HD1_HOÀNG MINH THÚY

INFORMATION AND COMUNICATIONTECHNOLOGY FACULTY OF DIGITAL ECONOMY & ELECTRONIC COMMERCE HOANG MINH THUY ANALYSING SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING ACTIVITIES OF BICI CENTER COMPANY LIMITED GRADU

INFORMATION AND COMUNICATION

TECHNOLOGY

FACULTY OF DIGITAL ECONOMY & ELECTRONIC COMMERCE

HOANG MINH THUY

ANALYSING SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING

ACTIVITIES OF BICI CENTER COMPANY LIMITED

GRADUATION THESIS MAJOR: BUSINESS ADMISTRATION

Da Nang - 06/2021

INFORMATION AND COMUNICATION

GRADUATION THESIS MAJOR: BUSINESS ADMISTRATION

Instructor: Master Vu Thu Ha

Da Nang - 06/2021

I would like to sincerely thank all the management, departments of BiCi Center Co., Ltd and especially you in the Marketing department Thanks to the dedicated guidance and help of everyone, I have allowed myself to learn about the activities in the company, from which this knowledge will be the basis for the implementation of the report Moreover, it helps me strengthen my knowledge and get used to the work later, making an important step forward so that I can take on the job in the future.While studying at The University of Information and Communication

Technology in Korea, I was trained in marketing basics and expanded my knowledge

in several other fields to help me improve my understanding even more It is these things that will make it possible for me to do a good job after graduation

I would like to sincerely thank the teachers and the school for enthusiastically conveying knowledge to me during my time at the school so that today I can apply thisgraduation essay And I would like to express my deepest thanks to Ms Vu Thu Ha, who has dedicatedly guided me from the initial concepts to the selection of topics and the completion of the report

And I would like to wish the Board of Directors, teachers and brothers and sisters

in the Company good health and reap many successes in work as well as in life

TABLE OF CONTENTS ii

LIST OF FIGURES v

LIST OF SYMBOLS vi

LIST OF TABLES vii

ABSTRACT 1 1 Purposes of topic 1

2 Topic objectives 3

3 Subjects and scope of research 3

4 Research method 3

5 Structure of the Thesis 3

CHAPTER 1 THEORETICAL BASIS OF SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING 5

1.1 OVERVIEW OF MARKETING 5

1.1.1 Concept of marketing 5

1.1.2 Role of marketing 5

1.2 OVERVIEW OF SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING 6

1.2.1 Social Media Marketing definition 6

1.2.2 Role and benefit of Social Media Marketing 8

1.3 SOCIAL MEDIAL MARKETING TOOLS 9

1.4 6 STEPS TO DEVELOPING A SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING PLAN 14

1.4.1 Target customer 15

1.4.2 Communication objectives 15

1.4.3 Design communication message 16

1.4.4 Communication channels 16

1.4.5 Determining the budget 18

1.4.6 Monitoring and Evaluating of Social Media Processes 19

1.5.1 Internal factors 20

1.5.2 External factors 21

CHAPTER SUMMARY 24

CHAPTER 2 ANALYSING SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING ACTIVITIES OF BICI CENTER 25 2.1 INTRODUCTION OF BICI CENTER COMPANY LIMITED 25

2.1.1 Introduction of BiCi Center Company Limited 25

2.1.2 Organizational structure and business functions 27

2.2 ACTIVITIES, PRODUCT, CUSTOMER 29

2.2.1 Main activities 29

2.2.2 Product 30

2.2.3 Customer and market segment 31

2.3 BUSINESS OPERATION SITUATION OF BICI CENTER CO., LTD (2018-2020) 32

2.3.1 Income statement 32

2.3.2 Human resources analysis 34

2.3.3 Conduction of the capital, property 36

2.4 ANALYZING THE ENVIRONMENT AFFECTING SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING ACTIVITIES OF BICI CENTER CO., LTD 38

2.4.1 Macro environment 38

2.4.2 Micro environment 47

2.4.3 SWOT 54

2.5 ANALYZING SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING ACTIVITIES OF BICI CENTER CO., LTD 58

2.5.1 Target customer 58

2.5.2 Communication objectives 59

2.5.3 Communication message 59

CHAPTER SUMMARY 82

CHAPTER 3 SOLUTION TO IMPROVE THE EFFICIENCY OF SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING ACTIVITIES AT BICI CENTER CO., LTD 83

3.1 EVALUATING THE EFFECTIVENESS OF SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING AT BICI CENTER 83

3.1.1 Achievements 83

3.1.1 Drawbacks 84

3.2 FUNDAMENTAL ANALYSIS FOR SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING EFFICIENCY AT BICI CENTER CO., LTD 85

3.2.1 Concrete premisses 85

3.3 SOLUTIONS TO IMPROVE THE EFFICIENCY OF SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING ACTIVITIES AT BICI CENTER CO.,LTD 87

