This is a digital strategy for Spotify, delving into a situation analysis, customer analysis, competitor analysis, external factors, objectives, digital marketing channels strategy and tactics, measurement and control and strategy implementation.
1. Project Title: A Digital Strategy for Spotify
Author: Maura Hickey
Date: 10th
February 2017
2. Table of Contents
Introduction 3
1. Situation Analysis 6
1 a) Current Digital Presence 6
Brand Health Check 6
Social media channels evaluation 7
SWOT ANALYSIS 13
Website Heuristics Evaluation 14
1 b) Customer Analysis 19
Buyer Persona 1 19
Buyer Persona 2 20
Buyer Persona 3 21
1 c) Competitor Analysis 22
Competitor Brand Health Check Analysis 23
1 d) External Factors 24
PEST ANALYSIS 24
2. Objectives 25
3. Digital Marketing Channels strategy and tactics 26
3 a) Owned, paid and earned channels and the role of each 26
3 b) Integration of tactical tools 27
3 c) Content marketing calendar 30
4. Measurement and Control 31
4 a) Proposed measures for each channel 31
4 b) ORM Strategy 32
ORM Database 43
5. Strategy Implementation 45
5 a) Roles and responsibilities of team members 45
5 b) Proposed timeline 48
5 c) High level stages 48
5 d) Key milestones 48
References 50
Appendices 55
Appendix 1 56
Social Listening 56
Appendix 2 60
Strategy Implementation 60
3. Introduction
Spotify is a digital music streaming brand, offering music, podcasts and videos on desktop, mobile,
tablets and entertainment systems, such as TVs, speakers, cars, smartwatches and playstations.
(Wikipedia 2017). In 2006, it was founded by Daniel Ek from Sweden (The New Yorker, 2014). The
service is available in over 50 languages and in numerous countries around the world; Europe, the
Americas, Australia, New Zealand and parts of Asia. It has over 100 million monthly active users and
over 40 million paying subscribers; there are free and paid subscriptions. Spotify Premium and Spotify
Family are the two paid subscription services which enable users to control the playing order of songs
they listen to, and are free from ads (Wikipedia 2017). Spotify has millions of songs and organises
music by genres, moods, playlists, artists, new releases, charts, concerts and lots more. Plus, it makes
music recommendations for users based on their listening history and even suggests concerts in their
locality to attend (Spotify app). Over 52% of users listen to Spotify on mobile devices (TechCrunch
2015).
Figure 1: Spotify's main menu on music streaming app
5. Figure 4: Concert recommendations
Spotify for Brands
Part of Spotify’s services is Spotify for Brands which provides large consumer brands like Reebok,
BMW, Vodafone, Nike, L’Oreal and many others the opportunity to increase brand awareness by
designing music playlists and ads to target specific audiences on Spotify (Spotify for Brands website,
2017).
Spotify Artists
Spotify offers music artists and managers the chance to distribute their music to fans via Spotify and
grow their listener base (Spotify Artists website, 2017). By using Spotify Fan Insights, the number of
daily and monthly listeners can be tracked, in which countries they’re located, which singles, albums
and playlists perform the best, and an artist page can be created to feature the latest image to present
the artist (Spotify Fan Insights, 2017).
6. 1. Situation Analysis
1 a) Current Digital Presence
There are only 3 social media channels displayed on their website: Instagram, Twitter and Facebook,
although Spotify has social media presence on other online channels: YouTube, LinkedIn and Google+.
It also has a blog and an online community.
Brand Health Check
Metric Reach Posts Feedback Average
Response Time
Instagram 811K Followers 1 post every
1 – 4 days
4K+ Likes and 100
comments per post
No responses
Twitter 2.04M Followers 1 -4 posts
daily
25.1K Tweets and
37 – 200+ retweets
daily
30 minutes
Facebook 63,473 Followers 1 post every
1 – 4 days
36 Likes and 10
comments per post
30 minutes
YouTube 111,729
Subscribers
175 Videos 40.9M+ Views No responses
LinkedIn 234,991
Followers
2 – 3 posts
every week
500 Likes and 10
comments per post
N/A
Google + 125,309
Followers
1 post every
month
58 comments and
29 shares per post
No responses
Blog - 4 posts a
month
0 – 3 Likes
No comments
per post
No responses
Online
community
6,167,303
Members
169,721
posts
300 Likes
0 – 4K+ comments
per post
2 days
7. Social media channels evaluation
Twitter
Twitter appears to be their most active social media channel, having over 2.04 million followers. Post
frequency is good with 1 to 4 posts daily and lots of user engagement retweeting and sharing.
Feedback is very responsive within 30 minutes.
Instagram
Instagram reach could be increased and the frequency of posting needs improvement. One post every
1 to 4 days isn’t frequent enough and as a result, little engagement occurs. According to Brand24,
Spotify is mentioned more by the public on Instagram than any other social media channel. Figures 5
and 6 below display results for the last year (15 January 2016 – 14 January 2017).
Figure 5: Brand24 – Spotify mentions on Instagram from 15 January 2016 – 14 January 2017
8. Figure 6: Brand24 - Spotify mentions on Instagram
Facebook
When you click on the Facebook icon on the Spotify website, it takes you to @SpotifyIreland which is
an existing but inactive Facebook page. The page has 12.8M Likes and 12.8M Followers. The last post
was on 23 January 2015. Posts were inconsistent, with only one post generated every month or two.
There were only 20 Likes and 3 comments in most cases.
Spotify’s Facebook presence consists of hundreds of different individual Facebook pages that were
created in many locations around the world. Some are unofficial Facebook pages that have been
created by Spotify users and employees of the company. For example, there is an unofficial Spotify
Corporate Office Facebook page where Spotify users and employees can post, but there are no posts
generated by Spotify itself and no replies or interactions from Spotify.
9. Customers post product reviews, share their favourite songs, playlists and new albums, plus rant about
Spotify’s service. Spotify employees occasionally post about their wonderful job at Spotify. Normally,
one post is generated every 1 to 2 days and Likes are ranging anywhere from 2 to over 800 per post.
Engagement levels are generally low with the majority of posts having no comments or shares. The
Spotify Corporate Office Facebook page has a total of 2,488 Likes and 4,726 Visits. No information on
the number of followers was available.
Other individual Spotify Facebook pages are:
Facebook Page Number of Followers
Spotify Music 94
Spotify NYC 5,525
Spotify France Fan 22
Spotify Online Web Music Player 346
Spotify Premium 23
Spotify Design 3,717
Spotify Mexico 39
Spotify San Francisco 713
Spotify Chile 147
Spotify Brasil 10
Spotify Playlist Trade 10
However, SpotifyCares Facebook page appears to be the main official active Facebook page for the
company, with over 63,000 followers. SpotifyCares is the customer support department that handles
customer enquiries, payments and any other issues. One Facebook post is made every 1 to 4 days. On
average, there are 36 Likes and 10 comments per post and response time to customer enquiries is
around 30 minutes.
According to TechCrunch, 55% of all current Spotify users connect their accounts with Facebook, so
there’s a huge opportunity for Spotify to increase its reach and user engagement on Facebook.
According to Brand24, the most interactive mentions about Spotify are on Facebook. Figure 7 below
displays results for the last year (15 January 2016 – 14 January 2017).
