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Critical Success Factors for Creating and Implementing Effective Social Media Marketing Campaigns 1

I. INTRODUCTION

In today’s ever-changing media landscape, new information-based platforms such as Web

2.0 have multiplied Internet content at an exponential rate, and are now available to almost

anyone with Internet access.

Traditional marketing has relied on a top-down, one-way relay of information to entice

consumers. Marketers considered consumers passive receivers of advertising, guided through the

standard AIDA model (Attention, Interest, Desire, and Action) to finally make a purchase. There

was little, if any interaction between the company’s marketers and consumers, who relied mostly

on email and 1-800 numbers to voice opinions or concerns.

The standard marketing model is no longer the only or the best method for companies to

target and market to consumers in the information age. Based on Web 2.0 technology, Social

Media Marketing has evolved into a vital avenue for promoting companies, products, events, and

causes. Since Social Media is a new and shifting platform, there are still no clearly defined

conventions on its use, nor clearly define methods to evaluate its performance by marketing

professionals.

So, what exactly is Social Media? Although there is no single definition, several sources

agree upon central characteristics. Jain (2010) defined Social Media as “the creation and

exchange of User Generated Content.” Mangold & Faulds (2009) wrote that Social Media is

Electronic copy available at: http://ssrn.com/abstract=1734586


Critical Success Factors for Creating and Implementing Effective Social Media Marketing Campaigns 2

about “Online information that are created, initiated, circulated, and used by consumers intent on

educating each other.” Barkan (2009) noted that Social Media is “a collection of internet based

applications that enable peer to peer communication and sharing of information.” Campbell

(2009) referred to Social Media as “a type of website, application or communications vehicle

where people connect with one another; discuss and interact; share content and ideas; and build

relationships.”

Social Media (SM) can be called by names such as: Social Networking, Social

Technologies, Peer to Peer Communications, Web 2.0 Media, among others. For the purposes of

this thesis, I define Social Media as an Internet-based platform which enables its users to

generate, share, and get feedback for content created in an open, autonomous, unconstrained

manner, and which facilitates social interactions among individuals.

With this operating definition, it is pertinent to review the main kinds of SM platforms

and their main characteristics. The various kinds of Social Media serve different purposes but are

all vehicles for the creation and dissemination of user-generated content. Some examples are:

Social Networking Sites like Facebook and Myspace allow users to develop an online profile and

build a social network of friends with which to share personal information such as photos,

videos, updates, messages, games, and activities.

Electronic copy available at: http://ssrn.com/abstract=1734586


Critical Success Factors for Creating and Implementing Effective Social Media Marketing Campaigns 3

Business Networking Sites like LinkedIn enable users to develop a work-oriented social network,

post resumés, get recommendations, exchange knowledge, and browse jobs.

Video Sharing Sites like YouTube allow users to create, distribute, and share short videos with

visitors, who can give feedback and share it with others.

Music Sharing Sites like Kazaa and Napster allow users to share music and audio-based files.

Often free, they have run into trouble with the law for copyright infringement.

Photo Sharing Sites such as Picasa and Flickr enable users to post and share photos with others.

They also allow for the commercialization and printing of user photographs.

Creative Sharing Sites like Creative Commons allow for the dissemination of creative content

available for public use with limited copyright information.

Collaborative Sharing Sites like Wikihow facilitate the creation and editing of topic specific

linked content by its users.

Social News Sites like Digg and Reddit allow users to share, vote, and comment on news and

other content posted by their network of friends.


Critical Success Factors for Creating and Implementing Effective Social Media Marketing Campaigns 4

Social Bookmarking Sites like Delicious allow users to tag, store, organize, search, and share

links on specific topics in a personal bookmarks page.

Group Buying Sites like Groupon offer users the ability to collectively bid on special promotions

and services offered by local companies for a specific time period.

Location-Based Networks like Foursquare permit users to gain titles and prizes by checking-in

and sharing their location and activity to their network of friends through mobile devices.

Blogs, such as Blogger, are sites where users (bloggers) create and post entries in reverse-

chronological order and allow visitors to comment and share content.

Micro-blogging Sites like Twitter function like blogs, allowing users to create and share short

content such as a statement, a picture or a link in a standard blog format.

Virtual Worlds like Second Life are computer-generated communities where users create a virtual

“avatar” that lives, interacts, creates, and experiences a virtual life with other avatars.

Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Games like World of Warcraft are computer-

generated worlds where users become “characters” that interact by playing for a common goal.
Critical Success Factors for Creating and Implementing Effective Social Media Marketing Campaigns 5

Even though Social Media is a recent evolution of Internet-based platforms, its origins

date back decades. Chapman (2010) wrote that the earliest precursor of Social Media were

Usenets, which let users post articles to decentralized newsgroups servers. Bulletin Board

Systems (BBS) were developed in the 1970’s, hosted in personal computers, and allowed users to

interact and share information. Companies like CompuServe and Prodigy pioneered the

introduction of the Internet for the general population in the 1980’s, albeit at prohibitive hourly

rates. They were sidelined by America Online, the first modern Internet Service Provider (ISP)

that charged monthly fees. Six Degrees, the first Social Networking Site (SNS), was launched in

1997 and allowed users to create an online profile and establish a network of social connections.

Launched in 1999, Live Journal became the first SNS that allowed users to follow one another

through blogs. Founded in 2003, Myspace was the first major SNS that allowed users to fully

customize their profiles and enabled user updates. Facebook was launched in 2004 as a SNS for

Harvard students, but gradually expanded to allow general access. Facebook has become the

world’s most popular SNS as of 2010, with over 500 million users. Flickr, launched in 2004, has

become the most popular photo-sharing SNS, with over 5 billion images uploaded as of 2010.

