internet and social media marketing plan

Running head: HEALTHY COOKING TOOLS 1

Social Media Marketing Plan-Vegetable Spiralizer

Janeen Vurro

BUS 455 Internet & Social Media Marketing

Instructor: Matthew Hufnagel

March 31, 2016

HEALTHY COOKING TOOLS 2

When promoting a product there are many different types of marketing strategies to plan

out. One of the newest types is social media marketing. Social media marketing requires just as

much planning as any other marketing strategy would. There are several aspects to keep in mind

when developing this strategy. These aspects can include, pin pointing a target audience, getting

to know the size of the target audience, knowing the key players of the audience, developing an

expected long-term growth of the plan, determining how to position and communicate the

product, inspecting the promotional strategy of the product, and discovering the metrics to use to

measure effectiveness within the strategy. Great amount of research of each aspect is in evident

in a well-planned social media strategy.

The first step in any marketing plan is to determine the target audience. This social media

strategy is going to revolve around the promotion of the Tri-Blade Vegetable Spiral Slicer. There

are a few different groups to target that will enjoy this product. The first group to target would be

mothers. Since this product is a kitchen tool mothers that cook for their families may enjoy it.

Another group to target for this product would be the healthy eaters. This device is designed to

turn a vegetable into a noodle, a healthy alternative to pasta. Pin-pointing these two groups as a

target market will allow for an easier and more specifically geared strategy.

Now that the target audience has been determined the next step is to understand the size

of the audience. One way this can be done is by examining other companies with similar targets

(Mars, 2009). For example it can be beneficial to examine the types of customers that the

KichenAid Spiralizer attracts. A way to obtain the appropriate information about competitor


customers can be easily accomplished by reading the reviews on various websites. Another way

to estimate a market size can be seen on industry databases, such as Hoovers (Mars, 2009).

Furthermore it can be determined that the market size will be small due to the product having a

specific purpose. Having an estimate market size is very important to establishing an effective

budget to work from.

Now that the size of the audience is estimated the next step in the social media marketing

strategy is getting to know them. Gathering information to better understand mothers and health

gurus is very important in figuring out the best way to reach them. Understanding the

demographics of the two groups can be very efficient. This will further divide the two targets

into groups of age, income, education, occupation, and many others (Cravens, 2009).

Furthermore the key features to focus on for mothers is occupation, age, education. Occupation

can be good to know to determine if they have time to cook dinner. Occupation is extremely

important for pin pointing health conscious individuals. Are they a physical trainer, are they an

athlete? Some occupations can tell us how important healthy eating is to a person. Then

education level can be beneficial to know to further understand interests. For instance someone

going to school to be a nurse may have a high interest in healthy eating or cooking. Even age can

help understand the market. Young moms may be less into healthy eating than older moms.

Older individuals tend to care more about their health, therefore aiming towards the older crowd

may be the best approach. These key components will help to further narrow a target audience.

As the information piles up on the target markets it then becomes in evident to define the

expected long-term growth within the market. First it is important to confirm that there is a

demand for this product. March 2015 vegetable spiralizer search volumes drastically increased

compared to previous months (Alibaba, n.d.). Next the right segments must be determined in a


market to achieve growth. In order to pick the correct segment it must be measurable in

quantitative terms, extensive enough to yield planned sales volume, available to the company’s

distribution methods, and profound to planned and affordable marketing (Marketing Overview,

2012). Segments with these characteristics will gear the strategy towards an even better

understanding of what consumers will need the Vegetable Spiralizer, and in return will extend

the growth rate of the product. Another way to evaluate growth rate is through examining the

success of competitors. How successful is KichenAid in selling its vegetable spiralizer? If they

are succeeding than so can we because there is a demand for this type of product. Long-term

growth rate can be greatly influenced by thorough research of the audience and the market.

After extensive research of the target audience and the market for the product the next

step is to figure out how to position and communicate the product most effectively. First it is

important to note how consumers feel about vegetable spiralizers. Research into this concern has

resulted in that people like the product because it enhances a vegetable’s appearance, it is easy to

cut vegetables with it, it allows for a new way to introduce more vegetables into a diet, it has a

compact design, and so on (Amazon, 2016). This tells us the information that people would like

to talk about when it comes to the vegetable spiralizer, which in return gives us a topics to focus

on through social media websites. Knowing what to talk about is a great start.

