A. Teaching Notes Accompanying Case Studies in the Case ... · Web viewAt the project’s start,...

Instructor ResourceTuten, Social Media Marketing, 3e

SAGE Publishing, 2018

Additional Cases and Case Teaching Notes

There are 10 cases in the Case Zone in the text itself. Here are a series of additional cases and,

where available, notes to support your teaching.

A. Teaching Notes Accompanying Case Studies in the Case Zone in Social Media

Marketing, 3rd Edition

There are teaching notes available for the following case studies:

Case Study 1 – Social Advocacy Around the World (Karen Mishra)

Case Study 6 – A Social Media Conference Community (Alan J. Seymour)

Case Study 8 - Pokémon GO: A Revolution in Social Gaming (Clay Gransden)

B. Nine Additional Online Case Studies and Teaching Notes

Denny’s Millennial Strategy

Kristen Smirnov

Snap, Inc.: Pushing the Limits of Social Media Communities (with teaching notes)

Samir Sarofim

The Role of Digital Influencers in Social Media

Ricardo Limongi França Coelho and Marcos Inácio Severo de Almeida

The Rise and Fall of a Fake Psychologist as an Instagram Celebrity

Selcen Ozturkcan

AcademLink – Information Before Socialization (with teaching notes)

Jelena Filipović

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SAGE Publishing, 2018 Social Media Marketing in the Wedding Planning Industry

Sharon Justice

Authentic and Fake Consumers? Accepting the use of Native Advertisements in Social

Media

Sarah Fischbach and Jennifer Zarzosa

Nebraska State Historical Society Foundation: The Nebraska Marker Project Launch

(with teaching notes)

Julia Cronin-Gilmore and Randa Zalman

Combining Qualitative Marketing Research with Advanced Social Media Intelligence for

Positioning

Rania A. Pilidou

There are student versions of these 9 case studies on the student side of the book’s website:

https://study.sagepub.com/smm3e/student-resources/additional-case-studies.

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A. Teaching Notes Accompanying Case Studies in the Case Zone in Social

Media Marketing, 3rd Edition

Case Study 1 - Social Advocacy around the World

Karen Mishra

East Carolina University

Rebecca Rothney runs Pack for a Purpose full-time, for no pay. It is her passion and she enjoys

growing this nonprofit through the use of non-paid interns, too. PfaP is based in Raleigh, so she

has had interns from NC State and Meredith College help her grow her social media presence.

The website is a good place for students to start to learn about PfaP. Then, have them

evaluate each social media site to see how integrated her communications are across all social

media channels.

The top social media sites used by nonprofits are Facebook and Twitter (Lovejoy, Waters

& Saxton, 2012; Guo & Saxton, 2014; Obar, 2014). The spread of new media has significantly

increased nonprofits’ ability to communicate with clients as well as other stakeholders.

Ask students how the information, community, and action line up with Tuten and

Solomon’s five steps on page 23.

1. How are they alike?

2. How are they different?

In Chapter 2, the textbook talks about social consumers and their “altruistic impulses”.

1. How would they evaluate PfaP in this way?

2. Have students evaluate how much PfaP is encouraging altruistic impulses—and in what

way.

3. Have students evaluate how those altruistic impulses are being implemented by

consumers.

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SAGE Publishing, 2018Lovejoy and Saxton (2012) found that the three key functions of microblogging updates

are: (p. 342). How is PfaP doing in these areas? Evaluate each one.

1. Information

2. Community

3. Action (including donation appeal)

He, Chen, Lee, Wang and Pohlmann (2017) found that consumers can be advocates for a

brand by co-creating value.

1. Is PfaP doing a good job creating a community of their followers?

2. How are the PfaP followers co-creating value?

3. Are there ways that they could do a better job evangelizing for PfaP?

Freeman (2009) found that nonprofits participate in advocacy, but the question is “How

do they advocate?”

1. Is advocacy communication “propaganda” or do nonprofits seek to “genuinely inform”?

2. Is PfaP using propaganda, or education through information?

Kidwai and Imperatore (2011) recommend the following steps when creating social

media messages:

a. Keep it short and direct

b. Employ data and stories

c. Use strong but respectful language

d. Provide links

e. Re-tweet when appropriate

3. Is PfaP following these guidelines? How could they do better?

Dr. Karen Mishra teaches marketing and consumer behavior at East Carolina University.

She co-authored A Beginner’s Guide to Mobile Marketing with Neutrogena executive, Molly

Garris.

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Case Study 6 - A Social Media Conference Community

Alan J. Seymour

University Lecturer Consultant

Can you organize, build and construct a sports business conference from social media contacts?

The opportunities and options to extend the task to tailor course and module requirements can

also be explored with considerations around

Conference themes

Delegate and speaker characteristics

Venue and event management logistics

PR and marketing ‘mix’ approaches

Agendas and programme schedules/formats

The main tasks should be constructed within a social media dynamic with the frameworks set

within Social Media Platforms. As Seymour (2014) suggests in a recent paper this study,

‘Fandom & Followers,’ investigates the social media and tribal affiliations with sports properties

and fans via social media and in particular Twitter. The relevance in this case study of social

media and tribal formations perhaps should not be lost.

The directive and instruction for the teaching note, offers considerable flexibility and

individual teacher-tailoring opportunities. This specially devised and newly written case study, is

a direct revisit of actual social media marketing by both academics and practitioners, with

uniquely student involvement already incorporated. The teaching aspect of the Case Study now

requires innovative and creative application as part of the case objectives. There is therefore no

direct instruction other than the guidelines issued in this case study and certainly no prescriptive

answers or compulsory best practice. However, the references and actual results evidenced with

commentaries from the actual Conferences provide real application possibilities for both the

instructors and readers. The social media tools used include Twitter, Facebook, Storify and

Online Engagement. Extensive web resources are provided with this case study on some of the

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SAGE Publishing, 2018social media tools and coverage applied, with the exemplars of the participants delegates and

attendees to the Conference. Thus, the design and resultant campaigns required in the case study

tasks will, as envisaged in this case study, be a constructed task based on best practice. This

process needs to be established, launched monitored and evaluated as part of the task. The

planning and delivered proposals and campaign should be for each reader /student in the task set.

Further, the opportunity to devise classroom activity, as well as further research project

initiatives around the sports conference communities, exists with the presented content resources

and details. The websites within the exemplars are there as ‘aide-memoirs’ to the case. The

suggested further reading websites and references can be used in conjunction with the specific

task(s) in the case study. They are recommended to develop extensions from the case study for

further activity. Some of these could include:

Other types of events similar in context and concept to the Conference, e.g. exhibitions,

open days, recruitment/enrolment shows

Appraisals and analysis of the outcomes using the social media tools and evidence for

further social media marketing within sports environments e.g. fan engagements, stadia

support activities and any other relevant sports considerations.

For the teacher, an established definition of sports marketing is suggested to help

planning. Shank (2015) states Sports Marketing is “the specific application of marketing

principles and processes to sport products and to the marketing of non-sports products through

association with sport.”

References

Shank, M. (2015) Sports Marketing: A Strategic Perspective 5th (ed.). New York and Oxon:

Routledge.

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Case Study 8 - Pokémon GO: A Revolution in Social Gaming

Clay Gransden

Liverpool Hope University

Learning Objectives

1. To better understand the power of social games as a Marketing tool.

2. To gain a deeper understanding of microtransactions and in game purchases.

3. Analyse the changing environment of social gaming.

Case Questions

Pokémon Go was available to download on the 20th anniversary of the first Pokémon game

release. Why might celebrating this anniversary be particularly beneficial to this type of

brand?

A 20th anniversary for any toy brand is a golden one with the generation of original players

hitting a time in their life cycle where they can share their nostalgia with their children. There is

also the factor that these same adults who played the original have far more disposable income

than when they played the game the first time around.

What factors contributed to the games success?

Student answers will vary. Battle games like Pokémon have been available for over 30 years,

This is the first time people can actually ‘be in’ one of these games. Some elements of the above

question are also relevant. There is also the sharing of content created by the gamers through

taking photos. Other factors could be the integration of mixed reality and the gamification of

walking.

Find examples of businesses using Pokémon Go to their advantage.

Students should be able to find examples of businesses who have advertised the fact their

businesses are close to a Pokéstop or an in-game Gym. Such businesses offer free wifi and

charging stations, some have used social media to share pictures of Pokémon to encourage

visitors. Some businesses have gone further, attaching in-game lures to encourage gamers to

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SAGE Publishing, 2018visit. For further reading: http://www.denverpost.com/2016/08/03/pokemon-go-business-

customers/

Student Activities

After the initial buzz of Pokémon Go died down, player numbers also dropped. Investigate

the most recent Pokémon Go events/updates and create a timeline. Create a new

event/update which may create interest and bring players back.

Student answers will vary. Pokémon has been doing small events where players have had

the opportunity to catch special versions of Pokémon. There have also been seasonal events

where certain types of Pokémon are more prevalent eg: ghost Pokémon around Halloween. There

has also been the release of the Pokémon Go Plus accessory which enables players to catch

Pokémon without having to carry their phones in the open. Other suggestions could be

introducing trading, being able to battle friends and leader boards.

Download Pokémon Go and investigate the in app purchases, why might someone part

with their money to purchase certain items/services? Compare and contrast these in app

purchases with other top games, e.g. Candy Crush Saga and Clash of Clans.

Students should notice that most games sell in-game currency which can be used to

unlock features/speed up build times. Candy Crush has a different model whereby once you have

lost you can either wait 30 minutes for a life to be replenished or pay a small amount ($0.99).

The in app purchases and microtransactions work alongside the free game content, this is

perhaps a factor for their success.

Assignment Question

Identify a brand, describe and critique the present social entertainment efforts employed

(if any). Suggest improvements to the social entertainment effort. Use theory as well as

examples from industry to analyse your strategy.

Students’ answers will depend on the stakeholders/target markets of the brand chosen.

Improvements could include advergames, ARG’s, VR, AR, music services etc.. Students must

use examples from industry and theory introduced in this chapter to justify their decisions.

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http://www.denverpost.com/2016/08/03/pokemon-go-business-customers/

http://www.denverpost.com/2016/08/03/pokemon-go-business-customers/



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B. Nine Additional Online Case Studies and (where available) Teaching Notes

Case study title Keywords

Denny’s Millennial Strategy Denny’s, Tumblr, Twitter, Instagram,

rebranding, millennials, content marketing

Snap, Inc.: Pushing the Limits of Social

Media Communities

Snapchat, Facebook, brand community, brand

content, paid content, Audi

The Role of Digital Influencers in Social

Media

Digital influencers, social media, Instagram,

endorsement

The Rise and Fall of a Fake Psychologist

as an Instagram Celebrity

Influence impressions, source credibility, fake,

Instagram celebrity

AcademLink – Information Before

Socialization

Social community, strategic planning

Social Media Marketing in the Wedding

Planning Industry

Word of mouth, customer reviews, social

community, social media strategy

Authentic and Fake Consumers?

Accepting the use of Native

Advertisements in Social Media

Catphishing, influence, social media posts, fake

product reviews, regulation

Nebraska State Historical Society

Foundation: The Nebraska Marker

Project Launch

Social media campaign, social media zones,

types of media outreach

Combining Qualitative Marketing

Research with Advanced Social Media

Leveraging social media data, market research

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SAGE Publishing, 2018Intelligence for Positioning

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Denny’s Millennial Strategy

Kristen Smirnov

Assistant Professor of Marketing, Whittier College

Suggested use: Social content marketing, Tumblr, Twitter

Keywords: Denny’s, Tumblr, Twitter, Instagram, rebranding, millennials, content marketing

Case

Denny’s is a traditional American diner chain with more than 1,600 locations nationwide, and

additional overseas operations in more than a dozen countries. They’re well known for their

bottomless cups of coffee, Grand Slam breakfasts, and other staples of the greasy spoon.