10. Figure 7: Brand24 - Most interactive mentions about Spotify on Facebook
YouTube
Spotify’s YouTube channel hosts 13 Playlists consisting of 175 videos, mainly featuring music videos,
exclusive Spotify music sessions, interviews of music artists and customer case studies from their
Spotify for Brands marketing platform. There are between 3 to 27 videos posted per playlist. Videos
are posted every 1 to 4 months. Views range from 2,000+ to over 5M per video. The more popular
videos generate over 1,000 Likes and over 200 comments. Comments are disabled for videos of
sponsored music sessions and corporate brand case studies.
Google+
Although, the website doesn’t display the Google+ icon with a link to Spotify’s Google+ page, it should
be considered. Social mentions of the Spotify brand occur daily on Google+. Figures 8, 9 and 10 below
show Spotify coverage on Facebook, Twitter and Google+ for January 15th
, 16th
and 17th
respectively.
11. Figure 8: Mentions about Spotify on Facebook, Twitter and Google+ from Google Alerts on 15 January 2017
Figure 9: Mentions about Spotify on Facebook, Twitter and Google+ from Google Alerts on 16 January 2017
12. Figure 10: Mentions about Spotify on Facebook, Twitter and Google+ from Google Alerts on 17 January 2017
Spotify Blog
Spotify posts on average 4 blog posts per month. Between 0 to 3 comments are posted per blog. Its
blog content is well written and focuses on contests, deals, exclusives, interviews, marketing,
nominations and awards, life at Spotify, among other categories. There’s a great opportunity here for
Spotify to share this content across all social media channels and promote contests, deals and
marketing, something which doesn’t appear to be currently happening. Also, an icon linking to the blog
is missing from the website.
Spotify Online Community
Spotify’s online community has four separate forums: help topics, music chat, rock stars and ideas.
There are 6,167,303 members and 169,721 topics. The majority of topics are in the Help forum. 330
ideas out of 29,863 were generated from the Ideas forum. Between 0 to over 4,000 comments are
posted per topic. Most Likes occur in the Ideas forum, with each post averaging 300 Likes each.
Response time is two days. For an evaluation on social listening, please see Appendix 1.
13. SWOT ANALYSIS
STRENGTHS
● 52% of traffic is from Google Search
and 38% is Referrals
● Website bounce rate is 48%
● Website and app is designed well
and user-friendly
● Social media presence across many
SM channels
● Blog content is well written
● Twitter has high reach, frequent
posting and strong user
engagement
● Positive sentiment on Twitter
● Facebook social mention
interactivity is high
WEAKNESSES
● Facebook’s number of followers is
low
● Infrequent posts on SM channels
● Few videos on YouTube
● Blog, Google+, LinkedIn, YouTube
channels missing on website
● Inconsistent content posting across
channels
● No responses to users on some
channels
● No content management
integration exists across SM
channels
● Too many irrelevant individual
Facebook pages
OPPORTUNITIES
● Increase reach and user
engagement on SM channels
● Upload more music videos to
YouTube
● Post more consistently on SM
channels
● Create quality Facebook pages for
worldwide markets in different
languages
● Contests, deals and marketing
should be promoted across all SM
channels
● Blog posts should be shared across
all SM channels
● Keep content consistent across all
SM channels
● Improve customer relations by
responding promptly to users online
● Capitalise on online PR and
influencers
THREATS
● Bad publicity from music artists and
media authors
● Lose users to cheaper competitors
or competitors with superior music
streaming services
● Disruptive technology
● Changes to music streaming
regulations
● Tax increases
14. Website Heuristics Evaluation
Visibility of system status
Upgrading from a free Spotify account to a premium one is very simple to do on the website and app.
Also, starting a free trial of the Premium version of Spotify is easy to perform on the website. Each step
of the process is made clear to users. Differences between Free and Premium accounts are clearly
explained, their different functions and pricing.
Help and documentation
There is a FAQ in the Help section of the website. Also, a Search tab is provided so users can quickly
search for solutions to their problems. Furthermore, there is a community forum on the website that
users can join should they want to chat with other Spotify users and discuss Spotify’s services,
problems and solutions.
Flexibility and efficiency of use
There is a Search button on the app which allows users to quickly find what music genre or artist
they’re looking for. Play, stop, forward and back buttons are clearly displayed on the app.
Downloading the app is user-friendly, fast and efficient. The green Spotify icon is easily recognisable on
users’ devices.
Figure 11: Spotify icon/logo
Recognition rather than recall
Downloading the music app from the website is very easy to perform. There is a Download option on
the website’s homepage menu. Also, logging in again as a user on the website is simple and they’ve
made it even easier for users by allowing them to connect their account to Facebook for logging in
convenience. Once users are logged in, an account overview is instantly provided and making changes
or edits to an account is extremely simplified. See Figure 12 below.
15. Figure 12: Account overview on Spotify's music streaming app
Consistency and standards
Sign Up, Download, Help and Log In options are displayed on the top right of the website’s homepage.
Aesthetic and minimalist design
The Spotify website is visually presented well, with bold, fun colours and simple uncomplicated
language. Basic information on the product’s services, features and pricing is easy to find and
understand.
The tagline “Music for everyone” is simple and straightforward. The user instantly knows what the
service offering is. Refer to figure 13 below.
16. Figure 13: Tagline "Music for everyone" on Spotify website
Strong visuals of album covers and keywords such as music, playlists, new releases are used to display
the product’s features.
Figure 14: Visuals and keywords: music, albums, playlists, new releases on Spotify website
17. Search, browse and discover are keywords used to demonstrate the product’s functions.
Figure 15: Keywords: search, browse, discover on Spotify website
Spotify Free and Spotify Premium with pricing information is clearly indicated.
Figure 16: Pricing information for Spotify free and premium services displayed on website
18. The main goal of the website is to encourage the potential customer to download the music app;
therefore, minimal but a sufficient amount of information is provided on the website.
Regarding aesthetic and minimalist design of Spotify’s app, it is presented well with menu options laid
out in a logical flow. Categories are clearly organised by songs, albums, artists, radio, charts, genres,
moods, new releases etc. Effective visuals of album covers and photos of artists are used to display the
categories.
User control and freedom
On the free version of Spotify users do not have the freedom to control the order of the songs in which
they play, they can skip a few songs forward but not backwards nor to a specific song they wish to play.
Also, users must tolerate 30 second commercials. On the Spotify Premium version however, users have
the freedom to skip forwards or backwards as many songs as they wish and don’t have to listen to ads.