3.3.1 Solution for Facebook 87

3.3.2 Solution for Website 93

CONCLUSION 99

REFERENCES 100

Figure 1.1 6 steps to developing a social media marketing plan 14

Figure 1.2 S.M.A.R.T Objective framework 15

Figure 1.3 Four Zone of Social Media Marketing 16

Figure 2.1 Organizational structure of BiCi Center Co., Ltd 27

Figure 2.2 Internet and mobile payment transactions 46

Figure 2.3 Fan page of BiCi Center 61

Figure 2.4 Other Fan Page of BiCi Center 62

Figure 2.5 Some fanpage posts of BiCi Center 68

Figure 2.6 Advertise online on Fanpage 69

Figure 2.7 BiCi's holiday discount voucher 70

Figure 2.8 Stats for likes on BiCi Uniforms fanpage 71

Figure 2.9 Interactive statistics on Facebook by BiCi and its competitors 72

Figure 2.10 Website interface on the computer interface 74

Figure 2.11 A standard SEO article on the bici.vn 75

Figure 2.12 bici.vn website visits statistics 75

Figure 2.13 BiCi's advertising template on our Top1DaNang.Com 76

Figure 2.14 Banner advertising on the Top1DaNang.Com 77

Figure 2.15 One of the forums that the company performs 78

Figure 2.16 One of the forums articles that the company performs 79

Figure 2.17 The company's Pinterest website 80

Figure 2.18 Some pins on the company's Pinterest page 81

Figure 3.1 Viral promotional content 89

Figure 3.2 Form of post promotion 90

Figure 3.3 Comment function illustration for website 97

SMM Social Media Marketing

GDPR General Data Protection Regulation

Table 2.1 Incom statement of BiCi Center Co., Ltd From 2018 to 2020 32

Table 2.2 Human resources situation of BiCi Center Co., Ltd in the period of 2018 – 2020 34

Table 2.3 Balance Sheet of BiCi Center Co., Ltd from 2018 to 2020 36

Table 2.4 The assigned table is in charge of the above jobs 63

Table 2.5 Schedule of Facebook posts by week on BiCi Center fanpage 67

Table 2.6 Travel season ads schedule 68

Table 2.7 Budget for the 2021 travel shirt advertising campaign 70

Table 2.8 Structure the number of orders from the social media 72

Table 2.9 Budget for advertising activities on social news websites Top1DaNang.Com 77

Table 3.1 Time to implement advertising and viral marketing 91

Table 3.2 Budget for facbook and viral marketing advertising 91

1 Purposes of topic

Currently, we have been living in industrialization and modernization with the outstanding development of science and technology In particular, the social network is

a platform that develops quickly, it attracts a large number of participants to use

everywhere in the world with many different ages In a relatively short time in the last 2-3 years, it is becoming an indispensable tool for the life of each person It helps us connect people with people from anywhere in the world, regardless of time and

geographical gaps

In Vietnam, social media is a place for participants to share their feelings, status, mood, provide information, contact friends and besides it is also a tool to consult and search for information about services, goods, and products before making a decision Itcan be seen that the number of social media users is quite large with more than 3.5 billion people, accounting for about 46% of the total population in the world

1According to where social report in April 2018, the number of social media users in Vietnam is quite high with 58 million people, ranked 7th in the world, up 16%

compared to last year 2It is expected that this number will continue to increase sharply

in the following years Social media users say that they will often track the brand's products and services, and of course, they will also unfollow the brand on social media

if the brand does not provide the correct and necessary information to them And customers also often use social networks to message, communicate thanks to search support, brand information advice rather than direct communication to the customer care department of the brand And so, social networks have also completely changed the way domestic enterprises operate in particular and businesses around the world in

https://baonghean.vn/so-nguoi-viet-su-general More and more people are using social networks as an indispensable support tool in their purchase process And social media is a way to help businesses convey messages quickly, accurately, and reach a large number of potential customers at optimal costs.

Knowing that many businesses have been implementing programs, advertising campaigns, social media to grow revenue effectively And the traditional form of marketing from there is also less popular Therefore, to increase the competitive

advantage in the market, businesses need to take social media seriously because of the benefits and potential it brings

For BICI Center – a company doing business in the field of layers, uniforms, magazines for businesses, it is also impossible not to pay attention to social media This is evident through the desire of businesses to reach out to target customers, but here is the group of young customers - the audience that the company wants to target isalso the object of using social networks the most The company has been

implementing social media activities by building and developing its fanpage on

Facebook and other social networking sites such as blogs and forums The

implementation of the activity also attracted quite a lot of interest with more than 10 thousand followers on the Facebook social channel3 The number of orders generated from the company's social media channels is quite relative to the rate of about 31% of the total number of orders, including adding other direct sales channels 4However, the implementation and development of this communication strategy of the company havenot worked due to difficulties Posts are posted quite ins not often, according to

statistics only about 1 post per day on Facebook and other social networks are much lower, not often from which the number of users interacting with the company's

fanpage also decreases At the same time, media content is not attractive and creative, not reaching the right audience for each type of product Embracing the increasingly popular trend in the development of social media, especially Facebook along with the outstanding difficulties at the company during the practice, the dismay is named: "

3

According to statistics on BICI Uniform Fanpage (05/2021)

4

Analysing Social Media Marketing Activities Of Bici Center Company Limited"– based on the study of the theoretical reasoning and the reality of social media

activities , and proposed some solutions aimed at improving BiCi Center's social media activities

3 Subjects and scope of research

Object: Social media activities at BiCi Center Co., Ltd

Scope:

- Time:

+ Collect company's second-class data from 2018 to 2020

+ Information collection period from 3/2021 – 5/2021

- Space: BiCi Center Company Limited - 67 Le Dinh Ly, Da Nang

4 Research method

To achieve the research objectives presented above, the topic combines the synthesis of scientific documents, the collection, and analysis of second-party data andinformation

- Synthesis of scientific documents: Based on textbooks, reference books,

scientific articles will form the basis of the reasoning of online advertising of enterprises in the topic