However, in recent years, Denny’s identified a positioning problem facing the company: lack of

appeal among millennial consumers. Though Denny’s has strong national brand awareness, it

was associated with visits of convenience or habit: the driver on a road trip, the long-time

customer powered by inertia, or someone whose 3 a.m. hunger had them on the lookout for any

open restaurant.

The boomer customer base they did have was aging, leading to a decline in sales, and

they were not attracting new consumers to their booths to compensate (Usitalo, 2015).

Fortunately for Denny’s, this was about to change. In late 2014, John Dillon became the new

Chief Marketing Officer of the company, taking over from a predecessor who had already begun

to correct the company’s course. Under Dillon’s leadership, a new social media strategy was

launched to attract younger consumers.

Two major platforms served as a launchpad for a millennial-friendly social media

rebranding: Twitter (twitter.com/dennysdiner) and Tumblr (dennys.tumblr.com). Twitter was an

obvious choice for this effort. It is one of the largest social media platforms, but attracts a

younger and less formal audience for its short, of-the-moment posts than can be found on

Facebook. Tumblr was a less expected decision. Though Tumblr has a young and wealthy user

base, its quirky, flexible posting structure has proven challenging for most marketers to master

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SAGE Publishing, 2018(Sloane, 2014). Its users also tend to be hostile to traditional promotional efforts, even compared

to other millennials.

However, it was on Tumblr that Denny’s millennial rebranding effort truly first clicked.

Through the use of surrealistic, almost Dadaist posts, Denny’s Tumblr became a content

marketing hotspot on the platform. Following the Tumblr account doesn’t put traditional

advertisements on someone’s dashboard. Instead, followers see a steady feed of bizarre question-

and-answer sessions with the company representative, where they suggest that only a chicken

can make a “perfect egg,” or humorously edited gifs and photographs, where a man might juggle

three burgers above an animation of a smiling pancake face.

Denny’s had become a strange, intriguing, and enjoyable destination for millennials on

social media, and their Twitter soon began garnering similar amounts of attention. In the first

months of 2017, it was rare for any post (whether on Twitter or Tumblr) to earn below one

thousand direct interactions. More commonly, each new piece of content had several thousand

interactions, and a few viral posts earned tens of thousands of likes, reblogs, or retweets.

Denny’s had become a destination visit online, but did this translate to increases in sales? Yes.

Their end-of-year financial results for 2016 reported 6.7% domestic two-year growth (Denny’s,

2017). Their deliberate outreach to millennials was timed to coincide with improvements in

product quality, which had been building since 2010, and improvements in service related to

reinvigorated franchisee relations (Giammona, 2015). Before reaching out to the millennial

segment, Denny’s upgraded the product offerings to satisfy them when they did have their initial

experience with the company. Once this improvement occurred, the use of social media brought

in new consumers who have demonstrated consistent year-over-year sales growth for the

formerly stagnant company.

Their Instagram account (instagram.com/Denny diner) has since become equally surreal,

and with equally strong engagement numbers. Visiting the Denny’s homepage lists Instagram

second in their social media lineup, ahead of Twitter. Denny’s is one of the very few major

corporations to list their Tumblr account first, and in fact uses it as their official company blog

on their main corporate domain (as blog.dennys.com displays the Tumblr account’s content).

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SAGE Publishing, 2018Through unique, unexpected, and unpredictable content marketing, Denny’s successfully

changed brand preferences among a notoriously resistant consumer segment. By being one of the

few marketers to successfully focus on the Tumblr platform, they also essentially enjoyed a first-

mover advantage among an attractive user base that was not already overloaded on corporate

posts. Accordingly, they are often pointed to as a true success story on the platform.

Discussion Questions

1. Why might content marketing like this appeal to consumers who dislike traditional

promotional strategies?

2. Why were Tumblr, Twitter, and Instagram good platforms to use for Denny’s surreal and

absurd content marketing? Would you recommend any others?

3. As noted, relatively few companies have a real marketing presence on Tumblr. Why do

you think that might be? What is one company that you feel could benefit from an

expanded presence on the platform, and why?

4. Denny’s stood out by producing unique content. After the broad success they’ve seen,

imitators of their style would be obvious. With that in mind, what can other marketers

hope to learn and reproduce from their strategy?

References“Denny’s Corporation Releases Preliminary Financial Results for Fourth Quarter and Fiscal Year

2016.” Dennys.com. Last modified January 9, 2017. http://investor.dennys.com/investor-

relations/press-releases/press-release-details/2017/Dennys-Corporation-Releases-Preliminary-

Financial-Results-for-Fourth-Quarter-and-Fiscal-Year-2016/default.aspx.

Giammona, Craig. “Denny’s Revival Provides Blueprint for McDonald’s Turnaround.”

Bloomberg.com. Last modified June 3, 2015. https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-

06-03/denny-s-revival-provides-blueprint-for-mcdonald-s-turnaround.

Sloane, Garett. “Tumblr’s Top Draw as a Marketing Platform Is Its Wealthier User Base.”

Adweek. Last modified September 14, 2014. http://www.adweek.com/digital/tumblr-s-top-draw-

marketing-platform-its-wealthier-user-base-160103/.

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SAGE Publishing, 2018Usitalo, Olivia. “Denny’s: Always Open, Always Successful.” Ohio University Strategic Social

Media. Last modified February 9, 2015. http://oustrategicsocialmedia.com/2015/02/09/dennys-

always-open-always-successful/.

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SNAP Inc.: Pushing the Limits of Social Media Communities and Advertising

through Innovation – Audi Super Bowl Campaign

Samir Sarofim

Learning Objectives

After analyzing the case, students should be able to:

1. Apply Roger’s Diffusion of Innovation theory to evaluate the rate of adoption of social

media communities and platforms.

2. Determine the characteristics of Brand Fans?

3. Analyze consumer-brand engagement on social media platforms.

4. Identify the effects of real-time marketing on brand relationships on social media

5. Integrate paid digital media strategy (e.g., Snapchat Sponsored Lenses and Sponsored

Geofilters) with earned digital media to create brand social relationships

6. Utilize social media communities to achieve competitive advantage via differentiation

strategy.

Case

A young, almost 23 years old, entrepreneur, rejecting a 3 billion dollars acquisition offer, made

the news taglines in late 2013. Who rejects such an offer, particularly when it’s made twice (the

first offer was for 1 billion dollars)? More interestingly, who does so when the offering company

is Facebook? According to Wall Street Journal (WSJ), Snapchat’s (currently Snap Inc.) co-

founder and CEO, Evan Spiegel turned down the $3 billion Facebook’s acquisition offer.1

Seemingly, what had been an arguable decision in 2013 became more justifiable in early 2017.

In February 2017, Snap Inc. made a successful Initial Public Offering (IPO). Operating less than

six years, Snap Inc., according to some financial evaluations, is worth more than $40 billion

dollars, after the IPO. This makes Snap Inc. possess a market value that surpasses that of major

1 Evelyn Rusli and Douglas MacMillan, “Snapchat Spurned $3 Billion Acquisition Offer from Facebook,” The Wall Street Journal, November 13, 2013, accessed April 2, 2017, http://blogs.wsj.com/digits/2013/11/13/snapchat-spurned-3-billion-acquisition-offer-from-facebook/ .

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http://blogs.wsj.com/digits/2013/11/13/snapchat-spurned-3-billion-acquisition-offer-from-facebook/

http://blogs.wsj.com/digits/2013/11/13/snapchat-spurned-3-billion-acquisition-offer-from-facebook/


SAGE Publishing, 2018corporations, such as e-Bay, Target, or Marriott. It’s worth mentioning that the stock price of

Snap Inc. increased by more than 40% after just one day of trading.2

A vital question is how such an uprising social media platform created an advertising

avenue as well as an opportunity to build brand communities. The Snapchat app re-vitalized

social media interactions by propagating the concept of short-lived posts and messages that lack

a permanent footprint. Pictures, short videos, and messages survive for 24 hours before they are

automatically deleted. With such short-term visibility of content, marketer seem to be puzzled by

how to create a community of brand fans and foster consumer-brand engagement. Yet, the

popularity of the Snapchat app among consumers, particularly Millennials, encouraged marketers

in major corporations to investigate creative techniques to increase brand engagement, despite

the short-live nature of content posted on Snapchat.

For instance, highly regarded brands such as BMW, McDonalds, Under Armour,

Gatorade, and Coca Cola utilized Snapchat as a social media avenue to communicate with

consumers.3 Snapchat offers multiple ways to interact with brand followers. Brands can create

user accounts that consumers can follow and receive notifications for brand posts. Further,

brands can utilize paid media via partnering with Snapchat to create Sponsored Lenses and

Sponsored Geofilters. Sponsored Lenses allow brands to create interactive filters that consumers

can trigger and play with to edit and add action to their photos. Sponsored Geofilters allow

marketers to associate a tiny stamp that represents their brand to events, retail chains, or even

shared public space. When consumers take their pictures in the associated avenues, the pre-

designed brand stamp will appear as an option to add to the picture. This way brands can spread

among the social network.

In addition to interacting with consumers through free posts or paid Sponsored Lenses

and Sponsored Geofilters on Snapchat, brands have the opportunity to create up to 10-seconds

Snap Ads. Shooting vertical ads for the Snap Ads platform comes with logistical challenges

2 Paul R. La Monica, “Snapchat is worth more than Delta, Target and CBS,” CNN Money, March 3, 2017, accessed April 2, 2017, http://money.cnn.com/2017/03/03/investing/snapchat-market-value/3 Jamie O’Brien, “How 6 Big Brands are Advertising on Snapchat Discover,” Sprinklr, October 12, 2012, accessed April 2, 2017, https://www.sprinklr.com/the-way/big-brands-advertising-on-snapchat-discover/

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http://money.cnn.com/2017/03/03/investing/snapchat-market-value/


SAGE Publishing, 2018since it changes the norms of the landscape dimension employed in creating video ads and hence

requires additional resources.4 However, brands seem to be willing to accommodate this

logistical changes, especially that Snapchat encouraged advertised by claiming that, when

compared to horizontal ads, vertical ads achieve better viewing rates on mobile devices.5

Apparently, with the opportunities and challenges that Snapchat brings to marketers and

advertisers, many brands are taking serious steps to communicate with their fans via the several

options available on this innovative social media avenue. Audi, the high-end auto manufacturer,

decided to early adopt Snapchat in its integrated marketing communication strategy to create an

engaging social media experience to the brand fans. In 2011, Audi was the first brand to establish

a hashtag in a Super Bowl commercial.6 With Audi’s history of pioneering social media

campaigns during the Super Bowl, in 2014, they decided to go big by creating the first real-time

campaign on Snapchat during the Super Bowl Sunday. Building on marketing research with

Huge (business consulting company), Audi examined the results of the second-screen viewing

habits during the 2013 Super Bowl to find out that 59% of the Super Bowl TV viewers used

mobile devices as they were watching the game.7 In partnership with The Onion (digital media

company), Audi created a serious of humorous snaps that are related to the game and sent those

snaps to brand followers. The Snapchat campaign was to promote Audi A3 model, which is an

enter-price vehicle to the luxury brand. With futuristic mindset, Millennial Snapchat users

seemed to be a justifiable target market for the A3 model.

4 Alexandra Bruell, “Some Advertisers Struggle to Create Snapchat Ads,” The Wall Street Journal, November 1, 2016, accessed April 2, 2017, https://www.wsj.com/articles/some-advertisers-struggle-to-create-snapchat-ads-1477994401.5 Garett Sloane, “Snapchat Persuades Brands to Go Vertical With Their Video,” Adweek, April 26, 2015, accessed April 2, 2017, http://www.adweek.com/digital/snapchat-persuades-brands-go-vertical-their-video-164305/.6 Todd Wasserman, “Audi Super Bowl Ad Claims First Use of Twitter Hashtag,” Mashable, February 2, 2011, accessed April 2, 2017, http://mashable.com/2011/02/02/audi-super-bowl-twitter-hashtag/#CGnelz70muqn.7 Jack Simpson, “Five seriously creative Snapchat campaigns and their results,” Econsultancy, August 27, 2015, accessed April 2, 2017, https://econsultancy.com/blog/66867-five-seriously-creative-snapchat-campaigns-and-their-results/.

