Shein and Temu, two giants offering rapid ecommerce at astonishingly low prices, much to the annoyance of other online retailers, and each other. Competitors in the UK have been feeling the impact especially.

Submission Front Sheet
Assignment Code: RQFBMU55JAN26LM/SD/YF
Programme: BTEC HND in Business (RQF)
Unit Title and Number: Unit 55: Planning Social Media Campaign
RQF Level: 5 Module Code: H/618/513

Introduction

Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, blogs on countless themes, the ability to leave comments about news, online stores, file-sharing platforms, and wikis have become essential elements of daily life. They are also valuable tools in the way that businesses communicate with their existing and potential audiences. Social media has transformed the way that people and businesses communicate, by allowing engagement across multiple channels with greater personalisation and targeted dissemination.

While we are experiencing a time of transformation that generates interesting opportunities, we are also faced with new challenges for organisations and individuals. The rapid growth in social media raises questions about authorship, authenticity and privacy, to name but a few.

In this unit, students will explore this new cultural ecosystem, where we use new practices of communication and social interaction through social media. On successful completion of this unit, students will be able to analyse a market to plan and develop strategic communication campaigns through social media.

Learning Outcomes
By the end of this unit a student will be able to:
LO1 Examine the key concepts and features of social media for different business Activities

LO2 Discuss the uses of social media and their impact on market and audience

LO3 Plan a social media campaign for an organisation, based on client need, market and user research

LO4 Implement a social media campaign plan for an organisation to meet
business objectives.

To succeed in this unit, you are required to follow the scenario provided and complete all the required assessment criteria. Your submissions should demonstrate your understanding of how your research links coherently to these aspects of Planning Social Media Campaign. Any work submitted should include evidence of your research with references (Harvard Referencing).

Assignment Title: Planning Social Media Campaign

Submission Format
The submission is in the form of a Social Media Campaign report that is appropriate and suitable in the business world. The recommended length of this submission is 4500- 5000 words, although you will not be penalised for exceeding 5000 words. The report must be submitted using a WORD processed document. PDF and other types of files are not accepted.
Where appropriate, learning theory and additional research must be used, and referenced according to the Harvard Referencing system. The work must include a bibliography for all referenced work using the Harvard referencing system.

Unit Learning Outcomes
LO1 Examine the key concepts and features of social media for different business activities.
LO2 Discuss the uses of social media and their impact on market and audience.
LO3 Plan a social media campaign for an organisation based on client need, market, and user research.
LO4 Implement a social media campaign plan for an organisation to meet business objectives

Assignment Brief and Guidance
Scenario:
In the ever-changing world of retail one thing is consistent: consumers love a bargain. And feeling like they’ve secured a good deal is more important than ever as countries around the globe face recessions, an ongoing cost-of-living crisis and persistent rising inflation.
Shein and Temu, two giants offering rapid ecommerce at astonishingly low prices, much to the annoyance of other online retailers, and each other.
Competitors in the UK have been feeling the impact especially. As Craig Smith, UK and Ireland country manager at ecommerce technology platform Scayle, says: “The likes of eBay and Amazon have both seen a decline in users in the UK since Shein and Temu gained popularity.” Kantar research, which captures Google search data across the world, shows that Shein had nearly 62 million average monthly searches in the year to January 2024, while Temu had 19 million.
eBay key statistics in 2022 shows that eBay generated $9.7 billion revenue in 2022, down 9.3% on the previous year. Gross merchandising volume on eBay was $73.9 billion, down 15% on 2021 while 2022 figures shows that 138 million people are active on eBay, most of which are based in the US. As of 2023, the number of users have reduced from 138m in 2022 to 129m.

Activity:
As a Junior marketing Manager working for eBay UK, you have been tasked with the responsibility of critically analysing how social media is used by organisations to develop and promote business aims, together with their relationship between businesses and consumers. Your analysis will need to cover the key concepts of social media, the social media environment and the business activities that can be influenced by social media.
In addition, you will need to include a critical comparative analysis of varied social media platforms, to identify their areas of greatest influence, strengths and including, but not limited to their use for different communication objectives and their impact on brand awareness and consumer engagement.

Next, you need to create a dynamic and unique social media campaign for eBay UK or your own selected organisation that influences users, is strategically- focused and which has measurable outcomes.
In doing this, you should
a. Conduct market and user research to consider different social media technology platforms and tools for use in the social media campaign.
b. Plan and design content and a content calendar for the social media campaign
c. Justify design choices and the selection of technology platforms and tools to be used for the social media campaign.
d. Develop an implementation plan for your campaign that includes content creation designed to trigger strong audience emotions and add value to users, and details of how the audience engagement will be monitored, via in-built analytics for evaluating performance and success, using the technology platforms you selected above (you should provide details of the implementation)
e. Deliver the campaign across the technology platforms you selected above and compare audience engagement using the in-built analytics listed (you should provide evidence of the analytics)
f. Evaluate the performance and success of the social media campaign in meeting business objectives and make justified improvements.

