2014 CLIENT REPORT

by: brooke hundley& claire mauro

LIVE OAK COMMUNICATIONS

EXECUTIVE SUMMARYPro Feet Inc. sells athletic performance socks to three different market segments: sporting goods stores, military and uniformed personnel, and athletic teams (primarily schools and youth sports leagues). An additional rising market exists in the ecommerce space as consumers look to profeet.com to purchase unique, customized socks to fit their personality and lifestyle.

Located in Burlington, N.C., Pro Feet was founded in 1979 by Russell R. Wilson. Pro Feet has successfully sold its American made product for over 30 years under the philosophy of its founder, to “take care of the customer.” Its core values are teamwork, trust, integrity, and fun.

Pro Feet’s business model (see chart below) is built upon a mixture of sales representatives who sell to teams and leagues through direct selling and trade shows, select retail stores who cater to the sporting goods consumer, and online sales offering new trends in style and customization. Despite multiple revenue sources, Pro Feet remains a small business looking to gain brand recognition, specifically through social media and creative marketing. Pro Feet is focused on growing the number of stores and schools that carry the brand by empowering the consumer to request Pro Feet products. In order to

do that, consumers need to not only hear about the brand, but also believe Pro Feet socks are truly the best product available on the market.

Live Oak Communications has worked with Pro Feet over the past couple of years focusing on attracting a younger demographic both through its customizable options and engagement with the youth sports community. In the past, Live Oak has completed several projects for Pro Feet, including a social media campaign called the “Pro Feet Challenge,” a 5K Extreme Run, and a cause-related marketing campaign partnering with The Miracle League, a baseball league for children with disabilities. As time as passed, the need to engage consumers through digital platforms including social media and mobile has increased.

Currently Pro Feet’s social media followers can best be described as “friends and families.” A revamp of existing social media channels and an infusion of new targeted content is a must. Live Oak’s priority must be to generate a broader reach to potential audiences at the grassroots level without the use of expensive mass-market advertising. By combining website revisions, social listening and creative digital content, Pro Feet can grow its customer base and develop the broad brand recognition it needs.

2Pro Feet Inc. Sales Channels

INDUSTRY ANALYSISPro Feet Inc. prides itself on creating American made performance socks quickly and efficiently for the on-the-go consumer. Unlike others in the sports athletic-wear industry who outsource production to foreign countries in order to lower labor costs in exchange for lower quality , all the manufacturing of Pro Feet products takes place within the United States. Pro Feet orders are fulfilled rapidly and accurately with inventories inside the United States, and customers deal directly with a small company who focuses on personal connections, southern hospitality, and quick distribution channels.

PRO FEET INC. SWOT ANALYSIS

Strengths • Strong product quality • Quick production times • Made in America • Variety of customization capabilities • Family owned – personal connections Weaknesses • Low brand recognition • Low marketing/advertising budget • Little interaction with end user • Website lacks info on retail locations • Low search rank, limited social presence Opportunities • Social media - Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn • Mailing lists, central customer database • Scholarship, community event sponsors

Threats • Retail competitors: Nike, Under Armour, Adidas • Sales rep competitor: Twin City Knitting • Online competitors: Socks 101, Custom Sock Shop, Swiftwick

Pro Feet sales representatives across the country focus on getting to know the teams, schools, and leagues within their communities to create lasting relationships and anticipate customer needs. Pro Feet also understands that performance socks aren’t simply desired by athletes. They provide for military personnel, law enforcement, postal workers, and other public servants whose on the job requirements demand socks that perform well under pressure. Pro Feet’s unique response time, American manufacturing facilities, high quality materials, and interest in constant innovation, whether it’s adding anti-odor, anti-bacterial, absorbent, or complete customization options, sets it apart in the performance socks industry.

DIGITAL GROWTHDigital marketing is growing like never before. Companies that once relied heavily on word of mouth and print advertising to gain valuable customer engagement now look to websites, mobile phones, and social media as avenues for revenue generation and brand recognition. In the past Live Oak has focused on print and video production for Pro Feet’s corporate marketing strategy. Today’s strategies look to emergent digital platforms to reach the connected Pro Feet consumer. Live Oak must focus on guiding the brand through improvements to profeet.com, enhancing underutilized social media channels, and building a reputation with thoughtful and interesting content. The consumer’s purchasing process should easy whether through a retail store, sales rep, or the profeet.com website.

The following pages provide a competitor analysis, web usability review, online reputation analysis, SEO audit, and a social media strategy. These pieces lay the framework for Live Oak to assist Pro Feet in clearly defining its digital presence, and developing a targeted approach to building brand recognition among its key demographic markets. These evaluations, coupled with target market visualizations and defined goals for future research, will assist Live Oak in meeting objectives for effective Pro Feet representation over the long term.

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WEBSITE USABILITYA strong digital presence starts with an effective website. Profeet.com provides a variety of information for the performance sock consumer including company history, catalogs, customization options, online purchasing and links to social media channels and related multimedia content. A website usability report was developed to determine the overall ease in use for users, the navigability among content, and the general layout of profeet.com. The following represent the results as well as opportunities for improvement.

PAGE SPEED - Desktop Versiono Tested via develops.google.com/speed/pagespeed. o Scored 78/100, slightly above average in loading.

o Suggested fixes include: 1. “Fixing leverage browser caching” to allow the user to load the page from local storage upon repeat visits rather than reloading it over the network for quicker page loading time. 2. Optimizing photo sizes to smaller web sizes 3. Minifying Javascript code and eliminating render-blocking Javascript and CSS above the fold.

