemented in such a way that, it will have holistic impact on the target market[9]. Moreover, the strategy will be to involve all the available social media platforms in targeting the customers.

The target market of the teddy bear shop will be the younger generation consists of both the genders[10]. However, due to the reason that age group under 15 are not active in the social media, thus, the target market will be the young couples and parents, who will be interested in having soft toys for their children[11].

• HootSuite
• Hubspot
• MeetEdgar
• TweetDeck
• Buffer
• Sprout Social

A separate and dedicated media cell will be formed, which will look after the social media marketing of the teddy shop[12]. Their responsibility will include designing and posting videos in the YouTube and sharing those in the official page in facebook and twitter. Thus, all the customers in every social media platforms can be targeted. Moreover, the type of response that will be given to the users in facebook and twitter will also be handled by this media cell.

Content is an important part for the media cell due to the reason that, content will be the message, which will be communicated to the potential customers and which will be seen by them. Thus, the content should be free of plagiarism and should be innovative, attractive and informative, which will enable the customers to gain the basic understanding of the product. Assignments will also be promoted by the media cell, which will include initiation of occasional and seasonal offers and discounts and wishing the followers for the same.

Monitoring and evaluation process will also be implemented in the organization in order to determine the effectiveness of the social media marketing. One of the key indicators will be the rate of response of the users[13]. The more response of the customers will denote that they are interested in the products and vice versa.

Moreover, the responses of the users regarding the advertisement in the social media will also being determined, which will help to understand the effectiveness. It will be evaluated whether the responses are positive or not.

The above discussed monitoring tools will be used to track and measure the effectiveness of the social media marketing of the organization. These tools will help to track the return from the social media marketing.

Implementation, Monitoring, and Evaluation Strategies

Tuning is important due to the reason that, social media platforms are having huge number of users including both wanted and unwanted data. Thus, tuning will help to filter out the unwanted data and focusing only on the required leads.

Refer to attached excel file

Refer to attached excel file

References

Al-Debei, M.M., Al-Lozi, E. and Papazafeiropoulou, A., 2013. Why people keep coming back to Facebook: Explaining and predicting continuance participation from an extended theory of planned behaviour perspective. Decision support systems, 55(1), pp.43-54.

Baker, M.J., 2014. Marketing strategy and management. Palgrave Macmillan.

Couldry, N., 2012. Media, society, world: Social theory and digital media practice. Polity.

De Vries, L., Gensler, S. and Leeflang, P.S., 2012. Popularity of brand posts on brand fan pages: An investigation of the effects of social media marketing. Journal of interactive marketing, 26(2), pp.83-91.

Gerbaudo, P., 2012. Tweets and the streets: Social media and contemporary activism. Pluto Press.

Grant, R.M., 2016. Contemporary Strategy Analysis Text Only. John Wiley & Sons.

Jackson, D, “Facebook vs. Twitter: Which Is Best for Your Brand.”. in Sprout Social, , 2017, <https://sproutsocial.com/insights/facebook-vs-twitter/> [accessed 27 November 2017].

Kakihara, M., 2014. Grasping a Global View of Smartphone Diffusion: An Analysis from a Global Smartphone Study. In ICMB (p. 11).

Macnamara, J. and Zerfass, A., 2012. Social media communication in organizations: The challenges of balancing openness, strategy, and management. International Journal of Strategic Communication, 6(4), pp.287-308.

Proctor, E.K., Powell, B.J. and McMillen, J.C., 2013. Implementation strategies: recommendations for specifying and reporting. Implementation Science, 8(1), p.139.

Rumelt, R.P., 2012. Good strategy/bad strategy: The difference and why it matters. Strategic Direction, 28(8).

van Dam, J.W. and van de Velden, M., 2015. Online profiling and clustering of Facebook users. Decision Support Systems, 70, pp.60-72.

Gerbaudo, P., 2012. Tweets and the streets: Social media and contemporary activism. Pluto Press.

Couldry, N., 2012. Media, society, world: Social theory and digital media practice. Polity.

Kakihara, M., 2014. Grasping a Global View of Smartphone Diffusion: An Analysis from a Global Smartphone Study. In ICMB (p. 11).

De Vries, L., Gensler, S. and Leeflang, P.S., 2012. Popularity of brand posts on brand fan pages: An investigation of the effects of social media marketing. Journal of interactive marketing, 26(2), pp.83-91.

Al-Debei, M.M., Al-Lozi, E. and Papazafeiropoulou, A., 2013. Why people keep coming back to Facebook: Explaining and predicting continuance participation from an extended theory of planned behaviour perspective. Decision support systems, 55(1), pp.43-54.

van Dam, J.W. and van de Velden, M., 2015. Online profiling and clustering of Facebook users. Decision Support Systems, 70, pp.60-72.

D Jackson, “Facebook vs. Twitter: Which Is Best for Your Brand”, in Sprout Social, , 2017, <https://sproutsocial.com/insights/facebook-vs-twitter/> [accessed 27 November 2017].

D Jackson, “Facebook vs. Twitter: Which Is Best for Your Brand”, in Sprout Social, , 2017, <https://sproutsocial.com/insights/facebook-vs-twitter/> [accessed 27 November 2017].

Macnamara, J. and Zerfass, A., 2012. Social media communication in organizations: The challenges of balancing openness, strategy, and management. International Journal of Strategic Communication, 6(4), pp.287-308.

Rumelt, R.P., 2012. Good strategy/bad strategy: The difference and why it matters. Strategic Direction, 28(8).

Grant, R.M., 2016. Contemporary Strategy Analysis Text Only. John Wiley & Sons.

Proctor, E.K., Powell, B.J. and McMillen, J.C., 2013. Implementation strategies: recommendations for specifying and reporting. Implementation Science, 8(1), p.139.

Baker, M.J., 2014. Marketing strategy and management. Palgrave Macmillan