NOVA A

Social media planning

LaTonya Jackson

Liberty University

Introduction

After the invention of the internet, there arose the need for people to network and socialize online apart from just sharing content. Social platforms such as Facebook, Twitter and Instagram came to fill that gap. The role of social media in marketing has continued to rise at warp speed especially with the increasing number of people using social media sites. About 71% of customers who use social media are likely to recommend their friends after having a good experience with products or services (Bergon, 2019). Current social media statistics show that today there are about 3.2 billion users, which amounts to 42% of the world adult population. In the United States alone about 68% of the adult population has an active Facebook account. Approximately 2 million business establishments advertise their products and services through Facebook. Most of these businesses are leveraging from social media advertising which currently generates more than billion every quarter. Social is helping several businesses to boost their brand awareness, increase their inbound traffic, optimization of search engines and to increase their conversion rates.

Issue

Marlboro faces different problems or issues as far as the use of social media is concerned. On Facebook, the company has been criticized for targeting teens of high school students who are still underage and the law prohibits the company from selling such products. It is expected that the company should put restrictions to ensure that only people who are within the target audience are added to their official fan page and groups. On Twitter, the company does not add the company's website, contacts, and links to its posts. It makes it difficult for the followers to get more information about the company and the range of products it offers. On Instagram, the company has failed in adding hashtags while posting a picture and video advertisements making it hard for the followers to get threads. The company's vision is to be a global leader in selling quality cigars. The mission is anchored on leadership, solving societal problems, customer satisfaction and creation of value to its stakeholders (Dewhirst, 2018). Effective social media will help the company achieve its vision and mission by improving its popularity, building a strong brand and increasing sells thus ensuring that the stakeholders get value for their investment. Social media will not only ensure that the company expands its global reach but it will also help in acquiring the local market that is largely controlled by Altria Group. It is important to note that the United States is also a sizeable market. Being a U.S company, other customers in other countries would be convinced when they see that United States citizens trust the company and can purchase their products.

Target audience

Marlboro’s central audience is adults aged 20-50. The psychographic and demographic characteristics of the target audience differentiate them from other audiences. The central audience has relatively similar lifestyles, values, attitudes, and they come from different social classes. Their age is adults of 20-50 years age, gender is both male and females, their life cycle stage and religions allow them to make independent decisions including smoking (Jamal, 2016). The social media content includes messages, pictures, videos and customer feedback of which this analysis of the target audience helps in drafting the most appropriate content to encourage and inspire all stakeholders. It enhances the organization’s relationship with its affiliates.

SWOT Analysis

Although Marlboro’s social media presence is weak, the company’s competitive advantage lies in advertising, which has made it the world’s biggest cigarette selling brand in the world.

Strengths

The company has six major strengths that make it superior over other companies. First, it's brand value. Today Marlboro’s brand value stands at $33.6 billion, which makes it the highest valued tobacco brand in the world. The company sells more than 500 billion cigarettes annually. Its brand is well known all over the world as compared to those of its competitors. Secondly, global outreach. While the global value of other brands has been facing issues due to economic instability, Marlboro’s global value has been increasing steadily over the years. Today Marlboro’s global value stands at $71.6 billion, which is about 13 billion dollars increase from that of 2015.

Third, Marlboro has created a barrier to new entrants. The company has made a huge investment to control the global market making its cigarettes the best choice for the majority of the customers. Any company that wishes to join the industry and challenge the company must make a huge capital investment. Fourth, the domestic market. Marlboro controls a sizeable domestic market; it is the second major player after Altria Group. Fifth, strong marketing; the company is strong in advertising. It is known to run several advertisements. The company used to target women in its initial advertisements but it swiftly changed its strategy to target both genders after research was published relating smoking to lung cancer. Lastly, Marlboro’s association with major sporting events has given it a competitive edge. The company has in many times given complete clothing on most Ferarri events while supporting motorbike and Nascar racing.

Weaknesses

Marlboro has three critical weaknesses. First, the industry's growth has been declining due to government regulations. Governments in different countries have been imposing more tax on cigarettes to reduce the consumption of tobacco products. The United States targets to reduce tobacco consumption by 20% and 30% by 2020 and 2030 respectively (Lee et al., 2016). Secondly, the highly competitive market. The company is facing stiff competition from other global brands such as Davidoff, Camel, Parliament, and Goldflake. Lastly, with increased taxes and government regulations, the operating costs have continued to increase, which consequently affected the prices of Marlboro cigars.

Opportunities

The company has an opportunity to reach new and emerging markets. There are new markets whereby customers are not aware of the good feeling and experience offered by Marlboro cigars (Navarro, O’Brien, & Hoffman, 2019). Secondly, the company can invest in research and development to come up with new products. New products create a portfolio for the company and allow it to access more customers.

Threats

Threats facing Marlboro include growing competition, increased government regulations, and external business risks. Local tobacco is using the advantage of social media to enjoy global outreach thus increasing the level of competition(Navarro, O’Brien, & Hoffman, 2019). Governments will continue to regulate tobacco products, which will negatively affect the company. External factors such as increased health awareness of the effects of tobacco products will also affect the company.

