Wednesday, January 29, 2020
Evaluating E-Commerce Strategy Development within Organisations Essay Example for Free
Evaluating E-Commerce Strategy Development within Organisations Essay Background The news about the â€Å"New Economy†has triggered many entrepreneurial ventures to exploit on the electronic commerce (e-commerce) opportunities. Ventures such as Amazon and eBay have received significant media attention and investor optimism about the potential of e-commerce. Now that the smoke has settled, both management and academic research have become interested on the impact of e-commerce on those companies that have supplemented their brick-and-mortar outlets with e-commerce initiatives. Several researches have emerged on effect of e-commerce on organisational strategy. Tapscott et al (1998) discusses the organisational changes created by B2B e-commerce and the benefits of deploying e-commerce within the organisation. O’Connell (2000) discusses the effect of e-commerce in the organisational structure in light of the resource-based view and transaction cost theory. E-commerce has been seen as improving efficiency, communication and lowering costs across business processes (O’Connell, 2000; Krovi et al., 2003; Garicano and Kaplan, 2001). In addition, researches have also shown the influence of e-commerce on brand management. Wind Mahajan (2001). discuss how the competitive environment is changing with the increasing number of Internet users and how the new technology is redefining the marketplace. The research presented a conceptual framework delineating the drivers and outcomes of marketing strategy in the context of competing in both physical and electronic marketplace. Part of the emergence of electronic marketplace is the ability of organisations to offer highly customized products to consumers, and the capability to build and to manage customer relationships (Brown, 2000). The aim of the research is to investigate the way in which an organisation develops its electronic commerce strategy over time in light of existing strategic approaches and development found within related literature. The research particularly looks into Marks Spencer e-commerce strategy as the case study for the research. The research looks into how Marks Spencer has developed and implemented its e-commerce strategy. Drawing from strategic management theories, the research specifically focuses on the how an e-commerce strategy is grounded on reducing transaction cost within the organisation and across the value chain. Furthermore, the research also looks into the importance of relationship marketing and how e-commerce is providing organisations with the necessary technology to achieve seamless exchange of information and reduced costs. Strategically, the adoption of e-commerce within an organisation hinges on these two important strategic management theories. In addition, the research is confined within the business-to-consumer (B2C) market, since business-to-business (B2B) relations are frequently characterized by a small number of customers and a strong emphasis on personal contacts between customers and salespeople as their means of marketing communication. Therefore, the research focuses on how consumers view their shopping experience within an e-commerce site, particularly Marks Spencer. The Overview of the Study            The remainder of this study is as following statement:            Chapter 2, Literature Review, will provide a concise concept and explanation of electronic commerce within retail organisation. The review of related literature discusses the concept and application areas of e-commerce within organisation. The review will also tackle the important strategic management concepts such as transaction cost theory and relationship marketing and how e-commerce is enabling organisations achieve increased efficiency, improved communication, and lower costs across its value chain. Chapter 3, Methodology, will describe the research design of this study. The research design of this study is empirical research method using secondary data for quantitative analysis. Chapter 4, Results, will demonstrate the results of this study. At first, the descriptive statistical data such as maximum, minimum and mean, on the consumer’s perspective on the different service attributes of e-commerce site for Marks and Spencer. Chapter 5, Summary, Conclusion and Recommendations, the â€Å"Summary†section will first provide a comprehensive summary of the major findings of this study. The â€Å"Conclusion†section will highlight the implications of the research findings. Finally, â€Å"Recommendations†will be proposed to help companies to utilize the importance of electronic commerce in their strategic assessment. In next chapter, related researches in electronic commerce will be reviewed CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW Electronic Commerce According to the International Engineering Forum, e-commerce is â€Å"an emerging model of new selling and merchandising tools in which buyers are able to participate in all phases of a purchase decision, while stepping through those processes electronically rather than in a physical store or by phone (with a physical catalog). (online International Engineering Forum)†E-commerce enables a customer to access product information, select items to purchase, purchase items securely and have the purchase settled financially.            