H&R Block began in the 1950s as a small bookkeeping business and became a large tax preparation firm. It launched various social media marketing campaigns involving YouTube, Facebook, and Twitter to provide tax information and engage customers. H&R Block's goals are to field customer inquiries, contribute tax expertise online, and change its perception from just a brick-and-mortar company. It measures campaign success through increased brand awareness and consideration of its online tax products.

1. Prepared
by:
Carlos
Gómez
Course: Social Media Marketing
Assignment: THE SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING PLAN of "H&R Block"
Student: Carlos Gómez
Instructors: Mike Moran & Monique de Maio

2. H&R Block began on Main Street in Kansas City, Missouri in the
early 1950’s as United Business Company; a bookkeeping service for
small businesses.
In 1954, Henry and Richard Bloch decided to open a new business
“H&R Block,” a for profit tax preparation service.
They charged five dollars to complete a return when they started.
By 1962, they were a publicly trade organization. A TV ad marketing
campaign begun in 1972 featured Henry Bloch and became the
springboard for H&R Block becoming one the most widely
recognized brand names in the U.S.
In 1980 H&R Block purchased the CompuServe online service.
Today H&R Block leaped into social media marketing in a big way
Your messaging tools includes blogs, twitter, Facebook, MySpace,
YouTube, Second Life avatars, widgets, rss feeds, chat rooms and
websites.
Henry Bloch was born July 30, 1922
Richard Adolf Bloch
Born: 15-Feb-1926
Birthplace: Kansas City, MO
Died: 21-Jul-2004
Location of death: Kansas City, MO
Cause of death: Heart Failure

3.  H & R block vision is to be the preferred tax and
financial partner for each of their customer in every
market they serve.
 Their mission is to help clients achieve their
financial objectives by serving as a tax and financial
partner.
 The current vision and mission statement is
appropriate because it communicates both the purpose
and values of H & R block.
 The current mission statement primary objectives is
helping client achieve their financial objectives by
serving as their tax and financial partner.

5. H&R Block put the fun back into taxes
• Engage with taxpayers by setting up a presence in many different parts of the social web
• Depending on the audience/platform, made taxes funny, interesting, informative or personal.
• MySpace and YouTube
– Created spoof character Truman Greene who sang parody songs about his love of taxes
• Facebook
– Useful fools for people
– Tips
– Education
• Twitter
– Experts available 24/7 to answer questions

6. H&R Block’s goals for social media engagement are simple: Field and answer
product inquiries and company-specific questions, and contribute expertise and
advice to the larger online community discussion regarding all things tax prep.
 YouTube
 MySpace
 Facebook
 Twitter
 EHarmony
 “Digits” (their own online community)
 Virtual communities – Second Life
Source: http://www.podtech.net/home/5209/h-block-social-media-
programs-success

7. Expion is the leading enterprise
grade software for managing
thousands of social profiles on
Facebook, Twitter, Google+,
YouTube and beyond. With
unmatched competitive and brand
insights, Expion’s SMMS
provides a proven way to
understand, manage, control and
grow your brand’s social media
presence – at a local and global
level.
 H&R Block suffered a backlash on Facebook after 600,000 of its clients' tax returns were
delayed by as much as six weeks.
 During this troubles, H&R Block implements the Expion’s Social Advocator software, which
lets H&R Block send them Facebook and Twitter content for consistent messaging.

8.  H&R Block Inc. announced that it has opened up shop in the online virtual universe
known as Second Life.
 In this month March, 2013 H&R Block became the first retail tax preparer to work
with Waze, the world’s fastest-growing community-based traffic and navigation app.

10. In 2007, H&R BLOCK engaged 360i to create a social media strategy for the 2008 tax season
that would drive consideration for H&R Block’s online tax products and build up an online
presence for the brand.
The goals of the campaign were to change perception of H&R Block as simply “brick and
mortar” to a digital brand with a strong online presence.
 The campaign results:
- Total brand awareness increased 52 percent;
- Word of mouth awareness increased 55 percent;
- Internet advertising awareness increased 171 percent.

12. As we have seen H & R Block uses very well the
marketing mix, is most likely the most notorious phrase in marketing.
The elements are the marketing tactics and strategies that all
successful companies implement to market their products and
services. Better known as the 4-P's, the four different marketing mix
elements are price, place, product, and promotion. The overall
concepts are simple. There are a number of circumstances that
indicate which elements of the marketing mix should be implemented
and to what degree they are necessary. Generally speaking, the so-
called "marketing mix" is a framework which acts as a guideline for
marketers to implement a marketing concept. It consists of a set of
major decision areas that a company needs to manage in order to at
least satisfy consumer needs. The mix is a set of "controllable tactical
marketing tools that the firm blends to produce the response it wants
in the target market". Therefore, businesses today must have an
effective marketing program that includes all four of the marketing
mix elements and ensured that they are properly mixed it they want to
achieve the organizations marketing objectives.

13. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zQ1nQHbLGfk
DOLLARS & SENSE
If you not see the movie click here

15. Social media includes the various
online technology tools that
enable people to communicate
easily via the internet to share
information and resources. Social
media can include text, audio,
video, images, podcasts, and
other multimedia communications.

16. • 250,000 new people become a member of facebook – everyday
• Over 50% of facebook users are over the age of 36
• The fastest growing demographic - women over 55 years old
• 54% of Fortune 100 companies use twitter to reach customers
• 80% of companies use LinkedIn for recruiting new employees
• Blogger attracts 106.8 billion visits every month

17. Social Networks
News & Bookmarking
Blogs
Microblogging
Video Sharing
Photo Sharing
Message boards
Wikis
Virtual Reality
Social Gaming
Related:
Podcasts
Real Simple Syndication (RSS)
Social Media Press Release

18. People and organizations connect
and interact with friends,
colleagues and fans.
Popular social networks include
Facebook and MySpace,
Linkedin, bebo, and Ning.
There are niche social networks for
just about everything.

21.  Start out small
 Clearly define your marketing objectives
 Select your target market
 Assess your capabilities and know-how
 Execute your online strategy
 Measure your effectiveness
 Most importantly, experiment!

23. What is Web 2.0?
The 2nd generation of the World Wide Web
Movement away from static web pages to dynamic web applications
Web 2.0 sites are Social Media that help us communicate A
LOT faster!

25. Reach
Website visits / views
volume of reviews
and comments
Incoming links
Action & Insight
Sales inquiries
New business
Customer satisfaction
and loyalty
Marketing efficiency
Engagement & Influence
Sentiment of reviews
and comments
Brand affinity
Commenter authority/influence
Time spent
Favourites / Friends / Fans
Viral forwards
Number of downloads
Source: The Digital Influence Group, Measuring the Influence of Social Media

26. Resources required for social media may
include:
Strategic consultation
Training
Creating content
Integrating tools
Distributing content
Relationship management
Measuring value

27. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5mid8p4A6Eg
If you not see the movie click here