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C10DM Coursework 2021-22

Section 1 Assessment Overview

Coursework Business report that addresses the brief set out in Section 2 below. This is
an individual piece of work that gives you experience of content planning.
You should include this experience in your CV and Linked In profile. Content
planning involves designing and planning messages that will engage
strategically important customers.

Word Count
and Page
Limit

Report (2,500 words MAX) INCLUDING everything in the report and
appendices but excluding the title page and reference list at the end.

Required
Format

Paper size A4.

Font: Times New Roman 12 point size. Single spacing.

Page margins: 2.54cm Top, Bottom, Left and Right.

Your work must use the headings set out in Table 1.

There is no need to provide an introduction or a contents page to the
business report.

Contribution
to final grade

50% or a maximum of 5 marks to your final overall degree grade (unless
you had a year abroad)

Submission
Date:

Deadline is Wk 8, Tuesday 1st March 4pm– all submissions after this time
and date will be late.

According to the university policy there are no extensions permitted but
students who submit late due to mitigating circumstances should complete
the online form at https://bit.ly/3o45E46

Submissions more than 5 working days late will not be marked.

THIS IS NOT A LAST MINUTE ”WORK ALL NIGHT” PIECE OF WORK.

Submission
Process

To be uploaded as a single document via Canvas. There is no hard copy
hand in. On the title page please put the course code C10DM, your campus
location, your matric number and/or your name and the word count

Feedback
Process

Your work will be graded according to the grading scheme at the end
of the brief

Feedback and your grade will posted on Canvas Wk11 Wednesday 23rd
March at 0930.

Additional
Help

Check the Discussion Board on CANVAS/Assessments/Course Brief and
Guidance.

You have a range of ways of accessing your course co-ordinator – see the
course booklet and CANVAS/Staff Information for virtual office hours.
Remember that we teach a range of courses not just C10DM so please be
realistic in your expectations of the interval between question and reply and
bear in mind that we are not working 24/7.

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This assignment is not an academic essay but it still requires you to: show an understanding

of digital marketing theory, be able to justify your suggestions through citation, and engage in

critical discussion of the pros and cons of the recommendations you are making (again using

citation of journal readings). In addition, you also being tested on your skills in data handling

(through adherence to word count) and presentation (through use of tables and figures).

You are expected to locate and read at least 10 academic journal articles in addition to

accessing practitioner reports and a range of social media pages and websites; all of which

should be listed in the reference section using Harvard referencing. The content (lectures and

reading) being assessed in the coursework are Topic 1 Digital Communication. Please see

the resources on CANVAS for these topics.

Section 2 Coursework Brief

The Watt Club is the Alumni association of Heriot-Watt University, and is understood to be

one of the oldest of its kind in the UK. A key challenge faced by the Watt Club is maximising

the number of newly graduated Heriot-Watt students who ‘opt-in’ to receive Watt Club

communications (opt-in is required by GDPR). The Watt Club management team have set the

following objective:

You have been asked to design a social media content plan that creates engagement amongst

current students and the Watt Club. The Watt Club has specified that they intend to post

content on Instagram.

The Watt Club team are keen to learn how digital marketing theory can help them improve

their communications opt-in rate to enable alumni to fully benefit from the Watt Club

community.

For more background, please view the recorded guest lecture on

Canvas/Assessments/Coursework Brief and Guidance.

IMPORTANT CONSTRAINTS: Do not contact the client organisation or any other

organisation directly in connection with this project– if you do such activity it will lose you

marks! Do not conduct any student surveys or other primary research (to keep your workload

manageable).

1. Increase the Watt Club opt-in rate of current students upon their graduation, from 52% to
65%*.

3

Please post any questions on the discussion board on

CANVAS/Assessments/Coursework Brief and Guidance or if you prefer you can e-mail

your course co-ordinator.

Table 1: REPORT FORMAT

SECTION
You must use these headings but can add your own sub-headings

Guide Only

TITLE PAGE with the course code C10DM, your campus location, your matric number
and/or name and the word count. Two marks will be deducted if the required format
is not followed.

Not
included in
word
count

1. Persona Development (30 marks)
Develop an appropriate persona for your target posts, and critically discuss the
choices you made when developing the persona, drawing upon Topic 1 Lecture 3.

675

2. Message Focus (20)
Critically discuss the rationale for the message appeal choices covered in Topic 1
Lecture 3 made in your example post, relating these decisions to the developed
persona and the Watt Clubs selected channel. Ensure the message appeal works to
support the Watt Club objective.