Figure 17: Screenshot of button control panel on Spotify music streaming app
19. 1 b) Customer Analysis
Buyer Persona 1
MIKE MURPHY
Background
● Full-time college business student
● Interests are house and electronic
music, independent movies and plays
rugby
Demographics
● Male
● Single
● 22
● Income: None
● Lives with parents in Dundrum, Co. Dublin
Online Characteristics
● Follow sports highlights on smartphone
● Messages friends on Facebook messenger and WhatsApp
● Watches YouTube music videos on his laptop
● Listens to music on his smartphone
Goals/Challenges
● Wants low cost entertainment options
● Wants quick access to information at his fingertips
How we can help
● Offer a 50% student discount on Spotify Premium
● Advertise friend referral programs on Facebook
● Recommend house and electronic music songs that appeal to Mike’s taste on Spotify
● Advertise the latest Spotify music videos on YouTube and encourage sharing via promos
Quotes
● “I’m on a budget so I need cheap entertainment options”
● “I like to listen to music on my headset while traveling on the bus to college”
● “I like to keep up with the latest music trends”
20. Buyer Persona 2
JOHN FITZPATRICK
Background
● Manager of Irish punk rock music band
● Interests are punk rock music, attending
concerts and travelling
Demographics
● Male
● Married with 2 kids
● 50
● Income: $80,000
● Lives in Boston, MA
Online characteristics
● Works on laptop
● Travels with iPad
● Checks emails and tweets on Twitter using smartphone
● Posts pictures on Facebook and Instagram on smartphone
Goals/Challenges
● Time pressed and needs to make decisions quickly
● Wants to know best places to tour and promote band
● Wants to protect music rights and ensure band is fairly compensated
● Need to keep up with music trends in the industry
How we can help
● Offering Spotify Fan Insights to provide him audience demographic information
● Provide tracking and insights on music band’s performance on Spotify
● Help him plan tours and promote to the right audience
● Help him create playlists, albums and an artist page
● Recommend him new releases of songs and albums
● Grow the fan listener base
● Offering a low cost advertising and promotion channel
Quotes
● “I’m on the road a lot so I need to know the best places to tour”
● “I need to grow the fan base and know my target audience well”
● “I need to make sure music is copyrighted and we’re fairly compensated”
21. Buyer Persona 3
MICHELLE SCHULZ
Background
● Brand Manager for Nivea
● Interests are having a work/life balance,
listening to all kinds of music, going to
the gym and attending creative arts
performances
Demographics
● Female
● 35
● Married
● Income: €50,000
● Lives in Munich, Germany
Online Characteristics
● Listens to acoustic, classical and live music on Spotify while working on her desktop
● Shares interesting articles in her LinkedIn groups and on her Twitter account
● Posts articles on LinkedIn and reads articles and news shared by her network on her feed
● Browses Google+ for stories and trends in her networks
● Travels with laptop
● Browses news and scans articles on smartphone
● Listens to Spotify’s running and workout stations while at the gym
Goals/Challenges
● Creating cost effective campaigns that target niche market segments
● Increasing brand awareness
● Identifying new market opportunities
● Maintaining a positive brand image
● Handling a brand image crisis
● Keeping up to date with the latest industry marketing and branding tactics
How we can help
● Spotify for Brands can help her aim specific campaigns at niche audiences
● Design music playlists, soundtracks and ads for targeted segments
● Increase brand awareness with access to a huge online audience
● Offer cost effective campaigns
● Provide tracking and insights on Nivea marketing performance on Spotify
Quotes
● “Responding effectively in times of an image crisis is crucial to maintaining a credible brand”
22. ● “I’m always looking for unconventional and new ways to increase brand awareness”
● “It’s very important for me to keep up with industry trends and what our competitors are
doing”
1 c) Competitor Analysis
Spotify has many competitors: Apple Music, Google Play Music, Amazon Prime, Napster, Deezer,
iHeartRadio, Jango, Pandora, Slacker Radio, Accuradio, SoundCloud and many more. Here, I will focus
on analysing 2 main competitors: Pandora and SoundCloud.
Spotify Pandora SoundCloud
Year Founded 2006 2000 2007
Number of Subscribers:
Registered
Active
100M
40M
250M
80M
40M
175M
Arts & Entertainment Category
Rank
4 5 2
Klout Score 92 81 90
Total visits to site on desktop &
mobile in last 6 months
229.7M 183.5M 302.4M
Site Bounce rate 48.42% 57.56% 48.73%
Av no. page views/visitor 4.05 2.47 4.49
Av time on site 4 mins 2 secs 2 mins 55 secs 5 mins 26 secs
Countries visiting the site US, UK, Brazil, Germany
and Mexico
US, Australia, Poland, Puerto
Rico, New Zealand
US, UK, France, Germany,
Egypt
Sentiment Level (Social Mention) Neutral - Positive Neutral Positive
Sentiment ratio 3:0 0:0 3:0
Reach 2% 0% 0%
# Av. hours/mention 1 9 15
Traffic sources on desktop:
Direct
Search
Referral
Social
64%
20%
7%
7%
79%
10%
8%
1%
54%
17%
8%
19%
Social traffic sources: 63% Facebook
16% YouTube
46% Facebook
32% YouTube
56% Facebook
25% YouTube
Mobile App Availability iTunes and Google Play
Store
iTunes and Google Play Store iTunes and Google Play Store
App ranking by music & audio
category
# 1 in UK # 1 in USA # 3 in USA
App traffic sources 53% search
38% referrals
79% search
15% referrals
70% social
26% search
Brand24 Mentions:
Most frequent mentions
Most interactive mentions
Instagram
Facebook
Twitter
Facebook
Facebook
Facebook
23. Competitor Brand Health Check Analysis
Spotify Pandora SoundCloud
Facebook
Reach 63,473 Followers 6,708,737 Followers 6,426,230 Followers
Posts 1 post every 1 – 4 days 1 post daily 1 post daily
Feedback 36 Likes and 10
comments per post
208 Likes and 17
comments per post
27 Likes and 4 comments
per post
Av Response Time 30 minutes No responses No responses
Twitter
Reach 2.04M Followers 545K Followers 2.17M Followers
Posts 1 – 4 posts daily 1 – 2 posts every 1 – 3 days 1 post every 1 – 3 days
Feedback 25.1K Tweets and
37 – 200+ retweets daily
154K Tweets and
3 – 113+ retweets daily
14.1K Tweets and 19 –
257+ tweets daily
Av Response Time 30 minutes No responses 30 minutes
Instagram
Reach 811K Followers 80.4K Followers 342K Followers
Posts 1 post every 1 – 4 days 5 posts weekly 4 posts weekly
Feedback 4K+ Likes and 100
comments per post
1,500 views and 5
comments per post
1000+ Likes and 45
comments per post
Av Response Time No responses No responses No responses
YouTube
Reach 111,729 Subscribers 87,235 Subscribers 10,464 Subscribers
Posts 175 Videos 267 Videos 6 videos
Feedback 40.9M+ Views 35.05M Views 167,334 Views
Av Response Time No responses No responses No responses
Google+
Reach 125,309 Followers 638,572 Followers 3,877,799 Followers
Posts 1 post every month 2 posts weekly 2 posts weekly
Feedback 58 comments and 29
shares per post
7 comments and 5 shares
per post
57 comments and 2 shares
per post
Av Response Time No responses No responses No responses
LinkedIn
Reach 234,991 Followers 110,233 Followers 77,072 Followers
Posts 2 – 3 posts every week 4 posts weekly 3 posts weekly
Feedback 500 Likes and 10
comments per post
68 Likes and 2 comments
per post
65 Likes and 2 comments
per post
Av Response Time No responses No responses 1 week
Blog
Reach - - -
Posts 4 posts a month 1 post every 5 days 2 posts a month
Feedback 0 – 3 Likes and
0 comments per post
2 – 3 comments per post 0 – 10 Likes and
0 – 3 comments per post
Av Response Time No responses Within 6 hours No responses
24. Spotify Pandora SoundCloud
Online community
Reach 6,167,303 Members - 84,587 Members
Posts 169,721 Topics - 20,732 Topics
