This week, I’m asking you to pull together all of what you’ve learned so far in order to think through how a company/organization/politician/person (animal? mascot?) did or did not effectively use social media strategically. This would mean that the company/organization you choose as a “case study” did or did not:
I’m studying for my Communications class and don’t understand how to answer this. Can you help me study?
Prompt: This week, I’m asking you to pull together all of what you’ve learned so far in order to think through how a company/organization/politician/person (animal? mascot?) did or did not effectively use social media strategically. This would mean that the company/organization you choose as a “case study” did or did not:
- Ground their social media campaign in relevant organizational goals
- Target a specific, and relevant audience
- Plan their social media campaign to leverage the features of each social media platform (and use only the platforms they should)
- Write copy/create content appropriate for their platforms
- Show an understanding of what makes content “go viral”
- Get an effective return on their investment
- Because they understood and were responding to the social/cultural/political situation at the time.
I’m using the term “case study” here pretty intentionally. Most social media companies (actually, most communications firms in general) use case studies as a way to show that their approach/their work, works. Read about this in Sprout social’s recent blog post.
Once you’ve read the post, go do a little historical research to find an example of a company/organization/school/author, etc. and write a case study about their use of social.
Here are your guidelines:
- Use the Sprout social piece as your “guide” for writing your case study (yes, I know, you aren’t selling any “how to use social media product. This is a guide – not a 1-to-1 imitation).
- Use language/concepts from the course as you make the case for whether or not your “case” did or did not succeed in their social strategy.
- BE CREATIVE in your choice of example. This means do not use an example that has been used in class. Go find something old, different, in your industry, something that we don’t know about yet. There are literally millions and millions of people (animals, cartoons, non-profits, events, etc.) that are on/have been on social media.
- Include pictures/text when possible to help us understand “what happened” in the case.
Readings:
https://www.socialmediaexaminer.com/how-to-optimiz…
https://medium.com/@access_guide_/pocket-guide-for…
https://www.3playmedia.com/blog/making-social-medi…