PAGE SPEED - Mobile Versiono Received a score of 63/100, performing less superiorly with weaknesses in user experience.

o Suggested fixes include: 1. Correcting illegible text and links. 2. Developing a fluid responsive website design to adapt to varying screen sizes. This will be useful for mobile and tablet users on the go.

WEBSITE STRENGTHS • The navigation bar is easy to read and remains consistent across pages, allowing users to easy follow categorized data to their interests. • Website maintains a gray tone across the navigation bar that allows for those with color blindness to adequately determine links and page tabs, independent of color. • The URL page titles for each navigation element are appropriate for the content presented and make logical sense.

• The hierarchy layout is clear and easy to follow, as well as consistently used. • Colors and visual cues remain constant throughout the entire site. WEBSITE ESSENTIAL IMPROVEMENTS • Make the logo a link to the home page. The user may find the ability to return to the homepage a challenge as the logo is not a clickable linked image. • Position social media links higher on the page. The links are hidden below the fold on the home page and do not provide a call to action. Provide a clear designated and titled area for social media content with direct statements to “follow” or “tweet” to pair with the social media icons provided. • Highlight the brand essence video in the above the fold slider with accompanying descriptive text.

WEBSITE IMPORTANT IMPROVEMENTS • Add a search option box to lead the user to quickly finding what he/she is looking for. • Add alt tags for images, describing what they are, especially on the home page slider and among the items in the product shop. This is useful for usability and also for SEO (discussed later). • Add a help section for the user to answer any questions they might encounter including retail locations, last minute ordering, and bulk pricing.

WEBSITE OPTIONAL IMPROVEMENTS • Create a comprehensive main category page for each category in the navigation bar to eliminate the need to hover to see information. The current layout can be difficult for the user to use with tightly spaced subcategories that could result in wrong clicks. The revised page would also make for a more seamless and cohesive user experience, as some main category pages are clickable and others are not. • Update links to make sure they change appearance after the user clicks, so the user can easily see where he/she has already been. • Add a site map to the bottom of the home page as an additional method of navigation for users.

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REPUTATION ANALYSIS(ONLINE)

Successful digital engagement and revenue streams begin with a company having a strong position within the online marketplace. Google’s search engine provides opportunites for a company to learn more about their presence, as well as what today’s consumer experiences when searching online for a specific product or need. A reputation analysis was completed on Pro Feet in February 2014 with the search term “pro feet” entered into Google and the top 30 results evaluated for ownership status/influence, sentiment, and ranking. Opportunities for search growth abound.

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Profeet.com Reputation Analysis

The results of the reputation analysis are as follows:• Only three (3) sites were owned or had content controlled by Pro Feet Inc. - Profeet.com, a Twitter page, and a manta.com company profile page.

• Only three (3) sites had positive sentiment surrounding the brand - Twitter, Profeet.com, and one Sports Unlimited store page with positive reviews. One had negative sentiment with negative reviews at Amazon.com, and the remainder were neither enhancing nor detracting from the brand, but rather netrual or unrelated to the company.

• Over half (16) of the sites had content that was in no way related to Pro Feet Inc., despite the specific keyword search.

• Profeet.com was the first search result when searching for pro feet socks.

• The only social media channel that appears in the top 30 search results for Pro Feet Inc. is the company’s Twitter page, ranking 25th.

SEO: SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION AUDITSEO is important to any organization online, as consumers look to Google and other search engines to find information on goods and services to meet their needs. Search engines only display sites that they find relevant and authoritative on the subject and to do this they look at page content as well as the quality of other sites linking to the information. A company can have a fantastic website, but without the right content and structure no one may see it buried deep within Google search. Just as an expert in the field gains a positive reputation from years of experience, recommendations from others, and a breadth of knowledge on a subject, so too do websites. Only wfor websites those areas are defined as age, inbound and outbound links, and the overall quality and size of content.

In order to find out just how well profeet.com is doing in online search result ranking, a SEO audit was completed. The site was evaluated using the program Screaming Frog SEO Spider in the areas of inbound and outbound links, depth of site architecture and accessibility, ease of navigation, appropriateness of URLs, duplicated content, and useful and descriptive tags. These are the results.

IMAGESo 147 images were reviewedo Suggested fixes: • Size: 10 images are considered large in size at over 100kb. Images should be resized to

make them web safe and to allow for quicker page loading speed (100kb or less). Slow page loading speed leads to lower search ranking.

• Alt Text: Out of 147 images, only 5 have alt text. Image alt text allows search engines to better understand the image content on any given page. Search engines are not capable of retaining visual information so they rely on textual content, like alt text, to tell them what the image is of. Alt text should be provided for all images that are housed on profeet.com.

HTML PAGESo 215 content rich pages were evaluated:o Suggested fixes:

• Size: Twelve (12) pages were considered large pages, over 100kb in size, and should be reduced in order to help site-loading speed. A slower loading speed results in a lower ranking in search results. Almost 75% of pages (161 in total) were considered low content pages with under 300 words and should be evaluated as to whether they are needed or are too visually heavy and need additional text support content.

