Executive Summary. 2
Brief Overview.. 3
Analysis of Competition. 4
Traditional Advert 6
Marketing Plan. 7

5.3. Developing Strategies and Choosing Strategies. 8

1. Executive Summary

The purpose of this marketing plan is to develop a social media campaign strategy that will enable Your Clothing Company to turn its traditional advert ‘How Do I Look’ into a social media marketing strategy to reach the large social media population. The marketing plan report highlights some of the factors and trends affecting the social media campaigns of the clothing retail industry in UK. Some of the competitors in the industry including Asda, H&M and ASOS are studied to determine their level of success and the benefits they have derived from social media marketing. The marketing plan will also develop a strategy for the social media campaign of Your Clothing Company which includes educative, entertaining, informative and convincing content in various social media networks.

2. Brief Overview

The purpose of this report is to develop a social media marketing plan for the TV advert “How Do I look” by Yours Clothing. This traditional advert can be transformed into a unique social media marketing strategy that attracts a wide range of social media users. Clothing retailers in the UK and other parts of the world are now taking advantage of the increased number of internet users and the rising prevalence of social media as a means of socialisation and communication throughout the world. Facebook alone has more than 30 million users in the United Kingdom, and the young population aged between 24 and 35 years forms the largest number of users. Clothing retailers are using that opportunity to advertise their products, reach new customers, and pass important information about their products to existing and potential customers. According to Jayson DeMers who writes for Forbes, 97% of marketers around the world participate in the social media (DeMer, 2014). In 2014, 92% of the marketers suggested that the social media was an important platform for them to market their businesses. Retailers may use the social media to create brand awareness, increase traffic, enhance conversations with customers, and respond to customer requests (Ashley, 2014). Users of the social media exchange videos, photos and messages in order to pass important information.

Yours Clothing participates in social media by creating accounts in various social media networks. Currently the company uses Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, Pinterest, Skype and Instagram. The company uses these social media networks to communicate with customers throughout the world. Its target market is young women. Therefore, the company benefits from social media marketing because most social media marketers are young people, who are the target customers of the company. It is intensifying its traffic by encouraging people to like their page in facebook. Their recent post on facebook thanked fans for enabling them to get almost 200,000 likes. As a result of this following, the clothing retailer offers £200 vouchers to 10 ladies. For ladies to win these vouchers, they are required to like their post and share it. This is really a tactical marketing strategy which will encourage users to share the page and generate more traffic. The post has a photo of a happy woman wearing Yours Clothing products and an appealing message requesting fans to share the post. Since July 14 when the post was created, it has received 4,191 likes and 3,641 shares. The page itself is nearing 200,000 likes. This shows that the company has made great strides in social media marketing, and can be able to use the great fan base to sell its products to a wider market. However, the company is not yet aggressive with online selling like some of its competitors.

3. Analysis of Competition

Asos.com is one of the leading social media marketers. The company not only generates traffic to its social media networks, but also sells its products online through the social media and their own website. On the social media, the company provides a link which directs customers directly to their online shop where they can order and pay for their fashion items online. Asos.com is primarily an online fashion retailer which sells more than 850 brands online. Due to its superior online marketing, the company received total sales of £753.8 million which is one of the leading sales made by clothing retailers in UK (Deer, 2012). Its online presence has also enabled the company to expand globally, and it is now selling more than 50,000 products which include own-label and branded products to more than 237 countries. The products are ordered online and shipped to various destinations from its distribution centre in the UK. Most of these online sales are generated through the social media.

ASOS emerged as one of the top social media marketers in UK’s eCommerce Awards for Excellence in 2012 (Deer, 2012). This award was given in the Social Media Engagement Category, showing that the company is a leader in social media engagement in the UK. The company uses Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest, G+, blogs and Instagram to advertise its products and engage with customers. The company’s page on facebook has 3.6 million likes compared to those of Yours Clothing which are only about 200,000 likes. Engagement is also seen in the trend of enquiries, comments, and compliments on twitter through tweets of existing and potential customers (Tuten & Solomon, 2013). The social media engagement has led to increased sales around the world, showing that social media marketing gives clothing retailers an opportunity to increase their sales.