- Collecting and analyzing second-party data: To analyze and assess the current situation of social media marketing activities of BiCi Center Co., Ltd., the topic

of analyzing the company's documents on this activity From the data in these documents, by the method of synthesis, descriptive statistics, comparative

statistics will allow analysis, clear assessment of the situation and thereby

identify the pros and cons of social media marketing activities of BiCi Center

5 Structure of the Thesis

CHAPTER 1: THEORETICAL BASIS OF SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING

CHAPTER 2: ANALYSING SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING ACTIVITIES OF BICI CENTER

CHAPTER 3: SOLUTIONS TO IMPROVE THE EFFICIENCY OF SOCIAL MEDIAMARKETING ACTIVITIES AT BICI CENTER CO., LTD

CONCLUSION

REFERENCE

CHAPTER 1 THEORETICAL BASIS OF SOCIAL MEDIA

According to Beckman, TN, & Davidson, W R, (1962): "Marketing is essentially

a process like farming, manufacturing, mining, or construction As such, it is basically functional in character and may, therefore, be defined as the performance of all

activities necessary for ascertaining the needs and wants of markets, planning product availability, effecting transfers in ownership of products, providing for their physical distribution, and facilitating the entire marketing process."

According to Kotler & Arstrong, (2012)." Marketing is a process where

businesses create value for customers and build relationships with them to win value for customers.“

According to the American Marketing Association, (2017), marketing is defined

as follows: "Marketing is the activity, set of institutions, and processes for creating,

communicating, delivering, and exchanging offerings that have value for customers, clients, partners, and society at large " Marketing is an activity that brings together

organizations and processes to create, communicate, distribute and exchange valuable services for customers, partners, and society at large

There are many ways of understanding and definition of marketing but in

general, it comes from the market and the needs of consumers In summary, we can understand: the essence of marketing is to satisfy the needs of customers to bring optimal profits to organizations and businesses

1.1.2 Role of marketing

In an organization's business, marketing plays an essential role According to

Christine Moorman and Roland T Rust Source: “ Marketing is best viewed as the

function that manages connections between the organization and the customer The primary connections maybe viewed as the customer product, the customer-service delivery, and the customer-financial accountability connections.“

Overview, marketing activities help to have numerous complete information about customer's demands, which satisfy them and orient businesses to promote production: what to produce, how much to cost, how to distribute it ,

Marketing also has a function to help products and services of businesses adapt and change according to the needs of customers and the market Thus creating sales and increasing the efficiency of production and business

1.2 OVERVIEW OF SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING

1.2.1 Social Media Marketing definition

"Social Media" is a term that has been used quite a lot in recent times, especially

in the field of marketing It is considered one of the best new means of support in modern marketing trends today There are many definitions given to explain this term with various understandings There are a few common and widely used definitions such as:

According to Joseph Thornley (2008): "Social media are online communications

in which individuals shift fluidly and flexibly between the role of audience and author

To do this, they use social software that enables anyone without knowledge of coding,

to post, comment on, share or mash up content and to form communities around shared interests."

According to Kaplan A.M (2009) "Social Media is a group of Internet-based

applications that build on the ideological and technological foundations of Web 2.0, and that allow the creation and exchange of User Generated Content."

According to Larson and Watson (2011) "We refer to social media as the set of

connectivity-enabled applications that facilitate interaction and the publication, exchange, and co-creation of information among firms and their networked

communities of customers."

From the above bases, the concept of social media is understood simply as including tools and platforms on the Internet environment such as blogs, news sharing sites, social networks where users can easily create, share, comment, or interact about any content

Although there are many different definitions, the concepts of social media all show some of the following basic mutual features:

- Content is shown in many different forms such as text, video, images, sound, etc

- Users can interact directly with each other and share social content quickly, in real-time, and with a huge geographical range.

- Compatible with many different devices such as phones, tablets, laptops,

desktop computers, so on, and used in the Internet environment

- Users can automatically post media content freely, which is called User

Generated Content (User Generated Content)

With these outstanding characteristics compared to mass media, social media is increasingly popular

Social Media Marketing (SMM) definition:

With the explosion of the Internet, Social Media Marketing (abbreviated as SMM) is an indispensable activity in the marketing strategy of an enterprise or

organization It is a new direction for the media and marketing industry that not many businesses and organizations cannot ignore because of its actual effectiveness

However, the concept of SMM is still quite vague and not unified

"Social media marketing is the utilization of social media technologies, channels, and software to create, communicate, deliver, and exchange offerings that have value for an organization’s stakeholders." (Tracy L Tulen, Michael R Solomon, 2012).

"Social media marketing consists of the attempt to use social media to persuade those who one's organization, items and/or solutions are worthwhile Community online marketing is promotion using social systems, social systems, weblog promotion and more." (Sajid SI, 2016).

In a word, SMM is a term that addresses marketing based on social media, onlineservice platforms, can be forms of social networks that exchange and share

information (popular such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Youtube, ) or forums to exchange and share specific resources (documents – tailieu vn, photos - Pinterest, VN-Zoom Forum, ) These platforms allow users to use them completely free, interact directly with people by commenting, exchanging opinions, sharing experiences, helpcontent be popularly transmitted to users

The purpose of SMM is to create a multitude of content that users can share through social media, thereby helping an organization and business to promote their products and expand their reach to customers to profit

In summary: Social Media Marketing is a method of communication by using social media

1.2.2 Role and benefit of Social Media Marketing

- Role of Social Media Marketing:

According to Sajid SI (2016), the role of social media in marketing is cognized asfollows:

 Social media helps businesses provide customers with information about items, products, or services They provide most easily and intuitively From there, improve customer awareness of the product and increase customer buying intent

