Brand Strategies in Social Media

This report discusses the role of branding in growing a business, the importance of brand identity, and the role of social media in building a brand's reputation. It also analyzes how Woolworths Group uses Facebook and Instagram to draw consumers.

Running head: BRAND STRATEGIES IN SOCIAL MEDIA
Brand Strategies in Social Media
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Executive Summary
The primary purpose of this report is to discuss about the role that can be played by branding
in growing a business. The report also elaborates on how brand identity can help in making a
business successful. The report also talks about the role that is played by social media in the
present age in helping a brand build its reputation. The report brings out how Woolworths
Group makes use of Facebook fan page along with the Instagram account in drawing the
consumers towards the retail company. The report recommends how the usage of dynamic
product advertisements along with product video advertisements can help in growth of a
business.

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Table of Contents
1.0 Introduction..........................................................................................................................3
1.1 Problem Statement...........................................................................................................3
1.2 Research aims...................................................................................................................4
1.3 Research Objectives.........................................................................................................4
1.4 Research Questions..........................................................................................................4
2.0 Literature Review.................................................................................................................5
2.1 Branding for organizations...............................................................................................5
2.2 Brand Identity and Business Prosperity...........................................................................6
2.3 Social media and Brand Reputation.................................................................................7
3.0 Methodology........................................................................................................................8
4.0 Findings and analysis.........................................................................................................10
5.0 Conclusions........................................................................................................................13
5.1 Limitation.......................................................................................................................13
5.2 Recommendations..........................................................................................................13
References................................................................................................................................15

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1.0 Introduction
The evolution of internet in the present age has provided the customers with various
kinds of opportunities. The business in the present age use social media so that they can
attract the new customers. The organizations make use of social media tools so that they can
leverage the business and help it in making profits. It has been found out with the help of
research that 63 % of the customers who search online for the business have more chances of
becoming consumers of the brands who have a social media presence (Cawsey & Rowley,
2016). Woolworths Group is the name of an Australian company that has retail interest
across Australia along with New Zealand (Woolworthsgroup.com.au., 2019). The purpose of
this research report is to discuss about the significance of branding for the organization. The
report also elaborates about the importance of brand identity that can help in the prosperity of
a business. The research report also discusses about how social media can help in building the
reputation of a brand. The report states how the use of Instagram can help Woolworths Group
in building its presence in the market.
1.1 Problem Statement
The modern day business makes use of visual branding so that they can draw the
customers. Visuals are instrumental in playing an important part in relation to social media
branding. The personality of the brand is reflected with the help of posts over the platform of
social media that helps in developing the brand of a company. Social media plays an
important role in revealing the culture of a company that helps in attracting the customers.
The posting of the images over the social media helps a company in connecting with the
consumers. Woolworths Group helps in looking after the celebrated brands in the Australian
market that helps in providing world class experience for consumers across the world. The
problem that caused the researchers to carry out the research was that previous researchers

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has talked about the influence of social media on business but they have not talked about the
brand strategies over the platform of social media.
1.2 Research aims
The aim of this research is to find out the effect of branding strategies on the platform
of social media.
1.3 Research Objectives
i) To find out how branding helps in the growth of a business.
ii) To establish the influence of brand identity for the success of a business
iii) To discuss the relevance of social media in the building of reputation of brand
iv) To recommend the effect of various social media platform in popularizing the
image of a brand
1.4 Research Questions
 To what extent does branding help in building reputation of a business?
 How does brand identity help in the growth of a business?
 What role does prevalence of the social media help in building the reputation of a
brand?
 What is the effect of the use of social media platforms in making the brand popular in
the market?