525

3. Application of Social Impact Theory (25 Marks)
Critically assess how you have used Social Impact Theory covered in Topic 1, Lecture
2 to decide the most appropriate message source, message immediacy, and message
numbers.

675

4. Example Post (x2) (20 Marks)
Provide examples of social media posts you will use and show how these are based
on your discussion in section 1, 2 and 3. You can create your own posts or locate
examples from another campaign and explain how it matches your intended strategy.
Two example posts should be included, for the channel being used.

425

5. References (5 Marks)
Provide 10 appropriate academic references as a minimum that are used clearly and
appropriately in the report using Harvard in-text referencing. References should be
listed in alphabetical order. No Bibliography is required. Make sure you show that
you have engaged in course reading. Independent research can be demonstrated
by using Google Scholar and the Library Discovery tool to identify appropriate
literature.

Not
included in
word count

6. Appendices
You can put figures and graphs in the appendices but do not put in endless
screenshots or full print-outs of reports. It is good practice to refer to your appendix in
the main report.

200

Table 2. Assessment Rubric

CRITERIA Possible

Marks

4

Structure Spelling and Grammar: You were instructed to follow the report

format outlined in the assessment brief, within word count of 2,500 MAX. There is

no need to provide a content page to the business report. We will deduct one

mark if not followed.

0

1. Persona Development: You were asked to develop an appropriate persona

in response to the brief. This required you to both develop the persona, and

critically discuss the choices made in its development, drawing upon Topic

1 Lecture 3.

30

2. Message Focus: You were asked to critically discuss the rationale for the

message focus and choices you made in relation to your example posts.

This required you to relate to relevant message appeal literature, and to link

your choices to the needs of the persona developed in response to the Watt

Clubs objective.

20

3. Application of Social Impact Theory: You were asked to critically evaluate

how social impact theory covered in Topic 1, Lecture 2 might be used to

decide the most appropriate message source, message immediacy and

message numbers. This required you to apply SIT theory to the proposed

example posts and provide support for how the plan meets the needs of the

persona/target audience. Critical evaluation could mention debates in the

literature about how source numbers cease to impact at a certain point etc..

There was scope here to highlight the limitations of the theory i.e it does not

cover motivation or message content. However, the main focus of the

answer should be a critical evaluation of how it can be applied. There was

scope to cite industry sources and academic literature to back up your

decisions and also the decisions should be linked to the persona/plan in

Section 1.

25

5

4. Example Post (x2): You were asked to provide two examples of social

media posts you will use and show how these are based on your discussion

in sections 1, 2 and 3. You needed to explain how the posts align with the

prior critical discussion, including the persona needs, message appeal and

also how the post draws on SIT. There was the option of creating your own

posts or locating example posts from another campaign and explaining how

it matches your intended strategy (both would show creativity in thinking).

When designing the post there would be trade-offs (i.e. why a particular

image, appeal, message was selected and what was rejected based on the

earlier discussion).

20

5. References:

Provide 10 appropriate references as a minimum that are used clearly and

appropriately in the report using Harvard in-text referencing. References

should be listed in alphabetical order. No Bibliography is required. Make

sure you show that you have engaged in course reading. Higher marks may

be achieved by using Google Scholar and the Library Discovery tool to

show you can meaningfully move beyond set sources.

5

6. Appendices:

You can put figures and graphs in the appendices but do not put in endless

screenshots or full print-outs of reports. It is good practice to refer to your

appendix in the main report. Please note that appendices are included in

the overall word count!

0

Table 3. CRITERIA FOR AWARDING GRADES

Grade Content/
Criticality

Relevance
and accuracy

Citation –
use of academic
sources

Citation –
use of industry
examples

Structure,
spelling and
grammar

80-
100

Outstanding
answer that shows
detailed knowledge
of content.
Will take a critical
approach and
present a
sophisticated
argument.

Fully
addresses the
question and
100% accurate

Outstanding and
accurate use of
appropriate citation to
support claims.
Extensive evidence of
students independent
research

Excellent evidence of
independent research
into industry practice
Accurate and
appropriate application
to question

Error free.
Very well
structured.

70-79 Excellent
knowledge of
content.
A critical approach
is taken and a good

Fully
addresses the
question but
not as
comprehensive
as 80+ answer.

Excellent and accurate
use of appropriate
citation to support
claims

Very Good evidence of
independent research
into industry practice
Accurate and
appropriate application
to question

One or two
minor errors
Well-structured

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argument is
presented.

