AJ Gerritson, Founding Partner at 451 Marketing, discusses creating a social media strategy in this webinar hosted by IHAF.

1. Part II: Developing a
Social Media Strategy

2. AJ Gerritson
Founding Partner
617.986.0224
aj@451marketing.com
linkedin.com/in/ajgerritson
@ajgerritson
www.451Marketing.com

3. Agenda
• Why Does My Brand Need a Strategy?
• Steps to Creating a Successful Social
Strategy
• Corporate Social Protocol Examples
• Case Studies
• Open Q&A

4. Entenmann’s:
#Guilty of Not Having a Plan

5. #notguilty
(Casey Anthony)

6. Domino’s:
No Strategy, No Followers

7. >1 million views on YouTube within 2 days
5 of top 12 search results for Domino’s

8. …no established following or community
– no advocates or evangelists
Waited until a crisis occurred to start a dialogue with
customers…created a Twitter handle after the fact

9. Over 800 Million Users
(if it were a country, it would be the 3rd most populated)
1.3 billion 1.1 billion 311 million800 million

10. (Qualmann, Socialnomics, 2010)
Americans Spend More Time on
Facebook Than Any Other U.S. Site

11. of people trust peer recommendations
(Qualmann, Socialnomics, 2010)
…what has changed is where they get
their recommendations

13. Major Brands Are Using
Social Tools to Engage
with Customers

14. Has >39,000,000 Facebook Fans

15. Has >480,000 Twitter Followers

16. However, Shift from
Monologue to Dialogue
Has Its Risks…

17. Reasons for Failure
Lack of Strategy
Lack of Internal
Resources to Manage
not understanding
your customers
sending out the
wrong messages inconsistency
lack of monitoring
no one dedicated
to social media
underestimation of
time commitment

18. Social Media Campaigns

19. If Social Media Tools Are
Free, Where is the Cost?

20. Building a Social Media Strategy

21. Step 1: Define Objectives & Goals

22. • What are you trying to accomplish?
• Why social media?
• What social platforms will help you
achieve our goals?
What Are Your Objectives?

23. • Generating more brand awareness?
• Driving brand loyalty or build fan culture?
• Monitoring and managing brand reputation?
• Generating awareness of services or offerings and
increasing sales?
• Attracting new employees, investors,
partners/vendors?
Do Your Goals Include…

24. Step 2: Find Your Audience Online

25. • Is your target audience on social sites?
• Which sites do your audience use?
• Do they belong to specialized groups?
• Who are they interacting with?
• Which social media channels would be best to
use for the type of content you have?
Where is Your Audience?

26. Step 3: Audit Your Resources

27. • Content?
• Staff?
• Consistency?
• Technology?
• Tools?
Evaluate Your Current Resources

28. Step 4: Assign Roles and Responsibilities
Social Media Strategist
Social Media Manager
Public Relations
Social Media Metrics
Legal
Privacy/Security
Customer Relations
Advertising/Sales
Content Developer

29. Step 5: Define Success

30. • How many sales/leads were generated?
• How many people are talking about your
company?
• How have you reduced operational costs?
• How have you helped recruiting?
• How many demos views/downloads?
What Activities/Results Measured
to Determine Success?

31. Step 6: Construct Protocol

32. 1. What info do we want to keep private?
2. What kinds of info would we benefit from making public?
3. What personal social media use is appropriate? Inappropriate?
4. How will we measure which rules are helpful and which are not?
5. Who are quality followers? How can we engage them?
6. How can we consistently send our messages?
7. Should we have a set of rules for proactive/reactive social
media use?
8. How do we respond to positive engagement versus negative
engagement?
Consider

33. Define Content Topics
& Create Content
Schedule Share!
Step 7: Execute Your New Strategy

34. Step 8: Measure Results

35. • Have your networks grown or changed? How?
• Are there new social media roles to explore?
• What worked/didn’t work?
• What can we do differently?
• What should we eliminate?
• What should we focus more on?
• How much time is spent on each social media initiative?
• What is our most valuable feedback?
• How is social media changing right now?
• Are we ahead of our competitors?
Measure

36. Noteworthy Social Media Strategies

37. Best Buy #Twelpforce Social Media Policy
Be smart. Be respectful. Be human.
What You Should Do:
• Disclose Your Affiliation
• State That It’s YOUR Opinion
• Protect Yourself
• Act Responsibly and Ethically
• Honor Differences
What You Should Not Disclose:
• The Numbers
• Promotions (In Advance)
• Personal Information About Customers
• Legal Information
• Anything that belongs to someone else
• Confidential Information
>258,000 Followers >5,700,000 Fans >3,700 Subscribers

38. • Follow the Code of Ethics and Conduct
• Protect Confidential Information
Don't Comment on M&A Activity
• Don't Discuss Future Offerings
• Refrain from Objectionable or Inflammatory Posts
• Don't Speak for Oracle
• Don't Post Anonymously
• Respect Copyrights
• Use Video Responsibly
• Stick to Oracle Topics on Oracle-Sponsored Blogs
• Don't Misuse Oracle Resources
Oracle Social Media Policy
"Use common sense"
>56,000 Followers >149,000 Fans >3,200 Subscribers