• Page Titles: Ten (10) pages are missing titles, 42 pages have titles over 65 characters in length, and 122 have duplicate content. Almost 57% of pages were found to have the same title, listed as “Pro Feet Inc. – Shop Online for Performance Team Sport Socks, Military Socks, and Public Safety Socks” (seen below). It’s important that titles are short and reflect the appropriate page’s related content in order

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Profeet.com SEO Review - Showing Duplicated Titles

to differentiate each area of the Pro Feet site. Search engine spiders move on from indexing titles after 65 characters, so anything beyond that is wasted. Search engines also devalue duplicate content as it looks like an attempt to manipulate search results with the same key words. Page titles should be updated to more adequately reflect the content the page provides.

• Meta Data: Meta descriptions are missing from 89 html pages, 115 pages have duplicate descriptions (shown below), and 122 have over 156 characters in their descriptions. Meta descriptions are particularly helpful to search engine users in determining whether the page has value in meeting their needs. Meta descriptions show up next to page titles in search results and should be written as short and descriptive text indicating to users what they will find if they click on that particular page, as well as a strong call to action.

• Header Tags: All 215 html pages have an H1 tag which is advantageous for search engines. They evaluate H1 tags effectively for content that factors into search result standings. However, of the 215 H1 tags, all were duplicated content. Every page has the exact same H1 tag of “Team Sports Military Public Safety,” which tells little about the socks for sale, the company, or any content a user might search for. There are 77 pages that contain more descriptive H1-2 header tags, however search engines only evaluate the first H1 tags, leaving this information left out of important search rankings. Profeet.com should remove this H1 duplicated content using the

H1-2 tags’ information as an H1 tag or rewrite the H1 tags to conain relevant material.

URLSo 500 URLs were indexedo Suggested fixes:

• Broken Links & Redirects: There are seven (7) URLs that are broken links and four (4) URLs that link to page redirects. Broken links need to be corrected in order for those pages to be evaluated by search engines. Also, unless a page is no longer accessible that was once heavily trafficked and the customer needs to be sent to a new page, all redirects should be evaluated for removal only add an obstacle to the consumer’s ability to reach a page or piece of content quickly.

• PDF Files: There were 10 PDF files found on profeet.com. PDF files contain content that cannot be indexed by search engines, thus that content cannot assist in search ranking. The information should be copied into a rich HTML environment with an outside link to the PDF if still the file is still needed.

• URL Length: The majority of URLs for profeet.com are short and appropriate for the page making it easy for online users to quickly find what they are looking for by simply typing it in. However, 42 URLs remain over 115 characters and should be shortened for simplification and ease of navigation.

NAVIGATION o The entire site was evaluated for depth and constructive navigation for the user. SEO pages rank lower the farther removed from the homepage they are and the harder it also becomes for the user to find the material. SEO experts suggest no more than 3-4 levels of depth for a page within the site’s architecture to ensure every page is deemed important. o Suggested fixes: Profeet.com has 13 out of 215 html pages that are more than 4 levels deep, those pages should be evaluated to determine if they can be realigned under another area or brought further up within the site’s structure to decrease the overall depth of the website.

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Profeet.com Meta Descriptions

COMPETITOR ANALYSIS

A competitor analysis is an effective planning tool for creating a successful digital marketing strategy. In order to develop a competitive advantage in the digital domain, a company must be able to position itself as having a unique brand voice and personality distinct from others in the marketplace. A smart company knows not only who else is vieing for attention on the world wide web, but also which marketing strategies are proving most effective among its industry mates in reaching that coveted consumer.

Pro Feet is in a unique position as a small business in North Carolina in that it competes directly with a host of companies in varying size and scope, including local and national small businesses, as well as large athletic wear corporations in e-commerce sales, supply contracts, and retail purchases. As a result one competitor in each category was analyzed to determine their successes and setbacks when it comes to prosperity in the digital realm. This will showcase how Pro Feet can carve out its own niche as a coveted place for consumers online.

LOCAL: Twin City Knitting

Twin City Knitting (TCK) is a performance sock company who’s roots lie in close proximity to Pro Feet with the company headquarters in Conover, NC. Often seen at trade shows competing directly for contracts and bulk purchases, the company prides itself on a similiar marketing strategy: American made performance socks from your local business. However, despite the outward similiarities, TCK sets itself apart from Pro Feet in many ways.

As the official sock manufacturer for Major League Baseball, TCK’s main strength is its brand exposure, especially in the baseball market, and its strong sales representatives. Long term contracts for successful professional sports teams are few and far between with such organizations likely to choose big name corporations to meet their needs. As such, TCK has broader brand recognition with top level athletes wearing the company’s product, but still retains a number of marketing weaknesses.

While a fully functional website is available, TCK has few other online marketing strategies in place. The company does not use social media, inhibiting the opportunity to speak directly to its customers. Potential customers also cannot purchase products directly from the TCK website. TCK’s main opportunities lie in creating a connection with its end user. Conversations are likely taking place around the brand, but the company is not dialed into what is being said and little additional customer service is available to address consumer questions or needs. Without any TCK prescence in these environments, Pro Feet is an ample position to converse with those potential customers on why the Pro Feet brand is a better purchasing option.

