Social Media Marketing Plan

Question: What is the Effect of Social Media Marketing ? Answer : Introduction: The aim of the study is to develop social media marketing plan for a small business. Spice Temple, Melbourne, Australia has been selected as the organization for the case study because this restaurant does not have a marking social media presence (Spicetemple.com.au, 2017). The aim of social media marketing is to do advertisement and promotion of a particular product or service with the aim that the same will be shared by the viewers. In order to propose a plan for this restaurant, detailed current situational analysis of the restaurant will be conducted. Based on the findings, the recommendations shall be made. Overview of the organization: Spice Temple is located at the Crown Complex, Southbank in Melbourne. It is a Chinese restaurant and is famous for a new realm of Asian dining experience that acts as a benchmark for this restaurant (Spicetemple.com.au, 2017). The owners claim to provide flawless service along with high quality food products and a fostered passion for Asian cuisine. World renowned chef, Neil Perry, exemplifies this Chinese restaurant to be innovative, inspired and authentic (Crownmelbourne.com.au, 2017). Inspite of such renowned fame, the restaurant lacks the proper approach towards advertisement and promotion. The restaurant only has a website but its present in other media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and even in content search is nil and negligible (Baker, 2014). Thus, the aim of this study is to recommend a better social media presence of this restaurant that it can be identified among huge number of people and the popularity of the restaurant increases. Focus shall be made on the presence of this restaurant in Facebook, Twitter and also content search. Pezstle analysis: Factors Analysis Political The government keeps a check on the cleanliness of the restaurant and the quality of food that is served. To keep a control that no one is affected with diseases like diarrhea, cholesterol and obesity. The government also imposes standard law on the employees of the restaurant for safety and rights of them (Lee, Hallak Sardeshmukh, 2016). Economic The Governments fiscal policy attracts restaurant based businesses. Since taxes are imposed on the consumers, the restaurants have to keep a check on the rate of the menus. Australias economy rate is slow but steady. Thus, the factors are favorable of the business. Socio-cultural People are educated and thus, they are health conscious. Consumers do not find to spend a bit extra amount if the quality of the food is good. Technological Advancement of technology has made it affordable for the small scale industries as well to carry out promotional activities. People can now simply send an SMS or make a call to book food or table (Min Lee, 2014). Legal Government agencies work regularly on measuring the quality of food products supplied. In addition to this, checks on the wages of the employees are also kept. Environmental Strict regulations on the ingredients of food have been made. Restaurants are encouraged to use sustainable food products that shall be healthier for the consumers. Porters Five Forces analysis: Forces Analysis Buyers bargaining power High; because there are huge numbers of options are available to the buyers. Thus, they can use other options for dining. Suppliers bargaining power Moderate; because there are multiple channels that the restaurant can use for supplying resources. Threat of new entrants Moderate; there are already lots of options available in the market and thus if a new restaurant also enters, it will not affect. Threats of substitutes High; because other substitutes like pizza, burger and even the road side fast food act as substitutes to dining option. Competitive rivalry High; because there are other well renowned Asian as well as other types of restaurant near Spice Temple. These are Koko Japanese Restaurant, Nobu Melbourne Crown Casino, Rockpool Bar Grill and others (Crownmelbourne.com.au, 2017). Porters Value Chain Analysis: Value chain options Analysis Inbound logistics The raw materials at the restaurant are supplied by the means of inland transportation. Operations Food is freshly cooked at the outlet and is served to the consumers. Outbound logistics No such outbound logistics is observed but the restaurant also does home delivery of food along with dining (Spicetemple.com.au, 2017). Marketing and sales The restaurant has a good image among the consumers. There is no evidence of marketing and promotion of this restaurant. It is expected that the restaurant will creates its presence in the social media. Services Dining facilities are provided to the consumers; thus direct selling of food. However, home delivery is also present (Spicetemple.com.au, 2017). Organizational resources Resources like adequate human resource for serving and cooking food are present. Other resources like restaurant space, the servicing utensils and other products of interiors are also available. Capabilities The resources present with Spice Temple are enough to improve its capabilities in the restaurant field. Core competences Chinese cuisine is the core products that the restaurant deals with. It also serves other food and beverages to the visitors (Spicetemple.com.au, 2017). SWOT analysis: Factors Analysis Strengths The political, economic and the socio cultural factors are favorable for the restaurant. The restaurant takes great pride in the quality of food that it serves. The inbound logistics and the organizational resources are also strengths of the restaurant. Weaknesses The restaurant does not have a social media presence. Social media marketing is a vital tool in the recent marketing forum. Opportunities To expand its marketing using the social media platform. To attract more people using this tool of marketing. Threats Other substitutes restaurants are great threat. The bargaining power of the consumers is also high. Target audience: The target groups of people are the local people of Melbourne; they are the differentiated group of people. However, the aim of the marketing is to attract maximum number of people and thus, the undifferentiated people are the ones outside of Melbourne, from other cities of Australia. STP analysis Factors