Marketing

Kevin Lin

Social Media

Marketing Plan

Prepared by: Kevin Lin

March 14th, 2018

Kevin Lin

Headquarters: University of California, Riverside

Email: [email protected] Phone: (408) 250-0084

Table of Contents

Executive Summary……………………………………………………………………………3

Brief Overview………………………………………………………………………………….4

Social Media Presence…………………………………………………………………………4

Competitive Analysis………………………………………………………………………….6

Goals……………………………………………………………………………………………..7

Strategies………………………………………………………………………………………..7

Target Market…………………………………………………………………………………..8

Platforms………………………………………………………………………………………...9

Implementation……………………………………………………………………………….10

Facebook………………………………...……………………………………………..10

LinkedIn……..………………………………………………….……………………..11

Instagram…………………………………….………………………………………..11

Twitter……………………………………………………...…………………………..11

Monitoring……………………………………………………………………………………..12

C-Suite……………………………………………………………………………………..…..12

Executive Summary

As a young adult, my social media is primarily for my friends, peers, and family, but as a college student, it is also important for companies to see what kind of social media you have.

The main focus of this personal social media marketing plan is analyzing my various social media accounts and see how I can strengthen my social media presence. This in-depth look and analysis of my profiles has allowed me to set specific goals for my social media accounts and come up with strategies to help me achieve these goals.

Social medial goals:

· Build and create stronger profiles, mainly focusing on my Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn account.

· Incorporate personal branding and make a profile that stands out

· Generate more activity on my social media accounts

· Increase the amount of interactions on posts

· Expand the reach of the social medias

These goals can be achieved by posting more content consistently, paying more attention to all my accounts, responding to more comments, and sharing more posts. The plan also talks about how these social media activities will be tracked, analyzed, and evaluated.

Brief Overview

In today’s current world, the job market is highly competitive with more people going to college than ever before and graduating with a degree. In 2012, more than 30% of Americans have a bachelor’s degree and a little over 10% have a graduate’s degree. This is a huge jump from ten years prior when less than 10% of people had a bachelor’s degrees.

It is no longer enough for young adults to have a degree in today’s time. Students now need to find other ways to distinguish themselves and stand out over their competitors. Companies look at students’ resumes and they expect them to be filled with multiple internships, jobs, and numerous skills. However, it is no longer just the resume that a company will look at, companies also look at potential workers social media accounts and they carefully analyze it as if it were a background check. Social media has become an integral part of everybody’s daily lives, with people now using to communicate, share information, and stay updated with the news. A student’s social media profile can now be just as important as their resume or cover letter, which means students now need to work on creating a social media presence.

Social Media Presence

Across my various social media accounts, Facebook and Snapchat have the most activity and daily usage, with Instagram being used on occasion and LinkedIn having no activity. Looking at the interactions on Snapchat, Facebook, and Instagram, all activity is between my friends and I with the mentions being mostly positive or neutral. There seems to be little to none negative mentions or comments on the different social media platforms, which can be attributed to the private nature of the accounts and the accounts mostly being used to interact with friends.

The reach of my social media platforms is very limited, with my Facebook having the biggest reach with 1,000 friends. My Snapchat account’s reach is very limited and is a platform that I reserved for my close friends. My Instagram account has a slightly bigger reach than my Snapchat with 274 followers, but the reach is still not very large because of my limited activity on the application and because the account is private so I must personally accept every follow I receive. My LinkedIn profile has the smallest amount of reach because the account is very new and I have not spent a lot of time building my profile or growing my network.

I do not post a lot on my various social media accounts, especially not daily. Snapchat is an exception and it is the on social media platform that I post on a pretty consistent basis about my daily life. On Facebook, I do not post a lot or share too many things, but I do like and tag my friends in things I find interesting or amusing. Instagram is an application that I use very inconsistently, but I do post occasionally on there when I go to a big event and want to share a picture of my experience.

I think that the feedback on various social media accounts vary, depending on what I post and when I post. For Snapchat, my stories receive about 80 to 90 views depending on what I post and how much post, which is pretty good considering my friends list on that account is very limited. Even though my Instagram account is not too used, my most recent posts had over 100 likes, which is a very strong number since my current follower account is 274 and it was most likely lower back when I first uploaded that photo. My very first photo on Instagram did not receive a lot of likes but each post has received more and more likes than the previous. However, despite having a good amount of likes for how many followers I have, I do not receive a lot of comments, which is more valuable than a like. On Facebook, I analyzed my profile and cover photos, which generally receive a decent amount of interaction with many likes and positive comments, but if I compare the amount of likes and comments I receive compared to how many friends I have, the numbers do not match up, which shows I am not reaching a lot of the people on my friends list or they do not feel motivated to like or comment.