While the notion of e-commerce as the ability of organisations or a person to sell over the Internet is very popular, the research paper will adopt the definition of Organisation for Economic Co-Operation and Development (OECD). E-commerce can be defined as â€Å"the total of all applications that pertain to online communications and transaction (OECD, 2000).†The definition better suit our purpose of discussing e-commerce in the context of strategic management. The research views e-commerce holistically, which encompasses the communication between organisations and customer over the Internet, the completion of one-time or on-going online transactions, and e-CRM systems.            The emergence of e-commerce in the retail sector is one of the most widely adopted and anticipated development in the industry. Following the success of Amazon, many brick-and-mortar retailers jumped into the dot com bandwagon and established their online presence in the World Wide Web. Many have adopted e-commerce capabilities out of a fear of falling behind competitors or as a result of the general momentum to expand the use of an existing Internet presence. Nonetheless, the main value proposition for organisations adopting an online presence is the prospect of increasing revenue from new markets and using a lower-cost, electronic-distribution channel (online International Engineering Forum).            With a strong demand from organisations in creating an online presence, internet service providers (ISPs) have begun to offer electronic-commerce hosting services. ISPs often position as a outsourced service provider of the customers’ electronic-commerce capabilities, managing the networking and server aspects of the initiatives. Such services are important consideration for the roll-out e-commerce sites as it allows organisations to leverage on the expertise of ISPs and allows organisations to concentrate on their core businesses (online International Engineering Forum).            From the customer’s perspective, the main benefit of an e-commerce system is the convenience it brings to consumers, who are constrained by busy schedule and numerous activities. The e-commerce system enables a customer to locate and purchase a desired good or service over the Internet when the customer is ready to make the purchase. Its function is synonymous to a virtual store (online International Engineering Forum).            From the merchant’s perspective, the e-commerce system enables the organisation to take advantage of the strengths of online store and increase revenues. One of the key benefits of implementing an online store is the capability to cover greater market reach and a complementary distribution channel to its existing brick-and-mortar stores. However, in order to effectively implement an e-commerce strategy, the e-commerce system must recreate or utilize existing data and business processes. The merchant must recreate the same shopping experience in its online store providing in-store assistance, secure payment process, catalogs and prices about the products and services, inventory management, and transaction capabilities (including credit authorization, tax computation, financial settlement, and shipping) (online International Engineering Forum).            Furthermore, e-commerce not only allows merchants to take advantage of market reach, but it also enables merchants to redefine and enhance an enterprise’s brand strength, customer-service capability, and supply-chain efficiency. An e-commerce site is one of the areas of an enterprise infrastructure that is open to customers via the Web, but it is linked with other information system of the enterprise value chain (online International Engineering Forum).            In implementing an e-commerce site, provision of the basic system requires an Internet connection, a Web-application server and e-commerce application software, and a personal computer for the shopper. Figure 1 illustrates the basic economic drivers and application requirements of an e-commerce marketplace. On the buyers side, consumers are driven to the online retail store through advertisements, interesting features, needed information, and directory. On the sellers side, merchants are driven to the online space because of its ease of entry, increasing website traffic, ability to sell and integrate marketing messages (online International Engineering Forum). Figure 1. Business Drivers in e-commerce strategy E-Commerce Strategies and Business Drivers A number of initiatives implemented within an organisation are driven by a market need. All industries are characterized by trends and new developments that