Facebook

Facebook still plays a crucial role in the marketing of the products for the Marlboro company. Facebook forms the largest social media, where the majority of the people range from young to older age communicate, interact, and market their products and services. Facebook has no restrictions on the marketing and selling of products as far as the content does not go against the policies and regulations of Facebook (Ogbuji & Ogbobula, 2018). The quality and quality of Marlboro company selling have been lower because of a lack of proper strategies to market the products on the social media platform. The companies that use Facebook have to be consistent with their postings of products and the provision of information concerning the products they are marketing and selling.

Facebook is appropriate for the target audience between the age of 20-50 years because of its ability to involve every individual in the platform. Facebook has several myriads of marketing features that are available for the target customers. The marketing features include Facebook feed, where the business company can post updates on the available products and different brands and qualities (Ogbuji & Ogbobula, 2018). The posts can be updated on a daily basis, depending on the flexibility of the company, therefore enabling the customers to access the most recent information about the products on a regular basis. Facebook also enhances the use of dynamic videos that can be used in targeting the campaigns of the products among the targeted audience. Besides, the company can use paid advertising to help them reach their target audience throughout the world.

According to the psychographic and demographic strategies that are used by the Marlboro company, the target audience remains to be over 18 years up to 50 years. Facebook is made up of people of different ages that contain the target audience of the company. Besides, Marlboro company target the audience who are fun of partying because they use cigar and alcohol to enhance their partying activities. Such an audience enjoys posting their photos as well as videos of their partying activities on Facebook. Therefore they can easily access the products of the company and begin to purchase from the company.

Social media plan

1. The company should create a Facebook business and fun page on their Facebook account. All the target audience who are requested to join the fan page will be allowed (Voorveld et al., 2018). The company will also invite eligible target audience to join their page on Facebook.

2. Post regularly: The page should contain consistent information about the products being sold by the company, accompanied by their clear and cute pictures of the products. The bright and attractive photos will attract the audience into the products of the company; therefore, they will be consistent in following the products.

3. Create a human voice: The company should have more than one group admins who will keep updating the page with information daily. The admins will also help in answering the questions posted by the clients and try to redirect the customers to the company's products (Voorveld et al., 2018). The presence of admins who respond to the clients immediately will further help in building trust with the clients hence increasing their relationship and confidence with the company.

4. Use videos and pictures: post contents and games that are related to the products being sold by the company and those that are related to the audience. The company should ensure to post the pictures of different brands of cigar and the new stocks that have been released to the market. An example is creating a video on how people can use cigars that contain filters to help in preventing harm to the clients, therefore creating inspiration to the audience.

5. Use Ads to provide information on the location, demographics, likes, and specific interests of the company. Ads will help in promoting the Facebook page with the target of the interest, online purchase, and geographical locations.

Instagram

Instagram is another social media channel that can enhance the marketing strategies of the Marlboro company. Instagram enables the universal sharing of photos and videos on the platform to enable the customers to view the company's products and purchase the products, which create positive reviews for the company. The majority of the population on Instagram are the young population who enjoy partying and posting their various partying activities and fun moments on Instagram. The young adults, primarily those in college and the graduates, always want to experiment with every new product that exists in the market (Quesenberry, 2018). Development and production of new products and branding one of the existing products to the market will enable the Marlboro company to meet the needs of the target audience on Instagram, especially the young population.

Social media plan for Instagram

1. Optimization of the Instagram account: the company should create and develop a compelling bio and profile that is directly connected to the website of the company. People check on the bio and the profile of every Instagram account before following it. The bio should be descriptive and entails the use of inspirations such as emoji.

2. Follow relevant accounts of the same industry: the company should follow industries that are already on Instagram and do marketing as they do (Quesenberry, 2018). In the long run, the accounts of the companies followed may follow back the Marlboro company.

3. Use the popular hashtag: the company should use influencing hashtags because many people, especially the young audience, uses hashtags to find new photos and videos. Therefore, using influencing hashtag will keep the company’s information at the top bars.

4. Use of videos and images on both the platform and Instagram stories: the stories will allow the followers of the company to view various products that have been posted temporarily for twenty-four hours (Quesenberry, 2018). Videos help in catching the attention of the customers, especially the new followers.

References

Bergon, F. (2019). Two-Buck Chuck & The Marlboro Man: The New Old West. University of Nevada Press.

Dewhirst, T. (2018). Into the black: Marlboro brand architecture, packaging, and marketing communication of relative harm. Tobacco Control, 27(2), 240-242.

Jamal, A. (2016). Current cigarette smoking among adults—the United States, 2005–2015. MMWR. Morbidity and mortality weekly report, 65.

Lee, J. G. L., Richardson, A., Golden, S. D., & Ribisl, K. M. (2016). Promotions on Newport and Marlboro Cigarettes Packages: A National Study. Nicotine & Tobacco Research, 19(10), 1243-1247.

Navarro, M. A., O’Brien, E. K., & Hoffman, L. (2019). Cigarette and smokeless tobacco company smartphone applications. Tobacco Control, 28(4), 462-465.

Ogbuji, C. N., & Ogbobula, P. (2018). Social Media Advertising and Electorates’ Patronage of Political Parties in Nigeria. Researchers World, 9(1), 111.

Voorveld, H. A., Araujo, T., Bernritter, S. F., Rietberg, E., & Vliegenthart, R. (2018). How advertising in offline media drives reach and engagement with brands on Facebook. International Journal of Advertising, 37(5), 785-805.

Quesenberry, K. A. (2018). Social Media Strategy: Marketing, Advertising, and Public Relations in the Consumer Revolution. Rowman & Littlefield.