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http://www.adweek.com/digital/snapchat-persuades-brands-go-vertical-their-video-164305/

http://www.adweek.com/digital/snapchat-persuades-brands-go-vertical-their-video-164305/


SAGE Publishing, 2018According to the Mobile Marketing Association video that was posted on Vimeo, Audi

believes that the campaign exceeded their expectations.8 Loren Angelo, director of marketing, at

Audi of America said: “We realize the Super Bowl is no longer just a one-day event … It’s a

month-long conversation.” 9

How to measure the actual success of Audi’s Super Bowl Snapchat campaign, its

sustainability in creating a brand community, and its effect on generating brand fans are

questions that deserve Audi’s marketing executives attention. If you were in the position to

provide marketing consultancy to Audi, would you advice Loren Angelo to continue to use

Snapchat posts to communicate with Millennials? Should Audi use paid Snap Ads, Sponsored

Lenses, and Sponsored Geofilters? Would other sport events represent opportunities for Audi for

future Real-Time Marketing (RTM) campaigns? And, how could Audi expand its social brand

community?


1. Does Snap Inc. represent a successful example for diffusion of innovation in social

media? Evaluate Snapchat in the light of the four criteria of Roger’s diffusion of

innovations theory.

2. How could brands use Snapchat to increase brand-consumer engagement? How could

marketers utilize the short-lived nature of Snapchat’s content (posts, pictures, messages)

to create a long-lived brand engagement?

3. Discuss the sustainability of brand communities developed via Snapchat. Are there

possible ways to create social brand communities on Snapchat?

4. Do brand followers on Snapchat possess the characteristic of brand fans?

5. Do you expect the 2014 Audi Snapchat campaign to affect Audi’s brand community on

other social media platforms? How could Audi create a synergetic rather than a

segregated social media strategy?

8 “Audi Takes Snapchat By Storm On Super Bowl Sunday,” Mobile Markeitn Association, accessed April 2, 2017, https://vimeo.com/107336661.9 Christopher Heine, “Audi and The Onion’s Snapchat Super Bowl Goes for Quick Laughs,” Adweek, January 31, 2014, accessed April 2, 2017, http://www.adweek.com/digital/audi-and-onions-snapchat-super-bowl-goes-quick-laughs-155433/.

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SAGE Publishing, 20186. How did Audi implement Real-Time Marketing (RTM)? And, what are the effects on the

brand community and brand fans after the RTM Snapchat campaign?

7. What did Audi’s Snapchat campaign affect earned media? What are the downstream

consequences on Audi’s Brand Community?

Teaching Notes

Synopsis

This short case highlights SNAP Inc. diffusion of innovation in the realm of social media. Also,

it emphasizes how SNAP Inc.’s (Snapchat back then) rejection of an acquisition offer, made by

Facebook, turns to be a sound business decision few years down the road when SNAP Inc. made

a successful IPO. According to some financial evaluations, the IPO made SNAP Inc. worth more

than e-Bay, Target, or Marriott.10 The case then goes further to examine social media branding

strategy and how brands can leverage brand-consumer relationship through building brand

communities. Audi, the luxurious car manufactured, utilized Snapchat to conduct a Super Bowl

campaign. This pioneering campaign faced the risks of short-term engagement with consumers

due to the nature of the Snapchat platform. Students have the opportunity to analyze diffusion of

innovation in social media, building and sustaining brand communities via social media

innovative platforms, the characteristic of brand fans, integrating social media strategy with other

integrated marketing communication tools, and the impact of Real-Time Marketing (RTM).

Teaching Objectives

After analyzing the case, students should be able to:

1. Apply Roger’s Diffusion of Innovation theory to evaluate the rate of adoption of social

media communities and platforms.

2. Determine the characteristics of Brand Fans?

3. Analyze consumer-brand engagement on social media platforms.

4. Identify the effects of real-time marketing on brand relationships on social media

5. Integrate paid digital media strategy (e.g., Snapchat Sponsored Lenses and Sponsored

Geofilters) with earned digital media to create brand social relationships

10 Paul R. La Monica, “Snapchat is worth more than Delta, Target and CBS,” CNN Money, March 3, 2017, accessed April 2, 2017, http://money.cnn.com/2017/03/03/investing/snapchat-market-value/

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http://money.cnn.com/2017/03/03/investing/snapchat-market-value/


SAGE Publishing, 20186. Utilize social media communities to achieve competitive advantage via differentiation

strategy.

Analysis of Selected Discussion Questions

Does Snap Inc. represent a successful example for diffusion of innovation in social

media?

One way to start the discussion is to allow students the opportunity to elaborate on the Roger’s

diffusion of innovations theory. Then, students can assess the success of Snapchat in creating an

innovative platform that is able to 1) provide a better benefit than its alternatives (e.g., Facebook,

Twitter, Instagram) to its adopters, 2) be observable to others and stimulate trials, 3) allow for

easy integration in consumers’ social media consumption patterns, and 4) offer a simple user

experience. The discussion can highlight how the targeted Millennials’ values and lifestyle

prompts the innovation of Snapchat and the compatibility between the benefits that Snapchat

offers and the Millennials’ expectations of social media platforms. This discussion about the

Millennials’ values and expectation could serve as a sag way to analyzing brands’ utilization of

Snapchat to increase brand-consumer engagement.

Do brand followers on Snapchat posses the characteristic of brand fans?

This question offers the opportunity for the class and the instructor to discuss the qualifying

criteria for brand fans. As discussed in the chapter, Brand fans are assessed based on five major

characteristics, namely: 1) Emotional Engagement, 2) Self-identification, 3) Cultural

competence, 4) Auxiliary Consumption, and 5) Production of Content. Given the special nature

of the short-lived content on Snapchat, the class may split into teams to debate whether brands

should utilize Snapchat to build a community of brand fans.

Do you expect the 2014 Audi Snapchat campaign to affect Audi’s brand community

on other social media platforms? How could Audi create a synergetic rather than a

segregated social media strategy?

Reflecting on the Audi Super Bowl Snapchat campaign, students, through this discussion

question, get the chance to search beyond the case content to investigate how Audi capitalized on

integrative marketing communication strategy to leverage the Snapchat campaign. This provides

25


SAGE Publishing, 2018the opportunity to understand social media marketing strategy in a more comprehensive and

inclusive context of building brand equity through communication. Students may examine and

analyze how Audi concurrently used other social media avenues (e.g., Facebook, Twitter) as well

as other forms of communication, including TV commercials, to achieve a synergetic effect

through various communication channels.

What did Audi’s Snapchat campaign affect earned media? What are the

downstream consequences of Audi’s Brand Community?

Students have the opportunity to elaborate on how the Audi brand captured value through the

Super Bowl Snapchat campaign. Earned Media, generated by engaged consumers, represents an

important value that brands aim at capturing via social media campaigns. Students can search

and elaborate on the Earned Reach (breadth and quality of content generate by users in response

to the campaign) as well as Brand Talk (Audi’s conversation with customers on social media

during and after the campaign). The impact of Earned Media, Earned Reach, and Brand Talk on

Audi’s Brand Community provides concluding insights for the discussion.

Post Script

The results of the Audi Real-Time Marketing (RTM) Snapchat Super Bowl campaign was

reported as follows: 1) an increase in Audi Snapchat followers by 5,500 on the game day, 2)

greater than 100,000 Snapchat views, 3) 2,400 Twitter mentions for the campaign, with 2,500

new Twitter followers, and 4) 9,000 new joins for the Audi Facebook page.11 According to

advertising age, Audi outperformed the automakers in generating online mentions during the

2014 Super Bowl Sunday and 30% of those mentioned generated through Snapchat.12

11 Jack Simpson, “Five seriously creative Snapchat campaigns and their results,” Econsultancy, August 27, 2015, accessed April 2, 2017, https://econsultancy.com/blog/66867-five-seriously-creative-snapchat-campaigns-and-their-results/.12 “AUDI,” Huge, accessed April 2, 2017, http://www.hugeinc.com/case-study/super-bowl-snapchat.

26



The Role of Digital Influencers in Social Media

Ricardo Limongi França Coelho

Marcos Inácio Severo de Almeida

Federal University of Goias, Brazil

Suggested use: Social Community and Social Publishing

Keywords: digital influencers; social media; Instagram; endorsement

Case

The traditional communication process has undergone a transformation, evolving from a one-to-

many structure to many-to-many. This evolution was made possible by the emergence of the

Internet as a medium, which changed the way companies connect with their consumers

(Hoffman & Novak, 1996), and opening space for new behaviors based on interactions and

experiences (Lamberton & Stephen, 2016). This change has even generated a questioning about

the future of traditional advertising (Kumar & Gupta, 2016; Schultz, 2016) since companies must

deal with an increasingly dispersed and organized target audience in micro communities in social

media. The practical implication of this situation is a phenomenon in which people distribute

themselves in community networks that provide information, a sense of belonging, and build

connections with others they may not know personally but share the same interests (Wellman,

2001). Individuals recognized as opinion makers can form such networks by bringing together

their set of followers and serving as vehicles for brands that wish to advertise products or

services, as the endorsement of such individuals transfers the endorser’s recognition, trust, and

respect to the announced product (Kumar & Gupta, 2016).

Endorsement represents a marketing technique in which a person endowed with public

recognition lends this advantage to a product or service. The practice of endorsement can

represent the psychological process of social influence and deals with every component of

human behavior not determined by biology, in which individuals influence the opinions and

27


SAGE Publishing, 2018behaviors of others. In general, the agencies and the companies themselves state that celebrity

endorsement has a positive effect on the attitude towards the endorsed object, although it does

not affect the behavioral intentions of consumers, and has as a positive aspect to achieve the

dissemination of their product or service in a segmented and which tends to generate better

performance. Many companies rely on an endorsement of virtual social networks as a means of

attracting attention to their products or services, due to the decrease in consumer attention in

traditional forms of advertising. In general the effects of this tactic on online environments is still

in its early stages but has already been used as a marketing strategy for small and large

companies.

The most traditional virtual tool for disseminating content to followers in a particular

network is the blog. It is a regular publication, organized chronologically in postings combining

images and texts (Castro & Santos Júnior, 2015). However, bloggers have gradually migrated to

more modern virtual platforms with broader, deeper and agiler broadcasting properties (Zhang &

Peng, 2015), such as virtual social networks. Specifically, in Brazil, Instagram is the space where

opinion makers play the role of digital influencers by bringing together followers around an

individual profile, from where they advertise products and services. The phenomenon seems to

have begun in the fashion segment, where model profiles or personalities bring together up to 4.7

million followers (Fernandez, 2016), but has spread to other areas. Market data consolidated by a

Brazilian digital agency reveal two young people, a comedian and an actress, who gather five

and eight million subscribers, respectively in their private channels in a social network of videos

(IInterativa, 2016). On the one hand, this strong dynamic of advertising activity in social media

like Instagram seems to be peculiar to Brazil. Digital influencers, apparently unknown to the

general public, but known to a particular group, also receive offers from companies to produce

sponsored posts that are viewed by followers located in the “network” of these influencers. On

the other hand, celebrity like the American Selena Gomez charged almost $ 2 million for a post,

a price justified by the audience of the singer who has more than 100 million followers on

Instagram, and also by the digital influence of celebrities such as the singer, which can generate

up to three times more engagement on Instagram, and five times more than other media in

28


SAGE Publishing, 2018corporate profiles (Socialbakers, 2016). In spite of the constant use of celebrities to promote

products and services by companies, digital influencers with a lower number of followers have

attracted the attention of companies that are looking for alternative ways of disseminating their

messages, mainly due to the authenticity of their posts (Suhrawardi, 2016).

