Evaluating Uber's Digital Marketing: Failures & Strategies for Success

This report delves into the reasons behind the failure of Uber's digital marketing strategy, particularly focusing on the negative impact of controversies and the company's perceived lack of alignment with customer values. It highlights the unsuccessful #DeleteUber campaign following a perceived support of a controversial political ban. The report then proposes strategies for leveraging social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter to rebuild brand value and enhance customer engagement. Recommendations include utilizing Facebook for broadcasting offers and addressing customer queries, employing Instagram for influencer marketing and visual storytelling, and using Twitter for promoting social issues and engaging in conversations with followers. The report concludes by emphasizing the importance of aligning digital promises with company actions to restore customer trust and improve Uber's brand image.

Running head: DIGITAL MARKETING
DIGITAL MARKETING
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

1
DIGITAL MARKETING
Executive Summary
This report will analyse the failure and the reasons that had led to the failure of Uber’s digital
marketing strategy. The report will further recommend and state different ways in which
Uber can use different social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram and Twitter to create
a good impact among the crowd. Moreover, the strategies that can be implemented by Uber
will also be discussed in this report.

2
DIGITAL MARKETING
Table of Contents
Introduction................................................................................................................................3
Reason for unsuccessful digital marketing strategy of Uber.....................................................3
Reasons for failure to meet the wants of the target customers digitally....................................4
Implementation of Facebook in the digital marketing strategy.................................................4
Implementation of Instagram in the digital marketing strategy.................................................5
Implementation of Twitter in the digital marketing strategy.....................................................6
Conclusion..................................................................................................................................7
References:.................................................................................................................................8

3
DIGITAL MARKETING
Introduction
Uber Technologies Inc. is a transportation company which operates globally in more
than 70 countries. The company has its headquarters in San Francisco. Uber hires drivers who
operate independently as contractors for the company, where they use their own cars or rent
cars for Uber and get customers through the Uber mobile application. Uber has many
advantages regarding its grasp in the market, however it also has many weaknesses and
failures when it comes to applying strategies for their digital marketing (Ryan 2016). This
report will discuss about the reasons behind the unsuccessful digital marketing strategy of the
company. It will also identify and describe the target customers of the company and also
analyse the reasons why Uber failed to satisfy its target customers with their digital strategy.
The further paragraphs also develops various digital marketing strategies for the company
based on different social media applications such as Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.
Reason for unsuccessful digital marketing strategy of Uber
Uber had to face many protests digitally due to the strategy that they adopted after the
refugee and immigrant ban from entering the United States decision was taken by President
Trump. As the word of the ban spread across the country, protests started to emerge in many
airports around the United States. The New York Taxi Workers Alliance told its drivers to
avoid the customers at John F Kennedy International Airport for an hour to support the
protest. After the protest took place, Uber suddenly tweeted that its surge pricing option,
which enabled the rise in price for customers in times when the demand for cabs were high,
has been stopped which meant that the customers could book the uber caps at normal price
(Castillo, Knoepfle and Weyl 2017). This tweet received severe reaction from the public who
started the #DeleteUber campaign in twitter, which prompted people to delete their uber
applications from their phones and delete their uber accounts as well. This digital strategy of

4
DIGITAL MARKETING
Uber failed because this made the public think that Uber was supporting the ban and angered
the people who were a part of the protest. This strategy received severe negative reaction
from the public and for a long time.
Reasons for failure to meet the wants of the target customers digitally
Uber failed to connect with their customers digitally as the digital marketing strategies
that they used were not liked by the customers. Moreover, there had been many controversies
surrounding Uber for a long time. These controversies hurts the brand value of the company.
These controversies are what makes the customers lose faith in the company as their views do
not match with the promises that they make to the customers. The customers feel that the
company does not stay true to its words and does not portray a good digital image among the
public (Walters). Hence, it is necessary that the company starts to take certain actions that
would act in favour of their brand. For this there are certain digital platforms that they can use
to connect with the customers and to make their brand name positive (Lucius and Hanson
2016).
Implementation of Facebook in the digital marketing strategy
Facebook is one of the biggest and the most common social media platform that
companies use these days to connect with their followers around the world. Facebook lets the
companies form connections with their users and customers and helps in providing brand
satisfaction digitally. Uber should Facebook as its digital media platform and has more than 8
million followers in its official company page. Uber could use the Facebook page to
broadcast different offers and deals that are formed by the company to its followers. Uber
would inform the followers of the various discounts, deals, new introduced rides and various
other new ideas through their Facebook account. The representatives of the company who
deals with the customers should always maintain a stable relation with them by replying to

