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Methodological Challenges of Management

Paper Type: Free Assignment Study Level: University / Undergraduate
Wordcount: 3297 words Published: 1st Dec 2020

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Executive Summary

The report purpose is to solve Intercontinental Saigon Hotel’s current challenge: How to engage better with Ho Chi Minh online users on social media? Based on the two main framework and model namely Social Media Management and SMART, respectively, three solutions are provided which are to “establish social-media-specialized marketing team” where new four positions must be employed, to “utilize paid advertisement on social media platforms” where Facebook ads is required to be utilized, and to “carry out social media marketing campaigns”, where Giveaway campaigns must be operated to gain brand awareness. Under the SMART model, the three solutions are proved to be achievable within less than a month and effective in gaining more traffic as well engagement to Intercontinental Saigon current social media platforms.

Introduction

As previously discussed, Intercontinental Saigon has been facing with limited engagement and traffic on its social media channels including Facebook, Instagram and YouTube due to the shortcoming in managing its internal factors and the external disadvantages. In specific, the internal issues consist of the low-quality social media posts namely the overconcentration on sales, the inconsistency in languages, and lack of visual contents; the insufficient human resource: full-time social media marketers; the shortcomings in IT skills which lead to broken links on the homepage. Simultaneously, the external threats are strong competitors, fastidious customers and the law of cybersecurity that has been recently published. Thus, it is believed that the hotel is in urgent need of a thorough and detailed plan in order to enhance its social media performance. This report hopes to set a closure to such challenge by providing certain measures to develop Intercontinental Saigon’s social media channels based on relevant theories and models, which at a result enhance the pages’ engagement and traffic that can potentially be converted into actual sales.    

Restatement of Problems as a Research Question

In order to provide effective solutions to this challenge, the internal and external causes must be revised so that detailed research questions are established. To begin with, it can be seen that Intercontinental Saigon’s three external threats namely strong competitors, strict customers and cybersecurity law are the common challenges to all the hotels in Ho Chi Minh City. Since they are uncontrollable, there are no specific actions that can immediately change these outside factors. Thus, businesses should focus on improving their internal shortcomings to catch potential customers’ attention, then listen to their needs and constantly convert them into customers and loyal buyers. In specific, this report will help Intercontinental Saigon bring better user experience on its social media channels by answering the research questions:

How can Intercontinental Saigon Hotel’s social media channels engage better with Ho Chi Minh online users? 

Literature Review of the Problem

The first question raised here is why would Intercontinental Saigon Hotel need to invest in social media although its revenue has been stable? To answer, the importance of social media in marketing must be discussed.

The 4.0 era has witnessed social networking sites as a place where businesses are able to bring their marketing campaigns to a wider range of consumers. Social media marketing is believed to connect brands and consumers (Chi, 2011). The means of communication with customers no longer remained the same with the existence of social media; thus, learning how to use social media consistently with the business goal is a must (Mangold and Faulds, 2009). Along with the importance of utilizing social media, social media engagement is a term that every marketer should know. According to O’Brien, it is a measurement that reflects the business’s effectiveness in interacting with its customers in the social stream, which is counted by through the likes, mentions, shares, views, comments, subscriptions, etc. – and correlates with the number of people who are forming a relationship with the brand (O’Brien, 2018). Thus, a brand’s high engagement means its brand awareness is being boosted. However, gaining high engagement is not an easy task and is a challenge to many businesses. Despite this, few scholarly journals about how to tackle with this challenge have been written. Thus, this report hopes to contribute the possible solutions to low engagement on social media in hospitality industry by providing relevant frameworks and models to come up with the most effective recommendations.

Models and Theories for Solutions

Social Media Management Framework

In the previous report, Intercontinental Saigon’s internal and external factors that directly and indirectly affect its engagement on social media were analyzed through McKinsey’s 7Ss and SWOT analysis. Likewise, Social Media Management framework whose purpose is to interpret the opportunities, threats and risks of social media exclusively, will be provided in order to justify that the further solutions are founded and effective. The framework consists of 6 elements namely context, culture, process, metrics, people and policies, which can help organizations map out a path to better strategies leading to positive impacts from social media.

Through the analysis of “context’ and ‘people’, the three solutions to Intercontinental Saigon’s low engagement on social media are given namely “establish social-media-specialized marketing team”, “utilize paid advertisement on social media platforms”, and “carry out social media marketing campaigns”.