Learning Outcomes and Assessment Criteria
Pass Merit Distinction
LO1 Examine the key concepts and features of social media in different business practices LO1 and LO2
D1 Critically analyse how social media is used by organisations to develop and promote business aims.
P1 Explore the key concepts of social media and the social media environment.

P2 Discuss the business activities that can be influenced by social media. M1 Analyse the use of social media in the relationship between businesses and consumers.
LO2 Discuss the uses of social media and their impact on market and audience
P3 Explore the use of social media platforms for different communication objectives.

P4 Debate the impact of different social media platforms on brand awareness and consumer engagement. M2 Compare different social media platforms to identify their areas of greatest influence.
LO3 Plan a social media campaign for an organisation, based on client need, market and user research D2 Create a dynamic and unique social media campaign that influences users, is strategically focused and which has measurable outcomes.
P5 Conduct market and user research to consider different social media options in response to a given brief.

P6 Plan content and a content calendar for a social media campaign to address client needs and meet customer expectations. M3 Justify design choices and the selection of technology platforms and tools for use in a social media campaign.
LO4 Implement a social media campaign for an organisation to meet business objectives. D3 Evaluate performance and success of a social media campaign in meeting business objectives to make justified improvements.
P7 Implement a social media campaign, including content creation, and monitoring of audience engagement.

P8 Deliver a social media campaign that captures audience engagement through in-built analytics, across a range of social media platforms. M4 Implement a social media campaign designed to trigger strong audience emotions and add value to users.

M5 Compare audience engagement across a range of social media platforms, using in-built analytics to analyse the success of a campaign.

Achievement of a Pass grade
A student must have satisfied all the Pass criteria for the learning outcomes, showing coverage of the unit content and therefore attainment at Level 4 or 5 of the national framework.

Achievement of a Merit grade
A student must have satisfied all the Merit criteria (as well as the Pass criteria) through high performance in each learning outcome.

Achievement of a Distinction grade
A student must have satisfied all the Distinction criteria (as well as the Pass and Merit criteria), and these define outstanding performance across the unit as a whole.
ALL GRADES ARE PROVISIONAL UNTIL INTERNALLY VERIFIED AND UNTIL EXTERNALLY CERTIFIED BY EDEXCEL.
THIS MEANS THAT A GRADE CAN BE CHANGED AT ANY POINT UNTIL EDEXCEL CERTIFIES IT

As per Pearson policy, you are only allowed two submissions per module. One for final submission and another one for referral. Failure to achieve a grade pass after a second submission will result in you having to repeat the module in the next term.

Any re-submission or late submission (unless authorised due to mitigating circumstances) will be capped at a PASS grade only.

Specification of Assessment

• Present your work in one report style which should include a cover page, table of contents, introduction, conclusion, reference list, foot or end notes and appendices, if any.
• Include the reference code of this assignment on your assignment submission front page.
• Sign the Learner’s Statement of authenticity in the cover page. Failure to do so will result in the submission being declined.
• Ensure the following information is in the footer on every page:
o Your name
o The production date of your submission
o The code number of your assignment brief
o The page number (Each page must be numbered at the bottom right-hand side)
• Spell-check the document and make sure there are no grammatical errors as it may result in the submission being declined.
• Complete all the tasks in a Holistic manner as set in the brief and without separating the assessment criteria to avoid a potential referral.
• Create your own titles and sub-headings to structure the work without copying the assessment criteria verbatim.
• Produce clear specific reasoning and arguments in support of your answers.
• Submit your work in a single WORD document of not more than 5000 words for all learning Outcomes. This word limit is only for guidelines and is not applied to grading. PDF and other types of files are not accepted.
• You must include a bibliography at the end to show where your information was sourced. Failure to do so may result in the submission being declined
• Your sources must be identified using the Harvard referencing system. The words used in your bibliography will not be included in your word count.
• You must use Arial, size 12, 1.5 line spacing and black to format the text.
To access any feedback (formative/summative) you will have to access Moodle and open your assignment. You will have to click on the blue comment box in the righthand side and the feedback will appear within the text. You might have to click on the blue bubbles to see the feedback.

If an extension is necessary for a valid reason, requests must be made in writing using a course work extension request form to the head of department. Please note that the lecturers do not have the authority to extend the coursework deadlines and therefore do not ask them to award a coursework extension.

