Social Marketing

Question: What is social Marketing? Explain. Answer: Project Title Social Marketing: Social Networks more Persuasive than Traditional Word-of-mouth. The project discusses the concept of social marketing and its preference over the old-age marketing trends. Research Questions Traditional marketing practices have used a number of modes of communication for the marketing purpose such as television, radio and print media. However, with the increase in the use of Internet, there has been a shift of marketing techniques from the traditional to the social marketing.The research targets the advantages and significance of the social marketing over traditional word-of-mouth. It also makes an attempt to answer the reasons for the immense shift in the marketing techniques over a period of a few years (Shima, 2008). Project Description Marketing is a concept that works towards forming a bridge between companys capabilities and customers expectations such that both the parties are satisfied as an end result. The basic aim behind any of the marketing strategy is to fulfill the needs of the customers with utmost perfection (Wood, 2014). There are a number of marketing strategies that are adapted by the organizations since a long period of time. Over the past few years, social media marketing has emerged as a concept and marketing strategy that has taken over the traditional practices. The project discusses the same and outlines a comparison between the two along with the significance, assessment milestones and team charter. Project Aims The project is a research work that analyzes the concept of social marketing and the preference of social networks over the traditional practices in the domain of marketing. Following are the aims that must be accomplished by the end of the project: To determine and understand the meaning of social media marketing (Cowden, 2014) To list the advantages and reasons of preference among the users for choosing social networks over the traditional word-of-mouth To explain the significance of social media marketing at local, national and international level To discuss the research questions around the project title in detail To list the assessment milestones and team charter for the successful completion of the project Project Background Internet is the basic necessity in the present generation and the application of the same has spread over every single sector in the current era. One such area in this regard is the marketing processes and principles. Social marketing is a concept that makes use of social networks over the internet for the application of marketing techniques and processes with the basic aim of reaching out to maximum number of customers to fulfill their needs and requirements. The project explains the concept along with its reasons of increase in use and practice over the traditional concepts.The concept of social marketing has grown to such level that dedicated social marketing teams are being deployed in the organizations for the development of effective marketing strategies to achieve success of the brand and the product. Project Phases The project will be completed in three phases as: Evaluate and Plan This phase will include the research on the basic details essential for the project such as study of the project background and understanding of the project objectives. It will also include the carry out of situational analysis to understand the specific requirements of the project. The task of budgeting will also be done in this project to determine the expenses required in each of the activities. The outcomes from this phase will include: Evaluation Plan Project Budget Design and Develop After gathering the requirements and gaining an understanding of project background and objectives, design of the marketing strategy along with the development of the strategic marketing mix will be done. Strategic marketing mix will be based upon the 4Ps associated with the project as: Product Price Place PromotionThe outcomes from this phase will include: Marketing Strategy Implementation The final phase will be the implementation phase in which the marketing strategy developed earlier will be applied in practice. It will begin with the creation of an implementation plan and implementation of the marketing strategy as per the plan. The outcomes from this phase will include: Implementation Plan Implementation Report Significance of Social Marketing The significance of social marketing at local, national and international level is huge. It has become relevant and mandatory for the companies to develop social marketing strategies to spread awareness about their products among the customers and gain customer loyalty in return through this very medium. Big giants in the market along with small and medium level industries and the new entries in the business world, all are trending towards social networks for marketing. Social networks such as Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and blogs are used by the companies to reach out to the customers. It is significant at all level of business due to the following reasons: Social marketing helps in developing customer base with ease at any of the geographical location. It makes it easy to reach out to the international customers by promoting their products on the social media. Customers are also involved in the process of decision making by including the feedback received on the social networks. I t helps in gaining the customer engagement and also provides a personal connect. Social marketing also promotes connecting with the peers and gaining an insight in their target audience (Neti, 2011). Social Marketing over Traditional Marketing Techniques There are a number of reasons behind the preference of social marketing over the traditional word-of-mouth practices which are as listed below: Social marketing enables the organizations to have increased traffic and subscribers associated with them. Social marketing allows the companies to build new business partnerships which are rather difficult to achieve through traditional practices. Marketing expenses are lesser in the social marketing approach as compares to the traditional practices. Social marketing does not rely on the geographical location or area which enables more and more customers to be associated with the brand and the product. Ease of availability and