Next a look into some of the competitors and the types of social media marketing steps

they are taking can help tell us what works or what doesn’t work. By looking into the marketing

efforts of the KitchenAid vegetable spiralizer a number of things can be noted. One thing

KitchenAid did to promote the spiralizer was through various posts and hashtags on Twitter. The

website Company Owl (2015) showed a post from KitchenAid which stated, “Use your

Spiralizer Attachment for a Spiralized Apple Walnut Basil Salad from @marisamoore:

https://twitter.com/marisamoore


http://kitchen.ai/Vuuge ,” KitchenAid is promoting its product along with a delicious recipe

customers can make from it. This can be a very effective way to promote the Tri-Blade

Vegetable Spiral Slicer too. This can be done by finding a great zucchini noodle recipe and then

getting the owner’s permission to post it alongside our product. Another competitor, the Native

Spring Spiral Vegetable Slicer, also developed some promising social media marketing

techniques. Native Spring used its Facebook page and posted a blurb about the Spiral Vegetable

Slicer with a quick recipe of its own (Native Spring, 2013). Posting great recipes that a person

can make with their vegetable spiralizer seems to be the go to way to communicate among

competitors. Since both of these competing products seem to be successful promoting this way

than doing the same for Tri-Blade Vegetable Spiral Slicer looks promising.

Moving on, there are a great amount of processes to complete in a social media marketing

strategy for the Tri-Blade Vegetable Spiral Slicer. The process consists of listening,

communicating, engaging, and collaborating. Listening is vital to understand the social media

habits of the targeted consumers (Roberts & Zahay, 2013). Through a deeper look at mothers’

social habits it was determined that 83 percent communicate via social media networks (Adweek,

2009). Therefore there are a lot of moms on social media to listen to. These moms can be placed

in different categories. First there is the “Infoseeker,” she goes online to collect as much

information as she can on parenting (Adweek, 2009). Knowing this tells us that if we can

somehow connect the product to parenting than reaching and then communicating with these

moms can be simple. One way to do this is by perhaps saying, “Are you too busy taking care of

your children that you can spend that much time cooking healthy meals? Well this problem can

be fixed with the Tri-Blade Vegetable Spiral Slicer, it will have your zucchini noodles cut in

minutes!” Another type of mother is the “Self Expresser Mom,” and listening tells us that her

https://t.co/JtVvQOngul


objective is to seek advice on parenting and shopping (Adweek, 2009). This mom can be

communicated to by gaining a lot of other mother customer’s loyalty, so that they will advise the

“Self Expresser Mom” to buy the Tri-Blade Vegetable Spiral Slicer. The third type of mother is

the “Groupster Mom,” she is a very active creator on social media and is highly influenced by

brand programs connected to social networking (Adweek, 2009). Communicating with this type

of mom can be most effective in mommy blogs, or other social media places she feels

comfortable in. The fourth type of mom is the “Utility Mom,” she mostly uses social media to

stay in touch with friends and relatives, but also likes playing games and taking polls (Adweek,

2009). Placing advertisements on the games she plays, that are normally connected with

Facebook, can be a great way to reach this type of mother. The final type of mom is known as

the “Hyper connector,” she is older and enjoys sharing information about parenting and products

on social media (Adweek, 2009). These are the moms that are most important in order to

establish a good form of word of mouth advertising on the web. Significantly each type of

mother helps to understand the best routes to take in order to effectively communicate with them

on social media websites.

It is also vital to understand how to locate and listen to the health conscious people too.