My response time to comments on my various social media platforms is usually very quick. I try to open the snaps my friends sent me immediately and I usually reply to comments on Facebook in a timely fashion unless I am preoccupied. Whenever I see a notification on my phone, I try to resolve it as quickly as possible. I usually respond to a comment or a message on a social media account within an hour.

Competitive Analysis

Strengths · Has accounts on the various big social media platforms · Monitors his social media accounts well and responds to any social media activity in a very timely manner · Is enthusiastic about using his social media · Lin’s Snapchat and Facebook are very active and used daily · Knows how to navigate the various social media platforms well

Weaknesses · Presence on Instagram and LinkedIn is very weak · LinkedIn profile is basic and not many connections · Social media accounts do not receive lot of interaction · Limited reach across most of his platforms with not many followers/connections · The social media accounts do not particularly stand out · Lacks a clear goal on what he is doing on social media

Opportunities · My Instagram and LinkedIn accounts/profiles have the most potential and room to grow · Increase the reach and build stronger, more unique profiles · LinkedIn has little work down and needs to be updated · LinkedIn is an online resume and very important for all college students · Post more on Instagram and even Facebook to increase activity and boost interactions · Need to create a stronger personal brand on social media

Threats · Other college students who graduate in June 2019 · Many people have strong social media accounts and presence, especially in LinkedIn · Too many people looking for jobs and not enough jobs available · A well put-together social media profile draws more attention and can increase the getting hired · New social media platforms always being created, so one needs to know which platforms are the most popular and which ones are dying out

Goals

I have two main goals for my social media accounts.

· My first goal is to build and create a better and more thorough profile for my Instagram and LinkedIn accounts, while improving my Facebook page and other social media accounts to ensure they are updated and relevant.

· My second goal would be to improve my social media accounts’ interactions and generate more activity on my social media

Strategies

I will employ a social media strategy that focuses on creating a strong foundation for my social media and trying to post content that is genuine and that people can connect to.

· I want to start off by going through my profile and make sure every detail is updated and correct. This will allow me to have a strong foundation for each of my social media, and this will also allow me to pick a direction for how I want my social media platform to take.

· I will incorporate personal branding with all my social media profiles that allows people to feel like they are getting to know who I am as a person.

· Social media is crucial to branding because everybody has access to it and we need to aware that it has a huge impact on how people perceive others. I would go through all my accounts and make sure that everything I post, like, and follow are things I would not be embarrassed if an employer looked up and saw. I also want to make sure every description, detail, background information, and much more are accurate and demonstrates my unique qualities

· An updated and strong social media profile can help capture a company’s attention and keep them engaged

· The next thing I would do is be more active on my social media, by trying to post content on a more consistent basis and reach out to people. An active social media account that post more and comments on other people’s posts will have a better reach and become a strong platform for people to engage in.

Target Market

As a college student, my social media accounts are no longer just for friends and family, but they have also become a way for a company to see the kind of person and worker I am. I would also be targeting 25 to 50-year-olds, who are working in the industry and looking to hire. Social media is an integral part of daily life and it gives companies a glimpse of the person we are, before they even meet or interview us. It is very important for me, as a college student who will graduate in a little over year and will be looking for a job, to ensure that my social media accounts do not reflect poorly on me. My target market for my social media should no longer only be focused on my friends, but it should also be for potential companies and brands I would want to work for. When I post a photo, share an article, or do something on social media, I need to be conscious of what I am uploading or sharing and making sure that it is appropriate for a parent or potential boss to see. If a potential employer sees a photo of you drinking or doing something inappropriate, it can reflect badly on you and potentially harm our image even before an interview.

Platforms

The platforms I would want to focus my attention on are primarily LinkedIn, Facebook, and LinkedIn is crucial social media platform for any working professional or potential working professional, because it is a huge network for the business world and is an online resume that allows us to showcase our best attributes and skills. LinkedIn is a social media platform that focuses on mostly young to middle aged adults because these people need a place where they can look for jobs, find people for jobs, and also professionally network. LinkedIn as become a huge part of how people find jobs and how companies can look at a person’s past work history. It is an ideal place for a college student to showcase their skills, qualities, and much more on a professional platform, where students can gather connections and build their professional network even before they graduate college.

