Social Media Marketing Project Part 2

Introduction: As mentioned in the first part of this social media analysis project, Budweiser and Bud Light are owned by the same beer company, however they have many different ways to market themselves. Budweiser is portrayed with a nostalgic image, with more of a focus on the idea that the drink symbolizes a timeless tradition after a hard days work. On the other hand, Bud Light advertises itself with a focus towards the younger generation since it is a lighter, lower calorie version of Budweiser. For those who have tasted both and compared them, it is reasonable to say that Bud Light would be the popular preference. Bud Light’s social and humorous demeanor they embody makes this beer more marketed towards the college aged crowds. These differences can be noticed through their advertising strategies in their commercials. To set the tone of what these brands are all about, here are two commercials that each brand published to air on television. Notice the difference in each advertisement and think of what customer/consumer demographic they would fit. 

Bud Light: 

Budweiser:

Objective: In the second part of this project, I wanted to focus on how the two brands maintain buzz around their names. After all, they are just cheap beer brands and people could easily just buy the cheapest beer that is on sale at the liquor store. I wanted to use online tools and databases to break down how Budweiser and Bud Light planned promotional campaigns throughout a year’s time. Previously, I looked at a Google Trends chart that showed the spike of both brands because of the Super Bowl, which is one of the most watched annual sporting event on television. Both brands released well thought out commercials that followed the characteristics as mentioned, I also put links of the videos in part 1. In addition, I also wanted to use Social Mention to compare how much each brand grew since the last time I checked their popularity online. 

To start off, I wanted to address the followers update on each social media account for each brand. On Facebook, Budweiser has just over 14 million likes and Bud Light has a little over 8 million. Both are continually active posting daily content and interacting with customers.

On Twitter, each platform continues to rise in followers, with Budweiser going up from around 4,800 to 5,010. Bud Light went up from 175,000 followers to 176,000. On Instagram, both brands stayed similar to the number of followers in part 1 of the project.

To find out when Budweiser and Bud Light published campaigns, I used Google Trends to precisely map out on a year timeline as to when they produced a spike in the line graph. As you can see, Budweiser, labeled red, reigns supreme to Bud Light in terms of popularity. This graph covers an area of the past 5 years, so I was able to really pinpoint and research the campaigns that both companies air on all mass media platforms. 

I also used the geographical and popular search query feature that shows where in the world the brand is most popular in as well as what keywords people search in google. As mentioned earlier, the humorous twist that Bud Light puts into their ads fare well among people, as it is the most popular keyword. For Budweiser, it can be inferred that based on the keywords, it is more prominent among the older generation since there are no real silly, out of the box queries as Bud Light.

Another thing I found really interesting that Google Trends made me notice was the timing of launching campaigns and promotions. According to my data, the spikes that happened for each brand in the line graph occurred in February, May, and June. Here are some specific dates that show the launch date for campaigns from the past 5 years. These campaigns can vary from introducing a new phrase to the beer (such as “dilly dilly”) and using media to promote it, or creating limited edition cans such as the “America” cans that Budweiser released last summer. 

         Budweiser:                                                

• 4/16/10
• 10/25/10
• 4/26/11
• 2/7/12
• 5/28/14
• 6/12/14
• 12/9/14
• 1/28/15

          Bud Light:

• 1/28/10
• 10/8/12
• 1/23/15
• 5/18/17
• 10/16/17
• 1/23/17

Social Mention: I wanted to utilize this tool to be able to get more of a precise idea as to how the brands target audience interacts with them on various online platforms. I set the filters to search within the last month as opposed to anytime. I felt like this was necessary to best read and listen to the groundswell and make suggestions for improvement. 

Budweiser:

                                                                              

                                                                                                                                                 Bud Light: 

                                           
                                       

As you can see, Bud Light has a much better ratio than Budweiser. This may be because Bud Light has their popular “Dilly, dilly” phrase that has become internet memes all over. Not to mention, Budweiser does have a solid online presence, but compared to their neighbor, they need some help improving. Or, they need to develop an online media campaign that puts their name out into the online stratosphere. Also, it makes sense considering the age gap of the target audience for Budweiser as opposed to Bud Light, the younger generation probably includes lots of avid social media users. 