More than half of U.S. adults use the internet to search for health information (Korda & Itani,

2011). This explains that there are a lot of people out there that may have an interest in the

vegetable product, since it helps with healthy cooking. These individuals can also be grouped

into different types. The first group can be generation, ages 18-29, these individuals tend to use

social media the most, and they grew up with it. Generation Y individuals actually prefer to use

social media to communicate with friends and acquaintances, and they even like to provide

feedback on products they use (Bolton, 2013). Furthermore to listen to generation Y consumers it


is necessary to monitor all the popular social media sites such as, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram,

LinkedIn, and Tumbler. Next is generation X, who are between the ages of 35 to 45, and also

spend a lot of time on social media (Lee, 2011). Both generation Y and generation X can be

reached on any social media site. Some of the best routes to take in order to communicate with

them is emotional or direct advertising, for they respond highly to it (Lee, 2011). A way that

direct advertising can be accomplished is by posting on these individuals social media site an

advertisement for the vegetable spiralizer and including a free digital recipe book with purchase.

The next group is known as the baby boomers, ages 50-65. Baby boomers are hard workers and

like to know a lot of details (Solheim, 2012). Therefore in order to reach these individuals

detailed oriented posts on social media would be helpful. Not as many baby boomers use social

media as generation y and x do, but reaching them can be just as easy with the right amount of

information about the vegetable spiralizer. The last group is known as the seniors, 65 years and

older. Very few seniors use social media, therefor marketing to them is more effective through

other channels. Each group of individuals has their own specific characteristics, but the way to

communicate with them can be relatively easy on top social media sites.

Engagement and collaboration are the other two qualities that a social media marketing

strategy should have. Engagement revolves around satisfying the customer’s needs, and

providing them with value (Ashley & Tuten, 2015). Any marketing technique that fails to engage

will fail completely. If consumers aren’t responding to the advertisements it is vital to develop

new ones to engage them. For instance if the posting of recipes are not grasping consumers

attention, then maybe focusing on the best quality the Tri-Blade Vegetable Spiral Slicer, like

how the different blades can transform different vegetables into artistic meals. Once engagement

is satisfied it is then time to collaborate. Collaboration methods can be effective in a number of


different ways. For example corporate blogs can be successful in building an open relationship

and trust, it can be very detailed in important information about the product, it creates open-

ended conversations with customers, and it increases visibility of the brand (Roberts & Zahay,

2013). Blogging about the Tri-Blade Vegetable Spiral Slicer can easily include all the details to

attract the baby boomers, and even catch the attention of all the information seekers on social

media. Then there are product reviews, which are one of the most important way to enhance

collaboration. Many consumers rely on product reviews, especially when purchasing a new

product they have never seen before. Once a purchase is made sending an email or message for

the customer to review the product can be very encouraging for collaboration (Roberts & Zahay,

2013). Gaining a relationship with as many customers as possible can greatly build upon a

successful social media plan.

The last portion to include in a social media marketing strategy are the appropriate

metrics to use in order to measure effectiveness. The first type of measure to focus on is

analytics. Analytics can reveal sales effectiveness, marketing campaign effectiveness, and

marketing expenditure optimization (Roberts & Zahay, 2013). In other words it is vital to

analyze and keep reports on every advertising attempt on a weekly or biweekly basis to see if it

has increased sales. Furthermore it is useful to allow time for sales to increase before introducing

a new promotion. Keeping a close eye on number of sales is one of the most important ways to

evaluate marketing success.

Website effectiveness is also a significant aspect to measure in a marketing campaign. It

is extremely important for a business to have a well-designed website in order to appeal to its

customers. The first step to measure website effectiveness is through usability testing. Usability

simple means the website is user friendly, easy to navigate, and visually pleasing. This can be


tested through concept testing, which takes one or more concept boards and determines if they

design is effective and if the navigation links throughout the site work properly (Roberts &

Zahay, 2013). To further implement usability testing it can be parted into several different

categories. The first category is concept testing. This is accomplished by showing a few concept

boards to respondents so that they can evaluate the design and flow of them (Roberts & Zahay,

2013). The next category is prototype testing that measures the appearance of the website and

whether it meets customers' liking. These tests are not perfect there is a big chance that some

type of flaw will slip through and be detected by a customer, but the will help with having a good

looking website. The last category is full usability testing. This tests for a fully functional

website that can easily and efficiently connect to the appropriate server (Roberts & Zahay, 2013).

