Part II Research findings

2.1. SM benefits, socio-demographics and trends (Externalconsiderations)

According to Kirtis and Karahan (2011), “Social Media” (SM) term is

deemed as the different ways in which internet users interact with one

another online. The latter involves activities such as creating posts

and/or video content, commenting on and sharing information about

brands, products and services, and/or communicating with friends. There

is a wide range of social media such as YouTube and Twitter; and social

sharing sites also known as social networking sites like LinkedIn and

Facebook (Hensel and Deis, 2010). Hanna et al. (2011) note that SM

consumers are active participants and creators in the media process.

Targeting the right mix of SM platforms and marketing strategy can

benefit businesses in numerous ways. However, businesses require new

approaches whereas considering involvement with SM and new strategy

that expands media choices as to capture desired market, reach more

consumers, reshape relations into intimacy and personalising

conversation and brand engagement.

2.1.1. The benefits of social media .

Stelzner (2012:15) notes that the number - one rated benefit for brands

of SM marketing in standing out within congested cyber space is

generating exposure, as shown in Fig 1. A significant 85% of all

marketers indicated that their efforts in engaging in SM activities

have increased the cyber exposure for their businesses. Second major

significance is for improving traffic and subscribers - 69% report

positive results. Almost two-thirds of marketers note they have gained

marketplace intelligence as a benefit of social media marketing.

Fourth and fifth in the rank list are respectively generated qualified

leads (58%) and developed loyal fans base (58%). Last but not least,

overall marketing expenses decrease is also observed and noted by 46%

of marketers.

Fig 1 . Benefits of social media marketing

Sources: Adapted from Stelzner, M. (2012:16)

Increased exposure

Increased traffic

Provided marketplace insight

Generated leads

Developed loyal fans

Reduced marketing expenses

Improved sales

0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90

Benefits of social media marketing

% of marketers

Type

of

bene

fit

2.1.2. Current socio demographics trends of Facebook and Twitter

The findings confirm the suggestion made by Royal Pingdom (2012)

report on Social network demographics in 2012; and can be summarised as

shown below. A note here to make the figures are average and they may

defer in different geographical regions, however, the trends for

Twitter, FB and LinkedIn (Table 1 in Appendix ) are based on average US

users and very closely coincide with average global users.

The highest percentage of users of Twitter, FB and LinkedIn are

35 years old or over.

• 55% - Twitter

• 65% - Facebook

• 79% - LinkedIn

The average age of oldest users is 40 years old

The age trend for Twitter’s user base is getting younger, while

Facebook’s is getting older.

Findings point out that women rule social media.

• The average gender distribution is 48 % male, 52% female

According to Crowdscience (2012), during the last five years trends in

social media demographics shift really fast as the SM tools develop and

change. The power users currently are the group of the adults internet

users representing increase of 60% amongst the latter between 2005 and

2011. On the other hand, Smith (2009) also notes that :

The 16-54 years olds focus more on content while

55+ share more opinion rather than being engaged with social

media because of the content.

Men lead content creation with 67% against women 57% as most of

them are between 18 - 34 years olds (70%) followed by 35-54 year

olds(62%) (ibid).

However, women appear to be more motivated to stay in touch.

These niche socio demographic markets should be considered by CO as a

target when content strategy is executed in a way to fit the niche

market online behavior characteristics. The men content creation

category is also a Gen Y market. Since the latter appear to be one of

interest for CO, therefore, it is critical for CO to take into account

the Gen Y online behavior and preferences (Refer to section Gen Y).

The Demographics of Facebook

The global online market share of Facebook market is led by the

Americas, followed by Europe and Asia. Burbary (2011) notes that more

than 70 per cent of Facebook users come from outside the United States

as shown in Table 2. In US Facebook population is made up of millions

of people across a range of ages groups. While young adults (18-25)

lead the way with a combined 50 million users, the 26-34 group is now

well behind with 29 million users. According to Burbary (2011), the

data from Facebook shows that there a combined 28 million active people

over the age of 45. These are impressive user numbers from an older

demographic that continue to grow. An important demographic trend is

that the 55-64 aged group is almost the size of the youngest Facebook

users, the group of 13-17 years olds. Thus this suggest that Facebook

is not limited to age groups, however, the most active users are 18 to

49 years olds.