Founded in 2006, Twitter was a floundering SNS, but its fortunes turned around when it was

promoted at the 2007 South by Southwest conference, and the 140 character “tweet” became

synonymous with Social Media.


Critical Success Factors for Creating and Implementing Effective Social Media Marketing Campaigns 6

II. RESEARCH STATEMENT

This paper examines the impact of Social Media in marketing, and the emergent

specialization of Social Media Marketing. Considering Social Media’s emergence in global

communications, it is essential to examine the importance of Social Media Marketing (SMM) in

the success of organizations and businesses. The purpose of this thesis paper is to enumerate and

describe the Critical Success Factors for Creating and Implementing Effective Social Media

Marketing Campaigns.

I will examine the available literature, be it scholarly, professional, blogs, or essays and

select pertinent research concepts. I will then give an overview of the research methodology

criteria, list key search terms, and identify the critical success factors for Social Media

Marketing. Afterwards, I will describe in detail each of these factors and offer suggestions for

their implementation by marketing professionals. The analysis would not be complete without

noting the current barriers for the implementation of SMM. Therefore, I will offer possible

solutions to reduce the drawbacks of Social Media Marketing. One of the main challenges when

writing this thesis was the difficulty obtaining relevant material, given the limited amount of

scholarly research available on SMM. Therefore, out of necessity, I included a significant

amount of non-scholarly, yet professional research for the elaboration of this thesis paper.

Investigating the success factors of effective Social Media Marketing is relevant in a

society where, according to the study Social Media & Mobile Internet Use Among Teens and
Critical Success Factors for Creating and Implementing Effective Social Media Marketing Campaigns 7

Young Adults by Pew Research Center (Lenhart, 2010), 73% of online American teenagers, and

47% of online American young adults, use a social networking site. The numbers point to an

upward trend, as more individuals around the world gain access to the Internet and create SNS

profiles. It would be unwise for marketers to ignore or avoid using SMM in an increasingly

connected world, where one “tweet” by an annoyed customer can lead to potential economic

losses for a business.


Critical Success Factors for Creating and Implementing Effective Social Media Marketing Campaigns 8

III. LITERATURE REVIEW

According to Mangold & Faulds (2009), Social Media lets users exchange information

with each other and with an organization, and as such, it is best considered a word-of-mouth

communication. Consumers are turning away from traditional marketing communications, and

instead are using their SM connections, turning to one another for buying advice, and reducing

their reliance on advertising. Individuals use Social Media to let others know about things with

which they connect emotionally, therefore it is imperative for marketers to create a strong

emotional connection between a brand and its users.

Thackeray, et al. (2008) argued that Social Media has allowed customers to become co-

creators of relevant content together with an agency or a company, and list considerations for

using “Web 2.0 Social Media” in marketing communications. The most relevant are: 1. Whether

the needs of the population can be met with the use of SM. 2. Identifying the target population’s

habits and behaviors. 3. Determining whether the population in question has access to, or uses

Social Media. 4. The population’s knowledge and ability to use Social Media. 5. Describing the

population’s attitudes to Social Media.

Provost, et al. (2009) introduced the idea of “Homophily”, whereby individuals relate to

others who share common attributes. They argue that it is possible to build “brand affinity”, the

identification of an individual with a particular brand, not only with individuals, but throughout

their social network. Thus, an effective “brand actor” has a multiplying effect and can expand the
Critical Success Factors for Creating and Implementing Effective Social Media Marketing Campaigns 9

reach of a SMM campaign. In a similar line, Constantinides, et al. (2008) mentioned the

importance of identifying and establishing communications with the “New Influencers”: well

known blogs or user forums which command a significant amount of attention, and ask them to

review, use, comment, and recommend a product.

Marcus (2010) argued that companies need to be open, creative, and flexible to stay

competitive in the Social Media landscape. Marcus also lists and analyzes the five most

prominent brands in Social Media: Starbucks has a presence in Facebook, Twitter, YouTube,

Foursquare, mobile applications, its own SNS and over 1 million Twitter followers. The

Starbucks Card Facebook application allows customers to manage their Starbucks account and

credit “gifts” to another user. Coca-Cola has 15 million “likes” in its Facebook page, and

“tweets” in different languages. Coca-Cola has a YouTube channel in which it posts viral video

campaigns, and the Coca-Cola “Smile-izer” lets visitors record their laughter and send it to their

friends. For each recorded smile, Coca-Cola donates $1 to the National Park Foundation. These

efforts are consistent with Coca-Cola’s image as a “feel-good” brand, and the donations serve to

increase user’s goodwill towards the brand. Oreo’s Facebook page allows visitors to find Oreo

recipes, videos, photos, and games. Oreo also has “Oreo Moments”, a YouTube channel in which

they advertise and interview their “Double Stuff Racing League” of famous athletes. Skittles’

website invites users to “experience the rainbow” with interactive features. Skittles has 12

million “likes” on Facebook, and “Share Skittles”, the brand’s YouTube channel, allows fans to

post their videos eating Skittles. The brand also launched “Mob the Rainbow”, a campaign that

brings fans together to create something big, like a Valentine’s Day greetings to an unloved
Critical Success Factors for Creating and Implementing Effective Social Media Marketing Campaigns 10

parking officer. Red Bull has over 10 million “likes” in its interactive Facebook page. Redbull’s

“Procrastination Station” offers engaging and interactive games for procrastinators, its core

audience, and created the “Red Bull X-Fighters”, and the “Red Bull BMP” applications for

mobile devices.

Smart Brief’s State of Social Media for Business 2010 survey report asked questions

about Social Media usage to 6,500 business executives. According to the report, 66.5% of the

executives surveyed stated that their company has adopted Social Media in the past 18 months.