According to data from a virtual social media management platform, 92% of consumers

rely more on ads made by influencers than through traditional media or celebrity use (Weinswig,

2016). This trust is justified by the ability of influencers to create authentic and personalized

posts, which creates a sense of credibility (Boyd, 2016). Therefore, the influencers have

characteristics that are related to the context in which it is inserted, position in the virtual social

network and the connection with other members. A representation of this perceived credibility is

the case of YouTubers who are users who promote videos about various topics through the

Youtube online video tool and can establish strong relationships with the users of their network

(Google, 2016). According to Google, the videos promoted by YouTubers receive more

engagement compared to celebrity videos, promoting three times more views, twice as many

actions and twelve times more comments in the posts.

Measuring the real level of influence of these new opinion makers is still a challenge for

marketers (Terra, 2015; Uzunoglu & Kip, 2014). In an advertising survey in which influencers in

social networks Facebook and Twitter are analyzed influencers can be identified by a number of

followers in a number of pages on the web, as well as their index in the PageRank (form that

Google represents the importance of a page), if it has more than one profile on social media, and

also, through the Klout index (tool that measures the influence of the user in a social network). In

this way, the challenge for agencies and companies is in identifying the influencer for their target

audience and a campaign alignment so that the endorsement of the brand or product can be

positive.


1. What strategy could marketers follow to identify influencers in virtual social networks

aligned with their product or brand?

2. How can companies evaluate the performance of actions with digital influencers?

29


SAGE Publishing, 20183. What indicators could the company use to assess the remuneration of digital influencers?

References

Boyd, S. (2016). How Instagram micro-influencers are changing your mind one sponsored post

at a time. Forbes, 28 June 2016. Disponível em:

<http://www.forbes.com/sites/sboyd/2016/06/28/how-instagram-micro-influencers-are-changing-

your-mind-one-sponsored-post-at-a-time/#6132e69543c1>. Acessado em 18 de novembro de

2016.

Castro, I. V., & Santos Júnior, C. D. (2015). “O que gerencio e de quem dependo?”:

Determinantes da ação de blogueiros. Revista de Administração Contemporânea, 19(4), 486-507.

Fernandez, C. (2016, Agosto 22). 10 of biggest influencers to follow on Instagram [Web log

post]. Recuperado de <http://fashionista.com/2016/08/best-brazillian-instagrams-to-follow >

Google. (2016). The new influencers: How fans interact with celebrity video online. U.S.,

February 2016. Disponível em: <https://www.thinkwithgoogle.com/infographics/youtube-stars-

influence.html>. Acessado em 28 de novembro de 2016.

Hoffman, D. L., & Novak, T. P. (1996). Marketing in hypermedia computer-mediated

environments: conceptual foundations. Journal of Marketing, 60(3), 50-68.

IInterativa (2016, Junho 21). Infográfico – Por que investor em influenciadores digitais? [Web

log post]. Recuperado de <http://www.iinterativa.com.br/infografico-por-investir-em-

influenciadores-digitais/ >

Kumar, V., & Gupta, S. (2016). Conceptualizing the evolution and future of advertising. Journal

of Advertising, 45(3), 302-317.

Schultz, D. (2016). The future of advertising or whatever we’re going to call it. Journal of

Advertising, 45(3), 276-285.

Lamberton, C., & Stephen, A. T. (2016). A thematic exploration of digital social media, and

mobile marketing: Research evolution from 2000 to 2015 and an agenda for future inquiry.

Journal of Marketing, 80(6), 146-172.

30

http://www.iinterativa.com.br/infografico-por-investir-em-influenciadores-digitais/

http://www.iinterativa.com.br/infografico-por-investir-em-influenciadores-digitais/

http://fashionista.com/2016/08/best-brazillian-instagrams-to-follow


SAGE Publishing, 2018Socialbakers. (2016). Instagram marketing review top industries. Disponível em:

<https://www.socialbakers.com/resources/studies/datadriven-social-marketing-on-instagram>.

Acessado em 16 de outubro de 2016.

Suhrawardi, R. (2016). Digital marketing strategy and the rise of the micro-influencer. Forbes,

30 ago. 2016. Disponível em:

<http://www.forbes.com/sites/rebeccasuhrawardi/2016/08/30/digital-marketing-strategy-and-the-

rise-of-the-micro-influencer/#4b3e532642e5>. Acessado em 25 de setembro de 2016.

Terra, C. F. (2015). Relacionamentos nas mídias sociais (ou relações públicas digitais): estamos

falando da midiatização das relações públicas?. Revista Organicom, 12(22).

Uzunoğlu, E., & Kip, Sema Misci. (2014). Brand communication through digital influencers:

Leveraging blogger engagement. International Journal of Information Management, 34(5), 592-

602.

Wellman, B. (2001). Computer networks as social networks. Science, 293, 2031-2034.

Weinswig, D. (2016). Influencers are the new brands. Forbes, 5 out. 2016. Disponível em:

<http://www.forbes.com/sites/deborahweinswig/2016/10/05/influencers-are-the-new-brands/

#692512c77fc5>. Acessado em 18 de novembro de 2016.

Zhang, L., & Peng, T. (2015). Breadth, depth, and speed: Diffusion of advertising messages on

microblogging sites. Internet Research, 25(3), 453-454.

31



The Rise and Fall of a Fake Psychologist as an Instagram Celebrity

Selcen Ozturkcan

Bahcesehir University, Faculty of Communication,Istanbul Turkey

Learning Objectives

After analyzing this case study, the student should be able to do the following:

1. Analyse the sources of credibility in forming “influence impressions”

2. Identify possible ethical conflicts resulting from misinformation on social media

3. Discuss the impact of social media on individuals and families

Case

What if the popular child development psychologist turns out to be only an Instagram celebrity

without any credentials or formal training? Had it been not her engagement in expensive therapy

sessions giving treatments to many real patients, or numerous consultancy contracts with

multinational infant food companies and frequent participation in TV shows on parenting,

perhaps the case would have been just regarded as another Internet scam. However, the unique

community features of social media have made it possible for Instagrammer Cagla Duvenci

Sonmez (aka. Socialmomm) to experience a sharp increase in her popularity (and perhaps

earnings), followed with instantaneous loss of credibility.

Mrs.Sonmez preferred to describe herself as psychologist – sociologist in her short bio in

Instagram where she managed to amass some 190 thousand followers (Gokce 2016). She chose

to inform her prospects online about the fees involved for her services, too. Accordingly, face-to-

face treatment sessions were priced at $65+VAT while online consultation was $30+VAT per

hour (Filoloji 2016). Her services covered a wide array of topics ranging from mother-baby

communication to the role of father during pregnancy seminars to keynote speeches at university

hospitals on child development and education (MedyaFaresi 2016, KıbrısSonDakika 2016,

YakındDoguUniversitesi 2015). In addition, she also enjoyed the perks of being a social media

celebrity via product endorsement agreements with companies targeting kids, babies, and

parents. However, it took only couple of suspicious followers to launch an investigative tracking

32


SAGE Publishing, 2018of her claimed degrees. By December 2016, it was revealed by Istanbul Bilgi University’s

Registrar’s Office that Mrs. Sonmez only had a BA in Sociology degree issued on January 27 th,

2010 (Instamomsavar 2017). Once information on her formal degree was presented and her

opinion was asked, Mrs. Sonmez refused to answer calls (TurkiyeGazetesi 2016).

Simultaneously, Mrs.Sonmez made an announcement on Instagram, which read, “I wonder why

mentally healthy individuals that did not receive any psychological counseling would question

the counselor’s diploma? Until today, my consulting company has billed my consultants and I

paid my due tax. I have been focusing on blogging for the last two years, and I have not been

counseling during this time. I’m a blogger. If anyone wonders whether I have a company or any

unpaid taxes, they can search via the chamber of commerce. The rest is nobody’s business.

There is nothing for me to prove.” At the same time the short-bio on her Instagram account was

edited, “psychologist – sociologist” phrase was changed to “blogger mom.” Moreover, all videos

of her seminars has been removed from her web site and social media accounts (Yazıyor 2016).

On the other hand, some has reached to Turkish Psychologists Association’s ethics

committee, with regards consulting on legislative action. Committee has announced that serious

problems are involved in uneducated individuals provision of unprofessional ‘services’

particularly in sensitive topics involving child psychology. Moreover, even if it were positioned

as a counseling service fee, both the invoice itself and any received payments would involve

criminal activity.

Despite the ongoing jurisdiction, even after 3 months into the revealed information, Mrs.

Sonmez still continues her blogging activities.


1. Explain possible factors that could have been involved in Mrs. Sonmez’s social media

popularity.

2. Discuss the ethical concerns that could be involved.

3. In groups of 3-4 students, discuss which key factors (average follower number, average

comment number, average like number, popularity on f2f channels, etc) contribute to

associating credibility to social media personas.

33


SAGE Publishing, 2018Teaching Plan

Introduction of case (10 min)

Break (5 min)

(Re)introduce discussion questions of choice (15 min)

Discussion (20 min)

Formulation of the discussion summary (10 min)

References

Filoloji. 2016. “Socialmomm Çağla Düvenci Sönmez’in Diploması Sahte Çıktı!”. filoloji.com,

Last Modified 21 December 2016 Accessed 28 March 2017. http://filoji.com/unlu-

blogger-socialmommin-psikolog-olmadigi-iddiasi/.

Gokce, Dincer. 2016. “Sosyal medya ‘sahte psikolog’ iddiası ile çalkalanıyor.” Hurriyet, 20

December 2016. http://www.hurriyet.com.tr/sosyal-medyada-sahte-psikolog-iddiasi-ile-

calkalaniyor-40312616.

Instamomsavar. 2017. “Title.” 27 January 2017. https://instamomsavar.wordpress.com.

KıbrısSonDakika. 2016. “Türkiye’nin Konuştuğu Çağla Düvenci’nin KKTC Bağı!”. Kıbrıs Son

Dakika, Last Modified 25 December 2016 Accessed 28 March 2017.

http://kibrissondakika.com/turkiyenin-konustugu-cagla-duvencinin-kktc-bagi/.

MedyaFaresi. 2016. “Çağla Düvenci Sönmez kimdir?”. Medya Faresi, Last Modified 21

December 2016 Accessed 28 March 2017. http://www.medyafaresi.com/foto-galeri/unlu-

psikolog-sahte-cikti/800465.

TurkiyeGazetesi. 2016. “‘Psikoloğum’ diyen Çağla Düvenci Sönmez herkesi kandırmış.”

Turkiye Gazetesi, Last Modified 23 December 2016 Accessed 28 March 2017.

http://www.turkiyegazetesi.com.tr/yasam/431596.aspx.

YakındDoguUniversitesi. 2015. “Yakın Doğu Üniversite Hastanesi Toplumu Bilinçlendirici

Seminerler Düzenlemeye Devam Ediyor.” http://www.neu.edu.tr, Last Modified 20

October 2015 Accessed 28 March 2017. https://neu.edu.tr/yakin-dogu-universite-

hastanesi-toplumu-bilinclendirici-seminerler-duzenlemeye-devam-ediyor/?lang=tr.

34


SAGE Publishing, 2018Yazıyor. 2016. “Meğer sahte psikologmuş!”. Yaziyor.tv, Last Modified 23 December 2016

Accessed 28 March 2017. http://www.yaziyor.tv/meger-sahte-psikologmus/.