Facebook Global Audience: 963 812 360

1. UnitedStates

163 071 460

2. Brazil 66 552 420

3. India 61 499 220

4. Indonesia 47 165 080

5. Mexico 39 945 6

Table 2 Largest Countries on Facebook (Data for 03/07/2013)Source: Facebook.com Ad platform (2011) cited in Carmichael (2011)

However, the significance of these numbers for CO is to keep in mind

that overseas visits account for 40% of Edinburgh visits in 2011 (etag,

2011) and domestic for 66% from the visits (etag, 2012:7). There is an

immense potential to reach out and attract new CO’s customers through

FB users base (US, European and UK). One of the objectives of the ‘’The

Vision for Tourism in Edinburgh in 2020’’ that Edinburgh Tourism Action

Group emphasis is on increase by one third in visits to Edinburgh

by 2020. Thus this means increase not only in domestic but inbound

tourism as well. The common feature for CO to perceive is that US and

Europe have not only the largest FB base, but are the main foreign

markets for Scotland and Edinburgh in particular (etag, 2012). Thus for

example France and Germany who combined have FB user base of more than

50 million are part of the Edinburgh’s’ EU main short haul markets

(featuring also Spain, Italy and the Netherlands – 14%).

Facebook Global Audience: 963 812 360

1. UnitedStates

163 071 460

2. Brazil 66 552 420

3. India 61 499 220

4. Indonesia 47 165 080

5. Mexico 39 945 6

Key Facts US Facebook users: 46% are over the age of45.

 57% are female (43% male).

 57% report having been to “some college”

24% have bachelors or graduate degree

Demographics of Twitter

According to Thorhauge (2012) and Jordan (2012), the female group’s

presence on Twitter is slightly higher than men. Just over a quarter of

internet users are young, aged 18-29 use Twitter, while more than a

third is aged over 45. Thorhauge (2012) also notes that the group of

18-29 years olds is double the size of the 30-49 years olds. People

using this platform are more likely to live in urban and suburban areas

than rural areas.

According to Thorhauge (2012), Twitter is growing quickly and offers

many great marketing possibilities. He notes two important points for

marketers to take into account when decide to engage with Twitter

users. Firstly, the smartphone use to participate in tweeting is

growing; and second, the impressive massive growth of 400% in Twitter

usage by 18-24 year olds in 2012 compared to the previous two years.

Inevitably, this fact suggests that users are much more often tweeting

and re-tweeting, thus minimising the life span on each tweet. In order

to be effective, CO needs to be aware of the challenges marketers might

Key Facts Twitter

        Twitter has 127 million active users.

        13% of Internet users also use Twitter.

face such as time frame to respond on tweets. Scheduling for an optimum

of SM activities such as posts and replies to efficiently track,

monitor conversations and measure campaign results is a must. The good

news for CO is that social media management applications to manage and

measure social networks exist (to swap place with appendix on Twitter

Refer to Appendix SM Applications). Furthermore, if CO wish to

communicate with a target group of young and primarily urban and

suburban people might benefit largely from having a ‘’ Know how’’

strategy to engage with Twitter users (Refer to Appendix – Twitter) .

Demographics data - Facebook UK

Latest data on Facebook UK demographics data internet users ratio

suggests that the latter make up 51% of the whole UK population; and FB

users represents 64% of the total internet users as shown in Table 2

(Appendix ) (Fanalyzer, 2013) . The groups of 18-24 and 25-34 years

olds hold 50 % of FB users share, followed by 35-44 with almost 18%. 34

% are married, while singles and those in a relationship share one

third of the market. Women appear to lead slightly mans’ FB population

by 2.5 % and currently is at 51.3%. An important fact for CO to note is

that half of FB users in UK are Gen Y which according to (Interview

with Tony) is from significant interest as a market to target.

Therefore, CO could take advantages from the FB UK trends in several

ways:

Customer relations management - Use FB to keep in touch with its

visitors, respectively with their peers and friends

Increase exposure - Take advantage of FB users’ friends base to

create more exposure

Promote to attract new domestic travelers to its business

Promote to enhance repeat visitors

UK’s Facebook users online behavior

As the rest of the world, in UK, social media is mass market; drives the

viewing landscape such as photos and videos, followed by content

reading. Although with increase in age the contacts maintained face to

face decrease, social media platforms allows the maintenance of massive

digital contacts. According to Smith (2009), the latter in 2009 in UK

were average 88 contacts per one user in 2009, while the average number

of people when content is shared is 3 and represents 72% of the SM

users. The sharing appears to be external and informal and usually

through email (almost 50%) and to social networks friends (20%). The

moving photo trend appear to be the future trend; driven and created by

consumers.

An important note to make is that Edinburgh is the UK’s No.1

destination for domestic short breaks. etag (2011) notes that travelers

to Edinburgh finds it as ‘’a city which is great for contemporary and

traditional culture (64%)’’; ‘’it is a fun and lively city (63%); 60%

think that it is ‘’ great city to go to with a group of friends; 51% -

‘’a city people are talking about as good to go to’’ and 54% think it

is a ‘’ romantic city’’. Within the domestic market, the priority for

Edinburgh is VisitScotland’s Younger Cultural explorers aged 25 to 40,

high or middle socio-economic group and well educated. However, these

are the socio demographic markets of FB and Twitter, where CO is most

likely to succeed in engaging them with its brand and need to emphasis

increasing its FB exposure.