 With a large number of participants using social networks, with many different ages from many parts of the world, the organization can reach a large number ofcustomers not only old customers but also customers A new organization has never been known, thus helping them to reach a large number of potential customers

 Social media influences search engines by effectively building complementary links and links, thereby improving search engine optimization (SEO)

Accessing and satisfying customers' search needs When certain content on social media sites is published and attracts many people to view and discuss, it will increase the linkability of the website through search engines The more links to the content generated, the higher the company's or product's (such as Google) search engine display rankings

 Social media includes not only product information, but also a place to show the culture of the organization, build a brand, creating a connection between organizations and customers easily Social media helps businesses to add a channel to quickly build relationships with customers, employees, partners, and colleagues, and support market research for businesses effectively

- Benefits of Social Media Marketing:

Nowadays, Social Media Marketing is widely used by businesses because it represents a cost-effective marketing solution The Social Media Marketing weapons can be used largely for free and very easily, in comparison with other promotional tools The main purposes of using Social Media Marketing are the amplification of word-of-mouth marketing, market research, general marketing, idea generation and new product development, co-innovation, customer service, public relations, employeecommunications, and reputation management Indeed, social networks can increase

product and brand awareness, web traffic, customer loyalty, but also improve the company’s Search Engine Optimization, and even increase the success of new product launches.

Social Media Marketing can be using unconventional means to achieve

conventional goals, through the use of creativity, community, and relationships instead

of big budgets to achieve marketing objectives These methods are powerful guerrilla marketing strategies Every marketer is now armed with highly effective online

communications tools that enable him to garner the same level of influence that many large corporations have Therefore, Social Media Marketing is a great change in the world of marketing Whether it is concerning large multinationals or small and

medium-sized enterprises, Social Media Marketing presents many significant benefits for the companies’ success Social Media platforms foster communication around brands and products, enhancing positive as well as negative word-of-mouth around a business and its products and services Any message or piece of information shared on Social Media channels can be seen by thousands of people in an extremely short period Furthermore, 94% of marketers affirm that they are employing Social Media for marketing purposes 83% of them said that Social Media is important to their businesses and 59% of marketers are using Social Media for 6hours or more weekly, and 33% for 11 or more hours

However, when using social media in the promotion process, businesses also need to pay attention that this is a long-term business strategy, so it is also a double-edged sword, particularly social media can be taken advantage of by others to harm thebusiness

In summary, social media gives the organization the following benefits:

- Creating effective advertising channels for organizations;

- Increasing access to information about the organization;

- Building new business relationships;

- Increasing the ranking of the organization in the search engine;

- Increasing the number of products and services consumed;

- Reducing marketing costs

1.3 SOCIAL MEDIAL MARKETING TOOLS

The Social Media domain is a huge medium that can be divided into many

different types of channels Every marketer has his way of distinguishing one Social Media from another Therefore, in this section, we will present the two most famous models showing the different types of Social Media channels According to Robert Scoble, the Social Media Starfish illustrates the different Social Media channels that

people are using to interact on the Internet It shows the evolving Social Media

landscape Although this model is very famous in the Social Media Marketing domain,

it was developed in 2007 and is thus far out of date

 Blogs:

A blog is a type of content management system that makes it easy for anyone to publish short articles called posts Blog software provides a variety of social features, including comments, blog rolls, trackbacks, and subscriptions that make it perfect formarketing purposes Blogs make great hubs for other social media marketing efforts,

as they can be integrated with nearly every tool and platform Every company with a website should have a blog that speaks to its current and potential customers as realpeople Blogs are not the right place for corporatespeak press releases; blogs should beconversational in tone Mashable is one of the five most popular blogs on the web, according to Technocratic, and is the leader in the social media niche Blogs influenceroughly one in five readers at important purchase decision stages, according to Buzz Logic and Jupiter Research’s "Harnessing the Power of Blogs" report Specifically, blogs help consumers discover products and services, refine choices, get support and answers, and decide on a specific product or service From a direct marketing

perspective, these findings make sense because blogs aggregate customers who have similar demographic, psychographic, and behavioral traits According to the research, readers trust blog content more than social media sites for shopping This makes sense since shoppers look for detailed information to help them make a decision rather than engage with random posters who may have opinions about products While no longer the latest, the preferred form of online communications, blogs can be highly effective and cost-efficient in driving sales But they aren't a quick marketing fix They're a form

of online media that requires a long-term investment to help and engage the customers and create more interest in the product offering By their nature, blogs also aid search optimization and reduce the burden of postpurchase support and customer service

 Twitter and Micro-Blogging

Micro blogging is a form of blogging that limits the size of each post; for

instance, Twitter updates can contain only 140 characters Twitter started to take off in terms of popularity in the first half of 2009 as a result of high-profile celebrity

members and a mention on Oprah, and now it has become more mainstream than othersocial media tools Most companies should be on Twitter; it's easy, requires very little investment of time, and can quickly prove worthwhile in increased buzz, sales, and consumer insight Twitter can also be used to announce offers or events, promote new

blog posts, or keep the readers in the know with links to important news stories

Twitter can be one way of staying on top of what the competitor is doing The

company can also show support for their Twitter-loving customers by subscribing to their tweets Briefly, Twitter for businesses is a fast, easy (and free) way to:

- Stay on top of what the competitor is doing;

- Keep in touch with the own clients (subscribe to their Tweets and see what they are doing);

- Offer private discounts and sales announcements;

- Provide internal updates to team members and employees;