gradually or speedily produce changes important enough to require a strategic response from participating firms. The popular hypothesis about industries going through a life cycle helps explain industry changes but is still incomplete (Porter, 1980 p. 157-162). The life-cycle stages are strongly keyed to changes in the overall industry growth rate (which is why such terms as rapid growth, early maturity, saturation, and decline are used to describe the stages). Yet there are more causes of industry change than an industry’s position in the life cycle (Porter, 1980 p. 157-162). While it is important to judge what growth stage an industry is in, there’s more analytical value in identifying the specific factors causing fundamental industry and competitive adjustments. Industry and competitive conditions change because forces are in motion that create incentives and pressures for change (Porter, 1980 p. 162). The most dominant forces are called driving forces because they have the biggest influence on what kinds of changes will take place in the industry’s structure and competitive environment. The Internet and e-commerce opportunities are unquestionably spawning a sweeping business revolution that altered industry boundaries, opens up all kinds of new business-to-business (B2B) and business-to-consumer (B2C) market opportunities and threats, sparks competition from new and entirely different breed of enterprises and mandates fundamental changes in business practices (Thompson and Strickland 2001). In his book The Business of E-Commerce: From Corporate Strategy to Technology, Paul May discusses four business drivers for adopting an e-commerce strategy. First, organisations have the compulsion to catch up with competitors or to gain competitive advantage by being early adopters of the new technology. Organisation’s constant pursuit to gain competitive edge in the marketplace is a primary concern and part of a survival component in the business strategy. Second, organisations need to develop a credible e-commerce channel from its current online portfolio. Third, organisations are constantly looking for ways to reduce cost and increase efficiency within its value chain. E-commerce can be a creative force in delivering reduced transaction cost, increased communication and coordination, and improve business processes. Fourth, e-commerce enables organisations to improve its value chain by creating strategic supplier partnership and delivering customized customer solutions. It allows organisations improve business’ infrastructural capabilities to play as an extended enterprise and not merely a single business entity delivering greater value to its customers (May, 2000). Each of these drivers can be harnessed as a propulsive force for the business, rather than a deflective or immobilizing one (May, 2000). Application areas of E-commerce Six key emerging application areas in electronic commerce can be identified. It can be organized into two important domains: business-to-consumer (B2C) and business-to-business (B2B). The application areas include categories in consumer retailing to real-time business-to-business collaboration (May, 2000).            Retailers were the first adopters of the business-to-consumer e-commerce. Retailers found selling products and services online as a promising channel of distribution for its products and reaching new markets. Nonetheless, B2C e-commerce is now more diversified and classified into three application areas which include retail, auction, and advice (May, 2000). The three application areas of B2C e-commerce are retail, auctions, and advice. Although each has its own distinguishing characteristics, and dynamics, a consistent theme underlies the development of all three. This is the increasing â€Å"busy-ness†of consumer lifestyles: the extension from work life into private life of a culture of ever-decreasing time-frames and ever-increasing obligations. Lack of time and complexity of choice drive the growth of products and services in each of these areas (May, 2000). Business-to-consumer is a term that stresses the direction of delivery: B2C e-commerce is supposedly something done by business to consumers. Yet this domain is founded on intense customer focus. Insight into the conflicting desires and pressures affecting consumers is a powerful ally in building successful strategies in this highly competitive area (May, 2000). Business-to-business, on the other hand, is the umbrella term used to refer to transactions between businesses conducted online, and the business networks and supply chains that make these transactions possible. While B2B activity has always, taken place, the Internet brings with it a new framework, B2B companies no longer need to depend on the traditional one-to-one model for business transactions (Michel, 2003). Procurement, inventory exchange, and real-time collaboration are relatively obscure categories of application, which have the potential to flip many businesses inside-out. Procurement introduces process improvements in