2.1.3. Trends in technology

The social media key trends, impacts and role for brands suggest that

CO should take into account the global impact of communication

technology. Social media platforms allow and are deemed as mass market

and not limited to age group, gender or socio economic characteristics

such as education and income. However, internet users embrace

technology faster than ever before to access and be present on SM

platforms (Hackbert, 2011).

‘’200 million people access Facebook via a mobile device each day.Users that access Facebook on mobile devices are twice as active

on Facebook compared to non-mobile users’’ (Jordan, 2012).

In 2012 the 18-29 year olds group of Tweeter users accessing theplatform via smart phones has grown by 400% compared to 2010

(Thorhauge, 2012)

What do these trends mean for CO? According to PRNewswire (2013), in US

for example, between 1st of January and 31st of December 2012, nearly

95% of all national advertiser campaigns have had some form of markets’

location targeting via mobile.

Thus, search behavioral targeting (based on geo-precise mobile search

behaviors or what is searched for in relation to close proximity of the

point of interest) has increased performance by 60% over the industry

benchmark for traditional marketing, while place-based targeting

(consumer’s exact location) has delivered 55% raise. The likely reasons

behind these parameters are :

Mobile users’ circumstances and needs are constantly changing

because they are in constant motion and typically on the go,

The top businesses travel searches via mobile are about local

amenities such as restaurants and hotels

Tablet use is expected to growmassively. Four out of teninternet users will accessswitch to these mobile devices.It is therefore imperative forbrands to optimise content for

And/or searches related to travel and entertainment such as

bars and clubs, theatres and events/venues.

The study notes that the category of entertainment search has grew by

184% in 2012 from the previous year. Furthermore, it is important to

note that for marketers the consumer’s exact location becomes a

powerful factor in reaching and engaging desired mobile audiences. The

data suggests that behavioral targeting has grown by 212% from Q1 to Q4

of 2012. However, although the latter holds the most growth, place –

based targeting or the ability to reach consumers based on a given

proximity or distance from a specific point of interest was the most

popular targeting technique.

The challenge for CO is to think about how to reach local market that

access SM via their mobiles. One way is to create fun page for mobile

users that has short and relevant content as normal website is

difficult to navigate through on a mobile screen. Furthermore, CO

should consider creating and placing ads; be confident to match its

target audience and offer promotions, coupons and offers that can be

easily attained only from CO’s SM platform. It should be clear that

this is the case. Think of Gen Y (refer to Gen Y section

characteristics and preferences).

2.1.4. Average user online behavior

The area of interest to 46% of adult internet users is original photos

or videos online posting , while 41% repost content that have found

online on sites designed for sharing images with many people (Rainie et

al., 2012). Furthermore, Smith (2011:2) suggests that approximately two

thirds of SM users stay in touch with current friends and family

members; therefore, the most commonly used platform is Facebook. Only

14% of users stay connected because of shared hobby or interest as

LinkedIn is the most common platform for professionals and business

people. On the other hand, following public figures such as celebrities

is mainly done on Twitter.

It is imperative for CO to embrace the idea that the connected world

has never been more accurate reflection of the consumers’ behavior than

the analog world of traditional promotion. The online interaction with

brands through social media platforms suggests that consumer’s :

Learn about brands through social media,

Investigate brands under consideration,

Increasingly consult social media as they purchase, however,

Expect brands to interact with them through social media.

Twitter User

54% of Twitter users use Twitter on their mobile devices.

        36% of Twitter users tweet at least once a day.

        The average visit on Twitter lasts for 14 minutes.

(Jordan, 2012)

Facebook User Sends 8 friend requests per

month Spends an average 15 ½ hours

per month Visits the site 40 times per

month Connected to 80 community

pages, groups and events Creates 90 pieces of content

each month The average Facebook user has

130 friends. The average Facebook visit

lasts 23 minutes

The social media changes consumer’s’ journey because the whole web is

now connected and all aspects of life are socialised. Age, gender and

socio economic – motivations are consistent as they primarily are

about :

Research and find products and services to buy,

Stay up to date with news and /or about events, and

Stay in touch with friends.

Thus the consumer’s’ journey is based on networking, content and

knowledge. Consequently, for CO there are three major differences to

consider when shifting from analog(traditional promotions) to

connected world

It is important for CO to rethink the current traditional advertising

budget and reallocate finances to strategies that include a viral

potential such as video and photo content and portable devices apps and

/or websites. Ads are far more effective when consumers are influenced

The journey must take into account

the consumer’s point of view, not the

marketer’s.

The journey to customer loyalty is

continuous process of knowledge

gathering, investigation, exploration

and interaction.

