Assignment Descriptions:
SWOT Analysis:
Select a corporate brand or organization of interest to you... anything goes, as long as the company/organization has a robust digital presence.
Choose wisely: You'll work with this same brand throughout the rest of this course! YOU MAY NOT choose Nike, LG, Adidas, Disney, Hulu, Netflix, Apple, Amazon, ASU, Fashion Nova, Fenty, Target, Walmart or Starbucks; any other brand or organization, big or small, is fair game! (But, I'll recommend you think outside the box: You'll have more fun if you select something that's not a global behemoth.)
Audinece Theory:
Return to your chosen brand/organization. Identify a single piece of social media content the brand has published on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram or Pinterest.
Researching Viable Audience Segments:
Create a Persona:
Return to your chosen brand/organization. Use what you’ve learned about your brand/organization’s audience so far—the research you’ve done, the audience you chose for the previous module's discussion, the funnel you’ve created, your understanding of your brand’s presence and audience across digital channels, etc.—and settle on a target audience for your brand. For your discussion post, create a persona for your brand's target audience.
This persona will be abbreviated compared to the examples you saw in this module, and you won’t be interviewing anyone. Your brand’s persona should be based on, again, your research thus far and your knowledge of the brand's digital audiences, and must include:
Create a Campaign:
Return to your chosen brand. Choose one social network your brand is active on: Facebook, Twitter, Instagram or Pinterest.
Analyze Social Content:
Return to your chosen brand/organization. Visit one of the brand’s social networks and select one social post—a single tweet, Facebook post, Instagram post, etc.—and link to it, or upload a screenshot to your discussion post. Answer the following questions:
Personal Social Media Audit Essay:
Now that you have learned the importance of using digital content to cultivate audiences, you are poised to audit your own audiences. Select one personal social network you use frequently: You may choose a Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube or Snapchat account. Conduct a SWOT analysis of your personal "brand" on your chosen social network, and consider your audience (Seekers, Amplifiers and Joiners). Write an essay that explains the account, the types of content you typically post to it, and your relationship to your audience (up to 10 points). Then, walk through your SWOT analysis (up to 10 points) and conclude by identifying the next step(s) you'll take to capitalize on your Strengths/Opportunities and minimize your Weaknesses/Threats to grow and engage your audience (up to 10 points).
Your essay must be at least 400 words. Upload your essay directly to this Canvas Assignment; essays sent via email will not be accepted.
Final Strategy:
As you now know, every digital platform has different audiences, and those audiences behave differently on each platform—that’s why every platform requires its own strategy. For your final project, you will create and present a strategy for ONE social media account of the brand/organization you’ve been following throughout this course. You’ll use several elements of the discussion research you’ve already done (not to mention your classmates' feedback!) to complete your strategy. Your final presentation is due by 11:59pm Arizona time on April 29th; late submissions earn zero points. Follow the submission instructions below very carefully: Missing or broken links will earn zero points!
Summarize your strategies and tactics, and connect them to your suggested KPIs. You must explain how the strategy you suggest will actually drive KPIs (and, thus, reach goals) and support the marketing funnel.
PRESENTATION (20 points)
Your presentation should be polished and professional. Spelling, grammar, clear writing, strong visuals, vocal presentation and your overall ability to effectively communicate your strategy all count!
Select a corporate brand or organization of interest to you... anything goes, as long as the company/organization has a robust digital presence.
Choose wisely: You'll work with this same brand throughout the rest of this course! YOU MAY NOT choose Nike, LG, Adidas, Disney, Hulu, Netflix, Apple, Amazon, ASU, Fashion Nova, Fenty, Target, Walmart or Starbucks; any other brand or organization, big or small, is fair game! (But, I'll recommend you think outside the box: You'll have more fun if you select something that's not a global behemoth.)
- Find the company’s presence on three digital platforms (at least two of them social networks). In your post, describe what kinds of consumers the brand’s marketing team appears to be targeting and how it is trying to engage this audience/these audiences on each platform.
- Conduct a SWOT Analysis of the brand/organization (not a SWOT Analysis of, say, the brand's Instagram feed). Your post should include at least two Strengths, two Weaknesses, two Opportunities and two Threats. You can place the SWOT into boxes, or type it out... don't worry about the format!
