Agenda for Week 11: Developing SM Campaigns



Consumer engagement is the resulting impact of firms/brands interacting with consumers through a variety of marketing initiatives. The goal is to create meaningful consumer impact and generate positive behavioral and (or) attitudinal changes. Over the years, marketers have been using variety of strategies to find, target and acquire consumers, and eventually engage with them post-purchase. The explosion of the digital channels, especially social media channels, has now provided marketers with interactive channels to engage their consumers. However, these myriad channels have also made marketers’ job more challenging than ever before. Despite the most recent and hugely successful social media brand building campaigns (e.g., Old Spice, Southwest Airlines), not much is known about the factors that need to be considered when devising a successful social media campaign and engage consumers with brands.

Today we will watch a webinar by Mr. Mike Slone, Interactive Director, Vail Resorts Inc. He will explore to explore the key elements of consumer engagement, and how these elements need to be harmoniously integrated with the modern channels to devise a successful social media campaign. The context of the presentation is Vail resorts award winning social media marketing campaign. In this presentation, you will hear-

1.       How consumers’ inherent propensity to talk, socialize and share their consumption experiences can be creatively used to provide an authentic social media experience.
2.       How to develop social media engagement tools including mobile-based location services that naturally fit in with existing products and experiences.
3.       More importantly, how to use these channels not only for external but also for internal marketing i.e., excite your employees and empower you internal culture.
4.       Other important lessons that we learned through trial and error regarding the dos and don’ts of using digital (social) channels.


Week 7 Lecture Slides: Online Communities

Hello all, we will discuss the importance of social bookmarking sites (content communities) and brand communities in social media marketing. Please download the slides below

Click here to download slides

Agenda for Week 6 Oct 11: Blog Marketing

Hello Everyone, we shall discuss the utility of blogs in SMM. Please download the below document (or the one I distributed in class) and come prepared on Tue.

Click Here to Download Week 6 Agenda

Click Here to download the powerpoint slides

Social Media Debate

In the past four weeks, we have explored several facets and virtues of Social Media Marketing (SMM). Mostly, the discussions tended to be on the positive side- the key characteristics and the potential SMM has to transform marketing and business as we know it. As you all know, very soon, we will start discussing in detail various tools that constitute social media and how they fit into the overall marketing puzzle.


This week stands at the cusp of this transition. Before we get into the minutiae of SMM, I would like all of us to take a step back and see the other side of SM. As future managers, you will have access to several SM tools and tactics that can be used to connect with your consumers. However, these tools are also quite intrusive (both overtly and covertly) and recent media reports suggest that many companies (and the Government) are (mis)using these tools to collect information about and monitor us in several ways that fall way outside the original mandate. In addition, SM tools have also blurred the traditional work-life boundaries in many ways. In essence, the new media has fostered several issues that fall in the so called ‘grey area’. 


The questions that arise at this point are:
1.       What are the pros and cons of using social media tools for both work and life?
2.    What are the ethical responsibilities of managers who use SM tools for both marketing and management purposes (Of course, we all agree that SM pervades all the functions of modern organizations. So the distinction between Management and Marketing is quite blurred)

These two questions motivate the discussions this week. The agenda is quite simple.  
On Tuesday Oct 4, we will watch a BBC documentary titled “Virtual Revolution: The Cost of Free”. This award winning documentary explores the darker side of SM tools including The Internet, and how business organizations are exploiting these tools for various purposes.   

-   On Thursday Oct 6, we will engage in a debate on the pros and cons of using SM for both marketing and management. To this end, I have invited two professors from the MMGB department, Dr. Shaffer and Dr. Brock. Dr. Shaffer is a modern-day Neanderthal and is strictly against using any form of SM. Obviously he has several strong reasons for believing so! Dr. Brock is an expert on business ethics (her PhD thesis explores the use of SM in work places). Obviously, I, Dr. Racherla, will also be involved.

Here is what you have to do:
a.     Please enjoy the documentary and take notes on some of the salient themes. Please get together with your team member and conduct some research on the pros and cons of social media.
Please look for specific examples that you can cite to support your arguments.
b.   On Thursday, we will divide the class into two teams, one arguing the pros and the other the cons.
c.       Hopefully, we should engage in a lively discussion and explore the two sides of this emerging new media and what they mean for the future of business (and managers). 
d.       The blog post this week will be essentially a summary of your perspectives on the debate and the key takeaways. 

    Week 4: Sept 27-29 Question

    This week's blog post is on the American Marketing Association webcast that we will watch in the class on Thursday Sept 29th. The webcast is a talk by representatives from Spredfast, a company dealing with word-of-mouth and social media marketing. The webcast provides a nice summary of some of the important objectives that marketers should keep in mind to use social media.


    Here is a summary of the presentation from Spredfast:
    In the age of social media, marketing possibilities are seemingly endless. But, all marketers should have at least one of the "Big Six" objectives at the core of their strategy. Equip yourself with the social media pocket guide - the proven tactics to achieve each objective - to navigate through the social media waters and start achieving success today. Attendees will walk away from this discussion with:
    An understanding of the six most important objectives each marketer should consider when developing a social media marketing initiative 
    How social media ties into to existing organizational goals 
    Proven tactics to use with each social media objective that can each marketer can start implementing today 

    Your blog post should reflect the following questions:

    1. What is the main message of the webcast? What are the 3-4 key takeaways from the presentation?
    2. What are the six key objectives for which marketers are using social media?
    3. The presenters provide several examples of companies that use social media to achieve the key objectives. In your own words, can you elaborate on at least one of them? When you elaborate, can you provide a few videos/ or screen shots to support your narrative.
    4. Finally some closing thoughts.

    Agenda for the Week- Sept 27-29

    Hello everyone, hope you had a nice weekend. I just wanted to let you know of the agenda this week:

    On 27th, we will discuss some of the key points in the chapter 'The New Media University'. In addition, we will discuss in detail the important requirements for the team presentations that start on Oct 13th.

    On 29th, we will watch and discuss an AMA webinar on how modern organizations are using social media tools for various purposes. This webinar should give us a fantastic overview of current best practices and lay the foundation for our discussions on how each SM tool adds value to marketing campaigns.

    Please download the powerpoint presentations here

    Team Presentation Schedules

    Hello everyone,

    I hope you are having a good weekend. Sorry to bug you but I just wanted to let you know that I have prepared the team presentation schedules and will update them here on Monday. Meanwhile, please take a few minutes to read the requirements for the team presentations and reports. You can access the file below:

    Click here to download team presentation guidelines


    Here are the presentation schedules



    Oct 11, 13
    The New Media University 101 & 301: Blogs, podcasts and Live casts & Multi-media
    Student Presentations on Oct 13
    PNB
    OBEY
    Oct 18, 20
    Chapter 5: The New Media University 201 & 301: Communities
    Student Presentations on Oct 20
    BROWN BUNCH
    RACHEL AND KATE
    Oct 25, 27
    Chapter 7: The New Media University 401: Social Networks
    Student Presentations on Oct 27
    CARPE DIEM
    TEAM CARLOS
    Nov 1, 3
    Chapter 8: The New Media University 501: Micro blogs, Twitter and Monetization
    Student Presentations on Nov 3
    CANYON AMERICA
    YUCK FU 2
    Nov 8, 15
    Chapter 9: The New Media University 601: Mobile Marketing and Video Broadcasting
    Student Presentations on Nov 15
    THE OTHERS
    THE BULLSHITTERS