Marketing
I need these question answered
This is to be completed individually and will represent your grade for Exam 1. All questions must be answered in paragraph format and indicate the number of the question to the corresponding answer.
1. Please select a small business that has a facebook page. Identify the business and provide a link for the page. You may use a business you work for or even a company you own. (A small business is defined as a business with less than 100 employees.) Briefly discuss what type of business this is.
2. What do you think is the primary goal of the FB for the business and why?
3. Who is the target market for this social media marketing page? How did you determine this was the target market?
4. Does this company have additional social media platforms? If so which? Please list links for them. In your opinion, which platform is utilized the most effectively by this company and why?
5. List 2 ways in which this company utilizes social media marketing effectively? Based on theory learned, why did you select these 2?
6. Provide 3 improvements for this company with regards to their social media. Your answer needs to be based on theory. For example, incorporating microblogs, the use of online discussions, photo sharing and video marketing would be considered social media marketing theory.
ANSWER
Social Media Marketing
For this paper, the focus will be on Alpine Pastry Shop (APS) is a family and homemade retail business based in New York City. APS specializes in a wide range of homemade pastries made from home with fresh, locally sourced, and high-quality ingredients. The business goal is to “deliver happiness, sweetness, and Mom’s kitchen memories in a small package.” The company has a few stores in New York City and uses platforms such as Uber Eats to deliver their products across the city for people who cannot get to the store physically.
The company uses Facebook and other social media platforms for advertising and public relations. Facebook, for instance, offers a means to communicate with millions of New York residents. Public relations grow trust for the business, especially from the unique fact that the pastries are handmade and not made in a factory. Currently, APS on Facebook has about 10,000 follows, which huge clientele for a small pastry shop. To ensure this remains to be a positive thing and as a form of a PR campaign, the company engages its followers with their various questions about products and services. With these replies, personnel tasked with this duty have to reply promptly, politely, and with additional information in the form of links and photos. To engage on a personal level, the social media managers must sign their first names below the replies and address the customers using their first names as well.
The target market is majorly young urban populations with a sweet tooth and a fancy taste in pastries. Using the company’s Facebook page, the company is able to push sales to online users’ delivery applications like Uber Eats. The company also employs the use of online influencers who will get gift hampers from the company on selected offer days and, in turn, create content on the products and offers on social media. The reason this is the target market is that the appeal of the entire public relations strategy features an appeal for younger demographics within the range from the physical store location.
The company does have other social media platforms (links in the reference page below). Instagram is more popular than the rest of the platforms because of the emphasis on pastry images and influencers’ appeal. On Twitter, APS uses the platform to promote its other products, such as APS Grocery. Additionally, the company uses its twelve thousand followers to promote their blog content containing various issues in the industry. Basically, Twitter is a platform for content marketing rather than driving direct sales. Blogs, on the other hand, tells the customers of the products used in the pastries and why they stand out from the factory-made pastries. These links are then uploaded on Twitter; sometimes, they comprise trending information such as how to get deliveries during the COVID-19 lockdown. Lastly, the company also has a website that works as an online store applying data strategies such as machine learning and artificial intelligence. The company also features a review system where customers can leave a review after purchase to ensure that the products sold are of good quality and are exactly as advertised. Another additional strategy that APS has employed is using social media to both push products and maintain authority.
The company utilizes social media marketing effectively by deriving an advantage in market penetration. Considering pastries made from the factory are cheaper and highly available, the most significant selling point to new customers is that pastries from ATS are fresh, locally produced, and with high-quality ingredients. The product entry strategy competes effectively by being homemade molded, dropped, rolled, and pressed pastries and for both conventional and healthy pastries with low sugars and calories. This fact is included in every advertisement on social media. Similarly, the company gains the trust of the customers by a promise of honesty in marketing communication. For instance, the number of calories on each pack is accurate and well indicated. If too much consumption of the cookies could lead to obesity, the company offers that information to customers before purchase. Endorsement from freelancers is transparent and clear. Lastly, the company adheres to government policy on issues such as public health regulations and standards of quality.
The strategies employed by APS is quite comprehensive. However, modifications can be set towards research for new markets using online available tools. For instance, polls on likes and dislikes on pastries could be set up on Twitter could go along way in introducing ideas to the company on areas to advance. Similarly, most social media platforms apply the promotion of posts to a certain region where a post can be seen by people who do not necessarily follow or like the social media pages.
References
Instagram.com. Alpine Pastry Shop. Retrieved on 16th November 2020 from https://www.instagram.com/alpinepastryshop/?hl=en
Facebook.com. Alpine Pastry Shop. Retrieved on 16th November 2020 from https://www.facebook.com/alpinepastryshop/
AlpinePastryShop.com. About. Retrieved on 16th November 2020 from https://www.alpinepastryshoppe.com/about
Yelp.com. Alpine Bakery. Retrieved on 16th November 2020 from https://www.yelp.com/biz/alpine-pastry-shoppe-smithtown
UberEats.com. Alpine Pastry Shoppe. Retrieved on 16th November 2020 from https://www.ubereats.com/nyc-suburbs/food-delivery/alpine-pastry-shoppe/0xpg5g7ETr24cTf7las4qw
