Question

Procter & Gamble, explore their website to answer each of the below questions. Many times, the following website sections will contain the type of information required: about us, corporate governance/leadership, investor relations, sustainability/social responsibility, and media relations. If any of the pages or sections are not made apparent, you could also search for information using the company's search box which will sometimes provide a link to a page several layers into their website.

1. Evaluate the company's website and describe how it is used for marketing products and services, communicating with investors, managing the company's public image, and recruiting new employees. Based on your review, describe at least one improvement you would recommend the company make to its website.
   
2. Describe the effectiveness of your focus company’s current social media activity, which might include Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, or YouTube.
   
3. What type of computer threats could arise that would affect the image of your company? What measures could they take (or have they taken) to prepare/prevent this?

Answer 1

1. Evaluate the company's website and describe how it is used for marketing products and services, communicating with investors, managing the company's public image, and recruiting new employees. Based on your review, describe at least one improvement you would recommend the company make to its website.

The PG website provides a clear view of their most popular products and brands, first view 3 brands/products are visible as soon as you go to the website along with a message about their Covid-19 response which is very inline with the current world view. As you scroll, more of the brands are made visible to showcase all the different product lines they own. In-depth detail of each aspect of their products such as safety, convenience, social responsibility, environment consciousness, water conservation. The response to disasters around the globe are also showcased with links to more detailed material, which is very relevant in the present climate of the global pandemic. The website also provides links for all aspects of their organisation - brands/products, partners, organisation information, legal, contacts and careers. The main page is visually appealing with clear content links for further reading. One major thing missing on the main page is that there are no links to their current social media presence whether it be Facebook or Twitter or Youtube etc. In fact, there is nothing on this first page to indicate that PG even has a social media presence outside of this website. Most rival firms list their social media options on some part of the first page to indicate where users might be able to get more details, check in with a community, or just view latest published content. PG should include these details on the main website to ensure customers find the extended social media presence online and can peruse or join them to keep up with the brand and its new releases.

2. Describe the effectiveness of your focus company’s current social media activity, which might include Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, or YouTube.

The lack of any social media indicators on the main page suggest that they are not currently prioritised as a marketing platform. Users, should they want to find/search for PG's social media, will need to open another page and search specifically for PG's extended online locations. In the current age of digital marketing, PG seems to have not pursued the very successful marketing strategy used by so many of their competitors. Basic search through the contact us and sitemap pages do not yield any results either. Only when you traverse to their newsroom do you see the first indication of social media presence, a line of social media icons at the bottom of the page. The link to you tube on the US site takes you to the latin american PG you tube site which does not have a lot of content to boast of. Most videos uploaded are also 9 months old (or older)with nothing recently added. The other social media sites have more current content showing that they are preferred as marketing media. The video sharing site's huge potential to attract and interest customers seems to not have been taken advantage of.

3. What type of computer threats could arise that would affect the image of your company? What measures could they take (or have they taken) to prepare/prevent this?

Public brand perception plays a big role in the success of a company. By not utilising what is a very popular social medium to its fullest capacity, PG would need to additionally guard from growing popularity of competitors and potentially malicious attacks on its least-managed social medium. Adequate contact information is provided however, to ensure that any customers hit with phishing or spam issues can call specific phone lines/send emails by user category or product line. Legal information around data collection, purchasing, advertising etc. is very clearly set out to ensure the company provides its customers with redressal options and also puts in boundaries to its own liabilities. They also need to ensure that all social media sites project the same stories so as to not confuse customers and to maintain a standard of accuracy.