Tracy L. Tuten, Social Media Marketing, 4e
SAGE Publishing, 2021
Breaking into the wedding industry with social media
By Sharon Justice, East Carolina University
Case
In 2015 Andi Workman started a small Etsy shop at her kitchen table in her tiny apartment,
hand making a few Christmas ornaments to share with friends. She had always had a creative
spirit and loved to share her handcrafted items. When she became engaged, she couldn’t find
exactly what she was looking for in the wedding industry: simplicity, beauty and affordability.
She quickly dove into the world of wedding stationery, signs and décor — having no idea that
she would discover something that would bring her so much joy as well as a future business
venture. Her wedding was beautiful and a few of her friends wanted her help in designing and
creating items for their weddings. It was in those moments of creating custom pieces for her
wedding and other brides that Workman Creative Co. was born. WCC now offers a complete
line of hand designed custom stationery items for every wedding need, hand lettered signs and
other custom decor.
Andi is the creative director and the driving force of the business but she is well supported
by her husband and her own family of entrepreneurs that are the behind the scenes ‘workmen’.
Tracy L. Tuten, Social Media Marketing, 4e
SAGE Publishing, 2021
industry, it was noted how brides of today see themselves as brand managers, seeking that
unique personalised experience and sharing it widely on their own social media platforms. It
is in this environment that WCC is seeking to promote their unique customised products to
couples planning their perfect day.
WCC has done several things over the past 6 months to grow their business:
• Launched a new website with stylised photographs, personal stories and wedding
focused products and services.
• Participated in two bridal showcase events to build brand awareness and expose a local,
target market of couples with wedding dates in the next 24 months to WCC and their
beautiful, affordable, customised options.
• Joined a regional wedding association that shares social media posts, contests and other
interactive strategies to couples planning their wedding, referring them to the exclusive
members of the association.
Tracy L. Tuten, Social Media Marketing, 4e
SAGE Publishing, 2021
What strategies should WCC utilise to develop a social community filled with brides
sharing stories, offering advice and recommending WCC to their own community?
Social commerce is the ultimate goal of this business; growing the business so that it can
sustain Andi and her husband, allowing them to move into this work on a dedicated basis,
rather than part time on nights and weekends. How would you advise WCC in the development
of their social media strategy to achieve this long term objective?
Tracy L. Tuten, Social Media Marketing, 4e
SAGE Publishing, 2021
Case Study Title: Combining Qualitative Marketing Research with Advanced Social Media
Intelligence for Positioning
Tracy L. Tuten, Social Media Marketing, 4e
SAGE Publishing, 2021
Social media are increasingly used to inform decision-makers both for insights and forecasts.
An increasing number of marketers employ listening platforms that collect comments posted
across social media of interest to their company in order to measure the outcome of their own
social media strategy, as well as to utilise insights from social media in their marketing research
process.
This case study illustrates how typical marketing research methods were combined with
advanced social media intelligence in the case of deploying the brand strategy of a popular
singer in Greece. The main research objective was to evaluate the extent to which the singer’s
intended positioning (how she believes people perceive her) matched the realised positioning
(how do people actually perceive her), in order to be able to structure a brand strategy that
could support her future ventures.
2nd Axis – AFFABILITY:
➢ well-intentioned
➢ giving
➢ kind
➢ ‘one of us’
3rd Axis – DEVOTION:
Tracy L. Tuten, Social Media Marketing, 4e
SAGE Publishing, 2021
➢ disciplined
➢ professional
➢ hard-working
➢ persistent
➢ organised
4th Axis – FLEXIBILITY:
➢ receptive
➢ open-minded
➢ pliable
➢ adaptable
➢ transformable
Having delineated the intended positioning of the singer, the next step was to evaluate the
realised positioning (how do people actually perceive her). The typical approach would be to
proceed with collecting primary data through focus groups (qualitative research) and/ or a
survey (quantitative research), but given the ample amount of information in the online world,
social media insights could not be omitted before proceeding.
Tracy L. Tuten, Social Media Marketing, 4e
SAGE Publishing, 2021
• 2.628 posts & comments on Facebook (official page & fan page)
First, the material was manually processed by a team of analysts at Qualia in order to
identify categories of themes and emotions. Overall comments were coded for opinion, such
as each comment was identified as positive, negative or neutral (Figure 1 & Figure 2). The
online image of the singer was found to be largely positive, since negative mentions were very
limited in all three types of sources.
FIGURE 1
Opinion Analysis
Tracy L. Tuten, Social Media Marketing, 4e
SAGE Publishing, 2021
5. Calmness (composure, calmness, relief)
6. Anticipation (anticipation, expectation, optimism)
7. Surprise (surprise, query)
The outcome of the sentiment analysis is presented in Figure 2. Overall, the emotions that
users expressed on both pages through the comments and publications were positive with the
majority of users expressing their love towards the singer.
FIGURE 2
Sentiment Analysis
In addition to the aforementioned analyses, a number of algorithms processed the data
automatically in order to produce additional metadata (i.e. new data from the primary data
collected) that aid comprehension of different aspects of the information gathered. In
particular, all the posts were processed in order to identify some issues/themes that had created
high online buzz (i.e. many shares in a limited time frame). The total time each issue/theme
Tracy L. Tuten, Social Media Marketing, 4e
SAGE Publishing, 2021
remained active online with relatively high intensity, as well as the maximum speed of this
period were measured. An indicative number of issues analysed, along with their evaluation
with respect to the singer’s positioning are presented in Figure 3.
FIGURE 3
Issue #1
Tracy L. Tuten, Social Media Marketing, 4e
SAGE Publishing, 2021
Maximum Speed (mentions per 4 hours): 21
Evaluation: The incident was emphasising the non-compromising and daring intended
positioning attributes of the singer
Issue #3
Issue 3: Dressing up on stage as a legendary pop singer
Tracy L. Tuten, Social Media Marketing, 4e
SAGE Publishing, 2021
Total Number of Mentions: 130
Duration: 6 days
Maximum Speed (mentions per 4 hours): 23
Evaluation: The issue emphasised the non-compromising, daring and transformable
intended positioning attributes of the singer
Issue #4
Maximum Speed (mentions per 4 hours): 17
Evaluation: The issue emphasised the authentic intended positioning attributes, combined
with the hot-blooded attribute of the realised positioning of the singer
Issue #5
Tracy L. Tuten, Social Media Marketing, 4e
SAGE Publishing, 2021
Maximum Speed (mentions per 4 hours): 42
Evaluation: The issue emphasised the non-meretricious intended positioning attribute
combined with the provoking and subversive attributes of the realised positioning of the singer
Issue #6
Issue 6: Summer Open Concert
Total Number of Mentions: 64
Duration: 5 days
Tracy L. Tuten, Social Media Marketing, 4e
SAGE Publishing, 2021
Maximum Speed (mentions per 4 hours): 22
Evaluation: The issue emphasised the intense attribute of the realised positioning of the
singer
Issue #7
Maximum Speed (mentions per 4 hours): 79
Evaluation: The issue emphasised the non-meretricious, ‘one of us’ and honest intended
positioning attributes of the singer
The outcome of the above analyses were the main input for the development of a well-
informed focus group’s discussion guide that is based on both the singers self-concept (derived
by the in-depth personal interviews) as well as on how people actually talk online about the
singer (derived by the advanced social media intelligence).