In specific, the analysis of Intercontinental Saigon’s social media context indicates there are a lot of the hotel’s rivals such as New World Hotel, Baoz Dimsum, San Fu Lou who are highly active on social media. This leads to the suggestion that it is necessary for Intercontinental Hotel to utilize social media ads and carry out unique campaigns so that customers can recognize the brand. The framework also shows that “people” which includes training and development, roles clarification and reward system is needed for a successful social media platform, which is why establishing a new marketing team that specializes in social media is one of the solutions.

Figure 1. Social Media Management Framework
Source: The Social Media Management Handbook, 2010

SMART goal model

SMART goal model was developed by Doran in 1981, which indicated that goals should be Specific, Measureable, Assignable, Realistic and Time-related (Doran, 1981, p. 36). In detail, specific area for improvement, an indicator of progress, people who are in charge, results realistically achieved and deadlines will be specified. The model has been recommended in not only planning marketing strategy but also in many other fields since it helps mentally prepare for upcoming plans and depicts detailed data including specific KPIs and timing of the project (Hydratemarketing, 2018). Since detailed plans will be given as the solutions to Intercontinental Saigon Hotel’s issue, SMART goal model will be applied in order that the plans are going on schedule.

Solutions Developed

Establish social-media-specialized marketing team 

Why should a marketing team who specializes in social media marketing be established? Apart from how this solution links to the social media management framework that has been previously discusses, according to The Social Media Management Handbook, social media leaves significant impacts on the three-front office (Human Resources; Sales, Marketing, Service; IT), in which a 20-year-old marketing strategy that is believed to be most effective could either break down or flourish with the existence of social media (Wollan, Robert, et al, 2010). However, personally speaking, social media is also tragically influenced by a company’s marketing team. It is believed that a traditional marketer without any significant knowledge about social media is unable to make the most of social media benefits, which at a result cannot earn the high return on the investment in these platforms. Thus, since social media and marketers are strongly connected to one another, it is necessary for Intercontinental Saigon Hotel to invest in a strong social media marketing department. (page 7)

Figure 2.  Social Media affects business functions differently
Source: The Social Media Management Handbook : Everything You Need to Know to Get Social Media Working in Your Business

The plan

Intercontinental Saigon is in need of 4 positions namely digital designer, social analyst, community manager, social media manager instead of one person who is in charge of all the social media work currently, as recommended by Ben Donkor from Link Humans (Linkhumans.com).

In specific, digital designers will be in charge of creating visual assets or social applications for the social media campaigns while taking care of the imagery of the hotel’s profile. They ensure that the visual resources and imaginative ideas are attracting, engaging and up-to-date with the latest social measurements and requirements.

Social analyst will conduct social insights through social listening, which provides precious data about target customers’ concerns and contributes to marketing campaign suggestion that enhances customer satisfaction.

Community managers will nurture the online community by producing simple to complicated campaigns (captions, hashtags, etc.) to encourage conversations and engagement, with the help of digital designers. In other words, if digital designers are in charge of the visual resources like photos and videos, community managers will be in charge of the contents of the posts.

Social media manager will check the final work before it is published. They create and execute the social media strategies and ensure the smooth-running of social media externally and internally.

Carry out social media marketing campaigns

 

Specific

Conduct a Giveaway campaign where 5 1-million vouchers at Yu Chu restaurant are given away to 5 winners.
Rules:
Like Intercontinental Saigon Hotel & Residences page
Share the Giveaway post publicly
Tag 3 friends under the original post
Budget: 5 million VND

 

Measurable

Reach 10 thousands online users from 20 to 50 years old. Gain 300 relevant comments (have enough 3 friend tags)

 

 

Assignable

Giveaway is one of the most effective campaigns on social media platforms in gaining higher engagement (promosimple.com). This fact in addition with ads will contribute to the desired figures.

 

 

Realistic

Giveaway campaign not only gains engagement on social media but also let customers try out the restaurant service which potentially makes them loyal customers. 

 

Time-related

14 days is not too long to make online users forget about the campaign

Mockup Giveaway post:

Utilize paid advertisement on social media platforms 

Regarding the second research question, this is a newly added problem which was not discussed in the previous report since I notice the importance of timing in posting on social media despite its unpopularity in marketing tips. Although this plays a crucial role in gaining post engagement, it is often neglected while post content is sometimes over-focused. In fact, there is no such thing like the best time to post on social media yet this time frame depends on the information of the post, the platform, and the target audience (Pollard, 2015). According to The Manifest, it is also necessary to promote posts as Intercontinental Saigon’s brand awareness will be boosted, especially when restaurants within the same segment are popping up and getting access to social media in Ho Chi Minh City such as San Fu Lou, Baoz Dimsum, etc. Paid advertisement also enhances targeting, maximizes the content marketing and helps businesses to gather insightful market information (The Manifest, 2018). As can be seen in Figure 2, in the past 30 days, Intercontinental Saigon did not promote any of their posts which is believed to be one of the causes that lead to low engagement.