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2.0 Literature Review
2.1 Branding for organizations
Brand can be defined as a unique name or symbol that can help in the identification of
products or services pertaining to a company that can differentiate it from competitors.
Branding acts as powerful way that helps the business of varying sizes in reaching the
prospective customers. The customers can interact with the brands by taking recourse to
social media and the social platforms used by a business like Facebook, Pinterest, Instagram
along with Twitter can help in bringing success for a business. According to Ashley and
Tuten, (2015), branding can make use of internet marketing which involves the sharing of
content on that of the social media networks that helps a business in achieving the branding
goals. Branding can be done with the help of various kinds of activities like posting the text
along with the image updates that helps in the arena of audience engagement. It has been
stated by Harrigan et al. (2017) that branding can help a business in increasing the website
traffic and it plays an important role in building the conversions. Social media marketing can
help in raising the aspect of brand awareness and it helps in the creation of brand identity.
Branding can help in building positive association with the customers and it helps in
improving the element of communication within an organization. The brands can help in
building unique environment and it helps in building the identity of a business. Branding can
help in building followers and content marketing can play a great role in making a business
popular in the market. Branding can be used for the purpose of marketing that helps in
leveraging original content so that it can help a business in gaining followers (Coursaris, van
Osch & Balogh, 2016). It can help a business in linking to the outside world that can help it
attracting the attention of the public. It can help the organizations in creating valuable
information that the target audience can enjoy. It has been argued by Chen et al. (2015) that
the branding can help in improving trust along with reliability that helps in the growth of a

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business. Social media can help a business in keeping track of the competitors that can help
in building brand reputation. Branding can help a business in learning about the techniques
that can help them in getting an edge over the competitors (Hudson et al., 2016).
2.2 Brand Identity and Business Prosperity
Brand identity can help in influencing the aspect of brand awareness along with the
brand equity. It helps in influencing how the customers perceive the company and how the
customers feel about the company. The elements pertaining to brand identity can help in the
creation of a coherent picture in relation to the mission along with values of a company (Gao
& Feng, 2016). It plays an important part in reflecting best aspects of a business and the
customers are left with positive impression about the company. Brand identity helps in the
generation of brand awareness among the target market. Brand awareness can help a brand in
expanding in the market and it helps in the generation of new revenue for a business. Brand
identity plays a crucial role in helping a business attain prosperity. According to Dineva,
Breitsohl and Garrod (2017) that brand identity along with brand awareness being at a high
level can help in building brand equity that is customer-based. In the event of a company
having a high brand equity it can win the trust the consumers that can help it in the
recommendation of a company. The brands assess the places where the consumers come into
contact with the brand. Brand identity can play an important role in strengthening the
organisation on various levels. Branding can play an important role in improving the
perceived equity of a brand. Brand identity can help in building emotional attachment in
between consumer and the product. Branding helps in increasing sales and it helps in
maintaining loyalty of that of the current customers.
The branding can help in uniting and motivating the employees and it helps in giving
birth to productive employees within an organization. It has been stated by Hudson et al.
(2016) that the brand identity can help in communicating personality of a business in a clear

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manner that helps in promoting the aspect of credibility. According to Schivinski,
Christodoulides and Dabrowski (2016) that it can help in shaping perception of the clients
and it helps in conveying expectations to the clients pertaining to quality along with service.
It can help in separating the business from competition that can help it in differentiating it in
marketplace. Brand identity can help in saving the amount that the company spends on the
aspect of promotion. Successful brand can act as a valuable asset of a company. The brand
identity helps a business in the determination of the key business goals that helps a business
in attaining prosperity. Brand identity acts as a strategic effort that plays a crucial role in
supporting the goals of a business.
2.3 Social media and Brand Reputation
Social media management is an important process in relation to that of inbound
marketing process. A business should create a social media strategy that can help it in
reaching the target audience. Social media can be useful in providing valuable information
about a business that can help in the creation of strong image of a brand. The content that is
shared over the platform of social media can play a crucial role in supporting the reputation
of a brand. According to Hoffman, Novak and Kang (2017) that the publishing of great
content over the platform of social media can help in leveraging influencers that can augment
the reputation of a brand. The posting of content by the companies in social media can help
the search engines in seeing the business and it helps in taking care of the fact that the
company stays credible in the present market. The social accounts can help in boosting the
search engine ranking that can increase the visibility of a business. The presence of a business
over the platform of social media can help a business in managing the reputation. According
to Dessart, Veloutsou and Morgan-Thomas (2015) that the social media strategies can help in
boosting the online visibility of a brand that can help in the creation of a positive user
experience. It can play an integral role in building the value proposition of a business and it

