Introduction
Social media monitoring is an effective strategy to identify what clients and potential customers say and write about a business. This information can help organizations find how satisfied their clients are, what product or service improvements can be implemented, how clients compare different competitors and many others. The definition of social media marketing and its importance denotes that businesses and Café StudyFun are not an exception, and should draw sufficient attention to ensure that they invest the required effort in the area. This process is quite challenging since it consists of many individual steps that are responsible for dealing with specific information. Thus, it is necessary to comment on how Café StudyFun should deal with monitoring processes, including tracking, measuring, and evaluating elements, as well as what ethical, legal, and social issues can affect the business.
Tracking Activities
Tracking is the first essential step when it comes to social media monitoring. According to Barker et al. (2016), this activity deals with choosing topics of focus, selecting online platforms, and identifying keywords to search for them. Rust et al. (2021) also admit that tracking is necessary to assess brand reputation in real-time and determine social media fluctuations. That is why it is essential to identify how Café StudyFun should deal with tracking social media.
The business’s tracking process should consist of a few individual steps. Firstly, it is necessary to choose optimal topics of focus. They are customers’ posts and comments expressing satisfaction or dissatisfaction with the organization and asking questions about Café StudyFun. Secondly, it is rational to select platforms that unite the target audience. According to the evidence by Auxier and Anderson (2021), YouTube, Facebook, and Instagram users should be more interested in the organization’s services. Thirdly, optimal keywords and phrases should be identified to study how people describe the brand. Regarding the current business, the keywords are Café StudyFun, like, satisfy, where, and when.
When it comes to social media tracking, searches for specific keywords can produce no results. In this case, it is necessary to know how one can adjust searches, and Boolean operators play a crucial role in this process. These are the words AND and OR that allow for uniting many keywords in a single inquiry so that a search engine can look for all the possible combinations at once. For example, search inquiries can be “Café StudyFun AND like OR satisfy” or “Café StudyFun AND where OR when.” Such combinations denote that results will include posts or comments with Café StudyFun and one of two words that are separated by OR.
Measuring
Measuring a social media activity is an essential element of a monitoring plan because it allows for assessing outcomes over time to improve the actions. In this sphere, it is possible to rely on quantitative metrics and qualitative key performance indicators (KPIs), and the first part of the discussion will consider quantitative measures. According to Pencarelli and Mele (2019), it is reasonable to focus on the number of likes, views, shares, comments, and replies. Another suitable strategy is to organize polls to identify clients’ thoughts and predict customer behavior. However, it is rational to admit that this metric is only available on Instagram and Facebook. The outcomes for these metrics can demonstrate whether the current marketing activities allow for reaching the desired goals that are stipulated in the social media marketing plan. Thus, Café StudyFun can rely on all these metrics to determine how often customers mention the brand.
In addition to that, it is necessary to focus on qualitative KPIs. Pencarelli and Mele (2019) stipulate that these metrics refer to “negative or positive mentions, recommendations, product reviews, the geographic distribution of mentions, consumers’ feelings” (p. 29). These qualitative metrics focus on assessing what customers write or say rather than how often they do it. Café StudyFun can rely on some of these KPI measures to find information of different kinds. For example, negative or positive mentions can reveal whether the customers are satisfied with the organization and its service. Furthermore, the presence of recommendations in clients’ posts or videos can allow the business to expect an increase in the customer base. Finally, the focus on consumers’ feelings is essential because it can reveal whether the organization requires any changes to make its customers happier. Consequently, both quantitative and qualitative metrics should be considered to assess the effectiveness of social media marketing activities.
Evaluating
The evaluation stage is necessary to describe the progress of all the social media marketing activities. This information can demonstrate what strategies have produced successful outcomes and what actions can be considered wrong and require changes. Keegan and Rowley (2017) developed a specific framework to cope with the task under consideration. This strategy consists of separate stages, including identifying evaluation objectives, selecting qualitative and quantitative metrics, collecting data, and analyzing it (Keegan & Rowley, 2017). It is necessary to utilize a comprehensive approach to all the septs to ensure that they are appropriate for a specific organization.
Based on the theoretical details above, one can propose the specific evaluation process for Café StudyFun. Firstly, it is necessary to establish an evaluation objective, and it can be to determine the effectiveness of targeted advertising on YouTube on increasing brand mentions on Instagram and Facebook. Secondly, one should choose a specific metric, and the goal denotes that quantitative KPIs are appropriate. In particular, it is necessary to focus on the number of posts and comments that include the words “Café StudyFun” following the launch of the advertisement campaign. Thirdly, the data collection stage implies looking for the comments and posts with the keywords. It is possible to cope with this task by running a search inquiry focusing on time limits and users from a particular geographic area where the business operates. Finally, once the search results are obtained, it is reasonable to analyze them to exclude those mentions that are not appropriate to the organization. This evaluation process will help Café StudyFun assess whether its advertising activity leads to expected outcomes by comparing the obtained results with previous data.