39. • Transparency in every social media engagement.
• Protection of our consumers' privacy.
• Respect of copyrights, trademarks, rights of publicity, and other
third-party rights in the online social media space, including with
regard to user-generated content (UGC).
• Responsibility in our use of technology.
• Utilization of best practices, listening to the online community,
and compliance with applicable regulations to ensure that these
Online Social Media Principles remain current and reflect the
most up-to-date and appropriate standards of behavior.
The Five Core Social Media Values
Continue Learning and Training
>487,000 Followers >39,000,000 Fans >58,000 Subscribers

40. Social Media Guidelines
Follow the Core Principles
1. Honesty about who you are
2. Clarity That Your Opinions Are Your Own
3. Respect and Humanity in All Communication
4. Good Judgment in Sharing Only Public Information – Including
Financial Data
5. Awareness that What You Say is Permanent
>106,000 Followers >1,100,000 Fans >37,000 Subscribers

41. Do:
• Be personally responsible for the
content they publish on-line
• Use a disclaimer for opinions
• Respect copyright, fair use, and
financial disclosure laws.
• Respect your audience
• Be aware of your association with
IBM in online social networks.
• Try to add value.
Social Computing Guidelines
>12,000 Followers >28,000 Fans >9,000 Subscribers
Don't
• Provide confidential or other
proprietary information
• Cite or reference clients, partners or
suppliers without their approval
• Pick fights, be the first to correct
your own mistakes.
• Use IBM logos or trademarks unless
approved to do so.

42. Social Media Guidelines
>145,000 Followers >12,000,000 Fans >5,000 Subscribers
What You Should Do
• Show respect and be polite, even
if you disagree
• Stay on topic
• Keep it real
Don’t
• Do anything that breaks the law
• Use corporate materials without
permission

43. Dancing Deer Baking Co.
Case Study

45. Contest Results
• 5 million+ page views in 10 days
• 17,000+ entries
• Facebook fans increased 20%
• 5,000+ unique visitors to DancingDeer.com

46. This resulted in a maximum reach of 2.5+
million impressions on twitter!

47. Holiday Social Campaign
Followers 3,434
Followers 23,896
Followers 25,780
Followers 2,409
Followers 34,928
Followers 17,051
Followers 48,652
Followers 15,117

48. 81 Targeted Blogs

49. $175,000+
2 months!

50. Yankee Candle
Case Study

51. About The Yankee Candle Company, Inc.
• Leading designer, manufacturer, wholesaler, and retailer of premium scented
candles
• More than 500+ locations and 25,000+ retailers in 48 countries

52. Overview
• Releasing a new limited-time collection, the Stars and Stripes patriotic line
• Needed to raise national awareness among The Yankee Candle demographic in
time for the Memorial Day holiday weekend

53. Overview
• 451 Marketing identified an ideal partner in Tory Johnson, CEO of Women for Hire
and author who appears regularly on ABC’s Good Morning America as its workplace
contributor
• Tory was seeking out brands to feature on Memorial Day Deals segment

54. Approach
• 3 large jar candles from collection for $30 – nearly 60% discount.
• Deal to run for five days – from the Thursday of the feature through to midnight
Monday (Memorial Day).
• Emphasis on the fact that The Yankee Candle Company manufactures its candles
in the USA, another key selling point for the patriotic themed feature.

55. Broadcast Results
Segment Viewership: 4,243,869

56. Ad Value: $658,000
Broadcast Results

57. Tory Johnson 12,933 Fans
Good Morning America 276,231 Fans
Yankee Candle Co. 346,044 Fans
Facebook Results

58. @TheYankeeCandle 3,449 Followers
@ToryJohnson 23,147 Followers
@GMA 1,720,975 Followers
Total 1,767,571 Impressions
Twitter Results

59. Deal Site Attention
Visitors/Month
CouponCabin 1.2 million
DealNews 1.3 million
SlickDeals 4.2 million
RetailMeNot 4.4 million

60. Drove 15,000 Visits
to YankeeCandle.com

61. >6,000 Transactions in Stores

62. “Just wanted to let you know that
SALES ARE ON FIRE already this morning
after the GMA segment. Phones are ringing
off the hook, customers are pouring through
our doors, calling their friends, bringing their
friends with them!!!! It’s simply lovely!!!”
-Yankee Candle Retail Employee

63. >9,000 Transactions
>27,000 Candles Sold
33% New Customers

64. Questions?

66. – Founded in 2004
– Based in Boston
– 30 Communications Professionals
– Partners Nicholas Lowe,
AJ Gerritson, and Tom Lee
– Named a 2011

68. AJ Gerritson
Founding Partner
617.986.0224
aj@451marketing.com
linkedin.com/in/ajgerritson
@ajgerritson
www.451Marketing.com