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can help in the identification of the means that can help in the evaluation of success or the
failure of a firm. Social media can help in revealing the solutions that the business can
provide that can help in solving the problems of the clients. It has been brought out by Lee,
Hosanagar and Nair (2018) that social media can help in evaluating data by the analysis of
the customer complaints that can be used for the development of a business.
Social media can play a crucial role in allowing open dialogue with that of the target
audience that can make a firm credible before the customers. The campaigns launched on the
social media can help in building the reputation of a business that can help in counteracting
the negative attention that a company gets. Social media publicises the positive things
regarding the workplace of a company that helps in enhancing the reputation of an
organization (Barger, Peltier & Schultz, 2016). In the present age, people have emerged to
become very conscious regarding power that they enjoy as consumers. People in the modern
age have more amount of choices and they want to exercise freedom in relation to their
purchase.
3.0 Methodology
Market research can be of two kinds- primary and secondary. The primary research is
conducted by an individual that includes surveys, interviews, observations along with focus
groups. Primary research can help in giving rise to results that are specific and it makes use of
statistical models that can help in coming up with the sample group that acts as representative
of the target audiences (Silverman, 2016).
Secondary research helps in synthesizing the existing research and it makes use of
primary research sources for carrying out the process of data analysis. Secondary research
makes use of text books, news articles along with meta analyses for the purpose of finding
relevant information about research.

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The methodology that was carried out for this report is the secondary research that
helped in revealing important information about the impact that the brand strategies on the
platform of social media have on the Woolworths Group. The research made use of the
website of Woolworths Group for gleaning important information pertaining to brand
strategies that it uses for spreading their influence in the market. The research looked at the
social media profile of the company on Facebook that helped in revealing important
information regarding the social media activities that are carried out by the company
(Moreno-Munoz et al., 2016).
The secondary information about the company have been gathered with the help of
financial statements of the company along with the company information on the website of
the company. This report looked at the world pertaining to digital media specially the usage
of social media in order to find out relevant information about the brand strategies that are
used by Woolworths Group for spreading their influence in the market (Tafesse, 2016). The
retail brand called Woolworths Group was analysed pertaining to that of the social media
strategy.
There are two kinds of data analysis method- Qualitative and quantitative.
Quantitative data analysis method turns the raw materials into that of meaningful data by
applying critical thinking. Quantitative data analysis calculates frequencies of the variables
and the difference that exist in between the variables. Qualitative data analysis method is
indicative of non-numeric information like the interview transcripts, images, text documents
along with the video recordings (Taylor, Bogdan & DeVault, 2015). The data analysis
method that has been used for carrying out this research is the Qualitative analysis method as
this research has made use of company annual report and the financial report of Woolworths
for carrying out the research.

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There are two kinds of research approaches- inductive and the deductive approach.
Inductive approach helps in generating new theory that emerges from data. Deductive
approach on the other hand lays stress on casualty and it helps in testing theories. Deductive
approach has been used for carrying out this research as the secondary sources were used for
deducing data in relation to the effect of the brand strategies over the social media platform
for Woolworths Group. The company Woolworths was thoroughly analysed pertaining to
that of their social media strategy. Advancements brought about in technology in the last
years has brought about advancements in digital media. The digital media in the present age
is preferred over the traditional media like newspapers along with the magazines. The
companies in Australia use different kinds of platforms on social media and hence it is
important that Woolworths Group keeps updated with the recent trends that can help them in
gaining a dominant position in the market (Oh et al., 2017). The brands in the present age
can interact with the customers by taking recourse to social media. The collection of the data
brought out the fact that the brand strategies on the social media has a great influence on the
consumers of the retail company called Woolworths Group.
4.0 Findings and analysis
The findings from the secondary data analysis brought out the fact that social media
strategies have a great amount of influence on the reputation of Woolworths Group. It was
gathered from the secondary analysis of data that Woolworths Group has the Facebook fan
page that helps it in engaging with the customers. It can be deduced from the secondary data
research that the supermarket chain of Australia makes use of superior technology that helps
them in catering to the needs of the modern day consumer. The Facebook fan page of the
company throws light on the fact that the products of the company are sourced from the fresh
fruits along with the vegetables that has an influence on the annual revenue earned by the

