BuzzFeed Valentine is a project piloted at Arizona State University. Marketing students work with BuzzFeed in a way that combines elements of marketing strategy, consumer behavior, digital industry tools, and public outreach. Presentation given on 9/16/2015 at the MMA Fall Educators Conference in San Juan, Puerto Rico, as part of the AxcessCapon Teaching Innovation Competition finals.

1. Creating a Digital Marketing Case Study

2. • Project background
• How BuzzFeed Valentine works
• Outcomes you can expect
• Ideas for adaptation

3. f
Source

4. Source

10. 1. Create and publish a BuzzFeed post one
week before Valentine’s Day
2. Must be Valentine-related
3. Must select a market to “hypertarget”
4. 1,000 pageviews

11. 1. Consumer identities and consumption
2. Information gaps and the psychology of clickbait
3. Emotional response can lead to action

12. • Practical basics
• Image rights and attribution
• “Market testing”
• Search engine optimization (opt.)

13. • Student-preferred vs. market-preferred
channels
• Social networks and communities
• Forums and websites
• Email
• Search
• BuzzFeed “Seed” views
• Influencer psychology (Cialdini)
• Liking
• Reciprocity
• Authority
• Social Proof
• Scarcity
• Consistency

14. Education
Creation
Execution
Reflection & Discussion
Marketing
Plan
Case
Report
1,000
Views
Content

15. My inspiration for the post was… I loved the most recent X-Men movie and have seen lots of friends excited about it.
My target audience is… Primary: People who like X-Men or have a significant other who likes X-Men
Secondary: Comic book lovers, people who hate X-Men, people who like cheesy humor
My USP is… Multiple unique, funny, visual, X-men-related Valentines
They will find it via…  Social media (Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest)
 Search engines (Optimizing for “x-men valentines”)
 Syndication (Comic-related websites, forums)
They will share it because… People want visual ways to express affection that aligns with their preferences; digital images
make these easy to e-mail or link to.
They may not share it because… It doesn’t have their favorite X-Men, they don’t like X-Men, they dislike pun-based humor,
design quality wasn’t good enough
My strategy to maximize product-
market fit includes…
Examples of market research/market testing: audience research, headline generation,
feedback from target market, identification of similar successful content, tools and data
sources (Be specific)
An example of successful content
targeting the same target audience
is…
http://www.buzzfeed.com/perpetua/94-x-men-members-ranked-from-worst-to-best (34,042
total shares via Buzzsumo)
Social Media (Twitter) Chris Conroy
(@dyfl)
Comic editor, shared X-men related humor 2,300 60

19. • 26,000+ total pageviews (1,085 average)
• Promotion help from companies like PetSmart
• Multiple job offers

20. “I didn’t realize how effective social
media could be…I also learned the
importance of having a target market
and focusing your audience to be able to
attract and engage individuals.”
“I will definitely be applying this at my
current internship and future jobs.”

21. “The biggest lesson that I learned… is
how you must really be rational to what
people will want to read. I chose a very
targeted readership and I simply did not
reach them. Trying to process all the
considerations was a very new thing.”

22. “Originally I thought it would be overwhelming to
create something on BuzzFeed…but I was
pleasantly surprised at how manageable and fun
the process was.”
“I took a lot away from participating in this process
and I realized that a plan needs to be carried out
strategically and in a timely manner.”

23. “I learned a lot…and received a lot of
positive feedback from those that read
my article. I learned that having a
promotion plan is just as important, if not
more important, as creating the content
itself.”

24. “The BuzzFeed project was unique and
fun overall...Being graded on views for
BuzzFeed was intimidating… but without
that motivation, I wouldn’t have worked
as hard.”

25. • Auburn U
• Baruch College
• BYU-Hawaii
• Bournemouth U (UK)
• Campbellsville U
• Dartmouth College
• Erasmus U (Netherlands)
• George Washington U
• Georgia Gwinnett College
• Henderson State U
• Texas Tech U
• U of Central Florida
• U of Maine
• U of New Mexico
• U of San Diego
• Utah State U
• Washington State U
• West Virginia U
• Western Kentucky U
• William & Mary
• High Point U
• Humboldt State U
• Illinois State University
• James Madison U
• Michigan State U
• North Island College
• Penn State U
• Radford U
• Rochester IT
• Saint Louis U

26. As a Dartmouth MBA group project…

27. Marketing strategy
Consumer behavior
Digital marketing
Social media marketing
Advertising
New product development
Technical and professional writing
Holidays
• Valentine’s Day
• Mother’s Day
• Father’s Day
• Halloween
• Thanksgiving
• Christmas
Seasons
Big Events
Your City
Change topic emphasis
Individual or group
Report or presentation
Undergrad or MBA

28. Each student gets a personal case study in
digital marketing, including experience with:
• Analytics • Market testing
• Social media & content
marketing
• Segmentation, targeting, &
positioning
• Influencer outreach • Strategic marketing plan creation
• Campaign management • Industry tools
• Search engine optimization • Media rights & usage

29. scott.cowley@asu.edu
@scottcowley on Twitter
/in/scottcowley on LinkedIn