According to the report, the top five Social Media platforms for businesses are Facebook,

Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube, and blogs. The primary purpose for Social Media in business is

building a company’s brand image and a community of users. Indicative of many businesses’

evolving understanding of SM, 25% of the survey respondents indicate that their SM activity has

been integrated into their business model, and only 15% of companies measure the return on

investment of their SMM. Only 50% of respondents mentioned that their companies are

responding to customers’ concerns or requests through Social Media. Given the increasing

relevance of SMM in a company’s success, it is troubling to discover that only 28.5% of

businesses have a SM policy, or that over 31% of the executives in question say that their

company’s inaction on SMM is due to lack of support from senior management.

The 2010 Social Media Marketing Industry Report (Stelzner, 2010) surveyed 1898

marketers about their use of SMM. According to the survey findings, the top three questions

marketers want answered are: How to measure Social Media’s return on investment, the best
Critical Success Factors for Creating and Implementing Effective Social Media Marketing Campaigns 11

practices of Social Media, and how to mange time with Social Media. 65% of marketers have

used SMM for less than one year. 56% of marketers use Social Media six hours or more per

week, and one third use Social Media over eleven hours per week. Marketers indicated that the

main advantages of SM are the ability to generate exposure, to increase traffic to the company’s

SM profile page, and to build new business partnerships. The top tools identified in SMM are

Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, and blogs. Over 81% of marketers plan to increase the use of blogs.

Most Social Media Marketing is handled in-house, and only 14% of marketers indicate their

company outsources SMM.


Critical Success Factors for Creating and Implementing Effective Social Media Marketing Campaigns 12

IV. METHODOLOGY

The problem statement “Critical Success Factors for Creating and Implementing

Effective Social Media Marketing Campaigns” remains largely unanswered. Available

scholarly research yields few results on enumerating the specific factors involving success in

SMM. This is likely due to the limited amount of research into Social Media as a whole. Instead,

I found patterns and keywords in the available literature, including scholarly research, white

papers, trade documents, blogs, and articles.

Most of the sources in this paper were obtained in electronic format. To be considered

relevant to this paper, the sources had to address both marketing and Social Media, and explain

how a particular facet of Social Media worked for a marketing campaign. I included key words

such as “success”, “Social Media”, “social networking”, “Web 2.0”, “Social Media Marketing”,

“online marketing”, and “social marketing” in my queries through Google Scholar. The sources

also had to be recent to be considered relevant, given that SM is a recent innovation. Therefore, I

only considered relevant those sources that were written after the year 2007. The majority of the

sources gathered are dated 2009 or 2010.

Upon examining the literature for success factors in SMM, certain concepts and

recommendations appeared repeatedly, which I will list and explain as critical success factors:

1. Having a Social Media Marketing strategy. 2. Integrating the Social Media Marketing strategy

into the broader marketing strategy. 3. Social Media optimization. 4. Creating a community. 5.
Critical Success Factors for Creating and Implementing Effective Social Media Marketing Campaigns 13

Encouraging user content creation and feedback. 6. Being open and honest. 7. Keeping content

fresh and relevant. 8. Making the user feel special. 9. Identifying with a cause. 10. Measuring

Social Media Marketing performance.


Critical Success Factors for Creating and Implementing Effective Social Media Marketing Campaigns 14

V. CRITICAL SUCCESS FACTORS

1. Having a Social Media Marketing Strategy

Having a Social Media Marketing strategy is crucial in determining an organization’s

marketing success. Social Media work like most areas of human endeavor, by bringing people

with similar interests and characteristics together. A sound SMM strategy creates desire for a

brand in an individual who spreads the brand’s message to his social network, allowing

marketers an opportunity to communicate with an expanded network of potential customers

(Provost, et al., 2009).

The process of creating a SMM strategy starts with identifying the organization’s brand

attributes. The strategy must consider the overall mission of the organization and its positioning

statement. If a brand’s target audience do not perceive that the company’s quality and brand

attributes are not being communicated correctly, or are false, they potentially have the power to

make the Social Media Marketing strategy or the company itself, a social networking disaster.

The development of a Social Media Marketing strategy is similar to that of a traditional

marketing strategy, except for the addition of User Generated Content (Barkan, 2009). First,

marketers need to understand the characteristics of their social network’s members. A Social

Media Marketing strategy is useless if the users are unable to understand or use it effectively.

Therefore, choosing the appropriate platform, be it blogs, public or private social networks, viral

videos, or email, becomes critical to the SMM strategy’s success. After the appropriate platform
Critical Success Factors for Creating and Implementing Effective Social Media Marketing Campaigns 15

is chosen, marketers need to list the campaign’s tangible and intangible objectives, and

understand how to measure progress towards those goals. Fortunately, one of the benefits of

SMM is that it allows the target audience to provide real-time feedback to marketers on their

performance. Marketers should develop their message in a manner that suits the platform, and

make it easy for users to share it with others. A coherent SMM strategy allows a social network

to reach a critical mass of users who share something in common (i.e. the affinity to a brand),

and share content in an open manner which facilitates generating brand advocates.

The attitudes of individuals towards a brand are progressively being influenced by

blogs, user reviews, comments on social networking sites, and online forums. Marketers must be

aware of the different venues that potential customers use to gather information about a brand,

and seek to get involved in them (Constantinides, et al., 2008). It becomes paramount for

organizations to devote human, monetary, and technological resources for the creation of an

effective SMM strategy. Organizations should have policies in place that detail the key roles and

responsibilities of staff involved in its SMM strategy. Increasingly, companies are creating

executive positions that focus solely on SMM. The new Social Media executives must be able to

anticipate and respond to Social Media user’s communications, be flexible and adjust the

message accordingly.

