Marketing strategies for the MarketNet Facebook group

Internet Marketing Project

Social networks are revolutionizing how students, professors and how business communities globally interact with and serve one another (Bernoff, Li, 2008). The intent of this analysis is to analyze the key demographics of students who would find the MarketNet Facebook group of the most value, and then define a series of marketing strategies to reach them on a global scale. In addition, three websites are recommended as a core part of the resources delivered to students globally through the group. These include the CIA Fact Book, Stanford University Entrepreneurship Corner, and the Wall Street Journal. The logic and reasoning behind selecting each of these websites is explained in the analysis. Each is well-known globally for delivering exceptionally well researched information and intelligence used in global academic communities. An assessment of the survey completed to determine how best to survey existing group members and attract new ones is also provided. The fact that any Facebook group can quickly become global needs to be kept in mind as the marketing strategies and planned and executed from this study. The impact of social networks on academic communities is growing rapidly and leading to open collaboration-based research studies (Kemp, 2010). The long-term implications of creating and maintaining the MarketNet Facebook group globally has definite implications on the long-term retention of key concepts by business and marketing students (Smith, Mitry, 2008). Participating in online communities is as much of a research effort as it is a personalized learning exercise (Najjar, 2008).

Table of Contents

41.0 Introduction

52.0 Target Market Analysis

83.0 Web Traffic Plan for MarketNet

93.1.

Facebook MarketNet Group Web Traffic Plan Objectives

123.2. Facebook MarketNet Group Web Traffic Plan Strategies

143.3. MarketNet Blog Content Strategy

153.4. MarketNet Analytics Strategy

164.0 Website Selection and Justification

164.1. Stanford University Entrepreneurship Corner

174.2. CIA Factbook

184.3. The Wall Street Journal

194.4. The Sydney Morning Herald

195.0 Survey Development and Justification

214.1 Copy of Survey

211. How useful have you found MarketNet in your day-to-day study and research?

222. How easy was it to integrate MarketNet into your existing study and research?

223. Do you have any suggestions for improving MarketNet?

224. Would you recommend this Software to your colleagues?

225. How did you become aware of MarketNet?

236. Did you visit CQU website for more information about MarketNet?

237. What is your reasons for using MarketNet?

235.0 Conclusion

1.0 Introduction

The use of social networks as a means to stay connected has become the fastest growing area of the Web over the last three years. Social networking platforms have emerged as a means to create online communities of people who share common interests. Facebook's dominance in this area of groups can be seen from the over 120 million accounts that exist on the social networking site today (Dunay, 2009). Colleges and universities have found the ability to quickly create groups for students interested in a common field of study and share information and market intelligence with them. Often these groups become global in scope given the how pervasive social networks are today.

The intent of this analysis is to create a marketing strategy for gaining more members of the MarketNet group on Facebook. As a first step in this analysis, college students' Internet usage habits are analyzed from the context of the Pew Research Center's data and research (Gordon, 2003). Based on this research a series of marketing objectives and strategies are defined. The use of additional social networking platforms including LinkedIn, social networking websites and YouTube are all included in the strategy recommendations. The entire marketing strategy is based on social networking sites and strategies that have little cost yet will require intensive levels of effort. The end result is to have an integrated marketing campaign that can scale globally as the information and market intelligence needs are comparable across students from all colleges and universities.

3.0 Web Traffic Plan for MarketNet

In devising a Web traffic plan to boost the awareness, interest, desire and action (AIDA) for the MarketNet Facebook networking group, the precise definition of objectives is critical. These objectives must be global in scope to maximize the reach of MarketNet for students in other colleges and universities as well. The objectives must also be measurable and quantifiable to determine the extent they are attained. They also must be flexible enough to allow for a change in approach or direction depending on the lessons learned from implementing the Web traffic plan and also from feedback gained from students globally who use the MarketNet Facebook group. Lastly the goals must have stages of accomplishment to sequence the completion of strategies. All of these attributes need to be included in the objectives to build traffic to the MarketNet Facebook group page and also support its continued use.

3.1.

