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Social Media Campaign
By Natalie Webb and Kim Hill
Communications 344: E-Media and Digital Writing
Fall 2014
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Table of Contents
Meeting 1………………………………………………………………………Page 3
Meeting 2………………………………………………………………………Page 4
Meeting 3………………………………………………………………………Page 5
Target Audience Analysis………………………………………....…………...Page 6
SWOT Analysis………………………………………………………………..Page 7
Blog…………………………………………………………………………….Page 8
Evaluation………………………………………………………………………Page 10
Twitter…………………………………………………………………………..Page 11
Evaluation…………………………………………………………………........Page 15
Flickr………………………………………………………………………...….Page 16
Evaluation………………………………………………………………………Page 20
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Meeting 1
We met with our client Mike Meehan, a Communication Specialist at Peabody Energy.
Mr. Meehan has been working there for seven months as the first full time social media worker
at the company. In a typical workday, he manages the content that gets put out for Twitter and
LinkedIn, keeps updated on Hootsuite and any important news related to the field, and addresses
negativity surrounding the company or the market. He gave us an in-depth look at Peabody’s
current social media status and the background of the company.
Peabody Energy has only made social media a priority within the last two years. There
are two major social media sites. The company utilizes Twitter, LinkedIn, and YouTube to
promote their objectives. Twitter is generally updated once or twice a day whereas LinkedIn is
typically updated once a week. They have started producing videos on the benefits of using coal
and land reclamation.
The overall objectives for their social media campaign are advocacy, education and
promotion of coal as a source of energy. Our ideas for e-media pieces that would benefit the
company are to produce an SMR. Also, since Facebook is an under-utilized medium we would
like to create a campaign centered around this site that they could potentially use in the future.
Mr. Meehan mentioned a desire to start a Flickr account, so we would like to look into the
possibilities this site has to offer. We would also like to create a hash tag campaign for their
current Twitter account.
The meeting as a whole went really well. We got a lot of information and so good
beginnings for pieces we can create for their company. Our next scheduled meeting with Mr.
Meehan is two weeks from now on Tuesday, October 14th.
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Meeting 2
We just completed our second meeting with Mr. Meehan from Peabody Energy. During
our meeting we went over the possible social media channels we laid out as potential project
ideas. Out of those we choose these three:
1.) Blog Post
Ultimately, with input from Mr. Meehan, we decided on a blog as one of our choices because
Peabody is currently looking to enhance their online presence while still trying to cute costs. The
blog is an excellent option because it is relatively free. It would allow Peabody to connect with
and respond to hundreds of readers. Peabody could review and comment on coal articles in this
blog. Peabody could also share pictures and videos. A blog would allow Peabody to respond to
negative comments directly.
2.) Twitter campaign
For our twitter option we plan to develop a hashtag campaign to promote community and
environmental work that Peabody participates in. A possible hashtag idea we created would be
#goodguycoal. We would also ideally generate ideas on how to promote the campaign.
3.) Flickr
For this portion of the final project we would create a mock Flickr page for Peabody. We would
use photos currently up on their website to create a layout. We would organize these photos into
potential albums. We would also develop strategies for posting and updating the Flickr account.
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Meeting 3
We presented the pieces we created for Peabody Energy. Mr. Meehan really liked our
ideas for how they could utilize twitter or blogging for Peabody as they move forward in
developing their e-media presence. In regards to the blog he liked our suggestion of creating
employees spotlight posts that highlight the charities they give to and how Peabody matches
those contributions. They are currently implementing something similar internally, so the
external element would be a great compliment to that.
He was really excited to see our twitter suggestions. Peabody’s social media staff previously
posted more about their charitable contributions and have for the past few months gotten away
from doing so. Our suggestions and critique of their current practices were a good indication that
they needed to get back on track posting more varied, less industry-specific content and become
engaged in larger national and international conversations. He did not have any negative
comments to offer nor any suggestions about how we could have done better.
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Target Audience Analysis
The target audience that we fleshed-out during our initial client meetings was extremely
broad. Peabody energy was simply looking to connect with more of the general public, as their
current messages are already very successfully communicated to company employees. We
decided to narrow the demographic to better direct our social media campaign.
Our primary research about the demographics that are utilizing the media platforms we
chose to use for this campaign suggests the largest audience available is millennial-aged people.
We are specifically targeting millennials between the ages of 18 and 24.
In addition to the suggested age range, our primary research indicates that women still
account for a larger percentage of users on all of the media channels we plan to use. We are not
focusing heavily on education level, income or gender. Our audience will likely, though not
necessarily, have at least some collegiate education and be socially and environmentally
conscious and may have a negative opinion of the company or coal energy. Our main concern is
to be as inclusive as possible and to engage with as many people as possible – although targeting
specifically the millennial generation.
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SWOT Analysis Strengths:
Peabody has a very detailed and organized website.
Peabody also already has a presence on social media sites, particularly Twitter and
LinkedIn – both of which it uses and updates frequently.