Marketers need to understand what their target audience and its influencers think and

what they want to communicate (Pick, 2010). They need to find out who is communicating, what

they are saying, and what the competition is doing. Inevitably, a significant amount of useless
Critical Success Factors for Creating and Implementing Effective Social Media Marketing Campaigns 16

data will be collected by using Social Media monitoring tools, but marketers need to find the

Social Media users who consistently mention the brand, its products, its competitors, or key

terms, and follow what they say. Afterwards, marketers can approach and promote these

influencers, helping them become supporters of the organization. Once influencers have become

advocates, marketers should communicate with them in an open, honest and, free-flowing

manner, taking care not to peddle the brand or its products.

2. Integrating the Social Media Strategy With the Overall Marketing Strategy

A Social Media Marketing strategy should be integrated into the overall marketing

strategy. If the potential users of Social Media Marketing are not being considered in the overall

marketing strategy, the message will become muddled and asynchronous. Thus, the creation of a

unified message is critical for marketing success in the Web 2.0 age.

According to Kessler (2010), the promotion of a brand through Social Media needs to

be integrated with offline promotions. For example, print advertisement or business cards can

include the brand’s Facebook page, its Twitter account, and a Quick Reply Code. Television ads

can lead users to the brand’s Social Media community, and users can download applications that

let them participate in branded games and win branded merchandise.

Regus, a global office solutions company, recently executed a New York-focused

integrated marketing campaign which included a Twitter feed, a Facebook page, special events,

sweepstakes and online videos aimed at generating new leads. The integrated campaign
Critical Success Factors for Creating and Implementing Effective Social Media Marketing Campaigns 17

increased leads by 30%, and increased the conversion rate by 33% from the prior year (Swallow,

2010).

Perhaps no other prominent marketing strategy has effectively integrated Social Media

as the Barack Obama presidential campaign. It utilized traditional media such as television, print

ads, and radio. It also engaged sympathizers in canvassing, volunteering, and fundraising efforts.

The Obama campaign’s website enabled users to blog, donate money, share content, and follow

Obama’s activities. A mobile application allowed users to network and get updates through RSS

feeds. Viral videos like the popular “Obama Girl” saturated media and achieved recognition of

the Obama brand. The campaign directors realized early on that Social Media had the power to

mobilize young urban voters, so it created profile pages and groups in Facebook, MySpace,

LinkedIn, and Twitter, which became open, grassroots centers for mobilization. This integrated

strategy enabled Obama to effectively campaign in all fifty states. The core Obama brand

attributes of hope and change created a unified message across platforms which allowed Obama

to win the election.

3. Social Media Optimization

Social Media optimization (SMO) refers to the process of adding and monitoring Social

Media tools such as blogs, status updates, widgets, and online communities to a website in order

to generate user activity and improve a brand’s status. According to Constantinides, et al. (2008),

website SMO allows online shoppers to obtain richer, high quality, and more trustworthy

information by accessing other shoppers’ opinions about a product. Online retailers can engage
Critical Success Factors for Creating and Implementing Effective Social Media Marketing Campaigns 18

customers by allowing them to customize their online experience. Estée Lauder’s website offers

the “Virtual Makeup Tool”, which allows women to virtually apply makeup, see the results

online, and share it through Social Media. Threadless, an online user-designed graphic T-shirt

retailer, allows users to submit their designs for purchase and helps promote them through Social

Media.

Sites like Etsy, Forever 21, and Comedy Central receive more traffic from Social Media

than they do from search engine results (Tobin, 2010). Traffic through Social Media varies

depending on how relevant and shareable the content is. A Social Media widget is a sidebar that

adds links to a user’s Social Media profile. Widgets allow users to share content throughout their

social network without having to visit the original website. Additionally, Facebook has a number

of plug-ins and badges to enhance a site’s SMO. The Recommendations plug-in allows sites to

post personalized recommendations to user profiles. The Live Stream plug-in allows users to

share activity and comments in real-time. The Page Badge allows users to share their Facebook

profile information on other pages.

Marketers can use a number of strategies, such as sentiment analysis, predictive

analytics, and location-based marketing to monitor the emotions of user-generated content, find

influencers, and target relevant advertisements to social network users (Kotorov, 2010). Once a

brand obtains Social Media users’ attention, marketers need to offer them a compelling reason to

use the brand’s products, as opposed to the competition’s. Effective pay-per-click (PPC) ads and

SMO tools, should direct users to the specific product’s web-page, and not to the site’s main page
Critical Success Factors for Creating and Implementing Effective Social Media Marketing Campaigns 19

(Peters, 2010). An efficient, functional and Social Media optimized site should allow users to

easily access the information they seek, and make their purchasing experience pleasant.

Some marketers have turned to SMO as the principal method of promoting a brand.

Some of the year 2010s most noteworthy campaigns have optimized and delivered content

through Social Media. Group buying site Groupon created its “Live Off” campaign, where a user

has to spend one year living off Groupons. The user has to constantly update viewers with

tweets, Facebook posts, and blog entries. The campaign winner will receive a one hundred

thousand dollar prize. Old Spice created the “Old Spice Guy” campaign, which targeted both

men and women with the brand’s body washes for men. The campaign was first introduced in

Facebook and YouTube. Besides the standard commercials, the campaign developed short

YouTube videos which responded directly to Social Media users’ queries without peddling the

brand’s products. Automaker Ford broke with tradition and chose Facebook for the exclusive

debut of the 2011 Ford Explorer. The campaign built heavy traffic before the reveal, and included

videos, question-and-answer sessions, and chats with company executives in the Explorer’s

Facebook page (Van Grove, 2010).

Yovano (2010) described strategies to engage customers through Facebook via the site’s

“Like” and “Share” tools. An item posted to a user’s Facebook feed refers traffic to its website.

