Current Digital Marketing Strategy of Samsung - Report Example

Current Digital Marketing Strategy of Samsung Samsung is one of the leading companies in digital marketing activities. Its digital convergence and digital presence is evident throughout the products of the company ranging from 3D to PCs The digital marketing activities embraced by Samsung Electronics show the key features of the competition in the industry. The major type of digital marketing that the company has invested in is the social media marketing. The company performance in social media marketing has been exemplary. To start with, the company had the launch of its 3D TV through the social media through a campaign known as Dedicated to Wonder. The company adopted the viral marketing strategy in promoting the Note PCs. In this case, the company promoted brand interactions through participation in online contests. The fan pages assist in describing the companys products. The Facebook pages are used to address customers complaints and communicate information on the companys products and brand. Customers often share their opinion on the companys products in the Facebook fan page of the company. Twitter is increasingly becoming an attractive approach for marketing companies products to consumers. Fixing and Enhancing Samsung’s Digital Marketing Strategy: Samsung’s Digital Marketing has been one of the key features of the company’s recent success. However, in the area of digital marketing, things change as quickly as technology changes. Twitter has been one of the favorite playgrounds for digital marketing by top MNCs worldwide. However, recent trends indicate a fall in its popularity, and a surprising rise in the popularity of LinkedIn. (Boris, 2013). Instagram too has evolved into a major player in terms of a platform for digital marketing. (Boris, 2013). Hence, Samsung should shift some of its resources from Twitter and concentrate on LinkedIn and Instagram. Facebook remains a favorite and Samsung should keep investing in marketing activities on Facebook. Social networks like Google Plus have not deviated much, i.e. no significant gains or losses, hence Samsung can continue with the current level of investment at Google Plus. Some of the approaches for enhancing Samsung’s Digital Marketing Campaign are described below: Social Media is an excellent platform for marketers to effectively communicate with their target market. Often organizations think that marketing on Social Media means having a dedicated Facebook page or a Twitter account. It is not that simple. Effective marketing on these platforms require a combination of things; Companies need to evaluate their present social media presence. Are their products/brand being properly represented on the appropriate networks. Is the network relevant to the brand? For example, Instagram would be an ideal platform for Samsung to market its products, particularly its digital cameras and Mobile phone products (Most, if not all Smartphone’s today come equipped with a high quality digital camera). Samsung should determine its brands presence on these platforms; side advertisements on Facebook and LinkedIn can be effective ways of making brand Samsung appearance felt. Paid advertisements require some investment, but it considerably increases the brands presence, by targeting a specific demographic as chosen by the organization as its target market. For example, the paid advertisements of Samsung on Facebook should have a higher targeting of Developing Countries such as China and India, as it’s these countries that are one of the biggest markets for Samsung. (AppleInsider Staff,, 2014). S.M.A.R.T goals creations are an effective way for maximum utilization of resources for efficient Digital Marketing. In this regard, I propose that Samsung should identify its target market and pursue marketing activities pertinent to the target audience; In the context of Social Media, number of hits or visits is a way of measuring the visibility of the brand, however, in sites like Facebook, the number of ‘likes’ on the webpage of Samsung or a comment/status update posted by Samsung is the desired way to measure success. Samsung should keep its target realistic so as it is attained through maximum efficiency. It should define the number of hits/likes/visits it expects to the concerned agency/managers and increase or decrease its market budget accordingly. The posts/tweets advertisement should be delivered in a timely manner, especially targeting special occasions such as Christmas, Independence Day, New Years etc where consumer spending is at its peak. The importance of Content Marketing is described by Jefferson & Taunton (2013) as “information that is genuinely useful, relevant, read and shared.”(Jefferson & Tanton, 2013 p. 1). Content Marketing has seen a surge, where high quality and useful content is being delivered by marketers to provide information about the product/brand. Content marketing is crafted by assessing the content that currently exists within the organization, an evaluation of of the social media exchanges is made and the need for content is determined. The object of the content should be exciting so as to enable and encourage viewers to share it. Proposed example of an exciting Content Marketing Campaign. Similar Campaigns can be held every month for a period of 12-18 months, in order to inform users and prospective buyers of any new updates on the device or launch of new device. This promotion is aimed at informing users about the recent launch of Samsung Galaxy S4 in different colors. Platform: Facebook. (Samsung S4 official Page) Time Frame: 25-30 days. Measure of Success: No. of likes/shares/comments. Target Audience: USA, men and women aged 15-25. Content: Your favorite Galaxy S4 phone is now availble in a rainbow of colors, which one is YOUR favorite? Pick your favorite color, and tell us why. The comment with the maximum number of likes will be voted as the favorite color and one lucky person will win his/her favorite Galaxy S4 phone. prospec [Photo downloaded from news.cnet.com edited on Adobe Photoshop CS3 (3/25/2014)] Currently, Samsung has a dedicated mobile applications software that comes in every smart phone by Samsung (on Android Operating System) in addition to the Google Play Store. This Application currently, lets users download the latest software’s/applications/games/books/movies. These are available free or for a small price. Samsung should consider adding its devices such as mobile phones and Televisions to this application for online purchase. With the boom in e-commerce, this style of promotion can be hugely successful. Samsung should initially try this for a period of twelve months and evaluate its success. If the this distribution channel proves to be successful, it can be employed on a longer term basis or permanently. It would certainly be the first of its kind, as most of the applications on competitor phones such as iTunes Store, Nokia Store (or Ovi Store) and Google Play Store (Google Play Store being common to all Android users) do not employ this feature. Samsung can also expand from it own dedicated Samsung Hub to other phone based stores and provide upgrade offers and exchange bargains for other users such as iPhone, HTC, Sony etc. Recent trends have indicated a boom in mobile e-commerce and Mobile Consumption compared to Web Consumption (through a Computer) in terms of minutes spend in browsing. This trend is expected to continue. .