- Get leads on business opportunities, trends, and a jump on late-breaking news

 Social Networks: Facebook

Applications allowing users to build personal websites accessible to other users for the exchange of personal content and communication Social networks play an important role in the distribution of information and word-of-mouth and allow users tocommunicate (in the form of messaging or otherwise) and interact Examples:

myspace.com, facebook.com, hyves.nl, linkedin.com, ning.com

As the World Wide Web grew in popularity, social networking moved to based applications The first wave was built for specific functions or audiences In

web-1995, Classmates.com and Match.com were created; both remained fairly popular sites

in their niche In 1999, more targeted networks were launched The modern era of social networks began in 2002 when Jonathan Abrams launched Friendster In 2003, Intermix Media developed the social network, MySpace It duplicated the core

functionality of Friendster Initially powered by Intermix Media's large mailing lists, MySpace quickly became a leader among social networking sites In October 2003, Mark Zuckerberg went on to create Facebook, a social network that began as an

exclusive site for Harvard Students Finally, in 2006, anyone with an e-mail id can sign

up Sometime between 2008 and 2009, Facebook overtook MySpace Facebook would

be a natural fit for internet marketing How would a marketer take advantage?

Some ways may include:

- Establishing and enhancing the brand image

- Establishing and enhancing the company’s authority in the market, a thought leader

- Using the network for market research (opinions and viewpoints, good for

- Creating a Facebook group of people of similar interests Great for networking.

in even before they have specifically mentioned an area

 Media Sharing Sites

Web sites organizing and sharing particular types of content Examples are applications of Video sharing: video.google.com, youtube.com, etsylove.ning.com, Photos sharing: flickr.com, Social Bookmarking: digg.com, Web 2.0 Dimensions Application types Social Effects Enabling Technologies Blogs Social Networks

(Content) Communities Forums/Bulletin Boards Content aggregators Empowerment Participation Openness Networking Conversation Community Democratization / User control Open Source RSS Wikis Widgets Mashups AJAX 10 http://del.icio.us and publicly edited Encyclopedias: wikipedia.org, http://en.citizendium.org

Media sharing sites allow you to upload your photos, videos, and audio to a website that can be accessed from anywhere in the world Most services have

additional social features such as profiles, commenting, etc The most popular by far are YouTube (videos) and Flickr (pictures) Whether it's Pinterest, Instagram, Flickr, orone of the many photo-sharing sites popping up online, image-driven social media networks and sites are a great resource for B2B companies Online marketing doesn't just consist of Facebook, PPC efforts, and banners Online marketing is about

providing current and potential customers with interesting, informative content This includes images Because many photo-sharing sites are free, a business's biggest investment is time B2B companies can truly benefit from having corporate accounts

on a number of these photo-sharing sites

 Forums

An Internet forum, or message board, is an online discussion site where people can hold conversations in the form of posted messages They differ from chat rooms inthat messages are at least temporarily archived Also, depending on the access level of

a user or the forum set-up, a posted message might need to be approved by a

moderator before it becomes visible Forums have a specific set of jargon associated with them; e.g a single conversation is called a “thread” A discussion forum is

hierarchical or tree-like in structure: a forum can contain many sub forums, each of which may have several topics Within a forum’s topic, each new discussion started is called a thread and can be replied to by as many people as so wish Depending on the forum’s settings, users can be anonymous or have to register with the forum and then subsequently log in to post messages On most forums, users do not have to log in to read existing messages Forum marketing is a great way to make your online business stand out from the crowd, forum users are generally net savvy and open to making online purchases Many forum users are also respected experts and bloggers in the specific topics covered by the forum Forum marketing is a high ROL strategy becausemaking a good impression in front of this savvy and influential audience can help yourmarketing message spread far and wide

In conclusion, Forums are interactive sites for exchanging ideas and information usually around special interests

Examples: epinions.com, python.org, personaldemocracy.com, webtretho.com Often such forums or bulleting boards take the form of online classifieds

(craigslist.org) of online markets (ebay.com) allowing customer-to-customer

transactions and payments

 Social Review Sites

A review site is a website on which reviews can be posted about people,

businesses, products, or services These sites may use web 2.0 techniques to gather reviews from site users or may employ professional writers to author reviews on the topic of concern for the site Early review sites included Epinions.com and

Amazon.com Review sites are generally supported by advertising Some business review sites may also allow businesses to pay for enhanced listings, which do not affect the reviews and ratings Product review sites may be supported by providing affiliate links to the websites that sell the reviewed items

With the growing popularity of affiliate programs on the Internet, a new sort of review site has emerged - the affiliate product review site This type of site is usually professionally designed and written to maximize conversions and is used by e-

commerce marketers It's often based on a blog platform like WordPress, has a privacy and contact page to help with SEO, and has commenting and interactivity turned off Itwill also have an e-mail gathering device in the form of an opt-in, or dropdown list to

Target customer Communication objectives Design communication message

Control and evaluate the social media process Budget of social media Communication channels

help the aspiring e-commerce business person build an e-mail list to market to These sites generally review e-books Because of the specialized marketing thrust of this type

of website, the reviews are not objective

 Social Bookmarking And Voting Sites

Social bookmarking sites are a popular way to store, classify, share and search links through the practice of folksonomy (an Internet-based information retrieval methodology consisting of collaboratively generated, open-ended labels that categorize content such as Web pages, online photographs, and Web links) techniques

on the Internet Social Bookmarking is a technique that is explained as organizing and maintaining resourceful bookmarks online

Social bookmarking is the process of saving a specific web page to a social bookmarking platform so you can revisit it later Social bookmarking sites allow users

to access their bookmarks online, at any time, from any device Social bookmarking sites are useful to marketers because users can add, annotate, and share bookmarked web PAGES WITH THEIR TEAM

