Samsung has a large social media presence across major platforms like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube and LinkedIn. It aims to directly interact with consumers to develop relationships and educate them on products. Samsung targets younger digital adults and posts fresh, localized content. It utilizes social media for both promotion and responsive customer service through dedicated accounts. Samsung creates unique real-life content and campaigns to engage consumers.

1. Social Media SWOT Analysis
MAR4233: RVC & RPC- Fall 2015
Group 16
By:
Ashley Pouya
Christopher Gawrych
Cintia Espinoza
Mariel Lora
Max Ferro

2. Company Background
• Samsung Electronics is a South Korean company, which mainly operates as a
global consumer electronics manufacturer with three main divisions: Consumer
Electronics, Information Technology & Mobile Communications, and Device
Solutions (The Wall Street Journal, 2015).
• Samsung is currently ranked as #7 on Forbes’ list of the “World’s Most Valuable
Brands,” and is a global market leader in consumer electronics (Forbes, 2015).
• Samsung is heavily focused on the smartphone industry where it maintains a
market leader position and currently controls a 21.4% share of the global market
(IDC, 2015).
• Founded: January 13, 1969 (The Wall Street Journal, 2015)
• Industry: Technology hardware, storage and peripherals, and semiconductors
• Headquarters: Suwon, South Korea (The Wall Street Journal, 2015)
• Current Employees: 235,999 (Forbes, 2015)
• Performance: 2014 FY Net Sales: $305 billion, 2014 FY Net Income: $22.1 billion
(Samsung, 2015).
.

3. Company Culture
• Vision: “Samsung is dedicated to developing innovative technologies and
efficient processes that create new markets, enrich people's lives and continue
to make Samsung a digital leader” (Samsung Group, 2015, para. 4).
• Philosophy: to devote Samsung’s “talent and technology to creating superior
products and services that contribute to a better global society” (Samsung
Group, 2015, para. 7).
• Corporate Values: People, Excellence, Change, Integrity, Co-Prosperity
(Samsung Group, 2015, para. 10-14).
• Vision 2020: “Inspire the World, Create the Future” (Samsung Group, 2015, para.
15).
• Vision 2020 Goals: reach $400 billion in revenue and become a top 5 global
brand by 2020 (Samsung Group, 2015, para. 16).

4. Strengths
• Samsung has strong global brand recognition.
• Samsung has made it a focus as part of its social media strategy to foster
brand loyalty, and currently has large amount of loyal followers.
• Samsung utilizes social media metrics and consumer feedback to respond to
shifting consumer preferences.
• Samsung has a major presence on most popular social media platforms.
(Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, Google+)
• Samsung provides unique real content that is easy to understand.
• Samsung’s social media managers operate like humans, rather than a strictly
corporate business unit.
• Samsung has a strong, prompt support team available online through social
media.
• Samsung uses #hashtags to its advantage by creating campaigns to
engage with consumers in real time.

5. Weaknesses
• Samsung rarely introduces a new design on its own, it always waits to attack its
competitors and misses the first mover advantages.
• Samsung’s profit margins are often too low (Kumar, 2015).
• Samsung does not charge prices as high as some of its primary competitors like
Apple and Sony. As a result, consumers can perceive a link between its
comparatively low prices and assume low product quality.
• Samsung does not focus on a specific niche, making it difficult to identify their
consumers needs, which makes it hard to define its target social media
audience.
• Samsung’s main competitors are also their largest buyers, specifically because it
manufacturers the semiconductors found in many of its competitors’
smartphone products. (Forbes, 2015)

6. Opportunities
• Samsung can continue to expand its social media presence and visibility to
meet increased American adult social media usage, as nearly 65% of
American adults use social media in 2015 (Perrin, 2015, p. 1).
• Younger Americans are becoming increasingly dependent on social
media as part of their everyday lives, which is an opportunity for Samsung
to target and engage younger consumers through social media to
strengthen its brand.
• Samsung can drive its consumer engagement through the increased use
of social media sweepstakes and contests, particularly on Twitter and
Facebook.
• Samsung can continue to target influential followers on different social
media platforms to encourage more consumer awareness and sharing of
its social media content.
• Samsung can continue to utilize social media metrics and consumer
feedback to respond to shifting consumer preferences and directly
message its core consumer groups in real-time (Ungerleider, 2014, p. 1).

