New Social Media Campaign in Tourism - Case Study Example

XYZ BUSINESS TACTICAL PLAN FOR A NEW SOCIAL MEDIA CAMPAIGN by (Name) Course Tutor University Date The City and State where it is Located XYZ Business Tactical Plan for a New Social Media Campaign Introduction XYZ is a renowned social media depended on tourist Attraction Company that offers a variety of quality services to its customers all over the world. The tourist attraction company bears its location in Berlin, Germany along the Museum Island region and operates with a vision of improving customer’s experience. XYZ depends on social media platforms to market its products to its numerous clients who come from different countries of the world. The Business organization is strategically located in Berlin, the largest and the capital city of Germany with a target of providing its customers with the best experience of this historical tourist attraction town. XYZ offers accommodation, food and paid walks all over the city for clients who are interested in having a glimpse over Berlin’s archaeological features. Some of the common tourist attraction sites that individuals come to see include the Brandenburg Gate, the Museum Island, The Checkpoint Charlie and the Wall Memorial of Berlin, Unter den Linden Street, Charlottenburg Palace and Park, The Rebuilt Reichstag, and many other tourist attraction sites. It is evident that XYZ Business Company requires a new and efficient social media campaign. This strategy will help the organization to increase its service delivery to attract a plethora of customers all over the world and ensure that it provides quality services that satisfy different needs, preferences and choices of its clients (Abramovich, 2013, 16; Turner, 2016; Huff, 2015, 23). This paper provides a comprehensive description of all the necessary components that will be included in the company’s tactical plan. An Overview of the Objectives Driving the Company’s Decision to Develop a Tactical Plan XYZ Business Company understands the importance of developing specific, measurable, achievable, realistic, and time-bound goals for the development of a successful tactical plan for the sustainability and excellent performance of its business entity. As a result, the company’s goals to be included in the tactical plan are defined below: To Increase Awareness of the Company Products and Services XYZ Business Company targets to evolve into one of the best tourist convenient companies in Berlin, Germany. The company offers a variety of services and products to its customers with the aim of improving their experience. Developing a tactical plan will enable the company to create more awareness and attract more customers through the use of appropriate social media platforms such as YouTube and Instagram To Drive More Traffic to the Company’s Website and Sell More Products Using appropriate social media platforms will allow XYZ Business Company to turn a great follow-up on its internet site which can further influence its sales volume. Social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter allows participants to post and comment on different company services and products. Positive feedback made on the company’s meals and accommodation services can attract many customers, which would have the effect increasing the overall sales volume. To Reach a New Customer Segment Social media can play a critical role in allowing XYZ Business Company to increase its coverage by entering new markets which are unexploited. The company website coupled with other sites such as Instagram can have the effect of luring more customers from untapped customers (Kunitzky, 2011, 41). Such sites can provide the company with the relevant industry information which can make it invest in such areas. To Share News, Announce Special Offers and Promotions Huff (2015, 23) adds that it is always the responsibility of a given company to ensure that it shares its news with all the intended people while announcing special offers and promotions to its customers. This tactical plan targets to help XYZ share its news regarding special offers, promotions and its strategic plans to its stakeholders. Customers from all walks of life will access the company significant announcements and promotions through its websites, emails, YouTube Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter (Abramovich, 2013, 16; Turner, 2016). The company will also utilize these platforms to share educational news and content such as webinars regarding its service and product offers. To Improve Search Engine Rankings and Enabling Client Engagement Abramovich (2013, 16) contends that social media platforms are the best sites that can help increasing a company’s search engine rankings and facilitate engagement between different customers. Sites such as Instagram, Facebook and Twitter can allow customers to post their views and opinions regarding the company services which can generate more comments and increase their participation. An Overview of the Company’s Target Audience XYZ Business Company tactical plan success will depend on the active engagement of different participants. The company’s target audience can be classified into two distinct segments (Kunitzky, 2011, 41). The first section includes members who rely on traditional methods of communication such as the word of mouth to be attracted by the company services. Conversely, the second segment comprises of