Internet Mobile Social Media Integration

8/13/2019 Internet Mobile Social Media Integration

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/internet-mobile-social-media-integration 1/4

IY2515 Strategy and Marketing 2013Assignment 3: Internet, Mobile, Social Media Integration

Sayyed Saahir Bahuddin Page 1 (4)

Assignment 2: Internet, Mobile and Social Media Integration

Strategy

Background

The company selected for formulating the internet, mobile and social media integration strategy

is Fulufjällsgården hostel ( http://www.fulufjallsgarden.se/ ). Fulufjällsgården is located on the

north-western edge of the Fulufjället nature reserve about 25 kilometers from Särna. Other major

attractions around the Fulufjällsgården, includes the highest waterfall in Sweden, and 9500 year

old tree. The business operations were taken over by the new management from mid-march this

year. The business is owned by the three Holmberg brothers, with Conny Holmberg as the

Managing director. Fulufjällsgården, has 9 individual rooms and 5 cabins, and a facility for dining

and conferences.

Figure 1 Fulufjällsgården Hostel An interview with Conny, was conducted to collect the initial information about the business and

its vision. The management wants to promote the place for conferences and workshops on wild-

life/nature photography during the spring/autumn seasons. The key customers for these

workshops are professional photographers as well enthusiasts belonging to photo clubs in

Sweden and Norway. Enthusiasts are customers who have high-end cameras and equipments,

looking to improve their skills. For the winters, the management wants to promote the hostel for

http://www.fulufjallsgarden.se/








activities like snow-mobile adventures and ice-fishing for groups and associations with women

only and seniors as members.

Among the three brand communications objectives, Brand-Image, Brand-Information and

Brand-Action communications mentioned by Roger Best (Best, 2012, pp. 339-340), the

management wants its marketing communications to primarily focus on brand-image and brand's

uniqueness and differentiation with respect to its competition. The management has taken a long

term view on the business, wanting to focus on delivering high customer satisfaction and building

customer loyalty. According to Conny, they would like to ramp up the business slowly so they

could remain nimble and make changes to improve services for their customers.

Social Media Integration Strategy

The social media integration strategy for Fulufjällsgården should help achieve the followingobjectives:

1. Create awareness among the nature and wildlife photographers

2. Manage the reputation of the hostel on social media

3. Increasing guest satisfaction

The initial social media integration strategy for Fulufjällsgården, should primarily focus on

creating awareness among the nature and wildlife photographers. During this stage,

Fulufjällsgården should use the “Creative Experimenter” social media strategy, as it will allow

them to test their assumptions regarding the requirements of the customers and make changes

based on their feedback (H. James Wilson, 2011). Once, they have everything in place, in terms

of services and facilities, for customers up and running, they should manage the reputation of the

hostel on social media. And lastly, be responsive to the feedback from the guests and queries

from the prospective customers on the social media channels to increase satisfaction.

Multi-Sided Platforms The company at present has an online room-booking facility on its website. Fulufjällsgården can

increase its reach to more customers by using Multi-Sided Platforms (MSPs) like

www.booking.com, www.bokahotel.se, sv.hotels.com as well region focused MSPs like

http://www.visitdalarna.se/. The partnering with MSPs will lower Fulufjällsgården’s transactioncosts and also increase their reach to a wider customer base (Andrei Hagiu, 2009).

Since the management wants some time to upgrade all the facilities for the customers. It is

suggested that MSPs are not used, up until the time, the management feels that they are ready for

more customer influx and maintain a high guest satisfaction. The reason being the MSPs will

provide very little control about the comments and feedback from the customers.

Fulufjällsgården should partner with Wild Sweden ( http://www.wildsweden.com ) to offer

package deals. This would help Fulufjällsgården to popularize their place while at the same time

delivering a high quality experience to their customers by way of experienced and knowledgeable

guides. The Fulufjällsgården’s management has signed a memorandum of understanding with

http://c/Users/konsyd/Downloads/www.booking.com


http://c/Users/konsyd/Downloads/www.bokahotel.se


http://c/Users/konsyd/Downloads/sv.hotels.com


http://www.visitdalarna.se/


http://www.wildsweden.com/












photographer Patrik Larsson ( http://fotografpatriklarsson.se/ ) to rent out the rooms and

conference hall for his Photography Training Courses. This would provide an opportunity for

Fulufjällsgården to make their mark on the social media space.

Blogs The management should also reach out to popular wildlife and nature photographers by

sponsoring their trip to Fulufjällsgården. These influential bloggers can then write about their

experiences and share pictures about their stay in the hostel as well as places around it.

Facebook A Facebook page of Fulufjällsgården will allow it to stay connected to its customers. The page

can be used to create engagement with the customers by allowing them to participate, for

example, in photo contests etc. The hostel could use Facebook Check-In deals to encourage visiting customers to spread the word and in return Fulufjällsgården can offer a drink or a coke

can. The Facebook can also be used by the existing customers to leave their feedback on the

experiences at the hostel as well prospective customers to ask questions and queries about

Fulufjällsgården.

Fulufjällsgården should identify wildlife photographers like Tom Svensson who have a large fan

following on Facebook to invite them to stay at Fulufjällsgården and write about their experience

on their Facebook page. This will create an awareness about Fulufjällsgården among their target

customer group.

Internet Website The Fulufjällsgården’s website should be upgraded to allow visitors to their website the possibility

to connect on social media using Facebook and YouTube. The website should also allow visitors

to subscribe to news and offers from Fulufjällsgården by email. Also, the website should

prominently highlight the uniqueness and the attractions around Fulufjällsgården.

ConclusionFulufjällsgården has a potential to improve its social media presence to reach it marketing

communication goals. It is important that social media presence should not be considered as

complete replacement to making connections and understanding the customers. Fulufjällsgårdenshould also participate in trade fairs on related themes like photography and outdoor adventures.

Also Fulufjällsgården’s management should focus on their social media integration strategy’s

objectives and then evaluate the tools that best suit or give a better chance of achieving the

objectives of their strategy. For example, just because every company is on LinkedIn does not

justifies the effort in creating and maintaining a presence there, if it does not helps in achieving

the marketing communication objective. Another important aspect is evaluation of the social

media integrations performance by establishing KPIs (Key Performance Indicators) like number

of likes on Facebook page, engagement of visitors on the website as well as conventional

marketing indicators like Marketing ROI.

http://fotografpatriklarsson.se/








Bibliography Andrei Hagiu, D. B. Y., 2009. What's Your Google Strategy ?. Harvard Business Review, April.pp.

74-81.

Best, R. J., 2012. Market-Based Management: Strategies for Growing Customer Value and Profitability. 6th

red. u.o.:Prentice Hall.

H. James Wilson, P. G. S. P. a. B. D. W., 2011. What’s Your Social Media Strategy?. Harvard

Business Review, July-August.pp. 23-25.

Documents

Internet Mobile Social Media Integration