“liking” a posted item adds user data to the user’s profile, so it becomes an opportunity for

brands to market to users who have an affinity with it. Marketers can then place news and

promotions to a user’s feed. Users who “like” a brand or a product are more likely to share it
Critical Success Factors for Creating and Implementing Effective Social Media Marketing Campaigns 20

with their social network. The “Share” tool allows users to mention something relevant to their

network when “liking” is not necessarily appropriate, such as news, user reviews, and blog posts.

The “Like” tool doesn’t allow the website hosting the tool to get information about the user.

Thus, integrating the “Share” tool closes the information gap by asking the user to connect to the

referred site when choosing to share something. Having access to “Like” and “Share” data

allows marketers to build relationships with users, improve their experience, and potentially

reach their social networks. Marketers should avoid overwhelming the brand’s “likers” with

constant communication and offers, and should instead seek to integrate them into a fun,

informative, and entertaining community.

4. Creating a Community

Creating a community allows users to be more engaged with a brand. An open

community enables honest communications from users to the brand, and amongst users

themselves. To be influential, communications have to talk to users’ emotions and provide a clear

benefit (Mangold & Faulds, 2009). Building a community around a brand requires time. A

campaign may drive traffic to a community, but out of the many who may visit, only a few will

decide to connect; and they will only stay if the content is relevant and easily understood. Certain

kinds of online activities, such as voting on a show or participating on a Social Media-based

contest can help marketers create a sense of ownership and involvement among users.

Users increasingly have more expectations from a brand, and are now seeking to

interact, provoke or befriend them. To achieve a meaningful connection, a brand must be


Critical Success Factors for Creating and Implementing Effective Social Media Marketing Campaigns 21

authentic and know its mission (Briggs, 2010). Social Media Marketing then becomes a way to

build relationships and exchange ideas, rather than a way of promoting a specific product. By

creating a community, brands can obtain information on its users’ experiences, identify problem

areas, gather recommendations, and explore new marketing opportunities. According to

Constantinides, et al. (2008), the use of “social cues” such as language, roles, voice and

interaction, gives users the feeling of human connection and influences their perception of the

community’s utilitarian and hedonic value.

Kinaxis, a supply chain management company implemented an award-winning Social

Media campaign which featured a company-based community to gather supply chain

management specialists. Introduced in 2009, the community has gathered over 3,800 members,

increased web traffic 270%, and increase customer leads by 320%. Creating a community

centered on a common theme allowed Kinaxis to offer a destination for supply chain

management specialists to identify and communicate on industry issues. The community has

identified Kinaxis as a leader in supply chain management solutions, and increased brand

awareness among users (Swallow, 2010).

Interest-specific communities are one of the Internet’s fastest-growing applications

(Webber, 2009). Community sites like IToolbox allows information technology professionals to

share information on technology products, BootsnAll allows budget travelers share tourism-

related information, Health Boards are forums for people to share information on diseases, and

My ShutterSpace allows photography enthusiasts to share their work and communicate with
Critical Success Factors for Creating and Implementing Effective Social Media Marketing Campaigns 22

other photographers. To succeed, marketers need to embrace online communities and create

focused environments where topic-specific discussions take place.

It is pertinent to mention a number of considerations for marketers when creating a user

community (Betancourt, 2010). Users should perceive that there is someone from the

organization who is actively involved and responsive to their queries. Therefore, a community

must have a number of active managers who maintains its users informed and rewards those who

offer thoughtful contributions. A community manager should never appear dictatorial nor dismiss

users’ involvement. A dismissive attitude can make people leave the community and generate a

negative attitude amongst the public at large. Marketers should build communities in a social

network they already participate in, and make it the brand’s primary channel. No community-

building effort will thrive unless it has the support of company executives, who need to empower

and aid employees to immerse themselves and show leadership in the community.

Developers should make it easy for users to access the community’s site and have

techniques in place to identify and remove problematic users (Cooley, 2010). Many communities

are free, but some require entrance fees. A free site may rely on advertising to function, but they

must not appear to be intrusive or persistent, which can potentially damage a user’s experience.

Advertising must be relevant and add value to the user’s experience. Community managers

should be mindful to provide content to users who have asked for it. Sending users unsolicited or

irrelevant content would likely generate negative perceptions within a community. Marketers
Critical Success Factors for Creating and Implementing Effective Social Media Marketing Campaigns 23

must be mindful that users choose to belong to a community, however, this does not give

marketers the right to overwhelm users with unsolicited and intrusive advertising.

5. Encouraging User Content Creation and Feedback

Encouraging user content creation and feedback can lead to brand loyalty among a

community’s users, who are seeking for personalized interactions with brands. Companies are

increasingly engaging their customers in internal processes, where they can act to bring

innovative products to market and reduce development costs (Constantinides, et al., 2008).

In 2009, Mountain Dew created a community named DEWmocracy 2, which rallied the

beverage’s fans to create a new flavor. Mountain Dew selected users to form teams, “Flavor

Nations”, to develop the top three flavors and create their branding and marketing strategies. The

three flavors were introduced to market in April 2010, and the “Flavor Nations” were tasked with

soliciting votes through social networking sites. The winning flavor, “White Out” became a

permanent Mountain Dew flavor. The brand democratized its product development, and was

rewarded by having a loyal community participate and create a new product in record time (Van

Grove, 2010).

Community members expect a free flow of information, and user-generated content can

act as a democratic expression of knowledge. Therefore, user-generated can empower its creators

to become responsible “citizens” in their communities. Companies like Threadless and Etsy act

as hubs for support and innovation that thrive on shared knowledge. They are creative
Critical Success Factors for Creating and Implementing Effective Social Media Marketing Campaigns 24

communities where users design and sell graphic T-shirts (Threadless) and jewelry (Etsy)

directly to consumers.