5
DIGITAL MARKETING
the queries and complains that are made by the customers. This comes as a great positivity
for the brand as the company remains in continuous contact with the grievances and also the
appreciation of the customers and responds to them in a timely manner. This makes the
customers feel important and also that their reviews are valued by the company. Customers
also come to know of anything new that is introduced by the company. Hence, Facebook
becomes a great platform to increase the brand value and also customer satisfaction.
Implementation of Instagram in the digital marketing strategy
Instagram is a digital platform which helps to showcase the beauty of any brand or
company through pictures. In the world of word promotion, Instagram has become a site
where companies could promote themselves through the use of pictures as they help to
capture more attention than words. It helps to expand the reach of the target customers all
over the world. Uber has around 888k followers in Instagram with whom they share beautiful
stories to grab the attention of the followers and to expand their brand image. Uber, till date,
have shared almost 652 posts with its followers through its Instagram account which consists
of different stories and images of rides and other varieties of uber initiatives. Uber, through
its Instagram account, could adopt a marketing strategy of influencer marketing. Uber could
contact different influencer accounts whose follower count is huge and is quite famous to
expand their horizon in terms of viewers and reach among the public. This strategy helps to

6
DIGITAL MARKETING
increase the likes and comments of the company and also to increase their followers.
Influencer marketing is one such way which is used by several brands. The influencers will
tag Uber in their posts and this will help in expanding the brand name among the public.
Implementation of Twitter in the digital marketing strategy
Twitter is also a social media which gives a lot of exposure to different brands and
people. In some cases, Twitter can provide more exposure than that of Facebook, as is more
attractive. Moreover, the posts that are made in Twitter appear like news posts and hence it
can also be used for informational purposes as well. Uber has about 915k followers in
Twitter, to whom they share and inform about the newest deals and discounts through the use
of pictures and videos. Uber has many accounts in Twitter, one of which is the global account
and the other accounts are specific to different regions. One of the account is specifically
used to post fun facts for the viewers. Uber could use Twitter to promote different issues by
using different hashtags, and also for fun so that it can be used to connect with different
followers. These hashtags are a way to reach out to the people and involve the people in the
activities of Uber. This can help to communicate with the people.

7
DIGITAL MARKETING
Conclusion
Hence, it can be concluded that Uber needs to adapt certain strategies which can help
to bring back the lost brand value that they have. It can also be said that proper use of digital
platform can help in the proper exposure and the good promotion of the brand. However,
each company has to keep in mind that the digital promises should also be kept with the
actions of the company. It is evident from the report that the controversies that surrounded
Uber had led to its downfall. These negative impacts on the company can only go away if
proper steps are taken by the company to ensure that the customers understand their true
intentions in serving them.

8
DIGITAL MARKETING
References:
Castillo, J.C., Knoepfle, D. and Weyl, G., 2017, June. Surge pricing solves the wild goose chase.
In Proceedings of the 2017 ACM Conference on Economics and Computation (pp. 241-242). ACM.
Lucius, H.W. and Hanson, J.H., 2016. Consumerism and Marketing in the Digital Age. American
Journal of Management, 16(3), p.41.
Ryan, D., 2016. Understanding digital marketing: marketing strategies for engaging the digital
generation. Kogan Page Publishers.
Walters, T., Beyond Marketing: Why Digital Disruption Requires.