NATIONAL: Swiftwick

Based in Brentwood, Tennessee, Swiftwick manufactures athletic compression socks and has a strong foothold in the cycling market, with additional focuses on outdoor and extreme sports. Swiftwick’s strength is its constant connection with its end user. Its website is sleek and user friendly with visually enticing elements and a hierarchy of information that places retail locations, social media, and ecommerce options front and center. Social media interactions with customers are a

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top priority earning the brand a large following on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, despite its niche market. Employees are active members of the sports community, participating in local races and events and the company targets its followers with recognition, posting profiles and highlighting their achievements on the website and on social media.

The biggest weakness for Swiftwick comes from its complex name. It’s name does not lend itself to ease of use in saying or spelling and is far less likely to come up than Pro Feet in organic Google searches. For consumers looking for athletic socks on Google, Swiftwick only appears in a search when specifically using the search term “performance sock,” which is not a term likely to be used by the casual consumer. Swiftwick is missing out on exposure when people search “sports sock,” or “athletic sock,” and hashtags utilizing its name for social media marketing are far less likely to be remembered than a simple #profeet. The main threats for the company are well recognized brands like Nike or Adidas, as well as a hard to remember name that might get lost when up against another similarily successful small business.

GLOBAL: Nike

Nike is an internationally known performance and sport apparel company with a marketing budget topping out in the millions and an equal number of proud consumers buying its products. Nike prides itself on hiring professional athletes as brand ambassadors, building state of the art facilities for product research, and advertising the latest and greatest must-have athletic gear by channeling strong brand awareness. Performance socks are just one of the many products that fill the Nike line at retail stores and while Nike products are viewed by many as the trendy must-have item, even a large corporation faces marketing weaknesses.

Given the size and scope of the company, direct interaction with its customers is limited at best. The company sells so many products, it’s hard to highlight any one item on a consistent basis, and even harder to make all of its faithful following feel special. Often times the Nike consumer gets overlooked in marketing initatives for the hot new pro athlete, and while many consumers may want to live the life of that athlete, many may also wish to see themselves better highlighted or represented in ads. Pro Feet has competing strengths within its product line, as Nike outsources its materials to factories overseas diminishing its public image as press stories emerge on the poor wages and working conditions of its foreign employees. Nike’s distribution channels make it harder to replenish stock when high demand hits locally opening doors for local manufacturers to meet customer needs quicker. Nike’s products are also the most expensive products in the store, making a luxury item such as performance socks an unlikely purchase for the thrifty shopper.

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Swiftwick Socks on Instagram

MARKET ANALYSIS

While the consumer marketplace is rife with opportunity for rich competition, it also holds a hefty mix of consumers that stem from different demographics, cultures, and interests. That melting pot exists online as well as consumers from locations and cultures the world over flock to social media to connect with families and friends and stay abreast on all the latest news. A smart social media strategy is essential for communicating directly with the consumer, but many companies don’t know where to start. A strategy to assisting Pro Feet in social media begins with defining the groups most likely to engage with the Pro Feet brand, and ultimately most likely to purchase its goods or services. Pro Feet products are worn by military, uniformed workers, and athletes as well as everyone from outdoor enthusiasts to scouts to rec league participants. The marketing personas developed above shed light on the key demographic groups of interest specific to Pro Feet for social media outreach and lay the foundation for the media content plan to follow.

The graphics represent a student-athlete, an active young professional, a parent who is keenly involved in her children’s sports and activities, and an on-the-go senior citizen. These individuals are the most likely to act as brand ambassadors for Pro Feet, to frequent social media channels, and to lead the way as trend-setters and outspoken proponents for athletic wear that fits their individual or family needs. Influencers can be carefully targeted within these demographic groups based upon their social media tools of choice. By honing in on these groups Live Oak can increase word-of-mouth advertising and positive sentiment about Pro Feet online, and create more content attuned to what the Pro Feet consumer values. A strong company presence in the digital realm also affords the company an opportunity for active involvement in online conversations already taking place with regards to the Pro Feet brand, providing more effective customer service.

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Pro Feet Marketing Personas

.SOCIAL LISTENINGSocial media monitoring, or “social listening,” offers insight into online conversations among consumers in their daily lives about a particular topic or brand. Paired in conjunction with a social media content plan, social listening allows for a company to gain insightful intelligence on popular topics of concern, intrigue, and enthusiasm that relate to the company’s industry and devise content that is valued to the consumer. Companies can also use it to respond directly and quickly to statements or questions posed by the customer. There are several tools available for social listening that mine text for specific words or phrases related to the company across websites and social media databases. Some tools including Google Alerts or Talkwalker Alerts mine websites and news for related press coverage on a topic. Software tools like HootSuite and SocialMention gather comments from multiple social media outlets like Twitter and Facebook, calling attention to customers who are the most vocal about stating their opinions on a product or brand in the social realm. These tools use simple hashtag searches related to the brand and pull this relevant information out of an otherwise endless stream of overwhelming data.

This semester Live Oak was tasked with beginning the process of social listening for Pro Feet by setting up a way to keep track of all posts related to Pro Feet on Instagram and Twitter. An account executive created a spreadsheet and each week would add information about any new posts of relevance to Pro Feet from a Hootsuite account. They included date, hashtag or subject matter related to Pro Feet or its products, the user-name of the person who posted, the content of the post, and the number of interactions. At the end of each month Live Oak sent Pro Feet a social media listening report detailing any new posts by Pro Feet consumers, and recommendations for how to improve online communication with customers. The examples provided below were posted organically by customers who love the Pro Feet brand and want the world to know it.