Analysis

Strengths:

• Anheuser-Busch In Bev, the company that owns both Budweiser and Bud Light as well as many others around the world, has done a great job managing brand image.
• As a result, both brands know their target audiences very well. They are creative in their marketing and portray themselves in a fun but professional way. Their sponsorships also help their exposure to the public, which adds to their extremely successful resume. 

Weaknesses:

• Budweiser might be a little behind Bud Light’s progress to adapting to the social media platforms. According to the Social Mention screenshot above, their reach has not been as up to par than Bud Light in the past month.
• I wouldn’t say that their social media presence is suffering, but there are certainly ways to engage more with the online audience thanks to features like “going live” on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. I think this sort of feature can be used to be able to have customers see the brewing process for the beers, just as an example. Other features like voting in polls as to what type of beer their customers like the most can stir up some online buzz for the company, which is what they need to do more of. 

Opportunities: 

• There are plenty of opportunities for Budweiser and Bud Light to take control of or to improve. I think they will gradually get better at social media as more apps get developed that revolve around posting content on it.
• Also, Snapchat is another platform that I think both brands should utilize more.

Threats: 

• The only threat that I would be aware of if I were Anheuser-Busch InBev is their production of commercials. In January of 2016, Bud Light launched a campaign that had Seth Rogan and  Amy Schumer talking about politics while drinking Bud Light that received some backlash. This was aired throughout the 16 months of preparation for the Clinton vs. Trump election day. The video clip addresses wage gaps and how women have to pay more for certain things. As a result, the campaign was cut short due to poor quarterly sales by Bud Light. If I were to give any advice, the integration of politics as a parody commercial is not smart and should be avoided in the future by both brands. It is too sensitive of a topic. 

Goals and suggestions: 

- Be more engaging on all of your social media platforms equally. Both brands can use these growing social hubs to publish more and more of their content with exciting incentives that can help market their brand. Instagram polls, posting to Snapchat stories, and interacting with customers when they post a question on Facebook are all very important engagements that can be utilized or improved on. 

- Create a backup plan. The Amy Schumer and Seth Rogan politically satirical skit didn't fare well for Bud Light. If the company ever finds itself in a hole that they dug themselves into accidentally, then having a backup campaign to immediately launch in response to negative backlash can be very helpful. 

POST Analysis: 

People: Bud Light and Budweiser have a really solid idea of what their target audience is and how to reach out to them. They do this by portraying and creating brand image and dynamically producing and presenting them to mass media platforms. 

Objectives: Both brands have already crowdsourced enough to the point where they have a solid groundswell. Will they be creative in marketing themselves on social media platforms that they do not use as much? Such as Instagram or Snapchat? I think as a company, Anheuser-Busch should try and stay ahead of the game and challenge themselves to keep creating new ways of engagement. The societal world of communication changes at such a fast pace as Li and Bernoff say, so it is important to have a solid internal groundswell for your marketing employers so they can work at their best. 

Strategy: I think both brands should stick to their strategy now and not change it. Only look for areas to improve based on collected data from websites like Social Mention and Google Trends. I would not try to introduce new platforms such as Pinterest unless there is a reason the groundswell is utilizing it. Other than that it is not worth it. 

Technology: The commercials that each brand launch are well produced and well thought out. The only cog in their marketing machine is energizing their groundswell. Some examples of ideas I thought of was organizing contests that are run through one social platform such as Instagram. With the use of hashtags, users can easily spread the word of Bud Light or Budweiser while simultaneously being entered into a contest. This would be an easy experiment to conduct if either brand wanted to try it out. 

Conclusion: As Budweiser and Bud Light continue to dominate the beer industry, data does not show them slowing down. Their campaigns are well timed and well thought out and stays true to their brand images they have developed over the years. Investing in the internet is something all companies have to do in order to stay relevant. Both brands have done a great job through their social media platforms. Now is the time to start stepping into a new mode of communication, being extra loyal to consumers. Being interactive with people online is such an important characteristic for marketing. The groundswell allows for this bond to be shared amongst friends and friendly beer drinkers. 

