Social Media Consultation

Each group is required to research and analyze a company or brand’s use of social media to determine the following.

1.     Raise awareness (What the company is/what it does)

2.     Influence desire (Makes consumers desire the products)

3.     Encourage trial (Entice people to shop - for instance, through coupons)

4.     Facilitate purchase (Paypal, credit cards, app purchases, etc.)

5.     Create loyalty (Make you want to come back)

Pick one of the following companies or brands:

 Jet Blue                                 Samuel Adams                        Sephora                       Tiffany’s

Target                                     Carl’s Junior                            McDonalds                   Prada

American Express                  Absolut                                    Dove                             Jell-O

Southwest Airlines                 Chipotle                                   Whole Foods                Audi

The NFL                                 Lakers                                     Dodgers                        Fiat

Domino’s Pizza                     Urban Outfitters                        Red Bull                       Jawbone

Disney                                   Coca-Cola                               Skittles                          Converse

LegalZoom                              Dunkin Donuts                       MAC Cosmetics          Burberry

Ikea                                        Chobani                                   Diesel                           West Elm

Rolling Stone                          Lowe's                                    Sony                             Starbucks

Barnes & Noble                      Budweiser                              Nike                               Wendy's

Oreo                                       Old Spice                               Michael Kors                  Skype

Groups must analyze the use of the following social media tools:

• Facebook
• Twitter
• Instagram
• Pinterest
• YouTube

Reports should be 250-500 words.  The best reports will be factual and analytical. There is no room for personal feelings or emotional response. Think of this report as the type of report created by a social media consultancy firm before a first meeting with a client. The goal is to assess where the client is in terms of their social media use while providing a sense of what the firm would/could do for them if they were to hire it. The report should include the following sections (TIP: Follow the sections below as an outline and write your report with the specific sections!)

Introduction: Introduce the company and what it is that they do and why social media is important to their business; HINT: Look at the industry they operate within as well as norms/standards for social media use in that industry. It may be useful for this section to search Business Source Premier, ABI Inform Global and Google for "social media and ______________" where blank is the name of your company/brand or industry.

Overall summary of social media use: Briefly summarize the company’s history with social media and current use of social media along with the overall strategic focus from one or several of the above purposes; Can you identify who manages social media for the business (marketing department, outside social media advertising firm etc.) Are they using the different tools like Twitter, Instagram Pinterest etc in ways that re unique or duplicative? How are they leverage each tool for best effect/impression? 

Use of each listed tool: List how each tool is used and provide examples.

Assessment and recommendations: Assess overall social media use. Make at least three recommendations based upon your assessment and research; HINT: Consider a Social Media SWOT analysis that looks at strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats associated with the firm’s use of social media which might points towards recommendations.

References: Demonstrate that you used appropriate materials to inform your understanding of the firm's social media marketing.

This assignment is worth 20 points.  Due 11/20 before class.

Group PR 2 Guidelines

Here is the information you need on your second progress report:

What has each group member contributed to the project so far?

What information will you be presenting?  You can put this together in outline form, but it's essentially a rough outline of your final project.  It is subject to change, so you can modify the project beyond this point.

List at least two of the sources that you'll be using in your group project and explain what those sources offer to your presentation.

Note what slideware you'll be using and what each member's role will be in the actual presentation.

25 points.  Due 11/13/2014 before class.

Social Resume Assignment

For this assignment, you will need to create an account with Weebly.

The web-site should be titled with your name and a picture, if available.

On the home page, you'll want an introduction to the site and a brief bio of yourself.

On the About page, you'll want to fill in your work experience, awards, skillset, interests, hobbies, etc.

Contact information should include basic contact info, and you can also link a linkedin, Twitter, Facebook, etc. feed if you want to.

In formatting the site, you may also consider adding sections for any of the following:

Press/media, contact, career highlights, distinctions, bio, blog, case studies, about, skills, experience, credentials, intro, consulting, vision, endorsements, resume, newsletters, news & events, volunteer projects, strengths, social networks, interact, demo real, art portfolio, sample projects, personal information, professional information, wiki, speaking events, awards, profile, photos, videos, associations, clubs, technical competencies.

This assignment is due Thursday, November 13, before class.  Post a link to your completed social resume to your blog.