Social Media Strategy5822- Instructor: Dr. Carleen ShafferAugust, 2012

Rachelle SokanLinda Holzschu

Office

Products

Plus

Agenda

Company Overview (Rachelle)

Social Media Landscape (Linda)

Social Media Strategy (Rachelle)

Roadmap for Office Products Plus (Linda)

Goals and Measurements (Rachelle)

Lessons Learned & Conclusions (Linda)

Company Overview

Company Overview

United Stationers

United Stationers is the leading North American wholesaler of office products

5B in net sales

Carry over 100,000 products through 61 distribution centers

Currently manage over 25,000 resellers

Reseller Overview

Office Products Plus

Office Products Plus, located in Ridgeland MS is a small reseller of office products

Less than 30 employees

Stock and sell over 30,000 items

Social Media Landscape

Social Media @ Office Products Plus

OPP is starting with a blank canvas

Resources and skill set constraints

Identified a need for an online listening program

Competitive Landscape

Social Media Tools

Office Products Plus

WB Mason

Innovative Office Supplies

New England Office Supplies

Shoplet

Facebook

Twitter

Pinterest

Blogs

Hootsuite

LinkedIn

YouTube

SWOT - Office Products Plus

ThreatsCompetitors using Social MediaNational distributors (Big box)Provide 24 hr. customer service/ responseVery Price sensitive / couponsToo much information Poor strategy – week implementation

OpportunitiesEngage consumers , track & measure Train employees in SM toolsCoupons are a plusMake it easy to place orders Build brand loyaltyMeasure client’s business objectivePersonalize service and support

WeaknessesLittle emphasis on using SMCurrent lack of committed resourcesLack of product awareness -

marketing Low Brand Awareness Started w/ Blank Canvas Lack of employee skillsets in SM

StrengthsUpper management positive

endorsementCredible ProductsLarge Market base Easily AccessibleSmall/more flexibility Can offer personalized service

Social Media Strategy

4 Key Decisions

Decisions for Strategy:

1: Define the goal & objective

2: Determine tracking methods – to measure against the effectiveness of the goal.

3: How to map – what do your followers see – where are you directing them?

4: Are the enterprise social media marketing efforts link to each other – work in synergy?

Define Objectives

Define:

1: The basic tactics

2: The agreed upon strategy

Social Media Strategy

Develop an online listening program to determine the following:

Share of Voice – How is your company performing

Customer Sentiment – How does the customer feel about your products

Who is saying what and where – Consumer feedback

Social Media Strategy

A well crafted social media strategy will accomplish the following:

Brand awareness and messaging

Make an emotional connection

Begin with the end in mind and utilize tools that impact goals and performance

One size does not fit all Understand customer behavior

Humanize your brand How can you integrate your employees into the customer experience

Social Media Roadmap

5 Important Steps

1. What is the goal of our social media marketing project? What do we want to accomplish / when? – Audience defined

2. What tracking methods will we use to determine if we have the right strategies in place to achieve our goal? Metrics and reports

3. Do you need a FTE in house or is outsourcing the duties a better fit?- In house dedicated resource (System Administrator).

4. How will we map it-What do our followers see i.e. sites/pages that we are directing them too? Document process steps

5. Do all of the enterprise social media marketing efforts work in synergy with each other? – Make 1 common platform for the company

Optimization for Road map

Implementation

The Office Products Plus Home Base for engagement begins with a Word Press blog. Content will be linked to other social media outposts, such as posting a video on the blog while linking it to the OPP Twitter and Facebook accounts.

Social Media tools will be used to convey OPP marketing messaging and loyalty with:

• The OPP Blog (Word press and Website)

• Email Campaigns

• Print Marketing

• Customer Service

• Sales

Road map - Timeline

April/

May

• Conducting an assessment of Office products plus current involvement -Research & Confirm the client’s goal for social media

June

• Present findings gain approvals for initial strategy to the client

July• Determine and Document Final Strategy

August

• Implement Project Plan for Final Strategy

Sept/ Dec

• Confirm measurements and interpret metrics achieved since from implementation of strategy

Dec

• Review results with client and solicit feedback- Introduce Phase 2 of SM Project Integration for 2013.

Goals and Metrics

Small Wins

For Office Products Plus the goal was to measure the following:

The number of Face book likes Monitor conversations Add promotions with corresponding promo code

Number of Twitter followers Determine if there was an increase in search volume

Number of subscribers to weekly newsletters

Lessons Learned & Conclusions

Lessons Learned

• Don’t put off Social Media

• Commit both time and resources

• Know your customers objectives

• Find out what works for your competition

• Measure and interpret results

• Phase the project move to 2nd phase to add/ integrate what works

• Have patience – be flexible. Continue to understand the SM

environment/ customers/ and competition

Conclusions

Positive experience working with Office Products Plus

Recommend they continue to aggressively promote themselves on various SM forums.

Part of this effort involves believing that SM can truly benefit their company; not a passing fad.

Research shows:

The audience of internet users in the U.S. will expand by 3.1% to 239 million in 2012.

Facebook will reach 143.4 million US users in 2012, up 8.2% from 132.5 million in 2011.

About 2/3 of web users will use social networks in 2012.

Thank You!

Rachelle SokanLinda Holzschu