Feedback 300 Likes and 0 – 4K+
comments
- 27 comments
5 Likes
Av Response Time 2 days - 1 day
1 d) External Factors
PEST ANALYSIS
POLITICAL
● Some countries like China and
Turkey ban/restrict music streaming
services
● Newly imposed legal regulations for
the music industry, such as new
licensing deals and music copyright
● Larger streaming companies will
acquire smaller streaming services
ECONOMIC
● Changes to funding of music streaming
companies
● Pricing changes to music
● Music services may no longer be offered
for Free as the number of subscriptions
rise
● Premium listening services might be too
expensive for certain market segments
● Pricing will be adjusted to data usage
with a maximum rate of $10/month
SOCIAL
● Music listening trends change
● Music subscriptions will rise
● Trend veering towards watching
video than passive listening
● New music genres will be
introduced, such as Country Dance,
Air Pop, Power House and Folk Punk
● Trend toward independent music
acts than mainstream labels
● Exclusive music albums offered on
music streaming services
TECHNOLOGICAL
● Disruptive technology might change how
music is delivered
● Interactive music experiences
● Future VR introduces video music
● Alternative forms of entertainment
25. 2. Objectives
Social Media Platform Quantitative KPIs for the next year
Twitter 10% growth in the number of followers
20% growth in the number of retweets
20% growth in the number of mentions
10% increase in CTR of the links posted in tweets
20% increase in number of visits to website from tweets
5% increase in subscriptions from tweet links
Facebook 20% growth in the number of likes
30% growth in the number of followers
20% growth in the wall response time
20% increase in the number of comments and shares
5% increase in subscriptions from Facebook ads
20% increase in the number of Facebook pages created for international
languages
Instagram 20% growth in the number of likes
20% growth in the number of followers
50% growth in the wall response time
20% increase in the number of comments and shares
5% increase in subscriptions from Instagram ads
YouTube 50% growth in the number of videos posted
30% growth in the number of videos viewed
5% increase in subscriptions from video ads
20% growth in the number of unique visitors
15% increase in number of visits to website from YouTube
10% increase in positive comments
10% increase in average rankings of videos by viewers
Google+ 50% growth in the number of likes
30% growth in the number of followers
50% growth in the wall response time
20% increase in the number of comments and shares
15% increase in number of visits to website
LinkedIn 20% increase in the number of connections
10% increase in the number of recommendations
20% growth in posts and comments in discussion groups
20% increase in the number of group members
15% growth in the number of questions answered or asked
5% increase in sponsorships from LinkedIn ads
Blog 30% increase in the number of views
25% growth in the number of subscribers
30% increase in the number of Likes
10% increase in the number of comments
50% growth in the wall response time
Online community forum 20% growth in the number of members
20% growth in the number of topics and threads
25% growth in the number of solutions
25% increase in the number of ideas
E-zine articles 30% growth in the number of published articles
20% growth in the number of article views
30% growth in article syndication rate
20% growth in the number of inbound links from syndicated articles
26. 3. Digital Marketing Channels strategy and tactics
3 a) Owned, paid and earned channels and the role of each
Media
Type
Current Proposed The Role
Owned
● Website
● Mobile App
● Blog
● Social Profiles
● Organic SEO
● Sales promos:
free trials,
discounts
● Online
community
● Organic SEO
● Sales promos
● Expand Facebook pages to
more languages
● Email marketing to
corporate customers
To maintain and build
long-term
relationships with
existing and potential
users.
Paid
● Bing ads
● Video
advertising on
YouTube
● Facebook, Instagram,
LinkedIn & Twitter ads
● Bing ads
● Mobile banner ads
● Video advertising on
YouTube
● Influencer marketing
To support owned
media and create
earned media.
Earned
● Online PR
● Viral videos
● Shares
● Retweets
● Reposts
● Reviews
● Ratings
● Community
Discussion
● Facebook Fan
pages
● Co-marketing
● Partner
marketing
● Online PR
● Viral videos
● Shares
● Reposts
● Retweets
● Reviews
● Ratings
● Community Discussion
● Facebook Fan pages
● Co-marketing
● Partner marketing with
music festivals & charities
The result of
well-managed owned
and paid media.
Instills credibility
among existing and
potential users in the
brand.
27. 3 b) Integration of tactical tools
The following key tactics will be deployed to help strengthen Spotify’s brand:
Facebook
● Post content for the student and youth market, such as new releases of singles and albums,
popular music artists, new music genres, concerts and events in their localities, YouTube videos
● Post content at least once daily
● Humorous ads to lead traffic to website
● Offer free trials, student discounts and promos to increase subscriptions and increase number
of likes and shares
● Create Facebook pages for relevant international audiences in their respective languages
● Include link to Facebook on all marketing communications
Twitter
● Respond to questions and comments promptly
● 10 tweets daily and use hashtags frequently and in campaigns
● Tweet interesting articles and videos relevant to student, youth, music artists and corporate
audiences
● Follow 2 new people daily using Twellow to increase number of followers
● Retweet content to encourage shares
● Coupons and giveaways once a month to increase followers
● Include link to Twitter on all marketing communications
LinkedIn
● Employees should have a full LinkedIn profile with recommendations for credibility
● Profiles should include link to all social media channels: Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Google+,
YouTube, the website and blog
● Post case studies to increase sponsorships with corporate brands
● Post blog and e-zine articles to build brand awareness
● Post links to podcasts to build relationships with music artists
● Participate in industry discussions once a week to build brand awareness
● Connect with one new industry leader a week
YouTube
● Post music videos of most popular artists, new releases, singles, albums etc. to increase
subscriptions and number of followers
● Post videos on brand case studies to increase sponsorships, cobranding and partner marketing
initiatives
● Post exclusive music sessions and music artists’ interviews to increase number of artist sign ups
● Upbeat, energetic and eye catching ads to lead traffic to website
● Respond to comments on YouTube
28. Instagram
● Identify 3 influencers weekly to leverage their networks to promote brand
● Post pictures and videos new releases of singles and albums, popular music artists, fans,
concerts and events once daily to increase likes and shares
● Host visually appealing ads to lead traffic to website
● Respond to comments promptly
● Include link to Instagram on all marketing communications
Google+
● Post content on new releases of singles and albums, popular music artists, new music genres,
concerts and events, music awards, festivals, nominations, YouTube videos etc.
● Post content at least once daily
● Offer free trials, event tickets, discounts and promos to increase subscriptions and number of
followers
● Respond to comments
● Include link to Google+ on all marketing communications
Spotify Blog
● Post content once a week on life at Spotify, case studies exclusive music sessions, music
awards, nominations, music artist interviews, music festivals, new music genres etc.