Peabody has made videos about coal and land reclamation – which it posts on its video
gallery on its website.
Weaknesses
While Peabody utilizes Twitter, its tweets are not very exciting. The posts are matter-of-
fact, solely coal-based. However, Peabody is missing the opportunity to become a part of
larger conversations with a larger audience. Peabody’s tweets tend to get lost amidst the
more exciting news-related content on Twitter.
Peabody does not have a presence on photo-sharing websites – although they do have a
lot of photos they could share.
Peabody is not present on Facebook; so, it is losing an opportunity to connect with
college students and the younger generation – many of whom are against coal because
they are not aware of the benefits of coal.
Peabody has a wealth of great videos. However, these videos are not advertised very
well; they occupy a place on the website – though, not a very prominent one.
Opportunities
Because Peabody’s message is so widespread and applies to everyone (almost everyone
who uses electricity), it could potentially join any social media website.
If Peabody would advertise its videos better, these videos would be a great opportunity
for Peabody to get its message out
Many people feel negatively toward Peabody because these people think that coal mining
is bad for the environment, and that carbon dioxide emissions will damage the
atmosphere. Peabody has the opportunity to educate these people through social media
sites if they would post more videos and pictures of land reclamation and the benefits and
safety of coal.
Threats
If Peabody got a Facebook, one downside would be negative comments. However, these
negative comments would happen – and do happen – whether or not Peabody has a
Facebook.
Negative comments are always a threat to companies, but they can quickly become
opportunities for education if they are addressed properly. Peabody could address the
comments that accuse Peabody of being against the environment with comments,
pictures, and videos that explain how coal mining and usage has greatly improved over
the last few decades.
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Blog
Campaign Title: Powering Change
Goals
Show what Peabody is doing in the community
Highlight individual employees to make Peabody more accessible
Overview
The blog would serve as a platform to increase Peabody’s visibility and direct traffic to
their twitter, company website, and sister sites for Advanced Energy for Life. The posts would
provide information on the St. Louis community and international charitable works Peabody is a
part of currently.
The biggest component of the blog would be doing employee spotlight posts- Post
featuring individual interviews about Peabody employees and how and why they give back. This
mirrors some of the internal communication elements (personal interviews in regards to job
description) that Peabody is doing internally and posting in linked in. The concept is designed to
put a more personal face on a large organization and show that they, as a company, are devoted
to giving back and having a positive impact on the world.
Timeline
The blog requires slightly less maintenance than twitter. We suggest posting at least once
a week. This gives enough time to plan for content and shoot video to incorporate with the post
as is necessary and to ensure quality of each post. It could be updated more if content allows.
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Blog Post
Employee Profile: Write about who they are. Their position within the company and what
charitable organizations they give to that Peabody matches and why they feel so strongly about
the cause.
Go on to include information on that charitable organization with links and images to
their website or other relevant content like event details if the non-profit is hosting upcoming
projects.
Dollars for Doers is a Peabody community outreach program that encourages employees
to give of their talent and personal time through volunteering. All part-time, full-time,
represented and non-represented employees, globally, may request up to a USD$1,000 company
donation toward an eligible nonprofit or its foreign equivalent, based on up to 40 volunteer hours
invested with organizations each calendar year.
End with a question: What charities do you think are most important and why? Be sure to
comment below…
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Evaluation
An important component of the blog would be including SEO words to help generate
traffic and links to the charitable organizations mentioned in employee spotlight posts. We would
use Hittail to figure out the best key words to incorporate in each post to help get our target
audience and to accomplish the goals outlined above. This would also help us analyze what
keywords are being used how the keywords change throughout the course of the campaign.
The second evaluation tool we would utilize is Statcounter. The URL and HTML
formatted into the blog would allow us to monitor traffic to the website. Saved logs of data from
Statcounter would be taken at each evaluation interval, so that we can compare them to previous
numbers. If traffic is not increasing by our set evaluation dates, we will look at the what
Because the blog will be updated less frequently than twitter, we expect that result of our
efforts will take longer to become noticeable; therefore the timeline of our evaluation will be
adjusted slightly. After two months we will analyze all of our data, as well as reader feedback or
engagement in order to make any necessary adjustments to SEO words, content and
personalization of pages.
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Campaign Title: Powering Change
Goals
Increase followers
Increase retweets
Increase awareness of coal’s benefits and its new image
Become involved in larger conversations
Overview
This Twitter campaign is known as “Powering Change.” Many people today, when they
think of coal, call to mind images of child laborers and grime-covered men. In reality today, that
is not so. People need to be aware that coal mining today is a cleaner, safer process – and that it
does not harm the environment like it did in the past. The face of coal has changed, and coal has
the ability to foster change as well: change in the community, change in the environment, and
change in people’s everyday lives.