Figure 2. Intercontinental Saigon’s promoted post detection in the past 30 days

Source: SocialBakers

The Plan

 

Specific

Run advertisement on the Giveaway campaign that has just been suggested on Facebook with the budget of 2,5 million VND (250d per reach)

 

Measurable

Reach 10 thousands online users from 20 to 50 years old

 

 

Assignable

Facebook suggests within 7 days the desired number of reach will be achieved. This number in addition with friends tagged by reached people will contribute to the targeted figure of 10,000 reaches.

 

 

Realistic

The high reach will drive more traffic and boost brand awareness, which potentially result in more likes, comments and shares, otherwise known as engagement 

 

Time-related

14 days

  1. Conclusion

In conclusion, although Intercontinental Saigon has suffered from low engagement on social media for more than one year, it is believed this circumstance can be improved with the three solutions suggested namely Establish social-media-specialized marketing team, Utilize paid advertisement on social media platforms and Carry out social media marketing campaigns, as they were based on the analysis of Social Media Management framework. The plans are believed to be detailed enough as they were conducted based on SMART model. With all the effort paid, this report hopes to give a closure to Intercontinental Saigon Hotel’s challenge which is the low traffic and engagement on social media.

References

  • Wollan, Robert, et al. (2010), The Social Media Management Handbook : Everything You Need to Know to Get Social Media Working in Your Business, John Wiley & Sons, Incorporated. Retrieved from http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/rmit/detail.action?docID=644784.
  • Chi, Hsu-Hsien. (2011). “Interactive Digital Advertising VS. Virtual Brand Community: Exploratory Study of User Motivation and Social Media Marketing Responses in Taiwan.” Journal of Interactive Advertising 12: 44-61.
  • Mangold, Glynn W., and David J. Faulds. (2009). “Social Media: The New Hybrid Element of the Promotion Mix.” Business Horizons 52: 357-365.
  • Doran, G. T. (1981). There's a S.M.A.R.T. way to write management’s goals and objectives. Management Review. Retrieved from http://www.ncdhhs.gov/humanresources/pms/pm/smart.pdf
  • PromoSimple. (2019). Everything You Need to Know About Organizing and Timing a Giveaway | PromoSimple. [online] Available at: https://promosimple.com/blog/giveaway-timing [Accessed 12 Apr. 2019].
  • Themanifest.com. (2019). 7 Reasons to Consider Paid Social Media Advertising | The Manifest. [online] Available at: https://themanifest.com/social-media/7-reasons-consider-paid-social-media-advertising [Accessed 12 Apr. 2019].
  • Timetrade.com. (2019). Why Social Media Engagement is Important for Your Business. [online] Available at: https://www.timetrade.com/blog/why-social-media-engagement-is-important-for-your-business/ [Accessed 12 Apr. 2019].
  • HydrateMarketing. (2019). Monitor Your Social Media in 10 Minutes a Day. [online] Hydratemarketing.com. Available at: https://www.hydratemarketing.com/monitor-your-social-media-in-10-minutes-a-day [Accessed 12 Apr. 2019].
  • Donkor, B. (2019). How to Structure a Social Media Team - Link Humans. [online] Link Humans. Available at: https://linkhumans.com/structure-social-media-team/ [Accessed 12 Apr. 2019].
  • Pollard, C. (2015), Apr 06-last update, The Best Times to Post on Social Media [Homepage of AOL Inc], [Online]. Retrieved from https://search-proquest-com.ezproxy.lib.rmit.edu.au/docview/1674532681/B3EE84221F34706PQ/2?accountid=13552

Reference Appendix

Thank you for your helpful comments on the report. Here are the things I want to clarify:

The reason why I do not have a framework for external analysis is t I that believe SWOT analysis shows a broad view on a business’s external factors including threats and opportunities. Moreover, my solutions are based on the hotel’s internal weaknesses as I notice the external disadvantages such as rivals or customers are the common problem among businesses. The initial thing to consider is whether the business can solve its own problems. Strengths and Weaknesses in SWOT analysis were short since I stated the analysis had already been done in McKinsey’s 7s. Thus, I wanted to focus more on the external analysis in SWOT analysis.

Your comments have been so helpful in improving my second report, particularly in references, introduction and conclusion part. Personally speaking, I have not experienced from any long and helpful comments like yours in more than 1 year at RMIT university.

Thank you, I hope to continue receiving meaningful and helpful comments like this.
 

 

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