This document outlines a capstone project for a social media strategy for a meal kit delivery service. It provides background on the competitive landscape and business situation. The objectives, social media objectives, strategy, goals, target audiences, timeline, tactics, and influencers are then defined to improve subscriber retention and trial awareness.

1. Capstone Project for Rutgers Social Media Mini-MBA Fall 2016
Contributors:
Carolina Bermúdez Maldonado
Chelsea Cota
Debi Gallo
Morgan Greenleaf
Angelo John Lewis
Charles Wasilewski

2. Agenda
1. Background
• Competitive Landscape
• Business Situation
2. Business Objectives
3. Social Media Objectives
4. Social Media Strategy and Goals
5. Target Audiences (Personas)
6. Timeline and Tactics
7. Influencers

3. Industry:
Meal Kit Delivery Service
Overall Category Benefits:
Convenience/Delicious Food

4. Blue Apron (2012) Plated (2012) Hello Fresh (2012) Peach Dish (2013) Home Chef (2013) Purple Carrot
(2014)
3 3 1.5 4 3.5 1
Membership Plan -$59.99 x 3 Meals x 2
People ($9.99)
-$69.99 x 2 Meals x 4
People ($8.74)
-$48 x 2 Meals x 2
People ($12)
-$72 x 3 Meals x 2
People ($12)
-$96 x 4 Meals x 2
People ($12)
-$69 x 3 Meals x 2
People (Classic Box)
($11.50)
-$59.99 x 3 Meals x 2
People (Veggie Box)
($9.99)
-$105 x 3 Meals x 4
People (Family Box)
($8.75)
-$25 Meal x 2 People
($12.50)
-$50 Meal x 4 People
($12.50)
-$90 Meal x 8 People
($11.25)
-$130 Meal x 12
People ($10.83)
-2 Minimum Meals x
Week
-$9.95 x Serving per
Meal
-$4.95 x Serving per
Smoothie and Fruit
Selection
-$68 x 3 Meals x 2
People ($11.33)
-$74 x 2 Meals x 4
People ($9.25)
Packaging All ingredients
thrown together
Good Simple cardboard
and apron and
rubber spatula
Extra snacks Wasteful Wasteful
Recipe Variety Lacking (2 People
6/4 People - 4)
Good (6 dinner/2
dessert)
Automated (Swap
Option)
Good (8) Excellent (10
dinner/1 smoothie or
fruit bag)
Automated
Ingredient Quality Excellent Good Not healthy Good Good Good
Recipe Accuracy Good Lacking Extra food Good Good + tips and
wine/beer pairings
Not easy
Shipping Free 2 Meals $6
Other Free
Free Free Free 3 or More Meals
or $10
Free
Cancellation Anytime Anytime Anytime No subscription Anytime Anytime
Nutrition Facts No No Yes Yes Yes No
Calorie Information Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
Blue Apron
Points of
Differentiation:
• One of the
First-To-Market
• Ingredient
Quality
• Wine
Distribution

5. Competitive Landscape
Blue Apron Plated Hello Fresh Peach Dish
Facebook Likes 1,503,380 252,000 1,012,915 16,457
Facebook Engagement 0.091% 0.019% 0.18% 0.080%
Pinterest Followers 42,500 15,000 36,300 N/A
Instagram Followers 244,000 84,000 108,000 14,000
YouTube Views 906,185 242,000 1,848,656 163,873

6. Competitive Landscape

7. Business Situation
• Subscription business is
growing.
• People have less time to
meal plan.
• Consumers want to focus on
health and convenience.

8. Business Objectives
1. Improve subscriber retention past
the 6-month drop-off mark by 20%.
2. Capture 20,000 new trial users.

9. Social Media Objectives
Increase brand loyalty among
current subscribers
Create brand engagement among
current trial users
Drive trial awareness among
non-users

10. Social Media Strategy
Use user generated content to
create engagement
Offer hub content
Develop hero content

11. Social Media Goals
1. 50% increase in engagement across all
channels: Facebook, Twitter, Instagram,
Pinterest
2. Increase YouTube subscribers by 100%

12. Target Persona 1: Janey Longhours
• Job Title: Overworked Young
Professional
• Needs (Choice, Value, Deals):
• Home-cooked meal.
• A healthier alternative to takeout.
• Meal Variety.
• Noticed she put on a couple pounds due to
eating takeout.
• Longs for home-cooked food.
• Busy worklife doesn’t allow much time to
plan, shop for groceries and prepare dinner.
• Media Habits: Mobile smartphone heavy user,
especially text and Facebook. Uses streaming
services.
• Interests: Skiing, working out.

13. Target Persona 2: Natalie Neverstops
• Job Title: CFO (Chief Family Officer)
• Needs (Choice, Value, Deals):
• Graduate student.
• Wonder Mom.
• Healthier dinners for the family.
• Less time at the grocery store.
• Meal variety.
• Likes cooking, but no time.
• Media Habits (Traditional + Digital + Social):
Tablet, mobile, and laptop user. Facebook and
kindle.
• Interests: Outdoors trips with the kids and the
dogs.

14. Timeline/Tactics
Q1 (Jan-March) Q2 (April-June) Q4 (Oct-Dec)Q3 (July-Sept)
• Tools: BuzzSumo,
Hootsuite, Google Trends,
Google Analytics, Fanpage
Karma
• Establish baseline metrics
• Rebrand blog
• Establish metric baselines
• Instagram “datenight”
contest for Valentine’s Day;
#blueaprondatenight
• Start to utilize Facebook
Live for recipe “sneak
peeks”
• Opt in SMS lists
announcing new recipes
for mobile
• Focus on seasonality,
human elements, making
the home cook the “hero”
• Run Facebook contest: “Blue
Apron Superstar” of the month
• Utilize boosted posts
• Feature winners on blog
and social media
• Social media users can
vote on their favorite to
win Blue Apron for a year
• Feature blog about top 10 food
and wine influencers
• “Ask Me Anything” Twitter
campaign featuring influencers
• Quarter check in on metrics
• Launch YouTube campaign
making home cooks the stars
• “I love Blue Apron
because…”
• Launch gamification on
mobile app
• Quarter check in on metrics
• Giving campaign
• Create hero content;
for every new
subscription Blue
Apron will donate to
“Feed The Children”
• Check final quarterly metrics
Continuously nurture influencer relationships

15. Influencers
Kath Younger is a Registered Dietitian, and full-
time blogger who maintains the
www.katheats.com website and posts regularly to
the major social networks. She is open to “brand-
seeking partnerships,” but doesn’t want to be
added to anyone’s press release network.
She combines the role of a personal brand and an
authority. As a dietician, we might pitch her on
blogging about the nutritional value of Blue
Apron’s offerings. As she publishes a lot of recipes,
we might offer her an opportunity to contribute a
guest recipe to Blue Apron and thus boost her
brand.

16. Influencers
Shauna James Ahern is the author of the cookbook,
Gluten-Free Girl Everyday, which won a James Beard
award for excellence. She is also the author,
photographer, and head baker at Gluten-Free Girl and the
Chef, her much-loved food website
(www.glutenfreegirl.com), which she creates with her
chef husband, Daniel Ahern.
Although Blue Apron doesn’t offer a specifically gluten-
free offering, the site’s chefs contribute gluten-free
recipes to their branded Blue Apron Pinterest board. As
Ahern is a baker, we might offer her a chance to
contribute a recipe as a guest chef, t hereby helping her
build her brand. We might ask her to mention BA’s site’s
Pinterest board on their site.