customers who are internet dependent. According to Skeels and Grudin (2009, 65), such customers can be classified into seven different categories basing on the social technographics ladder as illustrated in the in the image below:. Analyzing the Illustration Content creators are usually found at the top of the ladder and are known to be the most active customers engaged on the internet (Abramovich, 2013, 18; Turner, 2016, 32). Such individuals consistently participate in creating blogs, videos, posts, audios, websites and other forms of content. The conversationalists are ranked second in the ladder and may also create content. However, the most critical role of conversationalists is to enable dialogues and communication by expressing themselves via frequent status updates. In most cases, such members of the audience usually seek for recognition by initiating a discussion regarding their chosen topics (Skeels&Grudin, 2009, 67). Heinonen (2011, 45) identifies the critiques as the third category of the public in the ladder and provide the opposite of the conversationalists. Critiques often respond to status updates on blogs, news, and forums concerning different products and services. Critiques are one of the most influential groups of the audience that help in sustaining a continuous online interaction between themselves, the conversationalists and the content the creators despite a significant overlap that exist between them (Bertot, Jaeger & Hansen, 2012, 89). The fourth category consists of collectors whose aim is to utilize the online resources to not only absorb a plethora of information posted on the website but to prompt their choices and preferences. Aurifeille (2007, 35) adds that collectors do not always respond to the content posted as compared to the critiques. This group value the Twitter aggregates, RSS feeds as necessary tools for obtaining content used for personal gains. Fifth in the ladder are the joiners who are usually available on the social media websites of different companies including XYZ to maintain their relationship and personal profile. Joiners also obtain and use information from this site to improve their knowledge, but to the extent, that is lesser to that of the collectors (Zarrella, 2009, 21). The ladder places spectators in the sixth category whose participation is rare but keeps a distance when viewing the posts made on the site. According to Aurifeille (2007, 35) viewers usually obtain vital information and utilize it in increasing their knowledge regarding different topics, celebrities, family members and friends. This group of the audience sees no reason in either creating content or commenting on what is created. Spectators always remain calm and inactive. Inactives form the last category of the public in the social technographics ladder (Sachan, Contractor, Faruquie&Subramaniam, 2012, 36). This type of audience is not often available on Social Media, and if present, they may be doing nothing at all. Different authors have sought to help companies by developing different tools which can help them to locate their audience. The two standard tools include the business-to-business tool which is highly utilized in the United States and the business-to-consumer tool that focuses on other countries (Heinonen, 2011, 40). These tools were later merged into the Social Technographics Profile which can be used by a plethora of organizations including XYZ. Brand Partners According to Woodside and Martin (2008, 45), brand partnership, which refers to the teaming up of two different companies to work together to create a marketing synergy, has gradually evolved into a significant trend that defines the success of modern business organizations. The driving motif to the formation of any great and fruitful partnership should be embedded in the opinion that each and every member of the company has a commitment towards attaining value (Woodside & Martin, 2008, 45). The genuineness of the output in the creation of value is a major sustaining factor of businesses. XYZ Business Company has excellent opportunity to form brands with different tourist and hospitality management companies found not only Berlin, Germany but the entire Europe (Blum & Schubert, 2013, 27). Forming partnerships that are global regarding market is a critical factor towards success. Meanwhile, XYZ Business Company is willing to approach some tourist companies and hotels found in Germany for major partnerships to fulfill its objectives. These companies include Hilton Berlin, Hotel AdlonKempinski and The Ritz-Carlton, Berlin. Hilton Berlin is a branch of the Hilton Hotels & Resorts which was originally known as Hilton Hotels. This organization operates as a global brand of full-service resorts and hotels (Dupont, Axelsson&Kesteloot, 2012, 30). XYZ’s plan to form a brand partnership with Hilton will play a critical role in increasing its awareness on the global market which will further improve its business sales volume. According to Blum and Schubert (2013, 27), Hotel AdlonKempinski and The Ritz-Carlton also enjoy unquestionable popularity in Germany, Europe, and the entire world. Formation of a partnership brand between XYZ and this company will also have the effect of steering its developmental agenda and ensure that it attains its objectives (Dupont, Axelsson&Kesteloot, 2012, 33). XYZ intends to form the last brand partnership with online companies such as Microsoft and the