Lesson #6
OK, Now What?
Putting an online strategy in place
for your company

What have we learned
over the past 5 weeks?
• Social media is about two-way communications, so
any plan must allow for conversation.
• Social media is about what is happening now, so
content must be consistently fresh.
• Social media is about sharing in mixed media
formats, so plans should include text, audio, video,
and photos.
• Social media is about like-minded people sharing
with each other.
• Social media is transparent, so don’t try to hide.
• When using social media, plan for the unexpected.
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How might a company
use social media?
A sample plan.

Billie Hats
Billie Hats is a for-profit company that manufactures
cold-weather designer hats for adults and children.
The company offers six different styles of hats for
males and females. As a part of the company’s
philosophy for every hat that is sold Billie Hats
donates 10 infant hats to hospitals, non-profits and
need families in Peru and Pakistan where infant death
as a result of the cold is the highest in the world.

Goal
Establish brand awareness and interest of
a start-up company using social media.

Targets
Potential investors.
Consumers interested in making a statement
with the clothes they wear.
Consumers interested in making a
difference in the world.

Strategy #1:
Establish a brand personality.
• Social media is all about sharing who you are, so
create a personality for the Billie Hats brand.
• What is that personality?
- Socially conscious.
- Green.
- Youthful, but not immature.
- Idealistic.
- Trendy.
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Strategy #2:
Create a hub for the Billie
Hats online community.
• Should be simple, easy to navigate, and make users feel like
they’re connecting with the brand.
• Tell the Billie Hats story.
• Allow for online purchases.
• Include a feature that allows consumers to tell their own Billie
Hats stories/experiences/photos.
• Include stories from families who have received hats from
Billie Hats.
• Provide logos, photos and bullet-pointed facts for consumers
and media to pull and place on their own websites/networks.
• Include requests for how to talk about Billie Hats online:
hashtags, content tags, etc.
• Make it easy to share content: RSS, ShareThis, Retweet, etc.
• Update daily. Blog, embedded Twitter feed, embedded Flickr
feed, etc.
• Allow people to sign up for updates: text and email.
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Strategy #3:
Reach out to existing social
networks that align with the
brand personality and create
a presence for Billie Hats in
those spaces.
• Facebook
• Twitter
• YouTube channel
• Vimeo channel
• Flickr group
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Strategy #4:
Develop branded content that
engages consumers and place
it on the social media
channels.
• Music playlists.
• Videos, both generated by Billie Hats and generated
by users.
10

Strategy #5:
Build local community
opportunities.
• Send sticker/car decal with purchase.
• Develop design-a-hat house parties using
houseparty.com
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Strategy #6:
Take the brand mobile.
• iPhone/BlackBerry/Android applications:
- Rolling ticker of number of children that have
received a hat.
- Buy online feature.
- Community feature including photo sharing.
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Strategy #7:
Hire someone or multiple
people to manage the
communications.
• This is the marketing and PR strategy; it needs a
competent manager.
13

Strategy #8:
Measure success.
• Analyze earned media impact.
• Share results.
• Brand buzz.
- Online traffic.
- User generated content.
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Questions?
Emily Blake
ereeves@stoneward.com brutherford@stoneward.com
501.772.6142 (text) 501.772.6108 (text)
@reeves501 @blakerutherford