1.4 6 STEPS TO DEVELOPING A SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING PLAN

1.4.1 Target customer

The target public audience of a business when it comes to communication strategy includes current or potential customers, those who make a buying decision, or those who have an impact on it The target public can be an individual, a group of people, a special public, or the general public

Strategic planners must evaluate what it means to speak to an audience in the social media space Who is the core goal? How can we describe that core target

segments? To whom will social media chats be directed? In which social community are consumers members? How do they use social media? How do they interact with other brands? Planners have to understand how and when their customers interact in the online social community, as well as what devices they use to do so With a clear consumer view, planners should best map out the target audience

1.4.2 Communication objectives

Need to define clearly the goal of the marketing strategy is what? Is the use of social marketing for marketing strategies essential? Build a goal to reach how many users and how many potential customers are interested in your company's products andservices

According to Tracy L Tulen, Michael R Solomon, defining marketing goals will

be through the SMART target framework

Figure 1.2 S.M.A.R.T Objective framework.

(Source: Andrew Grove)

1.4.3 Design communication message

The message is essential for all your communication efforts If you have a good idea, combined with efficient promotion activities, you won't have to worry about yourcustomers again, and there will be more of what you want

Designing a social media message will require solving four issues: what to say (the content of the message), how to say it logically (message structure), how to say

expressive (a form of the idea), and whoever speaks convincingly (source of the message).

1.4.4 Communication channels

After analyzing the market and objectives, marketers need to choose a social media tool suitable for the potential customers to reach the business

According to Tracy L Tulen, Michael R Solomon (2012), Social Media

Marketing, currently the social media used in marketing is divided into four main groups based on similarities in their features and uses:

Figure 1.3 Four Zone of Social Media Marketing

(Source: Books Social Media Marketing)

 Social Community

Social Community describes social media that focuses on the relationships and general activities of users As a result, social communities feature two-way and

multidimensional communication, chat, collaborate, and share experiences and

resources For the social community, the interaction that builds and maintains

relationships is the main reason why people participate in these activities

In simple words, a social community is a service that provides users with a socialmedia platform where users can link with each other from many parts of the world At the same time, users can make personal opinions, express emotions through the form

of Like, Comment on certain content or share it more widely with the Share feature

available With those features that businesses, marketers make use of to create

spillover for content marketing easily Typically, popular social networks are

Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter,

traditional media organizations such as newspapers and brands develop content and publish on social media belonging to the Social Publishing group

Social Publishing includes content streaming websites such as blogs, forums, multimedia sharing, or bookmarking sites, and news sites

 Social Sharing

is a platform that allows users to create content, store and share information widely in the form of multimedia such as images, documents, or videos Popular are Youtube - video sharing, Pinterest - image sharing, Tai lieu.vn - documents,

 Social Bookmarking Sites

These are websites that allow users to manage, store or organize links from manydifferent sources This site allows you to bookmark the link and share it with more people such as Delicious, Faves, BlogMarks, and Diigo

 Social News

Is a service that allows sharing of social information content, entertainment Users can like and comment on the posted content to show their interest and rating on that topic The most popular are Digg and Reddit

Social Blog Comments and Forums (Forums)

A private forum with many topics mentioned or a separate forum on a certain field Users can post on a topic and other users can discuss and comment around the main content This is the most used tool in SEO Typical examples in Vietnam are VN-Zoom, Tinhte.vn,

 Social Commerce

A service provided to users mainly for trading and buying purposes Here, users can interactively buy and sell interactively with the content posted to buy and sell Social Commerce refers to the use of social media in online shopping, buying, and selling of products and services It includes social shopping and sharing channels and

tools in the buying decision Social Commerce is a network of buyers and sellers with active participation in the marketing and sale of products and services in online

markets and communities Channels include reviews and ratings (on review sites like Foody or branded e-commerce sites), trading sites (like Booking.com),

 Social Entertainment

Social Entertainment includes events, performances, and activities designed to provide audiences with joy and enjoyment, to be experienced and shared using social media This group is the service that provides entertainment content such as online gaming websites, listening to music or social games, Social media channels that support this media group include communities dedicated to entertainment like

Spotify, At this stage in the development of social media, social games are a channel that needs to be focused on by businesses They are hosted online and include

opportunities for interaction with other members, as well as the ability to broadcast status (post updates to status) and gaming achievements to an online profile

1.4.5 Determining the budget

There are four popular methods to determine the media budget: The method is based on the capacity of the media budget, the method of calculating the percentage byrevenue, competitive balancing methods, methods based on goals and missions

- Method of determining the budget as a percentage of sales: Travel companies based on sales of the previous years or the previous cycle to determine the budget rate for marketing activities Funding depends on the revenue of the business, so it is limited to receive opportunities, as well as difficulties in long-term marketing

- The method is based on goals and tasks: In this method, businesses build media budgets based on goals and tasks that need to be addressed in terms of marketing

- Capability-based spending method: According to this method, businesses build marketing budgets according to their financial capabilities But this limits the initiative

in marketing activities to the extent necessary to influence the market

1.4.6 Monitoring and Evaluating of Social Media Processes

What is so special about digital marketing is that you can track every user

interaction and use this information to learn and improve the plan Your

communication is ongoing There are several tools you can use to track your social media's effectiveness From there, marketers will need to build a set of tools suitable for their measurement and reporting requirements

At the same time, the needs of customers and the market are always changing, so evaluating marketing effectiveness, then adjusting the strategy accordingly is

inevitable to achieve better efficiency and learn from experiences and overcome Thereare weaknesses in the strategies that have been implemented in the past

Social media performance evaluation tools:

The URL shortener provides analytics that shows how many people are clicking

on a link, when they're clicking, and where they are in the world When you are

sharing links on services like Twitter, you should keep an eye on this data URL

shortening service provides an easy way to share long links by creating a short URL that redirects to the original link This is especially important when sharing links in messages with a limited number of characters, such as tweets

 Online monitoring software

This software is provided by an intermediary for measurement and management purposes It helps you keep track of all mentions of your brand, and to understand the sentiment and impact of those mentions

 Social media dashboards

Many services make it easy to centralize management of your social media assets, as well as make managing collaborations easier They also integrate analytical data from several sources, making reporting easier.