Utility testing is vital for every company’s website. Next is understanding your website

performance. Timing is a big characteristic to website performance. There are several companies

that can monitor website performance to keep the webpage running smoothly. This is great for

marketers because it leaves for time to focus on traffic and audience data. Collecting traffic

audience, and campaign data for the website requires first to create hit counters, which can be

great to implement into a webpage design and it keeps track of the number of visitors to the page

on any given day (Roberts & Zahay, 2013). There is also what is known as a server log. Server

logs keep track of each different type of graphic or file on the website and develops a detailed

report including, requesting computer's IP address, number of bytes of data transferred, date and

time of request, and so much more (Roberts & Zahay, 2013). These server logs can then be

transferred into reports that can assist in marketing decisions. Finally tagged web pages can

provide vital information as well. Tags are used to collect visitor activities by using cookies that

are stored on the visitors’ computer that transmit data back to the website (Roberts & Zahay,


2013). Cookies help with figuring our customer behavior on the internet. If we know what they

are looking for, then we know what to advertise to them. Having an effective website is key to

being able to sell products.

Measuring website traffic, audiences and campaigns are the final tactics to

ensuring a well-operational marketing strategy. In order to measure web traffic is by recording

site activity through the number of times an ad banner is clicked on by a browser, number of

page views, amount of activity happening on the website around the same time, and the number

of times any link on the website is clicked (Roberts & Zahay, 2013). Moving on, audience is

measured by keeping track of the number of visitors, the amount of visits from one person,

number of page views by one person, a person’s session time, a person’s path through the site,

and evaluating a visitor’s shopping cart (Roberts & Zahay, 2013). This allows for a complete

understanding of how a user navigates on a company’s webpage. Finally it is in evident to

examine campaign measures to know if marketing efforts are effective. Campaign measures are

simple statistics to ensure marketing techniques are working. For instance, average number of

visitors per day, number of page views per month, average visitor session length, and so on

(Roberts & Zahay, 2013). In the end having the appropriate metrics in place will tell a company

what efforts are working for the business and what efforts need to be demolished or changed.

Any effective marketing plan is going to come with extensive research and constant

adjusting. Social media is a great channel to use to successfully promote a brand and succeed in

sales. Staying connected to all of the social media sites will help with knowledge and

maintaining customer relationships. An understanding of the customer means an understanding

the best methods to communicate with them. Finally upholding quality in website design and

function as well as tracking all statistics will keep any campaign functioning towards success.


References

Adweek. (2009). Marketing to moms (and kids). Vol. 50 Issue 34, 1-5.

Alibaba. (n.d.). Seller Channel. Retrieved from Alibaba.com:

http://seller.alibaba.com/buyer_trends_detail/electric_vegetable_spiralizer_cid10203.html

Amazon. (2016). Customer Reviews. Retrieved from Amazon.com:

http://www.amazon.com/SpiraLife-Vegetable-Spiralizer-Bundle-Spaghetti/product-

reviews/B00L0R9R38/ref=cm_cr_dp_see_all_btm?

ie=UTF8&showViewpoints=1&sortBy=recent

Bolton, R. (2013). Understanding Generation Y and their use of social media: a review and

research agenda. Journal of Service Management, 245-267.

Itani, H. K. (2013). Harnessing social media for health promotion and behavior change. Sage

Journals, 15-23.

Lee, B. (2011). Speaking the language of generation X & Y. Money Management Executive.

Mars. (2009). How to estimate market size: Business and marketing planning for startups. Mars

Library.

Overview, M. (2012). Understanding your target market Is critical for success. Bizfilings.

Owl, C. (2015, Novemember). Companies. Retrieved from CompanyOwl.com:

http://www.companyowl.com/i/t/kitchenaid-seasonal-nutrition-spiralized-apple-walnut-

basil-salad-kitchenthusiast/3772281

Solheim, N. (2012). How to communicate with baby boomers. Benefits Selling. Breaking News.


Spring, N. (2013, December 18). Native Spring Essentials. Retrieved from Facebook.com:

https://www.facebook.com/Native-Spring-Essentials-604738609591204/

Zahay, M. L. (2013). Internet marketing: Integrating online and offline strategies (3rd ed.

Mason, Ohio: South-Western, Cengage Learning.

internet and social media marketing plan

Documents