7. Threats
• Samsung has a variety of product lines, failure of one line may lead to
a negative impact on others, leading to brand dilution.
• A saturated smartphone market in developed countries, and new,
low-cost competitors from China are increasing the amount of
competing brands present on social media.
• Price wars among low cost competitors, such as: Apple, Nokia, LG,
and Microsoft.
• Samsung’s focus is very broad, and includes too many segments due
to the nature of its business and its marketing messages.
• Samsung has been engaged in several high-profile legal battles with
Apple recently, which can damage its brand image on social media
as consumers comment or post about the proceedings.

8. • Facebook usage: 72% of US adult Internet users
(Duggan, 2015).
• 82% of online adults aged 18-29 use Facebook in
2015.
• Allows Facebook users to post and like content, but
does not allow/publish followers.
• Likes: 1,256,578

9. • 23% of US adult Internet users use Twitter
(Duggan, 2015).
• Samsung USA (@Samsungtweets) is Samsung’s
main US Twitter account.
• Followers: 523,000
• Following: 32,500
• Tweets: 34,300
• Favorites: 6,095
• Joined: April, 2009
• Samsung operates more than 20 official
Twitter accounts for different purposes such as
geographic regions, brands, customer service,
product support, etc.
• For example, Samsung utilizes Twitter sub-
division channel @samsungsupport to tackle
consumer issues right when they’re
happening.

10. @SAMSUNGUSA
• 26% of US adult Internet users
use Instagram (Duggan, 2015).
• 73,000 FOLLOWERS
• 447 POSTS
• Average of 20 comments per
photo
• Average of 1,000 likes per photo
• If users hashtag #SamsungUSA
on Instagram, they are giving
Samsung consent to showcase
their photo in any media.

11. • Subscribers: 35,360
• Joined: Sept 16, 2009
• Views: 4,741,383

12. • 28% of US adult Internet users use Pinterest (Duggan, 2015).
• Likes: 183
• Followers: 21,200
• Pins: 224

13. • 28% of US adult Internet users use LinkedIn (Duggan, 2015).
• Samsung (corporate) LinkedIn followers: 330,608
• Samsung Electronics LinkedIn followers: 647,427
• Samsung’s LinkedIn pages have sections for consumers to view its
related product pages, visit its website, view career opportunities,
and view regular posts or updates concerning Samsung’s brand.

14. Social Media Strategy
AnalysisPurpose and Objectives:
• The purpose behind Samsung’s general use of social media is to more
directly interact, communicate, and develop relationships with
consumers.
• Users/followers of Samsung can see prior customers' comments on
previously purchased items, enabling customers to become social
media advocates for the Samsung brand.
• Samsung regularly posts photos, videos, tutorials, and advertisements
pertaining to their products to educate and communicate with
consumers.
• “We’re focused on growing reach and engagement by creating high
quality local or localized content. As a company that needs to sell a
lot, we’re also helping to sell products via social media. However,
what’s even more important is to be accepted by the community
and be an active & helpful part of the community. We’re trying our
best to be as human as possible in the corporate world”
(Chrzanowska, 2015).

15. Target Groups
• Samsung is a global company, it has different content targeted at the
needs of different global audiences, so its target audience always
varies. For example: @SamsungUSA VS. @SamsungRD.
• Throughout its different platforms and account types, it looks to
engage digital savvy individuals, influential followers, young adults,
and social media users.
• Samsung’s core target segment demographic is primarily younger
adults from ages 18-34.
• Samsung’s baseline target socioeconomic segment in the US are
middle-class consumers.
• Samsung USA uses very fresh content on their social media, designed
to appeal to a broad social media consumer audience.

16. Social Media Tools
Appropriate Tools:
• Consumers can access the most recent Samsung product catalog
through its website links and product sub-accounts on Twitter, LinkedIn,
Facebook, and YouTube.
• Samsung’s most appropriate tools to communicate and connect with its
audience are Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, and YouTube.
• Samsung specifically makes excellent use of its social media presence on
Twitter and Facebook for both promotion and for customer service.
Advantages:
- Customer service reps can quickly see customers
concerns and fix the problems accordingly.
- Customers can stay updated with Samsung’s new
product offerings and technologies while at home
on their computers.
- Samsung can more directly message and target
specific consumer groups through its vast social
media presence.
Disadvantages:
- Customer service may receive very negative
and vulgar feedback.
- Customers can view the comments of other,
which may or may not be positive.
- Consumers may have difficulty connecting
directly to a customer service representative
for their specific need due to Samsung’s use of
multiple sub-accounts.

