Social Media SWOT Analysis

MAR4233: RVC & RPC- Fall 2015Group 16

By:

Ashley PouyaChristopher Gawrych

Cintia EspinozaMariel LoraMax Ferro

Company Background• Samsung Electronics is a South Korean company, which mainly operates as a

global consumer electronics manufacturer with three main divisions: Consumer Electronics, Information Technology & Mobile Communications, and Device Solutions (The Wall Street Journal, 2015).

• Samsung is currently ranked as #7 on Forbes’ list of the “World’s Most Valuable Brands,” and is a global market leader in consumer electronics (Forbes, 2015).

• Samsung is heavily focused on the smartphone industry where it maintains a market leader position and currently controls a 21.4% share of the global market (IDC, 2015).

• Founded: January 13, 1969 (The Wall Street Journal, 2015)• Industry: Technology hardware, storage and peripherals, and semiconductors• Headquarters: Suwon, South Korea (The Wall Street Journal, 2015)• Current Employees: 235,999 (Forbes, 2015)• Performance: 2014 FY Net Sales: $305 billion, 2014 FY Net Income: $22.1

billion (Samsung, 2015).

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Company Culture• Vision: “Samsung is dedicated to developing innovative technologies and

efficient processes that create new markets, enrich people's lives and continue to make Samsung a digital leader” (Samsung Group, 2015, para. 4).

• Philosophy: to devote Samsung’s “talent and technology to creating superior products and services that contribute to a better global society” (Samsung Group, 2015, para. 7).

• Corporate Values: People, Excellence, Change, Integrity, Co-Prosperity (Samsung Group, 2015, para. 10-14).

• Vision 2020: “Inspire the World, Create the Future” (Samsung Group, 2015, para. 15).

• Vision 2020 Goals: reach $400 billion in revenue and become a top 5 global brand by 2020 (Samsung Group, 2015, para. 16).

Strengths• Samsung has strong global brand recognition.• Samsung has made it a focus as part of its social media strategy to foster

brand loyalty, and currently has large amount of loyal followers.• Samsung utilizes social media metrics and consumer feedback to respond

to shifting consumer preferences. • Samsung has a major presence on most popular social media platforms.

(Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, Google+)• Samsung provides unique real content that is easy to understand.• Samsung’s social media managers operate like humans, rather than a

strictly corporate business unit. • Samsung has a strong, prompt support team available online through

social media.• Samsung uses #hashtags to its advantage by creating campaigns to

engage with consumers in real time.

Weaknesses • Samsung rarely introduces a new design on its own, it always waits to attack

its competitors and misses the first mover advantages.• Samsung’s profit margins are often too low (Kumar, 2015). • Samsung does not charge prices as high as some of its primary competitors

like Apple and Sony. As a result, consumers can perceive a link between its comparatively low prices and assume low product quality.

• Samsung does not focus on a specific niche, making it difficult to identify their consumers needs, which makes it hard to define its target social media audience.

• Samsung’s main competitors are also their largest buyers, specifically because it manufacturers the semiconductors found in many of its competitors’ smartphone products. (Forbes, 2015)

Opportunities • Samsung can continue to expand its social media presence and visibility

to meet increased American adult social media usage, as nearly 65% of American adults use social media in 2015 (Perrin, 2015, p. 1).

• Younger Americans are becoming increasingly dependent on social media as part of their everyday lives, which is an opportunity for Samsung to target and engage younger consumers through social media to strengthen its brand.

• Samsung can drive its consumer engagement through the increased use of social media sweepstakes and contests, particularly on Twitter and Facebook.

• Samsung can continue to target influential followers on different social media platforms to encourage more consumer awareness and sharing of its social media content.

• Samsung can continue to utilize social media metrics and consumer feedback to respond to shifting consumer preferences and directly message its core consumer groups in real-time (Ungerleider, 2014, p. 1).

Threats• Samsung has a variety of product lines, failure of one line may lead

to a negative impact on others, leading to brand dilution.• A saturated smartphone market in developed countries, and new,

low-cost competitors from China are increasing the amount of competing brands present on social media.