The journey is no longer limited to

just one person at a time. It is

Social Media is changing thewhole web:

A movementConsumer driven- Network- Content- KnowledgeEverything is socialised

According to Fuggetta (2011), the

era of communication is now in an

empowered-customer-centric state and

future technological trends suggest

that customers will be able to

communicate from anywhere and almost

about anything. Hence thus for CO

this means that thoughts and budget

by their peers – friends or families. In the traditional marketing, ads

tend to cover up a weak reputation and unhappy customers. Ads also

appear to be a more expensive way to acquire new customers. However,

happy repeat customers are already accessible; they are likely to

become the advocates of the brand if they are let willingly to spread

their enthusiasm and are enabled to easy recommend the band to their

networks. Think about the brand-SM platform connection as high way.

Leads, inbound clicks and data base signups are crucial to ensure easy

online access to the business. On the other hand, they enable measuring

results from campaigns as they are tied back to the business website.

2.2. Internal considerations

The 2012 Social media Marketing Report (Stelzner, 2012) suggests

that there is obvious relationship between the number and type of SM

tools used, length of employee’s experience and hours spend on SM

activities. The lengthy the experience, the more the types and numbers

of SM tools are used.

2.2.1. Your marketing department and social media interrelations’ determinants

According to study ‘’ Commonly used tools used by those who commit

small versus large amounts of time to social media’’ (Stelzner,

2012:23), the study suggests that 78 % owners of small businesses are

more likely to use LinkedIn as the aim is to generate business networks

and partnership. Thus, nearly 44% of businesses who have only invested

one year or less and 6 to 10 hours per week in SM note new partnerships

were created (Stelzner, 2012:17). Given the significance of creating

traffic, leads and loyal fan base (Refer to Fig 1), 40% of the owners

of small business enterprises (SMEs) with two or more employees report

positive benefits risen from multichannel social media involvement such

as increase in sales.

Time commitment factor

Fig 4 below draws the pattern of the Time commitment factor. According

to 2012 Social media Marketing Report: How Marketers Are Using Social

Media to Grow Their Businesses (Stelzner, 2012:12), in 2012 more than

half of marketers use SM for 6 hours or more each week and 33% for 11

or more hours per week. An interesting observation to note is that 25 %

spend more than 20 hours each week on social media.

Fig 4 Time commitment for social media marketing

Source: Adopted from Stelzner, M. (2012:12)

0 hours

1 to 5

6 to 10

11 to 15

16 to 20

21 to 25

26 to 30

31 to 35

36 to 40

> 400

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

40Time commitment for Social Media

Marketing

Weekly Hours

% of

marke

ters

The experience factor

Fig 5 shows that there is a direct link between how long employees have

been using SM and their weekly time commitment. For people who are just

beginning to use SM, 59% spend 1 to 5 hours per week. However, people

who have been using SM for longer than one year but less than three

(41%) spend 6 hours or more per week on social media activities. A

significant 47% of marketers who have more than 3 years’ experience

spend at least 16 hours per week focusing on SM activities.

Fig 5 Relationship between number and type of SM tool, length of employee’s experience

and hours spend on SM activities

Source: Adapted from Stelzner (2012:13 -15)

The Age factor

Another fact to note is that Stelzner (2012:14) points out the direct

relationship between age and time spent on social media. Thus, the data

suggests that he younger the marketer, the more time he or she spends

on social media. For example:

People aged 20 to 29 years represent 43% of those who 11+ hours

per week,

30 to 39 year-olds spending 11+ hours per week are 35%,

40-45 year olds are only 25% who would spend between 1 and 5

hours a week,

40 to 45 year olds – only 10% spending more than 10 hours a week.

Up to 1 year

FaceboookTwitter59% spend

1 to 5 hrs per week

1 to 3 yearsFacebookTwitterLinkedInBlogs41% spend 6-10hrs/week34% spend

11+ hrs/week

3+ yearsFacebookTwitterLinkedInBlogsYoutube63% spend

10 hrs/week47% spend 16+

hrs/week

An important note to make is that marketers with more experience that

usually spend 40+ hours a week are engaged with activities on Twitter

and LinkedIn, and video creation. Those who commit between 1 and 5

hours a week are usually less experienced and focus on simpler

activities on Facebook and Twitter. However, taking into account the

size and number of employees of CO and emphasis on engaging an internal

available employee with some experience it will be beneficial if the

firm considers effective timeline strategy and wall posts for both

Twitter and Facebook in place (Refer to section

Recommendations – Kay).It is crucial for CO to know when engagement

rates with customers are higher and the type of wall post content the

latter interact with as it is discussed next.

Strategy for effective Tweeting and time line posts on Facebook

According to White papers (Buddy Media, 2012 a :5) only 19% of all

brand Tweets are published on weekends even though engagement is the

highest on these days . Posting on Wednesdays and Thursdays appear to

have the lowest engagement. As the socio demographic suggests, most

users are working people and most likely to be free on weekends when

they have time to catch up with news and updates.