International Business Machines Corporation (IBM) which are two global technological companies that can help in increasing the company’s continuous presence on the internet which can attract more customers and earn supernormal profits. An Overview of the Platforms to be used and the Type of Content According to Sachan, Contractor, Faruquie and Subramaniam (2012, 36), the choice of a given platform to advertise a company’s products and services depends on the goal that the advertising company wants to achieve. Similarly, the type of content offered on one platform tends to vary from the other due to the kind of the targeted audience. In this case, XYZ will utilize different social media platforms with different content to ensure that it achieves its five stipulated goals. These platforms will include Twitter, YouTube, Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, Periscope, Vine, Snapchat, and Reddit. XYZ intends to use Twitter for posting content regarding new offers, videos, blog content, graphic content and the participation of its stakeholders in the company Conference or Tradeshows (Chen, Geyer, Dugan, Muller & Guy, 2009, 54). Conversely, the company will be using YouTube to post contents in the form of medical records, invoices, performance on the other social media platforms, and the corresponding research papers (DiMicco& Millen, 2007, 70). YouTube can help in tracing the practical achievement of the company’s desired overall development, economic growth, profitability while ensuring active engagement of clients. Instagram will be used to post content in the form of short videos and picture due to its ability to attract large numbers of mobile users. Tumblr can be useful when used in posting content in a nutshell posts amounting to a single or two paragraphs at a time (DiMicco& Millen, 2007, 70). Tumblr is an efficient platform as it allows its users to visit the blog from a web-browser to enable continuous connections. Heinonen (2011, 32) adds that XYZ’s Facebook page will be used to post content targeting to connect it and the rest of the world. Facebook is cost–effective and encourages its users to keep on adding new content on a daily basis which will enable the company to promote its services. LinkedIn will be favored due to its popularity and the ability to allow customers to post, share, and remain actively engaged in the ongoing discussions which can help in promoting the company services. However, platforms such as Periscope, Vine, Snapchat, and Reddit will be used to complete the rest and increase the company’s business value (Heller &Parasnis, 2011, 78). Strategies Used in Measuring the Success of the Campaign According to Heller and Parasnis (2011, 78), measuring and ascertaining whether a given campaign conducted by a particular company achieved the desired goal is essential in ensuring the success and the sustainability of the organization. In this case, XYZ intends to use different strategies and tools to measure its program success which will be amended in four factors including conversions, engagement, reach and the impression created (O'Halloran, 2010, 56: Mathew&Sreejesh, 2016, 43). Currently, all the main social media sites have been merged with analytics that will assist in tracking the effectiveness of the posts and associated messages (Huff, 2015, 56). Google Analytics is the most popular tool for measuring the efficiency of the campaign. Huff (2015, 57) adds that Google Analytics tool comes in different versions and avails data to every person in the organization for analysis. The premium version can be acquired by bodies such as XYZ to track Conversions due to its ability to compare different results achieved through its real-time reporting feature. This tool can also conduct cross-device and cross- platform measurement. The Kissmetrics which is a funnel reporting tool can measure the engagement of participants, and the area reached (McCorkindale, 2010, 56). This tool can bring several types of high converting web traffic to the website of the company. Kissmetrics shows the sources of the customer, utilizes individual channels to track conversions; allows one to experience the performance of each social media platform and allows one to assess the overall impression (Bertot, Jaeger & Hansen, 2012, 89). The Marketo tool is known for simplifying complicated data and helps the organization to determine specific programs that impact revenue. Marketo can also be developed to deliver reports periodically and simplifies essential marketing metrics.   Calendar It is important to provide a calendar that outlines different events that will be carried by a given organization in the process of developing its social media strategy and campaign. Below is a figure summarizing XYZ’s calendar of events: Activity September October November December Jan-March Planning the entire program and Developing the objective through mutual consultation of partners Proposing to the Management of the organization while outlining the importance of the program and seeking for brand partnership Program implementation Using different social media platforms to expand the business Measuring whether the campaign achieved the intended goals in terms of conversions engagement reach and impressions Conclusion An organizational tourism tactical plan provides the advertising and the general marketing strategy used in the promotion of a company’s desired destination. A