Social Media Marketing and Planning Report for Sealink Travel Group

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of the Sealink Travel Group's social media marketing efforts. It begins with a profile of the company, detailing its operations and brands, followed by an identification of its core target market using geographic, demographic, psychographic, and behavioristic segmentation bases. A customer persona planner is then developed to understand the ideal customer, including insights into their age, gender, profession, hobbies, social media preferences, and content consumption habits. The report also examines the company's social media presence on Facebook and YouTube, evaluating the frequency of posts, media types used, and engagement levels. A SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats) analysis is then conducted to assess the overall social media strategy. The report concludes by summarizing the key findings and offering insights into the company's social media performance.

Running head: SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING AND PLANNING
Social Media Marketing and Planning
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

1SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING AND PLANNING
Table of Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................3
1. Profile of the Sealink Travel Group.........................................................................................3
2. Identification of the Core Target Market of the Sealink Travel Group using Segmentation
Bases................................................................................................................................................4
3. Customer Persona Planner........................................................................................................6
4. Social Media Template of the Sealink Travel Group...............................................................7
4.1. Facebook...........................................................................................................................7
4.1.1. How many Likes...........................................................................................................7
4.1.2. How often are posts Published......................................................................................8
4.1.3. What is the Push and Pull Mix......................................................................................8
4.1.4. What Types of Media are used......................................................................................8
4.1.5. Is there is a Link on the Facebook Page to the Company Website?.............................8
4.1.6. Is there an updated cover and Profile?..........................................................................8
4.1.7. Are comments responded to?........................................................................................8
4.2. Youtube Presence of the Sealink Travel Group................................................................9
4.2.2. What type of Content is posted?....................................................................................9
4.2.3. Is the Content shared on Social Media..........................................................................9
4.2.4. What are the Comments posted beneath the Videos Saying?.......................................9
5. Social Media SWOT Analysis...............................................................................................10

2SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING AND PLANNING
Conclusion.....................................................................................................................................11
References......................................................................................................................................11

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Introduction
Sealink Travel Group is a travel company of repute in Australia that is headquartered in
the city of Adelaide. The company has made a name for itself in recent years because of the high
quality cruises, tourism packages and transport facilities that it organizes for its customers. This
assignment prepares a report on the social media market analysis of the Sealink Travel Group
Ltd to assess how well it is doing in the market and industry in which it operates ("Home -
SeaLink Travel Group", 2019). For this purpose, the report provides a detailed description or
profile of the company, identifies the core market of the company using segmentation bases,
prepares a personal planner and social media chart to identify the type of consumers the
company caters to and the performance of the Sealink Travel Group on its social media channels
and concludes with a social media SWOT analysis of the company.
1. Profile of the Sealink Travel Group
Sealink Travel Group, situated in Adelaide, Australia, organizes cruises, transport services,
tours and accommodation as well as holiday packages for interested customers. The company
strives to be one of the most dynamic transport and tourism companies in Australia and connects
Australia’s landscapes and icons to the whole world. The company is serviced by 1600 dedicated
and committed staff members situated across the length and breadth of the country, and it caters
to as many as eight million customers on an annual basis. The operations of the Sealink Travel
Group are carried out in important regions such as the Bay Islands, Gladstone, Bruny Island,
Fraser Island, Murray River, Darwin, Rottnest Island, Sydney Harbor, Stradbroke Island,
Townsville, Kangaroo Island and South Australia, Perth and Fremantle. A few of the well-known

4SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING AND PLANNING
brands of the Sealink Travel Group include Captain Cook Cruises in Western Australia, Captain
Cook Cruises in Sydney, Australian Holiday Center and Adelaide Sightseeing ("Home - SeaLink
Travel Group", 2019).
2. Identification of the Core Target Market of the Sealink Travel Group
using Segmentation Bases
In this section, the core target market of the Sealink Travel Group shall be analyzed using
traditional market segmentation bases.
Geographic Segmentation – The geographic locations where the services of the Sealink Travel
Group are made available are as the Bay Islands, Gladstone, Bruny Island, Fraser Island, Murray
River, Darwin, Rottnest Island, Sydney Harbor, Stradbroke Island, Townsville, Kangaroo Island
and South Australia, Perth and Fremantle. The services offered by the Sealink Travel Group
therefore extend across much of the country (Venter et al., 2015).
Demographic Segmentation – The services of the Sealink Travel Group cater to a demographic
segment where customers belong to just about every of every gender, such as males, females,
trans-genders or people who do not like to be identified by gender stereotypes are usually above
twenty one years of age, have a love and thirst for travel, have completed or are on the verge of
completing their education, and are usually for the most part, enrolled in jobs and have the
purchasing power therefore to avail the services provided by Sealink Travel Group (Cross et al.,
2015).
Psychographic segmentation – The personality, the attitude and the lifestyle of the target
customers of the Sealink Travel Group can be characterized as carefree, easygoing and fun