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Profeet on Instagram: Posted

by Customers

Those individuals who posted should be recognized with a response from Pro Feet’s social media channels. In prior instances a user attempted to contact Pro Feet via mentions three times with no response. These posts will be less likely to be overlooked in regular social listening practices. It’s also important that Pro Feet Inc. take ownership over a specific hashtag in the social media sphere so that information related specifically to the company can be filtered and customer engagement more adequately acknowledged. Another Pro Feet company exists in Europe, and #profeet is also used highly in the Arabic language online.

Live Oak should consider presenting Pro Feet with a #profeetinc or #profeetsocks hashtag that they can distinctly make their own and use with regularity.

Our social media strategy consultant also demonstrated how social listening can be a positive way for Pro Feet to engage in customer service communication and quickly assist needs to make a sale. After posting a photo on twitter tagged with #profeet, a Twitter user unknown to the consultant replied to the post stating frustration over a last minute need for custom socks in the Houston area. The conversation is displayed here and Pro Feet was quickly contacted regarding the customer’s questions. The customer was followed up with by a Pro Feet representative detailing information on where she could find the product in her local area. Similar customer service opportunities will arise as richer content fills Pro Feet’s social media channels and more customers recognize the brand’s presence in the digital space.

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Social Listening:Customer Service on Twitter

.SOCIAL MEDIA PLAN ObjectivesAs a small business with a small market of faithful customers, Pro Feet’s biggest goal in the social media landscape lies in growing its brand recognition. in order to accomplish that goal, objectives for social media must be established. These objectives include increasing the likes and/or followers on its social media channels, monitoring and replying to customer service questions, likes, and complaints online, and communicating content about new product lines and unique purchasing options that are available to the consumer.

Given that Pro Feet is just beginning to develop education on social media tools and how to grow its online reputation, Live Oak must have a prolonged, focused content strategy approach to growing the Pro Feet fan base rather than creating a one-time campaign. Live Oak’s prior teams have suggested a 70-20-10 model for content strategy, that should be implemented. In this model 70% of content is repurposed material on sports related to subject matters relevant to the consumer, 20% of content is responding to social media listening and providing customer recognition, and 10% of content is the direct promotion of Pro Feet products.

ToolsPro Feet’s target markets encompass student-athletes and active young adults, parents, and senior citizens. The company needs a collective arsenal of tools to meet all these groups in their unique environments.

Every social media tool offers a different functionality and reaches a different group of consumers. Pro Feet’s social media plan centers on Live Oak using Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram as a means to develop the Pro Feet brand and gain greater market recognition. This in turn will grow the product into more retail stores, more contracts with local schools and organizations, and more online purchases at profeet.com.

Facebook dominates the social media landscape, with over 71% of all U.S. internet users using the service as of the end of 2013, according to the latest Pew Research Study. While the majority of 18-29 year olds have an account, new users are growing rapidly and these users tend to skew older demographically, as more parents and a growing number of grandparents use the channel to stay connected with families and communities. The growth of Pro Feet’s presence here from its current family and friends into connections with other families and communities outside the area will assist with relationship building and brand allegiance with its customers. Facebook content should be crafted in a way that highlights community members, local hereos, and star student-athletes who embody the Pro Feet brand and are connected to the product so that others in the community will feel connected to the brand as well and want to share this content.

Twitter and Instagram are the 2nd and 3rd most heavily trafficked social media sites, and although their markets are smaller with around 17% of internet users using them, they are overwhelmingly popular among the 13-29 year old age groups. These tools are vital to Pro Feet’s long term success as the brand looks to grow customers with lifelong allegiance to the brand as well as stronger revenues in customized sock sales. Twitter content should be relevant to active young adults with interesting subject matters related to sports and outdoor activities they are most likely to be interested in. In order to position Pro Feet as a youthful and fashion forward brand, Instagram is a useful tool for showcasing originality in custom socks and unique prints, as well as colors and styles exhibiting individuality without breaking the budget.

13Pro Feet’s Social Media Toolkit

Influencers

Social media influencers are individuals who have gained a strong following of fans online because their opinions are valued and respected by the greater online community. These influencers act as brand advocates highlighting products or services that they enjoy and that they feel others will as well, and in turn generate revenue streams for that product or service due to behavioral influence on their faithful following. There are several tools available to measure online influencers based not only on a large social media following, but also in the amount of social engagement they generate, including the sharing, commenting, and favoriting of their content by others who interact with their pages.

The most prominently respected tool to gauge social influence is Klout. Klout gives everyone on social media a score between 1 and 100 that determines their social influence, or ability to drive action online. The score is an accumulation of influence across eight different social media channels based on more than mere size of following or amount of activity. Rather the composite score includes a ratio of follower reactions to amount of content posted, how selective the people who interact with the content are, and whether the engagement levels are from a wide range of people or a few faithful followers who share everything. The higher the Klout score, the harder it becomes to increase.

Live Oak should determine which influencers will be positive brand ambassadors for Pro Feet. The higher the Klout score the more advantageous the individual should be viewed. Individuals with Klout scores greater than 60 who are relatable within the targeted markets, and have interests in common with the Pro Feet brand whether it’s fashion, sports, tactical gear, or uniformed professions should be solicited first to be social media brand advocates.