Some services include:

- HootSuite (www.hootsuite.com)

- Spredfast (www.spredfast.com)

- CoTweet (www.cotweet.com)

- Prout Social (www.sproutsocial.com)

- Social Bakers (www socialbakers.com)

- Tweet stats (www.tweetstats.com)

1.5 FACTORS AFFECTING SOCIAL MEDIA ACTIVITIES

Almost any business in the market is more or less affected by many different factors Because the change of the business environment affects both positively and negatively the marketing activities of businesses in general and social media activities

in particular

1.5.1 Internal factors

 The business itself

With social media, its mission is to help business products reach their customers Success in social media strategy requires a business to coordinate from many different parts of the business Need to determine which market businesses will choose? Who is the customer? to come up with the most suitable communication strategy

 Costs for social media activities:

The cost of communication will determine the size of the plan Enterprises

cannot arbitrarily formulate communication plans Funding is the basis for developing your social media plan Small businesses can not spend too much on communication strategy Conversely, large enterprises, if they spend too little, will not get high

efficiency Therefore, businesses need to consider the size of their capital to develop a social media strategy that is most appropriate and effective

 Feature of product:

The main goal of communication is to promote the consumption of the business' products Therefore, the product is the core element of the business and is also the main factor influencing your social media plan To have an effective social media plan,businesses need to have a clear understanding of the characteristics of their products? What are the core benefits of the product? From there, businesses can use the strengths

of their products and identify the right customers for each type to build an effective social media outreach plan

 Other marketing mix factors:

Besides product factors, other factors in the marketing - mix are price and

distribution channels, which also affect more or less on social media activities of the business Enterprises when building a communication plan should pay attention to the price of the product that is suitable to who the customer is, which social media they use, and then choose the appropriate social media channel In addition, businesses also need to learn about the Internet distribution channels such as online sales websites

or sales intermediary websites These factors work together to provide the best

 Marketing intermediaries:

With social media, researching customers' behavior when using social media, social websites are often interested by customers, information searching habits, online buying habits are very important statistics for business planning as well as decision making Hence the marketing intermediaries here can be market research firms

different social media plans

 Competitors:

The competitive situation in the market has a great influence on the

communication activities of the business Fierce competition means more difficult and difficult for businesses to survive and thrive In addition, competition also leads to lower selling prices, directly affecting the profitability of businesses Building an

effective social media plan helps businesses increase their awareness, increase their competitiveness compared to competitors in the industry.

b) The factors of the macro-environment:

 Economy

Factors including interest rates, inflation, economic growth rate are the factors that businesses need to focus on because of every change Both of them affect the decisions of businesses as well as consumers' buying decisions

 Politics - laws

Laws have a great influence on business activities and communication activities

of the business When there is a change, businesses are required to comply with those regulations and take time, money, and effort to absorb and comply with the newly enacted law And especially, the law of cybersecurity is now a factor that businesses need to consider appropriate social media plans

CHAPTER SUMMARY

In chapter 1, the thesis systematically systematizes the theoretical basis of SMM based on reference sources such as domestic and foreign books and newspapers as well as synthesizing knowledge from the marketing curriculum of university lecturers learn From there, concretize the basic contents of SMM including Understanding the definition, the role of SMM to the enterprise as well as the characteristics of SMM At the same time, it also identifies the tools and means used in SMM and the criteria for enterprises to measure the effectiveness of marketing This is also the foundation for analyzing the current situation of social media marketing of BiCi Center Co., Ltd in Chapter 2 and offering suggestions and solutions to improve this activity in the

enterprise in Chapter 3

CHAPTER 2 ANALYSING SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING

ACTIVITIES OF BICI CENTER

2.1 INTRODUCTION OF BICI CENTER COMPANY LIMITED

Company name: BiCi Center Company Limited

Abbreviated name: BiCi Co., Ltd

2.1.1 Introduction of BiCi Center Company Limited

BiCi Center Co., Ltd is the main enterprise operating in the field of apparel, design, and printing BiCi.vn brings to Da Nang market as well as the whole country the products and services of uniforms and brand recognition

BiCi Center Co., Ltd was established in August 2013 by The Department of Planning and Investment of Da Nang City

BiCi was born in the context of the growing uniform apparel market with a relatively small number of competitors at the moment By building a team of

professional, attentive staff, having professional knowledge about the field of

uniforms, BiCi becomes one of the enterprises selected by customers with prestige andprofessionalism in the Central region in particular and across the country in general Along with that is the cooperation with reputable suppliers and partners, always try their best to bring customers beautiful and diverse uniform products at reasonable prices while ensuring quality

Currently, the Company continues to invest in equipment and facilities to

increase production capacity, meeting more than 700,000 printing products, gifts/year

At the same time, the company is always changing, updating new trends from the market, meeting the diverse needs of customers