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loving, with most customers being people who love to travel and explore new places, who love
to spend their money and time on luxuries and who are filled with a thirst for adventure and
discovery. As such people who belong to the upper middle income strata of society and high end
strata of society are those who constitute the target customers of the Sealink Travel Group.
Mentally, these are people who wish to be on the move, either for work or for relaxation or for
both, and as such seek out comfortable and luxurious journeys and accommodation options to
this end. The Sealink Travel Group has been able to make a name for itself till date by being able
to meet the demands and requirements of this target population (Jia et al., 2017).
Behavioristic Segmentation – Customers who avail the services provided by Sealink Travel
Group are customers who have a taste for the good life and who are eager to spend their time and
money on the pursuit of quality travel experiences. These are customers who are not only eager
to discover and explore new places, but they are also interested in the type of travel that is
characterized by comfort, elegance and efficiency all at the same given time. The
accommodation options that are made available by the Sealink Travel Group are definitely
options that cater to customers who like to put up at resorts and hotels or guest houses where
they not only get to relax and unwind but that they also get to do this in an ambience that is
sophisticated and refined, and of high aesthetic value. As mentioned above the majority of
customers who avail Sea Link Travel Groups services are high end or middle income customers
and as such are on the lookout for the finer things in life. The user status with regard to the
Sealink Travel Groups services constitutes occasional and regular users both, as this is a
company that not only provides customers with high quality and top notch travel experiences but
also transportation facilities, with the latter being utilized on a regular basis (Baalbaki &
Malhotra, 2015).

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Volume Segmentation – When it comes to market volume, it is important to note that Sealink
Travel Group is a company that reaches out not only to customers who make regular and
consistent use of its services, but also those who do not use the services of the company too
frequently, or the services of the company at all. This is evident from the active promotional
activities that are undertaken by the company on social media platforms like Facebook and
Instagram, where it communicates with users who are not only using its services in large or small
numbers but also those who have not availed the services of the company as yet and could be
likely to do so in the future (Ibid).
3. Customer Persona Planner
Name of the Customer
Jennifer Anderson
Key Customer Insights
Age – Jennifer is 30 years old
Gender – Jennifer is a female
Profession – Jennifer is an investment banker who works at Goldman Sachs
Hobbies – Jennifer is a woman who loves to travel in her free time. Travelling is her passion.
Over and above travelling, she loves to read and to listen to music.
Are they an Innovator or Late Adopter? – Jennifer is in a sense a late adopter. She was not a
traveler until twenty four years of age, and got inspired by some of her friends and associates in
the banking industry.

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Benefits Sought – The benefits that a customer like Jennifer is looking to seek when is to be able
to enjoy comfortable and luxurious travel experiences. She is willing to pay enough money to
avail such facilities and never wants quality to be something that is compromised on whenever
she undertakes a travel venture within Australia. She likes to feel safe, secure and amidst high
quality and sophisticated surroundings when she is travelling
What do they like on Social Media? – Jennifer loves to use Facebook and Twitter. She likes to
use Facebook to get an idea about new and upcoming places to visit and to stay at both in
Australia and elsewhere. She likes to interact with friends and family members on both the
platforms and she likes to tweet on political issues.
Which Social Media Channels are they Actively Using? – Two of the social media channels
that are being actively used by Jennifer are Facebook and Twitter
What are their Favorite Types of Social Content? – Two of the favorite types of social
content for Jennifer are videos and pictures of travel and countries that are posted on Facebook
and Twitter as well as animal pictures and videos.
4. Social Media Template of the Sealink Travel Group
4.1. Facebook
4.1.1. How many Likes
Sealink Travel Group is currently liked by ten people on Facebook (Group, 2019)

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4.1.2. How often are posts Published
Posts are published on the Facebook page of the company at times daily and at other
times in a span of three to four days (Group, 2019).
4.1.3. What is the Push and Pull Mix
The push and pull mix of the Sealink Travel Group is to entice customers with exciting
pictures about its travel cruises and holiday packages, as well as videos of the same (Group,
2019).
4.1.4. What Types of Media are used
The types of media that are used by the Sealink Travel Group on the Facebook page are
pictures and videos (Group, 2019).
4.1.5. Is there is a Link on the Facebook Page to the Company Website?
Yes there is a link on the facebook page of the company to the website ofe the
company (Group, 2019).
4.1.6. Is there an updated cover and Profile?
Both the cover and profile of the company need to be updated more often as far as its
facebook page is concerned (Group, 2019).
4.1.7. Are comments responded to?
Comments of an urgent and serious nature are addressed at times on the wall, but are not
regularly responded to (Group, 2019).

