Comparison of Social Media Marketing of Ice Cream Brands in Indonesia ^†

Abstract

The rapid development of increasingly sophisticated technology leads companies to continue developing and adapting to current technology, especially in product promotion activities to increase brand awareness. The increase in social media usage has made many companies, especially those in the ice cream industry, shift to utilizing social media in their marketing promotion activities. The purpose of this study was to determine the aspects that influence social media marketing strategies to achieve effective consumer brand awareness. This study used a qualitative descriptive analysis method that compared the social media implementation of several brands of ice cream, using SWOT analysis. Data from social media measurements resulted in the number of views and subscribers. The results showed that brands achieved high consumer awareness by managing social media. Management methods included choosing social media, choosing content, and choosing the right influencer according to the market characteristics and target.

1. Introduction

Technology is growing more sophisticated and advanced, becoming one of the factors that also affect economic development in a country. This development makes many companies use it to increase product sales. One of these growing technologies is the internet: globally, the internet has entered every country, including Indonesia, including remote villages throughout the archipelago.

The internet is currently a necessity for the community, especially with the COVID-19 pandemic that has hit Indonesia for the past two years, making the internet a need that must be met. This is due to a shift in the pattern of working, shopping, and studying, in which people previously had to be present in places, but due to the pandemic, these places were not to be crowded. According to the research results of the Indonesian Internet Service Providers Association (APJII), in 2022, there was an increase of 3.32% in the percentage of internet penetration in Indonesia from 2021, and currently, the total number of internet users in Indonesia is 210,026,769 people, from a total population of 272,682,600 Indonesian residents in 2021 [1].

This increase makes the internet have great potential, especially in social media; according to APJII, as of 2022, 89.15% of people use the internet to access social media. Of course, this makes social media one of the channels of marketing communication. According to Buinac and Lundberg (2016), marketing communication can show how a product is used, by what kind of customer characteristics, where and when, and what customers can also receive in terms of incentives or trial products.

This large use of social media by the public can be used by many companies, including companies in the ice cream industry, to conduct promotional activities and increase brand awareness, because the reach of social media is wide.

This study aimed to determine what aspects affect social media marketing strategies in the ice cream industry to achieve brand awareness in the minds of consumers.

2. Material and Methods—Material

2.1. Digital Marketing

Digital marketing is a marketing technique, using digital media, that can reach consumers at the right time, personally, and is relevant to their needs. Digital marketing is often also referred to as ‘online’, ‘internet marketing’, or ‘web marketing’ [2].

2.2. Social Media

According to Buinac and Lundberg, social media refers to all actions and behaviors of people online, where they share information, knowledge, and opinions using two-way communication tools [3,4]. Social media is a group of internet applications based on the ideology and technology of Web 2.0, which allows users to create and share content [5].

2.3. Social Media Marketing

It has been found that social media marketing is an important factor influencing consumer buying decisions because of the high number of social media users today.

2.4. Data and Methods

The research method was a qualitative descriptive research method carried out by SWOT analysis, as well as making conclusions that aimed to determine what aspects affect social media marketing strategies to achieve brand awareness in the minds of consumers.

3. Results

From this research study, we obtained the results of the following analysis below.

Table 1. Walls SWOT Analysis.

Strengths	Weaknesses	Opportunities	Threats
Big worldwide brand name Strong maintenance of social media accounts Walls is very active in creating campaigns to keep increasing insight Walls creates content with interesting videos and funny images using famous cartoon characters, such as Upin and Ipin Choosing the right influencers, such as using famous influencers such as Magdalena and several famous artists	Does not have Tik Tok account, and only uses Instagram and YouTube Walls does not use video boosting or ads to increase engagement on its social media accounts Focuses on one social media account, Instagram, and does not maintain its YouTube account Does not often use influencers or use customer testimony as social media content	Walls has a target market in every age segment Walls has an actively interacting following Walls has many products that are well-known Walls can make strong engagement with customers by using customer testimony as content Walls has a relatively high growth rate of followers Social media platforms such as Tik Tok grow so fast and famous with the Z and also Alpha generations	Other competitors gain high brand awareness by using and managing many social media platforms, not only focusing on one platform like Walls Other competitors launch new creative products, such as durian, sweet corn, klepon, and mochi ice cream; this makes competitors have more variety of products than Walls

shows the SWOT analysis of Walls ice cream’s social media strategy. For its strength factor, Walls has a big worldwide brand name, always maintains a social media account, is very active in creating campaigns to keep increasing insight, creates content with interesting videos and funny images using famous cartoon characters, and chooses the right influencers, such as using famous influencers such as Magdalena and several famous artists.

Walls also has several weaknesses: Walls does not have a Tik Tok account, and only uses Instagram and YouTube; Walls does not use video boosting or ads to increase engagement on its social media accounts; Walls only focuses on one social media account, Instagram, and does not maintain its YouTube account; and does not often use influencers or use customer testimony as social media content.

For the opportunities, Walls has a target market in every age segment, Walls has an actively interacting following, Walls has many products that are well-known, Walls can make strong engagement with customers by using customer testimony as content, Walls has a relatively high growth rate of followers, and social media platforms such as Tik Tok grow so fast and famous with the Z and also Alpha generations.

As for the threats from other competitors, other competitors gain high brand awareness by using and managing many social media platforms, not only focusing on one platform like Walls does, and other competitors launch new creative products, such as durian, sweet corn, klepon, and mochi ice cream; this makes competitors have more variety of products than Walls.

