Panda Express is developing a social media strategy for 2017 with the goals of creating a more interactive customer experience and directing online traffic to store locations. The key strategies are boosting activity on social platforms and incorporating interactive conversations. A social media audit found Facebook is most effective for driving website traffic. Objectives include increasing website visitors by 40% and gaining 4000 new Instagram followers. Roles and responsibilities are assigned, and a critical response plan is outlined to address potential issues. Progress will be measured through quantitative metrics like website traffic sources and social media follower counts.

1. PANDA EXPRESS
S O C I A L M E D I A S T R AT E G Y
L I Z G A R C I A
2 / 1 9 / 1 7

2. TABLE OF CONTENTS1. Executive Summary February 2017
2. Social Media Audit
a. Social Media Assessment, February 2017
b. Traffic Sources Assessment, June 2016 – September 2016
c. Customer Demographics Assessment
d. Competitor Assessment
3. Social Media Objectives
4. Online Brand Person and Voice
5. Strategies and Tools
6. Timing and Key Dates
7. Social Media Roles and Responsibilities
8. Social Media Policy
9. Critical Response Plan
10. Measurement and Reporting Results February 2017-April 2017

3. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
• Our social media goals for 2017 will revolve around creating a more interactive
customer experience when they visit our website and directing traffic from our online
databases to our different store locations.
• Our top priority is designing fun and innovative ways to capture our customer’s
attention and increasing productivity to meet customer demands.
Two major strategies will help us accomplish these goals:
1. Boost activity on all social media platforms
2. Incorporate interactive conversations amongst consumers

4. SOCIAL MEDIA AUDIT
• The following table showcases Panda Express’ social media activity to date – February
2017
• Social Media Assessment – February 19th, 2017Social Network URL Follower Count Average Weekly
Activity
Average
Engagement Rate
Twitter https://twitter.com
/PandaExpress
34.1K 24 posts per week 5%
Facebook https://www.faceb
ook.com/PandaExp
ress/
3.1M 12 posts per week 2.5%
Instagram https://www.instag
ram.com/officialpa
ndaexpress/?hl=en
40.7k 8 posts per week 4%
LinkedIn https://www.linked
in.com/company-
beta/18306/?path
Wildcard=18306
9.2k 2 posts per week 1.5%

5. WEBSITE TRAFFIC SOURCES ASSESSMENT
Source Volume Percentage of Overall
Traffic
Conversion Rate
Twitter 3,500 unique visits 20% 3.2%
Facebook 10,000 unique visits 55% 5.7%
Instagram 2,000 unique visits 10% 0.7%
LinkedIn 1,500 unique visits 0.2% 0.1%
Timeframe: Monthly Average, June 2016 – September 2016
Traffic Summary:
Currently: Facebook is the most effective social media platform that is driving traffic to our official
company website. The conversion rate has a large gap between other social media platforms,
making Facebook the most suitable for any kind of innovative advertising or for posting new
content.

6. AUDIENCE DEMOGRAPHICS ASSESSMENT
Age
Distribution
Gender
Distribution
Primary Social
Network
Secondary
Social
Network
Primary Need Secondary
Need
65% 18-30
25% 31-40
10% 41-55
10% 56-80
45% Female
55% Male
45% Female
55% Male
60% Facebook
20%
15% Twitter
40%
25% Facebook
15% Twitter
Doing
something
outside of
their comfort
zone or
something
new
Being
surrounded by
their social
network while
doing new
things
Survey distributed May/April 2016 via email. Total applicant responses: 2000
Audience Demographics Summary:
The majority of participants were in the 18-30 age group and used Facebook as their primary
social network, with secondary social networks being Instagram and Twitter. Instagram should be
further developed in order to gain more website traffic.

7. COMPETITOR ASSESSMENT
Competitor Name Social Media Profile Strengths Weaknesses
Pei Wei Asian Diner https://www.facebook.co
m/peiwei/
All dishes are made fresh
and are customizable.
There are 190 locations
and they continue to
grow.
Only have 5
locations and there isn’t
a lot of social media
interactions, thus the
company continues to
less known.
Sarku Japan https://www.facebook.co
m/Sarku-Japan-
306021082404/
Specializes in a niche
market; teriyaki and
with an Americanized
twist on Japanese
Not many locations so
it’s not very well known
and weak social media
presence.
P. F. Chang’s https://www.facebook.co
m/pfchangs/
Fresh and new. Founded
in 1993 and continues to
grow. Huge focus on
technology and
interaction.
Not too many
international locations,
and their food is pricier
so it isn’t an every-day
restaurant.
Competitor Assessment Summary: All competitors are present on social media and their Facebook has
the most followers for each but they are all lacking on international presence.

8. SOCIAL MEDIA OBJECTIVES
• Objectives:
– Increase visitors to website by 40% in
next 7 months by incorporating
social media platforms
• Increase brand awareness by using
Twitter mentions to reach larger
population
• Create more brand hashtags on Twitter
and Instagram
– Gain 4000 new Instagram followers in 3
months
– Post 20% more content on Facebook
30% more Instagram content in the next
5 months.
• KPIS
– Number of Visitors on Facebook
– Number of Instagram Followers
– Number of posts and videos on
Facebook and Instagram
– Sentiment Analysis
• Key Messages
– Innovative American-Chinese fusion
dinners
– Healthy and fresh fast food at your
fingertips
In 2017, our social media goals will revolve around creating a more interactive customer
experience when they visit our website and directing traffic from our online databases to our
different store locations. In order to accomplish this, we will create more interactive online media
for our customers to use and learn more about our company.

