Contents

Digital Media Strategy for Apple Inc.

Introduction

The increased use of technology across many sectors in the economy has necessitated that companies change their approach to marketing. Marketing of content for companies is essential as it helps penetrate the market for better operations. Wrong approaches to the advertising of company products and services can lead to failure or wastage of resources allocated for the same. The report seeks to explore a digital media cont5ent strategy that can help a company achieve its goals within the industry. Apple Company is a multinational organization that has done well in the technological world over the past few years (Yusoff & Husnina, 2018). It is vital to use the firm as an example of an organization that can apply a media strategy to gain a competitive advantage in the market. In particular, the research proposes that Apple applies social media marketing as a way of gaining access to the global market. The increased use of Smartphones globally has boosted online marketing for many companies lately (Ross, Beath & Sebastian, 2017). Companies that do not apply digital approaches find it hard to market their products. Social media is a valuable tool that the organization can use to reach out to their clients and convince them to buy company products.

Environmental Scan

The implementation to use social media as an approach to access market share for the company should be assessed thoroughly. An assessment should encompass an examination of the environment, both internally and externally, in a bid to establish readiness. Using social media strategy to advertise and market company content is a commonly applicable digital strategy in the current world of business (Yusoff & Husnina, 2018). For instance, the brand has a strong global presence as many customers have good experience with their products. Equally, the firm can use its strong financial background to market their products on social media. Communication goals within the company can be achieved by applying social media platforms such as Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and Youtube to advertise products. Externally, the company must comply with policies that are stipulated by various governments in each country of operation. Consumers spend most of their time on such platforms more than they spend time to look at newspapers or watch television (Ross, Beath & Sebastian, 2017). The business environment and communication approaches should be based on social media where clients can get instant feedback to their issues.

Target Audience

The target audience for information to be shared through social media includes all stakeholders in the company. They include company staff, customers, shareholders, management, the government and other law enforcement authorities (Ross, Beath & Sebastian, 2017). Agencies in various governments apply social media marketing as a way of sharing crucial information to the general public. As such, companies such as Apple Inc. use social media to relay vital information to the target audience. The interest of the management is to meet targets as required by directors of the company. Customers need improved product quality and caring customer care support from the company social media platforms. Shareholders require a return on the capital that was invested in the same industry (Arditi, 2018). Equally, each stakeholder in the market requires updates on company progress and new developments. In the event, social media platforms will prove useful as they have the required target audience for Apple products.

Communication Audit

Apple Company has already employee digital approaches to face the consumer market in the recent past. (Arditi, 2018). The firm applies mainstream media as a way of creating the required awareness or advertising of products. Social media use in marketing will guarantee the company a reduced financial implication on the budget. Application of the five main stages of listening and observing indicates that the company can perform better in the market with a digital media strategy. The mainstream media is expensive as compared to digital platforms, even though they ensure more access to many people. It is vital that redirects more funds to digital marketing, which can help it grow its market base globally (Mogensen, 2018). The increased use of the internet and social media makes for implementation as reactions on content posted can be used as an assessment criterion. More activity on the internet will be helpful to the organization as compared to applying contemporary approaches to communication.

Main Discourse Topics and Opportunities

Consumer behavior is an important topic that each company needs to examine critically for a deeper understanding of involved aspects. Understanding behavior in a market helps companies devise products that meet the exact need of the consumer. (Mogensen, 2018)Privacy of information and communication done on social media platforms has raised security concerns lately. Information theft on social media platforms has been rampant in the recent past, posing a threat to the application of the digital media strategy for company operations. As an opportunity, increased use of social media will be a boost to the implementation of an operational digital media strategy (Mogensen, 2018). Multinational companies and other businesses can apply the concept of big data to their advantage and gain a competitive advantage. Apple has a strong global presence and using big data analytics to boost their operations will prove an essential step for the organization.

Communication Goals

Implementation of a successful strategy to communication must encompass a clear goal-setting process. As such, Apple Company will implement the digital media strategy with clear goals that should be achieved in the end (Cardoso, 2017). The main goal for establishing the policy is to create more awareness in a bid to increase market share. The company must purpose objectively for it to achieve the set goals within the stipulated timeframe. Increasing market share means providing quality products and services across all social media platforms (Robbins, Albrecht & Simpson, 2018). The second goal that the policy intends to achieve is a high level of customer satisfaction/ support services are essential to users as they need more information on usage, especially for companies that operate in the technological industry. To achieve the goals, it is the duty of management at Apple Inc. to facilitate an improved communication strategy through coordination. The first objective is to set aside funds that will help run various ad campaigns on social media platforms (Robbins, Albrecht & Simpson, 2018). Second, the management should purpose to hire qualified staff to handle queries all the time as a way of meeting customer needs. Lastly, an assessment of the impact of the new digital strategy can help determine its applicability and viability within the company.

Recommendations

Apple Inc. should consider spending more on online platforms as a way o capturing more market share. Most companies are using online platforms as a way of collecting information that is used for future forecasting of sales (Dolata, 2017). Extracting such information from online platforms such as Facebook is expensive and can cost the company millions of dollars. Apple should direct more funds to digital media strategies as a way of supporting operations and gaining more market penetration. Fewer funds can compromise the quality of devices used and approaches used to the marketing of the same products. In the event, the company might incur losses, which is not the primary goal of the business.

The organization should consider hiring technology-fit individuals to support the implementation and monitoring of the policies (Dolata, 2017). If employees within the organization are not fit to work in the environment, they might delay or deny the firm an opportunity to more innovation. The HR department for the company should assess employees to determine their professional suitability in the technology-reliant giant organization.

Conclusion

To sum it up, Apple Company has done its best to establish recent digital strategies as a way of improving operations globally. The company must implement a digital content strategy that aligns to its objectives and goals. A close examination of the environment indicates that the company can do better with more activity online as compared to the use of mainstream media. The target audience for content relayed on social media includes stakeholders in the company. The increased use of social media within the society has provided an opportunity to implement new strategies and gain deeper market penetration. The report concentrates on the use of social media as a digital approach to enhancing communication at Apple Company.

References

Arditi, D. (2018). Digital subscriptions: The unending consumption of music in the digital era. Popular Music and Society, 41(3), 302-318.

Cardoso, E. A. R. P. (2017). Examining the differences of the internationalization strategies of two of the major brands in the smartphone industry-Apple inc. versus Samsung electronics (Doctoral dissertation).

Dolata, U. (2017). Apple, Amazon, Google, Facebook, Microsoft: Market concentration-competition-innovation strategies (No. 2017-01). Stuttgarter Beiträge zur Organisations-und Innovationsforschung, SOI Discussion Paper.

Mogensen, B. G. (2018). Managing Corporate Legitimacy Through CSR Reporting: A Qualitative Case Study of Apple Inc.’s Supplier Responsibility Reports (Master’s thesis).

Robbins, J., Albrecht, G., & Simpson, S. (2018). U.S. Patent No. 10,110,430. Washington, DC: U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.

Ross, J. W., Beath, C. M., & Sebastian, I. M. (2017). How to develop a great digital strategy. MIT Sloan Management Review, 58(2), 7.

Yusoff, M., & Husnina, N. (2018). Determinants of Risks and Performance in Apple Inc. Available at SSRN 3181705.