Beats Head phones - YouTube
Integral to future proofing the success of Beats Headphones is the design and implementation of relevant social media platforms. Currently beats uses (i) Facebook, (ii) Twitter, (iii) Tumblr, (iv) Instagram, (v) Google plus, (vi) Pinterest and (vii) YouTube
In this section we will concentrate on the impact YouTube can have as a social media networking platform, to market the company’s core philosophies and also engage customers and potential customers through a visual and audio medium. Here are two important statistics to note: 1.YouTube has more than 1 Billion users 2. Localised in 75 countries and available in 61 languages
To successfully manage this brand a thorough understanding of YouTube is paramount. Using Mangold and Faulds, ‘Social media: The new hybrid element of the promotion mix’ as a Bible we can effectively analyse how YouTube can be utilised to its maximum potential. Mangould and Faulds state that “the emergence of Internet – based social media has made it possible for one person to communicate with hundreds or even thousands of other people about products and the companies that provide them. Thus, the impact of consumer-to-consumer communications has been greatly magnified in the market place” From an Online Community perspective we want to engage with our customers and create a community that shares interests, sentiments, behaviour and objects. On Beats YouTube site currently, there are a number of EminEm(Rapper) and Lady Gaga video clips. They also have a great video entitled “The Game before the Game “http://www.thegamebeforethegame.com Here Beats uses celebrity sports persons to endorse its product. Whilst celebrity endorsement is very current and hip, it may also to some degree have a form of ‘disconnect’ we will, a little later, outline a suggested video clip to be created using everyday people. By creating an eye – catching YouTube video kudos is garnered. After viewing a video marketeers are aware that the consumer is then in control. He or she will then invariably twit or Facebook, or even go onto a blog site to discuss the video with friends or others of an ethnographic stance. The internet has become a mass media vehicle for customers to discuss all aspects of the product i.e. design, price and reviews by other customers. At this point the company, managers and PR consultants cannot directly control the conversations. This is where a good Integrated Marketing Communications (IMC) strategy is incredibly important. Therefore, by producing, in this case, a current and engaging YouTube video clip should create a positive vibe. As mentioned, if the marketing company can create a video where everyday people engage, then an instant connection is made. Procter and Gamble created a short video where consumers exhibited their ball skills in any given sport. This also introduces an element of fun. Humour transcends all barriers and always wins over consumers, who will then talk to their friends about the video. Mangold and Faulds states “Videos were submitted and evaluated by a panel of judges after being uploaded via the individuals YouTube account. The top 25 videos were then voted on by website viewers to determine the ultimate winner.” Many other companies use their own websites in conjunction with YouTube to provide cool photos of its products, for example, BMW. Some companies have encouraged consumers to submit recorded footage of the product in action. The beauty of YouTube from a marketeers point of view is that it allows ‘visualisation of the Lifestyle ‘ Proposed Video Campaign / Marketing Plan
As Brand managers we are proposing an outline framework of a video, with the hope of it becoming ‘viral’. Some of our inspiration came from the James Bond Skyfall video where everyday people were used in the video. On the basis of sticking to the core characteristics of Beats Headphones; Fashionable, whilst at the same time High Quality, a plan of the YouTube video clip is as follows:
Locations
New York
London
Paris
Milan
Settings
The public transport systems in each of these cities e.g. Subway in NY or Metro in Paris
Main body
Have 3 models wearing Beats Headphones with about 20 extras in the carriage. Show the models dancing to the music and then begin to hold hands with the others in the carriage, ending with a Human hand wave
Competition
Ask online users to come up with a caption/slogan to use in the video and the winner will have an all-expenses paid weekend in one of the four cities of his or her choice

Provide Networking platforms
We decided that one of our social media platforms could be exploited so that consumers and music lovers could gain a unique opportunity to communicate directly with the face of Beats, Dr. Dre. What we decided to do is what many celebrities and sports teams carry out, a twitter Q&A session for a portion of a particular day with the hashtag #askdre. With regards the headphone industry Beats by Dre has the most followers on Twitter with 564.1K followers, and it has the lowest Twitter Influence rank with a score of 75. Engagement is key to keeping fans interested for effective Headphones Social Media marketing. This is why we decided to try something new with our twitter account. This is a fantastic platform to engage with consumers but there are a few things we have to be mindful of. We are choosing Dr. Dre himself to host the Q&A session because of his reputation in the music industry and his intelligence as a business man. We have decided to coincide this session with one of the causes Beats music is supporting. Beats music in association with Apple Inc. are a part of the #appsforred campaign in the fight against aids. We realise that it is important not to run this Q&A session close to any bad news stories related to the company so holding it close to a charitable event will hopefully make things run a bit smoother. Through this campaign we hope to find out a bit more about our consumer along with their preferences and tastes when it comes to Beats headphones and other audio devices. This form of gathering information is called Netnography and will hopefully help us gain some consumer insight. We will market this Q&A session across a number of different social media sites including Twitter Facebook and Instagram. We will post status updates every 12 hours for a week leading up to the event promoting it across the globe and taking into account the different time zones. We will try to predict what topics will come up in the session and have a team of advisors to read over and responses before they are posted. It’s a good idea to post an update blog at a later date, detailing what the Q&A feedback was, and any changes that the business has implemented as a result. People want to see evidence that the business is listening to them, especially when they've been asked to get involved in a Twitter Q&A, and they've taken the time to get involved. It'll also encourage them to participate in the future.
Snapchat – Snapchat is a photo messaging application that is after blowing up in the past 3 years. It is reported that over 700 million snaps are sent every day across the globe. Recently Snapchat has opened its doors to advertisers and has been taken on board by Sky, MTV and Cosmopolitan to name a few. The application allows companies to display short 10 second video clips which usual show hot topics relating to those companies and include celebrity events and other news from around the globe. We feel that with the amount of users Snapchat has and that most of them are between the age of 13 and 23 that it is an ideal social media tool to market Beats Headphones. We are suggesting using these short video clips to promote the release of new products, to create awareness about the #appsforred aids campaign and to let people know about events Beats Music are sponsoring. Even if a small percentage of Snapchat users view these advertisements we will be reaching hundreds of thousands, if not millions every day.

Facebook – With regards Facebook we aim to continue marketing Beats Headphones and audio products by documenting events from around the world. Sporting and music events are ideal as there is such interest in them. We will post status updates always containing an image of an event going on with something beats related in the photo also whether it be a person wearing the headphones or a beats docking station in the image. We will use celebrities but also ordinary people to engage with our everyday consumers. It is important that people wearing the beats in these images are always portrayed to be enjoying themselves and the music they are listening to. Facebook is the world’s largest social media platform with over 1.3 billion active users so it is very important for us in our marketing campaign to utilize this tool.

Instagram – With Instagram we want to take advantage of the power of photography. We aim to link this social media platform into a number of different aspects of our marketing campaign. We decided to run a competition where people will post music related photographs taken by themselves and use the hashtag #beatslovemusic. We decided that the 100 best photographs uploaded by our fans will win a custom set of beats with their national colours on them. This is to promote the new wireless studio beats and will provide a sense of exclusivity for those winners. This can be marketed throughout the whole world on Instagram and also incorporates E-play in the competition side of things.
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