The completed form must be accompanied by evidence such as a medical certificate in the event of you being sick.

Any act of plagiarism and collusion will be seriously dealt with according to the regulations and MRC Malpractice policy

‘Plagiarism occurs when a student misrepresents any work submitted as his/her own work, the work of any other person or of any institution. Examples of forms of plagiarism include:
• the verbatim (word for word) copying of another’s work without appropriate and correctly presented acknowledgement.
• the close paraphrasing of another’s work by simply changing a few words or altering the order of presentation, without appropriate and correctly presented acknowledgement.
• unacknowledged quotation of phrases from another’s work;
• The deliberate and detailed presentation of another’s concept as one’s own.’

All types of work submitted by students are covered by this definition, including, written work, diagrams, designs, engineering drawings and pictures.

‘Collusion occurs when, unless with official approval (e.g., in the case of group projects), two or more students consciously collaborate in the preparation and production of work which is ultimately submitted by each in an identical, or substantially similar, form and/or is represented by each to be the product of his or her individual efforts.

All submissions for assessment must be submitted on Moodle to generate a Turnitin Report on similarity to detect potential plagiarism and collusion.
The maximum Turnitin score admissible is 15% but a submission can be classified as plagiarism and/or collusion with a lower score depending on the size of the submission and size of the text highlighted.
Assignments with plagiarism/ad or collusion will be automatically referred for reworking and resubmission. Please check the MRC Assessment policy as well as MRC Malpractice policy for details of the potential penalties as a procedure.
Including pictures of text (apart from the cover page or table of content) or pictures of any other type of information (diagram for example) without a citation and a Harvard Reference could be deemed to be an attempt of malpractice and could trigger an automatic referral as well as a malpractice procedure.
Any student might be called to seat through a viva with the lecturer to confirm any parts of the submission through an interview which will then form part of the summative assessment.

AI tools have proliferated and become more common and as a result, their usage for research has increased which prompted change of government policies in this matter.
Overall, it remains too easy for students to misunderstand how they can use Generative Artificial Intelligence tools and unintentionally breach academic integrity guidelines.

Research of information and the writing of academic work must always be performed by the student, and while it is acceptable to use an AI tool to start a research process, it is not allowed to use it to write a submission in your place.
The important part is to understand that the best way to produce a work is to research it through traditional methods (books articles, websites, journals).
Yet, AI tools could be used to help with the research but only as a starting point. Having found information, thanks to an AI tool, about a topic you are writing about, you should then research it using these traditional methods and include the references and citations based on these resources in your work.
Once you have the correct information, you need to write the assignment yourself, using an AI tool to do this for you is never allowed. The usage of paraphrasing tools might be appropriate to find alternative to some words and short sentences, but not or a whole paragraph/page/ work.

The same way Mont Rose College is using a similarity detection system, an AI detection tool is embedded in our systems and every submission you make will go through both of them.
Submissions for assessment that consist of large substantially unmodified output from Artificial Intelligence software may be considered as a very poor academic practice as it does not represent the student’s own work.
To this effect, the limit on AI detection has been set at 40%. If a submission is over that allowance, the submission could be rejected and awarded a Referral and/or the student called to seat through a viva with the lecturer to confirm any parts of the submission through an interview which will then form part of the summative assessment.

In cases where an individual persistently exhibits poor academic practice through inappropriate use of Artificial Intelligence tools, such as a lack of evidencing their use of the tools, they may be referred to the academic misconduct procedures and the range of the potential penalties. 

Textbooks
ATHERTON, J. (2019) Social Media Strategy: A Practical Guide to Social Media Marketing and Customer Engagement. London: Kogan Page.

BARTNIK, M. (2019) The 8 Pillars of Social Media Marketing: Learn How to Transform Your Online Marketing Strategy For Maximum Growth with Minimum Investment. Independently published.

McGRUER, D. (2019) Dynamic Digital Marketing: Master the world of online and social media marketing to grow your business. John Wiley and Sons.

WRIGHT, C. (2020) Social Media Marketing 2020: How to Crush it with Instagram Marketing – Proven Strategies to Build Your Brand, Reach Millions of Customers, and Grow Your Business Without Wasting Time and Money. Independently published.

Websites
www.i-socialmarketing.org International Social Marketing
Association Professional association (General reference)

www.socialmediaassoc.com Social Media Association
Professional association (General reference)

www.socialmediaclub.org Social Media Club
Professional association (General reference)

www.womma.org WOMMA – Word of Mouth and Social
Media Marketing Professional association (General reference)