Facebook MarketNet Group Web Traffic Plan Objectives

Creating objectives for the MarketNet Facebook group that have precision, global reach and appeal, measurability, flexibility, and staging of results is critical if the full potential of group globally is to be attained. The following are the objectives for building traffic to the Facebook group site:

1. To broaden the distribution of content contributed and posted to the MarketNet Facebook group site by creating and actively maintaining Digg, del.icio.us, Friendfeed, SlashDot, StumbleUpon, RSS feeds and Twitter accounts that automatically syndicate all content posted. This will have a multiplicative effect of distributing content from the MarketNet group and also drive up the search engine rankings for the group on Bing, Google and Yahoo.

2. To create a MarketNet Facebook group blog within 30 days and actively promote blog posts about news of interest to undergraduate and graduate students in marketing and business courses globally. Blog content will be syndicated through the channels as are mentioned in objective #1. The blog will be on a sub-domain of the main university site to further increase its performance in search engine results quickly.

3. To define a search engine optimization (SEO) strategy for the MarketNet Facebook blog and post at a minimum of a blog post every forty-eight hours. Each blog post will be SEO optimized for the specific keywords defined for the Facebook MarketNet blog to optimize the blog's location on search engines over time.

4. To create a YouTube channel for the MarketNet group and have student and faculty members regularly produce video that explains a core concept or idea they have been working on for the benefit of the group and its subscribers globally. The goal of the YouTube channel is to produce three videos a month to educate and help the subscribers to gain greater insights into key business and marketing concepts.

5. To define an online learning agenda of twenty four webinars hosted by the founders of the MarketNet Facebook group where guest speakers on specific business and marketing topics host a webinar every two weeks. These webinars will be presented live and also recorded for playback on the MarketNet blog and also made available on the MarketNet Facebook group page. The intent of this objective is to create interest in the MarketNet group, a desire to potentially join it, and also create exceptionally valuable content for the benefit of group members.

6. To create a LinkedIn group specifically dedicated to MarketNet users and their needs to transition from being undergraduate and graduate students to their professional careers. The intent of the LinkedIn group is to assist group members globally find positions and attain their professional objectives in the short- and long-term.

7. To provide all members globally access to the blog for posting their ideas, insights, and lessons learned in the area of business and marketing. Contributors to the blog would have the opportunity to contribute content and have their own picture and contact information provided. Each blog entry would be evaluated by the blog administrator team for appropriateness and to make sure the posts were not blatant in terms of self-promotion or the promoting of a product or service. Giving blog readers the opportunity to contribute their own content to the blog would also make the blog more active, thereby increasing the potential for higher SEO performance over time as well.

8. To devise a comprehensive Web analytics strategy that has the ability to track Facebook, social networking bookmarking, blog traffic on WordPress, YouTube Channel, and LinkedIn traffic. This analytics platform will be used for determining which specific content areas resonate and interest the group globally. In addition the medium used to deliver the content (Facebook post, blog or video) will also be analyzed every month to determine which strategies are leading to the highest levels of performance. Analytics for Facebook, blogs, YouTube and LinkedIn will be organized into a report group administrators and key contributors will use to further refine and plan content.

9. Stretch Objective for Phase 2: Create a Key Influencer Strategy that concentrates on the top twenty business schools globally and initiate collaborative content, video and link-sharing programs with them to further increase the value of group through these influencers.

10. Stretch Objective for Phase 2: Implement Google AdSense on the blog site and also on all associated independent content sites within the first ninety days. The goal of doing this is to gain incremental revenues that can be used to fund a Google AdWords campaign.

11. Stretch Objective for Phase 2: After gaining up to $100 from the Google AdSense objective being attained, initiate an optimized Google AdWords strategy to further promote the unique content and value of the blog and associated sites. The combination of objectives 9 and 10 are self-funding to promote the group and its supporting structure of online properties.

3.2. Facebook MarketNet Group Web Traffic Plan Strategies

In defining strategies for the attainment of the eleven objectives of the Web Traffic Plan, the need for having them in chronological order is critically important. The investments in attaining one objective serve as the foundation for each subsequent objective over time. With this foundational focus in mind, the following strategies are recommended. While the Facebook group MarketNet has been created there is significantly more work that needs to be done to assure future growth.