• Price wars among low cost competitors, such as: Apple, Nokia, LG, and Microsoft.

• Samsung’s focus is very broad, and includes too many segments due to the nature of its business and its marketing messages.

• Samsung has been engaged in several high-profile legal battles with Apple recently, which can damage its brand image on social media as consumers comment or post about the proceedings.

• Facebook usage: 72% of US adult Internet users (Duggan, 2015).

• 82% of online adults aged 18-29 use Facebook in 2015.

• Allows Facebook users to post and like content, but does not allow/publish followers.

• Likes: 1,256,578

• 23% of US adult Internet users use Twitter (Duggan, 2015).

• Samsung USA (@Samsungtweets) is Samsung’s main US Twitter account.

• Followers: 523,000• Following: 32,500• Tweets: 34,300• Favorites: 6,095• Joined: April, 2009

• Samsung operates more than 20 official Twitter accounts for different purposes such as geographic regions, brands, customer service, product support, etc.

• For example, Samsung utilizes Twitter sub-division channel @samsungsupport to tackle consumer issues right when they’re happening.

@SAMSUNGUSA• 26% of US adult Internet users

use Instagram (Duggan, 2015).• 73,000 FOLLOWERS• 447 POSTS• Average of 20 comments per

photo• Average of 1,000 likes per

photo• If users hashtag

#SamsungUSA on Instagram, they are giving Samsung consent to showcase their photo in any media.

• Subscribers: 35,360• Joined: Sept 16, 2009• Views: 4,741,383

• 28% of US adult Internet users use Pinterest (Duggan, 2015).

• Likes: 183• Followers: 21,200• Pins: 224

• 28% of US adult Internet users use LinkedIn (Duggan, 2015).• Samsung (corporate) LinkedIn followers: 330,608• Samsung Electronics LinkedIn followers: 647,427• Samsung’s LinkedIn pages have sections for consumers to view

its related product pages, visit its website, view career opportunities, and view regular posts or updates concerning Samsung’s brand.

Social Media Strategy AnalysisPurpose and Objectives:

• The purpose behind Samsung’s general use of social media is to more directly interact, communicate, and develop relationships with consumers.

• Users/followers of Samsung can see prior customers' comments on previously purchased items, enabling customers to become social media advocates for the Samsung brand.

• Samsung regularly posts photos, videos, tutorials, and advertisements pertaining to their products to educate and communicate with consumers.

• “We’re focused on growing reach and engagement by creating high quality local or localized content. As a company that needs to sell a lot, we’re also helping to sell products via social media. However, what’s even more important is to be accepted by the community and be an active & helpful part of the community. We’re trying our best to be as human as possible in the corporate world” (Chrzanowska, 2015).

Target Groups• Samsung is a global company, it has different content targeted at

the needs of different global audiences, so its target audience always varies. For example: @SamsungUSA VS. @SamsungRD.

• Throughout its different platforms and account types, it looks to engage digital savvy individuals, influential followers, young adults, and social media users.

• Samsung’s core target segment demographic is primarily younger adults from ages 18-34.

• Samsung’s baseline target socioeconomic segment in the US are middle-class consumers.

• Samsung USA uses very fresh content on their social media, designed to appeal to a broad social media consumer audience.

Social Media ToolsAppropriate Tools:

• Consumers can access the most recent Samsung product catalog through its website links and product sub-accounts on Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, and YouTube.

• Samsung’s most appropriate tools to communicate and connect with its audience are Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, and YouTube.

• Samsung specifically makes excellent use of its social media presence on Twitter and Facebook for both promotion and for customer service.

Advantages:- Customer service reps can quickly see customers

concerns and fix the problems accordingly.- Customers can stay updated with Samsung’s new

product offerings and technologies while at home on their computers.

- Samsung can more directly message and target specific consumer groups through its vast social media presence.

