Ashley Chasse

July 23, 2016

Nissan of Athens E-Marketing Strategy

When conducting an E-Marketing strategy I had to decipher what strategy would be best for our target market. The audience we’re looking to market to is young business professionals, and more specifically millennials. From the resources given it was concluded that the most influential form of marketing would be social media. An article written by Murphy Mike and published in the Entrepreneur found that individual’s ages’ “18 to 36 spend an average of 17.8 hours a day on different forms of social media” (Murphy, Mike). The components researched were what social media sites to use, how to conduct advertising on these sites, and how to build relationships with customers on these sites. For the purpose of this project I had to keep in mind using social media sites that could be utilized easily by Nissan of Athens, and this should start with their website as a base and seamlessly connect to their social media outlets. One social media site that is already setup, and easy to maintain, which is Facebook. Research concluded that the best social media outlet for car dealerships are ones that showcase the cars in a creative way. Therefore, Instagram will be the other social media platform utilized in Nissan of Athens social media strategy. Another important factor to keep in mind is creating an “it” factor to distinguish Nissan of Athens Instagram from the competitions Instagram. An icon, slogan, or atmosphere could set the business apart from competitors, even online, and generate additional business for the company. Brand awareness is broken into two categories, brand recognition and band recall, both of which are issues that need to be addressed in order to increase awareness of the Nissan of Athens brand. Brand recognition is when a consumer can correctly identify product or service just by seeing a familiar logo, tag line, packaging or advertising campaign. Brand recall is when consumers correctly remember a brand from their memory when the consumer has been given a clue or can recall the specific brand when the product category is mentioned (MSG Management Study Guide). The icon and slogan need to be the same across all social media platforms in order for customers to recognize the Nissan of Athens brand. The most appropriate way to advertise on Facebook and Instagram is to be sure customers don’t feel like the company is just trying to market to them. Therefore, posts should reach customers on a personal level. Adding an option for consumers to purchase from their website would be a good way to engage customers, help build the brand more, and generate additional revenue. Examples of merchandise that could be sold on their website is anything from floor mats, steering wheel covers, and car key batteries. Nissan of Athens could also sell some of the cleaning supplies they use to detail their cars including: shampoo, wax, and tire shine.

Facebook

One of the most popular social media sites is Facebook. Facebook has estimated 800 million active users. Facebook can be used as direct marketing, and indirect marketing. Starting a business page is simple and it provides great features to allow business owners to view the activity on their page. Once the business page is created, users ‘like’ to opt-in to get your posts and latest news about the business. News about the company will be posted on the consumers wall. The Indirect Marketing Component comes in when consumers ‘like’ or share the Facebook posts, and then their friends will see this activity, therefore putting the brand in front of an audience Nissan of Athens may not normally have access to (Facebook). Facebook is a great way to advertise. Facebook states that more than 1.4 billion people use Facebook to connect with what matters to them, and more than 900 million visit every day. One great feature about Facebook ads is the owner can choose the audiences that see the ad by location, age, interests and more. This will make the ads more relevant for the people who see them. The owner also has the flexibility to determine how long the ad runs for. If Nissan of Athens notices people are not responding to the ad, they can stop the ad or change who will see the ad, thus not wasting time or money (Facebook).

Instagram

Instagram was created by Kevin Systrom and Mike Krieger, and launched in October 2010 as a free mobile app. The service rapidly gained popularity with over 100 million active users as of April 2012, and over 300 million as of December 2014. Instagram is distributed through the Apple App Store and Google Play. Support for the app is available for iPhone, iPad, iPod Touch, and Android, while third-party Instagram apps are available for BlackBerry 10 and Nokia-Symbian Devices (Instagram). In 2013, “Instagram grew by 23%, while Facebook, as the parent company, only grew by 3 %” (ABC News). Instagram is a great way to really engage with customers. Instagram offers a platform for this with its unique ability to highlight visual content. As a business, Nissan of Athens can use Instagram to showcase their cars in a unique, and creative way to give consumers a visual of the brand’s background, and vision. Instagram can also be used for promotional tactic (Instagram). Fortunately for Nissan of Athens Instagram is catered to marketers because the reach of the audience is so large. Unlike Facebook, Instagram post show up on 100% of the audience’s feeds. Because most all consumers have an Apple, Windows, or Android phone it’s a perfect fit for any business. Instagram is the most mobile friendly app on the market currently, and has become more popular among millennials. This is a perfect reason why Nissan of Athens should implement Instagram into their social media platform. Instagram should be implemented at the first of the year in order to track business growth. Nissan of Athens should develop a survey a month after to see if it is benefiting business growth. If research proves that Instagram is contributing to the company in any way, then Instagram should stay in place. Marketers should develop creative campaigns during the holidays, and continuously engage with consumers every day.

January 1, 2017 February 1, 2017 May 11 th, 2017

Put Instagram into action. Develop a customer service survey to see it’s helping business growth Create a Mother’s Day campaign

Significant Create a consistent message across FB and Instagram.