Individuals tend to trust advice by other users more than advice from marketers.

Community members perceive advice from other users to be less influenced by profit motives

than marketers’ advice. Instead of fighting this trend, marketers should embrace user-generated

reviews and viral videos as a means to increase brand loyalty. Increased traffic on a brand’s

website leads to increased search engine rankings. Honest reviews and advice from product users

gives its potential customers a holistic point of view, which can lead to increased sales.

Marketers should embrace negative reviews as well. An absence of negative reviews or

advertising can seem suspect to potential customers. Negative user-generated content can be a

means for marketers to identify and correct issues with the product or its marketing strategy.

6. Being Open and Honest

Openness and honesty are critical traits marketers must possess when implementing a

SMM campaign. When discovered, a lack of honesty can be very damaging for a brand’s

reputation, such as the damage to British Petroleum’s image and market valuation in the wake of

the Gulf of Mexico oil spill. To receive the public’s trust, marketers need to be transparent when

engaging in SM activities. Marketers, executives, and other brand promoters must disclose their

identities when talking to customers, shareholders, and the public at large.


Critical Success Factors for Creating and Implementing Effective Social Media Marketing Campaigns 25

According to Briggs (2010), brands need to recognize that engaging in communications

through Social Media attracts supporters and detractors. Social Media implicitly acts as a

contract between a brand and its users, which recognizes a group’s affinity and encourages

reciprocal communications and collective ownership of knowledge.

Enabled by Social Media, marketers often have access to very personal information

about their brand’s users. Therefore, marketers need to recognize that individual perceptions and

comfort levels of private information sharing vary. A community using Social Media must then

allow users to control their information and decide what to share with others.

Webber (2009) argued that branding should have a moral purpose, namely to offer value

to customers and act in a transparent and ethical manner. Social Media will demand that brands

be true to their ideals. An unethical brand will jeopardize the support of its consumers, draw the

influencer’s ire, and ultimately affect its sales. A brand perceived to add value to consumers and

act ethically will likely generate goodwill from its customers and positive praise from the public

at large.

7. Keeping Content Fresh and Relevant

Marketers must keep content fresh and relevant for their brands to succeed in a Social

Media environment. Information in Social Media must be easy to understand and share. Crepeau

(2010) described several characteristics that make branded content “share-worthy” for high-value

Social Media users. The most important were that content be new or noteworthy, entertaining,
Critical Success Factors for Creating and Implementing Effective Social Media Marketing Campaigns 26

that it provide valuable advice, and be exclusive information. Social Media users tend to place a

high value on user reviews and recommendations. A lack of fresh content can give customers and

the public at large the impression that the brand does not know or care about its users.

Social Media can change people’s perception of advertising when advertisements

become more personalized and useful for users. Ads are useful when they serve the user’s needs,

and not when they are repetitive. Ads become relevant when they are personalized and sent to

users who will value their content (Bell, 2010). Marketers can deliver social-based advertising by

integrating Social Media features and including user-generated content. Marketers can now look

at users’ Social Media profiles, and send them ads tailored to their interests and activities.

I posit some ideas for marketers to consider to keep branded content fresh. Marketers

should consider using a personal blog, separate from the company’s. Having a professional, yet

more personal blog, allows marketers to interact more easily with a brand’s customers. A

somewhat informal and inviting blog can enable a more genuine and trusting relationship with a

brand’s customers. Many people use their mobile devices as their primary vehicle to connect

with Social Media. Since not all mobile or tablet devices are optimized for Adobe Flash,

marketers would be wise to limit the amount of Flash content and avoid unwieldy designs when

creating a blog.

Marketers should frequently update their brand’s social networking profiles and status,

and establish RSS feeds so followers can subscribe and obtain updated content on their
Critical Success Factors for Creating and Implementing Effective Social Media Marketing Campaigns 27

computers and mobile devices. Updating the profile’s status, not always with positive

information but also with challenges, gives social network users the opportunity to offer

feedback and feel more involved with a brand. Marketers can help a brand create top-of-mind

awareness by responding effectively to user communications.

The brand’s web page needs to be updated frequently. Marketers need to evaluate the

date the content was added and modified. Outdated information can lead to a decreased position

in search rankings, which can affect Social Media users’ involvement with the brand. A good

Search Engine Optimization strategy is to add “keywords”, specific words and phrases related to

the brand’s products and function. An indication that content needs to be updated is if the brand’s

website or blog does not appear in the top-five places on search engine results. Content needs to

be refreshed several times a month, and certainly every time a brand launches a new product or

initiative.

Advertising through Social Media works best when it is related to the website the user

visits. On their study to measure user interaction with different types of advertisements, Evans &

Epstein (2010) found that Advertising works best when it is related to the content of the website

the user visits. The results indicate that an engaging social networking profile with followers

made its viewers likely to recommend it to friends. At the same time, sponsored content leads to

more direct interaction with the brand. If the purpose of the SMM strategy is to encourage

viewers to buy the brand’s products, marketers should enable viewers to give and receive
Critical Success Factors for Creating and Implementing Effective Social Media Marketing Campaigns 28

customized widgets, graphical elements that show information which can be modified by the

user.

8. Making the User Feel Special

Making the user feel special is an effective strategy to obtain and retain customers in

Social Media. First, a brand’s Social Media website components and its social networking

profiles need to be fun, inviting, and easy to understand. People want to be entertained, not sold

to. Marketers can help users customize their Social Media experience by allowing users to tag

and share content, modify their profile, showing a graph of their social network, receive

customized information, and responding quickly to queries. As in the Mountain Dew case, a

good way to make users feel special is creating a friendly or collaborative contest where the

benefits, such as helping introduce a new product to market, or winning prizes, are clearly

expressed.

