Identify the business you chose and describe the business and its industry
“Social Media touches nearly every facet of our personal and business lives. In business it isn’t just for the marketing and public relations department. Rather, it is imperative for social media to be an integral part of a company’s overall strategy” (Qualman, 2013, pp. ix). Whether a business choses to utilize websites, Facebook, Twitter, etc., the opportunities are endless to improve growth, production and sales; businesses utilize the many channels of media in order to market their products. “Businesses don’t have a choice on whether to do social media; the choice is how well they do it” (Qualman, 2013, pp. xviii). With today’s people-driven economy and new social media addiction it is important to generate products that customer’s love which will enable them to boast about on their preferred social media site. Mars Inc. and Hersey have been the leading chocolate competitors since the beginning of the chocolate industry; it is interesting to view how each company effectively utilizes the resources around them to promote their products.
Assess the company’s current use of the Internet and social media
Mars has developed with the time, ensuring that they are able to reach a wide variety of audiences. The company has taken full advantage of today’s culture, and has fully utilized all media sources available to today’s society. "Marketing is becoming more interactive, for example by encouraging consumers to generate their own content on our websites and by using third-party social media such as Facebook and YouTube" (Marketing Our Brands Responsibly, 2014). To determine the effectiveness of Mars Inc.’s media usage it is helpful to compare it to one of their strongest competitors; Hersey.
Hersey utilizes “TV Commercials for HERSHEY'S Milk Chocolate, REESE'S Peanut Butter and HERSHEY'S Instant Chocolate Milk Mix products first aired in the United States in 1970" (FAQ, 2014). With their success came impeccable strategy, when to air these commercials and on what channels to air them. “Hershey's went with a higher quality of program mix -- placing half of its buy in network prime time. It placed a high proportion of its spend on morning shows such as "Good Morning America" (ABC), "The Early Show" (CBS) and "The Today Show" (NBC). Its key cable networks were Nick at Nite, TNT, TBS and the Food Network” (Young, 2009.)
While Hershey aired their commercials, focusing more on news channels and channels geared to the older population, M&M had a different strategy; to air to all ages. “M&M's placed a heavy drama, comedy and film program mix on cable networks, including Lifetime, TNT and TBS, with a steady staple of programming on the TV Guide channel. Its syndication deal was principally placed with Paramount Domestic Television, which included shows such as "Frasier," "Entertainment Tonight" and "Judge Judy"” (Young, 2009.)
Both companies not only utilize television as a source of media but they both have success stories while utilizing Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube. Mars Inc. allows their supporters to post comments/concerns and questions on their social media pages while Hersey does not. Mars Inc. not only provides a wide variety of information available at ease on their sites but has also created them to be user friendly.
Mars Inc. Ethical Issues with media
With many policies in place Mars has difficulty running into ethical issues. With many concerns such as appropriateness for certain age groups, culture diversity, and religious interpretation Mars ensures that they are extremely sensitive to all areas. "Mars Chocolate has established a Marketing Advisory Group to provide external guidance on our marketing activities, with a focus on responsible marketing. The Group is comprised of three independent experts: Baroness Jean Coussins, Hugh Burkitt (Chief Executive of The Marketing Society) and Christine Cork (an educational consultant). They offer perspectives from industry, advertising standards and the education sector. It is chaired by our U.K. Marketing Director and a Corporate Affairs representative, and meets quarterly to review all marketing activities against our Marketing Code and best practices. A similar cross-functional team meets regularly in North America to review marketing communications before they are approved for release" (Marketing Our Brands Responsibly, 2014). This marketing group allows for the company to feel confident and successful while ensuring that they are maintaining appropriate protocol.
"We are a member of the International Food and Beverage Alliance (IFBA) industry coalition, which commits member companies to upholding shared marketing standards. The IFBA monitors its members’ performance, and a third party audits a sample of ten countries with a global spread" (Marketing Our Brands Responsibly, 2014). This allows for the company to gauge how well, or how poor, of an effect the promotion has.
"Mars Chocolate U.K. piloted a new governance process for our use of digital channels to ensure compliance with our Marketing Code. We plan to extend this process to all Mars segments in the U.K., and roll it out globally soon after. We also abide by the Word of Mouth Marketing Association (WOMMA) code of ethics for all digital marketing campaigns" (Marketing Our Brans Responsibly, 2014).
Recommendations
With many successful sources, my recommendations are to focus on improving these sources. While Mars has a lot of traffic on their social media outlets it is important to keep our customers engaged with our products. Facebook and Twitter are windows of opportunity, of traffic, it is important that Mars develops their sources with times. Facebook and Twitter are known for their “share” button; this share button allows users to share quotes, images, etc. with their personal friends, a potential for it to be seen nationally by all. To improve online activity I would link certain promotions to coupons, that for each share you will receive a coupon. This will encourage our users to not only “share” our promotions but to also purchase a product. This strategy will not only increase sales but it will also increase social media traffic itself, and awareness of our products/promotions.
As soon as the coupons are implemented now the company will need to measure their sales production. This will be done to count how many people are committing the act of sharing and purchasing. The more users that share, the more purchasing that will be done.
Furthermore, improving Mars Inc. social media while ensuring ethical measures are met will increase their productivity and sales. As Erik Qualman states (2013) “Businesses don’t have a choice on whether to do social media; the choice is how well they do it.” Winning a close race over Hershey’s commercial and social media productivity there is only room for improvement. By closely measuring activity on each commercial, ad, trailer, etc.; Mars Inc. will be more equipped to understand what consumers are most attracted to. Today’s economy is based upon people; it is influenced by people and can decline dramatically if products are deemed less favorable.

References
Antony Young. (2009). M&M’s vs. Hersey’s Kisses – A Media Trick or Treat? Retrieved from: http://adage.com/article/media/media-advertising-strategy-m-m-s-hershey-s-kisses/140002/
Erik Qualman. (Ed. 2). (2013). Socialnomics; How Social Media Transforms the Way We Live and Do Business; Second Edition. Hoboken, New Jersey: John Wiley and Sons.
Hersey. (2014). FAQ. Retrieved from http://www.thehersheycompany.com/contact-us/frequently-asked-questions.aspx#/When-did-The-Hershey-Company-first-start-using-commercial-media-for-advertising?
Joshua S. Neeper. (2011). Mars Inc.Starburst Performance : Marketing Plan.[PowerPoint Slides]. Retrieved from http://www.slideshare.net/jneeper/mars-inc-marketing-plan
Mars Inc. (2014). Marketing Our Brands Responsibly. http://www.mars.com/global/about-mars/mars-pia/our-brands/communicating-responsibly/marketing-our-brands-responsibly.aspx