Fig 9 When brands should be posting (represented by green line)

Source: Adapted from Buddy Media (2012a:5)

However, with the increased use of technology (Refer to Section

Technology) and because followers use Twitter to be the first in the

know, customers are able to be on Twitter as the source for real-time

brand news even while working. Evidently, there is a good perspective

on capitalising on these trends (Refer to Appendix Key Takeway). Hence

thus, CO should engage with tweeting during busy hours – from 8AM –

7PM. On the other hand, engaging with brands through Facebook during

non-busy hours between 8PM and 7AM on weekdays (Fig 10), receive 17%

higher engagement than those posted during busy hours (Buddy Media,

2012b:4).

Fig 10 User –brand engagement rate on Twitter and Facebook

Source: Adapted from Buddy Media (2012:4)

The common days of the best opportunities for CO to engage with fans

and followers for both Twitter and Facebook are weekends. It is evident

that interaction rates start climbing on Thursdays and peak on Sundays.

There is a tremendous opportunity for CO to increase interaction by

posting more on weekends when Facebook and Twitter fans like to use the

social network and these are the days when they usually have more time

to engage in and/ or plan next weekend activities such as travel,

events and entertainment participation. However, this should not limit

the interaction for CO. Therefore, CO should use different social

network for different days of the week. Automated scheduling of posts

for weekends through social media applications such as Postling (Refer

to to Appednix ) is an effective way to be present on the platforms

while the company employees are performing other duties.

Discussion

Discussion on findings in section 2.1

To summarise, as Smith (2009) notes, the average global premium

audience of SM visual content is females, the group of 24-35 year olds,

people with some college degree and average income of 50,000

dollars/year. These SM soicio economic demographics suggest that these

are people who are more likely to travel for holiday and leisure; and

are likely markets for CO to consider since its majority of visitors

are mainly holiday/leisure tourists from the Castle catchment area. The

latter remains number one most visited attraction in Edinburgh (BBC,

2012) with 80% share from Edinburgh leisure tourists in 2011(etag,

2011).

Discussion on findings in section 2.2

To sum up the findings, as the Age factor suggests younger people are

more likely to spend more time socialising. Furthermore, those with

more years of social media experience spend more time each week

conducting SM activities. Therefore, choosing the right SM employee

will not only increase the chance for CO to increase the number of

benefits created by the use of SM platforms but also it is more likely

Key Takeaways Interact: 65% of US consumers connect with brands on a social networking site for games, contests, and promotionsInvestigate: 57% of US online adults use ratings and reviews to inform their decisions about online purchasesLearn: Consumers generated more than 500 billion impressions about products and services through social media in 2011.Purchase: 51% of US consumers are more likely to buy a product or brandafter liking them on FacebookSource: Forrester Consulting (2012:3)

to enhance each benefit category. However, it is very important for CO

also to take into account employee length of experience, time

commitment to SM activities and the range and type of SM tool. The

suggestions included in Fig 5 can be used by CO as a guide to short,

medium and long term commitment to SM when internal human resources

with some SM experience is considered.

On the other hand, the future trends suggests that small businesses

increasingly look forward to engage in BTB with LinkedIn and YouTube

platforms to reach out to larger and different markets. However, this

will require either longer experience in SM visual content creation,

time and money commitment; creating marketing department or outsourcing

SM activities.

The growing interaction with brands makes customer service and staff

interaction a must when Twitter is employed as a communication channel.

The Analog World of Traditional promotion in Fig 7 is deemed as an

outdated interpretation of the consumer’s’ journey where ‘’marketers

are beholden to the purchase funnel’’ (Forrester Consulting , 2012:3)

and inaccurately reflects the reality of today’s connected world for

consumers as seen in Fig 8. Fig 7 The Analog World of Traditional promotion Fig 8 The Connected World for consumers

Awareness

Consideration

Preference

PurchaseLoyalty

The bottom line, however for CO is that, as Hanna et al. (2011: 8) states

the ‘’ social media have transformed the Internet from a platform for

information, to a platform for influence’’. Therefore, undoubtedly, CO

needs to consider the changing nature of social media usage. Evidently,

the Connected World for consumers’ model confirms that the way people

use Twitter is changing in two respects. First, Twitter becomes a

passive source of information and updates for users. And second,

Twitter seems to be used more as a tool rather than a pure social

service. For more information on how to use Twitter refer to Appendix

Twitter.

Furthermore, the lowest ranking activity on Twitter for internet access

devices (PCs and mobiles) is comment about daily activities and /or

comment on a friends post, while relevant daily news from brands are

the most followed tweets, as it is also evident from the primary

research on how competitors use SM platforms. Hence thus, the important

news for CO is that Twitter is becoming more commercial. The new

movements in posting comments about brand, asking friends about

product, organising an event and buying a product or service (Refer to

Appendix on Competitors) are growing significantly.

