DIGITAL FRONTIERS Business Strategies for a Web 2.0 World IDH 3931 – Section The Project Background Businesses all have stories. At its core, this project will be you helping these businesses tell better stories using the web. Question: Why do you tell your friends about a particular product or service? Answer: It’s because you like your friend, not because you like their brand. The goal here is to harness the natural power of your business’s brand and their customers to foster community. More specifically, to facilitate and enable discussion … not attempt to control it Myth: Internet Marketing is black magic Truth: The Internet and Social Media tools available today enable you better than ever before to communicate and influence consumers. A wise man once said, “Tools don’t get socially interesting until their technologically boring.” Our experience in putting together this class has been a glaring exampl e of how true this is. Most people don’t understand the purpose of Internet marketing and still view the tools as the end goal as opposed to a mean to achieve an objective. Think about this: How many times have you heard someone say: We need a Twitter presence? Most of the time, they have no idea why they need a Twitter presence or what their purpose on Twitter is – that is a huge mistake. Final Thoughts: All of this is new. This class is different in a way that there is no “completely right answer.” What we want to see with the plan and implementation is the thought process – we did this because we believed x and y would drive returns.
Transcript
DIGITAL FRONTIERS Business Strategies for a Web 2.0 World
IDH 3931 – Section
The Project Background Businesses all have stories. At its core, this project will be you helping these businesses tell better stories using the web.
Question: Why do you tell your friends about a particular product or service? Answer: It’s because you like your friend, not because you like their brand.
The goal here is to harness the natural power of your business’s brand and their customers to foster community. More specifically, to facilitate and enable discussion … not attempt to control it
Myth: Internet Marketing is black magic Truth: The Internet and Social Media tools available today enable you better than ever before
to communicate and influence consumers. A wise man once said, “Tools don’t get socially interesting until their technologically boring.” Our experience in putting together this class has been a glaring example of how true this is. Most people don’t understand the purpose of Internet marketing and still view the tools as the end goal as opposed to a mean to achieve an objective. Think about this:
How many times have you heard someone say: We need a Twitter presence?
Most of the time, they have no idea why they need a Twitter presence or what their purpose on Twitter is – that is a huge mistake. Final Thoughts: All of this is new. This class is different in a way that there is no “completely right answer.”
What we want to see with the plan and implementation is the thought process – we
did this because we believed x and y would drive returns.
Final Project Details You will work in groups of 3 or 4 and develop and implement an online marketing plan for a local Gainesville Business. Deliverables
1. Draft Marketing Plan Due: February 17 2. Final Marketing Plan Due: March 1 3. Class Presentation of Plan: March 3 4. Final Presentation: April 19 and 21
Important Requirements 1. Your plan must have metrics 2. Your plan must have a set schedule of communication with your business owner (at
least once a week) 3. What we’re looking for is the why, more than the how 4. Primary Research (I.E. Talking to customers is key) 5. We love pictures and screenshots
Other Grading Notes 1. Reports will broken into four sections: People, Objectives, Strategy and Technology,
Measurement (Explained below in greater detail) 2. 1” Margins, Double-spaced, at least 12 font 3. No length minimum or maximum 4. Presentations are 15 minutes long
Tips on Approaching the Final Project
Steps in Planning Understand the People
o Assess your customer’s social habits both online and offline o Talk to them – see what they like and don’t like about the brand
Understand the Business and Create Goals o Raise Awareness? o Enter a new market? o Enhance customer relationships? o Develop sales leads through incentives?
Strategy and Technology o Discuss how you’re going to drive the people to accomplish the objectives o What are they going and willing to do and why
Measure o How are you going to measure your success?
Steps in Implementation (Strategy + Technology) Create Your own Presence
o Create a platform for users to share their feelings about the brand o Tools
Business Website Twitter Facebook Group Blog FlickR Group Youtube Channel
Engage o Advertise to get your users involved o Tools
Mailing lists in the store Facebook Ads PR for a contest Flyers in store
Interact o Drive connection with the brand o Tools
Best picture from dinner contest Coupons for leaving a review on Yelp
A different wise man once said: “Good artists copy while great artists steal.” I’m not sure if he actually said that or just stole it but feel free to use this list for great inspiration.
