ROI!!!!

As we all know, social media is not free. It takes people, technology, time and many limited resources. When we allocating these limited resources to social media, we must consider cost reduction and revenue generation. In order to measure the investment-return relationship of social media, we can use ROI which is a business metric. ROI is “Return of investment”.

ROI = (GAIN FROM INVESTMENT - COST OFINVESTMENT) / COST OF INVESTMENT

The first step : Establish a baseline of social media

The second step : Create Activity Timelines for social media

The third step: Look at Sales Revenue and numbers of transactions generated by social media.Transaction data should be collected specifically in this step . There are three main ways to collect transaction data, which are "F.R.I"

FREQUENCY- How often customers transact with the company.(transactions per month)

REACH- How many customers social media marketing strategies of the company are reaching.(net new customers)

YIELD- How much the company spend on social media marketing strategies. (cost of per-transaction)

The forth step: Measure transactional precursors

The fifth step: Overlay all timelines of social media.

The sixth step: Look for patterns.

The seventh step : Prove relationships.

Although the data and useful information are not easy to collect, with ROI, companies can measure the commercial value of social media well.

The amazing 4th screen!

The 4th screen is mobile communication devices, namely smartphones and tablets. The other 3 screens are the cinema, the television and the game console. The "Location-based services" (LBS) is a kind of information or entertainment service, which can be accessible with mobile devices through the mobile network. It uses information on the geographical position of mobile devices. For example, the location-based games and personalized weather services. And it also includes services to identify a location of a person or an object. What’s more, it has mobile commerce with forms of coupons or advertisement directed at customers based on their current location. "Mobile" connectivity has an important impact on marketing because customers can express their opinions with others easily with smartphones. For example,  if one consumer doesn't feel satisfied a product of a company, then he or she can communicate with some friends through twitter with smartphones which may be a lot of people. In a bad situation, the product may not sell well due to this kind of communication between so many consumers. The 4th screen is a new channel for marketing strategies which is much fast and effective. This is also a good opportunity for marketers. They can easily collect large amount of information of target consumers which can help them to market. Tablets like the iPads are becoming more popular. Because of its convenience and fast speed, many people embraced tablets. However, there are also many people against tablets. I think there are many reasons. The first reason is that many old people don't accept new technology easily. The second reason is that the mobile devices are always very expensive that people cannot afford. Finally, some people think that it will waste a lot time with tablets.

Homework 1

Discuss why is social media an important part of an organization's marketing strategy? Why it is important to market yourself? How can you build your brand online?

Social media is an important part of an organization's marketing strategy because it has become a broad platform for the organization to collect consumer information and promote new products. Nowadays, more and more people are using social media. They can express their own opinions freely with social media. Based on consumer information collected from social media, the organization can make market analysis and select its target group. Then it also can make promotion of new products on social media which have so many users.

I think it is important to market myself because today's world are full of competition and how to make myself stand out from the rest is very important. People tend to understand themselves best. So marketing myself can let more and more people know me and understand me. Maybe they will find that we share the same hobbies.

I will build my brand online by posting my blogs that can help people know me well. And I will connect with old friends and business colleagues. Then we can share our experience to each other. In addition, I will try to make relationships with professionals in my field and try to improve myself by learning from them. I will also discover new people through social media and make friends with them.

Social Media Marketing Strategy

a) Explains why you are taking this class?

The reason why I take this class is that I'm very curious about and interested in social media. I think this topic is very new to me. I didn't have Blog and Twitter before. And I think taking this class can give me an good opportuny to learn how to use these social media efficiently. In addition, I can learn much knowledge about social media marketing strategy. I also hope to make friends through social networks.

b) Discusses what you hope to get out of it?

I hope to learn how to use Blog, Twitter and Slideshare efficiently. I also hope to learn much knowledge about social media marketing strategy. I wonder why thery are so successful? How can they make profits?  Maybe after taking this class, I can find these answers.

c) How you plan to apply what you learn in this class.

I plan to set up my social networks with my internaitonal friends. Especially after I come back to China, I can also connect with them through social media. In addtion, I hope to learn from successful experience of people on social media. For example, after I have set up my twitter account, I will follow some people that I admire much. Finally, the most important thing for me is to "sell" myself through social media and find a good job in the futute!

Class Blog Post 1

a) What do you think is Social Media?

 I think social media is a way that people can communicate with each other at any time in any location, whether through online website or some software which can be used with smart phones.

b) Why are Social Networks important in the marketing mix?

Social Networks are very important in the marketing mix because there are many consumers in the Social Networks that they can share consumer experience very quickly. If one consumer doesn't feel satisfied a product of a company, then he or she can communicate with some friends which may be a lot of people. In a bad situation, the product may not sell well due to this kind of communication between so many consumers .