Choose a product, brand, or organization that you use or interact with pretty regularly.
1. Identify your chosen product/brand and provide a link to its web site. Then respond to these questions about the site:
– Having read about web objectives (B&B pp. 481-484, which objectives do you think the web site is intended to achieve? Do you think the organization has successfully achieved those objectives with its site? Why or why not?
– How important would you say the web site is in the grand scheme of the brand/company’s overall strategic communication efforts ?
– State which of the following elements your chosen web site provides or mentions or links: e-commerce, advertising, direct marketing, sales promotion, involvement with or links to other social media. How effectively does the site use or feature or promote these elements? How might they improve in these areas?
– Which social media networks or other “web 2.0” platforms (see B&B pp. 489-500 does your brand or organization use? Look at one or two of their social media efforts and comment on what they’re doing and how they’re doing it. Do you think their use of social media is smart? Effective? Explain.
– Does your brand/organization have a mobile presence (pp. 502-504)? If so, what is it? Comment on what you think works or doesn’t work regarding their mobile efforts. How might they improve their performance here?
– Does your brand use paid search (see p. 486)? What do the ads say? Do you think they’re effective?
– Does your brand/organization advertise elsewhere on the web? Explain.
3. As a whole, how effective would you say your brand’s online/digital/web efforts are? Where could they use improvement? What would you recommend they do better/differently?