Disadvantages:- Customer service may receive very

negative and vulgar feedback.- Customers can view the comments of

other, which may or may not be positive. - Consumers may have difficulty connecting directly to a customer service representative for their specific need due to Samsung’s use of multiple sub-accounts.

What Samsung is Doing Right on Social Media • Samsung utilizes all of the most popular social media platforms and posts relevant content

frequently.• Samsung utilizes social media to communicate with consumers and immediately solve any

issues they face by having a support team available @SamsungSupport.• Unique real content: Samsung shows features of products in everyday life with clever

captions to capture consumers’ attention. Example : using the phone for music while exercising, taking photos of children playing, or using Samsung appliances for thanksgiving dinner.

• #SamsungGives is used throughout all platforms showing real, hands-on content of employees serving the community, promoting Samsung’s social responsibility initiatives to consumers.

• A focus on operating like humans, rather than a corporate business, offering everyday blog type lifestyle posts which offer tips for the consumer. Example: “3 tips to ignite that creative spark.”

• Samsung uses #hashtags to its advantage by creating campaigns, such as #SamsungSolves and #SamsungCooks, which create real-time engagement opportunities with consumers and bring more traffic to its social media platforms.

• Samsung allows consumers to utilize its associated hashtags for a chance to be published on its page, increasing the amount the #hashtags are used.

Examples:

Improvements to Samsung’s Social Media Strategy

Samsung has experienced a tremendous amount of success on social media. However, if we were improve a few things we would:

• Generate more interest with Instagram - Instagram’s popularity is increasing daily especially with young adults who are a core target segment for Samsung.

• Develop a regular YouTube schedule – as video content is becoming an increasingly important component of every organization’s social media strategy, it is important to maintain an active YouTube presence.

ReferencesChrzanowska, Natalia. (2015, May 26). Social media strategy by Samsung Electronics. Retrieved from http://blog.brand24.net/social-media-strategy-by-samsung-electronics/

Duggan, M. (2015, August 19). The demographics of social media users. Retrieved October 20, 2015, from http://www.pewinternet.org/2015/08/19/the-demographics-of-social-media-users/

Forbes. (2015). The world's most value brands: #7 Samsung Electronics. Forbes. Retrieved from http://www.forbes.com/companies/samsung-electronics/

Harjani, A. (2013, July 26). An 'emerging' threat to Samsung, and it's not Apple. Retrieved from http://www.cnbc.com/id/100915961

Hay, Linda (2015). Samsung’s target market. Retrieved from http://www.essay.uk.com/free-essays/marketing/samsungs-target-market.php

Hruska, J. (2015, July 30). Samsung will cut Galaxy S6 prices to boost demand, improve sales. Retrieved from http://www.extremetech.com/computing/211299-samsung-will-cut-galaxy-s6-prices-to-boost-demand-improve-sales

IDC. (2015, August). Smartphone vendor market share, 2015 Q2. Retrieved from http://www.idc.com/prodserv/smartphone-market-share.jsp

ReferencesKumar, Arun. (2015). Samsung’s SWOT analysis. Retrieved from http://www.marketing91.com/swot-analysis-samsung/

Perrin, A. (2015, October 8). Social media usage: 2005-2015. Retrieved October 16, 2015, from http://www.pewinternet.org/2015/10/08/social-networking-usage-2005-2015/

Samsung. (2015). Samsung: Our performance. Retrieved from http://www.samsung.com/us/aboutsamsung/samsung_group/our_performance/

Samsung Group. (2015). Samsung Group: Values and philosophy. Retrieved from http://www.samsung.com/us/aboutsamsung/samsung_group/values_and_philosophy/

The Wall Street Journal. (2015, October 19). Company profile & executives - Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved from http://quotes.wsj.com/KR/XKRX/005930/company-people

Ungerleider, N. (2014, May 19). Networked Insights reveals how Samsung used social media to hack the iPhone. Retrieved from http://www.fastcompany.com/3030772/how-samsung-used-social-media-to-hack-the-iphone