E-Commerce & Marketing: Social Marketing and Privacy Policies

This report provides an analysis of social marketing strategies and privacy policies, focusing on two websites: CDC and Amnesty International. The report begins with an introduction to social marketing, its processes, and models, highlighting the shift from financial gain to societal well-being and behavioral change. It then examines the effectiveness of CDC and Amnesty International's websites in terms of social marketing, assessing fan acquisition, engagement, community building, and brand strategy. The report also delves into the privacy policies of both companies, emphasizing the importance of clear, understandable policies and the legal obligations of websites collecting personal information. Recommendations are provided to improve the effectiveness of social marketing efforts and enhance privacy protection, including suggestions for content updates and increased user engagement. The conclusion underscores the significance of social marketing in modern business and the critical role of privacy policies in building consumer trust and avoiding legal issues.

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E-Commerce & Marketing
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Executive Summary
The report is based on the website analysis of two companies to understand their social
marketing context. The two company websites selected for the task are CDC and Amnesty
International. Both of the companies are related to human development and social well-being.
These companies also use social media platforms for their promotion and communication.
The second part of the report is concerned with the privacy policy of the selected companies.
This states what privacy policies should include and what could be done by these companies
to improve their website’s privacy policies. In the end, recommendations are catered form the
discussions.

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Table of Contents
Introduction....................................................................................................................3
Social Marketing process...............................................................................................3
Effectiveness of the selected sites in terms of Social Marketing process......................4
Recommendations for improving the Effectiveness......................................................5
Privacy Protection..........................................................................................................5
Privacy policies of the company....................................................................................6
Recommendations..........................................................................................................6
Conclusion......................................................................................................................7
References......................................................................................................................8

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Introduction
The idea of social marketing came into existence in the 1960s. Philip Kotler and
Gerald Zaltman’s wrote an article in the Journal of Marketing that defined social marketing
as a discipline for the first time. The aim of this marketing is not related to financial gaining;
it is directed to well-being and behavioural change of the society or target audience. In this
report, the social marketing process and use of social media platform in two company
websites, are discussed. Along with that, the report also concentrates on the privacy
protection policies of these companies. Recommendations in this study are derived from the
discussion on various aspects of social marketing and privacy policies of the selected
company websites.
Social Marketing process
There are several models and theories in the social marketing process. Most of them
have five steps of implementing social marketing in a company (Goldberg, Fishbein &
Middlestadt, 2018). The process of social marketing goes through these six steps like fan
acquisition, engagement, amplification, Community building and brand strategy building.
The phases of social marketing are developed in six phases. These are- describing the
problem, conducting market research, marketing strategy creation, intervention planning,
program monitoring and evaluation (Aras, 2011)
Social marketing in public health sectors is increasing rapidly. The social marketing
programs are directed to change the behavioural approach of people (Bridges, 2009). For this
cause, the organisations are taking help of campaigns for sharing information and raising
funds as well. Social media is used as the platform for this marketing (Lee & Kotler, 2015).
Most of the companies use three steps in their social marketing- Co-creation, Build and
Engagement. This is known as the C-B-E model of social marketing (Goldberg, Fishbein &

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Middlestadt, 2018). Co-creation is developing the social change plans with the people so that
they could feel responsible for their behaviours and social welfare. Partnerships are built to
make sure that the program is getting its funds and manpower. Engagement is the most
important part, where the organisations make sure that people know about the program and
communication is active from both sides (Zhu & Chen, 2015).
Effectiveness of the selected sites in terms of Social Marketing process
This report discusses the social marketing design of two organisation websites-
Amnesty International and CDC or Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The website of the CDC has all the elements that could attract the target audience to
delve deep in their programs. This organisation is dedicated to the welfare of the American
community. The website of this organisation has information regarding healthy living, health
and disease, traveller’s health and emergency preparedness. The marketing message of this
company is the safety and welfare of American people, and that is quite evident on the home
page of the website (cdc.gov, 2019). Acquisition of the fans or target audience is made
through the website and social media. The fans are engaged, and they share their thinking and
comments through social media platforms as well as the slot on the website. The community
building helps in raising fund for different occasions (Key & Czaplewski, 2017). Brand name
and community fan acquisition is done through the website information and “Connect with
CDC” part of the website. The CDC has its account on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram,
YouTube and other social media.
Amnesty International is well known for its social marketing contexts. The mission
and vision of this company are to work on social justice and human rights preservation. This
organisation has promoted various campaigns by developing fan acquisition and engagement
through social media (amnesty.org, 2019). The website has the part where the people