the buying functions of organisations and also points the way to a more competitive environment in inter-company trading. Inventory exchange introduces the mechanism of the market to smooth out supply and demand inefficiencies across entire value chain, potentially lowers transaction and carrying costs, and focuses on improving exchange of supplier information. Real-time collaboration allows organisations to cooperate as fluid colonies of actors, undermining the stability of companies who prefer hands-off relationships or who prefer their reality-checks to be presented monthly (May, 2000). e-Commerce application in Retail Industry Retailers are now increasingly adopting electronic commerce as another distribution means of selling products and services. Online channels have also proved increasingly popular amongst retail companies within other formats such as hypermarkets or catalog retailers, who have attempted to expand into the sector to escape from stale growth within their respective markets (Datamonitor 2006). Datamonitor estimates the global Internet retail sector valued at $656.4 billion in 2005, representing a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 30.3% over the 2001-2005 period. The estimate is based on the total revenues generated through the sale of retail goods via online channels, valued at retail selling price, with any currency conversions calculated using constant 2005 annual average exchange rates (Datamonitor 2006). With the number of Internet users increasing exponentially year-on-year, the industry has experienced strong global growth within the global Internet retail sector. Much of the demand for online purchases is due to the escalating number of working mothers and time-starved consumers who are conveniently seeking ways of shopping without the hassle of driving to a retail store and falling in-line (Datamonitor 2006). At present, drugs and health beauty aids are the sector’s most lucrative segment in 2005, accounting for a total of $154 billion in total revenues or 23.5% of the retail sector’s total value. Computer, hardware, software, and supplies contributed significant revenues in 2005, generating $114.9 billion in revenues or 17.5% of the sector’s total value (Datamonitor, 2006).            While analyst do not see a similar spectacular growth in the global Internet retail industry, experts still is optimistic the pace of revenue expansion for the next four years. Industry experts project to the expansion of industry to remain strong valuing the industry at $1.169 trillion by 2010. This translates to 12.2% CAGR over the 2005-2010 period (Datamonitor, 2006).            In terms of revenues generated per region, Datamonitor reports that Europe has the largest market share in the global Internet retail sector with 44.4% of total value, followed by the United States and the Asia Pacific with 22.5% and 21.7% respectively (Datamonitor, 2006).
Tuesday, January 21, 2020
Ultra Endurance Exercise vs. Endurance Exercise Essay -- Health
Since the dawn of humankind, exercise has been a part of our existence, either consciously or unconsciously. Primal beings would run, climb trees, and sling weapons in order to survive and provide food, clothing, and other lifeline necessities for themselves and their families. As they continue to hunt on a daily basis, they unconsciously would build and maintain their cardiovascular system as they travel further to survive. Approximately 400 BC, the Hippocrates mention about exercise in great detail. If we could give every individual the right amount of nourishment and exercise, not too little and not too much, we would have found the most effective way to sustain good health. Today, we are living in a time of great ideas and new thoughts as people seriously start to study the importance and relevance of physical exercise. Dr. Kenneth Cooper from the Cooper Wellness Institute coined the word â€Å"aerobic†which means living with air. Dr. Cooper added an â€Å"s†at th e end of verb, and a phenomenon has been born. There are 41 types of aerobic exercises as we know it today ranging from walking to stair climbing, swimming to cycling [1]. Society today continues to live longer. In 2009 the average human lifespan of both sexes from birth in the United States is 78.5 years, an increase from 78.1 years in 2008 [2]. This is due to society as a whole making better nutritional choices, cutting out the toxins introduced into their bodies, and establishing and maintaining an exercise program. In result, society today is living longer and healthier. The quote by Scintilla Fly saying, â€Å"more is better and too much is never enough†may work in terms of business and education, but how much is too much in regards from an endurance exercise discipline to u... .... Works Cited 1. Cooper Wellness Institute 2. US Surgeon General, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. 