In order to gain more traction, Peabody needs to join a larger conversation, and this is an
important and beneficial conversation for them to join. If Peabody can promote a good image
for the company and for coal, - by promoting the image of caring for the community, addressing
people’s issues, becoming involved in trending topics that people care about - then they can more
adequately share their messages with everyone, and people will more readily accept those
messages. And if people see that Peabody and the coal industry are trying to make a difference –
which Peabody is – then people’s view of coal can be more easily changed.
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Timeline
As Twitter needs to be updated regularly, it would be best to post once a day. At least
once every two days, though, Peabody should tweet about a trending topic, or about the way in
which Peabody is “Powering Change.” These tweets can be in addition to the tweets that
Peabody already sends out daily.
Sample Tweets
[Include these two pictures]
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[Include the picture below or another Land Reclamation picture]
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Evaluation
Prior to the start of the campaign, we would take note of how many followers Peabody
has, and how many retweets and favorites they get. After one week of the campaign – in which
Peabody joined conversations and made their tweets more relatable to people – we would
evaluate any increases in followers, retweets, and favorites. We would continue to do the same
each week for a month, and then only evaluate every month.
Hootsuite is an ideal tool for managing Twitter – and Peabody already utilizes it. On
Hootsuite, the user can keep track of retweets, followers, mentions, and favorites. In addition,
the user can schedule tweets, view their home feeds, and keep track of new followers. Hootsuite
would be ideal particularly for the ability to have a stream of “mentions.” Viewing this stream,
one can keep track of who is saying what about the campaign, so that Peabody can address these
issues. Hootsuite also allows the user to search hashtags. For this campaign, it would be
beneficial to keep a search for “#PoweringChange” to make sure that no one is using a bash-tag
against Peabody.
Another evaluation tool that could be utilized is called “Twtrland.” This site analyzes
retweets per hundred tweets, tweet distribution (what types of tweets that people retweet most),
the most retweeted tweets, and the types of followers by country or by most dedicated. It also
lets the user view other user profiles that are similar to his/her own. Peabody could particularly
use this site when evaluating the types of tweets that people are retweeting most so that they
would know which types of tweets are most popular among followers.
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Flickr
Goals
Share Peabody’s photos
Make these photos more accessible to customers through public sharing and organization
of files
Spread Peabody’s message through pictures
Overview
Flickr is a photo-sharing website. Users can upload and store photos (up to 1 terabyte of
storage with the free account) to their account. They can also view others photos, “fave” (or
like) those photos, and even post comments. Users can see how many have viewed, faved, and
commented on their photos and on other people’s photos.
When Peabody would get a Flickr, they will need a “buddy icon” – an image that would
appear next to their name. The Peabody logo would work well for this image. As far as albums
and photo organizing, we thought of three major categories which are also listed below: Land
Reclamation, Coal Cares, and New Face of Coal.
Implementation
Flickr is a great website for storing photos. Perhaps on the website, there could be a link
to the Flickr page not only on the homepage, but also on the photo gallery page.
Timeline
Flickr is not like Twitter in that it needs to be updated everyday, although it would be
good to upload new photos as often as possible. After events, a goal could be to upload photos
within a week after the event takes place. That way, people can view the photos while the event
is still fresh in their minds.
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Album Ideas:
Land Reclamation
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Coal Cares – Pictures of Peabody in the community
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New Face of Coal
(Side by side comparisons of coal mining then versus now)
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Evaluation
Evaluation websites for Flickr are difficult to find as Flickr is mainly a photo-sharing
website. Flickr is not like Twitter which is constantly being updated by users. Twitter has to be
updated frequently in order for followers to stay interested. On Flickr, however, photos can be
added whenever the user would like – which does not have to be every day. For Peabody, we
recommended that they upload photos as often as they could in order to keep their profile fresh
and up-to-date. Ideally, event photos should be posted within a week after the events take place.
On Flickr, the user can see how many people have “faved,” viewed, and commented on
theirs and other people’s photos. Peabody could use this information to see which of their
photos get the most “faves,” so that they can post similar pictures. Peabody could view and
respond to comments on their photos; responding to comments on Flickr – especially negative
comments – could prove to be a great outlet for Peabody to spread their message. Peabody could
also see how many people have viewed their images so that they know about how many their
message is reaching.
Hootsuite recently added a Flickr app to their website. This app allows the user to create
and manage photo streams, search for photos, share photos, comment and fave photos, and view
other photo and user statistics. The user can also view their home feed from Hootsuite. Peabody
already utilizes Hootsuite for its Twitter account, and so adding this app to its account would not
be difficult. On Hootsuite, Peabody could monitor what people are saying about them and their
pictures; they could search for other images; they could upload images through Hootsuite as
well.
The purpose of the Flickr account is so that Peabody can have a place to upload and post
photos – in this way they can promote their messages of clean coal, land reclamation, and
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community service. Also, Flickr is a place for people to comment on photos, so through this,
Peabody can directly address any issues that people may have. In the next few months, it is the
goal that Peabody should see increased traction – in the form of faves and comments – through
sharing their photos on Flickr.