VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI SCHOOL OF BUSINESS HO ANH DUNG A STUDY ON SOCIAL NETWORK SITES MARKETING THE CASE OF GOONLINE.VN MASTER OF BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION THESIS Hanoi – 2010 VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI SCHOOL OF BUSINESS HO ANH DUNG A STUDY ON SOCIAL NETWORK SITES MARKETING THE CASE OF GOONLINE.VN Major: Business Administration Code: 60 34 05 MASTER OF BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION THESIS Supervisor: Dr Vu Anh Dung November, 2010 TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGEMENT. IV TABLE OF CONTENTS. VI LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS.X LIST OF FIGURES. XI LIST OF TABLES.
SCOPE OF WORK. 3 CHAPTER 1: THEORETICAL FOUNDATION.1 BASIC OF SOCIAL NETWORK SITE MARKETING.2 HISTORY OF SOCIAL NETWORK SITES.3 TYPE OF SNS.4 FUNCTION OF SNS.5 OVERVIEW OF SNS MARKETING FROM THE SITE MASTER PERSPECTIVE.51 Steps in SNS marketing.2 The way to interact with users.6 HOW TO GET BENEFIT THROUGH SNS.3 Speculate the domain name.5 Read advertising news.8 Selling virtual property.7 CORE FACTORS FOR SUCCESSFUL SNS.6 Application Programming Interface (API). 37 CHAPTER 2: THE CASE OF GOONLINE.1 OVERVIEW OF SNS IN VIETNAM.2 INTRODUCTION ABOUT GOONLINE.3 STRUCTURE OF GOONLINE.4 INTERACTING WITH USERS.5 TOOL TO MAKE MONEY.6 THE LIMITATIONS OF GOONLINE.1 Core platform and Content.6 Design and User Experience.7 The way to make money.VN WITH CORE SUCCESSFUL FACTORS.2 Relationship and privacy. 61 CHAPTER 3: SOLUTIONS TO IMPROVE GOONLINE.6 Application Programming Interface (API).8 Solution to get more benefits.2 LIMITATIONS OF THE STUDY.3 CONTRIBUTION OF THE STUDY.4 FUTURE OF THE STUDY.
84 ix LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS API : APPLICATION PROGRAMMING INTERFACE CEO : CHIEF ENTERPRISE OFFICER CPM : COST PER MILE CPC : COST PER CLICK CPA : COST PER ACTION FPT : FPT CORPORATION MIC : MINISTRY OF INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATIONS SEO : SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION SEM : SEARCH ENGINE MARKETING SNS : SOCIAL NETWORK SITES UX : USER EXPERIENCE VC CORP : VIETNAM COMMUNICATION CORPORATION VNG : VINAGAME CORPORATION VTC : VIETNAM TELECOMMUNICATIONS JOINT STOCK COMPANY x LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1. Timeline of the launch dates of many major SNS and dates when community sites re-launched with SNS features 8 Figure 2. Bounce rate of Facebook. Daily Traffic Rank Trend of Zing.
Daily traffic rank trend of GoOnline. Time which users spend on GoOnline. Time which users spend on Facebook. Bounce rate of GoOnline.
The trend of GoOnline. The daily pageviews per user of Facebook. The daily pageviews per user of GoOnline. The percentage of site visits of GoOnline.79 xi LIST OF TABLES Table 2.
Percent of Search Traffic amd Querry of Zing music. The upstream traffic of GoOnline. Percentage of GoOnline’s traffic. Research background Nowadays, Social Network Site (SNS) has become a phenomenon.
In recent years, millions of SNS have appeared and the growth of SNS seems not to slow down. Many users (Microsoft Corp, Disney Corp…) have used SNS for their marketing activities and many of them have obtained successes. Microsoft, Disney1 are typical examples. Besides, thousands of small and medium companies also succeeded in using SNS marketing2 In Vietnam, this trend has just been raised for 5 years 3.
However, the effectiveness of using SNS as a social marketing tool for users/subscribers is still an issue. VTC Online is one of the leading companies who first develop SNS– GoOnline.vn – and to do business with the site. Though making some achievements, VTC is still finding ways to effectively promote their SNS GoOnline.vn and from that to gain more benefits from the site. That are reasons I choose to study SNS marketing with the case of GoOnline.
Research objectives The main objective of this thesis is to study SNS marketing – focusing on the case of GoOnline. By analyzing the strengths and weaknesses of the site by comparing with other SNS, the author proposes some solutions to improve the SNS GoOnline.vn and from that to explore effective ways to 1 Link http://www.com/id/15011765 http://home.com/guestservices/international 2 Link http://www.com/2008/09/ive-been-thinki.html 3 Link http://ganxa.com/News/DetailNews.php?IDNews=3219 1 create more value for both subscribers/users and VTC Corporation (the owner of the SNS GoOnline. Research questions Based upon the research objective, the main question for this study is ―How can VTC Corporation improve the SNS GoOnline.vn to add more value for both subscribers/users and itself?‖ In order to answer this question, the research needs to answer the following subquestions: What is the SNS and how to benefit from the SNS? What are strengths and weaknesses of the SNS GoOnline.vn in terms of creating value to both subscribers/users and the site owner VTC Corporation? How can VTC corporation can improve the SNS GoOnline.vn to add more value for both subscribers/users and itself? 4. Scope of work The thesis studies the theoretical foundation for SNS arisen by Internet companies since 2005 when SNS became a worldwide phenomenon.