Facebook is another very important platform with over 2 billion active users worldwide and the platform has become a place where people share their daily lives, connect with people, and even learn about current events. Facebook is social media that caters to people of all ages and not just millennials. However, Facebook does not just function as a place for individuals to connect and communicate, the platform also functions as a place where companies and brands are able to promote their products or services. More and more brands are creating their own social media profiles, because they realize how powerful social media can be and how many opportunities it can offer. I picked Facebook over Instagram as a platform, because Instagram focuses more on targeting females and people from the age of 13 to 25. Instagram does not have as many working professionals using their platform, unlike Facebook which has a better appeal to a wider range of age groups.

Other platforms like YouTube and Twitter do have a lot of potential but would need a more specialized social media marketing strategy. YouTube has become a highly influential platform for entertainers and creators, but all its content needs to be carefully planned and produced in order to be very successful. Twitter is a platform where users can write their random thoughts and microblog, while companies can easily post multiple times a day about their various products, services, promotions and much more. However, Twitter is not necessarily the best place for one to promote themselves to a company. Instagram has a lot of potential because people can create a very specific image of themselves using their posts, captions, and more to personally brand themselves, but the downside of this platform is that the audience is a little more limited. Instagram should not be the priority of the strategy, despite its ability to spread brand awareness, because the demographic does not match the target market as well as LinkedIn or Facebook.

Implementation

Facebook is the biggest and most popular social network with over 2 billion users. It is a great place for interacting with people and sharing information.

· Post or share content at least once a day

· Post or share articles, videos, or content that I find interesting and believe other people will enjoy

LinkedIn is another popular social media platform with over 200 million users. It is the dominant business-to-business social network and is an ideal platform to connection with business professionals. The primary goal of this plan is to stand out to companies and people looking to recruit, and as a college student, this is a great platform to start forming business connections and building a professional network.

· Try to add at least 5 connections a week

· Update the profile every month

· Try to post at least once every two weeks

· Consistently look at job/intern openings and apply

Instagram is currently the second most popular social media platform with over 800 million monthly users in September 2017. Instagram is a great place to engage with other people using images and videos and posts can generate a lot of buzz if done right.

· Try to post at least once a week and post for every big event

· Tag people in posts and make sure to include the location

· Use hashtags and emojis in post

· Comment on a post at least once a day

· Respond to all comments on my posts

· Accept follows from all legit accounts and follow them back

Twitter is currently the third most popular social media platform with over 330 million monthly active users. Using Twitter, it is possible to reach a big audience with short and concise messages. It is a great platform to interact with users who are on their smartphones a lot or out an about. However, it is not a great place to build up a personal brand, so it will not be included in the social media marketing plan.

Monitoring

Any successful social media marketing plans must monitor and evaluate the social media activity which allows them to see how successful their efforts are and see if they have achieved their goals. With Facebook analytics, I can track the social media activity and easily see the results of my efforts. On a platform like Instagram, one way I can track social media activity is by monitoring hashtags, looking at the number of comments and likes, and keeping track of my followers. With Google Analytics, I gain the ability to track and report website traffic, which will help me to monitor my social media accounts activity. Hopefully, as I monitor my social media accounts over the next couple of months, I will see my social media accounts grow as long I stick to my marketing plan and implement everything I said I would, which will then lead to increase in my social media’s engagement, reach, and overall numbers. My goal is to have a 15% increase in engagements on Instagram, 15% increase in brand strengthening on Facebook, and a 20% increase in reach on LinkedIn.

C-Suite

As a young adult and a college student, I have a lot of experience navigating and using the various social media platforms. Social media has changed how brands or companies market their products. I feel like I have a good understanding of how social media works and how to use social media to a company’s advantage. I have a lot of great ideas and skills that I feel would contribute to your company.

While social media does have huge reach and millions of users, it is a difficult platform to leverage properly due to the difficulty of attracting a customer, keeping the customer’s attention, and motivating them to interact with a brand or advertisement. Over my past four years at college, I have spent a lot of time building my personal brand and perfecting my social media accounts, which has allowed me to achieve a better understanding of how social media works and what are the best ways to get a customer engaged. This company would benefit greatly from social media skills and with my great ideas, I would be able to increase the brand awareness and reach across numerous social media platforms.

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