Instructions

Social media use is critical to a dynamic and competitive brand, whether that brand is something you sell, a group home, a non-profit organization, or your self-image. This project will get you thinking about effective ways to shape your social media tools to make the most of your brand, to keep consumers talking and thinking about your brand, and to get interaction from those you seek to sell to or to help. You will take a look at what you post to social media, possible responses or reactions you will receive, as well as use social media trends and society controls to keep your brand meeting your goals.

Your final project should include a plan for the following: how you will utilize a minimum of four social media sites; what your target audience will be; your use of contacts, outreach, and advertising best practices; your posting do’s and don’ts; and explanations of your choices using the sources from the course and others you find.

If you have a real business, brand, or site to work on, you can start by putting the site profiles into the four social media sites you have chosen (e.g. Facebook, Twitter, etc.). Screenshots will work for these that you have really made. If you don’t really have a business or brand, you do not need to create faux profiles. However, you should write the information you would include in your profile for each one.

In summary, your plan should contain:

• An introduction to your brand or company
• Your social media goals and general goals for the brand
• An analysis of the market comparables — similar businesses/nonprofits/brands, including what has been successful and what hasn’t worked for at least 3 good comparable brands
• Discussion of societal norms for those comparables. What seem to be the “rules” they follow? Is there open or tacit regulation you’ve noticed? Include how you can expand your influence globally by overcoming potential language and culture barriers 
• An analysis of advertising and its necessity along with the type of advertising you would do and why
• An outline of the audience you intend to reach and how to reach them. Be sure to take into account the factors that are in play when attempting to reach an audience that includes a wide range of ages (consider generational differences)
• A plan for how to use your contacts and add new ones when publicizing and staying connected
• A plan for each of four social media sites, including profile information and posting ideas
• Analysis of any of the theories you would use
• A conclusion

Your project lengths will depend on how much depth you put into your analysis of each section, but to give you a general idea, several paragraphs for most of the bullet points is a good length, and should result in a total of around 10 pages.