This research covers the landscape of influencer marketing and combines it with the knowledge of 11 content creators and one social media specialist, ultimately producing an actionable handbook. Participants were asked questions that were intended to discover key strategies, level of difficulty, and overall insight into the content creator world. Best practices and key findings are identified in the research paper, and outlined into four parts in the handbook. The handbook serves as a compilation framework derived from my primary and secondary sources designed to provide anyone interested in becoming a content creator or social media influencer on steps they may take given what their predecessors have done to successfully launch their careers in the space.
Before creating a campaign targeting Millennials, this thesis first identifies which consumers belong in the Millennial demographic. The definition given looks beyond the ‘age 18-34’ demographic information and analyzes the generation’s unique characteristics, their feelings of being misunderstood by businesses, the importance of social media and technology in their world, and what motivates them to take action.
The subsequent case studies examine the advertising tactics of Barack Obama’s 2008 presidential campaign, the burgeoning social news and entertainment website BuzzFeed, and Beats by Dre headphones. Each of these brands successfully captured the Gen Y demographic group, with an emphasis on the younger end of the 18-34 age spectrum, and effectively communicated their understanding of Millennials’ culture. Each of the three campaigns contained social or digital elements to create engaging and relevant content for the niche of younger Millennials. Immediately following the case studies, best practices are outlined to summarize the findings.
Finally, a digital campaign is proposed for Bose headphones. The literature review, case studies, and best practices contributed to the culminating campaign, which will allow Bose to reach the younger Millennial audience.
Experience Marketing philosophy revolves around brand interaction with consumers’ physical senses in order to provide an exceptional experience that has value and creates affinity towards the brand (Datta, 2017).<br/>Experience Marketing and its various subcategories have been defined through a multitude of academic journals and publications (e.g., Experience v. experiential). However, there is a lack of consensus in academic literature over best practices regarding experiential marketing efforts. This thesis conducted primary research in the form of in-depth interviews to understand how current experiential marketers utilize academic models and understandings of experiential marketing. Interview data suggests that most brands stage experiences strategically based on their brand elements. In-depth interviews revealed that brands use academic frameworks as a reference point rather than a guide. Accurately measuring relevant metrics remains the largest challenge of Experience Marketing.
This interview-style podcast highlights the history of marketing and advertising, social media and its effects on users, and social media influencers and their roles in consumers’ lives. Furthermore, expert opinions from faculty at Arizona State University will help answer the question: do influencers have an adverse effect on mental health?
Professor Naomi Mandel, a consumer behavior professor at the W. P. Carey School of Business, and Dr. Mary Ingram-Waters, an Honors Faculty Fellow at Barrett, The Honors College, provide insight on the topic of social media influencers. The full interviews are found in the podcast. Professor Naomi Mandel’s interview is found at 29:45, and Dr. Mary Ingram-Waters’ interview is found at 46:00.
Through research from case studies and professional interviews, it can be shown that those who fail and become victim to the e-commerce giants are those who do not allocate enough budget and resources to allow e-commerce to succeed; they do not correctly utilize data throughout the creation of their e-commerce site nor their marketing, have a vast lack of knowledge, and ultimately do not adapt to trends in e-commerce.
E-commerce giants are those who lead in the world-wide e-commerce revolution. They have entered a market and have caused/are continuing to cause instability for those who have not adapted or changed. These e-commerce giants do not have to be “giant” in size; rather, they are making giant changes that allow them to be successful within the industry. They are the prime examples of how e-commerce and data-driven marketing can be successful.
My research shows in order to successfully practice e-commerce, companies must adapt the best practices shown by these giants: owning your data, developing a strong budget for data-driven marketing, investing in the technology and people needed to implement a sound strategy, training employees in basic data, utilizing data in all aspects of marketing, creating an easy online experience that using AB Testing, hosting post mortem meetings to identify successes and failures, understanding your customers, creating the appropriate customer segmentation, nixing the “one fits all” strategy, and never getting too comfortable. If a company is stagnant, they are behind.