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Assignment Workplan

 

You are required to generate piece(s) of content for a blog/social media channel for a brand of their choice, which should be included in a report with (ii) a full promotional plan and (iii) a reflection.

 

Brand: GYMSHARK clothing brand (this is the brands website)

https://uk.gymshark.com/?gclid=CjwKCAjwopWSBhB6EiwAjxmqDfR2oPoM1LizO8xhZd4z7AMszpBz2-hFQoEXN2z7Pa7qrCtI7Ji6TRoCx0QQAvD_BwE

think about what you know already about this brand, explore their presence on social media, examine the type of content they usually create and find out what exists in the business and marketing literature on- and off-line about the brand 

 

Assignment Structure

 

  • Executive Summary
  • Table of Contents
  • Introduction
  • Main Body: 
    • Target market, segments, personas
    • Message, content piece(s), platform/channel
    • Promotional plan (SMART objectives, plan for promoting content, engagement, conversational plan, etc.)
    • Reflection
  • Conclusion
  • References: In-Text and Bibliography (Harvard style)
  • Appendices (If Applicable)

 

  1. Introduction

 

  • Begin by a brief overview of the brand and perhaps a brief situation analysis closely linked to their content marketing work. 
  • Do not be overly descriptive with the history of the brand, but keep focused and stay on point.  Only brief relevant information is required
  • Some things that you could include here are:

 

  • A description of the company and the business that it is in
  • Its core customers/segments
  • Its business and marketing strategy
  • Its Social Media channels and content marketing strategy/campaigns
  • Any recent key or critical events

 

  • Remember that your mission is to “generate pieces of content for the brand”, so this introduction should logically and seamlessly introduce the brand, ready to present the content you create with a clearly defined message, SMART objectives, etc. 

 

  1. Identify your  audience (target market): 

What do we know about the brand’s target market, key segments/personas? 

What segment/persona are you targeting with the content you’re creating? Why this segment? Is there a fit between the content, message, channel and the insights relating to the targeted segment(s)?

Before you begin the content creation process think of the promotional plan. Think of the following: 

  • Segments and personas for the brand (target market), and those for the content you’re creating (if it’s a sub-segment)
  • Set SMART objectives you want the content to achieve
  • Key message and tone of voice of the content (should it be similar to what they already do or different? Remember to still maintain the brand image and personality so what you’re offering does not sound or look alien to the brand). 

You would include the content around here in the report but for more on content creation check point 7 below. 

  • Decide what channels the content will be shared on
  • Decide how it will be promoted (keep the SMART objectives in mind), how will you achieve the goal, how will you drive engagement etc.? What metrics will be used to measure the results? Why?
  1. Create the content  (INCLUDE SCREENSHOTS OF THE CONTENT CREATED, TIPS ON CONTENT ARE GIVEN BELOW)

Message, content piece (insert the content you created in this section), platforms (channels)

Begin the content creation process with a clear message (a message you want the segment to undestand/remember), create the piece(s) of content. Be precise do not be tempted to create too many pieces (perhaps a small collection of tweets, a Pinterest visual form, it could be anything, be creative!) 

Clearly state the channel(s) the content will be posted on. Why this channel?

Be as creative as you’d like, enjoy! This part can include images, a blog entry, etc. 

Here are some rules: 

  • Whatever content you create keep this private, DO NOT publish any branded content on Social Media because this could result in a major problem and a serious copyright /illegal use of the brand. This is an assignment for university so do not create fake accounts in brands’ names, do not post your content as if it is created and approved by the brand. 
  • If you create photos, you can include a few in your report. Check websites like Pexel and Pixabay for free stock images that can be reused. You might also want to use images off the web of the brand logo, a product if you don’t have one, etc. You should not simply find other photos of the brand and use them as the only content because this would not count as ‘creating’ content. You could edit a photo, turn it into a meme etc. any input to transform it to a new piece of content. 

 

 

4. Promotional plan: For the content you created, come up with a promotional plan. How do you intend to promote this content that you created? How are you going to ensure engagement? what were your objectives from creating this content? what metrics will you use to measure whether or not you have achieved your objectives?

 

  1. Reflection 

In order to make the task of writing the reflection easier, get in the habit of writing notes as you go along in this project. From the very moment you begin looking into brands and deciding on what brand to use. You could keep a diary style entry throughout. Otherwise you will find by the end of it, you might not remember any of the details that you went through. 

Be sure this reflection is a critical reflection that gives us some in-depth insights on the experience, processes, opportunities and challenges you faced as you progressed in this project. Any key takeout and moments of learning, etc. Make this a strong interesting section to read but just an account of what happened. 

 

Conclusion

 

Conclusion should be concise and to the point.  Do not introduce new information in the conclusion section. Reemphasise what you already presented and what you want the reader to remember the most as they stop reading your report. 

 

References

 

NOTES

Throughout your report, you must include a wide variety of references from varied sources including research papers, books, etc. You must use theoretical sources to justify and support the decisions you make. The more you embed the theory in your work the stronger and better quality your report will be. Even if you create a great piece of content, if your report is not well referenced and supported by theory it will struggle to attract an excellent grade

 

Suggested list of literature for referencing

– Understanding digital content marketing. Rowley (2008)

– The Rise of Storytelling as the New Marketing. Pulizzi (2012)

– Content is king – But who is the king of kings? The effect of content marketing, sponsored content & user-generated content on brand responses. Müllerb and Christandla (2019)

– Digital Content Marketing’s Role in Fostering Consumer Engagement, Trust, and Value: Framework, Fundamental Propositions, and Implications. Hollebeek and Macky (2019)

– The Role of Marketer-Generated Content in Customer Engagement Marketing. Meire, et al. (2019)

– Influencer Marketing: How Message Value and Credibility Affect Consumer Trust of Branded Content on Social Media. Lou and Yuan (2018)