When Klout scores aren’t available, Followerwonk is another useful service. Diving into Twitter analytics, Followerwork offers information on followers with top social authority, as well as numbers on their followers. It also helps to find influencers with keyword searches, as it ranks related users based off of those words.

Messages should be sent from Live Oak on behalf of Pro Feet to influencers with design mockups of customized socks that fit their personality or the offering of free Pro Feet products in exchange for positive reviews. These interactions can help Pro Feet positively grow its influence online. The following are examples of social media influencers Live Oak has begun evaluating for potential coordination with the Pro Feet brand along with their social authority scores from Klout or Followerwonk.

Jamie Andries - Competitive Cheerleader445,358 Instagram followers

Landon Moss - College Football Player2.3 million Vine Followers

Social Authority: 75

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Measurement & AnalyticsKey performance indicators (KPIs) are a common industry term used to describe measurement tools that determine a marketing campaign’s success. As part of a comprehensive social media strategy and content plan, KPIs were established to assist Live Oak with tracking and measuring Pro Feet’s success in the social media space over time. The items should continue to be utilized and monitored throughout the lifecycle of the brand in the digital space to evaluate growth, revenue streams, and brand reputation among consumers online.

The established KPIs covered thus far include social listening and social influencer measurements. Social listening should be monitored weekly, if not daily, with details logged and responded to in a quick and efficient manner. This allows for engagement with the customer at the time of most need or when Pro Feet is most top of mind. Social influencers on varying social media channels should be contacted each month to continue to build the Pro Feet brand and gain followers. The influencer’s interactions and engagements with the brand should also be tracked. Tracking allows Live Oak to see which influencers brought in the most new followers, interactions, or engagements with Pro Feet hashtags or content and who should be considered for further interactions in the future, as well as whether their content led to any online sales. Unique URL links utilizing bit.ly or similar services can be given to the influencers when promoting products to track the flow of followers to profeet.com from that social publication. Further KPI’s include social reach, engagement, and conversion.

Social Reach - Social reach is a useful measurement tool to establish who is seeing, hearing, or communicating with the brand online. A company can have great content, but if no one is seeing it it’s a waste of time and resources. Since Pro Feet’s social media objectives focus more on growing overall brand recognition than a one-time paid marketing campaign that might focus on click-thru rates or advertisement views, social reach should be measured based on increases in likes and followers on Pro Feet’s social media channels.

Live Oak must assist Pro Feet in growing a following beyond February 2014’s benchmarks of 38 Twitter followers, 537 Facebook likes, and zero followers on Instagram to one rich in likes and followers on all three platforms. These followers provide important data and insights on the demographics and interests of Pro Feet customers, as well as how to create content specific to customer needs that will translate into positive brand sentiment and loyalty. Ultimately, social reach goals should be evaluated every six months based on marketing efforts. It’s often easiest to set milestone goals for that timeframe of 500 or 1000 followers and then revisit who is following the brand and if the right demographic groups are being targeted.

Stickers on Pro Feet retail products advertising the company’s social media channels and inviting the consumer to connect should be considered. Targeted paid advertising pay also be of value to reach customers who frequent the retail locations that offer Pro Feet products. As well, a company profile page on LinkedIn can establish authority in the field within the business community.

Pro Feet’s Opening Benchmarks: Facebook & Twitter

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Social Engagement - Many newcomers to the social media front view social reach as the most important factor within the digital marketing landscape. Often companies are focused solely on the growth of likes and followers, and in turn are blinded to the crucial analytics behind the raw data. Numbers are a nice start, but engagement is far more important. Live Oak is tasked with collecting more than just social reach data, using free tools like SocialMention, and SimplyMeasured, as well as Google and Facebook Analytics to look at which posts are the most engaging and lead to social sharing, as well as which invite the most impressions, meaning consumers actually saw the post in their feeds. Google Analytics will also be valuable in determining which social media postings with links to the Pro Feet website resulted in consumer click-thrus.

All of the information geaned from social engagment can be fed back into the social media content plan for adaptation. If posts with product visuals are popular, then the strategy can be revamped to highlight product placement. If website visitors are falling off on the ordering page, perhaps an error exists in the user interface and social posts can provide customer service to direct customers on how to navigate the purchasing page with ease. Based on feedback from online users, Live Oak might consider updating the Pro Feet Facebook page to have a locator section, listing everywhere Pro Feet products are currently sold or contact information for bulk ordering. Eventually, a Facebook app might even be discussed for implementation into the existing page in order for fans to make quick e-purchases based on content they like.

The idea behind content marketing is to create a buzz around the company. A concentrated focus on measuring and enhancing engagement with online users that keeps Pro Feet products in the mind of purchasing consumers whether they’re embarking on a trip into the great outdoors, gearing up for a national championship game, or looking for a fun fashion for a community kickball team.

Social Conversion - While the majority of Live Oak’s approach to social media strategy for Pro Feet centers on brand recognition, the bottom line for Pro Feet still remains. Sales leads, in-store purchases and requests for Pro Feet products, as well as ecommerce sales are at the heart of the Pro Feet business model and must be considered and measured in determining social media success.

Live Oak’s efforts in social conversion starts with asking Pro Feet to document baseline sales figures via current marketing and sales practices. Then every social media inbound lead (viewable on the acquisition - social section of Google Analytics) should be traced to see how much business is referred from social media via goals set before and after. Goals can be established covering anything from specific call to action posts to paid advertising to a trade show Pro Feet is involved in where custom URLs are provided to consumers.