- Connect 1 & 2: In a sentence or two, how well is the brand using its digital platforms to highlight its Strengths and Opportunities, and overcome its Threats and Weaknesses?
Audinece Theory:
Return to your chosen brand/organization. Identify a single piece of social media content the brand has published on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram or Pinterest.
- Share the social content with us: Embed a screenshot or link to it in your post.
- Assess the content, visible engagements (likes, shares, reactions), and any conversation/comments the post has earned. Apply and discuss two (2) of the theories we discussed this module. Which theories align with the content and the audience's interactions with it? For example, do you see the brand employing a particular theory in the content itself? Does a theory explain whether the audience is likely to engage with this content? Does a theory inform how the audience has behaved with or discussed the content? What would the brand need to do or change about the content to better engage with the audience? Put two theories to work in your discussion of the social content.
Researching Viable Audience Segments:
- Use Facebook Audience Insights* to identify and research a segment of your brand's audience. Don't think about the brand's ENTIRE audience; instead, find a smaller group within it that has growth potential. (For example, if your brand is Daisy Sour Cream, the audience "basically everyone in America" is too broad. A strong segment would be "moms aged 35-44 who indicate an interest in recipes.") Tell us about your segment using data to inform your analyses. How does this segment differ from typical Facebook users?
- Attach at least one screenshot the Audience Insights data you found to be the most interesting about your segment.
- Using what you know about psychographics, communication theory and the other Facebook pages you know this segment follows, describe the characteristics of content your audience is likely to engage with.
Create a Persona:
Return to your chosen brand/organization. Use what you’ve learned about your brand/organization’s audience so far—the research you’ve done, the audience you chose for the previous module's discussion, the funnel you’ve created, your understanding of your brand’s presence and audience across digital channels, etc.—and settle on a target audience for your brand. For your discussion post, create a persona for your brand's target audience.
This persona will be abbreviated compared to the examples you saw in this module, and you won’t be interviewing anyone. Your brand’s persona should be based on, again, your research thus far and your knowledge of the brand's digital audiences, and must include:
- A Name
- Demographics (A. age, B. gender, C. income, D. location)
- Background (A. job, B. family, C. education)
- Affinities/Interests (A. hobbies, B. habits)
- Goals (What are their goals for your brand? What do they want)
- Challenges (Why may it be hard for your brand to reach or engage or convert this person?)
- Anything else we need to know about this "person" to be able to create content they will engage with
Create a Campaign:
Return to your chosen brand. Choose one social network your brand is active on: Facebook, Twitter, Instagram or Pinterest.
- Identify a product, event, experience or content item the brand is trying to "sell." We'll call this the "product." It doesn't need to cost anything; the "product" could be a particular news story (if your brand is CNN.com), a pair of sneakers (if your brand is Converse), a dress (if your brand is J.Crew), a movie night (if your brand is a church group), a visit to a website (if your brand is, well, anything!).
- You will create a mini-campaign of three social posts that advertise or draw attention to your brand's "product." First, use Canva (Links to an external site.) to create three different images you will use in your campaign--one for each post. Then, use the AdParlor Ad Mockup Generator (Links to an external site.) to create your three posts. (In AdParlor, select your social network and post type at left, then upload your images and add post text for each.) The images and text should be appropriate for your target audience, the brand and the social network you selected, using design elements informed by your research thus far in this course. Be creative! Then, take three screen shots (one of each image) of your social posts, or use the download function to download the previews of each one, and attach them to your post.
- The content of your discussion post must include the three images you made (attach all three), as well as your discussion post. Your post must discuss your mini-campaign--what's it for? who's your audience?--and provide justification for your design decisions--why did you create these images as you did? What about your brand knowledge/research informed your color, typography, image, text and other creative choices?
Analyze Social Content:
Return to your chosen brand/organization. Visit one of the brand’s social networks and select one social post—a single tweet, Facebook post, Instagram post, etc.—and link to it, or upload a screenshot to your discussion post. Answer the following questions:
- What is the goal of this post? In other words, what does the brand want users to DO with this post?
- What stage(s) of the customer funnel do you think this post is intended for?
- What metrics would you use to determine whether this post was “successful” or achieved the goal? Explain.
- Of course, you’re not able to see the actual analytics for this post, but do you think this post achieves the goal you stated in question 1? Why or why not? What would you change about this post (or what would you post instead?) to get the brand closer to the goal? Provide an actionable insight for your brand; explain what tactics the brand can take to get closer to its goal.
