Ugba 106 - Maersk Marketing

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Therefore, the firm should find a way to better utilize Google+, as it coincides with the company’s key competitive advantages, which are composed of innovation and leadership in the shipping industry. Besides, it is the most appropriate channel to find new inputs and ideas from the experts. In order to identify whether Maersk’s use of Google+ is getting improved, the company should track metrics such as platform engagement, channel audience reach, and quality score on Google+ dashboard.

AIDA framework clearly shows that the company should shift their focus to create the “Desire” by providing technical insights to lead generation and to transform social media efforts into “Action” by generating sales through enhanced customer service. Practices such as thought leadership will foster the company’s growth as Maersk can become as a prime provider of shipping expertise. Since LinkedIn users are the main company’s target group, who acknowledged that LinkedIn is the platform they like to follow Maersk the most, the implementation of the last two steps of AIDA will be the most effective on this channel. In order to find out whether the social media strategy is working, Maersk should implement the conversion rate metrics by using Google Analytics. In addition, on Twitter, the company hasn’t undertaken the opportunity of making some employees as thought leaders who can influence the market, as Maersk initially planned. The large number of users are highly active to re-tweet, post, respond or even seek support for a product; therefore, the potential for the company’s success on Twitter via outreach and active engagement is strong. Yet the number of people that the firm follows, which is 380, signifies that Twitter is a time-consuming platform; thus, it needs a large share of budget allocation to increase the influence of Maersk on Twitter’s followers.

Assuming that there is a $300,000 budget constraint, and Twitter is too expensive to improve and maintain, I would conclude that social media platforms that Maersk should mainly focus on is LinkedIn and Google+. Therefore, based on the analysis above, I would allocate 50% of budget to LinkedIn, 30% to Google+, 20% to Twitter, and 10% to Facebook.