35



AcademLink – Information before Socialization

Jelena Filipović

University of Belgrade – Faculty of Economics

Zone: Social community

Topics: Users/consumers segmentation, operations management of SMM functions, strategic

planning of SMM campaigns

Keywords: social networks, segmentation, international marketing, researchers, information,

socialization

Acknowledgement: I would like to thank Top Class for sharing their business information and

thoughts relevant for the creation of this case study. All impressions, advice and conclusions

regarding discussion questions provided by the case study participants will be appreciated and

received with gratitude on [email protected].

Case

Science has always required international collaboration and it appears as the social media

provided a long-awaited answer to the research community. It started modestly with blogs and

forums, followed by profiles and discussions on social networks, but slowly, researchers realized

they needed something bigger – their own online social networks! And here they came to global

arena in 2008. However, was this segmentation criterion (scientists vs. world) enough? Not

according to AcademLink. The keyword was localization and in 2012, Ivana, entrepreneur

running a language center, and Yelena, university lecturer in marketing, started a social network

aimed at researchers of the Southeast Europe (hereinafter: SEE). Years after – local business,

global dilemmas: Do scientists really need their own social network or some other media would

do a job? Can social media help ‘irreconcilable differences’ to reconcile after the (political)

divorce? Founders of AcademLink needed to answer these questions and revisit the applied

strategy for consumer segmentation urgently in order to keep their business in the market.

In the previous decade, several social networks for researchers have been established,

such as ResearchGate, Academia.edu and Mendeley. They gather millions of researchers

36

mailto:[email protected]


SAGE Publishing, 2018worldwide and offer diverse sets of tools to facilitate their work and cooperation. Even though

these networks vary greatly in terms of services they provide, the identical feature they all

possess is that they are primarily provided in English. This way, researchers who are not

sufficiently competent in English are limited in their possibilities to network with international

colleagues or to present their work and therefore contribute to their scientific field to a greater

extent. AcademLink noticed this gap and tried to address that unfulfilled need in the SEE market.

Picture 1: Profile page of an AcademLink member

AcademLink (www.AcademLink.com) is a social network for researchers, university

lecturers and post-graduates from SEE (encompassing: Serbia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina,

Montenegro, Slovenia and FYR Macedonia). During the period of four years, AcademLink

community has gathered more than 4,000 members, which counted for about 12% of the whole

scientific population in the region. AcademLink’s social network utilities include news on higher

education and research sectors, discussion boards, inmail messages, CV database, database of

scientific papers written mostly in local language and information on scientific events (e.g.

37


SAGE Publishing, 2018conferences, seminars, etc. held in SEE). All members can freely add any of the listed content

and participate in all of the activities. The profile page appearance is provided in the Picture 1.

Vast majority of the region population speaks different dialects of the local language

(Bosnian/Croatian/Montenegrin/Serbian), while smaller part speaks Macedonian and Slovenian.

All regional languages are highly understandable to all nations from the SEE territory. Therefore,

AcademLink website and a great part of the content are provided in local languages, while only

some of the news are offered in English.

Besides services typical for a social network, AcademLink publishes weekly newsletter

“Scientific news of Southeastern Europe”, distributed by email to about 15,000 researchers,

decision-makers, university librarians, scientific journal boards and science enthusiasts.

AcademLink’s newsletter has been so far the only medium targeting this significant consumer

group, providing its members with specific regional information. It covers seven most relevant

updates and news on scientific breakthroughs, legal issues in the higher education sector (e.g.

plagiarism, corruption, mobbing, new regualtions on innovation practices, etc.) and so forth,

posted on AcademLink network by its members in the previous week. A special section is

dedicated to the announcements of the open calls for funds, scholarships, prizes and fellowships

for SEE researchers.

38



Picture 2: AcademLink login page

Ivana, one of the founders, stated that: “From the very start, AcademLink faced various

difficulties. Firstly, internet penetration in the region in question is lower than average in Europe,

amounting to approximately 50% of households. Secondly, average age of university staff in

SEE is quite high, implying lower level of innovation acceptance and use of information-

communication technologies. Furthermore, from the marketing communications point of view,

there is a problem in reaching SEE research community, bearing in mind that no medium

addresses them specifically. Finally, political and social burden from the recent past (civil war in

Yugoslavia in the 1990s of the 20th century) caused the unwillingness of neighboring countries

in the region to collaborate, e.g. some of the newsletter subscribers kept sending us emails

complaining about us using some words in certain dialect and not in another; why the sequence

of news in the newsletter is as it is – why news from some countries are positioned lower than

others; or why researchers from some countries seem to have more space in our newsletter and

more network posts than others.”

39


SAGE Publishing, 2018Given the above-stated, there has been a visible lack of cooperation and information flow

among SEE researchers. AcademLink founders wanted to address these particular challenges by

providing a platform completely available in native languages of the regional researchers, a

platform for discussion, networking and collaboration on joint projects. Strong orientation

toward communication is also visible from the AcademLink’s login page presented in picture no.

2.

“From the beginning and throughout the whole period of AcademLink’s operation, researchers

demonstrated the willingness to become members of the social network and to read the content

regularly, but not to post anything apart from the events, nor to participate in discussions or

groups”, as Maria, editor of the AcademLink’s newsletter and the network member, noticed.

Actually, Ivana points out that all features distinctivly typical for social networks (and

socialization) proved to be underused, while information services have been very much

appreciated by the community. Bearing in mind all this, Ivana and Yelena have considered to

switch from a social network to an informative portal.


1. Why does the science ask for cooperation in the international arena?

2. What are the special utilities of social networks required by scientists compared to other

public groups?

3. What other social media, besides social networks for researchers, are especially useful for

scientists? For what purposes?

4. What socio-political challenges AcademLink faced with in the international context?

5. List the advantages and flaws of AcademLink and explain how those reflect on its

business success.

6. What are the business models behind academic social networks? How do they finance

their operations?

7. Advise AcademLink’s management team what to do in the future. Should they change

their strategic approach from social to informative media? How can they increase their

revenues? What consumer group they need to target?

40



Assignment Questions

1. Visit social networks aimed at scientists and research their utilities. Compare and contrast

them.

2. Do SWOT analysis of AcademLink.

3. Reflect on other regions in the world where AcademLink’s model could be applied. Is it

possible to franchise that? What barriers and opportunities can you foresee in this

endevaour?

4. What other segments besides researchers are internationally recognized for the creation

of specialized social networks? Describe their characteristics and business potentials.

5. Informative vs. social (online) media: collaboration, cohabitation or combat till

extermination.

Teaching Notes

The case can be used for the discussion on the following topics:

Consumer segmentation (criteria for segmentation, requirements for the consumer

segments to be attractive for targeting, etc.)

Relevance of ICT in the professional (research) work

Differences between social and informative online media: goals, reach, uses and results

International marketing: globalization vs. localization in the online business strategy,

building regional online brands, international competition in www market, etc.

Socio-political challenges that online businesses face with on the regional markets

sharing similar languages and cultures and which have experienced certain turbulences

in the past (e.g. post-Soviet states, Middle Eastern countries, Spanish-speaking

countries, Chinese-speaking countries, etc.)

The audience of the case includes: undergraduate and postgraduate students, entrepreneurs,

managers in international companies, researchers

41


SAGE Publishing, 2018Discussion Questions and Analysis

1. Why does the science ask for cooperation in the international arena?

“In his research, Sir Chris Llewellyn Smith, University of Oxford, argues that the increase in

international collaboration was enabled by improved communications, including internet-based

communication and cheaper travel, and driven by three factors. First, the search for quality.

Researchers will seek out the best collaborators regardless of location. Second, increased

efficiency. For projects that require large facilities (Large Hadron Collider) it makes sense to

work together. Finally, data needs to be combined from different regions when studying global

problems like climate change and pandemics.”13

Some of the reasons are as follows:

Many experiments require equipment and staff expertise scattered around the globe

Publications resulting from international collaboration have been continually on the rise

and, according to one study14, 43 percent of all papers published in the past five years had

been written by international research teams. One in four scientific articles produced

around the world were co-signed by a foreign collaborator in 2014, compared to one in

five a decade earlier, notes the UNESCO Science Report: towards 2030, released in

November 2015.15

Majority of calls for funding opportunities are predominantly open for international

consortia (e.g. Horizon 2020, Erasmus+, program of bilateral cooperation, etc.)

Different universities worldwide are at different levels of development in certain

scientific fields and researchers, by using ICT, can benefit from that fact (e.g. MOOC)

13 Maarten Rikken (2016), Insights into international research collaboration, https://www.researchgate.net/blog/post/insights-into-international-research-collaboration14 Idem15 Natural Sciences Sector UNESCO (2017) International scientific collaboration has become a must, says report, http://www.unesco.org/new/en/natural-sciences/science-technology/single-view-sc-policy/news/international_scientific_collaboration_has_become_a_must_sa/

42


SAGE Publishing, 2018 Small countries lead in international collaboration. The highest rates of international

scientific collaboration are to be found in small and developing countries16 (for example,

it is characteristic of the SEE region)

2. What are the special utilities of social networks required by the scientists compared to

other public groups?

Analyze with the case study participants different features that ResearchGate, Academia.edu,

Mendeley and AcademLink provide in comparison to Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn.

Databases of papers, CVs and citation tools should be highlighted. Moreover, rather verbal than

visual content should be emphasized as the distinguishing feature between academic social

networks and Facebook. Twitter provides a rather limited space for elaboration, while LinkedIn

organizes groups and discussions in a diverse manner compared to the afore-mentioned

networks.

It is listed in the text that AcademLink’s social network include: news on higher education and

research sectors, discussion boards, inmail messages, CV database, database of scientific papers

written mostly in local language, as well as information on scientific events (e.g. conferences,

seminars, etc. held in SEE).

3. What other social media, besides social networks for researchers, are especially useful

for scientists? For what purposes?

16 Idem43


SAGE Publishing, 2018Source: Harseim, Tina and Goodey, Gregory (2016), How do researchers use social media and

scholarly collaboration networks (SCNs)?,

http://blogs.nature.com/ofschemesandmemes/2017/06/15/how-do-researchers-use-social-media-

and-scholarly-collaboration-networks-scns

Some of the ideas are:

Facebook: following the science-themed Facebook pages, science communication to general

public, promotion of scientist’s work to a larger audience (e.g. by administering a page focusing

on science or a certain research project)

Twitter: to communicate specifically with other scientists, as a forum, to share one’s own

research directly with the public and the media, to stay up-to-date with science outreach and

communication activities, to expand personal networks. Many scientists have probably attended

conferences that encouraged live Tweeting and observed that a conference could be followed

remotely through Tweets.

Blogs: expand knowledge, write personal science blog, share science-themed blogs with

professional colleagues and support their opinions, increase public understanding of science.

Moreover, discuss the importance of platforms such as: Slideshare, SharedIt, YouTube, etc.

4. What socio-political challenges AcademLink faces with in the international context?

The scientific community of SEE is rather small, counting approximately 40,000 persons. So,

this segment may be too small and should be complemented by some other user segments, such

as master students or researchers from the neighboring countries that share similar context and

problems (e.g. Romania, Bulgaria, etc.) – which would require publishing relevant news in other

languages.

The founder of AcademLink mentioned: “Finally, political and social burden from the recent past

(civil war in Yugoslavia in the ’90s of the 20th century) caused the unwillingness of neighboring

countries in the region to collaborate, e.g. some of the newsletter subscribers kept sending us

emails complaining about us using some words in certain dialect and not in another; why the

sequence of news in the newsletter is as it is – why news from some countries are positioned

lower than others; or why researchers from some countries seem to have more space in our

44


SAGE Publishing, 2018newsletter and more network posts than others”. Communications should be focused on

explaning the necessities of the regional research collaboration and individual benefits resulting

from such efforts (increased mobility opportunities, higher citation rates, more opportunities for

receiving funds, etc.).

Discuss with students in which other regions in the world (e.g. post-Soviet states, Middle Eastern

countries, Spanish-speaking countries, Chinese-speaking countries, etc.) a similar business

initiative would face same problems and how they would overcome them in some other cases

(e.g. social network Vkontakte17).