Measurable Increase the number of followers on FB and Instagram

Attainable To have people recognize the message and draw them to the dealership

Reachable The goal will be met after a survey is given and people recognize the Nissan of Athens brand through the message

Time-bound By January 1 2017

Significant Increase the amount of interaction from customers on Facebook

Measurable Increase Nissan of Athens content sharing, and commenting by 10% to help Nissan reach an incremental audience.

Attainable Two post each day on FB.

Reachable The goal will be met when there is at least five likes and two post per comment, or 500 friends.

Time-bound By December 1, 2016.

Exhibit 1:

Nissan of Athens now has a consistent logo across all platforms including: Website, Facebook, and Instagram. Here is an example.

Website Instagram Facebook

Exhibit 2:

Social media will allow Nissan of Athens to connect with customer on a personal level. This is created by sharing a story, when managed carefully, your social media page can be used to help your target audiences feel like they are witnessing, and participating in your story. This type of marketing is what turns social media visitors into loyal, and long-term customers. Nissan of Athens doesn’t need to make their customers feel like they are always being marketed to. These are two great examples of this promotional strategy.

Exhibit 3:

Below is an example of what Nissan of Athens could post on their Instagram page.

Mother’s Day Campaign Advertisement with filter. Using humor to engage customers

Survey Findings

Using Quadratics I produced a survey on Nissan of Athens consumers in order to find out what social media platforms they are familiar with. If customers were not familiar with Instagram, then it would be not beneficial to integrate Instagram into their social media platform. I also wanted to know what social media platforms customers currently use, and if customers use social media to search for companies. I also discovered if social media influenced customers purchasing behavior. I was able to get 52 consumers to participate in the survey. Because both men and women participated in the survey, and the age distribution was spread out it properly represented all Nissan of Athens customers. Research concluded that customers do recognize both Facebook and Instagram. Instagram is the most popular used social media platform, and Facebook is second. Research also concluded that social media influences customers purchasing decisions. Below is the report from the survey.

Initial ReportLast Modified: 07/23/2016

1. Are you a male or female?

# Answer Response %1 Male 26 51%2 Female 25 49%3 Neither 0 0%

Total 51 100%

Neither

Statistic ValueMin Value 1Max Value 2Mean 1.49Variance 0.25Standard Deviation 0.50Total Responses 51

2. How old are you?

# Answer Response %1 18-24 21 41%2 25-39 19 37%3 40-60 9 18%4 60 plus 2 4%

5 I do not wish to answer. 0 0%

Total 51 100%

Statistic ValueMin Value 1Max Value 4Mean 1.84Variance 0.73Standard Deviation 0.86Total Responses 51

3. What is your average Income?# Answer Response %

1less than $10,000 a year

3 6%

2 $10,000-$20,000 6 12%

3 $20,000-$30,000 12 24%

4 $30,000-$50,000 11 22%

5 $50,000-$70,000 10 20%

6More than $70,000 a year

9 18%

Total 51 100%

Statistic ValueMin Value 1Max Value 6Mean 3.90Variance 2.17Standard Deviation 1.47Total Responses 51

4. What social media sites do you use? Check all that apply.

# Answer Response %1 Facebook 35 67%2 Instagram 42 81%3 Twitter 17 33%4 Yelp 12 23%5 Neither 1 2%

Neither

Statistic ValueMin Value 1Max Value 5Total Responses 52

5. Do you ever search a company using social media?

# Answer Response %1 Definitely yes 18 35%2 Probably yes 22 42%

3 Might or might not 9 17%

4 Probably not 1 2%5 Definitely not 2 4%

Total 52 100%

Statistic ValueMin Value 1Max Value 5Mean 1.98Variance 0.96Standard Deviation 0.98Total Responses 52

6. How often are you on social media each day?

# Answer Response %

1 less than 30 minutes 9 17%

2 30 minutes - one hour 18 35%

3 Over an hour 22 42%

4 does not apply to me. 3 6%

Total 52 100%

Statistic ValueMin Value 1Max Value 4Mean 2.37Variance 0.71Standard Deviation 0.84Total Responses 52

7. Does social media influence your purchasing decisions?# Answer Response %1 yes 36 71%2 no 15 29%

Total 51 100%

# Answer Response %1 yes 36 71%2 no 15 29%

Total 51 100%

Statistic ValueMin Value 1Max Value 2Mean 1.29Variance 0.21Standard Deviation 0.46Total Responses 51

Work Cited

ABC News. ABC News Network, n.d. Web. 23 July 2016.

"Facebook for Business." Facebook for Business. N.p., n.d. Web. 20 Apr. 2016.

"Instagram for Business." Instagram for Business. N.p., n.d. Web. 20 Apr. 2016

"MSG Management Study Guide." What Is Brand Awareness? Web. 11 Nov. 2015

Murphy, Mike. "7 Ways That Facebook Ads Can Rock Your Business." Entrepreneur. N.p., 2016. Web. 18 Apr. 2016

"The World's Leading Research & Insights Platform | Qualtrics." Qualtrics. N.p., n.d. Web. 23 July 2016