For the case GoOnline.vn, the author focuses the study on the period from April 2010, the time when the GoOnline.vn was launched, to present (October 2010). The term ―value‖ in this study applies for both subscribers/users of the SNS and the owner of the SNS. For subscribers/users, value means the contents, fuctions and tools that the SNS offers for subscribers/users to benefit from. For the SNS owner, it is the ways that the SNS charges its stakeholders 2 for an amount of money for using the SNS.
Data Source For the theoretical part, data sources are textbooks, articles from Internet. As for the case study, data is obtained from discussing with GoOnline.vn’s staffs and managers team and internal data, which are being tracked by Google Analytics. Methodology The thesis use the empirical method, compare with other sites in the study process and discuss with social network experts. Significance The thesis may contribute a part to the development of Internet industry in Vietnam, which has been emerging recently.
As Internet is forecasted to booming in Vietnam in next few years, companies or individuals can benefit the result of this study for business. Results First, the thesis delivers a systematic review of SNS marketing. Secondly, the thesis studies the case of GoOnline.vn Portal and proposes solutions to improve it. Thesis structure Apart from introduction, conclusion and reference parts, this thesis includes three chapters.
Chapter 1 reviews SNS and the use SNS as a marketing tool and, thereafter, discusses the way to get benefit from SNS. 3 Chapter 2 explores the case of GoOnline.vn, the way they interact with users and utilize the SNS GoOnline.vn to make money. Chapter 3 proposes some solutions to improve the SNS GoOnline.vn Chapter 1: Theoretical Foundation Chapter 2: The case of GoOnline.vn Chapter 3: Solutions to improve GoOnline.vn 4 CHAPTER 1: THEORETICAL FOUNDATION 1.1 Basic of Social Network Site Marketing During the past few years, SNS have become a worldwide cultural phenomenon. The number of SNS has been increasing exponentially.
Technorati, a blog & SNS search site, say that they are now tracking 96.9 million blog & SNS all over the world4. In addition, Technorati gives some conclusion about the number of SNS: Social network has the basic characteristics. There is a direct participation of many individuals (or businesses - but act as individual). Beside, it is an open system the contents of the website was built by the participants.
SNS supports a variety of ways for members to interact. The minimum features of social networks like profile of members (members must have a place to share information about yourself, including your avatar, name, age, gender, place of work). SNS also provides the amount of information, and the names of the fields depending on the characteristics of each different Social Networks. When users join in SNS, they have ability to connect people: the members of the system must be able to make friends with each other, the system must also support the ability to find new friends in many different criteria to increase community capacity expansion.
One of basic characteristic of SNS is the interaction between the members: the members of the system must interact with each other, whether through chat tools, or offline message, or through the mail. And SNS has a place for someone who can bring something to a content can be articles, emotions, status, or images, 4 Source http://technorati.com/about/ 5 to the other members in the system can view, comment on content.2 History of Social Network Sites According to the definition above, the first recognizable social network site launched in 1997.com is typical example. It allowed users to create profiles, list their Friends and, beginning in 1998, surf the Friends lists. Each of these features existed in some form before SixDegrees.
Profiles existed on most major dating sites and many community sites. AIM and ICQ buddy lists supported lists of Friends, although those Friends were not visible to others.com allowed people to affiliate with their high school or college and surf the network for others who were also affiliated, but users could not create profiles or list Friends until years later. SixDegrees was the first to combine these features. ―SixDegrees promoted itself as a tool to help people connect with and send messages to others.
While SixDegrees attracted millions of users, it failed to become a sustainable business and, in 2000, the service closed. Looking back, its founder believes that SixDegrees was simply ahead of its time‖ (A. Weinreich, personal communication, July 11, 2007). While people were already flocking to the Internet, most did not have extended networks of friends who were online.
Early adopters complained that there was little to do after accepting Friend requests, and most users were not interested in meeting strangers. The next, ―From 1997 to 2001, a number of community tools began supporting various combinations of profiles and publicly articulated Friends. AsianAvenue, BlackPlanet, and MiGente allowed users to create personal, professional, and dating profiles—users could identify Friends on their personal profiles without seeking approval for those connections‖ (O. Wasow, 6 personal communication, August 16, 2007).
The next wave of SNSs began when Ryze.com was launched in 2001 to help people leverage their business networks. Ryze's founder reports that he first introduced the site to his friends— primarily members of the San Francisco business and technology community, including the entrepreneurs and investors behind many future SNSs 7 Figure 1. Timeline of the launch dates of many major SNS and dates when community sites re-launched with SNS features 8 1.3 Type of SNS Social Networking Sites are the sites that host social media. Forums: Probably one of the first sites to allow for social interaction, forums have been around for a while.
Forums are typically comprised of people with a similar interest. Users have conversations around a particular given topic and build up relationships with each other. They provide a great deal of information about a topic and is a great way to share user’s knowledge. SNS: People like to journal, and with the Internet they wanted to share their lives more openly.
Originally called web-logs, these personal journals have advanced. Some personal journals still exist, while other SNS discuss a particular niche or interest. Micro-SNS: Similar to SNS, this is a micro journal of what is happening right now. These sites can share what is going on in an individual life or can be information the individual wants to share.
Major news events are now breaking online via microSNS. The best known microSNS is Twitter. PhotoSharing:Social Networking Sites are known for sharing of information, in this case photos. Users upload their pictures to Photo Sharing Sites.
Rather than having to send individual pictures to family, user send a single link. You can tag user’s photos with keywords related to the image and allow people to comment. Some popular photosharing sites are Flickr and Picasa. Video Sharing: Youtube is the video sharing site that almost everyone has seen.
Videos are shared online, keywords are added so people can search 9 for those terms or for the video title. People can comment if the video owner allows. Like other forms of social media it allows for a more personal look of the actual user. Professional: Networking has long been touted as an asset in professional circles.