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4.2. Youtube Presence of the Sealink Travel Group
4.2.1. Is the company known to Post Youtube Videos
The Sealink Travel Group has posted not one but many videos of its holiday package
tours and cruises on its Youtube page ("Sea Link Ferry Kangaroo Island, Tour Operator in
Adelaide for Accommodation or for Island Adventure", 2019).
4.2.2. What type of Content is posted?
The type of content that is posted is detailed and descriptive videos of the tours and
cruises that are conducted by the company in the various regions of its operation such as
Sydney Harbor and Kangaroo Island among others ("Sea Link Ferry Kangaroo Island, Tour
Operator in Adelaide for Accommodation or for Island Adventure", 2019).
4.2.3. Is the Content shared on Social Media
The Youtube videos of the Sealink Travel Group are shared on its other social media page
("Sea Link Ferry Kangaroo Island, Tour Operator in Adelaide for Accommodation or for
Island Adventure", 2019).
4.2.4. What are the Comments posted beneath the Videos Saying?
The comments that are posted beneath the videos reveal that viewers find the videos to be
quite informative and beautiful and it is clear from the comments that the videos that are
posted on Youtube go a long way in attracting the attention and interest of customers to the
travel packages that are offered by the company ("Sea Link Ferry Kangaroo Island, Tour
Operator in Adelaide for Accommodation or for Island Adventure", 2019).

10SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING AND PLANNING
5. Social Media SWOT Analysis
Strengths – One of the key strengths of the Sealink Travel Group on social media is the fact that
it posts beautiful and descriptive photos and videos of the travel packages and the cruises that it
offers its customers. Customers by simply viewing the social media content of the company, get
a firsthand idea of the types of services that they could avail should they sign up for such
services (Tuten & Solomon, 2017).
Weaknesses – One of the key weaknesses of the social media presence of Sealink Travel Group
is that the pages of the company on social media are not updated too often. Also, the company
needs to include more videos and photographs of its services than what it does at the moment so
as to be able to attract greater customer attention to its facilities than what it is able to at the
moment (Ashley & Tuten, 2015).
Opportunities – Given the love for comfortable and luxury travel and leisure among the target
audience of the Sealink Travel Group, and the love for social media use among the average
Australian, there is plenty of scope for the Sealink Travel Group to expand its services and its
business and to popularize its services more through the use of social media. If the Sealink
Travel Group keeps its presence on social media thoroughly regularly and up to date, it will be
able to avail such opportunities easily (Felix et al., 2017).
Threats – There are many travel companies in Australia that offer services that are similar to the
services made available by Sealink Travel Group. Moreover, the demand for high end travel
among Australians today’s implies that new travel companies could emerge at any point of time,
that would offer services along the lines of what the Sealink Travel Group does, perhaps at more

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competitive rates and who make better use of social media, thus posing a threat to this business
(Godey et al., 2016).
Conclusion
It is evident from this social media situational analysis that Sealink Travel Group is a
company that is doing relatively well for itself. The company simply needs to enhance its
presence on social media to do better than what it is at the moment.

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References
Ashley, C., & Tuten, T. (2015). Creative strategies in social media marketing: An exploratory
study of branded social content and consumer engagement. Psychology & Marketing,
32(1), 15-27.
Baalbaki, I. B., & Malhotra, N. K. (2015). 11.4 Macro/Environmental/Ethics/Quality-of-Life
Marketing: Health Public Policy, and International Market Segmentation. In Proceedings
of the 1995 World Marketing Congress (pp. 48-48). Springer, Cham.
Cross, J. C., Belich, T. J., & Rudelius, W. (2015). How marketing managers use market
segmentation: An exploratory study. In Proceedings of the 1990 Academy of Marketing
Science (AMS) Annual Conference (pp. 531-536). Springer, Cham.
Felix, R., Rauschnabel, P. A., & Hinsch, C. (2017). Elements of strategic social media
marketing: A holistic framework. Journal of Business Research, 70, 118-126.
Godey, B., Manthiou, A., Pederzoli, D., Rokka, J., Aiello, G., Donvito, R., & Singh, R. (2016).
Social media marketing efforts of luxury brands: Influence on brand equity and consumer
behavior. Journal of business research, 69(12), 5833-5841
Group, S. (2019). Sealink Travel Group - Local business | Facebook. Retrieved 9 August 2019,
from https://www.facebook.com/pages/Sealink-Travel-Group/162500073955064
Home - SeaLink Travel Group. (2019). Retrieved 9 August 2019, from
https://www.sealinktravelgroup.com.au/

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Jia, C., Wang, Y., & Xiong, W. (2017). Market segmentation and differential reactions of local
and foreign investors to analyst recommendations. The Review of Financial Studies,
30(9), 2972-3008.
Sea Link Ferry Kangaroo Island, Tour Operator in Adelaide for Accommodation or for Island
Adventure. (2019). Retrieved 9 August 2019, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=aRdgGhicxYw
Tuten, T.L. & Solomon, M.R.(2017). Social media marketing. Sage.
Venter, P., Wright, A., & Dibb, S. (2015). Performing market segmentation: a performative
perspective. Journal of Marketing Management, 31(1-2), 62-83.