Assignment: You are the director of social media for apple corporation. Your job is to keep the apple brand and image positive and strong in social media settings. Your team is responsible for all social media communications at apple, as well as handling customer and consumer comments and complaints made on apple’s social media and public social media sites. It appears that the memo the sales manager sent to all the apple sales team around the country has been leaked, and it ended up in the hands of a scrupulous and shady reported, who will no doubt take the worst of what it says and publish it on multiple social medias sites. Your job is to do damage control with your loyal followers on your social media sites by utilizing 3 commons forms of social media to steer your message the way you want it to be seen.
1.IM Exchange
First, you get an instant message request from this reporter who is inquiring with you about the memo below. He is trying to dig up more dirt. But you tactfully, and professionally handle his questions, spinning the facts to a more positive outlook. Type a 10-message exchange of an instant message conversation with this reporter. Use your comments to steer the reporter to the impression you want him to have of the news in the memo.
The Instant message can start with a message from the reporter saying, “Hey, I heard apple is in trouble and may fire a bunch of people, what can you tell me.?
2.Blog
Next, assuming he’s going to run to other media outlets (Blogs and Tweets) with whatever bad news he can drum up from the memo, and your instant message exchange, you are instead going to be proactive and generate a 100-200 word
Blog on Apples social media sites that will bring comfort and assurance to loyal apple fans and followers. (Do not feel compelled to mention the leak, just what positive information you want your constituents to know.)
3.Tweet
Finally, generate a tweet (140
character’s max including spaces) that will be sent out to all your followers announcing Apples latest news and directing people to your blog, where they can get the full story.
Base your writing and response on what we learn about writing for digital media in Chapter 5 lecture and readings.
Key takeaway: Being defensive is never a good business tactic, nor is being unethical and dis-honest. let the facts speak for themselves, as needed, build confidence and keep the apple brand name and the apple company in a good and positive light!
Leaked Memo:
To: The Incredible Staff at Apple
From: Mr johny
Subject: I-Phone Sales Statistics
Date: 12-13-14
West Coast Sales: Thanks to our incredible marketing, sales and support teams. I am pleased to announce that sales of new I-phones on the west coast are surpassing our expectations. Sales in California are a whopping 20% higher than they are in New York.
East Coast Sales: However stellar sales on the West Coast do not equal the same in the East. Sales here are relatively sluggish and are not meeting expectations. This does not appear to be a result of a failure on the part of our east coast team. Research suggests sluggish sales are possibly due to:
- Aggressive advertising by Samsung in Boston, New York and Philadelphia.
- Significant rebates on GS4’s and Notes in New York.
Turning Things Around: If the East coast trend continues it may result in cut backs to our entire sales staff. But I believe as we put our heads together and work hard we can see this trend turn around. A few suggestions how we can see that happen on the east coast:
- Develop a more aggressive advertising campaign to counter the effects of competitors.
- Offer rebates in all major cities across the eastern seaboard.
- Give incentives to the sales team that can be passed on to customers.
As an incredible team of skilled associates, your input and ideas are extremely valuable to our future success. Please feel free to submit your ideas and suggestions directly to me. Together, I am confident we will be able to meet the challenges we face today and tomorrow.