BRANDCO: DEVELOPMENT AND MARKETING OF A SOCIAL

MEDIA INDEXChristopher Polakowski, MBA student

Bela Florenthal, Ph.D. William Paterson University

INTRODUCTIONBrandCo is a New York City-based branding firm that offers extensive services to major corporations to improve their visual, verbal, and marketplace identity:#✴ logo redesign #✴brand engagement #✴verbal strategy #✴product naming#The company seeks to diversify its services by entering into the social media analytics sector

PURPOSETo introduce a new service, a social media index, that BrandCo has been developing for the grocery industry#✴It will help supermarket brands: #

utilize their social media platforms more effectively #capture new customers#establish a social voice that creates a positive online reputation

COMPANY BACKGROUNDStructure#✴The company is managed by TM and GP (the owners’

names are not revealed to protect the privacy of the company).#

✴TM graduated from the University of Cambridge in England with an MA in Modern Languages and Social Psychology#

✴GP graduated from Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art in Dundee, Scotland#

✴Both have acquired a vast experience in working with small and large corporations

COMPANY BACKGROUND

Customers, Products, and Services

SWOT ANALYSISStrengths#✴The company’s talented

personnel, reputation, and its history of working with a large number of companies across various industries facilitate business growth. #

✴BrandCo purchased a license of specialized software that provides social media analytics to expand its services to existing customers and attract new segments. #

Weaknesses#✴As a small company with only

two key players, talent and workload is limited to the availability of its personnel. #

New projects may be put on hold or refused due to limited personnel, time restraints, and tight budgets. #

✴Since the company is part of an emerging industry, the brand is still widely unknown.

SWOT ANALYSISOpportunities#✴Due to the rise in social media usage by

consumers as well as the reliance on peers for purchase decisions, some companies have created social media accounts to increase their engagement and interaction with existing and potential customers. #!

✴While an overwhelming majority of businesses utilizing various social media platforms, only 26% agree in a survey that they understand how to measure their effectiveness.#!!!

Threats#✴Since it operates in an emerging

industry, competition will only intensify if the need for social media analytics becomes widespread. #!

✴Besides the threat of increased competition, the cost to develop and purchase newer and more sophisticated analytical tools also poses a threat. #!

✴Since BrandCo is a third party branding service, the cost may outweigh the benefit of outsourcing social media analytics and other social media related services for large and even smaller companies.

SOCIAL MEDIA INDEX

Supermarket Industry - Weaknesses#✴While some supermarkets had created accounts

on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, and other social media platforms, other brands had yet to create any social media accounts.#

✴Even for those supermarket brands that had an account on different platforms, the company’s research revealed that these accounts were being utilized ineffectively.

SOCIAL MEDIA INDEX

Content-based Categories of Social Media Index#✴BrandCo’s social media index provides supermarket

brands with a breakdown of their current social media usage across content-specific categories.#

The company identified 19 categories after analyzing the social media content of five supermarket brand:#• Examples: community outreach, brand

awareness, contests/promotions, and recipes

SOCIAL MEDIA INDEXContent-based Categories of Social Media Index

SOCIAL MEDIA INDEXSocial Media Index Formula#✴This mathematical formula calculates an overall

social media score to depict a supermarket brand’s influence over the supermarket industry.#

✴It accounts for volume, net sentiment, positive sentiments, and sponsored presence. #

D1-19 = Sponsored Presence (75% Volume [20% Net Sentiment + 5% Positive Sentiments])

SOCIAL MEDIA INDEX

SOCIAL MEDIA INDEX

DIRECT COMPETITORSKout#✴A free social media index that renders an accumulation score

between 1 and 100 to registered users (businesses and individuals) #✴Uses different keywords from search engines’ populations to

determine social influence#examines approximately 400 data points#

✴While this method measures searchability, it does not measure emotion, interaction, or the ability to connect across all social platforms and dimensions. #

✴Uses a formula that places the most significance on having high-profile connections, friends and followers#

✴Has begun developing Klout for Business to help businesses gauge their social media effectiveness using specific social media platforms

SOCIAL MEDIA INDEXSocial Media Index - Competitors

SOCIAL MEDIA INDEXAs BrandCo develops its social media index, it faces a few major concerns:#✴ What name should the product be given? What are the best

methods to market and advertise the index? How do you gain customer attention, interest, and trust through an integrated marketing communications (IMC) plan?#!

✴ How does the company gain customer trust and enhance brand equity for its new product?#!

✴ What other products/services can be derived, and what other industries and companies can be targeted? What pricing strategy and tactics should be employed? How do the pricing strategy and tactics relate to the IMC plan you proposed earlier?

TEACHING NOTESWhat are the best methods to market and advertise the Index? How do you gain customer attention, interest, and trust through Integrated Marketing Communications (IMC) plan? #✴The first step to gaining attention, interest, and trust should be by face-to-face

meetings with marketing personnel of supermarket brands (personal selling method). #

This method is suitable because the index is unknown and targets businesses. #By offering the product in a small, intimate setting, it diminishes the ‘sales-pitch’ approach and projects feelings of exclusivity and friendship. #

✴Another avenue the company should follow in its IMC plan is promoting the index using its website, creating a newsletter, and sending direct emails to existing customers. #

✴To enhance the IMC plan, BrandCo can offer a soft sell to businesses, which should increase customers’ trust and the product’s brand equity. #

The product has a trial period (sales promotion method) where customers test whether it is effective and meets their needs.

TEACHING NOTESHow can the product be monetized? What pricing strategy and tactics should be employed? #✴The pricing objective that the company should use is value pricing,

which highlights the customer perceived value of the social media index. #

The company can provide a subscription-based service where customer can choose one of 2 service packages based on their perceived needs. #• When choosing the basic package, customers obtain access to

the software that generates the social media index for them and gives them full control of the application. #

• In this case, BrandCo provides technical support but is not involved in analysis and improving the performance of the company.

TEACHING NOTESHow can the product be monetized? What pricing strategy and tactics should be employed? #✴The pricing objective that the company should use is value pricing,

which highlights the customer perceived value of the social media index. #

The advanced package offers customers access and control of the software in regards to posting statuses and photographs, but BrandCo is responsible for tagging posts and analyzing trends. #• The product has a trial period (sales promotion method) where

customers test whether it is effective and meets their needs.#• Users who pick the advanced option will receive

recommendations from BrandCo including what and when to post, which social media platforms are underutilized, and tips to increase engagement.

TEACHING NOTESWhat other products/services can be derived and what other industries and companies can be targeted? #✴The company may elect to expand the service to other

industries. #BrandCo could target financial institutions, fashion brands, production companies, and even restaurants that actively use social media for marketing.#

✴Another area to explore is to provide consumers with their social media scores targeting especially high net-worth individuals, celebrities, authors, fashion and food bloggers, and photographers—people who post and interact with consumers to promote a recognizable personality.

SOCIAL MEDIA INDEX

A Real-life Example

Q & A