17. What Samsung is Doing Right on Social Media
• Samsung utilizes all of the most popular social media platforms and posts relevant content
frequently.
• Samsung utilizes social media to communicate with consumers and immediately solve any
issues they face by having a support team available @SamsungSupport.
• Unique real content: Samsung shows features of products in everyday life with clever captions
to capture consumers’ attention. Example : using the phone for music while exercising, taking
photos of children playing, or using Samsung appliances for thanksgiving dinner.
• #SamsungGives is used throughout all platforms showing real, hands-on content of employees
serving the community, promoting Samsung’s social responsibility initiatives to consumers.
• A focus on operating like humans, rather than a corporate business, offering everyday blog
type lifestyle posts which offer tips for the consumer. Example: “3 tips to ignite that creative
spark.”
• Samsung uses #hashtags to its advantage by creating campaigns, such as #SamsungSolves
and #SamsungCooks, which create real-time engagement opportunities with consumers and
bring more traffic to its social media platforms.
• Samsung allows consumers to utilize its associated hashtags for a chance to be published on its
page, increasing the amount the #hashtags are used.

18. Examples:

19. Improvements to Samsung’s
Social Media Strategy
Samsung has experienced a tremendous amount of success on social media.
However, if we were improve a few things we would:
• Generate more interest with Instagram - Instagram’s popularity is increasing
daily especially with young adults who are a core target segment for
Samsung.
• Develop a regular YouTube schedule – as video content is becoming an
increasingly important component of every organization’s social media
strategy, it is important to maintain an active YouTube presence.

20. References
Chrzanowska, Natalia. (2015, May 26). Social media strategy by Samsung Electronics. Retrieved
from http://blog.brand24.net/social-media-strategy-by-samsung-electronics/
Duggan, M. (2015, August 19). The demographics of social media users. Retrieved October 20,
2015, from http://www.pewinternet.org/2015/08/19/the-demographics-of-social-media-users/
Forbes. (2015). The world's most value brands: #7 Samsung Electronics. Forbes. Retrieved from
http://www.forbes.com/companies/samsung-electronics/
Harjani, A. (2013, July 26). An 'emerging' threat to Samsung, and it's not Apple. Retrieved from
http://www.cnbc.com/id/100915961
Hay, Linda (2015). Samsung’s target market. Retrieved from
http://www.essay.uk.com/free-essays/marketing/samsungs-target-market.php
Hruska, J. (2015, July 30). Samsung will cut Galaxy S6 prices to boost demand, improve sales.
Retrieved from
http://www.extremetech.com/computing/211299-samsung-will-cut-galaxy-s6-prices-to-boost-
demand-improve-sales
IDC. (2015, August). Smartphone vendor market share, 2015 Q2. Retrieved from
http://www.idc.com/prodserv/smartphone-market-share.jsp

21. References
Kumar, Arun. (2015). Samsung’s SWOT analysis. Retrieved from
http://www.marketing91.com/swot-analysis-samsung/
Perrin, A. (2015, October 8). Social media usage: 2005-2015. Retrieved October 16, 2015, from
http://www.pewinternet.org/2015/10/08/social-networking-usage-2005-2015/
Samsung. (2015). Samsung: Our performance. Retrieved from
http://www.samsung.com/us/aboutsamsung/samsung_group/our_performance/
Samsung Group. (2015). Samsung Group: Values and philosophy. Retrieved from
http://www.samsung.com/us/aboutsamsung/samsung_group/values_and_philosophy/
The Wall Street Journal. (2015, October 19). Company profile & executives - Samsung
Electronics Co. Ltd. The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved from
http://quotes.wsj.com/KR/XKRX/005930/company-people
Ungerleider, N. (2014, May 19). Networked Insights reveals how Samsung used social media to
hack the iPhone. Retrieved from http://www.fastcompany.com/3030772/how-samsung-used-
social-media-to-hack-the-iphone