Pro Feet’s Facebook Analytics Insight

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Each social media channel should be tracked and measured for retention rate (including number of un-subscribers) and increases in overall sales volume over specified times. Even one sale via social media can be considered a victory. Live Oak should also consider advocating for the use of social media links at the end of the purchasing process at profeet.com. An exit page thanking the customer for the sale and providing links to share their purchase on social media affords greater opportunity that others in their social circles will see the purchase and consider the product as well. Social sharing and a community atmosphere of wanting what others have lends itself to the potential growth of online sales revenues in social.

Content PlanAs highlighted earlier, a content plan composed of 70% repurposed or cultivated content, 20% customer engagement and direct response, and 10% promotion of Pro Feet products was established as the most effective use of social media. This content spreads itself over three social media accounts including Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram in order to effectively and efficiently meet the target markets considered most advantageous to the Pro Feet brand. Live Oak’s responsibility to Pro Feet includes creating, gaining approval for, and then posting all content with regularity on a daily basis.

There is a bit of a lengthy approval process that can limit timely interaction and posting content relevant to what’s happening in the world, thus categorical content examples are suggested. By providing Pro Feet representatives with the overall types of content to be posted the company can understand the overarching strategy, without having to strictly monitor and approve each and every tweet or post. It also offers Live Oak the flexibility to produce content related to popular trends or topics of conversation each day, rather than having to plan these posts months in advance based purely on conjection. The following pages present examples of content for each channel as well as recent postings that executed under this plan to further assist Live Oak in developing a content creation and curation process that effectively establishes Pro Feet in the social media space over the long-term.

Several new tools are available to Live Oak and should prove helpful in cultivating relevant content and posting on Pro Feet’s behalf. Feed.ly aggregates content from a variety of different websites related to the subject requested making it possible to quickly scan headlines or full stories at a glance all in one place. The ability to absorb, curate and use the information is a huge marketplace advantage because all of the content you need is in one place, easily scannable and trackable, and available for social sharing. Meanwhile bufferapp.com offers a means of scheduling social media channels to publish posts throughout the day for convenience.

Customer Interest Content (70%)Current Sports Updates: This includes updates and articles about games, previews for sports team seasons and interviews with athletes from other publications. The focus here will include major league as well as high school teams that are doing something extraordinary or showcasing Pro Feet’s core values. Furthermore content can be broken down by platform:

• Twitter will be used to follow conversations about sports, congratulate teams on wins, and respond timely to feedback about Pro Feet products. With only 140 characters to use, content should be more frequent and short in length.

Feed.ly Mobile Interface

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• Facebook will be used less often but for longer posts to provide insight into effective coaching, improving sport specific skills and engaging fans on their opinions with regards to current events and topical news subjects related to sports and active lifestyles. It can also be used to to ask fans what they find important in their buying decisions. Both accounts can benefit from topics of interest to those leading an active lifestyle. The topics include motivational quotes, stories of impressive teamwork displayed by professional or local sports teams, “throwback thursday” vintage athletic apparel through the years (seen below), “selfies” of customers or staff enjoying Pro Feet products while engaged in everyday life, and links to fun videos of fancy moves, top plays, and great moments in professional sports, law enforcement, and firefighting. Content can come from trustworthy blogs and websites or from customers.

Off-Season Tips/Interactions: Sports seasons only last a couple of months, but social media is year round. Content should not only include in-season highlights and successes, but also advice on how to maintain a healthy and active lifestyle when not participating in sports or while in the off-season. Training tips can include posts on healthy diets, fitness, injury prevention, and training techniques and can come from team coaches, dieticians, and physical therapists. Elon’s Physical Therapy School and Elon’s Athletics department can be contacted for these posts, as well as any team with whom Pro Feet has an existing customer relationship.

Fun: The purpose of including fun content in the content calendar is to keep the audience involved and interested in what Pro Feet has to say in a light-hearted way. By posting entertaining videos, articles and pictures, Pro Feet stays current with social media trends and has the possibility to gain more likes, shares, re-Tweets and “favorited” posts. Categorically, fun posts are defined as any video, article, picture or post that is relevant to socks but has the potential to go viral for its uniqueness. Nationally recognized holidays should be included here with interesting and engaging content, as well as other unofficial holidays (i.e. Lost Sock Memorial Day), and popular sports events like the World Cup.

• A written post example might ask what kind of sock fans would create for a professional sports team or celebrity or their favorite place to wear Pro Feet socks.

• Video post examples might include embedded links to “C’Mon Man!” videos on YouTube, showing humorous plays and bloopers by NFL and college football teams.

• Visual or graphic post examples could show memes or cartoonish representations of the sweat shops of Nike vs. the sweet sewing grandmas next door at Pro Feet, highlighting Pro Feet’s made in the USA status. Infographics may also be used to show things the typical customer may not be aware of like how many people run worldwide or how many socks and shoes a runner throws away in his or her lifetime.