3. Heather Fink, Lisa A. Burgoon, Alan E. Mikesky , Practical Applications in Sports Nutrition, Ch 12 4. FIT & WELL 8TH Edition By: Thomas D. Fahey, Paul M. Insel, Walton T. Roth 5. Knez WL, Coombes JS, and Jenkins DG. Ultra-endurance exercise and oxidative damage: implications for cardiovascular health. Sports Med. 36:429-441, 2006 6. Gleeson M, Nieman DC, and Pedersen BK. Exercise, nutrition and immune function. J Sport Sci. 22:115-125, 2004 7. Symptomatic hyponatremia during prolonged exercise in heat. Armstrong LE. Curtis WC. Hubbard RW. Francesconi RP.Moore R. Askew EW.Source: Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise. 25(5):543-9, 1993 May 8. Rehrer NJ. Fluid and electrolyte balance in ultra-endurance sport. Sports Med. 31:701-715, 2001 Ultra Endurance Exercise vs. Endurance Exercise Essay -- Health Since the dawn of humankind, exercise has been a part of our existence, either consciously or unconsciously. Primal beings would run, climb trees, and sling weapons in order to survive and provide food, clothing, and other lifeline necessities for themselves and their families. As they continue to hunt on a daily basis, they unconsciously would build and maintain their cardiovascular system as they travel further to survive. Approximately 400 BC, the Hippocrates mention about exercise in great detail. If we could give every individual the right amount of nourishment and exercise, not too little and not too much, we would have found the most effective way to sustain good health. Today, we are living in a time of great ideas and new thoughts as people seriously start to study the importance and relevance of physical exercise. Dr. Kenneth Cooper from the Cooper Wellness Institute coined the word â€Å"aerobic†which means living with air. Dr. Cooper added an â€Å"s†at th e end of verb, and a phenomenon has been born. There are 41 types of aerobic exercises as we know it today ranging from walking to stair climbing, swimming to cycling [1]. Society today continues to live longer. In 2009 the average human lifespan of both sexes from birth in the United States is 78.5 years, an increase from 78.1 years in 2008 [2]. This is due to society as a whole making better nutritional choices, cutting out the toxins introduced into their bodies, and establishing and maintaining an exercise program. In result, society today is living longer and healthier. The quote by Scintilla Fly saying, â€Å"more is better and too much is never enough†may work in terms of business and education, but how much is too much in regards from an endurance exercise discipline to u... .... Works Cited 1. Cooper Wellness Institute 2. US Surgeon General, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. 3. Heather Fink, Lisa A. Burgoon, Alan E. Mikesky , Practical Applications in Sports Nutrition, Ch 12 4. FIT & WELL 8TH Edition By: Thomas D. Fahey, Paul M. Insel, Walton T. Roth 5. Knez WL, Coombes JS, and Jenkins DG. Ultra-endurance exercise and oxidative damage: implications for cardiovascular health. Sports Med. 36:429-441, 2006 6. Gleeson M, Nieman DC, and Pedersen BK. Exercise, nutrition and immune function. J Sport Sci. 22:115-125, 2004 7. Symptomatic hyponatremia during prolonged exercise in heat. Armstrong LE. Curtis WC. Hubbard RW. Francesconi RP.Moore R. Askew EW.Source: Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise. 25(5):543-9, 1993 May 8. Rehrer NJ. Fluid and electrolyte balance in ultra-endurance sport. Sports Med. 31:701-715, 2001
Monday, January 13, 2020
Marketing Logistics Services
Human beings act artificially when they are targeted for marketing research. This could affect the accuracy of the project. 5. To obtain information about the role-played by various media in spreading awareness about the service. Research methodology Research methodology is the way to solve the research problems systematically. It explains the various steps generally adopted by a researcher in studying research problems along with the logic behind them. Research Approach Researcher has followed survey method as the research approach in this study. Survey research is the best suited method for descriptive information.Research Design Type of research: Descriptive Research Data sources: Primary The primary data has been collected through interviewer schedules. Secondary data has been collected with respect to information regarding the company profile, industry profile and other related documents. Sampling technique : simple random sampling Sample size of respondents : 180 The population of sample is unknown because we can’t calculate the how many customer using the professional couriers per day and the area of study is Visakhapatnam. Research instrumentA structured non-disguised interviewer schedule was developed as a research instrument. Open ended, closed ended, dichotomous, ranking and rating scales were used in the questionnaire. Pilot Study: Before the interviewer schedule is administered in to the field, it needs to be pre-tested. The sample that the interviewer schedule is administered in the pre-test should be roughly ssimilar to those who will be covered in the study. A pre-test was done to collect among 8 customers and necessary