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company. The table below helps in illustrating how the social media activities of the
company have been successful in helping the company making immense amount of profit.
Figure: Profit of Woolworths Group
Source: Woolworthsgroup.com.au., 2019
The consumers of Woolworths can order the foods from the confines of their home that
makes it convenient for the people of the modern age. The branding strategy made use of by
Woolworths Group is the Woolworths Supermarket App that helps it in easily reaching the
customers.

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Secondary data analysis revealed the fact that influencer marketing was used by
Woolworths Group on the social media that helped it promoting the unique products. Regular
contact creators are taken recourse to by Woolworths Group that have helped it in engaging
the audience. Influencer marketing has helped in creating a positive impact on the customers
of the retail brand of Australia. Instagram is the social media platform that has been used by
the company. The official Instagram account of the company makes use of images that helps
in drawing people towards the supermarket chain store of Australia. Woolworths Group turns
the Instagram content into that of the shoppable posts that are linked to the online pages from
where the consumers can buy the products of Woolworths Group. It has helped in driving
sales of the company and it has helped in making the company popular within the world
market. The innovative Instagram content of the Woolworths Group has helped the company
in earning revenue of $ 56, 726 million.
Figure: Financial Highlights of Woolworths Group

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Source: Woolworthsgroup.com.au., 2019
Woolworths Group has been able to make a distinct name for itself with the help of
the branding strategies that have been made use of by the company through social media.
There are around 500 million people who log into the social media platform that helps in
illustrating the popularity of the brand in front of the consumers within Australia.
5.0 Conclusions
It can be concluded that the brand strategies that are used by Woolworths Group over
the social media platform helps in engaging the audience. It helps in increasing the annual
reports that are earned by the company. The research brought out the fact that brand can play
an important role in identifying products that can help it in differentiating it from the
competitors. It can be deduced that branding can help the various kinds of business in
reaching out to the potential customers. Brand identity influences brand awareness and that of
brand equity. Brand identity plays a crucial role in influencing how customers think about a
company. Secondary analysis of the data revealed the fact that Face Book fan page is
successful in engaging the customers. Superior technology used by the company in social
media can help in meeting the needs of the customers of the present age.
5.1 Limitation
This research can be considered to be a preliminary attempt in understanding how
Woolworths Group makes use of social media channels that has benefitted the company. The
present study is qualitative and since social media is a field that is developing the findings
can be said to be exploratory. The companies from other than retail sectors can be reached
out that can prove to be useful in providing a better grounded view of the social media
actions of the firms.

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5.2 Recommendations
 Woolworths Group can make use of smart targeting that can help them in reaching out
to a wider audience. The targeting options can be used by Woolworths Group that can
help in targeting the advertisements to that of important consumer base. The targeting
options of Facebook can be used by Woolworths Group more effectively that can help
in broadening the consumer base. Dynamic product advertisements can be made use
of by Woolworths Group that can be used for retargeting the customers who have
showed interest in the products or the services. The dynamic product advertisements
can help in providing flexibility and it can help in bringing functionality to that of the
e-commerce advertisers.
 Products videos should be used by Woolworths Group that can help the consumers in
feeling the products before they purchase it. Woolworths Group can use the videos
that can play an important role in bridging the gap in between offline and the online
shopping experiences.

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