● Promote promos, discounts and deals using links in content
● Follow 5 new bloggers a week
● Respond to comments
● Include link to blog on all marketing communications
Online community forum
● Start one discussion daily on the forum
● Post discussions, questionnaires and polls to gather ideas and solutions for new product ideas
● Respond to comments promptly
● Solve issues and concerns from customers on help forum
● Promote promos, discounts, free trials, concert tickets, events to increase subscriptions and
number of followers
● Include links to blog and social media channels
Email marketing
● Create email list of all corporate customers and music artists
● Use co-branded and third party email lists to leverage partner brand
● Use rented email lists to contact 50 new corporate customers weekly
● Promote free trials, discounts, promos, events and concert ticket deals in content
● Use MailChimp to construct email content about corporate brand case studies, new music
artists signed, popular music singles, albums and artists, YouTube videos, e-zine articles
● Email once daily to increase corporate sponsorships and music artists sign ups
● Include links to blog and social media channels
29. Online PR
● Write e-zine articles once a week to boost branding efforts
● Write content about milestones achieved and customer success stories
● Coordinate with tech, music and industry digital magazines in relevant countries
● Schedule publishing around themes or seasonal events
● Include links to website and social media channels on all articles
30. 3 c) Content marketing calendar
Google+
YouTube ST. PATRICK'S Blog
Twitter
MARCH
CAMPAIGN
LinkedIn
Facebook
Online
community
Instagram
Online PR
WEEK 1
TIME MONDAY TUESDAY WEDNESDAY THURSDAY FRIDAY SATURDAY SUNDAY
6 MARCH 7 MARCH 8 MARCH 9 MARCH 10 MARCH 11 MARCH 12 MARCH
9.00 Popular Irish music
artist podcast
Brand case study Industry discussion Industry leader
connect
Irish artist
interview
video
Article
10.00 Popular Irish music
artist podcast
Brand case study Student premium
discount ad
Event ticket
promo
Irish artist
interview
video
Article
11.00 Popular Irish music
artist video
Brand case study Promo ad Irish artist
interview
Celtic rock
music video
Irish Folk ballads
music video
Celtic woman
video
12.00 Customer success
story e-article
Exclusive music
session with The
Irish Rovers
13.00 Popular Irish artist
video
Brand case study Coupon Irish artist
interview
tweet
Celtic rock
music video
Article Family Sunday
tweet
14.00 Popular irish artist
video
Free trial Tuesday Student premium
discount ad
Event ticket
promo
Irish artist
interview
video
Irish Folk ballads
pic
Sunday
concert fan
pic
15.00 Popular Irish artist
video
Free trial Tuesday Student premium
discount ad
Celtic rock
music video
Friday event
post
Coupon Sunday
concert post
16.00 Favorite Irish pub
song discussion
Free trial Tuesday Student premium
discount
Concert ticket
promo
Friday event
post
Idea
questionnaire/
poll
Sunday
concert post
17.00
WEEK 2
TIME MONDAY TUESDAY WEDNESDAY THURSDAY FRIDAY SATURDAY SUNDAY
13 MARCH 14 MARCH 15 MARCH 16 MARCH 17 MARCH 18 MARCH 19 MARCH
9.00 Popular Irish music
artist podcast
Brand case study Industry discussion Industry leader
connect
St. Patrick's
special video
Article
10.00 Popular Irish music
artist podcast
Brand case study Student premium
discount ad
Event ticket
promo
St. Patrick's
special video
Article
11.00 Popular Irish music
artist video
Brand case study Promo ad Irish artist
interview
St. Patrick's
special video
Irish Folk ballads
music video
Celtic woman
video
12.00 Customer success
story e-article
Exclusive music
session with The
Celtic Tenors
13.00 Popular Irish artist
video
Brand case study Coupon Irish artist
interview
tweet
St. Patrick's
special video
Article Family Sunday
tweet
14.00 Popular Irish artist
video
Free trial Tuesday Student premium
discount ad
Event ticket
promo
St. Patrick's
special video
Irish Folk ballads
pic
Sunday
concert fan
pic
15.00 Popular Irish artist
video
Free trial Tuesday Student premium
discount ad
Celtic rock
music video
Friday event
post
Coupon Sunday
concert post
16.00 Favorite Irish pub
song discussion
Free trial Tuesday Student premium
discount
Concert ticket
promo
Friday event
post
Idea
questionnaire/
poll
Sunday
concert post
17.00
31. 4. Measurement and Control
4 a) Proposed measures for each channel
Social media channels
1. For platform insights, use Facebook Insights, YouTube, Instagram and Twitter Analytics.
2. Ensure personnel is in place to maintain quality Facebook pages for the worldwide markets in
different languages.
3. Set up a hashtag Spotify alert on Twitter to track mentions of the brand.
4. Use TweetReach to tap into your most influential followers on Twitter.
5. Use Social Bakers to find out the best days/times to posts on social media channels.
6. Deploy HootSuite to manage social media accounts, schedule posts and perform real-time
analytics.
Email marketing
1. Use MailChimp to track email campaign performance, monitor audience growth and
engagement. View subscriber activity, campaign trends, revenue reports, bounces,
unsubscribes, location information and compare with competitors’ email campaigns.
Social Listening of social media channels
1. Perform social listening using Klout, Mention, Brandwatch, Twazzup, Sprout Social, Social
Mention, TweetDeck, Google Alerts and Brand24 to track brand mentions, social media
performance, competitor activity and industry leaders.
2. HootSuite Insights will track influencers, stories, trends, perform social listening, social media
monitoring and visualise metrics.
3. The Brandwatch app in HootSuite measures brand mentions on blogs, forums, news, videos and
review sites.
4. The Geopiq for Instagram app on HootSuite monitors and engages with users on Instagram in
specific locations.
32. Website and app analytics
1. Monitor online performance of website and create analytics reports using Google Analytics,
SimilarWeb and Alexa. Compare site and app performance from that of competitors.
Dashboards
1. Use Cyfe to provide a complete dashboard of metrics from all analytics sources for the website,
social media channels and the brand.
4 b) ORM Strategy
Step 1: Monitor
There are several types of searches one can perform on search engines like Google, Bing and Yahoo;
however, I chose Direct search on Google, since Spotify is a well-known brand name in the music
streaming industry and most searches are performed on the Google search engine. As per figures 18
and 19 below, Spotify appears in the top results on page 1 of Google. Images, maps, news and videos
are shown in figures 20 – 23.
Figure 18: Google first page results for Spotify
33. Figure 19: Google first page results for Spotify
Figure 20: Google Images for Spotify
35. Figure 23: Google Videos
Furthermore, keyword searches can be performed by using some tools on Google, such as Google
Alerts, Google news, Google blog search and Google patent search. See figures 24 – 28 below.
36. Figure 24: Google Alerts results for keyword search "Spotify"
Figure 25: Google Alerts results for keyword search "Spotify"
37. Figure 26: Search results for keyword "Spotify" on Google News
Figure 27: Search results for keyword "Spotify" on Google blog search
38. Figure 28: Search results for Spotify patents on Google patent search
Step 2: Measure
Analytics about Spotify’s website are as follows:
Figure 29: Category ranking for Spotify app. Source: SimilarWeb
39. Figure 30: Total visits on Spotify website. Source: SimilarWeb
Figure 31: Traffic by country on Spotify website. Source: SimilarWeb
Figure 32: Traffic sources on Spotify website. Source: SimilarWeb
40. Figure 33: Referral traffic to Spotify website. Source: SimilarWeb
Figure 34: Search traffic to Spotify website. Source: SimilarWeb
41. Figure 35: Social traffic to Spotify website. Source: SimilarWeb
Spotify visitors are mainly typing in the keyword “Spotify” into a search engine.