 Perspective

- Becoming the No 1 uniform T-shirt manufacturing company in the Central and Central Highlands, commercializing the company's uniform products to the national market

- Strong development of gifts and thermal printing technology

 Mission

- "Make your own style"

- BiCi to provide optimal support solutions for customers in the most

professional promotion, trade promotion as well as brand recognition activities

2.1.2 Organizational structure and business functions

Figure 2.4 Organizational structure of BiCi Center Co., Ltd

(Soucre: BiCi Center Co.,Ltd)

Comment:

BiCi Co., Ltd has chosen to build the management apparatus according to the department structure The arrangement of the above model aims to ensure the optimal nest of the organization of enterprises in general and the management apparatus in particular, to create a defining order to help managers perform management tasks with high efficiency, identifying close links between stages , departments in the

management structure, towards the general activities of the company At the same time, it helps the company to effectively use its resources such as labor, capital,

material means, helping the company adapt and be able to respond sensitively to fluctuations in the business environment It can be said that the relationship between superiors and subordinates is directing, imperatives Departments are tasked with advising upline leaders within the scope of their functions and expertise With a

structure like this, the executive work of departments for employees, as well as the work, is closely supervised, ensuring good work

Functions and tasks of each department

 Director

- Is the person who plans the business strategy and goals and manages all the business activities of the whole company at the same time The director is also the legal representative and is mainly responsible for the company's business results

 Business Departement

- Research and develop plans to expand the product distribution market to

achieve the objectives of brand development and sales revenue

- As a customer relations department when there is a need to order, receive information, and interact directly with customers

- Making prices and contracts for customers

- Responsible for the information requested by the customer for the product, before transmitting it to the design and production department

 Marketing Departement

The marketing department consists of Marketing staff and design staff with roles and tasks:

 Marketing Staff

- Develop a master plan to implement a brand communication promotion

program to improve brand awareness in target markets

- Planning and budgeting for promotions, brand promotion, customer outreach, sales promotion, and promotions that increase sales

- Manage and operate marketing jobs: SEO, website content management,

writing articles, posting Fanpage, Google maps, editing product images

- Manage media content, promote and sell on the Internet, ensuring unity in all media

- Carry out customer care activities, build a customer database

- Coordinate with design staff and sales and production departments to

implement the business process

 Design staff

- Product design for online advertising: website photos, Fanpage, Google maps

- Receive information, interact directly with customers about product ideas, and design samples to meet requirements

- Receive information from the sales department and carry out sample design

 Production department

 Function

- Manufacturing products to meet customers' requirements

- Coordinate with the rest of the department to receive information, produce products to meet the requirements of customers

- Organize production and product quality inspection at the workshop Perform inspection process, carefully control the quality from raw materials to the quality of finished products before leaving the warehouse

Business functions and duties:

Functions:

- Being an enterprise that produces, supplies, and trades in garment products, designs, and prints for businesses or individuals in Da Nang market in

particular and the country in general

- The company operates under the method of direct and online sales Therefore, the company also has the function of contacting, creating relationships with customers and partners, thereby increasing the company's reputation and havingmany people looking to the company

Duties:

- In production and business activities, the company is obliged to register the business and operate in the registered industry, comply with the State's

regulations and regulations in the field of garment, design, and printing press

- Exploiting and efficiently using resources, ensuring investment in production expansion and renewal of equipment to achieve business objectives, to meet market needs and tastes

- Implement the policy of financial assets, labor, wages, to do well in training and fostering skills for employees

2.2 ACTIVITIES, PRODUCT, CUSTOMER

2.2.1 Main activities

- Provide garments, uniforms

- Design and print branded products (hats, aprons)

- Provide gift products (badges, porcelain cups, )

2.2.2 Product

 Company uniform

Corporate uniform t-shirts are among the best in a company's brand identity Thisproduct line is designed with many different designs, diverse colors, you can choose cotton or Lacoste fabric to suit the business environment

 Class uniform T-shirt

A class uniform is one of the key products of the company To student

generations, the uniform is indispensable, which make student eager The uniform that

is made by BiCi has diversity in shape, materials, color, logo, slogan to meet the market's demand

 Cap uniform

Caps or hats are one of the most popular fashion products in the world In

addition to using caps as rain hoods, caps are also used as advertising products, brand recognition of businesses, of which the class is travel companies and event organizers

 Badge

The jacket badge is one of the best brand identity products at the cheapest cost The coated badge has two types of plastic badges and metal badges At BiCi, mainly produce round plastic badges

 Printed porcelain glass

Printed porcelain glass is a gift product at BiCi Porcelain cups are meaningful gifts that are quite familiar to everyone Currently, many businesses use porcelain cupsprinted with the company logo as event gifts to promote the brand image

2.2.3 Customer and market segment

 Market segment:

The company is headquartered in Da Nang city, this is also the company's main customer market Besides, the company also expands the market to the central

and make delivery through the transport unit intermediate transfer The company currently produces all kinds of uniforms such as shirts, aprons, hats, badges, so the two customer segments that the company is currently targeting are:

 B2B:

Big customers are usually businesses such as hotels, cafes, companies,

businesses wishing to use uniforms, brand recognition through uniforms This is also the main customer of the company

 B2C:

Individual customers: It is common for individuals who want to use products in small quantities such as families, or students with the need to make class gowns

2.3 BUSINESS OPERATION SITUATION OF BICI CENTER CO., LTD

2 Net sales from goods

and services sold

(10=01-02)

10 2,610,110,000 2,990,510,000 2,205,020,000

3 Gross profit from

goods and services sold