First, the Search Engine Optimization (SEO) keywords and terms need to be defined. These are the keywords and search terms that will permeate the postings on Facebook, MarketNet blog, YouTube channel, LinkedIn group, and also be used for defining the content for online webinars posted on the blog. This is a critical first strategy as the MarketNet group can quickly gain search engine rankings on Bing, Google and Yahoo through the consistent and continual use of keywords (Anderson, 2009). Long-term this is also a strategy that will attract new group members across all platforms that MarketNet content and membership access. Using Google Analytics and analytics plug-ins for the MarketNet blog which will be created on the WordPress platform, the MarketNet team will be able to quickly determine how effective each search term or keyword is in attaining the needed results (Lawrence, Melville, Perlich, Sindhwani, Meliksetian, Hsueh, Liu, 2010). Second, there needs to be a more strategic approach to creating a community and also fueling content for the site. Creating accounts on all major social bookmarking sites including Digg, del.icio.us, Friendfeed, SlashDot, StumbleUpon, RSS feeds and Twitter is critically important

(Barnes, 2010). These social bookmarking sites serve to propagate content across the Web and also contribute to SEO efforts as well. In addition to these social bookmarking sites, it's critical to create a LinkedIn group, YouTube Channel that MarketNet leaders post short videos on, and also create a MarketNet blog on the WordPress platform. Facebook can be used to promote the LinkedIn group, YouTube channel and the MarketNet blog. The strategy of creating a LinkedIn MarketNet group is that all students are concerned about their future employment prospects given the economies in many nations of the world (Strehlke, 2010). The LinkedIn MarketNet group is aimed at the needs students have in transitioning into the workforce and gaining recommendations, providing an online resume and building support for themselves. The strategy of the YouTube Channel for MarketNet centers on providing valuable, useful content for students who are subscribers globally. Professors and students can recommend YouTube videos and submit short ones up to 2 minutes long. This is a strategy to increase participation on the site and also keep the site fresh with video content. As social media marketing is becoming increasingly reliant on video, creating a YouTube Channel will help to grow the Facebook MarketNet group as well.

3.3. MarketNet Blog Content Strategy

Another aspect of the social media platform build-out strategy is the development of and continual posting of new content to the MarketNet blog. It is highly recommended that a MarketNet blog be created immediately on the Wordpress platform, which is free to use. Wordpress also has excellent plug-ins or software components for creating real-time analytics reporting and SEO techniques to increase traffic. For a nominal fee any WordPress platform can also be upgraded to its own URL, which in this case would be Marketnet.edu. It is highly recommended as part of this strategy that several URLs be acquired for less than $5 each through GoDaddy.com to further increase SEO performance of the blog and Facebook group as a result. Using the multi-domain support in WordPress which is easily configured in seconds, all of the secondary URLs would also point to the MarketNet blog, further driving up Web traffic and increasing SEO reach across search engines. The MarketNet blog would have links to the Facebook, LinkedIn, and YouTube groups in addition to links to social bookmarking accounts as well. The galvanizing effect of the blog on overall search engine performance and global reach will be monitored through the use of Wordpress analytics plug-ins which is free for downloading with any WordPress site.

Starting with SEO keyword and concept definition followed by the creation of social bookmarking, LinkedIn group, YouTube Channel groups and the MarketNet blog, the strategy needs to next focus on getting contributors to provide content. The blog is the best platform to begin these efforts. Opening up the blog for any group member to contribute can significantly increase the "stickiness" or value of the community over time (Flatley, 2005). In addition, Facebook has a limitation in terms of content length so having a MarketNet blog will also make it possible to provide more informative and insightful information to group members. From the content standpoint a blog is critically important. The benefits from an SEO standpoint are equally valuable as well. In conjunction the MarketNet blog, the MarketNet YouTube channel will also be open for contributions as well. Subject to screening, the content once approved, will be posted on the YouTube Channel. The combined effects of posting blog entries and videos from contributors, both processors and students, will also serve to drive up loyalty to the MarketNet group as well.