In 2010, German automaker Volkswagen launched the “Fast Lane” campaign to

promote its GTI hatchback. The campaign featured low-cost viral videos of people experiencing

life in the fast lane. Volkswagen did not push its product, it merely asked people to visit its

Facebook profile. To engage the users further, Volkswagen created the “Fast Lane Contest”,

which asked people around the world to submit their own short videos of life in the fast lane, and

upload it to the brand’s Facebook profile. Users then had to solicit votes through their social

network. The fist prize winner received a new Volkswagen GTI. The brand made its fans feel

special and empowered by asking them to create videos and vote for their favorites. Thus, the
Critical Success Factors for Creating and Implementing Effective Social Media Marketing Campaigns 29

campaign was able to increase brand awareness among the GTI’s target market of young and

active individuals.

According to Van Grove (2010), companies are increasingly offering special content

available only to their Social Media followers. Foursquare, a location-based Social Media

company added value to its “badges”, titles earned by users when they visit a location, by

offering special badges to users who “checked-in” at the Internet Week venue. The special badge

guaranteed its owners priority entrance to Internet Week parties and events. Airlines such as

United and JetBlue use Twitter to communicate and offer discount fares to their followers. This

indicates that being active in Social Media and treating followers and fans as special clients can

increase brand awareness and loyalty. However, marketers should understand that engaging users

through Social Media is not about pushing products, but about forming relationships and open

communications that create loyalty and goodwill among a brand’s customers.

9. Identifying With a Cause

Brands that want to succeed in a Social Media environment must also build goodwill

and a positive image by identifying with a cause. Participating in a cause that benefits society is

not only accepted or encouraged, but demanded by individuals who desire to see brands act in a

socially responsible manner. Brands can create emotional bonds with their customers by

embracing a cause that is important to them, and creating a story around it (Mangold & Faulds,

2009). Following are some examples of brands supporting a cause through Social Media.
Critical Success Factors for Creating and Implementing Effective Social Media Marketing Campaigns 30

MTV, a music and reality television network that targets teenagers and young adults

wanted to raise awareness and approach the uncomfortable topic of sexually transmitted diseases

(STD’s). MTV teamed with Foursquare and created the “Get Yourself Tested” badge, which

encouraged young adults to check-in and get tested at STD clinics (Van Grove, 2010).

WildlifeDirect, a Kenya-based wildlife conservation charity, has a website with blogs

where users can donate money, submit an incident, and receive wildlife alerts. The charity also

trains the local population to become trackers of wildlife and perform conservation work

(Catone, 2010).

Pepsi introduced its ongoing “Refresh Project”, which asks people to come up with

ideas that can change the world. Participant can create a new initiative or vote for existing ones

by logging into Facebook or through their Pepsi account. Participants have introduced a wide

range of ideas, from buying books for the library of a low income school, to creating a small-

town child care center. Every month, Pepsi awards winners grants ranging from $5000 to

$250,000 to fund their ideas. Thus far, visitors have cast over 61 million votes. Pepsi plans to

give out $20 million through the Refresh Project (Wasserman, 2010).

Social Media can help brands be socially responsible by amplifying its message and

informing an often cynical audience that the brand is tending to the greater good of the

community, not just to its bottom-line. Marketers need to be honest if they desire to create an

open community with customers, who can become a brand’s most vocal supporters and advance
Critical Success Factors for Creating and Implementing Effective Social Media Marketing Campaigns 31

its mission (Rowley, 2010). It is important to remember that the main purpose of Social Media is

not to sell, but to engage individuals and form a community.

10. Measuring Social Media Marketing Performance

The final critical factor in determining a SMM strategy’s success is to constantly

measure the strategy’s performance, however, there is no single standard to measure its

effectiveness and its return on investment (ROI).

According to Warren (2009), the first step in measuring SMM performance is to clearly

define the strategy’s goals, be they tangible or intangible. Marketers must know where the brand

stands in relation to the desired goal. The standard ROI formula (X-Y)/Y can be applied to

measure performance, where X is the final value and Y is the starting value. Marketers can use

web-analytics tools to measure and analyze internet data from visitors, such as site usage,

number of visitors, geographical location, and search results. It is important to know where the

brand’s users are coming from, how they got to the site, and what they do while visiting.

Marketers can take advantage of Twitter sentiment analysis tools, which measure the emotional

quality of a “tweet”, and the overall feeling users have towards a brand. After defining the

baseline levels, marketers should look at the data from web-analytics and sentiment analysis

tools and find how changes in the data correlate to sales, retention, visits, or sentiment changes

towards the brand.


Critical Success Factors for Creating and Implementing Effective Social Media Marketing Campaigns 32

Turner (2010) described three existing categories of SM performance measurements:

quantitative metrics are numerical and data-heavy, qualitative metrics have emotional or

intangible components, and ROI metrics. Turner argued that the most relevant metric in Social

Media is “Customer Lifetime Value”, or the amount of revenue customers will bring to a brand

over their lifetimes. I express the formula as (A)(B) x C, where “A” is the monetary amount a

customer brings to a company, “B” is the number of months per year a customer makes a

purchase, and “C” is the number of years a customer remains with a brand. According to Turner,

the “Allowable Cost Per Sale”, or the monetary amount used to add and retain a customer,

should be 10 percent of the CLV. However, this formula does not contemplate indirect costs

associated with obtaining customers, nor does it measure customers’ emotional and social

involvement with the brand, and the effects that a functioning Social Media community may

have on its development. I disagree with Turner’s assertion that the main purpose for businesses

to engage in Social Media is to make money, to convert prospects, “Tire kickers”, into revenue-

generating customers.