Original Blog #3

Have you ever seen a popular product and immediately thought of a person that is associated with it through billboards or commercials? Well, this is what marketing has evolved into. Celebrities and athletes have been recruited to sponsorships based on their public following of fans due to their talent in sports or just being successful at what they do in general. Whether it is a professional basketball player like LeBron James (Nike) or a musical icon such as Drake (Jordan), sponsorships have become to be the most popular strategy to influence customers to purchase specific products. 

Due to the increasing use of mass media, these celebrities have more platforms to show off their products. For example, LeBron James is signed with Nike. He and the Nike team work together to develop shoes that he is required to wear during all his games on the court. As he is considered to be one of the best basketball players in the NBA, people see him representing the Nike brand, so naturally customers will want to buy his signature shoe. In addition, Nike can use his image in their promotional commercials and billboards. This all leads to more sales for the company. 

Now, there have been instances when athletes have been stupid and were involved in scandals that ruined their public image. For example, Tiger Woods and Lance Armstrong. Tiger was once sponsored by companies such as Gillette, Gatorade, and AT&T. In the wake of him being involved in a cheating scandal that occurred back in 2009, his image and playing career spiraled down into one of the most shocking turn of events in recent memory. The media plagued him forever, and he is still trying to recuperate his talent as a golfer. Lance Armstrong is a well known cyclist known for fighting testicular cancer and returning to win a record setting 7 consecutive Tour de France titles. However, he was stripped of all of them in 2012 due to evidence that he was using performance enhancing drugs. He had been denying numerous allegations leading up to 2013, when he confessed. He was sponsored by Nike, Trek, Easton Bell Sports, as well as others. 

Kylie Jenner, one of the most popular social media users of today, is an avid user of Snapchat. Due to her association with the Kardashian family, she has been able to feed off the limelight to launch fashion products and cosmetics and promote them on platforms like Snapchat, Twitter, and Instagram. However, recently Snapchat released an update that changed the layout of the app, making it confusing for loyal users who had been using it since it was first released back in 2011. Kylie tweeted out her displeasure to the update.

Since Kylie has such a large following on Twitter and due to the popular opinion of the layout being too confusing, stock value of Snapchat dropped 6%. An unbelievable $1.3 billion was lost in the company’s market value off of one simple tweet!

This goes to show how much mass media can create influence platforms in the marketing world. One person can emit such a positive image due to all their accomplishments, but it can all go downhill due to the sheer vulnerability through mass media.

Reading Response #3

Now that we have discussed the ins and outs of the groundswell based on the relationship between the customer and the organization, there is yet another perspective to consider to create a successful groundswell! 

In chapter 12 of Groundswell: Winning in a world transformed by social technologies by Li and Bernoff, it talks about the groundswell inside of an organization. In addition, the chapter explains how internal groundswell benefits the management to employee relationship. Finally, the chapter highlights strategies for nurturing the internal groundswell. In the text, one of the three case studies mentioned was Best Buy’s Blue Shirt Nation.

“They tap the power of the groundswell of ideas among the people who best how your business runs your employees” (Li and Bernoff). 

Basically, what Best Buy was able to accomplish was create a dynamic social workspace that treated employees as if they were people, not a company. They focused on support management, voiced opinions, and sought feedback from their employees using this new social community. They used forums for employees to comment and post about various pieces of technology that Best Buy would carry, and received input and opinions from other Best Buy employees around the world that were able to answer their questions because they knew more about the product based on first hand experience. 

The key objectives that Blue Shirt Nation accomplishes: 

• Listening: “with employees, listening can turn rapidly into problem solving” (Li and Bernoff 237).
• Talking: “post policy changes where everyone can read them and see how they’re playing in Peroria” (Li and Bernoff 238).
• Energizing: “amplifies (an enthusiastic employee’s) voice across the entire Best Buy employee bases. She spreads her positive thinking and advice, which has an impact on stores everywhere” (Li and Bernoff 237).
• Supporting: “employees can find the support they need from around the company” (Li and Bernoff 271).
• Embracing: “community turned out to be away to surface both ideas and great talent” (Li and Bernoff).