accessibility allow the social marketing medium to be preferred by the customers. Customer interaction and involvement with the product and the marketing strategy provides a flavor of personalization in case of social marketing. The same is the reason for increased customer engagement and association through social mar keting and networks. Exposure for the business is increased through the use and practice of social marketing. Team Process Management Team MeetingsThe team meetings that will be conducted during the project timeline will include the following procedure: Circulation of project agenda before the meeting. Code of conduct to be followed by all attendees which includes timely arrival, advanced communication in case of absence, active participation and use of polite tone. Record of minutes of meeting will be kept and circulated to all the team members (www.teamhelper.com, 2016). Decision Making Process The decisions will be taken by the project manager after taking and considering the view points of the entire team. In case of conflict, final decision will be of the Project Manager after the round of voting in which majority decision will be considered. Roles and Responsibilities Project Sponsor: Responsible for funding the project and providing the project requirements Project Manager: Responsible for creating the project plan and other deliverables along with resource allocation Marketing Head: Responsible for developing a social marketing strategy and the evaluation and implementation plan Social Media Expert: Responsible for assisting the Marketing team with the latest trends in the social media world Marketing Resources (2): Responsible for fulfilling the actions as guided by the Marketing Head References Adshead, F. (2016). Social Marketing Works. Retrieved 26 July 2016, from https://www.nsmcentre.org.uk/sites/default/files/Social_marketing_works_NHS.pdfCowden, A. (2014). https://skemman.is/stream/get/1946/18659/43199/1/MIB0614_Thesis_Anna_Cowden_EffectofSocialMediaMarketingonTraditionalMarketingCampaignsinYoungIcelandicCompanies.pdf. Retrieved 26 July 2016, from https://skemman.is/stream/get/1946/18659/43199/1/MIB0614_Thesis_Anna_Cowden_EffectofSocialMediaMarketingonTraditionalMarketingCampaignsinYoungIcelandicCompanies.pdfLefebvre,. (2016). Theories and Models in Social Marketing. Retrieved 26 July 2016, from https://socialmarketing.blogs.com/Publications/Theoretical_Models_in_Social_Marketing.pdfMerrill, T., Latham, K., Santalesa, R., Navetta, D. (2016). Social Media: The Business Benefits May Be Enormous, But Can the Risks -- Reputational, Legal, Operational -- Be Mitigated?. Retrieved 26 July 2016, from https://www.acegroup.com/us-en/assets/ace-progress-report-social-media.pdfN eti, S. (2011). SOCIAL MEDIA AND ITS ROLE IN MARKETING. Retrieved 26 July 2016, from https://www.ijecbs.com/July2011/13.pdfShima, A. (2008). Traditional Marketing vs. Internet Marketing A comparison. Retrieved 26 July 2016, from https://www.diva-portal.org/smash/get/diva2:121411/FULLTEXT01.pdfWood, M. (2014). Introduction to the Principles of Social Marketing. Retrieved 26 July 2016, from https://wsmconference.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/ESMC-Intro-to-Social-Marketing-Sept-2014.pdfwww.teamhelper.com,. (2016). Team Charter. Retrieved 26 July 2016, from https://www.teamhelper.com/sample/TC_GuideSample.pdf Social Marketing Question: What is the Social Marketing? Answer: Introduction The current assessment is on the analysis of the case study of the social marketing towards the adoption of pets by reviewing the websites which have been promoting for the adoption of pets which is a social marketing approach that has been developing the activities by aiming at the changes in the peoples behavior and maintaining them for the benefits of the people and the society in whole (Armstrong et al., 2014). The products are promoted by describing the unique points of it with the combination of the ideas from the social sciences and the commercial marketing, the social marketing has been proven to be the tool for influencing the behavior in a cost effective and sustainable manner. It gives you the idea of deciding on: Who are the people to work with What is the behavior to influence How to move forward about it What are things used to measure it Description of organizations RSPCA The RSPCA is known to be an organization that is independent and a non government community which is based on the charity of providing the care for animals and their protection services. There are around 40 shelters which are run by the RSPCA and it consists of a staff of around 1000 employees. For delivering all the services to the animals it costs them more than 100 million dollars, which is helping in improving the lives of the animals in the Australia. Most of the money that is gained by this organization is donated by the people and also from the initiatives taken for fundraising (Browne et al., 2014). There are also other sources such as RSPCA patrons, business partnerships and the grants available for this organization. WWF WWF stands for World Wildlife Fund, which was started in the year 1961 on 29th April in the small area called Swiss town of Morges and very soon it has received the approval of the royal seal. The partnership of this organization is very unique in which the government leaders, business and the scientists are involved. It is supported and guided by the HRH Prince Bernhard of the Netherlands and the HRH The Duke of Edinburgh (Bhattacharjee, Berger Menon, 2014). There was an urgent call from the group for the global action which insisted for the stop of a large number of wild animals from being hunted since their existence and the habitats are being destroyed so as to protect them from getting extinct (Crouch Housden, 2012). For the past 50 years, the WWF seems to grow into the independent and the most influential largest organization for conservation of animals in the whole world. The organization is having supporters of around 5 million globally and it has been operating in more than 100 countries (Costa Vila, 2014). In the year 1978 on 29th June the establishment of WWfF has taken place in Australia, during which only three people were there as the working staff from the old factory located in Sydney. The budget for conservation during the first year operation was nearly 80000 dollars. At