3.4. MarketNet Analytics Strategy

In order to track the effectiveness of this concerted social media marketing strategy, Google Analytics will be used to track by URL of each social platform's overall performance. Google Analytics is a free service offered by the search engine provider that tracks a series of metrics and KPIs by URL (Reynolds, 2010). It is completely customizable and easily used to track the performance of these strategies as they relate to the MarketNet groups. The stretch objectives of creating a Key Influencer Strategy, implementing Google AdSense to pay for AdWords will be scheduled and attained after the initial accomplishment of the multi-platform group strategy is attained.

4.0 Website Selection and Justification

The three websites that are recommended to be added to the Facebook MarketNet group and related sites are the following. These three sites deliver exceptional value for business and marketing students and professors globally and will serve to make the Facebook MarketNet group more valuable from a learning standpoint are the following.

4.1. Stanford University Entrepreneurship Corner

First, the Stanford University Entrepreneurship Corner is an excellent site that is rich with video content and downloadable lectures on business and marketing topics. The site can be found at http://ecorner.stanford.edu / and is regularly updated by the management teams running the Stanford Graduate School of Business and its related Stanford University Technology Ventures Program. This is an excellent site to include in the MarketNet groups as it also provides updates on the most discussed areas of business and marketing, including the impact of social media and social networks on the ability of companies to compete long-term. The value of the content of this site is also underscored by the fact that industry leaders and CEOs including Steve Ballmer of Microsoft, former CEO of Intel Craig Barrett and others regularly participate and share their insights. It is an exceptionally valuable and useful site for processors and students alike.

4.2. CIA Factbook

Second, the CIA Fact Book is essential for any researcher, professor or student as it is one of the best online resources available for researching specific countries and regions of the world. The United States Central Intelligence Agency has invested heavily in revamping the content and navigation of this site https://www.cia.gov/index.html which makes it one of the very best on the Web for business and marketing researchers, professors and students globally. For each nation there are sections devoted to the geography, people, government, economy, communications, transportation, military and transnational issues that each nation has. Within each section there are also comparisons of each country's key economic and consumption indicators relative to global ranking and indices. The site also supports RSS feeds so that when content on countries of interest is published by the CIA, the content is delivered in real-time via RSS Readers to subscribers to this site. There are also downloadable reports in PDF format free from the CIA and the entire site is organized to support learning and online research. The CIA has also organized the site to make it possible to navigate through countries from a location standpoint as well. Compared to the previous generation of this site, this current edition (as of May, 2010) includes more intuitive navigation and use of selective updates by area and country. All of these features translate into a more efficient, higher performance website that is one of the richest from an international marketing and business standpoint there is.

4.3. The Wall Street Journal

The third website is the Wall Street Journal (http://online.wsj.com/home-page). The reason this website is included in the top three is the fact that is has a portal-based approach to presenting and managing information, has real-time stock feeds, and is global in scope. This website also has extensive research tools for the researcher, professor and student. There is also support throughout the site for RSS Feed configuration and support. Down Jones has also acquired several online properties and has also invested in online video. All of these properties and the online video sources have all been linked to the main Wall Street Journal website page. All of these factors taken together have created one of the most extensive collections of business, finance, marketing and global business available on one site. There is also an enterprise search function built directly into the site as well, which makes it possible for researchers, professors and students to seek out the information they need quickly.

Taken together the websites of the CIA Fact Book, which provides an intensive analysis of each country and region of the world across several different dimensions, the Stanford University Entrepreneurship Corner and the Wall Street Journal form an excellent learning foundation for the MarketNet group. All of these resources taken together form a platform for long-term learning while also providing inspirational and insightful videos from Stanford and their many founders, executives and CEOs who regularly speak there. Another benefit of combining these three websites is the fact that each has ancillary and secondary links to additional research services and sources; each has been designed as a hub of research activity. In conclusion, these three websites have much to offer the members of the MarketNet group globally.

4.4. The Sydney Morning Herald

Using the Alexa search rankings to determine the most popular business sites in Australia, it was determined that the Sydney Morning Herald was the most influential and popular, behind Google, Twitter, Facebook, and Yahoo. The Sydney Morning Herald's Business section (http://www.smh.com.au/business) provides analysis of Australian equity markets and commentary from industry and financial analysts. There are also news sections dedicated to media and marketing, small business, world business and real-time news feed of Australian and Pacific Rim business stories.

