Social Media Review
Denise Sutton
Business/School of Professional Studies
Essentials of Marketing (MKT 1100)
Activity Description: Provide a brief description of the activity
Students work in small groups of three. Each group will choose a Fortune 500 company that has a “corporate responsibility” (or philanthropy) component as part of its brand identity. The group will identify three social media platforms (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram or YouTube) and will analyze the company’s use of social media using a SWOT analysis (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats). Each student will focus on one platform and collaborate on findings. The group will make recommendations to the company’s Communication Office team.
Learning Goals: What do you aim to achieve with this activity?
The purpose of this assignment is to analyze the effectiveness of social media as a marketing tool and to identify the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats in order to make recommendations to the company Communications Office. Suggestions may include ways to improve connection to the consumer, content and consumer engagement, and to identify problems and/or inconsistencies between messaging and brand identity—especially as it relates to its social responsibility programming. Students will address Gen Ed Student Learning Outcomes associated with ethical reasoning skills.
Timing: At what point in the lesson or semester do you use this activity? How much classroom time do you devote to it? How much out-of-class time is expected?
This activity is assigned approximately two-thirds of the way into the semester. Students will have read the chapters on digital marketing, corporate governance, and the marketing mix/SWOT analysis—all components of this assignment. Two classroom periods are dedicated to this assignment. Research and writing done outside of classroom.
Logistics: What preparation is needed for this activity? What instructions do you give students? Is the activity low-stakes, high-stakes, or something else?
This is a low-stakes assignment. Students will have read textbook material and case studies (and discussed this material in class) that connect to and inform this assignment.
Assessment: How do you assess this activity? What assessment measures do you use? Do you use a VALUE rubric? If not, how did you develop your rubric? Is your course part of the college-wide general education assessment initiative?
Students will address Gen Ed Student Learning Outcomes associated with ethical reasoning skills, mainly in the first three categories (ethical self-awareness, understanding different ethical perspectives/concepts, and ethical issue recognition).
Ethical Reasoning Skills (student recognizes basic ethical issues, student states position, student states core belief):
• How are consumer complaints handled? Amount of time it takes company to respond, appropriateness of response, follow-up, etc;
• What is the company mission statement? Is the company’s core mission evident in all messaging/content?
• How effective is the company’s philanthropic messaging? Is it consistent? Engaging?
• Are consumer’s engaged?
• Are company privacy policies transparent?
In addition, students identify ethical issues, which may include:
• Privacy concerns
• Issues of transparency regarding company governance and policies
• Consumer relations/consumer rights
• Use of social media in communication crises (e.g., the Starbucks racial incident in Philadelphia)
• The ethics of framing stories/content (e.g., point of view, including different and even opposing views, etc.)
Ethical Reasoning Performance Criteria met in this assignment: Ethical self-awareness, understanding different ethical perspectives/concepts, ethical issue recognition. Meet benchmark one, and perhaps some of milestone two.
*Ethical Awareness Steps: Awareness, identification of stakeholders, identification and review of resources, identify and consider multiple solutions, reflect, take action. The students will go through each step with the exception of the final “take action” step.
MKT 1100 Student Learning Outcomes—General Education
In this assignment, the students are:
1) Using the ability to use the arts and humanities as a forum for the study of values and ethical principles;
2) Demonstrating intellectual honesty and personal responsibility;
3) Discerning the consequences of decisions and actions;
Rubric for grade evaluation:
1. Analysis (Details? Level of sophistication? Shows recognition and understanding of social media ethical issues?) 25%
2. Recommendations (Are they creative, do they add value?) 25%
3. Quality of writing (Clear, concise, well-organized?) 25%
4. Quality of presentation (Clear, concise, enthusiastic, engaging, quality of response to questions?) 25%
Reflection: How well did this activity work in your classroom? Would you repeat it? Why or why not? What challenges did you encounter, and how did you address them? What, if anything, would you change? What did students seem to enjoy about the activity?
New assignment: Fall 2018.
Additional Information: Please share any additional comments and further documentation of the activity – e.g. assignment instructions, rubrics, examples of student work, etc. These can be links to pages or posts on the OpenLab.
Please share a helpful link to a pages or post on the OpenLab
