The document outlines social media recommendations to strengthen engagement and visibility for the ex smoking cessation initiative, advocating for timely implementation of strategies such as Twitter engagement, enhanced social media tone, and improved app store branding. It emphasizes the importance of tailored communication and curated content to connect with users meaningfully, while suggesting practical changes for better resource visibility and content sharing. The recommendations are aimed at positioning ex as a leader in smoking cessation support and should be executed promptly following research completion.

1. EX Social Media Recommendations
June 18, 2012

2. Background
These suggestions are independent of the Dynamic
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Logic research and are based on the research from
the Social Media Competitive Analysis.
That said, we recommend that, if approved, they are
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implemented as soon as possible to keep EX at the
forefront of the smoking cessation conversation.
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3. Summary
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4. Recommendations
• Twitter Engagement
• Social Media Tone
• Social Media Content
• App Store Badge
• Current App Search Terms
• Social Sharing Integration
• New App Deployment
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5. Twitter Engagement
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6. Recommendation
Search for terms relevant to smoking
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cessation (ex: “Need to quit smoking”)
and respond @ mentions, using hash
tags to start a conversation.
Note: @ mentions will be displayed on
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the EX twitter profile page publicly
Keep track of who was Tweeted (excel
database perhaps), and follow up 3
days later to check up on them.
Also, if they are relevant, incorporate
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current Twitter Trends into posts to
reach a larger audience.
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7. Rationale/User Experience
A community can often help people achieve personal
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goals.
Direct communication lets someone know that EX cares
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about them and that it’s not just a mass message to
anyone who will listen.
It allows the user to discover EX’s benefits without
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feeling like their being “sold” to.
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8. Requirements/Tactical
Time: As part of Cas’ overall efforts, adding as little as 1 hour
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a day would make a serious impact, however the more time
spent, the more people reached. There are thousands of
people “quitting” on twitter.
This should begin as soon as possible to capitalize on the
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Sklar Brothers promotion.
ex: “Quitting smoking is tough! Next time you want a cigarette,
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laugh instead: bit.ly.JF04 and follow @TheEXTeam – You don’t
have to quit alone!”
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9. Social Media Tone
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10. Recommendation
To improve on current
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communication (example
to the right) EX could
inject more personality
into the conversations that
they have with their
followers/users. For
example, look at the tone
of the brand,
“Re-learn annoying
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bosses,” which is friendly
and light.
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11. Rationale/User Experience
People tend to engage more if you speak to them in
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their own language – that is less formal and with more
personality and empathy.
Example: SmokefreeWomen
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12. Requirements/Tactical
Consider updating the brand guidelines to give more
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detail around developing a social voice.
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13. Social Media Content
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14. Recommendation
Add curated content to the
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stream of posts on both
Twitter and Facebook.
This can be done through
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RTs and links
Because EX is operating
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best-in-class with a fully
optimized mobile site, this
recommendation is even
more important.
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15. Rationale/User Experience
Seeing content from a multitude of sources often gives
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information more validation.
Being spoken to by different voices can keep people
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interested longer, especially the younger generation.
Promoting extra content can make the message seem
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more genuine.
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16. Requirements/Tactical
This can also be addressed in the expanded version of
the brand guidelines and should include approved
sources for content.
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17. App Store Badge
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18. Recommendation
Add the “Available on
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the App Store” badge to
the website banner
promoting the app.
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19. Rationale/User Experience
Many people have been “trained” to see this badge.
Without it, the current promotion can be easily glanced
over. Here are the competitor’s app promotions:
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20. Requirements/Tactical
GSD&M and Beaconfire can work together to
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implement this improvement.
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21. App Branding
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22. Recommendation
Optimize tagging and
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search terms for the
mobile app.
Currently, the app can
only be found by
searching either
“American Legacy
Foundation” or
“TheEXPlan.”
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23. Rationale/User Experience
Legacy is not a consumer-facing brand name. The consumer-
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facing brand is “BecomeAnEX.” With the “BecomeAnEX.org,”
“@TheEXTeam,” and “TheEXPlan,” the search terms become
blurred and can often interfere with location of the app.
Adding search terms for both “BecomeAnEX” and
“TheEXTeam” might generate more downloads.
Note: Consider a free download (or at least a “lite” version
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that can help smokers begin their quit process at no charge).
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24. Requirements/Tactical
Legacy would need to resubmit the EX app with new
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key words. Note that there are only 100 characters
(including spaces) for the key words.
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25. Social Sharing Integration
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26. Recommendation
Move the share function
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buttons from the sidebar
to immediately above or
below each post.
Consider calling
attention to them, as
well.
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27. Rationale/User Experience
At first look, because the sharing buttons are buried in
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the sidebar, it appears to serve as a website share
button, rather than a page share (individual
blogs/articles/profile pages). When placed immediately
above or below each individual post/page/article (which
is the industry standard practice), users know that all
content can be shared on social platforms.
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28. Requirements/Tactical
After investigation, the Elgg platform that EX uses
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currently does not allow the execution of this feature. It
is included in this deck because it still a best in practice
tactic.
Legacy can note this as a issue inhibited by the
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platform and keep this as a possibility in the future
should the platform be changed.
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29. App Launch
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30. Recommendation
Launch the new EX app as soon as possible
after the Dynamic Logic research is completed.
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31. Rationale/User Experience
Given the social media changes recommended and
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EX’s best-in-class mobile platform, launching the new
application will continue to keep EX positioned as a
leader in this space.
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32. Requirements/Tactical
Agency to begin production on mobile app as soon as
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research is complete.
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