Importance of Effective Social Media Policy for Enhancing Brand Value

MEMORANDUM
To: Paul Morgan, CEO, Sunshine 100
From: Jane Wilson, Director of Social Media
Date: 4th January 2019
Subject: Sunshine 100’s social media policy
Introduction
In the contemporary era, social media is playing vital as it spreads the information in
less time and approaches large mass of people at a time. In this context, several companies use
social media marketing strategies for the promotion of products and services (De Vries,
Gensler and Leeflang 2012). The response of people for a particular product and services is
evaluated by several other social media users which influence the reputation of the brand
(Gensler et al. 2013). In the same manner, the reaction of employees on social media also
affects the status of the firm. It is evident in the case of Sunshine 100 where the negative
comment from an employee for a new product on the social media publicized the negative
image of a new product and adversely influence the brand reputation. For this purpose, the
present memo aims to shed light on importance of effective social media policy and its
development process. In the same manner, the thesis statement is "The essential of the
appropriate social media policy to enriching brand value". In this context, the advantages and
disadvantages of using social media and the impact of employees' social media posts have
been discussed. Apart from this, appropriate social media policy has been proposed along with
the effective communication strategy to use the social media in the right manner.
The benefits and demerits for organizations when using social media
Benefits
The social media helps the firm for promoting the product and service in the large mass
of public in relatively low time from other marketing activities like outdoor campaign.
Similarly, it promotes the product in a cost-effective manner because it requires fewer
resources in comparison to physical marketing campaign (Kaplan & Haenlein 2010). Further,
marketing through social media increases the competitive edge of the firm because it highly
increases the consumer attraction by improving the firms' relationship with the consumers (De
Vries, Gensler & Leeflang 2012). Apart from this, at the workplace, social media increase the
communication among the employees which influences their work performance because they
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work with more collaboration. On the other hand, it increases the consumer base by targeting
different communities of the employees (Muller et al. 2012). Therefore, to strive in a
competitive market place, the implementation of social media is imperative.
Demerits
The ineffective use of social media degrades the brand reputation by increasing the
contingency of negative publicity. Further, the poor awareness of employees for their post also
damages the brand reputation because it spreads the post in the minimum time which affects
consumers’ mindset (Miles & Mangold 2014). Apart from this, marketing through social
media requires continuous monitoring because the effective and quick response for consumers'
negative feedback is imperative for improving the brand image (Kietzmann et al. 2011). It
shows that use of social media also has an emergence of the several complications for the
business which needs high consideration.
Impact of employees’ comments on the brand image
The employee's comments on the social media have a great impact on the brand image
because of its work as a shield for the brand image by promoting the quality of products
(Saravanakumar & SuganthaLakshmi 2012). It persuades the consumers for buying the
product and services. Although, the social media at the workplace have some negative
consequences like employees access their private account which distracts them from their
allocated task and affects their work performance. Apart from this, the negative comments also
adversely influence the brand value to a great extent because the consumer has a high
tendency for the products which have more positive reviews (Porath, MacInnis & Folkes
2010). Thus, the negative comments from the workforce are harmful to the business by
changing the consumer purchase intention. In the same manner, in the case of Sunshine 100,
the negative comments from the employees for new kids' food product adversely influence the
image of the firm in market place by molding the buying behavior. It reveals that the
employees' comment can have both positive and negative impact on the brand image.
Factors that make social media policy to effective
The creation of an effective social media policy which improves the brand image as
well as productivity is significant. For accessing the social media at the workplace, the official
accounts can use for prohibiting other activities on the social media. Apart from this, the
restriction on accessing personal social media account is crucial in policy. It will prevent the
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employees from getting distracted through which employees can execute their duty with more
concentration. Apart from this, the firm can appoint skilled personnel instead of other staff for
managing the social media accounts. They can effectively promote the business on social
media and will increase the consumer base. On the other hand, the firm can create an effective
social media policy by mentioning the strict action for the employees who will unveil the
confidential information on social media.
Communication strategy
The Director of Sunshine 100 will communicate the social media policy with the
employees is structured as follows.
Figure 1: communication plan
Conclusion
According to the above memo, it can be concluded that the focus on creating effective
social media policy is imperative for the firm to use social media platform effectively and
improve the brand value in the consumers. Apart from this, it assists the employees at the
workplace and improves their performance which increases their loyalty for the firm. Thus, the
firm can effectively promote the product in the marketplace.
Power point presentation slides
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20th January 2019Timimg
WorkforceAudience
Jan Wilson, Marketing DiractorSender
Promote the right information on the social mediaKey message
Healthy relation with both employees and consumersDesired Outcome
Online medium through emails and group meetings
Medium
Mentioned in annual report and firms' templateMaterials
Twice in a monthFrenquency