LinkedIn is a prime example of a social platform that utilizes the Best Buy case study. The platform is a popular business centered social hub for work related connections. It encourages people to develop a professional online environment that is easy to use. LinkedIn is strictly used for exchanging knowledge, ideas, and employment opportunities and has increasingly become a leading tool for helping individuals expand their networks as well as find jobs in their field. 

The platform boasts many features that mirrors the strategy that Best Buy used in the case study. Not only can you upload your resume to the site, it also allows users to add keywords to their bio so other people can find you easier. This type of headline on your profile will boost your profile traffic and make you more appealing to employers seeking a specific characteristic or skill.

Another feature that LinkedIn utilizes is the ability for users to create a professional gallery with work examples, photos and video. Visual content and creating a portfolio of examples is very important for your profile page. From here, users of the platform can view each others profiles and reach out to connect with them with just one click. It’s that easy!

Overall, the online business platform has mastered what Li and Bernoff mention in Groundswell: Winning in a world transformed by social technologies. Users of LinkedIn get to listen and talk to each through the online LinkedIn chat room. This energizes the platform’s groundswell, so more and more people recognize the trend and end up building a profile on the website. People then begin to create connections thanks to the algorithm of the site, making collaboration and communication much easier than Facebook for example. Again, users can also support each other through the ease of connecting through comments or chat rooms, which then leads to the embracing. Users of LinkedIn have learned to embrace the platform’s main goal, which is to help employers find the perfect employees that best fit their need for their company, which leads to valuable experiences on both ends. 

This is why it is so important to have ideas to build the internal groundswell. It is one thing to have a strong following on social media accounts, but if there is no cohesiveness behind the screens of the people who manage those accounts, there is sure to be some issues. Whether it is a lack of a company atmosphere, lack of original ideas, or just unhappy employees in general. Companies need to satisfy all of the key factors that Li and Bernoff discuss with the Best Buy case study in order to maintain their social media presence. If there are employees that complain about how they are not being listened to or if the company is struggling with negative reviews both online and inside the company or organization itself, they may be deemed for failure.

Works cited: “The Groundswell Inside Your Company.” Groundswell, by Charlene Li and Josh Bernoff, Thema, 2011

Social Media Marketing Project Pt. 1

Introduction: When you think of Bud Light, you probably think of the good times in college, anything related to football, and the funny commercials that you watch on television. However, people may not realize that Bud Light is actually owned by Budweiser. There are two distinct differences between the two alcoholic beverages. Bud Light is a lighter, less calorie version of Budweiser, and the cans of Bud Light are blue instead of Budweiser’s red cans. It is interesting to notice how the two brands market themselves. Bud Light tends to be catered towards the younger generation of partiers and football fans, whereas Budweiser is marketed as, “The King of Beers”. This slogan, plus their well thought out, heartwarming commercials give this brand a completely different image when compared to Bud Light. 

The company who owns both Budweiser and Bud Light is Anheuser-Busch InBev. They are a Belgium based company that bought Budweiser back in 2008. Other beer brands they own and manage include Modelo Cerveza and Michelob Ultra. Their brewing heritage dates back more than 600 years across many generations and continents. From their home brewery in Leuven, Belgium, to the iconic Anheuser-Busch in St. Louis, MO, to Johannesburg, South Africa, and another in Petropolis, Brazil. Their footprint is recognized all across the world, and they have been able to collaborate with many brands to market and manage. 