Asda is also another successful clothing retailer in the social media. The American-owned subsidiary of Wlamart engages in several retail lines, but its clothing lines are widely advertised through the social media. The clothing product of Asda is called George clothing. This brand is sold through various George clothing stores and advertised through various social media platforms. Although Asda uses physical retail chains and stores to sell its products, it also commits its efforts to online marketing strategies to remain competitive in the highly dynamic retail industry (Thomson, 2012). Asda has a unique strategy whereby it creates different social media platforms to engage with customers in different product lines. For example, its clothing line has its own Facebook page called George at Asda, and it has 439,000 likes. Apart from the usual ‘like’ and ‘message’ icons, George at Asda also has another icon called ‘shop now’ which directs visitors to the brand‘s online shop. This marketing strategy allows the company to attract more customers to buy its products. Asda also has a customized twitter account with several sections including George at Asda, which engages with clothing customers.

Another common clothing retailer in UK dealing with social media marketing is H&M. This Swedish clothing retailer has several stores in the UK and other major markets worldwide. The company uses Pinterest, Twitter, Facebook and Google+ to enhance collaboration and communication with various stakeholders (Thomson, 2012). Its social media marketing strategy ensures that millions of internet users can share opinions and ideas (Moth, 2013). Customers can also get instant answers to their queries. H&M has attracted over 14 million likes on its facebook page. The marketers of the company post several updates on this page on daily basis, except during weekends and holidays. This shows that social marketing is considered as a formal form of marketing for the company. The retailer has also created several twitter feeds to advertise its products to various local markets. The company attracts customers and generates followers by posting images, promotions, and blog links on its twitter account.

4. Traditional Advert

The traditional TV advert of Yours Clothing is called ‘How Do I Look’. The advert was developed by Intermarketing Agency and is supported by a social media campaign (#howdoIlook). In the video, Australia’s model Fiona Falkiner is shown walking around displaying different cloths of the company (YouTube, 2014). The video is shot in a warehouse. A theme of beauty and elegance is displayed as lights are seen sparkling over the woman’s head. The advert ends when the woman says, “How do I look?” The advert is played in ITV1 during the break and centre of the programme ‘Coronation Street’ every Monday night (YouTube, 2014). Although the advert is initially in a traditional form, its hash tag campaign makes it a favourite social media campaign strategy.

5. Marketing Plan

5.1. Goals

The social media campaign based on #HowdoIlook is intended to achieve various marketing communications goals. First, the social media advertisement is used to increase collaboration and engagement in the social media. Such collaborations and engagement is achieved because the has tag campaign of the advert encourages continued debates and conversations across the social media. Another goal is to generate more traffic and increase the company’s fans in the social media. If the advert is hash-tagged in several social media platforms such as facebook and tweeter, it becomes a trending advert (Saunders, 2012). As a result, the company will attract more fans. The ad campaign in the social media also promoted to strengthen the brands of the company. If the ad campaign is spread through the social media, many people will know about the company and the company’s brand becomes stronger. Other goals of the social media marketing campaign include improved awareness, increased customer base, and increased sales.

5.2. Targeting the Audience

The target audience of the ad are young women. One of the reasons for this target audience is that the products of Your Clothing Company are primarily women clothing. Secondly, young people are targeted because research shows that they are the most active social media populations. The hash tag ad campaign is also for fun and entertainment, which mainly attracts the young people (Saunders, 2012). The theme of beauty and elegance in the advert and the involvement of a youthful model in the advert also generate greater engagement and participation of the youthful generation.

5.3. Developing Strategies and Choosing Strategies

The company’s social media marketing strategy should involve the transformation of the traditional advert into a social media campaign through hash tag. The use of hash tag to generate significant following and stronger fan page is an essential social media campaign nowadays (Tuten & Solomon, 2013). As fashion and entertainment becomes more prevalent among young people, every trending fashion idea is likely to attract a lot of followers. Therefore, the company should post updates with the hash tag (#HowdoIlook) in all its social media feeds.

