OBJECTIVE:

In this assignment, youll take a look at a popular brands social media platforms. From there, youll assess how effective you think their messaging is: what works? What doesnt work? What could the brand do differently? What platform do you prefer for the brand and why? The goal is to think critically about how a business uses social media to connect with customers (potential customers) and discuss your findings in a clear, concise report.

If it helps, pretend you are hired by the brand to assess their social media and help them figure out what is working and what isnt. Is the content useful? Pretty? Eye-catching? Thought-provoking? Poorly-written? Are there spelling mistakes? Do you like the photos the brand uses or would you choose something else? These are all the sorts of questions I want you to consider when writing up your summary report.

STEP 1:

Choose one of the following brands:

Calvin Klein

Pizza Pizza

Adidas

Lululemon

Hamilton Tiger-Cats

Taco Bell

Note: NO brands other than those in this list are permitted for this assignment unless prior permission from the professor

STEP 2:

Evaluate THREE social media platforms associated with the brand: Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, Twitter, LinkedIn or Snapchat

In this evaluation, youre required to select 2-3 pieces of supporting evidence to back up your claims. For example, if you say that your brand targets millennial males, copy and paste at least two different posts (for example, a tweet or Facebook post) that clearly illustrates this statement. If you say that the brand uses humour or polls to connect with followers, show me an example of this etc. You can simply take a screen grab of the post or drag and drop it into your assignment.

STEP 3:

After youve assessed THREE different social media platforms, write a 3-5 paged paper summarizing your thoughts and findings. Start with a very brief introduction about your brand and why you chose it (do not give me the history of the brand). Then, break down the paper by social media platform and write an assessment that includes the examples youve found for Step 2.

In your paper, address factors such as:

• Target audience (who is the brand trying to connect with men, women, families, students, seniors, rich people, budget shoppers etc)
• Engagement: is the brand trying to get people to respond in any way? Do they pose questions in their posts? Do they ask people to respond somehow?
• Giveaways: do you notice the brand giving anything away to followers (promo codes, special deals to those who follow their accounts etc)
• What topics does the brand address on their platforms (politics, social events, industry related topics, fashion, the environment, animal welfare, eco-issues, war etc)
• Budget: does the brand appear to spend time and money on their social media or does it seem more casual and more of an afterthought?

STEP 4:

Summary! In this section of the paper I want to hear your own voice and perspective on the brands social media platforms. Do you like what theyve done? What would you change? Did you expect anything different? Did anything surprise you?

Note: DO NOT say, I liked everything the brand is doing and think theyre doing great.