5. List the advantages and flaws of AcademLink and explain how those reflect on its business

success.

Benefits:

Uniqueness of AcademLink social network in terms of language, services provided and

target audience;

Comprehensive approach – AcademLink connects all participants in higher education

and research sector: researchers, decision-makers, librarians, scientific journal boards,

science enthusiasts, scholarship and fellowship providers;

Its newsletter is the only medium targeting this significant consumer group;

Diversity of services offered

Direct access to the majority of members of the target customer groups;

There is no other registry of the researchers in the region besides AcademLink’s.

Management team possesses: long experience and significant expertise in the field of research;

established networks with regional and international partners (individual researchers and

17 “Vkontakte” set a record in Ukraine by number of users per day, https://rusreality.com/2017/05/17/vkontakte-set-a-record-in-ukraine-by-number-of-users-per-day/

45


SAGE Publishing, 2018institutions); strong community ties and involvement; prominent and complementary skills in

marketing and sales, language competencies, creativity, and hands-on knowledge of all tasks

related to network operating; commitment and passion for science, research and improvement of

the researchers’ collaboration in the region.

Deficiencies:

Inability to incite regional researchers to participate in the network activities:

“However, from the beginning and throughout the whole period of AcademLink’s

operation, researchers demonstrated the willingness to become members of the social

network and to read the content regularly, but not to post anything apart from the

events, nor to participate in discussions or groups”, as Maria, editor of the

AcademLink’s newsletter and the network member, noticed.

The unfavorable characteristics of the target consumer group in terms of the use of ICT

– “Firstly, internet penetration in the region in question is lower than average in

Europe, amounting to approximately 50% of households. Secondly, the average age of

university staff in SEE is quite high, implying lower level of the innovation acceptance

and the use of information-communication technologies.”

Ethnic barriers in the regional market – previously explained

Distinguishing features of AcademLink to other media need to be more elaborated and

explained to the audience. A few years ago, ResearchGate was called “Facebook for

science”18, but with certain changes in its services and communications, it emerged as

the most used social network for scientists of all.

6. What are the business models behind academic social networks? How do they finance their

operations?

18 Eli Kintisch (2014), Is ResearchGate Facebook for science?, http://www.sciencemag.org/careers/2014/08/researchgate-facebook-science

46


SAGE Publishing, 2018Analysis based on: David Matthews (2016), “Do academic social networks share academics’

interests?,” https://www.timeshighereducation.com/features/do-academic-social-networks-share-

academics-interests#survey-answer

“So far, San Francisco-based Academia.edu has reportedly raised $17.7 million (£12.5 million)

from investors, including the multibillion-dollar venture capital firm Khosla Ventures.

Meanwhile, Berlin-based ResearchGate has raised at least $35 million from venture capitalists

and Microsoft founder Bill Gates. And London-based Mendeley also attracted significant

investment before being bought by the giant publisher Elsevier for £65 million in 2013.”

There are several sources of revenues foreseen by the founders of academic social networks, but

most of them need to be yet proved in practice:

1. Advertising: Madisch, founder of ResearchGate is placing his hopes on advertising. He

intends to make his pitch to scientific conference organizers and equipment

manufacturers with the promise of the kind of highly targeted adverts that traditional

journals are unable to offer because – he argues – they lack data on exactly who reads

them. The founder of Academia.edu Richard Price insists that the site is currently

“absolutely not” profitable, despite making “some revenue” from advertising and job

adverts.

2. Members become subscribers or pay for certain services: For instance, at the end of

January, Scott Johnson, assistant professor of Classics and letters at the University of

Oklahoma, received an email from Academia.edu asking whether he would consider

paying “a small fee” for his papers to be “considered” for recommendation by other

researchers on the network. “You’d only be charged if your paper was recommended. If it

does get recommended then you’ll see the natural boost in viewership and downloads that

recommended papers get,” the email said. Johnson posted the exchange on Twitter, and

in the ensuing uproar he asked: “If you are able to explain to me how I can pay for the

promotion of my work and remain intellectually honest, please do.” After the Twitter

backlash, Price admitted that the idea was “silly” and claimed that the company had

actually been trying to “start the conversation with users around how to fund academic

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SAGE Publishing, 2018publishing when paywall revenues dry up” and was “probing” the suggestion that

Academia.edu could publish papers for a “super-low cost” of about $50.

3. Paid-for open access publishing: Michael Clarke, president of Clarke and Company, a

consultancy that specializes in scientific and medical information business, is skeptical

about this idea. “They would have to be extraordinarily successful as the article

processing charge would have to cover not only the costs of publication but also the costs

of running the network,” he says – while other open access publishers such as PLoS and

Frontiers need only to cover their publishing costs. Ijad Madisch, founder and chief

executive of ResearchGate, also has doubts about the potential of academic networks to

become publishers “in a traditional way”. In his opinion, standard publishers provide

three things: reputation, quality control and distribution. Social networks, however, do

not have a reputation as established places to publish, in addition to the questions over

their quality control.

4. Academic social networks could sell usage data to companies: e.g. they could give an

early warning to pharmaceutical companies, for instance, about what scientists are

interested in. Neither Madisch nor Price express any enthusiasm about this idea.

AcademLink tried the first two options for generating resources a couple of years ago, but they

proved to be inefficient. Advertisers showed more interest in promoting their companies in

AcademLink’s newsletter and in employing AcademLink team to perform communication and

dissemination activities within their research and business projects (when one of the target

groups is regional academia).

7. Advise AcademLink’s management team what to do in the future. Should they change their

strategic approach from social to informative media? How can they increase their revenues?

What consumer group do they need to target?

Assignment Questions

1. Visit social networks for scientists and research their utilities. Comapare and

contrast them.

2. Do SWOT analysis of AcademLink.

48


SAGE Publishing, 20183. Reflect on other regions in the world where AcademLink’s model could be

applied. Is it possible to franchise that? What barriers and opportunities can you

foresee in this endevaour?

4. What other segments besides researchers are internationally recognized for the

creation of specialized social networks? Describe their characteristics and

business potentials.

5. Online informative vs. social media: collaboration, cohabitation or combat till

extermination.

Additional Readings

Collins, Kimberley, David Shiffman, and Jenny Rock. “How Are Scientists Using Social Media

in the Workplace?.” PloS one 11, no. 10 (2016): e0162680.

Harseim, Tina and Goodey, Gregory (2016), How do researchers use social media and scholarly

collaboration networks (SCNs)?, http://blogs.nature.com/ofschemesandmemes /2017/06/15/how-

do-researchers-use-social-media-and-scholarly-collaboration-networks-scns

Kintisch, Eli (2014), Is ResearchGate Facebook for science?,

http://www.sciencemag.org/careers/2014/08/researchgate-facebook-science

Matthews, David (2016), Do academic social networks share academics’ interests?,

https://www.timeshighereducation.com/features/do-academic-social-networks-share-academics-

interests#survey-answer

Natural Sciences Sector UNESCO (2017) International scientific collaboration has become a

must, says report, http://www.unesco.org/new/en/natural-sciences/science-technology/single-

view-sc-policy/news/international_scientific_collaboration_has_become_a_must_sa/

Natural Sciences Sector UNESCO (2017), Table S10: Scientific publications in international

collaboration, 2008-2014, https://en.unesco.org/sites/default/files/tab_usr15_s10_publications

_collaboration_en.pdf

Rikken, Maarten (2016), Insights into international research collaboration,

https://www.researchgate.net/blog/post/insights-into-international-research-collaboration

49


SAGE Publishing, 2018Russian reality (2017) “Vkontakte” set a record in Ukraine by number of users per day,

https://rusreality.com/2017/05/17/vkontakte-set-a-record-in-ukraine-by-number-of-users-per-

day/

Van Noorden, Richard (2014) Online collaboration: Scientists and the social network,

http://www.nature.com/news/online-collaboration-scientists-and-the-social-network-1.15711

50



Social Media Media Marketing in the Wedding Planning Industry

Sharon Justice

East Carolina University

Case

In 2015 Andi Workman started a small Etsy Shop at her kitchen table in her tiny apartment, hand

making a few Christmas ornaments to share with friends. She had always had a creative spirit

and loved to share her handcrafted items. When she became engaged, she couldn’t find exactly

what she was looking for in the wedding industry: simplicity, beauty, and affordability. She

quickly dove into the world of wedding stationery, signs, and decor--having no idea that she

would discover something that would bring her so much joy as well as a future business venture.

Her wedding was beautiful and a few of her friends wanted her help in designing and creating

items for their weddings. It was in those moments of creating custom pieces for her wedding and

other brides that Workman Creative Co. was born. WCC now offers a complete line of hand

designed custom stationery items for every wedding need, hand lettered signs and other custom

décor.

Andi is the creative director and the driving force of the business but she is well

supported by her husband and her own family of entrepreneurs that are the behind the scenes

“workmen”. Over the past year Workman Creative has focused on building a strong, positive

following through their Etsy shop. Reviews, favorite shop status, and sales are the measure of an

Etsy retailer. While still small, WCC is striving to move to an integrated storefront through their

website and targeted, social media interaction. Etsy will remain a vehicle to promote the

business, but the website and social media events will become the primary focus of promoting

and marketing the business.

Through research, they have learned that the key to growing their business in the

competitive wedding market is through word of mouth, positive reviews and personal referrals.

As Miller and Washington noted in the Retail marketing handbook, “Social media networks are

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SAGE Publishing, 2018becoming prime vehicles for the wedding industry to market products and services to brides.” In

the AM 2014 publication researching the influence on social media and the wedding industry, it

was noted how brides of today see themselves as brand managers, seeking that unique

personalized experience and sharing it widely on their own social media platforms. It is in this

environment that WCC is seeking to promote their unique customized products to couples

planning their perfect day.

WCC has done several things over the past 6 months to grow their business:

Launched a new website with stylized photographs, personal stories and wedding

focused products and services.

Participated in 2 bridal showcase events to build brand awareness and expose a local,

target market of couples with wedding dates in the next 24 months to WCC and their

beautiful, affordable, customized options

Joined a regional wedding association that shares social media posts, contests and other

interactive strategies to couples planning their wedding, referring them to the exclusive

members of the association.

Created Instagram and Facebook pages for WCC. Launched 1 giveaway and

participated in a week long posting challenge hosted by another creative entrepreneur.

Researched, followed, posted and liked other creatives that compliment WCC products

and services without being direct competitors.

Invested in technology and equipment to support the graphic design and printing

requirements to deliver a one stop source for wedding stationery designs.

WCC is now facing several challenges with the business.

How can WCC effectively grow exposure to their business? Andi is a gifted writer and has

blogged a little, but she also is a teacher, a wife, and volunteers as a middle school girl leader.

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SAGE Publishing, 2018How can she keep the blogs, Instagram posts, FB feeds fresh, yet interactive and not an

overwhelming daily task that takes away from her creative time?

How can WCC move among the Zones? WCC has strong Social Publishing through

workmancreativeco.com, with content, products, reviews, and ecommerce options. What do

they need to do next?

What strategies should WCC utilize to develop a social community filled with brides sharing

stories, offering advice and recommending WCC to their own community?

Social commerce is the ultimate goal of this business; growing the business so that it can sustain

Andi and her husband, allowing them to move into this work on a dedicated basis, rather than

part time on nights and weekends. How would you advise WCC in the development of their

social media strategy to achieve this long term objective?

The challenge for WCC: how to keep the content on these sites fresh, interactive and focused on

building followers, while also encouraging social interaction from other creatives, current brides

and the dreamers, those hoping to plan their perfect day soon. What advice can you offer? What

platforms or apps would you recommend to manage this part of the business?