The social media networks or channels to be used are: twitter, facebook, Pinterest, and Google+. The company may post various updates on facebook on daily basis in order to generate customer engagement. The posts should be checked regularly to respond to customer queries. Twitter feed should also be updated regularly with posts containing the ad’s hash tag/. The posts on both twitter and facebook should be based on promotion of the company’s products. On Pinterest, the company should create one board every week, and create several pins on the board daily. Lastly, a comprehensive promotional message based on the traditional ad should be posted on Google+ every day.

5.4. Content

The content to be included on the social media needs to be educative, entertaining, informative, and convincing (Saunders, 2012). The company should update its recent post of promotion on facebook to include a hash tag of the title of its traditional advert, a link to the video of the advert, and a photo of the model woman appearing in the video. This combination of links, videos, photos and message generates interest and engagement among various facebook users (Evans, 2008). Customers will be allowed to responds to the update by answering the question, “How do I look?” A hash tag message titled ‘#HowDoIlook’ should also be created on twitter so that followers can respond and engage with other customers. The company should regularly respond to the tweets of customers and update the content of the twitter feed according to the comments of customers. The board to be created on Pinterest should also be titled ‘How Do I Look’, and it should carry the photo of the model woman and the background of the warehouse in the traditional advert. Pins on each board should contain informative, educative, entertaining and convincing in order to encourage customers to buy products from the company.

5.5. Monitoring and Measuring

The social media campaign should be monitored and measured using specific tools in order to determine whether the initial goals and objectives of the campaign have been achieved. One of the tools of measuring the performance of the media campaign is by using Returns on Investments approach. This method is achieved by dividing net profits achieved from the social media campaign by the marketing costs and then multiplying by 100 (Davis, 2012). Marketing costs are measured in terms of costs of acquiring one customer through the campaign. This is difficult to measure because it is not easy to determine the number of people who have visited the company’s stores after seeing the social media campaign. However, customer survey may be carried out to estimate the number of customers who responded to the social media campaign (Davis, 2012). If the costs of running the media campaign are more than the returns, then the approach should be changed. Customer feedback through the social media may also be sampled and assessed to determine their attitude towards the ad campaign.

References List

Ashley, S. (2014). Communication policy and the “double movement”: The sociology of media system structure. Javnost, 21(3), 5-21.

Davis, J.D. (2012). Five Steps to Measure Social Media Campaigns. Entrepreneur. Accessed August 5, 2015 from http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/223437.

Deer, R. (2012). ASOS.com Drives Social Media Engagement as the UK’s Top Online Fashion Retailer. Accessed August 5, 2015 from http://insideonline.co.uk/asos-com-drives-social-media-engagement-as-uks-top-fashion-retailer-online/.

DeMers, J. (2014). The Top 10 Benefits of Social Media Marketing. Forbes, Accessed August 5, 2015 from http://www.forbes.com/sites/jaysondemers/2014/08/11/the-top-10-benefits-of-social-media-marketing/.

Evans, D. (2008). Social media marketing: An hour a day. Indianapolis, Ind: Wiley.

Moth, D. (2013). How H&M uses Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and Google+. Accessed August 5, 2015 from https://econsultancy.com/blog/62450-how-h-m-uses-facebook-twitter-pinterest-and-google/

Saunders, M. (2012). How to choose the right social media platform for your business: social media. Professional Accountant, 3, 22-23.

Thomson, R. (2012). The changing face of fashion retail. Retail Week, Accessed August 5, 2015 from http://www.retail-week.com/the-changing-face-of-fashion-retail/5037465.article.

Tuten, T.L., & Solomon, M.R. (2013). Social media marketing. Boston: Pearson.

YouTube (2014). Yours Clothing TV Advert SS 14. Accessed August 5, 2015 from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xd9gQbr3mjw

Social Media Marketing Plan

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