[Source: (Newark-French, 2011)] SOSTAC Framework for Samsungs Digital Marketing: Limitations and Conclusion: Limitations of digital marketing are that it is not free, contrary to belief, it is not cheap either. It requires a considerable investment. Investment is required not only in monetary terms but human resources as well. Just designing a webpage on a social media site is not enough. It has to be regularly updated with exciting content to make viewers come back and access the information regularly; else it runs the danger of being outdated and obsolete. The timing of updates is extremely important. An opportunity to take advantage of a situation doesn’t come back to give second chances. There is a threat of competition, as most organizations in the same industry tend to advertise in the same social media and through similar channels. Hence, it is possible that a customer looking for Samsung products may get swayed away to a competitors products, say HTC or Sony. Moreover, measuring the results of the marketing campaign may not be accurate, because some people may blindly like a certain comment. While the campaign may seem to be getting those hits and likes, it could be a result of friends and family helping one another to win the prize. Moreover, social media platforms are extremely fickle and work as the fashion industry. What is ‘in’ one day maybe extremely unpopular the other? Hence, proper control actions are required by Samsung in order to maintain effectiveness of their Digital Campaign. Moreover, Samsung should consider investing its resources in regional and local Social Media, as Facebook and LinkedIn may not have the same reach as the local social media in some regions, especially China. Social Media sites such as RenRen and Seina Weibo are the Facebook and Twitter equivalents in China, with approximately 539 million users. (Mei, 2012) Most marketing managers show a bias towards different types of “owned media”. (Ezra Palmer, 2012) “66% of marketers said their company used a social network, almost as many—59%—were active in micro blogging. Marketers were eager to move into third-party social apps, as well, with 26% of respondents planning to launch them over the next year.” (Ezra Palmer, 2012). We conclude that Social Media Platforms are currently the best place to pursue digital marketing for Samsung. It has been doing that in the past, and it should continue to do so. However, in order to avoid stagnation, the content of these campaigns have to be made exciting and appealing for sharing and thus getting mass publicity. More recently, Samsung successfully experimented very successfully by entering into a unique strategic alliance with a renowned Austrian zoo: Schonbrunn Zoo. The objective of this alliance was to equip an Orangutan named Nonja with their top of the line ST1000 camera to demonstrate to the customers how effortless and spontaneous the ST1000 digital camera is when it comes to uploading media content on social media platforms. A dedicated Facebook Account along with a micro site was created for the orangutan to upload the photographs online. (Nonja, n.d) Both the Facebook page as well as the micro site recorded a large number of visitors or hits. This innovative digital marketing campaign was “awarded a prestigious international CLIO award for strategic communications and public relations initiative.” [Source: Facebook.com] (Nonja, n.d) More of such marketing campaigns are advised and advocated, as it shows a rich vein of creativity in terms of content. This page started receiving Likes in a hurry after news of a monkey using a digital camera went viral online. Thus far, it has received 74,422 likes and counting. (Last checked 25th March 2014) (Nonja, n.d) The development of several social Medias encourages marketers to consider all possible channels; they need to work in unison with technologists to make sure the strategies are executed efficiently. (Ezra Palmer, 2012). Timely delivery of high quality and exciting content which appeals to a customer and which encourage him/her to share the content would be the ideal marketing objective. References: AppleInsider Staff,. (2014, Jan. 24). Samsung widens lead in worldwide smartphone marketshare, smaller OEMs rising. Retrieved March 25, 2014, from Apple Insider: http://appleinsider.com/articles/14/01/27/samsung-widens-lead-in-worldwide-smartphone-marketshare-smaller-oems-rising Boris, C. (2013, July 17). Marketers Plan to Kick Social Media Investment Up a Notch; Facebook and LinkedIn Land on Top. Retrieved March 24, 2014, from Marketing Pilgrim: http://www.marketingpilgrim.com/2013/07/marketers-plan-to-kick-social-media-investment-up-a-notch-facebook-and-linkedin-land-on-top.html Ezra Palmer. (2012, July 5). Marketers Challenged to Keep Pace with Mobile, Social. Retrieved March 25, 2014, from eMAKETER: http://www.emarketer.com/Article/Marketers-Challenged-Keep-Pace-with-Mobile-Social/1009167 Jefferson & Tanton. (2013). Valuable Content Marketing: How to Make Quality Content the Key to Your .. Kogan Page Publishers. Mei, Y. (2012, July 20). 5 Chinese Social Networks You Need to Watch. Retrieved March 25, 2014, from Mashable: http://mashable.com/2012/07/02/china-social-networks/ Newark-French, C. (2011, June 20). Mobile Apps Put the Web in Their Rear-view Mirror. Retrieved March 25, 2014, from Flurry: http://blog.flurry.com/?Tag=Media+Consumption Nonja. (n.d). Facebook. Retrieved March 24, 2014, from Nonja Fan Page: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Nonja/190010092116 Bottom of Form Top of Form Read More