Social Media Monitoring Tools
Since the modern world benefits from digital and online technologies, it is not a surprise that businesses can rely on specific tools to deal with social media monitoring. It is worth admitting that these applications can be free and paid, and organizations should choose particular tools depending on their resources. That is why the following paragraphs will comment on the most widespread resources that Café StudyFun can use to monitor its social media marketing activities.
Hootsuite is one of the easiest tools that deserve the attention of businesses. According to Cooper (2021), this resource deals with tracking various metrics, including keywords, hashtags, locations, and others. That is why Café StudyFun can adjust Hootsuite to its marketing activities and benefit from using this tool. Cooper (2021) also stipulates that Talkwalker is advantageous because it allows for analyzing comments, customer engagement, and brand sentiment. Since this resource covers major social media platforms, the organization under consideration can apply it to monitor its online marketing processes.
In addition to that, it is possible to rely on the visual representation of data, and Nexalogy is a suitable tool in this case. It grasps major social media platforms and allows users to track and monitor popular keywords and the most active accounts (Cooper, 2021). Furthermore, one can use Nexalogy to develop interactive timelines and create lexical cluster maps to identify what is typically associated with the brand (Cooper, 2021). Café StudyFun can use this tool to determine when customers mention the brand and what lexical units are typically used together with keywords. Finally, Mentionlytics is one of the most straightforward applications because it monitors mentions and keywords on all social media sites (Cooper, 2021). Consequently, Café StudyFun can use some of these tools to monitor its social media marketing activities.
Ethical, Legal, and Social Issues
Ethical, legal, and social issues play a crucial role in every online marketing campaign. That is why it is reasonable to identify what aspects are relevant for Café StudyFun, and ethical considerations will be reviewed first. The organization has a moral obligation to ensure that its visitors are in a safe environment. Against the COVID-19 pandemic’s background, this requirement is of crucial significance. Furthermore, the business should draw attention to ensure that its pricing strategy is ethical and appropriate. In other words, Café StudyFun should not charge unreasonably high prices for its products and services.
Legal aspects should also be considered to make an online marketing strategy more efficient. On the one hand, Café StudyFun should ensure that it follows the rules of fair competition. As soon as they are violated, legal problems can arise, which will adversely affect the brand image and reduce the number of customers. In addition to that, the business should rely on effective privacy policies. This step is necessary because the online environment is subject to hacker attacks and other information breaches. That is why the organization should protect the personal information of its employees and customers to avoid legal cases.
Moreover, it is not reasonable to ignore relevant social issues. For example, racism and discrimination are acute problems in the modern United States. That is why Café StudyFun should do its best to ensure that its service and online marketing activities are free from these issues. For that purpose, it is rational to promote equality in the workplace, which will result in the fact that all people will receive adequate treatment irrespective of their age, sex, nationality, and other characteristics.
Analyzing the relationship among the issues above demonstrates that they reflect a biblical worldview. Firstly, the importance of justice and safety occupies an essential place in Bible (“English standard version Bible,” 2001, Psalm. 46:1). Secondly, a biblical worldview stipulates that a “bad company good morals” (“English standard version Bible,” 2001, 1 Corinthians. 15:33). This citation supports the claim that the organization should implement an effective privacy policy. Finally, racism and discrimination found their criticism in the Bible, meaning that these phenomena should be avoided (“English standard version Bible,” 2001, Romans. 2:11). Consequently, if Café StudyFun manages to prevent the issues identified above, one can state that its marketing activities satisfy a biblical worldview.
Conclusion
A social media marketing plan should draw sufficient attention to its monitoring activities. Café StudyFun can use a few strategies to track, measure, and evaluate its processes within the given sphere. In addition to that, the organization should address potential ethical, legal, and social issues. Their analysis revealed that the firm should rely on the basics of a biblical worldview to avoid the adverse impact of these phenomena.
References
Auxier, B., & Anderson, M. (2021). Social media use in 2021. Pew Research Center. Web.
Barker, M. S., Barker, D. I., Bormann, N. F., Roberts, M. L., & Zahay, D. (2016). Social media marketing: A strategic approach (2nd ed.). Cengage Learning.
Cooper, P. (2021). 8 of the best social media monitoring tools to save you time. Hootsuite. Web.
English standard version Bible. (2001). ESV Online. Web.
Keegan, B. J., & Rowley, J. (2017). Evaluation and decision making in social media marketing. Management Decision, 55(1), 15-31. Web.
Pencarelli, T., & Mele, M. (2019). A systematic literature review on social media metrics. Mercati E Competitivit, 2019(1), 15-38. Web.
Rust, R. T., Rand, W., Guang, M.-H., Stephen, A. T., Brooks, G., & Chabuk, T. (2021). Real-time brand reputation tracking using social media. Journal of Marketing, 85(4), 21-43. Web.