Management Communication: Strategies for Social Media Campaigns

This article discusses the pros and cons of using social media for marketing and provides strategies for improving social media campaigns. It also includes tips for better media relations and accurate reporting. The target audience for McDonald's social media campaigns is discussed, along with suggestions for improving the design of future Twitter campaigns.

Running Head: MANAGEMENT COMMUNICATION
Management Communication
Name of Student
Name of University
Author note

1
MANAGEMENT COMMUUNICATION
MEMO
TO:
FROM:
DATE:
SUBJECT:

2
MANAGEMENT COMMUUNICATION
Introduction
The potential advantages and disadvantages of using social media is a widely discussed
topic. Although social media is one of the most effective tools of marketing strategy, there are
certain disadvantages a business has encounter with its usage (Okazaki and Taylor 2013). Some
of the pro and cons of using social media include:
Advantages:
 Economical marketing tool- The advertising and promotional strategies used traditionally
by businesses are not be cost effective, while promoting a product or service via media is
comparatively cheaper and equally beneficial.
 Brand reputation and customer interaction- Customer evaluation of brands is largely
influenced by the media so it is easier of a business to establish a favorable reputation in
the market with the help of public relations conducted by social media. Further, media
forums provide better and closer interactions between the service providers and the
customers.
 Improved market research and increased sales- Social media helps businesses to keep
tracks of their marketing activities by providing them with a summary of the business
performance. It also extends the consumer base of a company which helps to boost up
sales.
Disadvantages:
 Violation in privacy- The different policies of different advertising may violate the
privacy of the users as they may be required to provide with confidential information
about the company and about themselves.

3
MANAGEMENT COMMUUNICATION
 Negative feedback- This is an indispensable aspect of social media marketing. A
company will be bombarded with unnecessary remarks, hate comments, even bullying
and harassment while advertising.
 Poor execution- One needs to be extremely well-adept with socio-technology for proper
execution of plans and strategies on social media. The media forums must be accessed on
a regular basis which might get difficult for an organization amidst the busy schedule
daily activities.
McDonald’s target audience for social media campaigns
The brand managers of McDonalds need to gear up for implementing better strategies for
social media marketing. The company was recently barraged with debilitating comments on a
promotional twitter post as the post owing to lack of privacy management and channelization of
target audience. The director of the company’s management of social media, Rick Wion has
shunned the social strategies of media marketing, (Carley et al 2013) but experts opine that what
he should do instead of dismissing the platform of social media is to develop new platform-
specific content and ideas that resonates with the intended audience. The promotional tools
should be aimed at the millennial and the marketers should be able to single out platforms based
on the audiences and strategize their promotions accordingly. It would be beneficial for the
company to target youngsters via social platforms like Snapchat and Instagram. Most of the
social media in today’s world is accessed by mobile phone so it would be a remarkable idea for
McDonalds to introduce an exclusive mobile app for the youth to access it whenever they want
to. While conducting campaigns like this, McDonalds should target their content at food
bloggers and social butterflies whose brand consciousness is extremely advantageous for the
company’s market value. The social media managers must keep in mind that the company

4
MANAGEMENT COMMUUNICATION
specializes in affordable fast food and the leisure-loving middle-class section of the society
should be their primary target for promotion.
Improving the design of future Twitter campaigns
Twitter being an unfiltered platform makes posts more vulnerable to negativity in the
form of abuse and bullying, like the one recently encountered by McDonald’s campaign. The
company should attempt to improve the design if their Twitter campaigns to avoid such failures
in the future. Compiling content that is user-generated might influence the purchase of
customers. This involves encouraging fans to post videos, photos or any other content that
related to the campaign. Another effective strategy is to use hashtags and targeted keywords in
the tweets to reach the desired audience. The post can ask for retweets in exchange for gift
vouchers for initiating rapid promotion. Advance promotion of hashtags before the campaign is
another way to build up excitement in followers. This may be in the form of a countdown before
the campaign’s launch by using hashtags in the updates of the campaign. The company should
further strategize certain campaign goals so that the program is steered towards the right
direction. It is important to identify a particular aim of the campaign for goading it towards
success; if it is aimed at raising awareness, encouraging donations or attempting to increase sale
by securing a wider consumer base, it must be made clear. Appropriate selection of audience and
budget setting are two more things that require consideration while redesigning Twitter
campaigns in the future. This involves choosing geographical area of target by selecting the
‘audience feature’ option and following the pricing method of automatic bidding.
Strategies for better media relations and accurate reporting
1. Timing The campaign should tactically be held