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interested in their event could share their views and comments. The organisation is depended
on its fan community, and they engage them in their campaigns and charity works.
Recommendations for improving the Effectiveness
Both of the websites have individual social marketing aspects. The organisations
could think of some changes in their marketing to gain more outcomes.
 CDC could include some of their success story on their websites to enhance their fan
base.
 CDC website could include more campaign based information in their social media
accounts.
 Amnesty International’s website is well-developed and well-arranged. The company
could try to involve more audience in its social media platform through brand
promotion.
Privacy Protection
Social media marketing is done by collecting some important information about the
user. The privacy policy of a website is the part where the organisation gives details of what
information they are collecting from the visitors and why they are collecting them. Every
company websites must have a well-defined and serious policy for the privacy protection of
their consumers or visitors (Al-Jamal & Abu-Shanab, 2015). The websites that collect any
kind of personal information from the visitors are legally bound to have following the privacy
policy. These policies are instrumental in developing good internet environment for the
company. The main features of a privacy policy that a company need to keep in mind are-
 The policies needed to be written in a language that is easily understandable
 That should be maintained in a part of the site where the users could easily read them.

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 This should have a clear description of what information is collected and why they are
collected.
 How the company collecting the information from the users need to be mentioned.
 The privacy terms and conditions are to be mentioned (Capistrano & Chen, 2015).
Privacy policies of the company
The privacy policies of the CDC is governed by the legal provisions of the country.
This company website has a clear indication of why they are collecting personal data from
their users. The company website states that they do not collect personal information all the
time. First, some of the information is collected and saved automatically on the website,
including domain, devise information, visit date and time, the amount of data, and so on
(cdc.gov, 2019). The website states quite elaborately about the privacy policy of the website
and the mobile app.
Amnesty International is very serious about its privacy policies and consumer
information safety. The company website has a clear mention of what information they are
collecting from the users and what they are doing with it. The website has the legal basis of
collecting process that states that the company takes consent of the user before collecting the
data. If the data is to be shared with another part of the company, the legitimate interest of the
user is given the highest priority (amnesty.org, 2019). The company site states that they
collect the personal information so that they could answer to any legal obligations filed
against them in future.
Recommendations
Both of the company are quite serious about the privacy policy of their organisation.
For better privacy policies, the below-mentioned steps could be incorporated in their
operations.

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 The companies could think of shorter retention of the data they are collecting
from the users. Minimisation of the type of data collected could help the
company website to have more relevant data spaces.
 CDC should give consumers the choice of what they want to share with the
company y and what they do not. This would help in building customer trust.
Conclusion
Social marketing is an emerging part of modern business, and the use of different
social media platform in work is commendable. The two websites that are taken for this study
are related to the health and well-being industry. The social marketing helps the companies to
achieve their targets more efficiently. Privacy policies are another important part of any
website building. This is useful for consumer trust-building and avoiding legal allegations.

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References
Al-Jamal, M., & Abu-Shanab, E. (2015). Privacy policy of e-government websites: An
itemised checklist proposed and tested. Management Research and Practice, 7(3), 80.
amnesty.org (2019), Amnesty International, retrieved from https://www.amnesty.org/en/,
amnesty.org (2019), Privacy Policy, retrieved from
https://www.amnesty.org/en/about-us/privacy-policy/
Aras R.Y. (2011). Social marketing in healthcare. Australasian Medical Journal, 4, 8, 418-
424 retrieved from: http//dx.doi.org/10.4066/AMJ.2011.626
Bridges, T. (2009). COVER STORY : Social Marketing Is It Working?. Marketing Magazine
: For Advertising, Marketing and Media Executives, 14-19.
Capistrano, E. P. S., & Chen, J. V. (2015). Information privacy policies: The effects of policy
characteristics and online experience. Computer Standards & Interfaces, 42, 24-31.
cdc.gov (2019), CDC Digital Media Channel Privacy Policy, retrieved from:
https://www.cdc.gov/other/privacy.html
cdc.gov (2019), Center for Disease Control and Prevention, retrieved from:
https://www.cdc.gov/
Goldberg, M. E., Fishbein, M., & Middlestadt, S. E. (2018). Social marketing: Theoretical
and practical perspectives. Psychology Press.
Key, T. M., & Czaplewski, A. J. (2017). Upstream social marketing strategy: An integrated
marketing communications approach. Business Horizons, 60(3), 325-333.
Lee, N. R., & Kotler, P. (2015). Social marketing: Changing behaviours for good. Sage
Publications.
Zhu, Y. Q., & Chen, H. G. (2015). Social media and human need satisfaction: Implications
for social media marketing. Business horizons, 58(3), 335-345.