AJ Gerritson, Founding Partner and Social Media Strategist at 451 Marketing, discusses the importance and steps of creating a corporate social media strategy.

1. 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
#451Wkshp

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

5. (Casey Anthony)
#notguilty

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

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

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

11. of people trust peer recommendations
Only 14% trust advertisements
(Qualmann, Socialnomics, 2010)

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

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

23. Do Your Goals Include…
• 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?

24. Step 2: Find Your Audience Online

25. Where is Your Audience?
• 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?

26. Step 3: Audit Your Resources

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

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

29. Step 5: Define Success

30. What Activities/Results Measured
to Determine Success?
• 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?

31. Step 6: Construct Protocol

32. Consider
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?

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

34. Step 8: Measure Results

35. Measure
• 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?

36. Noteworthy Social Media Strategies

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

38. Oracle Social Media Policy
"Use common sense"
• 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
>56,000 Followers >149,000 Fans >3,200 Subscribers

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

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

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. Challenge 1:
Deal must offer significant discount

55. Challenge 2:
Short lead time to prepare for feature

56. Challenge 3:
Large amount of uncertainty surrounding
whether feature would air

57. 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.

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

59. Broadcast Results
Ad Value: $658,000

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

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

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

63. Drove 15,000 Visits
to YankeeCandle.com

64. >6,000 Transactions in Stores

65. “I just had a customer come in looking for the 3
for $30 deal. She ended up with 12 jars - we
only have 8 God Bless America jars left!! As I
typed this, the customer came back- her friend
wanted 3. As I was helping her to the door, her
other friend called and wanted 6.
A great deal this customer just had to pass
along to everyone she knew!”
-Yankee Candle Retail Employee

66. “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

67. >9,000 Transactions
>27,000 Candles Sold
33% New Customers

68. Questions?

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

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