While it is assumed that Barilla’s digital campaign should focus exclusively on Facebook and Instagram, the CCO’s evidence suggests otherwise. The young respondents identified the need for a stronger presence across multiple social media networks, among which Telegram and TikTok appear more in demand than Facebook. In fact, these two outlets are actively used by younger people, and the engagement campaign targets this population of the EU and the United States. Furthermore, designing the action plan around the actions of competitors is not an optimal approach to marketing. If other companies focus on Facebook and Instagram, it makes other platforms an uncharted territory with a considerable audience to engage. The website should equally be embedded as the bottom of the customer acquisition funnel, as it is the ultimate façade of the company in the digital environment. Below are the key avenues of young customer outreach, along with their benefits and disadvantages.
The analysis of the share of voice as a metric to evaluate the outcome of the campaign is justified, as it directly compares Barilla’s position against its competitors. It was equally informative to take into consideration the engagement rate figures of the brand’s official accounts on social media. In subsequent campaigns, the choice of ROI (return on investment) as the central metric appears optimal, as it summarizes the performance of the marketing operations succinctly. While the quantity of new users attracted to Barilla’s media is important, their quality is of higher significance to the brand. In other words, the company does not focus on being known by more people: Barilla is already a well-known brand that is often ignored by younger consumers. Instead, the company wants to transform neutrality and negativity into positive engagement. Thus, the metric dashboard should also include opinion-related figures, such as the “like-dislike” ratio and the percentage of negative reactions or comments.