business tactical plan developed within the tourism industry establishes a simple action statement that the whole tourism board can not only follow but also utilize in gauging the effectiveness of each and every campaign engaged in the process. The process of developing a tourism tactical plan entails comprehensive research combined with an eloquent grasp of the marketing and service promotional avenues that are open to the respective company. Businesses willing to develop a tactical tourism plan should underscore the reality that social media is the most challenging tool to use as it can never be found seated neatly in one place as the other physical and traditional platforms. Using Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, snap chat, and many other social media sites can pose a significant challenge is not well monitored by the organization. As a result, such businesses need to set up directional goals and objectives that align with their mission and vision statement to ensure that they remain sustainable relevant in the industry just as demonstrated in this plan. References Abramovich, G. (2013). Inside IBM’s Social Content Strategy. Digiday.com. Retrieved from: http://digiday.com/brands/inside-ibms-social-content-strategy/ Aurifeille, J.-M. (2007). Globalization and partnerships: Features of business alliances and international cooperation. New York: Nova Science Publ. Bertot, J. C., Jaeger, P. T., & Hansen, D. (2012). The impact of polices on government social media usage: Issues, challenges, and recommendations. Government Information Quarterly, 29(1), 30–40. Blum, S. & Schubert, K. (2013).Policy analysis in Germany.International library of policy analysis. Bristol, U.K. Policy Press. Chen, J., Geyer, W., Dugan, C., Muller, M., & Guy, I. (2009). Make new friends, but keep the old: recommending people on social networking sites. In Proceedings of the SIGCHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (pp. 201–210).ACM. Retrieved from http://dl.acm.org/citation.cfm?id=1518735 DiMicco, J. M., & Millen, D. R. (2007). Identity management: multiple presentations of self in facebook. In Proceedings of the 2007 international ACM conference on Supporting group work (pp. 383–386). ACM. Retrieved from http://dl.acm.org/citation.cfm?id=1316682 Dupont, C., Axelsson, B. &Kesteloot, C. (2012). Entering the Minefields: The Creation of New History Museums in Europe: Conference Proceedings from EuNaMus; European National Museums: Identity Politics; the Uses of the Past; and the European Citizen; Brussels. Retrieved from: http://www.ep.liu.se/ecp/083/009/ecp12083009.pdf Heinonen, K. (2011). Consumer activity in social media: Managerial approaches to consumers’ social media behavior. Journal of Consumer Behaviour, 10(6), 356–364. Heller B. C., &Parasnis, G. (2011).From social media to social customer relationship management. Strategy & Leadership, 39(5), 30–37. Huff, T. (2015). The Secrets Behind IBM’s Social Presence. Social Media Today.Retrieved from: http://www.socialmediatoday.com/content/secrets-behind-ibms-social-presence. Kaplan, A. M., &Haenlein, M. (2010). Users of the world, unite! The challenges and opportunities of Social Media. Business Horizons, 53(1), 59–68. Kunitzky, R. (2011). Partnership marketing: How to grow your business and transform your brand through smart collaboration. Mississauga, Ont: Wiley. Mathew, P. V. &Sreejesh, S. (2016). Impact of responsible tourism on destination sustainability and quality of life of community in tourism destinations.Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Management.Volume 31, June 2016, Pages 83–89. Retrieved from: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jhtm.2016.10.001 McCorkindale, T. (2010). Can you see the writing on my wall? A content analysis of the Fortune 50’s Facebook social networking sites. Public Relations Journal, 4(3), 1–13. O'Halloran, R. M. 2010. Management Training Theories: Tools for Hospitality Managers and Trainers Hospitality Review Article 7. Retrieved from: http://digitalcommons.fiu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1173&context=hospitalityreview Sachan, M., Contractor, D., Faruquie, T. A., &Subramaniam, L. V. (2012).Using content and interactions for discovering communities in social networks.In Proceedings of the 21st international conference on World Wide Web (pp. 331–340).ACM. Retrieved from http://dl.acm.org/citation.cfm?id=2187882 Skeels, M. M., &Grudin, J. (2009). When social networks cross boundaries: a case study of workplace use of facebook and linkedin. In Proceedings of the ACM 2009 international conference on Supporting group work (pp. 95–104). ACM. Retrieved from http://dl.acm.org/citation.cfm?id=1531689 Turner, D. (2016). Social Media Strategy at IBM: Programs, Resources and Results. The IBM Software.Social Business Analytics & Enablement. Retrieved from: http://www.slideshare.net/Delaney_Turner/social-media-strategy-ibm-programs-resources?qid=71c7495d-506c-42e5-8a21-67a09bc58826&v=&b=&from_search=1 Woodside, A. G., & Martin, D. (2008). Tourism management: Analysis, behaviour and strategy. Wallingford, UK: CABI Pub).  Zarrella, D. (2009). The social media marketing book. O’Reilly Media, Inc. Retrieved from https://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=chd3yfExXMEC&oi=fnd&pg=PR4&dq=the+type+of+content+that+IBM+posts+on+different+social+networking+sites&ots=u6O6s2C3Z2&sig=xGamf22u3uMQw8EPLGMKh6p3Bwk. Read More