Platforms: Now after looking at both Budweiser and Bud Light’s websites, there was immediately a difference. Bud Light, the beer that is catered towards the younger audience, had a video with the now popular phrase, “dilly, dilly!” This silly slogan became popular leading up to the Super Bowl. Ironically, when the Philadelphia Eagles won it, people started chanting, “Philly, Philly, dilly, dilly!” This was exactly what Bud Light wanted to happen with their marketing strategy, and in the end, they got lucky with the Eagles winning and it has paid off. Alternatively, Budweiser’s website did not show any video, instead it presented an option to join a basic rewards program with incentives that offered the beer’s merchandise. Right here is where the line is drawn between both brands. Since Budweiser is considered to be, “The King of Beers,” what better way to stay loyal to the king than a rewards program? For Bud Light, their slogan embodies a silly communal image that is fueled by the ease of drinkability, since the beer is lighter than Budweiser. 

Both brands use Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram accounts. Bud Light’s Facebook has a total of around 8 million likes compared to Budweiser’s 14 million. However on Twitter, Bud Light blows Budweiser out of the water with 175,000 followers to only 5,000 for “The King of Beers.” Instagram shows 207,000 followers for Bud Light and 286,000 for Budweiser. Another difference between these two brands in terms of marketing are their commercials. Here is an example of how the popular “dilly, dilly” phrase came to light amongst the groundswell. 

Compared to Budweiser’s commercial, theirs focuses on the idea that their beer is for America, by America. It uses the Clydesdale horse to create a symbol of gracefulness and beauty that is portrayed in the dramatic commercial that hits the nostalgic note of ending a hard day’s work. It pertains more to the older generation of loyal drinkers. Over the years, this horse has been the focal point for Budweiser, so people who watch this commercial will continually be reminded of the message that is shown at the end of the commercial, “This Bud’s from beer country, this Bud’s for you.”

In regards to their activity on social media, both brands post daily and also respond to comments on Facebook as shown in the screenshots below.

However, the Twitter platform showed some differences. Budweiser launched a campaign that focuses on brewing beer using renewable energy. All of that is really great in terms of their image as a brand and being conscience of the environment, but they lack daily interaction with their Twitter audience. As you can see from the screenshot, they have only interacted with their post that introduced the campaign on January 25th. 

On the other hand, Bud Light interacts considerably more often than Budweiser. This is very important, as it keeps customers engaged in their profile. An added plus is the sense of humor that they throw into their replies, which makes them seem like any other Bud Light lover. This day to day connection is key to maintaining the groundswell supporters, and it certainly shows in the amount of followers on the accounts. 

In terms of Instagram, both brands posted often, but lacked interaction with commentators. This might be a factor that the brands should work on in the future. 

Analysis:

According to data provided by socialmention.com, Budweiser’s data declined compared to Bud Light. These screenshots were taken on 2/23, 2/24, and 2/26 respectively. It is important to note that the 23rd and 24th were Friday and Saturday, then the 26th being a Monday. The numbers of engagement, reach, and mentions declined as the weekend passed by. 

Budweiser: 

  
                                                     

Bud Light: 

On average, the two companies are generally the same popularity wise, however, the numbers do decline after the weekend ends. We can concur that Bud Light is the more popular brand due to its strong ratio between positive and negative sentiment. On Google Trends, the red Budweiser line seems to be just as popular as the blue Bud Light line. The spike occurred during the Super Bowl not surprisingly. However, the reason behind Budweiser's taller spike could have to do with their choice of commercial. Earlier, I linked a video of the Clydesdale horse that symbolized the brand as "America's beer in beer country." Something I took away from this data was that commercials with animals have more value to them marketing-wise. But nonetheless, Budweiser seems to have the edge when it comes to passion. Their slogan appears to be working its magic, and the numbers back it up. 

Conclusion:

-Budweiser and Bud Light both have very specific marketing campaigns that attract different drinkers. One focuses on the loyalty of sticking to the same drink, while the other emphasizes the communal aspect of getting together and drinking with friends with a silly twist. "Dilly, dilly!"

-Both brands tend to decline in social mention as the weekend ends. This makes sense, but to see it through data analysis and numbers makes the picture that much more clear. 

-For social media overall, the brands are doing their best with Facebook and Twitter. The only platform I think the brands can improve is Instagram. Maybe using the "Go Live" feature would be a start? Just to give your groundswell an inside look into a brewery or something. Also, more interaction with commentators would be another aspect to work on. In all, these beer companies are very interesting to look into!