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Authentic and Fake Consumers? Accepting the use of Native Advertisements

in Social Media

Sarah Fischbach

California Lutheran University

Jennifer Zarzosa

Henderson State University

Case

(InFeed) Twitter Post:

Hello. My name is Robert Hunt. I am a recovering addict and have

been sober for more than 9 years. I live in Los Angeles, California.

My troubles with addiction have led me to become a coach,

mentor, and friend who enjoys sharing sobriety success stories

from around the around. You can follow me on my blog at

XLDrugRehabBlog.com as I share stories to help you recover too.

You can follow me on Twitter @RecoveryRobert

(https://twitter.com/RecoveryRobert)

Robert is not a recovery addict, he does not live in Los Angeles, California and he does not go by

Robert Hunt. Marketing organizations are exploring the use of paying consumers to review

products and to be advocates for the brands. One of these strategies is the development of false

profiles online through Facebook and Twitter in order to build relationships with a customer and

feed information to this specific target market group. Similar to catphishing, the phenomenon of

Internet predators that fabricate online identities and entire social circles to trick people into

emotional (romantic) relationships, this same approach can be found successful for businesses.

Just like the rehabilitation companies using phony online profiles displaying a recovering drug

addict. Catphishing is not a new scam, just a new label on a new platform for duping customers

54

https://twitter.com/RecoveryRobert


SAGE Publishing, 2018and it is important to develop awareness to reduce the vulnerability of consumers.

Social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube and Instagram are

a few companies that come top of mind for both consumers and business professionals. The

main purpose of social media is to create a new platform for online social relationships among

friends and family. For example, Facebook enables you to post pictures for your friends and

family that live across the country or the world, building close relationships over long distances.

Technology makes it easier for us to build these relationships without physical contact. The

uniqueness of social media is the incorporation of user-generated content. Users, i.e. the

individuals, are providing their thoughts, opinions, beliefs, desires and behaviors to people all

over the world. Of course businesses want to be a part of this conversation allowing them to gain

access to the content consumers so readily provide online. For example, businesses understand

the power of friends and family product suggestions. When a friend or family member

suggests/testifies that a product is a great purchase, consumers are more likely to favor this

comment relationship more than if it came from a business promotion such as a television

advertisement. Companies creating catphishing profiles, posing as a friend of the company or

cause has potential powerful influence over the consumer.

The Twitter Post by Robert Hunt is a perfect example of native advertising referred to as

in-feed ads. Native advertising has become one of the most talked about and controversial

marketing topics in advertising. According to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), native

advertising is considered digital media that comes in the form of news, entertainment, featured

articles, or product reviews. The twitter post by Robert Hunt discussing topics related to drug

rehabilitation can be considered a way to engage consumers through featured articles and news

in an informal setting such as social media posts, similar to the in-feed post by Robert Hunt.

The IAB refers to native advertising as a means to bring brand partners together on the digital

platform. In-feed advertisements are included on the social media platform such as Twitter that

looks similar to a post from a friend or family member however is actually a paid advertisements

from an organization (see Figure 1: @RecoveryRobert).

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Figure 1. In-feed Twitter post

The use of native advertisements and the regulation around the development of the digital

content (such as in-feed posts) is not considered illegal, however is it ethical? Accountability for

who is posting content on social media has not been clearly defined within the United States.

Although regulation is not clearly defined, organizations have begun to self regulate their own

consumer comments (including in-feed content). For example, Amazon has “verified purchase

reviews’ requiring that anyone who reviews the product must verify that they have purchased the

product through Amazon.com. Amazon has gone further to build trust with their customers

including posting articles to help consumers spot fake product reviews. This extra step may build

enough assurance for potential consumers by building confidence in their purchases with

Amazon.com. Many organizations are countering the effects of deception in native

advertisements and it is an exciting time to be a part of this discussion.


In small groups of 3–5 students discuss the following questions:

1. Examine in-feed native advertisements. What effects does the use of in-feed ads have on

your willingness to click on the content? Have you seen other tactics used by companies

to get you to open content on an in-feed post?

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SAGE Publishing, 20182. Search online for more examples of in-feed native advertisements using the Sharethrough

website https://www.sharethrough.com/resources/in-feed-ads/ How has your perception

of online advertisements affected your trust in the advertiser?

3. Do you believe it is ethical for companies to use ‘catphishing’ techniques to gain

customers attention?

4. Debate how your perspective of the organization may change after you found out that the

profile is not authentic. Would the use of phony (fake) profiles change your perspective

of the organization? Discuss in small groups

57

https://www.sharethrough.com/resources/in-feed-ads/



The Nebraska Marker Project Launch

Julia Cronin-Gilmore

Randa Zalman

Bellevue University19

Suggested use: zone 1, social community; zone 2, social publishing, four types of media

outreach: earned, shared, owned and paid

Keywords: social media campaign, social media zones, types of media outreach

Learning Objectives

1. Define the four zones of social media. (Level 1 Blooms: Knowledge)

2. Describe earned, shared, owned, and paid media. (Level 2 Blooms: Comprehension)

3. Apply knowledge of social media zones to the case. (Level 3 Blooms: Application)

4. Analyze strategic tactics pursued. (Level 4 Blooms: Analysis)

5. Develop tactics given the information provided in the case. (Level 5 Blooms: Synthesis)

6. Assess the plan’s success and make recommendations for the future. (Level 6 Blooms:

Evaluation)

Case

Like many states, Nebraska has erected permanent informational markers at historically

significant locations. Over time, many of these markers have fallen into disrepair. In preparation

for the state’s 150th anniversary, the Nebraska State Historical Society Foundation created the

Nebraska Marker Project with goals to repair or replace about 100 of the markers, increase

awareness of its activities, and raise about $80,000. A project team was formed, made up of the

Foundation’s Executive Director and volunteers from the local chapter of the Public Relations

Society of America. Together, they created a strategy that utilized each of the four types of

media outreach: Earned, Shared, Owned, and Paid. Earned media is “free,” and gained through

editorial and feature coverage by media outlets. Shared media results from brand-focused

interaction between the marketer and the public through social media platforms. Owned media 19 Acknowledgements: Alan, Garrett, Collin, and Anna Gilmore, Leslie Fattig, Jeff Barnes, and Jim Svoboda

58


SAGE Publishing, 2018refers to communication channels that are totally within control of the marketer, such as

websites. Paid media consists of messages that are purchased. Tactics for each channel follow:

Earned tactics: Media outreach

Communication goals: Awareness, increase web traffic

Prioritized analytics: Number and quality of interviews, advertising, and PR

equivalencies

A news release announcing the project was distributed statewide to media outlets. To

help the Foundation prepare for media inquiries, a media training session was held where

stakeholders were briefed on media expectations, interview techniques, and gained experience

through a mock interview by an actual reporter. This experience was crucial since the press

release generated more than 20 interview requests. The story was picked up by the Associated

Press, the Washington Times, and many local television outlets. Particularly “high-impact

coverage,” such as that from the Times, was also shared over Facebook, along with a “thank

you” and an invitation to donate. In the end, the announcement release generated about $2

million in earned media value.

Shared tactics: Social media

Communication goals: Awareness, drive web traffic, donations

Prioritized analytics: Number of posts, number of shares, engagement actions

At the project’s start, the Foundation’s Facebook page had approximately 100 likes comprised of

mostly men at 65%. In the 65+ age category, it was 55%. To ensure success, the audience had to

be expanded. A project team identified a diverse group of Nebraska thought-leaders who met

several criteria: well-versed in aspects of Nebraska history, large community or social media

following, and a camera-ready presence. These individuals were filmed making a fundraising

appeal near markers targeted for repair. Through a mix of provided talking points and

spontaneous ad libs, each of these three-minute videos provided both an informational and a

human connection to the roadside landmarks. The influencers featured in each video were also

“tagged” in the post to help spread awareness among their circles of influence and beyond. The

tagging was an organic reach resulting in not having to pay for promoting the videos. In addition

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SAGE Publishing, 2018to the influencer videos, the team also created a Facebook fundraiser page, released in 2016. It

allowed users to create a page to solicit donations, generate engagement, and provide a trackable

link that could be shared in other channels.

Owned tactics: Videos, webinars, newsletters, direct mail

Communication goals: Awareness, identify new audiences, donations

Prioritized analytics: Number of new audiences, library of content, audience reach

The team created a variety of owned elements for the Project. Even though some were

non-digital, all were formatted with Facebook sharing in mind. This allowed for “cross-

pollination” between traditional and digital channels. Two of the most successful elements were

a Historical Society newsletter article announcing the project, and a direct mail appeal to

attendees of the state’s annual cancer fundraiser, the Cattlemen’s Ball. In addition to its

placement in the organization’s newsletter, the announcement article was also attached to social

media posts along with a call to donate via the Facebook fundraiser page. For the Cattlemen’s

Ball, the team sponsored a booth at the event and followed with a direct mail appeal to attendees

with information on the Marker Project and a call to donate. This single letter generated about

$7,000 for the campaign.

Paid tactics: Facebook paid placement

Communication goals: Awareness, identify new audiences

Prioritized analytics: Reach, views, engagement actions

The Marker Project utilized a variety of paid media channels. The launch announcement

was broadcast over Facebook Live and promoted to history enthusiasts across the state. An

unexpected challenge experienced with Facebook paid advertising involved the platform not

allowing promoted posts with images made up of more than 20% text. Unfortunately, the

historical markers being promoted featured all text. Often, ads were rejected because of a marker

photo, so two workarounds were devised. The first involved featuring a video instead of a photo.

Facebook does not scan video for text. The second involved finding angles for marker photos

that minimized or obscured the text.

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SAGE Publishing, 2018Through the team’s efforts in Earned, Shared, Owned and Paid media, within four

months, enough funds were raised to start repairing markers. A check-presentation ceremony for

the repair was shared on social media to acknowledge the efforts of donors, reinforce the goals of

the project, and encourage further support to continue the work. Metrics also tell the story of the

launch’s success. Facebook followers increased from 103 to more than 1,500. These additional

followers provide exponential impact as they can be remarketed to, and they gain exposure as

they share content. The campaign raised more than $37,000, close to half of the established goal.

It received donations from 19 states and two foreign countries, and from other state and county

historical societies, a first for the organization. The campaign also generated more than 20,000

video views, received more than $4 million in earned media value, created more than seven

million impressions, tripled web traffic compared to same time frame the year prior, and

diversified the organization’s Facebook population: June 2016: 65% male, 35% female; 55%

65+, 20% 55-64; followers were concentrated in two cities. By October 2016: 53% male, 46%

female; 13% 55–64, 11% 65+, 8% 45–54, 7% 35–44, 5% 25–34; new followers were gained

from across the state and country, and from some foreign countries, as well.

Teaching Note

Case Synopsis

Like many states, Nebraska has erected permanent informational markers at historically

significant locations. Over time, many of these markers have fallen into disrepair. In preparation

for the state’s 150th anniversary, the Nebraska State Historical Society Foundation created the

Nebraska Marker Project with goals to repair or replace about 100 of the markers, increase

awareness of its activities, and raise about $80,000. A strategy that utilized each of the four types

of media outreach: Earned, Shared, Owned, and Paid was used in 2016, and the campaign raised

more than $37,000, close to half of the established goal. It generated more than 20,000 video

views, received more than $4 million in earned media value, created more than seven million

impressions, tripled web traffic compared to same time frame the year prior, and diversified the

organization’s Facebook population.

61



Target Audience and Prerequisites

This case can be used in a social media, public relations, advertising, or brand class. It is written

for a higher-level undergraduate or graduate course. On a scale of easy, moderate, and

challenging, the case study should be considered moderate.

In order for the students to master the case, the specific prerequisites are introductory discussions

on the four zones of social media marketing, and the topics of earned, shared, owned, and paid

media. A brief description is in the case; however, providing more detail on each would allow

students an opportunity to define before reading the case.

