Social Media Marketing

Running head: SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING
Social media marketing
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1SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING
Question: 1
One of the recent brands that are using the concept of using social media games in their
branding strategy is Honda. This is due to the reason that in the recent time, Honda has branded
their CR-Z in the Car Town social game. It is identified that the banner of Honda CR-Z is
coming up during the game. Moreover, in order to increase the engagement of the users in the
game along with enhancing their brand recall ability, the particular can be bought virtually in the
game. This denotes that the users can virtually drive the car in the game. This is helping Honda
in getting effectively aligned with the preferences of the customers along with relating to their
objectives of playing the social games (Juhola et al., 2013). On the other hand, this gamification
strategy is also providing value for Honda as well due to the reason that with the help of their
involvement in Car Town game, the average of engagement level of the customers in the social
media marketing of Honda is getting significantly increased. The CR-Z brand of hybrid car is
new in the market introduced by Honda and it is also not having gained enough brand exposure
till now. Thus, with the help of the highly engaging social media strategy, Honda is being able to
enhance the branding abilities of this brand among the potential customers.
It should also be noted that this gaming strategy of Honda is getting effectively fit with
their overall social media strategy due to the reason that the major objective of their social media
strategy is to gain high level of engagement from the users. Moreover, they also aim to relate
their products with the certain types of customers. For example, the users playing the game Car
Town are probably car fanatics and having interest in cars (Effing and Spil, 2016). Thus, co-
branding their new car brand with a automobile game is helping Honda is getting the access to
exact type of potential customers for their long term viability. Thus, it can be concluded that as
per their social objective of Honda, the gamification strategy of Honda is helping in increasing

2SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING
the engagement level of social media users and getting them exposed to the branding activities of
them.
Question: 2
In initiating the social gaming strategy, there are number of options that can be used by
the entities in getting connected with their target audiences. One of the major options is the basic
promotion through any games. In the current scenario of popular apps and online games, opening
it will expose the customers to wide array of promotions by different brands. This option is the
most basic, cost effective and less penetrated among the target audience due to the reason that
satisfaction level of the customers gets affected with the constant process of promotion through
the games (Kim, Yoo & Kauffman, 2013). However, still this option is being widely used due to
the reason that less cost is involved in the process with fewer complexities. On the other hand,
this can also be concluded that recall value of the customers is also low in this option. This is due
to the reason that huge numbers if promotions are being popping out currently with the current
bands of social games, which is further creating difficulties for the customers in recalling a
particular brand.
Another option of social gamification is the strategic placement of the brand within the
game. This refers to the concept of the using the in-game structures in promoting the particular
brand. For example, in the Car Town game, the branding of Honda CR-Z is being put up in the
virtual roadside banner. Thus, it is enabling Honda to marketing their brands without causing the
inconveniences to the customers as in the above option (Oliveira et al., 2014). On the other hand,
this is also adding value for the customers due to the reason that they can easily relate with the
branding as they are playing an automobile game and branding of original brands are showing