It is crucial for CO to understand that Twitter is not the point of

sale but the source of information (discovery) and is underlined by the

behavior determinants of the Connected World. Globalwebindex (2013)

notes that just half of active users post a tweet. Thus this means that

half the active user base using Twitter as a source of information

through reading and reacting on others tweets. Thus, the latter means

that content strategy (Appendix Content strategy) is absolutely

critical for CO and mega opportunity for exposure on the new social

landscape and CO should emphases on the top three social needs drivers:

knowledge personal connection and entertainment (Refer to Key’s

content posts mapping Appendix).

On the same note, it is also crucial for CO to emhasise on the fact

that the connected world is a place where its marketers must

continuously attract and retain customers by building relationships and

adding value at all phases of the Connected World. Therefore, to be

successful in the connected world, it is advised that CO need to

consider its own Blueprint for building connected brands, an example of

which is shown in Fig 9 below.

Fig 9 Blueprint for building connected brands

Source: Adopted from Forrester Consulting (2012:2)

According to Asur et al.(2011), ‘’factors such as user activity and

number of followers do not contribute strongly to trend creation and

its propagation’’. Their study suggests that major role in causing

trends in SM networking such as engagement and keeping the conversation

are resonance of the content presented by the different users. An

interesting fact to note here, as Mindjumpers’ CEO and founder, Jonas

Klit Nielsen believes is that in the future where brands commit to SM

will invest in people who are highly skilled in content creation.

‘’Companies need to be ready to think as publishers and not marketers.

They need to know what value they can provide for their target group

(above and beyond the value offered via their brand or products) and

implement a robust editorial process into their workflow” (Nielsen,

2012 cited in Poulsen, 2012).

Articulate

Connect

the brand’s social identity so the brand communicates with a unique, compelling, and authentic voice.with your best and most likely customers by giving them a reason to like or follow the brand in social channels.

Engage

Influence

people by making brand communications more participative and personally relevant.people by inspiring and enabling people to share messages about your brand with their networks.

Integrate

Rejuvenate

social into the brand and product experience to make it more cohesive and useful.the brand by using insights from social channels to monitor the brand’s health and improve the brand experience.

3.Camera Obscura Analysis

3.1. SWOT

4.Competitor Analysis

4.1. Dynamic Earth

4.2. Royal Yacht Britannia

4.3. Mary Kings Close

4.4. Scotch Whisky Experience

5.Recommendations

Appendixes

Appendix Face to face an interview with Camera Obscura and Worldof Illusions Assistant Manager, Tony Millar

Appendix Multiple Choice Closed-ended questionnaire

Appendix Observational research on Camera Obscura social media activities table

Appenidx Who uses Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn

Table 1. % of internet users (number) within each group

Source: Summarised from Rainie et al. (2012:13-15) and McGee (2012)

Facebook Twitter LinkedInAll internet users (799) 66% 16% 20%Men (393) 63 17 21Women (406) 70 15 19Age18-29 (140) 83 27 1630-49 (224) 72 15 2550-64 (229) 56 12 2265+ (182) 40 7 11Annual household incomeLess than $30,000/yr (195) 73 15 7$30,000 -$49,999 (156) 75 14 20$50,000 - $74,999 (128) 68 15 24$75,000+ (218) 57 19 34Education level

Appendix Twitter Marketing for Business

Twitter can be one of the mostefficient and effective social mediamarketing tools that a company canuse to connect with current andpotential customers, enhance brandrecognition and generate well-targeted traffic to their onlinewebsite or offline business. Whilemany people were quick to think thatTwitter social networking was forpersonal-use only, studies have found that Twitter can be one ofthe most effective ways to get product sales and online trafficto a company’s main website.

Business Twitter Tools and Applications: Leverage Your Time on Twitter

Use great business Twitter tools andapplications to leverage your time andbecome more efficient and effective inyour social networking efforts. Twitteris an incredible social businessmarketing tool that more and morebusinesses are starting to utilize.There are literally hundreds ofapplications you can use to bestleverage your time on Twitter and turn

Facebook Twitter LinkedInAll internet users (799) 66% 16% 20%Men (393) 63 17 21Women (406) 70 15 19Age18-29 (140) 83 27 1630-49 (224) 72 15 2550-64 (229) 56 12 2265+ (182) 40 7 11Annual household incomeLess than $30,000/yr (195) 73 15 7$30,000 -$49,999 (156) 75 14 20$50,000 - $74,999 (128) 68 15 24$75,000+ (218) 57 19 34Education level

it into an effective business tool. Mostof these tools will help you increasethe number of times that you are able topost tweets while you actually spendless of your valuable time on Twitter!Still other tools will help you find newfollowers that are searching for whatyou offer.

