Module 2 – CaseHRM AND MARKETINGAssignment Overview
A marketing plan is a formal business document that is used as a blueprint or guide for how a company will achieve its marketing goals. A marketing plan differs from a business plan in that it focuses more on market research, attracting customers, and marketing strategies, whereas the business plan—which you will complete in Module 4—covers much more than that.
Marketing plans are important tools because they act as roadmaps for everyone involved in an enterprise. Writing a marketing plan forces you to specify goals and develop strategies to reach them and encourages you to research markets and competition. A strong marketing plan encourages entrepreneurs to think deeply about their business and profit potential, helping them make better business and marketing decisions.
Keep in mind that normally the various parts of a plan do not need to be written in a certain order. Plans should be seen as flexible guides rather than absolute rules; however, in this assignment you have to follow the assignment directions (except for including a budget).*
This Case Assignment is an opportunity to take what you have learned about creating a marketing plan and apply it to social media marketing. Think of yourself as the person your company has entrusted to put a face to the organization’s social media presence.
The premise of the social media marketing plan is to attract new talent to your organization. Keep in mind the things you want to see on an organization’s website when you are job hunting and put those things into your social media marketing plan. For example, do you want to see job announcements? Benefits? Community involvement and volunteer opportunities as employees? Upward mobility? What kind of marketing activities do you want to include in your plan?
Case Assignment
Prepare a Marketing Plan of 3-4 pages (at least 3 full pages) that covers the seven topics of your Social Media Marketing Plan. (The page count does not include the cover or reference list pages.) Your marketing plan will address the following seven sections as they relate to attracting new talent to your current organization:
- Executive Summary (1-2 pages; do not begin the next section on the same page as the Executive Summary.)
- Situation Analysis (begin a new page; SWOT on the organization as related to employee base)
- Marketing Opportunity (job postings and informing the world about your organization)
- Marketing Objectives (to fill open positions at your organization and…)
- Marketing Strategies (target market, segmentation, and positioning)
- Marketing Implementation (how you are going to do this)
- Contingency Plans (if your plan does not gain the results you desire, what will be done to fix it. In other words, what is your Plan B?)
Using the Social Media Marketing Plan Outline as a guideline, create a social media marketing plan for your HR department. The goal is for website visitors to like what they see on various social media platforms so much that they want to work for your company, too.
- Using articles from the Module 2 Background page, or peer-reviewed academic articles from the Trident Online Library’s full-text databases (such as Academic Search Complete, Business Source Complete, or ProQuest Central), complete a social media marketing plan created in the same format as the Outline provided (minus a budget/financials section).
- Include a summary after the marketing plan, within the same document, that discusses the following:
- From your research and what you have learned in the readings, identify 3 parts of your plan that you feel are the most effective to attract top talent to apply for jobs at your current organization. Why were those three selected and not others?
Since you are engaging in research, be sure to cite and reference the high quality (peer-reviewed) sources in APA format. Other than a source for your organization, all other references must come from the Trident Online Library. See Trident’s Introduction to APA for help with in-text citations. Another resource is the Purdue OWL website. All research should be cited in the body of the paper. In-text citations and corresponding references should be included in your paper.
The paper should be written in third person; this means words like “I,” “we,” and “you” are not appropriate. For more information see First vs. Third Person.
The use of direct quotes is strongly discouraged; however, if you do include any, limit the amount to not more than 10% of your paper. There is one academic purpose for the use of quotations from others: Putting their words into your own would change the meaning.
Assignment Expectations
Your submission will include:
- Trident University International’s cover page
- A 3- to 4-page paper with APA citations (2- to 3-sentence introduction, social media marketing plan, 3- to 4-sentence conclusion). A 3- to 4-page paper means the professor is looking for at least three full pages.
- The reference list page in APA format.
