Beruflich Dokumente
Kultur Dokumente
I. INTRODUCTION
2.0 have multiplied Internet content at an exponential rate, and are now available to almost
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
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
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
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
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,
Business Networking Sites like LinkedIn enable users to develop a work-oriented social network,
Video Sharing Sites like YouTube allow users to create, distribute, and share short videos with
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
Collaborative Sharing Sites like Wikihow facilitate the creation and editing of topic specific
Social News Sites like Digg and Reddit allow users to share, vote, and comment on news and
Social Bookmarking Sites like Delicious allow users to tag, store, organize, search, and share
Group Buying Sites like Groupon offer users the ability to collectively bid on special promotions
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-
Micro-blogging Sites like Twitter function like blogs, allowing users to create and share short
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
This paper examines the impact of Social Media in marketing, and the emergent
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
amount of non-scholarly, yet professional research for the elaboration of this thesis paper.
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
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
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
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
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
businesses have a SM policy, or that over 31% of the executives in question say that their
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
IV. METHODOLOGY
The problem statement “Critical Success Factors for Creating and Implementing
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
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
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
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
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.
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.
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
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
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
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
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
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,
4. Creating a Community
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
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
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
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
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
(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
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.
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.
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.
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
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
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.
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.
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
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.
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.
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
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).
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
measure the strategy’s performance, however, there is no single standard to measure its
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
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
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
Now that Social Media Marketing’s critical success factors have been developed, it is
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
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
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.
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,
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
Even though I have identified the ten critical success factors based on the available
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
REFERENCES
Balwani, S. (January 28, 2010). This is how you measure social media ROI. Retrieved from
http://samirbalwani.com/marketing-metrics/measuring-social-media-roi/
Barkan, T. (March 2009). How to develop a successful social network strategy. Social
SNAMA/Resources/LibraryDocumentList/Default.aspx?
LibraryKey=9162f9f4-85fd-4e19-9507-7365a869ed02
Bell, J. (November 8, 2010). 3 Benefits and 3 Examples of social advertising. Social Media
and-3-examples-social-advertising
Blondeau, L. (December 16, 2010). The quiet way to social: Time, trust and truth. Social Media
time-trust-and-truth
Briggs, T. (2010). Social media's second act: Towards sustainable brand engagement. Design
Brito, M. (November 2010). Report: State of social media for business 2010. Retrieved from
http://www.britopian.com/2010/11/11/report-state-of-social-media-for-business-2010/
Campbell, A. (November 2009). Social media explained. American Express Open Forum.
media-what-is-it-anita-campbell
profits/
Chapman, C. (2010). The history and evolution of social media. Retrieved from http://
www.webdesignerdepot.com/2009/10/the-history-and-evolution-of-social-media/
Constantinides, E., Lorenzo Romero, C., & Gomez Boria, M.A. (2008). Social media: A new
Cooley, D. (December 2, 2010). 5 Online community killers to avoid at all Costs. Mashable.
Evans, D., & Epstein, E. (2010). Study: Comparing user engagement across seven interactive
Critical Success Factors for Creating and Implementing Effective Social Media Marketing Campaigns 40
PSYCHSTER_Allrecipes_Widget_Whitepaper_Mar10_FINAL.pdf
Jain, S. (November 16, 2010). Fascinating social media facts of 2010. Social Media Today.
facts-year-2010
Kessler, S. (November 14, 2010). 5 Ways to promote your social media efforts offline.
Kotorov, R. (October 15, 2010). How predictive analytics can make money for social
analytics-social-networks/
Lenhart, A., Purcell, K., Smith, A., & Zickhur, K. (2010). Study: Social media & mobile internet
use among teens and young adults. Pew Research Center. Retrieved from http://
pewinternet.org/Reports/2010/Social‐Media‐and‐Young‐Adults.aspx
Mangold, W.G., & Faulds, D.J. (2009). Social media: The new hybrid element of the
promotion mix. Business Horizons, Vol. 52, issue 4, July-August. Pp. 357-365.
Marcus, S. (October 26, 2010). 5 Most engaged brands in social media. Mashable. Retrieved
Critical Success Factors for Creating and Implementing Effective Social Media Marketing Campaigns 41
from http://mashable.com/2010/10/26/social-media-engaged-brands/
Peters, J. (October 27, 2010). How to: Optimize your social media marketing strategy.
marketing/
Pick, T. (November 16, 2010). Social media success starts with listening. Social Media Today.
Retrieved fromhttp://socialmediatoday.com/tompick/237898/social-media-success-
starts-listening
Provost, F., Dalessandro, B., Hook, R., Zhang, X., & Murray, A. (2009). Audience selection for
15th ACM SIGKDD international conference on knowledge discovery and data mining.
Rowley, M. (November 6, 2009). Why social media is vital to corporate social responsibility.
Stelzner, M. A. (April 2010). 2010 Social media marketing industry report: How marketers are
www.socialmediaexaminer.com/social- media-marketing-industry-report-2010/?
doing_wp_cron
Critical Success Factors for Creating and Implementing Effective Social Media Marketing Campaigns 42
Swallow, E. (November 4, 2010). 5 Proven strategies for B2B social media marketing.
strategies/
Thackeray, R., Neiger, B. L., Hansen, C.L., & McKenzie, J.F. (10/2008). Enhancing promotional
strategies within social marketing programs: Use of Web 2.0 social media. Health
from http://www.hpp.sagepub.com/content/9/4/338.
Tobin, J. (October 22, 2010). 4 Winning strategies for social media optimization. Mashable.
Turner, J. (November 5, 2010). How to: Calculate the ROI of your social media campaign.
campaigns/
Warren, C. (2009). How to: Measure social media ROI. Mashable. Retrieved from http://
mashable.com/2009/10/27/social-media-roi/
Critical Success Factors for Creating and Implementing Effective Social Media Marketing Campaigns 43
Wasserman, T. (December 15, 2010). Pepsi Refresh Project netted 61 million votes.
Webber, L. (2009) Marketing to the social web: How digital customer communities build your
Business. Second Edition, Ch. 1 Excerpt, Pp1-20. Hoboken, NJ: Wiley & Sons.
Yovano, D. (November 8, 2010). 3 Tips for Maximizing Engagement With Facebook Likes and
Zickuhr, K. (2010). Generations Online in 2010. Pew Research Center. Retrieved from http://
pewinternet.org/Reports/2010/Generations-2010/Overview/Findings.aspx
Critical Success Factors for Creating and Implementing
Effective Social Media Marketing Campaigns
Capstone
Prof. Gregory D’Amico