From

Table 2. Campina SWOT Analysis.

Strengths	Weaknesses	Opportunities	Threats
Has social media accounts on YouTube, Instagram, and Tik Tok Frequently posts on its feed on Instagram Attractive and creative content Chooses the right influencer Campina has excellent service on social media	Does not very actively use TikTok and YouTube accounts Campina has not been very active in inviting the interaction of its followers on social media Campina has not followed the existing trends to serve as some of its uploads on social media Campina is also still not active in using influencers to help increase good engagement on social media	Campina has an actively interacting following The emergence of many of the latest trends, namely managing ice cream to be like food sold in restaurants Campina has a target market in every age segment Campina has a relatively high growth rate of followers	The existence of similar products that other brands sell but already have brand awareness that is well-known Other competitors, such as AICE, have high brand awareness on several social media sites, such as Tik Tok, YouTube, and Instagram, and Walls mastered Instagram and YouTube

, we can see from the results that Campina has strengths such as social media accounts on YouTube, Instagram, and Tik Tok; it frequently posts on its feed on Instagram; it makes attractive and creative content in its posts and videos; it chooses the right influencers; and it has excellent service on social media by replying customer questions.

Aside from these strengths, it also has weaknesses: it does not very actively use its TikTok and YouTube accounts, because the company focuses on Instagram for engagement; it has not been very active in inviting the interaction of followers on social media; it has not followed the existing trends to serve as some of its uploads on social media; and it is also still not active in using influencers to help increase good engagement on social media.

The company also has opportunities: it can have an actively interacting following with its customers; it can participate in the emergence of many of the latest trends, namely managing ice cream to be like food sold in restaurants; it has a target market in every age segment, so it can sell many different products for each age; and it also has a relatively high growth rate of followers on social media that can be used.

As for the threats, there is the existence of similar products that other brands sell but already have brand awareness that is well-known; additionally, other competitors, such as AICE, have high brand awareness on several social media sites, such as TikTok, YouTube, and Instagram, and Walls mastered Instagram and YouTube.

From

Table 3. AICE SWOT Analysis.

Strengths	Weaknesses	Opportunities	Threats
Strong maintenance of social media accounts Started to use social media earlier than competitors AICE is very active in creating campaigns to keep increasing insight AICE also regularly uses video boosting and ads to increase engagement on its social media accounts Strong engagement with customers on all social media accounts Choosing the right influencers, and using customer testimony to build brand relationships	AICE lacks content that explains the benefit of the ingredients of its ice cream AICE highlights sports moments instead of maximizing other moments that could gain awareness	AICE has an actively interacting following AICE has a relatively high growth rate of followers AICE has a target market in every age segment Many moments or trends that can be used by AICE	Other competitors following to sell similar products and gain brand awareness that is well-known enough (such as mochi ice cream products) Other competitors, such as Campina, use several social media sites, such as Tik Tok, YouTube, and Instagram

, we can see the results of the SWOT analysis of AICE. AICE has strengths in how it maintains its social media accounts, in that it started to use social media earlier than competitors, and it is very active in creating campaigns to keep increasing insight; AICE also regularly uses video boosting and ads to increase engagement on its social media accounts, it has strong engagement with customers on all social media accounts, chooses the right influencers, and uses customer testimony to build brand relationships.

For the weaknesses, AICE has a lack of content that explains the benefit of the ingredients of its ice cream, so customers might not really understand their benefit; AICE highlights sports moments instead of maximizing other moments that could gain awareness. As for the opportunities, AICE can gain an actively interacting following with its customers, it has a relatively high growth rate of followers on every social media account, it has a target market in every age segment, and there are many moments or trends that can be used.

For the threats from other competitors, other competitors are following to sell similar products and gain brand awareness that is well-known enough (such as mochi ice cream products), and other competitors, such as Campina, use several social media sites, such as Tik Tok, YouTube, and Instagram.

4. Conclusions

Based on the research results, the following conclusions can be concluded:

• To achieve high brand awareness, companies should create social media content that is creative, attractive, funny, and invites customers to interact, such as game content, challenges, quizzes, giveaways, and live streaming;
• To achieve high brand awareness, companies should pay attention to the content that will be posted on social media, especially the growing trends in the current target market;
• To achieve brand awareness, companies must select the right influencers in accordance with trends, positioning, and the segmentation of brands, and influencers who have good credibility and a high number of active followers;
• In creating social media content, companies should pay attention to the use of color because it is a useful method to build and shape customer fantasies, so that customers can feel and remember the memory of emotional reactions and feel close to the brand through this association;
• In creating social media content, companies must pay attention to the use of fonts, where according to Sihombing, aspects that must be considered are clear shape, being easy to read, being easily visible, and clarity (shows clarity) [6];
• Companies, in creating social media content, should pay attention to the tone of voice so that it has a unique language characteristic and is fresh, simple, and easy to understand. The tone of voice used is like using a very unique rhyme, so that prospective customers can unconsciously remember the words easily;
• Companies should conduct the selection of promotional images in accordance with product segmentation, in order to build a connection with customers with the brand;
• Companies should manage social media well and actively, either by posting regularly and interactively through live streaming, or by answering questions and complaints from customers, so that the relationship established with customers is stronger.