Some but not extensive
evidence of students
independent research

60-69 Good knowledge.
A critical approach
is taken and some
argument is
presented but fails
to fully develop
debate.

Address the
question but
some very
small gaps in
information
presented.

Supports claims by
reference to relevant
literature but could show
a deeper knowledge of
source material.
Limited evidence of
independent research

Good evidence of
independent research
into industry practice
Good but limited
application to question

Several (3-5)
minor errors
Some problems
with structure

50-59 Solid attempt at
answer showing fair
knowledge
Tendency to
description but
work is accurate.

Broadly
addresses
question and
there are some
gaps in
information

Tendency to make
claims without adequate
citation and some
inaccuracy and
inappropriate sources

Very limited evidence of
independent research

Solid evidence of
independent research
into industry practice
Solid but descriptive
application to question

Widespread
(5+) minor
errors.
Loose structure
– Relationships
between
statements are
hard to follow in
places

40-49 Basic knowledge
with clear gaps in
understanding
Tendency to
reproduce and
describe.

Does not fully
address the
question and
several
sections are
inaccurate

Makes poor use of
citation and widespread
inaccuracy. References
from inappropriate
sources. No evidence of
independent research

Basic evidence of
independent research
into industry practice
Basic and descriptive
application to question

Several errors –
and one or two
major
Weak structure
– lacks a clear
framework

35-39 Poor but some
knowledge
Widespread
reproduction and
description

Limited attempt
to answer the
question with
widespread
inaccuracy

Limited use of citation
(3-5 cites) and
widespread
inaccuracy/irrelevance.
No evidence of
independent research

Limited evidence of
independent research
into industry practice
Poor application to
question

Widespread
errors
Very weak
structure –
statements tend
to repetition

0-34 Very poor or no
knowledge
No attempt at
critical discussion

Content is only
loosely
associated with
the question.

Very limited or no use of
citation and widespread
inaccuracy/irrelevance.
No evidence of
independent research

No evidence of
independent research
into industry practice
No attempt to link
content to practice in
answer

Widespread
errors
No apparent
structure to
argument

Section 3 Last year’s feedback to class.

• Make sure that you read and follow questions carefully. Some reports omitted

sections and did not maintain relevance to the brief context throughout.

• Make sure you understand how marks are allocated to each section. Focus your

efforts on the sections that have the most marks and definitely make sure you complete

those sections!

• Be careful when you use any example answers placed on CANVAS that you do

not deviate from the question. We do not set exactly the same question each year.

• Do make sure that you demonstrate evidence you have engaged with and

understand the course content. Make sure you use the lecture slides/textbooks and

reading list before going off to do your own literature search. The reading list provided

in this module is extensive and readings are chosen each year to help with the

coursework brief. Students who did engage with this reading found content that

allowed them to answer questions fully.

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• Remember what you learned in your second/third year marketing modules i.e.

second year marketing modules introduced you to segmentation and targeting.

Remember to use these concepts in your marketing course assignments.

• Always proofread and check the logical flow of your work. In this coursework it is

important to pay particular attention to how different sections link together. Weaker

essays tend to treat each section as a separate question and did not think about the

overall argument that was being presented.

• Ensure you stick to word count: After max word limit, we will stop marking as it is

not fair on other students. It is quite clear to those marking if they are taking longer to

read one assignment compared to the other so do not be tempted to misrepresent the

word count. We have set a limit to avoid students being sucked into doing this work to

the detriment of the dissertation (it is not meant to be a huge report). Please do not

overuse tables.

• Ensure that you are not wasting word count due to your writing style. Visit this

online resource http://writetodone.com/trouble-sticking-to-your-word-count-try-these-

editing-tricks/ Equally if your work is coming in way under the word count check to see

if you are fully addressing the question and backing up your points with illustration,

supporting and counter evidence.

• Do not make this into an escape from the dissertation. This is NOT designed to

be a complex assignment. If you are finding it confusing, please contact the course

co-ordinator. It is interesting work to do and nicely structured meaning that students

want to work on this coursework rather than their big monster of a dissertation.

Remember this coursework is only worth a max 5 marks to your final degree grade

and that the difference between 70% and 50% is 1 mark to your final degree! However

your dissertation is worth 20 marks (a difference between 70% and 50% of 4 marks).

DO YOUR DISSERTATION PEOPLE! NB: In EBS the overall degree classification is

based 20% on the average of 4 best grades from third year, 20% from the dissertation

mark and 10% for each the 6 x Yr 4 courses.

*Watt Club Figures are Indicative for Assessment Purposes.