present this organization is the largest conservation place in the nation which is being supported by more than 500000 supporters and have projects across Australia and the Oceania region (Desbordes, 2012). PS of Marketing The 4 Ps of marketing are the elements which are used by the organization are for the benefits of the wildlife animals and for the adoption of pets for their care and protection includes: Product Price Place or distribution Promotion Product: In terms of marketing the term product can be defined as the thing which can be offered in the market for satisfying the needs or the wants of a customer. The first P out of four marketing Ps in the marketing is the product. The product can either be a touchable good or the intangible one which is fulfilling the needs of a customer. Here the product refers to either the wildlife species or the pets which can be adopted so that they get human care and attention. Whereas the wildlife species can be protected from being extinct by adopting them funds can be provided to them for their better life of conservation (DeConinck Stilwell, 2015). The people can get the product that is according to their expectations that is any breed or any species that they are wanting for can be adopted as the organization is providing a wide range of choices in making the decisions. The people can have the core benefits of care which show as the recognition for sympathy, compassions and the tendern ess for the animals and for them too. The behavioral change an also be benefited by adopting a pet and in turn one can provide support for its living. The augmented product that a customer can have is the desired animal that an animal lover can get from these organizations (Kotler, 2012). Price: The term price in marketing can be defined as the value that can be put on for a product of the service which is resulted from the calculations from all dimensions, extensive research and the understandings and the abilities of risk taking. The strategy of pricing is taken into account by considering the segments such as the ability of the customer to pay, as per the conditions of the market, the actions of competitors, the trade margins and the input costs among all (Kumar et al., 2013). While adopting the pet the organization would verify about the family and would take whether the pets are going to the right place or not. The price for the animals are not fixed, but it says to fund for the organization which is used for protecting their habitat, preservation of food and it will make sure that it will take care of the safety of the species that is going to be endangered bother globally and locally (Kotler et al., 2015). The ongoing pricing can be fixed in any of the means li ke ether donating the things by taking the initiative for raising the funds for the benefits of animals in the organization. Place or distribution: The term place or distribution can be defined in terms of marketing as placing the right product with the right price and at the right place. It is very critical for determining the ideal locations for converting the potential clients into the actual clients. In the current situations, even if the transaction does not occur on the web the initial place where the potential clients are contacted and converted to their customers is through online. However, the organization takes into consideration various things while adopting or donating the animals by checking the family background and decides whether they are placed in the right family or not (Lusch Vargo, 2014). After that the animal can be selected as per the environment of their family and according to their lifestyle which consider incredibly important by them. The process of adoption taken place only if they make sure of a perfect fit of the animal. The adoption journey ends only after training the animal so that it forms a vital part of the family. The product can be obtained by visiting the place and making the choice or it can be processed through the website. (Marta et al., 2013). If the person is an animal lover and provides all the evidences that are required by the organization and if it feels secure then it is a quite simple process. Promotion: The term promotions can be defined in terms of marketing as the product that is used for bringing awareness among the people so that the sale are generated and the market is developed for that product. The information about the product should be relevant and should be unique from other products. The promotion can be carried out by social marketing, public relation, campaigning, advertising and many more (Zaltman, Olson Forr, 2015). The messages that are passed on to the potential customers is that the Australia is the overwhelming nation in loving he animals which finds that there are some people in the community who are treating the animals cruelly. So these organizations are committed to helping these animals by their services. Their main motto is to protect the animals from becoming extinct and to reduce the threats that are posed to them from various factors (Xu et al., 2016). The messages that are being promoted are to bring the awareness among the people, which are the social messages for the welfare of the society to the animals. The community awareness is created in regards to the human treatment towards the animals along with giving information about animal care and their adoption facilities. Conclusion In this report the social marketing of the animal, adoption organizations has been discussed where the firms are mainly focusing on those potential customers who it exactly for their awareness programs that is mainly the animal lovers so that they can get a shelter for their good life conservation. Their main mission is to eradicate cruelty towards animals and create love for them and also let the right people know about the information regarding the adoption facilities. The other group of focused individuals is the one who is dedicated in catering the services for the wildlife conservation. The marketing criteria adopted by these organizations are so perfect that it fits for any kind of market that is targeted. References Armstrong, G., Adam, S., Denize, S. and Kotler, P., 2014.Principles of marketing. Pearson Australia. Browne, S., Sharkey-Scott, P., Mangematin, V., Lawlor, K. and Cuddihy, L., 2014. 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