Figure 36: Top keywords from search engines sending traffic to Spotify website. Source: Alexa
42. 26% of people visited google.com before visiting Spotify’s website.
Figure 37: Upstream sites to Spotify's website. Source: Alexa
Visitors to the Spotify website mainly went to the web player, news, support and developer
information.
Figure 38: Pages visitors navigate on Spotify website. Source: Alexa
43. The majority of visitors on Spotify’s website are college educated males and browse Spotify at work.
Figure 39: Visitor demographics on Spotify website. Source: Alexa
ORM Database
URL OF MENTION POSITIVE,
NEGATIVE,
NEUTRAL
SOURCE CREDIBILIT
Y
INFLUENCE ACTION
https://twitter.com/WI
IHAMB/status/8249240
06994341888
Positive Twitter Credible Widely read Product support promptly
responded within 4 minutes
and resolved the customer
complaint
https://twitter.com/Sp
otifyStatus/status/8235
78894380965888
Negative Twitter Credible Widely read Product support responded in
1 hour and 2 hours later asked
the customer to email them
their email address so they
look at the problem backstage
https://twitter.com/am
y_blahhh/status/79016
2776102674432
Negative Twitter Credible Widely read Product support explained
within 30 minutes to the
customer the reason for the
song being deleted due to
licensing issues and provided
them with a link to more
information
44. Step 3: Managing
Utilise social listening tools like Brandwatch, Brand24, Google Alerts, Social Sprout and Social Mention
to track mentions and sentiment. Spotify needs to be on the alert for any negative mentions which
may impact the brand’s reputation. Negative mentions must be dealt with in a timely and professional
manner. Less is more, so responding minimally is more effective. Anything the brand says online can be
traced back to at a later stage.
Responding
Response feedback to users should be prompt. A quick response to complaints is necessary, as the user
should never be left in the dark for long. Users are accustomed to responses being more instantaneous
on social media. Thank them for bringing the issue to your attention and try to take the conversation
off social media to email or phone if the problem cannot be solved immediately online and more time
is needed to investigate the complaint. Always keep them informed on the status of the issue and
notify them when resolution occurs. Offer free concert and event tickets, friend referral programs,
music prize giveaways and coupons to appease the dissatisfied customer.
Digital Crisis Management Plan
The following digital crisis management plan should be in place for dealing with negative complaints:
1. Monitor constantly
Negative mentions should be tracked at all times so you can respond swiftly to customer
complaints.
2. Respond immediately
Don’t leave the customer in the dark. Be sure to respond to acknowledge the complaint right
away.
3. Keep messaging consistent
Use simple and coherent language in communications so there’s no miscommunication and act,
don’t just promise.
4. Educate employees
Employees need a set of guidelines as how to respond in difficult situations. A risk escalation
protocol should be established.
45. 5. Establish a digital crisis strategy
Appoint a digital crisis team to manage social media issues. Tap into your influencer network to
help promulgate good news about the brand and coordinate online press releases in tech,
music and industry e-magazines to help revive a positive brand image.
Step 4: Maximise
All the data gathered about Spotify’s online audience can be used to plan online campaigns, future
product launches, online promos, deals, contests and content publishing to target the audience
segments at the right time and day on the most appropriate channels.
You need to know the best time and day to publish the company blog and publish social media posts to
get people’s attention at the right moment. Learn the online behavior of your audience and attain
knowledge and insights into user patterns that can contribute to social media and campaign
management. Deploy a real-time system to track social mentions and sentiment so customer
appreciation responses can be issued quickly and digital crises can be dealt with promptly and
effectively.
5. Strategy Implementation
5 a) Roles and responsibilities of team members
The team members required to implement the digital strategy are the following:
1. Project manager
2. Social media manager
3. Email campaign manager
4. Content writer
5. Social media coordinator
6. Product support
7. Community manager
8. Web designer
9. Digital marketing consultant
46. ROLES RESPONSIBILITIES
Project Manager ● Facilitates the definition of project scope, goals and deliverables
● Deliver deliverables on scope, time and budget
● Set tasks, schedules, resources and critical path items
● Produce and maintain project documentation: initiation, Gantt chart and
RAID Log
● Establish effective communications with all stakeholders
● Conduct regular team meetings to discuss tasks, issues, risks, timelines and
deliverables
● Maintain progress reports and manage any arising changes
● Drive project to a successful outcome within deadline
Email Campaign
Manager
● Implement innovative email campaigns for customer acquisition and
retention plans
● Design, manage and build marketing automated campaigns
● Coordinate email campaigns around marketing efforts
● Analyse customer data and produce reports
● Proficient with online marketing tools
Content Writer ● Create relevant and engaging content for website, blog, e-articles and social
media channels
● Write online press releases and e-articles
● Write promotional content for online marketing and email campaigns
● Generate content for online competitions, contests, deals etc.
● Source relevant images, videos and photo content
● Generate SEO content for web optimization
Social Media
Coordinator
● Work closely with the Social Media Manager in successfully implementing the
digital strategies
● Publish daily content across social media channels
● Upload images, videos and photos on all digital platforms
● Update the company website & blog
● Publish online press releases and e-articles
● Create and reply to posts and positively engage with online users
● Respond timely to online customers
● Promote content across social media channels
47. Product
Support
● Adhere to guidelines and risk escalation protocol
● Respond promptly to customer issues and solve them in a timely manner
● Thank customers for sharing appreciation and positive mentions
● Provide feedback to management on most common issues arising
● Contribute ideas to enhancing the customer experience
Community
Manager
● Extend the brand awareness to prospects and customers
● Create the guidelines for handling any issues and concerns
● Cultivates relationships with members via social media, email and phone
● Engage with members online
● Post updates, relevant news and links
● Coordinate communications for events, promos and customer appreciation
● Manage and track members’ lists and keep records of customer interactions
● Relay insights gained from online conversations in the community and provide
analysis to the team
Web designer ● Maintain a high quality visually appealing website
● Design innovative customer experiences and optimize existing pages and
flows
● Enhance site navigation to feed funneling traffic
● Develop wireframes and high fidelity mock ups
● Develop cross browser and multi-platform compatible site
● Design digital graphics for desktop, tablet and mobile
● Design interactive web pages and email formats
● Coordinate with content writer, social media manager and others to create
content, graphics, images, icons, banners, ads etc.
● Update landing pages for websites and ads
● Integrate SEO and SEM keywords
Digital
Marketing
Consultant
● To consult on company-wide digital marketing initiatives
● Conduct digital presence and brand audit
● Conduct competitor research
● Perform SWOT and PEST analyses
● Perform customer analysis and develop buyer personas
● Evaluate social media channels
● Evaluate website heuristics
● Identify influencer networks, LinkedIn groups and industry leaders
● Determine online advertising strategy
● Provide final recommendations for future projects
48. 5 b) Proposed timeline
● A duration of 3 months, commencing 2 January 2017 and completion by 30 March 2017
5 c) High level stages
● Initiation
● Planning and Control
● Assessment
● Production and Design
● Budgeting
● Launch
● Review and Refine
5 d) Key milestones
M1 INITIATION 2 January 2017
Gather project requirements, set
goals, develop strategy and
conduct research.
Proposal reviewed.