Learning Objectives

1. Define the four zones of social media. (Level 1 Blooms: Knowledge)

2. Describe earned, shared, owned, and paid media. (Level 2 Blooms: Comprehension)

3. Apply knowledge of social media zones to the case. (Level 3 Blooms: Application)

4. Analyze strategic tactics pursued. (Level 4 Blooms: Analysis)

5. Develop tactics given the information provided in the case. (Level 5 Blooms: Synthesis)

6. Assess the plan’s success and make recommendations for the future. (Level 6 Blooms:

Evaluation)

The learning objectives are important in establishing how students will learn the case material.

Detailed Teaching Plan and Analysis

The instructor will cover zone 1: social community, zone 2: social publishing, and the

four types of media outreach: earned, shared, owned, and paid

Allow one hour from start to finish for the in-class case exercise.

The students should have read the case ahead of time; this will establish a background.

The first ten minutes should be used as a case recap. The instructor or students can

provide a brief overview of the main facts in the case.

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SAGE Publishing, 2018 The next 20 to 30 minutes should be spent with students breaking out into small groups,

discussing the case, and answering the questions posed.

The last 20 to 30 minutes could be allocated for each group to present their answers to

either some or all of the case questions. Provide time to analyze strategic tactics

pursued. (Level 4 Blooms: Analysis), develop tactics given the information provided in

the case (Level 5 Blooms: Synthesis), and assess the plan’s success and make

recommendations for the future (Level 6 Blooms: Evaluation).

Online and Residential Course Supplemental Material The Nebraska State Historical Society website: http://nshsf.org/

The Marker Project Website: http://nshsf.org/the-nebraska-marker-project/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/NebraskaStateHistoricalSocietyFoundation/

News Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t9RCd_Cp97s

Images: The Nebraska State Historical Society logo, the Marker Project logo, and

Burwell marker.

If students are submitting the case as an assignment (either individual or group), the

following guidelines can be provided:

Steps:

1. Cover page

2. Executive summary

3. Problem identification

4. Provide discussion question answers


1. Describe the initial targeted segments. What other segments could have been targeted and

what social media channels could have been used?

2. What social media zones were used? What others could be used going forward, and in

what ways?

3. When is it a good idea to combine traditional (direct mail, etc.) and digital channels to

increase traffic?

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t9RCd_Cp97s

https://www.facebook.com/NebraskaStateHistoricalSocietyFoundation/

http://nshsf.org/the-nebraska-marker-project/

http://nshsf.org/


SAGE Publishing, 20184. When Facebook became a challenge due to the “no more than 20 percent text” rule, was

it legal and ethical to work around it? In addition to Facebook, what other social media

channels could have been pursued, and by what means?

5. What specific tactics would you propose to raise additional funds?

Sample Discussion Question Answers

1. Describe the initial foundation’s population. What other segments could have been

targeted, and what social media channels could have been used?

The initial population was mostly men at 65%, which means women would have

comprised roughly 35%. In the 65+ age category, it was 55% male and 45% female. The

obvious segment to target would be women, and using markers that were significant in

history involving women would be just one tactic to pursue. Overall, involving women

and showing them that they as a gender are part of history would be valuable to them.

Organizations directed toward women, and social media sites primarily focused on

women, would be a good start.

2. What social media zones were used? What others could be used going forward and how?

Zone 1 Social Community was used via sharing, socializing, and conversing. It started

with the tactic of earned media. Interviews involved media training sessions where

stakeholders were briefed on media expectations, interview techniques, and gained

experience through a mock interview by an actual reporter. Once the real interviews

occurred, earned media was established.

Zone 2 Social Publishing was established when individuals shared the Facebook story. It

allowed users to create a page to solicit donations, generate engagement, and provide a

trackable link that could be shared in other channels. Facebook followers increased from

103 to more than 1,500. A Historical Society newsletter article announced the project,

and a direct mail appeal was made to attendees of the state’s annual cancer fundraiser, the

Cattlemen’s Ball. In addition to its placement in the organization’s newsletter, the

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SAGE Publishing, 2018announcement article was also attached to social media posts along with a call to donate

via the Facebook Fundraiser page.

3. When is it a good idea to combine traditional (direct mail, etc.) and digital channels to

increase traffic?

Combining the two becomes important when a portion of the target market might not

necessarily be online. In this specific case, it was noted that there was a population in the

65+ category, and often that segment is not online at all, or as much as a younger

demographic. Knowing the audience is important in marketing, and combining direct

mail (offline) with social media (online) allows for a greater penetration in the market.

4. When Facebook became a challenge due to the “no more than 20 percent text” rule, was

it legal and ethical to work around it? In addition to Facebook, what other social media

channels could have been pursued and how?

Answers can vary. Using some of the latest technology would be a good tactic. At the

time of this writing, Snapchat, Pinterest, and others would be useful. YouTube could be

used to make a mini human interest story on a few of the historical markers and how they

are still tied to people alive today.

5. What specific tactics would you propose in raising additional funds?

With this section, students can answer in a variety of ways, allowing them to think about

the organization and who it can possibly target next. Continuing the campaign

momentum would be important. New and inventive tactics to reach additional target

segments would help spread awareness and raise additional capital.

Images

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Combining Qualitative Marketing Research with Advanced Social Media

Intelligence for Positioning

Rania A. Pilidou (Ph.D.)

Business Consultant, Greece

Suggested Use (Zone or textual topic): Leveraging social media data for market research

Case

Social media are increasingly used to inform decision makers both for insights and forecasts. An

increasing number of marketers employ listening platforms that collect comments posted across social

media of interest to their company in order to measure the outcome of their own social media strategy, as

well as to utilize insights from social media in their marketing research process.

This case study illustrates how typical marketing research methods were combined with advanced social

media intelligence in the case of deploying the brand strategy of a popular singer in Greece. The main

research objective was to evaluate the extent to which the singer’s intended positioning (how she believes

people perceive her) matched the realized positioning (how do people actually perceive her), in order to

be able to structure a brand strategy that could support her future ventures.

As a first step, in order to delineate intended positioning of the performer a series of in-depth

personal interviews (qualitative marketing research) were conducted, with the singer herself as

well as her manager and two other close associates of hers. The main outcome of the personal

interviews was the self concept of the singer (intended positioning: how she believes people

perceive her) summarized in the following four axes and related descriptors:

1st Axis – ORIGINALITY:

Non meretricious

Honest

Non-compromising

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SAGE Publishing, 2018 Daring

Alternative

Authentic

2nd Axis – AFFABILITY:

Well-intentioned

Giving

Kind

“One of us”

3rd Axis – DEVOTION:

Disciplined

Professional

Hard-working

Persistent

Organized

4th Axis – FLEXIBILITY:

Receptive

Open-minded

Pliable

Adaptable

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SAGE Publishing, 2018 Transformable

Having delineated the intended positioning of the singer, the next step was to evaluate the realized

positioning (how do people actually perceive her). The typical approach would be to proceed with

collecting primary data through focus groups (qualitative research) and/ or a survey (quantitative

research), but given the ample amount of information in the on line world, social media insights could not

be omitted before proceeding.

For analyzing the online image of the of the singer (realized positioning: online) a leading on line

listening platform (Qualia, http://qualia.ai/) that provides business intelligence through

monitoring and recording of online content was used. Qualia conducted a retrospective search in

the period 01 November 2015 - 01 November 2016 in on-line sources, i.e. web news, blogs and

social media (twitter, instagram, youtube, fora) and collected the body of texts that contained a

reference to the singer. In parallel, the content of the official facebook page of the singer, as well

as her fan club facebook page (that is also administered by the singer) for the period 01

September 2016 - 15 November 2016, was also collected. A considerable online buzz for the

singer was detected, since the aggregate number of identified mentions for analysis (after

removing all the “noise” from the data) summed to:

3.279 articles in web news

440 blog posts

29.993 posts in social media (Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, fora)

2.628 posts and comments on Facebook (official page and fan page)

First, the material was manually processed by a team of analysts at Qualia in order to identify

categories of themes and emotions. Overall comments were coded for opinion, such as each

comment was identified as positive, negative, or neutral (Figure 1 & Figure 2). The online image

of the singer was found to be largely positive, since negative mentions were very limited in all

three types of sources.

FIGURE 1

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http://qualia.ai/


SAGE Publishing, 2018Opinion Analysis

Further, the data collected from the two Facebook pages were processed with the sentiment

analysis software of Qualia. Sentiment analysis is intended to identify words that are considered

as mood indicators, i.e. words that describe feelings and emotional states, words including

intimacy, loud expressive words and words that refer to good and bad. The categorization of the

words is done through rules and analysis of language and ends on the following basic emotion

categories:

1. Pleasure (love, excitement, satisfaction, fun, liking, sympathy)

2. Displeasure (disappointment, disapproval, disgust, resentment)

3. Anxiety (fear, agitation, anxiety, pessimism)

4. Anger (frustration, anger)

5. Calmness (composure, calmness, relief)

6. Anticipation (anticipation, expectation, optimism)

7. Surprise (surprise, query)

The outcome of the sentiment analysis is presented in Figure 2. Overall the emotions that users

expressed on both pages through the comments and publications were positive with the majority

of users expressing their love towards the singer.

FIGURE 2

Sentiment Analysis

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The social media data analysis showed that the realized positioning of the singer as expressed by

people’s comments in the online environment is compiled by attributes that only partly match the

intended positioning (self concept) of the singer. People that had expressed an opinion in the online

environment perceived the singer mainly as subversive, provocative, hot-blooded, unique (“one of a

kind”), intense and daring

In addition to the aforementioned analyses, a number of algorithms processed the data

automatically in order to produce additional metadata (i.e. new data from the primary data collected) that

aid comprehension of different aspects of the information gathered. In particular, all the posts were

processed in order to identify some issues/themes that had created high online buzz (i.e. many shares in a

limited time frame). The total time each issue/theme remained active online with relatively high intensity,

as well as the maximum speed of this period were measured. An indicative number of issues analyzed,

along with their evaluation with respect to the singer’s positioning are presented in Figure 3.

FIGURE 3

Issue #1

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Issue 1: Commercial on the opening of the series concerts

Total Number of Mentions: 187

Duration: 2 days

Maximum Speed (mentions per 4 hours): 6

Evaluation: The commercial is just an announcement that is not related to any attributes of the

singer’s positioning. It fails to create a buzz, the issue extinguishes within a day

Issue #2

Issue 2: Incident on stage at the opening of the series of winter concerts

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SAGE Publishing, 2018Total Number of Mentions: 198

Duration: 13 days


Evaluation: The incident was emphasizing the non-compromising and daring intended

positioning attributes of the singer

Issue #3

Issue 3: Dressing up on stage as a legendary pop singer


Duration: 6 days


Evaluation: The issue emphasized the non-compromising, daring and transformable intended


Issue #4

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Issue 4: Newspaper Interview


Duration: 5 days


Evaluation: The issue emphasized the authentic intended positioning attributes, combined with

the hot-blooded attribute of the realized positioning of the singer

Issue #5

Issue 5: Photo she uploaded on Instagram


Duration: 4 days


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SAGE Publishing, 2018Evaluation: The issue emphasized the non meretricious intended positioning attribute

combined with the provoking and subversive attributes of the realized positioning of the singer

Issue #6

Issue 6: Summer Open Concert


Duration: 5 days


Evaluation: The issue emphasized the intense attribute of the realized positioning of the singer

Issue #7

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SAGE Publishing, 2018Issue 7: Incidence on Stage


Duration: 7 days


Evaluation: The issue emphasized the non meretricious, ‘one of us’ and honest intended


The outcome of the above analyses were the main input for the development of a well informed focus

groups discussion guide, that is based on both the singers self concept (derived by the in-depth personal

interviews) as well as on how people actually talk online about the singer (derived by the advanced social

media intelligence).

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A. Teaching Notes Accompanying Case Studies in the Case ... · Web viewAt the project’s start,...

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