adjustments were made depending upon the effectiveness of the response.Then the final questionnaire was drafted based on the feedback. Then this revised from of the questionnaire was used in the survey of the proposed sample population. Data collection: The method of data collection was through Customers: The required data was collected through personal interview and the Researcher designed a simple questionnaire for this purpose and administered in person to the samples. Data is the foundation of the all researches and they are the raw materials with which a researcher functions. Depending on the source, data can be classified as primary data and secondary data.Primary Data: Data gathered for the first time by researcher is known as primary data. This data was collected through consumer survey. This data was collected by a person through survey techniques. Survey research is the systematic gathering of data from the respondents through questionnaires. Some of the data was also collected by mearns of personal interview. The type of questions asked was: * Open-ended questions: these questions call for a response of more than a few words. In open-ended questions, the respondents are free to express their views in their own words. Multiple-choice questions: The questions for which we have a number of ch oices as aanswers are termed as multiple-choice questions. * Dichotomous questions: this is an extreme form of multiple-choice questions, which allows only two responses such a yes-no, agree-disagree, male-female etc. Tools used for data analysis * Ppercentage Analysis
Sunday, January 5, 2020
Successful Marketing Campaign Using Social Media - Free Essay Example
Sample details Pages: 7 Words: 2174 Downloads: 1 Date added: 2017/06/26 Category Marketing Essay Type Essay any type Did you like this example? The use of social media has increased exponentially, creating a fertile ground for platforms as a medium for advertising (Treadaway and Smith, 2012). However, advertising on social media can be very different from traditional advertising, due to the nature of the medium and the way on which marketing messages may be received (Chaffey and Smith, 2013). However, while there are differences compared to traditional marketing, there are also some similarities; with the stages of planning. Don’t waste time! Our writers will create an original "Successful Marketing Campaign Using Social Media" essay for you Create order The aim of this paper is to look at the way a social media campaign may be developed successfully, and consider the key challenges in managing the messages. The process of developing a campaign may be broken down in to different stages; Determine the specific goals for the campaign Identification of target market Decision on the marketing message and specific content that will appeal to the target market Framing of the message, and choice of medium Communication of the message Monitoring of the message impact Adapting the message These different stages may be seen as akin to the traditional marketing process, with a requirement to determine the specific campaign, identification of the target market, and then the formation of the marketing message that will appeal to the target market, and stimulate the required responses (Kotler and Keller, 2011). However, the way in which it is undertaken differs, in terms of pace and style. Each of the stages can be considered individually. Goals for the campaign In any marketing plan it is necessary to determine the goals for a marketing campaign as this will frame the way in which messages are created and communicated. For example, a campaign target may be to increase brand awareness; alternatively, the campaign may be to specifically increase sales, it is important to determine this, as it will impact the message that is developed (Kotler and Keller, 2011). Goals can be clearly defined using the SMART acronym, where the goal should be specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, and time bound, or timely. For example, a marketing campaign may be undertaken with the aim of selling a specific number of items within a specific time, or gaining a specific percentage increase in brand awareness in a specific time. Identification of target market Before developing a message, after determining the goal of the campaign, it is important to identify the target market. The primary target market may be defined in terms of the profile of the consumers who are most likely to make a purchase. For example, the target market for the sale of nappies will be parents with children under the age of two, whereas the target market for stair lifts are likely to be primarily those over retirement age, who have mobility issues (Hooley et al., 2007). The target market may be defined in a number of ways; traditionally this will include issues such as demographics, psychographics, life-cycle stage, individual interests and geographical location (Hooley et al., 2007). Social media also provides a significant advantage with the ability to specifically