5
MANAGEMENT COMMUUNICATION
around festive season when people are drawn
towards food campaigns. It should last for
about three to four months.
2. Audience Millenials and youngsters should be the target
audience since they are most active with
social media and the promotion will be best
propagated through them.
3. Sender The marketing agencies or the head of social
media communication of the company can be
the sender of the campaign’s post. Whoever it
is, should have an in-depth knowledge about
the trends of social media and the ways it
works.
4. Key themes Sharing a single idea globally, expressing
solidarity with an underprivileged class or
promoting happiness and the spirit of union
through common passions for food. It will
also promote well-being though the concept
of happy meals; an integral part of the
campaign.
5. Desired outcome The sales of the company is expected to
increase following the campaign. There
would be more mass awareness (popularity)

6
MANAGEMENT COMMUUNICATION
about the services provided by the company.
Increased brand value is another expected
outcome.
Medium Social networking cites like Twitter, Snapchat
and Instagram.
Materials Availability of information technology and
fast internet connection.
Frequency Campaign updates should be posted at least
four times a day.
The company should target millenials and aim to promote goodwill and public welfare
through their campaign. The management should ensure 24*7 internet availability and the
campaign timing should be around festive season for successful outcomes. The posts need to be
catchy and tactful to appeal to the target audience, the frequency of posts would depend on the
response.
Conclusion
The earlier mishaps of the campaign held by the company calls for a renewed policy in
medial promotion. The suggested procedures will help the company to succeed with future
campaigns and improve their techniques of media communication. Moreover, the social media is
effective marketing strategy only if the marketer knows how to use it tactfully.

7
MANAGEMENT COMMUUNICATION
References:
Bal, A.S., Weidner, K., Hanna, R. and Mills, A.J., 2017. Crowdsourcing and brand
control. Business Horizons, 60(2), pp.219-228.
Kesavan, R., Bernacchi, M.D. and Mascarenhas, O.A., 2013. Word of mouse: CSR
communication and the social media. International Management Review, 9(1), pp.58-66.
Leonardi, P.M., Huysman, M. and Steinfield, C., 2013. Enterprise social media: Definition,
history, and prospects for the study of social technologies in organizations. Journal of
Computer-Mediated Communication, 19(1), pp.1-19.
McGuire, M. and Kampf, C., 2015, July. Using social media sentiment analysis to understand
audiences: A new skill for technical communicators?. In Professional Communication
Conference (IPCC), 2015 IEEE International (pp. 1-7). IEEE.
Okazaki, S. and Taylor, C.R., 2013. Social media and international advertising: theoretical
challenges and future directions. International marketing review, 30(1), pp.56-71.
Pfeffer, J., Zorbach, T. and Carley, K.M., 2014. Understanding online firestorms: Negative
word-of-mouth dynamics in social media networks. Journal of Marketing
Communications, 20(1-2), pp.117-128.
Sherwin, R.T., 2015. # HaveWeReallyThoughtThisThrough: Why Granting Trademark
Protection to Hashtags Is Unnecessary, Duplicative, and Downright Dangerous. Harv. JL &
Tech., 29, p.455.
their August, I., Ireland, A., Ward, A.M. and Wylie, J., 2014. WORD OF MOUSE USING
SOCIAL MEDIA TO INFORM YOUR CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY
STRATEGY. Accountancy Ireland, 46(6).