Cool Features Available for Your Business

You’ll find applications that will allow you to scheduleyour posts ahead of time. This way you do not have to haveTwitter on your phone or desktop so that you can tweet toyour customers all day long. Simply schedule posts ahead oftime for general links and announcements to tweet when yourtarget customers are online...even if you are busy doingother things.You’ll also find applications that will allow your websiteand blog visitors to tweet what they read. This way yourcontent can do double-duty!Keywords are not only crucial when it comes to yourarticles, blog posts, and website content. Use thesekeywords to find your target market. Some applications trackkeywords that are important to you and will alert you whentweets are made using those topics. Then you can use that tofind new people to follow.There are also a number of Twitter cellphone apps that arevery useful as well. They make it easy to create posts andrespond to direct messages even when you are away from yourdesk.

Twitter tools and applications make it easier for anyone toleverage Twitter as a business tool. They allow you to make themost of your time online while maximizing the benefits of yoursocial networking efforts!

How to Twitter Effectively

Understanding how often to tweet is critical to learning how toTwitter effectively for marketing purposes.

How Often to Tweet

In the ideal situation, you would have thousands of followers andthey all would follow just you!

Then posting one tweet a day would beplenty.

However, if every one of yourfollowers, follows 200 people andthey all tweet an average of 4 timesa day, their Twitter timeline sees 800 tweets a day! Many twitter usersfollow many more people than that.

So to get noticed, you will need to tweet a lot more frequently.

Looking at the number of clicks that each tweet gets, the best spacing between business tweets that attract the most click-throughs is either 60 minutes or 2-3 hours. A whole group of tweets in a row tend to be the least effective way to communicate.

Tweet frequency also should be adjusted according to where you are sending the tweet. If you are tweeting the same post it is considered spamming if there is not a reasonable amount of time between posts.

The less pages that you have to send your followers to, the longer the time you should space between tweets so that you don’tbecome a spammer.

Timing of Tweets

If you have a global audience, you will want to make sure thatyou schedule tweets at intervals to post around the clock. Ifyour business is specific to a region, there is no reason totweet in the middle of the night.

Test Your Niche

In some niches, people post very frequently, so you will want totweet more as well. If your niche has less frequent tweets, youcan lower your tweets to 3-4 times a day and still be effective.

It is important to test what works and what is effective for yourbusiness to maximize your Twitter efforts.

Add More Followers on Twitter

Everyone wants to add more followers on Twitter. However, whenusing Twitter for social businessmarketing, it is important that youattract Twitter followers who willactually read your tweets and pass themalong for your marketing to beeffective.

What Attracts Good Followers?

Follow First...But Not Everyone

The first way to attract more twitter followers is to follow themfirst. When you start your new twitter account for business, makesure that you tweet a few times so that your profile representsthe kind of information that your business will tweet about. Thisway when someone checks your profile, they learn a little moreabout your business.

Next, follow some people in your niche. Use Twitter Search tolook for people who are tweeting about the topics and keywordsthat are important in your niche. If you find people who areoffering tweets that are relevant to you and your customers,follow them. They may follow you back.

Do not automatically follow anyone who follows you. The peopleand profiles that you follow say something about your business.This could affect your online reputation; so follow only thosewho give relevant tweets.

Interact with Others

Login to Twitter often to reply to tweets and retweet any helpfultweets of others. People appreciate this and are more likely tofollow businesses who interact, reply and retweet. Do not worryif you are retweeting your competition as long as the tweet isrelevant to your followers and is not contrary to your marketingefforts.

Post Relevant News in Your Niche

In addition to tweeting about your business with links to yourwebsite and retweeting others, people on Twitter also appreciatewhen you share news with them and will often retweet it. Thishelps give your Twitter account even more credibility. Use GoogleAlerts or simply check Google News for recent news stories aboutyour keywords. People will notice that you pass along goodinformation and follow you.

You will naturally add more Twitter followers over time as peopleenjoy interacting with you and see that you share relevant andinteresting information. Then when you market a new product,service or opportunity, they will be your best customers.

Appendix Content Strategy

Content is Still King

Engaging content can serve your business in a variety of ways:

Set you apart from your competition;Help establish you as an expert, and a thought leader;Keep your business top of mind with consumers;Provide the leverage needed to keep your customers coming back time after time.

Think of yourself not only as an ecommerce merchant, but a "mediamogul," as well.

Make content the focus of your social media marketing activity. It will likely translate into increased profits.

The 5-Step Social Media Content Strategy

Step 1 Determine Content Focus

Your content has to be awesome. It has to be truly helpful.It cannot be about you.It has to be about your customers’ wants and needs.It starts with culture and changing the deeply-held belief that marketing has to promote your products.Content Strategists need to be able to articulate why you need a content strategy and start to

Content needs to have a focus interms of the topics you plan tocover and the tone it will take.Here are some pointers fordetermining that focus.

Stimulate engagement.

It could be educational,entertaining, inspirational, orpromotional. Likely it shouldcontain elements of all four. UsePhotos for Content Strategy andSocial Media Marketing.

A commonly accepted practice is to use the 70/20/10 rule.

