Twitter

Small businesses need to use Twitter for many reasons, which is why this is our first focus of the campaign.  

Firstly, Twitter is quick and cost effective.  It costs nothing to set up or use, but will greatly increase awareness and sales and can be used to interact with existing and potential customers.  It is also very easy to use, whether it is for speaking to customers, answering questions or getting feedback on events and promotions, it is a vital tool to help Cupcakes By Jo become more successful.

Twitter also allows a business to reach out to a new audience who may not be aware of the business yet.  By having an non-private account, anyone can view our tweets and join in conversations.  By receiving new followers, we can keep these people up-to-date with the latest news and information about Cupcakes By Jo, stimulating their interest and eventually increasing awareness and sales.  We can also create loyal customers by regularly interacting with them on the social network site, for example by retweeting, following and mentioning them. 

Having Twitter can also be used to direct people to the Facebook page, YouTube channel and the website which will again increase awareness and sales.  It means that not all information has to be included on Twitter, and people can view full details elsewhere at their convenience.  By overlapping all forms of social media, it will increase awareness of the business to a wide audience.  

After setting up Twitter for Cupcakes By Jo, we aim to get over 200 followers.  We will specifically target local people as this will be more effective than having a wide scope accross the country as only people within the Aberdeen and Aberdeenshire area will be able to purchase products from the shop.  We also plan to target accounts that have a large number of followers and that can persuade people to follow our account, for example Northsound 1, Original FM and STV.  If accounts such as these were to interact with us, it would encourage more people to follow and interact with us. 

Initially, we will follow a large number of local accounts to increase awareness of Cupcakes By Jo.  This will also gain us followers. We will interact with these people; upload photos; create Twitter-only competitions (where people have to mention @CupcakesByJo); get involved in trending topics; share links to our videos, website, Facebook; and constantly tweet about the products and promotional activity.

Competitor Analysis

Hannah Bakes Cakes

Hannah Bakes Cakes is a stall situated in Union Square in Aberdeen.  It specialises in cupcakes in various flavours.  She currently has a Facebook page with 700 'likes', and a website.  They charge £1.50 per cupcake and 50p packaging for every 6 cupcakes.  Delivery is £2. 

The biggest strength of Hannah Bakes Cakes is their location.  As the stall is in such a busy place within the city centre, this poses a big threat to Cupcakes By Jo as much more people will be aware of the business and have the opportunity to have higher sales.  This means that a lot has to be done to encourage people to go to Indoor Market instead. 

Another strength of the business is their website which has pages including "About Us", "Our Cupcakes", "Delivery Area" and "Contact".  As Cupcakes By Jo does not have a website yet, this is a potential threat, and means a priority of this campaign is to create an effective website.

The main weakness of Hannah Bakes Cakes is their lack of social media.  They currently do not have Twitter, which is a key tool for small businesses, and this can be used to our advantage.  It means that we can target people on through Twitter without competing with this business.  Although they have a Facebook account, the number of followers is reasonably low compared to that of Cupcakes By Jo, giving us an advantage straight away. 
  

BiBi's Bakery

BiBi's has a small shop located on Schoolhill in Aberdeen between the Bon Accord and St Nicolas shopping centres. They also have shops in Edinburgh and St Andrews.  They have a strong brand image and are quite active with their social media having Facebook, Twitter and a website.  They currently have 52 followers on Twitter and over 5000 'likes' on Facebook.  They charge £1.75 per cupcake.

The main strengths of this company is their strong brand image and their central location in the city centre.  The crossing between the two shopping centres is always extremely busy which means a large amount of local people will be aware of the business.  Also, as they have an actual shop as opposed to a stall, this is obviously a big advantage for them as it looks very professional and inclines people to think the products will be of high quality.  They will have a lot more resources - including budget and staff -  than Cupcakes By Jo and Hannah Bakes Cakes as they are a chain of stores accross Scotland.

Another main strength of the business is their website which is very good.  The layout, photography and animation used is very stylish and works extremely well.  It also includes a vast amount of information about their business and gives customers the ability to book baking courses and order cupcakes.  It also provides links to their blog, Facebook and Twitter.

However, even though BiBi's is a big company, they currently only have 52 followers on Twitter.  As mentioned previously, this can be used to our advantage and reduces local competitors on the social netoworking site. 

