Assignment Description: Persuasive & Negative Messages
In today's business contexts, persuasive and negative messaging is largely conducted via social media platforms. For this assignment, you are asked to create a digital slide presentation (5-10 minutes) which examines your selected company's use of social media to send these two types of messages. You may choose any business with an active social media presence which interests you and which you have not previously studied. Perhaps, you are already following a number of businesses on Instagram or YouTube?
Or, perhaps you follow a company blog? If so, you may want to choose one of those as you will already be familiar with its style and strategies.
Part 1- Analysis
Your presentation should answer the following questions:
How does the business promote its brand/product on social media? Include examples of the company's persuasive social media posts. What kinds of appeals are employed in its persuasive messaging? Identify the company's specific persuasive strategies in social media by consulting the textbook (pp. 315-316). Do you think the company is successful in its persuasive messaging? Why or why not?
How does the company respond to negative comments on its social media channels? What strategies, as described in the textbook (p.282 ), has the company employed in its responses to criticism? How has the company handled apologies? Based on the five elements of an effective corporate apology (p.268), how effective is the company's approach? Has the company experienced any 'social media fails' because of negative messaging mistakes?
You will be evaluated on your ability to thoughtfully analyze the business's use of social media and your demonstrated understanding of persuasive and negative communication strategies as described in the textbook.
Part 2 - Creative Application
Now, imagine you are in charge of the business's social media accounts for one day. How would you provide persuasive messaging to customers through Instagram (4-6 posts), YouTube (one video), or a blog post? With your sample post, include a 'behind-the-scenes' description which identifies your target audience and the persuasive messaging strategies you have used.
Presentation - As you create your slides, remember to incorporate the visual communication strategies presented in our Visual Communication.