70 percent of content

Should focus on your customers' interests and needs. This can beaccomplished through how-to tips, answers to frequently askedquestions, and links to helpful resources. Ask yourself, "Would I findthis content helpful?" If the answer is yes, then it's probable otherswill too.

20 percent of content should be "OPC" — other people's content.

That mandates a willingness to allow user-generated content on socialchannels you manage, such as a Facebook page. This gives your customersa sense of ownership in the conversation and serves to foster trust.

10 percent of content should be promotional.

If you are willing to focus 90 percent of your content on others, then,hopefully, no one will complain when 1/10th of it calls attention toyour products and services.

Content needs to have a focus interms of the topics you plan tocover and the tone it will take.Here are some pointers fordetermining that focus.

Stimulate engagement.

It could be educational,entertaining, inspirational, orpromotional. Likely it shouldcontain elements of all four. UsePhotos for Content Strategy andSocial Media Marketing.

Step 2 Determine Content Type

Depending on the channel, socialmedia content can take many forms:blog posts, tweets, status updates,contests, quizzes, poll questions,infographics, videos, and photos.

Due Pinterest and Instagram, socialmedia has become increasinglyvisual.

So the use of video and photo imagesshould be a major consideration.

Not only it does appeal to differentlearning styles, but photos and

Step 3 Determine Posting Frequency

Step 4 Create a Content Calendar

After you have decided on thecontent's focus and type, determinehow often you can post updates. Hereare a couple of tips.

Post at the optimal time.

By this, it means post on the days andtimes when you are most likely toreceive responses in the form ofLikes, comments and shares.

Edge Rank Checker is a tool that canhelp you determine the best times topost on Facebook. For more informationvisit http://www.edgerankchecker.com/

Once you know the focus and types ofcontent you want to produce, anddetermine the posting frequency, thenext step is to develop a calendar toschedule your posts. Calendars can becreated on a weekly or monthly basis.Content calendars can be developed usinga spreadsheet or for optimal results usesocial media management application, forthree reasons.

Such applications serve as thesingle source for content creationand scheduling.They automate the process of

Step 5 Manage your social mediaSocial media management applications help you :

Efficiently track conversations and measure campaign results ;Manage and measure your social networks ;Monitor what people are saying about your business from your social inbox ;Schedule your posts ;Publishing all in one place ;Stay on top of comments ;Organise ;Keep track of responses.

Appendix Social Media Management Applications

For more information visit http://learn.hootsuite.com/?utm_campaign=helpforum&utm_source=helpdesk&utm_medium=internal

Recommended: Postling

Postling! The easiest way to stay on top ofcomments, organize and keep track of responses!

Stay on top of commentsPostling brings all of the comments your readers leave on your blog, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn into one place. You can respondto those comments from within Postling, saving you time and effort.

Next: Organise. Keep track of responsesYour Postling dashboard shows you a snapshot view of your recent posts and the comments they receive.Each comment gives you the option to reply, which will automatically be published to the correct account.Postling threads your comments, so it's easy for you to understand the flow of the conversation and join in at any point.

Appendix (to move)

Twitter Key Takeway

Tweets published by entertainment brands on Sunday and Monday

receive 23% more engagement than average, while Thursday

receives the lowest engagement.

Higher interaction rates are observed for Twitter (17%) on

weekends.

When brands Tweet during busy hours (8 AM - 7 PM), they receive

30% higher engagement than Tweets that fall during non-busy

hours (8 PM - 7 AM).

The more Tweets per day, the less engaging the Tweets may

become.

Tweets that contain less than 100 characters receive 17% higher

engagement than longer Tweets

Tweets that contain links receive 86% higher Retweet rates than

Appendix 4 Competitors monitoring tables

Appendix 5 SWOT Analysis

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Twitter Key Takeway

Tweets published by entertainment brands on Sunday and Monday

receive 23% more engagement than average, while Thursday

receives the lowest engagement.

Higher interaction rates are observed for Twitter (17%) on

weekends.

When brands Tweet during busy hours (8 AM - 7 PM), they receive

30% higher engagement than Tweets that fall during non-busy

hours (8 PM - 7 AM).

The more Tweets per day, the less engaging the Tweets may

become.

Tweets that contain less than 100 characters receive 17% higher

engagement than longer Tweets

Tweets that contain links receive 86% higher Retweet rates than

Facebook Key Takeway

While Tuesday receives decent interaction rates, brands should

avoid Mondays and Wednesdays, when interactions is 7% below

average.

Mondays, however see interaction rates 7% below average

Higher interaction rates are observed (24%) published on

Saturday and Sunday

When brands post on Facebook during non-busy hours between 8PM

and 7AM receive 17% higher engagement than busy hours (8 AM –

7PM).

Publishing: Let Fans Play “Catch Up” on Sundays

Advertising automotive posts on Saturdays and Sundays receive

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