target narrow market segments. For example, utilising Facebook it is not only possible to identify a target market by gender, age, and location, they may also be targeted in terms of their specified i nterests, such as interests in competitors pages, or complimentary pages, they may also be targeted in terms of behaviour, and whether they have made online purchases (Facebook, 2015). Developing the marketing message The message itself will be based on the aims of the marketing campaign, and the type of call for action which may be included. For example, if a promoter is selling tickets to a concert, a link to purchase the tickets may be the call for action (Chaffey and Smith, 2013). However, motivation to take action should also be provided, such as a simple as time limited offer, or a statement of limited availability to stimulate action (Treadaway and Smith, 2012). The challenge in the development of the message is ensuring it is received and understood in an effective manner, and gains a sufficient amount of attention to be effective. In all social mediums, algorithms impact on the way in which posts by different companies are seen; the greater the level of popularity for a single post, usually judged through the use opposed interactions, the greater the level of organic exposure (Chaffey and Smith, 2013). The message needs to appeal to the audience to encourage interaction. Research by de Vries, Gensler Leeflang (2012) found that certain characteristics were highly influential the way in which posts were interpreted by social media users. For example, posts which included vivid, relevant images, such as high-resolution photographs on mediums such as Facebook, Google+ and Pinterest were able to gain a higher level of interest compared to text only comments (de Vries et al., 2012). Additionally, posts which required an interaction, such as questions, or polls, also stimulated high levels of interaction (de Vries et al., 2012). In social mediums, greater levels of consumer interaction with company posts usually have a positive impact on the perception of the brands, influencing the information search and evaluation stage of the consumer purchase decision making model, and impact positivity on purchase intent (Moe and Schweidel, 2012). Framing the Message Determining the content of the message, such as the text and whether images will be used, is only the beginning. Framing the message is particularly important on social media, and can messages gain popularity, and be reposted, or create controversy (Chaffey and Smith, 2013). Framing refers to the way in which something is said; the frames being storylines making message relevant, and the framing effect being the way in which the message may alter an opinion (Chaffey and Smith, 2013). Where issues are framed in a pertinent manner, they are more likely to be heard, especially when linking with other target market interests, for example dominoes is known to offer special deals on Facebook when there are sporting events, Dominoes Pizza suggests deliveries so customers can watch the events on television, without the need to cook or leave the house (Dominoes, 2015). However, mistakes can also be made; Dunkin Donuts provides an important lesson, when in February 2015 they sought to capita lise on their position as being Liverpool FCs official coffee, tea, and bakery provider (McCarthy, 2015). As part of that campaign the company adapted the Liverpool FC crest replacing elements with the Dunkin Donuts logo, generating a high level of controversy. The Liverpool FC crest has two eternal flames each side of the crest, placed in memoriam of the Hillsborough disaster victims (McCarthy, 2015). Dunkin Donuts replaced the flames with two milkshakes, and was perceived by the audience as an insult to the victims that were memorialised (McCarthy, 2015). The marketing team were unaware of the meaning significance of the eternal flames, and later withdraw messages, and issued an apology after suffering high level of negative publicity (McCarthy, 2015). This exemplifies the importance in considering the framing of a message (McCarthy, 2015). Communicating the message The communicating message may be perceived as the easiest stage of the marketing campaign. However, there are still some considerations. For example, the timing of messages may be important; Facebook analytics demonstrate the different types of messages are more likely to be received positively at different times of day, and on different days of the week (Facebook, 2015; Zarrella, 2009). However, it is also important to ensure that the marketing message can be monitored following its release, as companies can appear highly insensitive and aloof when the firm does not respond, especially if they are pertinent to the campaign (Chaffey and Smith, 2013), such as the criticisms faced by Dunkin Donuts in the case cited above. Therefore, the timing of the message needs to be considered to ensure that it can optimise potential, and that it can be monitored in order to ensure there are