9. ONLINE BRAND PERSONA AND VOICE
• Adjectives that best describe our
brand:
– Fast
– Casual
– Delicious
– Attentive
• When interacting with customers:
– Involved
– Friendly
– Perfectionists

10. TO O L S
• Paid:
– Every Thursday, boost all Facebook posts with at least a
60 organic reach rate for the beginning of the weekend
in order to reach a large majority of the 3.1M followers, as
well as at least 20 likes and 50 follows.
• Owned:
– Encourage guests to leave feedback by answering the
survey questions on the back of their receipt and
posting their experiences on Twitter with the hashtag
#PandaPals.
• Earned:
– Monitor Twitter for keywords and terms that can later
be used in an AdWords campaign to gain more
website traffic. Terms could include: Chinese food,
Chinese delivery, healthy entrees, fresh meals, etc.
• Approved Tools:
• HootSuite
• Buffer
• Twitter Analytics
• Facebook Analytics
• Google Adwords
Existing
Subscriptions/Licenses:
Photoshop
Vimeo
ONLINE BRAND PERSONA
AND VOICE

11. TIMING AND KEY DATES
• Holiday Dates:
– Valentine’s Day
– Labor Day
– Thanksgiving Day
– Halloween
– Christmas Day
• Internal Events:
– Pepe the Panda to join UF Dance
Marathon on April 13th
– June 16-19th 2017, Free Kid’s Meal
with the purchase of a 2-Entrée Plate.
• Reporting Dates:
– Reporting will occur once every
quarter beginning in February 2017,
and will continue every month.
Specific dates to be announce.

12. SOCIAL MEDIA ROLES AND
RESPONSIBILITIES
• Marketing Director: Liz Garcia
• Social Media Director: Kassandra Aladro
• Social Media Coordinator: Tomas Sanchez
• Supporting Social Media Team Members: Marco
Munoz (advertising manager), Bradley Evans
(communications director), and Lisdelys Garcia
(lead graphic designer).

13. SOCIAL MEDIA POLICY
• Social Media has become a typical day to day luxury enjoyed by most individuals. As
an employee at Panda Express, it is expected that you conduct yourself appropriately
when speaking on behalf of the company, thus you must execute a sense of etiquette
with your use of social media.
• Be Respectful
• Be Understanding of different people and point of views.
• Don’t start trouble
• Use Common Sense
• Be Friendly
• Be Helpful
• “Treat Others How You’d Like To Be Treated”
Panda Express takes social media use amongst Employees seriously. As a member of the
Panda Family, it is expected that you follow the above rules and inconsistencies may lead to
corrective action.

14. CRITICAL RESPONSE PLAN
• Scenerio 1: Tweet about incorrect Food safety is sent from @theofficialPandaExpress.
– 1. When Tweet is Detected:
• Take a Screenshot of the Tweet with it’s timestamp and date.
• Delete the Tweet
• Alert Kassandra Aladro (Social Media Manager), if Kassandra isn’t available, Message Bradley
(communications director).
– 2. Kassandra to Sync with Bradley and organize a communications plan.
– 3. Kassandra develops a follow up Tweet after the initial.
– 4. If the news have picked up on the situation, Contact all news stations.
– 5. Investigate staff members and locate the employee who sent out the tweet for a stern re-
evaluation of performance.
MESSAGING FOLLOW-UP TWEET WILL BE DETERMINED AT A TIME OF CRISIS, ALL DEPENDENT
ON THE CONTENT OF THE TWEET SENT OUT.

15. MEASUREMENT AND REPORTING
Quantitative KPIs
• Reporting Period: 6 Months
• Date as of June 2016
Website Traffic Sources Assessment
• Time Frame: Monthly Average from January 2016-January 2018
Source Volume Percentage of
Overall Traffic
Conversion Rate
Twitter 1400 unique visits +
25% growth
16% 3.7%
Facebook 2000 unique visits
+5% growth
12% 0.8%
LinkedIn 3000 unique visits
+ 32% growth
20% 4.2%

16. SOCIAL NETWORK DATA
• Time Frame: As of February 1st, 2017
Social Network URL Follower Count Average Weekly
Activity
Average
Engagement Rate
Twitter https://twitter.com
/PandaExpress
7000 Unique Visits
+20% growth
24 posts per week
+ 5% growth
5%
Facebook https://www.faceb
ook.com/PandaEx
press/
4000 Unique Visits
+15% growth
12 posts per week
+ 2.5% growth
2.5%
Instagram https://www.instag
ram.com/officialpa
ndaexpress/?hl=e
n
2000 Unique Visits
+20% growth
8 posts per week
+ 3% growth
4%
LinkedIn https://www.linked
in.com/company-
beta/18306/?path
Wildcard=18306
1500 Unique Visits
+15% growth
2 posts per week
+ 5% growth
1.5%

17. SOCIAL NETWORK DATA CON’T
• With all social media platforms generating traffic to the official website and increasing
revenue, we have elected to continue to put in effort into our social media
campaigns and continue to create interactive content for customers to enjoy,
whether in our restaurant lobby or at home.
• LinkedIn will continue to be at the forefront of our social media efforts, in order to
connect with all kinds of individuals from around this beautiful and diverse world.#PandaBuddies Hashtag Performance
• Between June 2016 – September 2016, the hashtag was mentioned 2000 times on Twitter
and 3000 times on Instagram.
• 500 Instagram posts posted with the hashtag yielded higher responses, due to users
tagging their friends on the photos as well.
Qualitative KPIs
• An Analysis of 100 Facebook posts,
100 Twitter and Instagram posts
revealed the following:
• Majority of customers happy
with their visit.
• The most negative traffic to
deal with is with food pricing.
Proposed Action Items
• Continue #PandaBuddies
Campaign
• Continue encouraging guests to
leave feedback surveys
• Prepare a Mission statement and
Code of Ethics for next hiring
season.