Sample Case Study On Britney Spears Case

Opportunity

The opportunity entails the launch of new products in the market based on the current trends in industry.
Critical Factors
Target
Inevitably, the application of social media would confine the target group to users of social media only. As such, one must ensure that the set of social media options taken is inclusive of the entire target market. In the Britney Spears Case, the set of social media application was quadruple comprising her blogpost, Facebook, Twitter and YouTube.

Competition

This is one area requiring adequate consideration. The application of social media would be met with countermeasures by the competitors. In the event competitors equally venture into the same strategy, it is critical to have an option that would still make the product distinct and wonderfully unique from the others.

Time Constrains

The use of social media requires fast and furious reaction. In that context, one must be on the ready with ideas and options so that the timing issues are adequately addressed without having to lull the system or go under for failure of delivery after creating the demand for the product. In addition, social media applications essentially create sensations. One must be ready to handle the sensational opportunities in time before the sensation dies out.

Managerial and staff competence

The ability of staff to manoeuvre the social media platforms in use is critical. In Britney Spears Case, she had to contract a different person to act in charge of the social media. This shows that the typical managerial component may not have the entire skills necessary for the work. It would be important to at least train the staff additionally.

Alternative Solutions

Having decided to apply social media as the platform for the viral marketing of a product, one needs to consider the possible strategies to employ in the marketing.

Use of social media platform

Under this strategy, the marketer employs a social media platform for purposes of marketing. For instance, one may opt to use Twitter, Facebook, blogospheres, YouTube or MySpace.

Advantages

Gives the right balance between independence, flexibility and accessibility of market. The diversified application spreads the risks of failure while at the same time retaining some level of independence to the marketer.
Enables the marketers earn the loyalty of the market and then retain the customers. The marketer can develop his own brand independent of the third party platform which does not necessarily threaten the third party platforms.
Facilitates accessibility to the target market. The number of consumers exposed to the social media especially in the developed world has since surpassed over two-thirds of the population.

Disadvantages

Expensive to maintain. Applying both approaches means double investment which is necessarily costly.
Requires a high level of competence. The application of both platforms demands that the marketer has high level of competence and training.

Requires additional investment in terms of time.

Huge reliance on the social media for purposes of accessibility of the market. The social media non-users are easily left out.

Use of mass media

In the alternative one may opt to use the classic sources of mass of media. These are the television, newspapers and radio. In essence, this form of information transfer shall entail advertisements.

Advantages

The use of the classic forms reaches out to all persons, the old generation as well as the new generation for all still access the traditional forms.
It would be cheaper as it is the older mode of information transfer. It, therefore, requires no additional investment and training of personnel.
The advertisement system is well entrenched in the system and the public would be in the know that a product is being launched, possibly go try it out.

The media coverage always as the additional sensational twist especially if endorsements by some celebrities are secured.

Disadvantages
It is the older approach, therefore, does not strike the audience as any different or unique. This deprives the product its originality and uniqueness earned by testing unemployed methods.
The new generation is slowly progressing away from the traditional mass media and only using the latter in a limited manner. In that context, the target audience may be missed out.
Ordinary mass media can be expensive for the reason that advertisement are often costed according to the number of times they are run. This is as opposed to social media which does not apply such interval costing systems.

Reliance on the mass media equally reduces the degree of independence as opposed to say running one’s own platform.

Use of roadshows and public appearances
Using the roadshows and public appearances, the marketer accesses the target market directly through physical interactions. They could be as intense as door to door campaigns or just mere public meetings.
Advantages
It is the most effective, as the information reaches the public first hand. The marketer takes the information to the consumer.
The marketer retains his independence. He decides what to say and to what extent. He enjoys all the airtime once in contact with the consumers and is not limited by any third parties.
The approach gives consumers special attention which is one on one. This likely leads to customer loyalty as customers feel appreciated.

Disadvantages

It is expensive and time consuming. Running door to door campaign is expensive considered the number of appearances necessary.
It is limited. Naturally, one cannot exhaust the target market especially because of the tedious nature of public appearances and roadshows.
It requires additional specialty and customer relations capabilities. The same is because door to door would only thrive if the marketers have the language that impresses their target market.

Recommendations

Use of social media platform
The use of one’s own platforms in social media is essential as it enables the retention of clients and allows a broader avenue of flexibility. In addition, the marketer is able to dictate what content to share in the market to its unique customer base. However, the same would be difficult to start off hence the need to integrate with the already established third party platforms such as Facebook and Twitter. Under the same, the company borrows from the establishment and access the market which it then sells its new brand. This approach is integrated and enables the product to reach the market in time.
In addition, this approach as it has been demonstrated in the Britney Spears Case, assures the marketer of returns based on the cost return computations.

Justification

The use of social media is justifiable by the very fact that millions of potential customers have taken to the culture of roaming through social media platforms. However, the diversity of social media platforms justifies the multiplatform approach so as to reach as many of the customers as possible. Within the same breathe, the marketer needs to retain his independence and enjoy a degree of flexibility which he can only get in his own platforms. The third party platforms nonetheless offer an already established market. Therefore, the best approach is the hybrid application.