M1 PLANNING AND CONTROL 16 January 2017
Conduct workshop, document
costs, create WBS and scope
statement.
Workshop, costs, WBS and scope
statement defined.
M2 ASSESSMENT 1 February 2017
Audit brand, evaluate social
media channels, perform SWOT
and PEST, analyse customer and
competitors.
Brand audit, social media evaluation,
SWOT, PEST, customer and
competitor analysis implemented.
M2 PRODUCTION AND DESIGN 13 February 2017
Content and marketing
preparation for launch. Set up
digital crises team.
All criteria ready for launch and
digital crises team established.
M2 BUDGETING 21 February 2017
Estimate costs and set up
approval process.
Costs and budget approval process
finalised.
M3 LAUNCH 2 March 2017
Launch the St. Patrick’s March
online campaign.
Content calendar executed and
tracking and analysis performed.
M3 REVIEW AND REFINE 24 MARCH 2017
Review project performance and
conduct review team meeting.
Final reports produced, insights
generated, review meeting held and
recommendations made.
M3 CLOSE 30 MARCH 2017
49. For more information on strategy implementation and for a detailed work breakdown schedule (WBS),
please see Appendix 2. The WBS details the individual tasks within the high level stages, their
durations, whom the tasks are assigned to and their completion status.
50. References
Company’s current digital presence
1. Spotify, (2017). Music for everyone – Spotify. [online] Available at: https://www.spotify.com/us/
2. Wikipedia, (2017). Spotify-Wikipedia. [online] Available at:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spotify
3. Spotify Artists, (2017). Spotify Artists – Fan Insights. [online] Available at:
https://artists.spotify.com/features
4. Spotify News, (2017). Blog-News-Spotify. [online] Available at:
https://news.spotify.com/us/category/blog/
5. Instagram, (2017). Spotify Instagram Photos and Videos. [online] Available at:
https://www.instagram.com/spotify/
6. Twitter, (2017). Spotify Twitter. [online] Available at: https://twitter.com/Spotify
7. LinkedIn, (2017). Spotify LinkedIn. [online] Available at:
https://www.linkedin.com/company-beta/207470/
8. Facebook, (2017). Spotify Facebook. [online] Available at:
https://www.facebook.com/games/get-spotify/?fbs=1101
9. Google+, (2017). Spotify Google+. [online] Available at: https://plus.google.com/+Spotify
10. Spotify for Brands, (2017). Success Stories – Spotify for Brands. [online] Available at :
https://spotifyforbrands.com/us/gallery/
11. Groupon, (2017) Spotify Promo Codes & Discount Codes 2017 – Groupon. [online] Available at:
https://www.groupon.com/coupons/stores/spotify.com
12. Spotify, (2017). Spotify Student. [online] Available at: https://www.spotify.com/us/student/
13. Spotify, (2017). Spotify Support. [online] Available at:
https://support.spotify.com/us/article/spotify-new-subscriber-offers/
14. Facebook, (2017). SpotifyCares – Facebook. [online] Available at:
https://www.facebook.com/SpotifyCares/?fref=ts
15. Google Play, (2017). Google Play. [online] Available at: https://play.google.com/store?hl=en
16. Apple, (2017). iTunes-Apple. [online] Available at: https://www.apple.com/itunes/
17. Spotify Artists, (2016). Spotify Artists Blog. [online] Available at: https://artists.spotify.com/blog
51. 18. YouTube, (2016) Spotify YouTube. [online] Availabe at: https://www.youtube.com/user/spotify
19. Spotify Artists, (2016). Spotify Artists – Blog. [online] Available at:
https://artists.spotify.com/blog/welcome-to-the-new-spotify-artists
20. YouTube, (2016) Spotify YouTube. [online] Availabe at: https://www.youtube.com/user/spotify
21. Spotify Community, (2016) The Spotify Community. [online] Available at:
https://community.spotify.com/
22. Constine, J. (2015). Spotify makes the shift to mobile with 52% of listening now on phones and
tablets. TechCrunch [online] Available at:
https://techcrunch.com/2015/01/10/music-is-a-mobile-linchpin/
23. Seabrook, J. (2014). Spotify:Friend or Foe? The New Yorker. [online] Available at:
http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2014/11/24/revenue-streams
Competitor analysis
24. Apple, (2017). Music – Apple. [online] Available at: https://www.apple.com/music/
25. Wikipedia, (2017). Pandora Radio – Wikipedia. [online] Available at:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pandora_Radio
26. Wikipedia, (2017). SoundCloud – Wikipedia. [online] Available at:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SoundCloud
27. SoundCloud, (2017). SoundCloud – Hear the world’s sounds. [online] Available at:
https://soundcloud.com
28. Pandora, (2017). Pandora Internet Radio – Listen to Free Music You’ll Love. [online] Available at:
http://www.pandora.com
29. Twitter, (2017). SoundCloud Twitter. [online] Available at: https://twitter.com/SoundCloud
30. Twitter, (2017). Twitter Pandora. [online] Available at: https://twitter.com/pandoramusic
31. Facebook, (2017). Facebook SoundCloud. [online] Available at:
https://www.facebook.com/SoundCloud/
32. Facebook, (2017). Facebook Pandora. [online] Available at:
https://www.facebook.com/Pandora/?fref=ts
33. Instagram, (2017). Instagram Pandora. [online] Available at:
https://www.instagram.com/pandora/
34. Instagram, (2017). Instagram SoundCloud. [online] Available at:
https://www.instagram.com/soundcloud/
52. 35. LinkedIn, (2017). LinkedIn SoundCloud. [online] Available at:
https://www.linkedin.com/company-beta/200200/
36. LinkedIn, (2017). LinkedIn Pandora. [online] Available at:
https://www.linkedin.com/company-beta/26479/
37. Google+, (2017). Google+ Pandora. [online] Available at: https://plus.google.com/+Pandora
38. Google+, (2017). Google+ SoundCloud [online] Available at:
https://plus.google.com/s/soundcloud/top
39. YouTube, (2016). YouTube Pandora. [online] Available at:
https://www.youtube.com/user/pandora
40. YouTube, (2016). YouTube SoundCloud. [online] Available at:
https://www.youtube.com/user/SoundCloudChannel
41. Pandora Blog, (2016). Pandora Blog. [online] Available at: http://blog.pandora.com/
42. The SoundCloud Blog, (2016). The Official SoundCloud Blog. [online] Available at:
https://blog.soundcloud.com/
43. SoundCloud Community, (2016). SoundCloud Help Community. [online] Available at:
https://soundcloudcommunity.com/
44. Rivalfox, (2016 ). Spotify Competitors – Rivalfox. [online] Available at:
https://rivalfox.com/spotify-competitors
45. Smith, C. (2016). By the Numbers: 72 Interesting Pandora Statistics (December 2016). DMR
Stats|Gadgets. [online] Available at:
http://expandedramblings.com/index.php/pandora-statistics/
46. Risley, J. & Bishop, T., (2015). Chart: Apple Music Vs. Spotify, Pandora, Rhapsody and the rest of
the streaming competition. GeekWire. [online] Available at:
http://www.geekwire.com/2015/chart-apple-music-vs-spotify-pandora-rhapsody-and-the-rest-
of-the-streaming-competition/
PEST Analysis
47. McIntyre, H., (2016) Streaming is the future of music – but it’s shaky. Forbes. [online] Available
at:
http://www.forbes.com/sites/hughmcintyre/2016/03/16/streaming-is-the-future-of-music-but-
its-shaky/#59bccfcb3464
48. Reddit, (2016) What’s the future of music streaming?: Let’s talk music. [online] Available at:
https://www.reddit.com/r/LetsTalkMusic/comments/4majwl/what_is_the_future_of_music_st
reaming/
53. 49. Clark, B., (2016) SoundCloud acquisition could offer a glimpse at the future of streaming music.