Personal Social Media Audit Essay:
Now that you have learned the importance of using digital content to cultivate audiences, you are poised to audit your own audiences. Select one personal social network you use frequently: You may choose a Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube or Snapchat account. Conduct a SWOT analysis of your personal "brand" on your chosen social network, and consider your audience (Seekers, Amplifiers and Joiners). Write an essay that explains the account, the types of content you typically post to it, and your relationship to your audience (up to 10 points). Then, walk through your SWOT analysis (up to 10 points) and conclude by identifying the next step(s) you'll take to capitalize on your Strengths/Opportunities and minimize your Weaknesses/Threats to grow and engage your audience (up to 10 points).
Your essay must be at least 400 words. Upload your essay directly to this Canvas Assignment; essays sent via email will not be accepted.
Final Strategy:
As you now know, every digital platform has different audiences, and those audiences behave differently on each platform—that’s why every platform requires its own strategy. For your final project, you will create and present a strategy for ONE social media account of the brand/organization you’ve been following throughout this course. You’ll use several elements of the discussion research you’ve already done (not to mention your classmates' feedback!) to complete your strategy. Your final presentation is due by 11:59pm Arizona time on April 29th; late submissions earn zero points. Follow the submission instructions below very carefully: Missing or broken links will earn zero points!
- Revisit your chosen brand/organization one last time. Select ONE of the organization’s active social media accounts to work with.
- Use the Final Strategy Template file found here (Links to an external site.) to create slides for your presentation. Feel free to change the aesthetics of the presentation (font, colors, design; add slides if you want to show examples of content), but the architecture and order of the presentation should remain the same.
- Using VoiceThread, create a video to share your presentation by recording your voice talking through your slides. Talk through your strategy: Don’t just read what’s on your slides; use your slides to organize your discussion and show visual cues that prompt your speech.
- Your video must be a minimum of 5 minutes long. You will be graded on the development of your ideas and your communication of them within the categories below. Only presentations submitted via the submission instructions below are eligible for points: You must submit a live link to your VoiceThread; we will not search for your presentation.
- Set the stage. Identify the brand, identify the social network and give the URL where it can be found. Give the account basics: how many followers, how many posts per day, any other basic information you deem important.
- Discuss the content. What kind of content does the brand typically post on this network?
- Show your SWOT analysis.
- Identify two competitors. How do their followers and posts per day compare? Give at least 1 example of content from each.
- Who is the audience now? How is the current audience different than who the audience SHOULD be? (Do not say that the brand is already reach the audience it wants; every brand has room for improvement.)
- Select a single viable audience segment to target. Your segment should be noticeably smaller and distinct from the organization's broader audience. Note the target segment's age(s), % male/female, geographic location(s), activities/affinities and other demographics, psychographics and characteristics that define/shape this target audience. It should be very clear how this segment differs from the brand's broader audience, and why it's a viable segment.
- Create a persona for the target segment.
- Connect the organization's SWOT to your target segment. What strengths or opportunities can you leverage (or, what weaknesses or threats can you address) to grow and/or engage your target segment on your chosen social network?
- Identify the overall business objective. Then, state your SMART social channel goal(s) that align with point A. above.
- Identify what funnel stages this SMART goal(s) targets.
- Identify a KPI for each goal.
- What types of content should the account create? Be specific. Should the account share articles or other pages on your brands website, social-only content, or both? Images/graphics/video? Silly/serious/edgy/artsy content?
- What types of content should the account share from other users, in pursuit of your SMART goal(s)?
- How often will you post? How many posts per day, and on what days?
- How should the account engage the audience beyond creating and sharing content? How should the brand interact with audiences and build reciprocal relationships, in pursuit of your SMART goal(s)?
- What conversations should the brand join, or what influencers should the account leverage, in pursuit of your SMART goal(s)?
Summarize your strategies and tactics, and connect them to your suggested KPIs. You must explain how the strategy you suggest will actually drive KPIs (and, thus, reach goals) and support the marketing funnel.
PRESENTATION (20 points)
Your presentation should be polished and professional. Spelling, grammar, clear writing, strong visuals, vocal presentation and your overall ability to effectively communicate your strategy all count!