Blackbird Bakery


Blackbird Bakery is a shop located on Union Grove in Aberdeen. They currently have a website and a blog.  Prices for their cupcakes vary and can be between £1.75 and £2.25 per cake. 


The main strength of this business is that it is a traditional bakery with loyal customers.  Like BiBi's they have an actual shop located in the city centre, portraying the products as high class. 


As they do not have Facebook or Twitter, this is a major weakness. This means they are not targeting their customers as well as they could be, and leaves it open for competitors.  Their website is basic with not a lot of information, and the colour scheme does not work well.


Overall, Blackbird Bakery does not pose a big threat to Cupcakes By Jo as we will be much more active on social media sites and target our audience better.  Also, as their bakery is more traditional and owned by an older person, their target market is not the same as Cupcakes By Jo's and are less inclined to use social media.

Key Dates

These are the planned key dates, however they may change due to unforeseen circumstances.  This schedule will be followed and reviewed regularly to ensure maximum success.  Jo has been given a copy of the schedule too and it will be edited according to her availability.

Interdependencies

The success of this campaign is dependent on certain factors.  The main factor is Jo's availability to meet with us and to complete customer orders on time. As she is the only person working for Cupcakes By Jo, she must be able to deal with all customer orders on time or customers will be unsatisfied.  She also has to be able to meet with us regularly to discuss the campaign to ensure everything is running to plan. 


The groups availability is also a key factor as we have different timetables at university and also have commitments outside of university. However, we will ensure to meet at least once a week and keep in regular contact via the Facebook mail that has been set up between us.  We will distribute tasks fairly between the group taking into considerations people's availability.


As we will have to book out equipment including cameras, video cameras and tripods, we will  be highly dependent on their availability.  This could impact our schedule and changes may have to be made depending on when the equipment is available. 

Limitations

Although we are all confident this campaign will be a success, there are several limitations.

Firstly, the financial aspect of the campaign could limit our ability to create flyers and promotional material to advertise the business and upcoming events. 

Legislation is also a concern within this project with regards to filming the viral videos as permission is required to film in certain locations, for example, shopping centres.  This could prove more difficult than originally planned.  We will also need consent from individuals before we can film them for legal reasons. 


Safety is also a limitation of the campaign, especially for filming the videos.  We must must ensure the public is safe by following risk assessment procedures, and also take care of the equipment.

Reaching older customers could prove to be a problem.  As one of our main focuses of this campaign is social media, we may not effectively reach this age group as they are less likely to use social media or use it a lot less frequently than younger customers. 

Location for promotional activity may limit our success also as, again, we will need permission to hand out flyers in certain places.  

Although there are limitations, we do not feel these will affect the success of our campaign and we will take all the necessary steps to ensure we avoid all possible problems.  

Assumptions

During the planning stage for this campaign we created aims and objectives that we believed were achievable whilst still being challenging.  

Our group is confident we will successfully achieve all the aims and objectives, and believe we can exceed our current expectations.  

As our group has a diverse range of skills, interests, knowledge and contacts we believe this campaign will be a success.  

We feel that cupcakes as a product are extremely current, fashionable are enjoyed by a wide range of people of all ages.  With occasions such as Mother's Day and Easter approaching, we are confident that they will bring in a high volume of business and interest. Cupcakes are highly popular online with hundreds of thousands of people searching videos and photos of the products. This shows that this market is already very competitive and it is constantly expanding, proving that Cupcakes By Jo can be extremely popular and successful. 


We will create a positive attitude amongst the target market and make Cupcakes By Jo a friendly, happy and exciting business. 

Success Criteria

We will constantly monitor our social media and edit our level of presence depending on the level of activity the business is recieving.  For example, if we have not received many new followers on Twitter within a certain period of time, we will introduce competitions/promotions to increase interest from customers. 

We will have regular meetings with Jo to evaluate sales figures and levels of interest within the store to assess the effectiveness of our work.  This will again allow us to edit our social media, promotion and events accordingly.

Depending on levels of interest in Cupcakes By Jo, we will either increase or decrease activity so that she is not overwhelmed or lacking any business.  



Specific success criteria for social media has been given in the 'Objectives' section.