The Next Web. [online] Available at:
http://thenextweb.com/opinion/2016/09/29/soundcloud-acquisition-could-offer-a-glimpse-at-t
he-future-of-streaming-music/
50. The Maniac Agenda, (2016) 6 new music genres you need to hear coming in 2016. [online]
Available at:
https://maniacmusic.net/home/blog/6-new-music-genres-you-need-to-hear-coming-in-2016
51. Jarvis, T., (2016) 2017’s house music scene has a new genre. The Edit. [online] Available at:
http://www.theeditgcu.com/music/2017s-house-music-scene-new-genre/
52. Titlow, J., (2015) 5 ways streaming music will change in 2016. Fast Company. [online] Available
at: https://www.fastcompany.com/3054776/5-ways-streaming-music-will-change-in-2016
53. Solsman, J., (2014). Attention, artists: Streaming music is the inescapable future. Embrace it.
Cnet. [online] Available at:
https://www.cnet.com/news/attention-artists-streaming-music-is-the-inescapable-future-embr
ace-it/
Social media monitoring tools
54. Brand24, (2017). Brand24 – Social media monitoring tool. [online] Available at:
https://brand24.com/
55. Social Mention, (2017). Advanced Search – Social Mention. [online] Available at:
http://www.socialmention.com/advanced_search
56. Social Mention, (2017). Social mention search. [online] Available at:
http://www.socialmention.com/search/?t=blogs&q=spotify&btnG=Search
57. TweetReach, (2017). How far did your tweets travel? TweetReach. [online] Available at:
https://tweetreach.com/
58. HootSuite Blog, (2017). 11 Powerful social media monitoring tools. [online] Available at:
https://blog.hootsuite.com/social-media-monitoring-tools/
59. SimilarWeb, (2016). Spotify.com Analytics – Market Share Stats & Traffic Ranking. [online]
Available at: https://www.similarweb.com/website/spotify.com
60. SimilarWeb, (2016). Spotify Music App Ranking and Market Share Stats in Google PlayStore.
[online] Available at:
https://www.similarweb.com/app/google-play/com.spotify.music/statistics
61. Mindruta, R., (2013). Marketing: Top 15 free social media monitoring tools. Brandwatch Blog.
[online] Available at:
https://www.brandwatch.com/blog/top-10-free-social-media-monitoring-tools/
54. Email marketing
62. MailChimp, (2016). Email marketing platform – MailChimp. [online] Available at:
https://mailchimp.com/features/reports/
Owned, paid and earned media
63. Facebook Business, (2017). Learn how to advertise on Instagram | Facebook for Business.
[online] Available at: https://www.facebook.com/business/a/advertise-instagram
64. Machin, E., (2016). What is earned, owned and paid media? Titan SEO. [online] Available at:
https://www.titan-seo.com/newsarticles/trifecta.html
65. Chaffey, D., (2015). How Spotify built a $5bn business with more than 50 million subscribers.
Smart Insights. [online] Available at:
http://www.smartinsights.com/digital-marketing-strategy/online-business-revenue-models/sp
otify-case-study/
Measurement and control
66. Google Alerts, (2017). Google Alerts – Monitor the Web for interesting content. [online]
Available at: https://www.google.com/alerts
67. Alexa, (2017). Website traffic, statistics and analytics. [online] Available at:
http://www.alexa.com/siteinfo
68. Social Bakers, (2017). Social media marketing, analytics and performance tools. [online]
Available at: https://www.socialbakers.com
69. Sprout Social, (2017). Social media management software. [online] Available at:
http://sproutsocial.com
70. Cyfe, (2017). All in One Online Business Dashboard. [online] Available at: http://www.cyfe.com
71. Klout, (2015). Klout – Be known for what you love. [online] Available at:
https://klout.com/home
Strategy Implementation
72. LinkedIn, (2017). Jobs - LinkedIn. [online] Available at: https://www.linkedin.com/jobs/
73. Smartsheet, (2017). Smartsheet: Work Management and Automation Solutions. [online]
Available at: https://www.smartsheet.com
56. Appendix 1
Social Listening
According to Social Mention, sentiment towards Spotify leans from neutral towards positive with a
sentiment ratio of 3:0. Spotify is mentioned on social media every 1 hour a day but reach is at 2%,
meaning the number of authors referencing the brand online is low.
Figure 40: Screenshot of data from Social Mention about Spotify mentions
64% of all desktop traffic to Spotify’s website is Direct, and mainly coming from the USA. The website is
ranked # 4 in arts and entertainment globally (SimilarWeb, 2017).
Figure 41: Traffic sources on desktop to Spotify website. Source: SimilarWeb
57. The average visitor views 4 pages in total and spends an average duration of 4 minutes on the site.
Figure 42: Engagement stats on Spotify website and app. Source: SimilarWeb
Secondary to the USA, most visitors are coming from the UK, Brazil, Germany and Mexico.
Figure 43: Traffic by countries for Spotify website. Source: SimilarWeb
58. 20% of all traffic is coming from Search and 93% of it is organic search.
Figure 44: Organic and paid search stats for Spotify website. Source: SimilarWeb
7% of all traffic is from social media with 63% from Facebook.
Figure 45: Social traffic by source to Spotify website. Source: SimilarWeb
59. The mobile app is available to download on the website, on Google Play and iTunes store. The app is
ranked # 1 in the UK. 53% of traffic is from Google Search and 38% from Referrals sites.
Figure 46: Traffic sources for Spotify app. Source: SimilarWeb
60. Appendix 2
Strategy Implementation
Strategy implementation requires project planning, which involves flushing out details regarding
project requirements, resources, timeline and objective feasibility. Advance planning helps the team
prepare ahead and factor in any potential risks and hurdles. The purpose of a plan is to provide a
timeline commitment, to give team members an understanding of the overall goals of the project,
provide a work breakdown structure (WBS) and measure progress.
Steps of project planning
Scope
Define the project scope, i.e. the product definition or product description, by gathering project
requirements, creating a WBS and controlling the scope.
Time
Defining and sequencing activities, estimating resources, assigning activity durations, developing and
controlling the schedule.
In reality, most projects will have activities running in parallel to one another. It is the responsibility of
the project manager to create and manage the project plan.
Critical Path Analysis
Flagging activities that cannot be delayed, as they would delay the entire project.
WBS
This breakdowns project deliverables into smaller components, which are assigned a task owner and a
completion duration. It is normally drafted as a Gantt chart.
Budgeting
Estimate costs by reviewing previous projects, gather price quotations, set budget assumptions and
include a contingency amount of at least 10%. Establish a budget approval process, monitor and draft a
final report with post-project cost analysis.
Work Breakdown Schedule
See pages 61 - 62.