Phan+T.+Final+Report+Proposal

Phan T.

To: Proximity Social Networking Team From: Truc Phan Date: April 21, 2010 Subject: Proposal for report on Marketing on Social Networks

Businesses and retailers can no longer depend on conventional marketing because Gen-Y does not consume it as frequently or consistently as other generations have. Marketing on social networks has become prevalent because of the immense popularity of Facebook, Twitter, Myspace, and YouTube. I am writing a report on how businesses are moving to social media as a means to reach their target audience and in particular Starbucks’ strategy in achieving this.  **Need**  Clients of proximity targeting Gen-Y will need this report to understand why marketing on social networks is important and how to create a successful strategy in order to capture their attention.
 * Broadcast television viewers and traditional print readers have declined
 * Social networking traffic to Retail 500 went up 37% in December from the previous year
 * Consumers are spreading the word either good or bad through social networks
 * Social media marketing must be integrated in order to capture attention


 * Topics **

The proposed report, “Marketing via Social Networks” will cover the following topics 
 * Decline in traditional media(television, radio, and print)
 * Impact of social media on retail
 * Capturing Gen-Y’s interest with integrated marketing
 * Starbucks’ social media marketing strategy
 * Sources** 

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">Associated Press. Twitter Finally Feathers Its Nest With Advertising. //New York Times// (2010, April 13). Retrieved April 19, 2010 from <span style="color: #0070c0; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">[| http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2010/04/13/business/AP-US-TEC-Twitter-Ads.html] <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 98%;">

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 98%;">The Associated Press reports that Twitter is now allowing advertisement in order to generate revenue. They note that the new ads will be called "promoted tweets" and will only pop up on searches within the site. They note that Twitter is only allowing a small group of test marketers such as Best Buy, Starbucks, and Sony to post ads at this time. Tweets are limited to 140 characters so that they can be "retweeted" and according to Josh Bernoff, a Forrester Research analyst, "this <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;"> will pressure advertisers to be pithy and creative, a priority that could make the marketing messages seem less intrusive". The AP touches on the fact that it is yet to be seen whether or not these ads will be effective enough for companies to pay for a slot instead of using the free channel. <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 98%;"> <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">Banning, Doresa. Social Media & Marketing. //Nevada Business// (2010, April). Retrieved April 19, 2010 from [] <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 98%;"> <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 98%;">Banning reports about retailers integrating social media marketing along with the traditional media. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;"> Social media marketing can "provide immediate feedback, track your online advertising and evaluate their impact. And all of it can be done at little to no monetary cost." She states that it can maximize a company's ranking on search engines because of the amount of times it has been mentioned. She emphasize on the fact that each marketing strategy has to fit the company and the network it is on. The key factor in its success is whether or not it will capture the audience's interest.<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 98%;">

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 98%;">Dougherty, Heather. Social Network Impact on Retailers. //Hitwise Intelligence// (2010, January 29). Retrieved April 19, 2010 from [|http://weblogs.hitwise.com/heather-dougherty/2010/01/social_network_impact_for_reta.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed:+hitwise/us+(Hitwise+Intelligence+US)] <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">Dougherty analyzes that many of the traffic to retailers are coming from social networking sites. She notes one way to measure success a retailer has is the number of followers or fans they have. Another method is measuring the number of times users search for a specific brand internally within the network. She reports that during the holidays, over 2% of the traffic to Facebook visited a website in the Retail 500 immediately after. She argues that consumers are clearly seeking information and offerings from retailers through social media.

Noff, Ayelet. The Starbucks Formula for Social Media Success. //<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">N ext Web// (2010, January 11). Retrieved April 19, 2010 from [] <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-weight: normal;"> <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-weight: normal;">Noff analyzes Starbucks’ social behavior on the web. She stated that Starbucks has 700,000 followers on Twitter and about 5.5 million on Facebook. She lists the different ways Starbucks interacts with their customers on each social networking site. They engage with the customers, post interesting information unique to their brand, and create events/promotions. Noff asserts, “Starbucks put communicating with their customers and potential customers as a top priority.”

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