5.0 Survey Development and Justification

Keeping MarketNet relevant for the long-term to as many professors and students as possible on a global level requires a clear focus on satisfaction with its value today and the direct the group needs to go in the future. The intent of the survey shown in this section is to ascertain the current level of satisfaction group members have with the usefulness of the information and intelligence sources provided to the group. Measuring how easy or difficult it is for the members of the group to use the information provided is also measured using a four-point Likert scale. Suggestions for improving the site are solicited, in addition to if the group member (and respondent) to the survey would recommend the site to a fellow student or friend. The survey also asks how the respondent first became aware of the MarketNet group and the reasons they are using the site. The majority of the questions in this initial survey are deliberately open-ended as it provides the respondent with an opportunity to share their insights into what could be improved, not being tied into a predefined series of options.

The intention of designing the survey around attitudinal variables in conjunction with how respondents first learned of the MarketNet group is to ascertain how best to generate higher levels of visitor loyalty over time. Using one of several statistical analysis programs including the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) a cross-tabulation could be done of the perceived usefulness of MarketNet group vs. The reasons mentioned for using the group's information resources (Segbers, 2010). Based on this intersection or joint frequency distribution of two variables, it will be easy to determine what the perceived strengths and weaknesses of the group are. Further, the analysis of these results through cross-tabulation, when combined with demographic data, will be invaluable in defining segments of group members. What will most like emerge from this analysis are several different segmentation criteria including demographic and needs-based as well. This latter category will include those group members who have joined the MarketNet Facebook group with a specific objective in mind of learning more about research sources and services they can use in completing their coursework (Khan, 2003). There is also the potential that many members of the group will have joined to network, gain recommendations on LinkedIn, and also create job search strategies for themselves as they progress through school. A second wave or iteration of the research needs to specifically focus on the unmet needs of students as they progress out of the university and seek to attain their first jobs. This is most likely one of the most dominant motivations that students have for joining the group long-term. Short-term clearly the focus is on getting access to valuable research and sources of information to complete their projects. The combining of attitudinal and observational data in the survey is invaluable from this standpoint in that it provides insights into the opinions of students and group members as to the long-term value of the MarketNet group.

The survey also captures how the respondent first learned about MarketNet. This is critical for initially designing e-mail outreach programs to students, promoting the site globally, and also for analyzing to see how best to create the SEO strategy. A second wave of surveys is needed for also determining with finer detail the specific SEO terms that respondent searched on to find the group. The use of a concerted social media platform is critical for the success of the MarketNet group long-term. Using follow-on surveys ascertain which aspects of the social media marketing strategy most resonate with existing and future group members is crucial.

4.1 Copy of Survey

1. How useful have you found MarketNet in your day-to-day study and research?

Highly useful

Useful

Somewhat useful

Not useful

5.0 Conclusion

The use of social networks as the catalyst of creating global communities is now commonplace. Using Facebook as a platform for creating MarketNet is immediately accessible to any student at CQU and across colleges and universities globally. In creating a Facebook group dedicated to education in business and marketing, the global implications also need to be considered. Demographics of Internet use are dependent on age, income, educational level and the need to continually learn and pursue personal development. The Web has as a result become the world's most universally used global library. Studies from Pew Research indicate that the Internet is now even more pervasively used for communicating with instructors than face-to-face discussions, especially in the areas of grades and class performance. The use of the Web as a collaborative platform is also commonplace, as the study cited in this paper indicates 48% of students in the Pew sample were given class projects where they had to rely on the Web for collaboration. The focus of this analysis, first on student demographics, and second on marketing strategies and approaches to measure them, concentrates on a more global focus, not a regionalized one. For the group to attain its full potential, plans and programs must be put into place to achieve the ambitious goal of being a valuable and sought-after resource globally.

Appendix

Appendix I

Web 2.0 Meme Map

Source: (O'Reilly, 2006) (http://oreilly.com/web2/archive/what-is-web-20.html)