Social Media Marketing Plan for Lakeside Cafe

The principles of marketing have always been about connecting with consumers at the right place at the right time. Nowadays that means meeting them where they are spending a lot of their time already: online. Engaging with brands has become a part of the buyer decision process. Social media effects consumers’ decisions to purchase more than ever before. This thesis aimed to create a social media marketing plan for a Finnish tourism company called Lakeside Cafe. The plan was based on the SOSTAC® marketing planning model. The goal was to improve the commissioning party’s performance on social media. Firstly, the commissioner of the thesis was introduced, covering their business idea, services, organisational structure, marketing channels and main competition. Secondly, the thesis provided theoretical framework about relevant topics related to the end product of the thesis. The topics were marketing communications in the digital age and social media marketing planning. The first part of the theory discussed how marketing communications has changed as well as key digital marketing terms. The second part of the theory introduced the SOSTAC® marketing planning model in detail. The end product, the social media marketing plan, was placed in appendix 1 at the end of the report. Thirdly, the methods for collecting the data were presented as well as the data collection process. The methods used for collecting the data were benchmarking and collecting social media marketing best practices. The data was collected in March and April 2017. The benchmarking partner for the benchmarking study was Kitty’s Milkshake Bar. The benchmarked processes were Facebook and Instagram marketing. The observed activities were profile picture, cover photo, about section, ways to contact, information section, posting schedule, content types, captions and dialogue. The social media marketing best practices on the other hand were collected through different social media marketing websites. The recommendations provided in the marketing plan were based on the benchmarking study and the collected social media marketing best practises. The social media marketing plan recommended two social media tools for the commissioner, Facebook and Instagram. The plan held many recommendations for Lakeside Cafe, but the most important issues had to do with activity, post types, engagement, dialogue and participation. The recommendations included that Lakeside Cafe should aim to post different types of content actively on both Facebook and Instagram. They should post pictures, videos, fill-in-the-blanks, questions, special offers, industry news and pictures that ask questions. They should maintain their pages somewhat active during off-season as well. Furthermore, Lakeside Cafe should increase dialogue with their online audience by including customers in their pictures, asking questions, replying to comments, tagging people who are involved and posting user-generated content. In addition, they should make people participate by asking questions, posting fill-in-the-blanks and holding contests