Analysis Segmentation The restaurant is located in the South of Melbourne. The population consists on males and females as well as children. The lifestyle of the people are fast and high standard of living. People also love Chinese cuisines because Melbourne has many Asian tourists and students. Target The specific target groups are the local people of Melbourne. This group of people might include both middle class and the upper middle class of people. The targeted age group of the people is between 18 and 45 years. Mainly the educated people are the major targets (Farris et al., 2015). Positioning The aim of the social media marketing should focus on attracting the consumers by the means of social media marketing. The aim is to create a Facebook Page and a Twitter account and the one responsible for running these accounts should be active enough to carry out the social marketing (Inn, 2016). Social Media Marketing Strategies: The marketing strategy is to carry out the social media marketing process. The restaurant can give the responsibility to outside agency or the same can be done in house. Primarily, the restaurant has to create Facebook page and Twitter account (Tuten Solomon, 2014). In addition to this, content marketing by the means of blogs or articles can also be used to create dominance in the social media. The marketing group handling these accounts should be active enough to keep posting on these platforms. In addition to this, the visitors should also be asked to post their photos or tell about their experience at the restaurant (Min Lee, 2014). For the home delivery system, the one going out for the delivery should ask the consumers to rate the restaurant and write review of the same. A number of important points can be mentioned here for better social media marketing: Attractive content: Since, the marketing is based on restaurant, the content should not be limited to restaurant based but in order to attract more people, various types of contents should be posted. More images, less words: Images with captions in it attract more viewers. Therefore, it is expected that more images should be used (Tuten Solomon, 2014). In fact, if the images of the visitors are used for the posts, the reliability of the posts can increase. Proximity: It has to be understood that the target group of people are the local people of Melbourne. Therefore, if the contents are related to the local people, then the proximity can be gained and the acceptance can increase. Offers and discounts: The restaurant might come up with various offers and discounts. It is important to disseminate the information among the people by the means of social marketing (Lawley Howieson, 2015). In fact, the restaurant can also come up with some contests and the winner could be given some discounts. Blogs and content writing: The marketing should not be limited to social media presence but it is expected that the marketing should also include writing blogs and content with major key words, that the content can redirect to the page of the restaurant and the awareness can be increased (Moskwa, Higgins-Desbiolles Gifford, 2015). Smart objectives Specific The objective is to create awareness among the people of Melbourne about this restaurant and attract the target group of people. Measurable With the increase in the number of visitors, the success of the plan can be measured easily. In addition to this, since focus will be made on the social media promotional techniques, the number of likes, share and the response of the consumers can be easily measured (Farris et al., 2015). Attainable With thorough social media presence and being active at the various platforms, the objective can be easily attained. It is expected that the complete social media marketing plan will be given to an outside marketer and thus, the success of the social media marketing is easily attainable. Relevant The plan is absolutely relevant because more people are increasingly using the social media sites. The target group of people is much active at these platforms (Ahn Picard, 2014). In addition to this, it is a common scenario that people are continuously sharing their moments in the social media and thus, the same approach can bring better results to the restaurant. Timely The plan is continuous but the presence of the restaurant at the social media can be created within a time span of 12 months. Action plan: Activities 1st Week 2nd-4th Week 5th-6th Week 7th-8th Week 8th-9th Week 9th-11th Week 12th Week Collection of various data and resources Survey of the market Creating layout Implementation Keeping a trace of the plan Getting feedbacks Make necessary changes Proceed with new plan Final outcome Table: Action Plan (Source: Created by the author) The proposed budget: Operating expenses Amount in $ Payroll 40, 000 Marketing 70, 000 Utilities 5, 000 Media Expenses 45, 000 Labor cost 10, 000 Other 4, 000 Total 174, 000 Table: Proposed Budget (Source: Created by the author) Monitoring and control: The major key performance indicators are the consumers satisfactory rate, increase in the number of visitors. Therefore, it is expected that a check on these measurements will be kept. The visitors can be asked to fill up a small survey form that would indicate the popularity and the presence of the restaurant at the social media. If the sales revenue and the satisfactory rate of the consumers increase, then the success of the plan can be achieved. Conclusion: A detailed analysis of the social media marketing plan has been discussed. The role and importance of the presence in the social media cannot be neglected. If an organization does not make the presence in the social media, its marketing process is not completed. A number of recommendations have been made to create presence in the social media. It is expected that if the same is carried out thoroughly, the restaurant can create greater dominance in the social media. References: Ahn, H. I., Picard, R. W. (2014). Measuring affective-cognitive experience and predicting market success.IEEE Transactions on Affective Computing,5(2), 173-186. Ashley, C., Tuten, T. (2015). Creative strategies in social media marketing: An exploratory study of branded social content and consumer engagement.Psychology Marketing,32(1), 15-27. 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