no issues with the communication, either in terms of the practical element, all the way in which it is bei ng interpreted, including unexpected interpretations. Monitoring and adapting the Message In all marketing campaigns, marketers will wish to monitor the way in which messages are being received. Social media differs significantly from traditional media in terms of the information that can be gained, and the speed of feedback. For example, social platforms are able to provide a high level metrics regarding the number of people that have seen a message, and interacted in some way (Chaffey and Smith, 2013). The metrics facilitate an examination of different campaigns, and an organisation may be able to determine which messages are most effective, and which may need to changed in order to ensure optimal use of marketing budgets (Chaffey and Smith, 2013; Treadaway and Smith, 2012). Key Challenges for Managing Social Media Campaigns While the above stages have examined how social media marketing may be undertaken in an effective manner for a logical process, successful campaigns should be perceived as part of holistic social media marketing strategy. Firstly, marketers may be tempted to post only marketing messages, but research indicates that interactions with social media users are more likely to take place if there is a pure sales atmosphere (Chaffey and Smith, 2013; Treadaway and Smith, 2012). This means specific marketing messages should be interspersed with more generalised socially interactive messages, and marketing managers need to become experts in creating engaging social communications; Facebook recommend a ratio of 8 to 2, with 8 general interactive messages for every two sales messages (Facebook, 2015). Additionally, there are certain characteristics that help enhance effective social media marketing campaigns, which marketers should seek to include and leverage. The first is the value of word -of-mouth, and user created content (Godes and Silva, 2012). Word of mouth marketing can help to spread a message exponentially where it becomes viral. A good example is the US airline West Jet and their 2013 Christmas Miracle You Tube campaign. The short video from the relatively small airline, and relativity small budget compared to mass media costs, reached millions of viewers as a result of going viral on social media (West Jet, 2013). By 2015 it has received more than 41 million views (West Jet, 2013). The success was due to the appeal of the message which was not direct sales, and created a feel good factor. Sharing and word of mouth are important, however, marketing managers may also benefit from generating user created content, such as reviews, photographs, or even videos. Where content is created by the users rather than the company, it inherently perceived as having a higher level of credibility compared to company generated messages (de Vries et al., 2012). This is als o a challenge, to motivate the creation of the positive content. Additionally, they should resist the deletion of negative content; research indicates the deletion of poor reviews etc can undermine credibility of the firm (Godes and Silva, 2012). The challenge for marketing managers is also in the way that successful social media marketing can create and ongoing relationship with the users (Chaffey and Smith, 2013). Smith and Zook (2011) developed a ladder of engagement to explain this, demonstrating that the greater the level of engagement by social media users with company or brand pages, the greater the level of commitment to the brand, and that it was possible through engagement to turn casual interactions into individuals who are engaged customers, who would then become brand ambassadors and zealots, generating user created, providing important competitive information, and creating a high level of brand support. In the long term, it is this type of user that is likely to be most beneficial with the provision of positive brand messages and user created content that are persuasive to the target market, as well as potentially aiding in the development of product brands and services more directly though their contributions. However, zealots are unlikely to be more than 1% of all users (Smith and Zook, 2011). Bringing all of these factors together, undertaking marketing in an effective manner in a coordinated an ongoing manner provides the potential for an effective social media marketing campaign. References Chaffey, D, Smith, P R, (2013), EMarketing Excellence, London, Routledge Dominoes, (2015), retrieved 26 May 2015 from https://www.facebook.com/DominosPizza de Vries, L, Gensler, S, Leeflang, P S H, (2012), Popularity of Brand Posts on Brand Fan Pages: An Investigation of the Effects of Social Media Marketing, Journal of Interactive Marketing, 26 (2), 83à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬Å"91 Facebook, (2015), Advertise on Facebook, retrieved 27 May 2015 from https://www.facebook.com/advertising Godes, D, Silva, J. 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