Another method put forward by Balwani (2010) is to focus on the Marketing Mix

Model, which helps marketers select promotions based on revenues. Even though Social Media

does not completely fit the model, marketers must assign SMM a monetary value relative to

profits. To measure Social Media’s effectiveness, marketers should identify active users, assign a

value to Social Media interaction, and determine whether the user made a purchase. The best

means to measure engagement is through site “cookies”, which are strands of text left on a user’s

computer after visiting a site. Cookies contain information on user preferences, location, and
Critical Success Factors for Creating and Implementing Effective Social Media Marketing Campaigns 33

activities. Balwani argued that since cookies store user information, they can determine when a

user made a purchase. This information allows marketers to monitor and adjust their Social

Media Marketing campaigns.

Barkan (2009) proposed the usage of an “Engagement Index”, which measures not only

how many and how often users enter and engage with a site’s content, but what they do with it.

This system should allow marketers to know which users are engaged, what their activities are,

and enable them to regularly update profile information. Given the recent addition of Social

Media into marketers’ arsenals, and the relative lack of knowledge on implementing SMM

campaigns, measuring their performance remains a work in progress.


Critical Success Factors for Creating and Implementing Effective Social Media Marketing Campaigns 34

VI. ISSUES WITH SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING

Now that Social Media Marketing’s critical success factors have been developed, it is

appropriate to discuss barriers to their implementation. Based on the considerations listed by

Thackeray, et al. (2008), I pose some possible roadblocks to SMM.

From a demographic and utilitarian standpoint, the target population’s needs may not be

effectively addressed with SM; They may not have access to Social Media; They may not

understand or like Social Media; and there may be costs for the population to use Social Media.

Possible solutions depend on the context in which they may act. A solution may be to evaluate

the brand’s end users, and do market research to identify their access to Social Media, their

ability to use it, and their attitudes towards Social Media.

Smart Brief’s State of Social Media for Business 2010 mentioned that lack of

management support (14.7%) and privacy concerns (33.1%) were major roadblocks that survey

respondents identified when developing and implementing Social Media Marketing campaigns.

Many managers are still uncomfortable allowing marketers to use of Social Media in

promoting their brand. Regardless if the resistance is due to managers not understanding or not

liking Social Media, it is the responsibility of marketers to convince managers about the

usefulness of Social Media in business. Marketers need to develop a framework for

implementing SMM, clearly list the possible benefits, and address any doubts management may
Critical Success Factors for Creating and Implementing Effective Social Media Marketing Campaigns 35

have. Marketers also need to be vocal and seek authority from management to implement SMM

campaigns.

Privacy is the most prominent roadblock in developing SMM campaigns. In a world

connected by the Internet, people access a wide array of data and engage in a number of

transactions which are recorded and stored for further analysis. One step marketers can take to

address privacy concerns is to have a clear, concise, and understandable privacy policy. Another

is to allow users to select the amount of information they would like to share with marketers.

When using cookies, marketers should assure these remain anonymous, available only to a few,

and that they not identify users by name.

Other possible roadblocks to successful SMM development is users’ difficulty in

understanding or navigating through a site. Marketers can engage users with a wonderful

campaign, but if their interaction with the online components is deficient, the entire effort can

fail. Although their characteristics lie beyond the scope of this paper, usability studies and testing

can help ensure users a positive interaction with Social Media Marketing.
Critical Success Factors for Creating and Implementing Effective Social Media Marketing Campaigns 36

VII. CONCLUSIONS

This is a brief recap of the critical success factors and how they can make a SMM campaign

successful. A Social Media strategy assigns specific roles to marketing staff, describes the

brand’s attributes, its users, and explains how Social Media Marketing can be used to engage the

target audience. Integrating the SMM campaign into the overall marketing strategy is crucial to

advance a unified and clear message to the brand’s target population. Using SMO enhances users

experiences and makes the brand’s content easier to share. Creating an Internet-based community

which lets users create content and share ideas can multiply a brand’s reach, increase its

supporters and help bring innovative products to market. A community which is open and honest

allows users to understand and trust a brand, and it allows the brand to obtain productive

communications and its users’ loyalty. Keeping Social Media content fresh and entertaining

sends users an indication that the brand is active and wants them to return. Making users feel

special and rewarding participation helps the brand to maintain them engaged and loyal.

Promoting a cause that benefits society helps brands gain user loyalty and show their target

population that the brand is a good corporate citizen. SMM campaigns can succeed only if there

are clear goals set from the start, and if there are methods to measure progress. Finally,

understanding the critical success factors can help companies develop effective Social Media

Marketing campaigns.
Critical Success Factors for Creating and Implementing Effective Social Media Marketing Campaigns 37

VIII. SUGGESTIONS FOR FURTHER RESEARCH

Even though I have identified the ten critical success factors based on the available

literature, there is much to be studied regarding Social Media’s affect on marketing

communications. The overall scarcity of scholarly material on Social Media Marketing

represents a significant opportunity for marketing and communications research. To conclude, I

would like to add suggestions for further research.

It would be pertinent to research managers attitudes and beliefs on Social Media.

Research should be conducted on defining the best practices and policies to guide SMM

campaign development. I would also like to suggest research on how Social Media optimization

can be used to enhance the lives of people with disabilities. Conducting usability studies on

Social Media communities could yield advances on user interaction processes, content creation,

and advertising optimization. To end, I would like to encourage marketing researchers to develop

ways to measure Social Media’s ROI which take into account the tangible and intangible benefits

of establishing a community of users.


Critical Success Factors for Creating and Implementing Effective Social Media Marketing Campaigns 38

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Critical Success Factors for Creating and Implementing
Effective Social Media Marketing Campaigns

Master of Arts Thesis Paper


Diego A. Heckadon
New York University

Capstone
Prof. Gregory D’Amico

December 27, 2010

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