Remembering Breast Cancer Awareness Month the Pro Feet Way

Potential Pro Feet Original Content Posting

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Customer Profiles & EngagementTestimonials: Testimonials are a means of developing trust and brand allegiance between the company and the consumer. If a potential customer can see a positive review of the product from another customer, especially one they recognize from their social circles, they are more likely to buy Pro Feet products. Live Oak can develop testimonals from numerous resources including, people who tweet at or hashtag Pro Feet on Twitter or Instagram, personal interviews with Pro Feet coaches and students at schools where Pro Feet contracts are ongoing, or by establishing a survey on profeet.com. A testimonial can be a simple quote, a picture with a quote, or a video and can focus on themes such as great quality, performance when you need it most, made in America, or smart shopping. Live Oak might consider asking Pro Feet to send a free customized sock to a team and follow their quotes over a season on social media from initial thoughts of the socks to how they held up over time.

• An example of a firefighter’s testimonal might including text stating, “I wore Pro Feet socks when I ran into a burning building. The last thing I had time to think about was my socks.” Followed by an interesting photo of them on the job.

Featured Profiles: The purpose of this category is to establish rapport with consumers by featuring real-world hardworking athletes, uniformed workers, and other Pro Feet customers who give back to their local communities. A variety of sports, professions, locations, and age groups should be highlighted in order to connect with different target markets.

Live Oak along with Pro Feet representatives and Pro Feet dealers should pick individuals who display real world examples of integrity, trust, teamwork, fun and performance under pressure, the core values of Pro Feet. One way that Pro Feet may do this is by contacting sales representatives who sell socks to teams around the country. The reps will have firsthand knowledge on the teams who have been loyal customers and can let the teams know the brand wishes to highlight their achievements by recognizing them in social media. This content encourages interaction and engagement on social media as those profiled share the content with others in their local community, as well as friends and family. This in turn ensures Pro Feet’s social media accounts gain greater exposure to a wider audience. These writeups can be labeled as the “Pro Feet Profile,” “Sock Talk,” or “Favorite Feet,” and should be posted monthly.

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Competitor Swiftwick Profiling & Recognizing its Customers

PromotionalPhotos of New Products: Pro Feet’s new lines or styles of merchandise deserve a spot in the sun. Whether it’s their Think Pink line, new tie-dye products, or custom holiday prints, the greatest allure of their products lie in their visual appeal. Live Oak’s implementation of the first Pro Feet Instagram account lends itself nicely to showcasing and promoting new products as they arrive, and encouraging fans to purchase the latest and greatest.Live Oak needs to stay abreast on any new products developed and photograph a wealth of visually interesting pictures to showcase upon their release.

Photos of Customized Products: One unique aspect of Pro Feet’s business is it’s customization feature. Customizations are available for specific sport teams or unique personalities, allowing Pro Feet socks to create a fashion statement that helps consumers showcase their unique tastes and personalities. Live Oak’s creative team should take advantage of this orginality and produce an assortment of visuals both in concept and creation that can be used on Instagram and promoted on Facebook. Customers can then be encouraged to post their own custom creations with the designated Pro Feet hashtag. Giveaways can also be integrated into this as fans compete to design the most original socks.

Where is Pro Feet: This category will promote Pro Feet by keeping followers up to date on the trade shows and events Pro Feet attends as well as the local retail stores when new Pro Feet socks arrive. Sales representatives should document their trips with pictures showcasing their travels across the U.S. promoting the Pro Feet Brand and the interesting people they meet along the way. This offers fans an inside look into the business, as well as the passion Pro Feet employees have for the products. This categoy can also include local promotions, where retail locations that are having sales or events can be recognized and promoted in the social space.

Brand Ambassador: As discussed in the influencers section above, brand ambassadors are potentially resourceful consumers who can help a brand gain noteriaty and recognition online by alerting their fans and followers to the product. Brand ambassadors can be local sales reps or employees speaking positively about the brand or a paid influencer. By hiring popular social media influencers as brand ambassadors, Pro Feet can leverage not only promotional statements, but further potential in videos or photos of the individuals interacting with the product that generates more excitement over the brand. Pro Feet would then begin to develop an identity as fun, cool and relevant to the next generation of consumers.

Pro Feet Social Promotion Run from Showcasing the Product to Showcasing the User Endorsers 20

FUTURE RESEARCHThe aforementioned competitive and market analysis, targeted demographic groups, website recommendations for improved SEO and usability, and strategic social media content plan are all positioned to assist Live Oak with making the Pro Feet brand a househould name in the digital space, but the work doesn’t stop there.

As Live Oak continues its relationship with Pro Feet it must be constantly cultivate research on the latest trends, competitor practices, and opportunities for growth. In order to maintain an effective presence online and extend Pro Feet products into more schools, retail stores, and catalogues, further research must dive deeper into understanding the unique Pro Feet customers and the thought process behind their purchases, needs, and brand loyalties.

Surveys should be crafted to test the effectiveness of consumer oriented sales messages and advertising techniques. Participants can provide feedback on Pro Feet’s social media presence, product packaging, designs, website, and customer service. Participants can also provide insight into consumer purchasing habits and the ordinary lifespan of Pro Feet products. Surveys and questionaires offer opportunities to learn more about how customers are first introduced to Pro Feet products, whether they would recommend the product to others, what incentives drove them to purchase, and how this information might translate into new and better marketing strategies. These surveys can be linked in as point of sale as flyers in stores or website links with discounts to those who complete the survey.

Other potential research leads lie at the sales representative level as those who are responsible for selling the product are often the most knowledgeable on the strengths and weaknesses of the product as well as the consumer marketplace. Top sales representatives in varying locations should be sampled and interviewed about consumer behavior, how they find and maintain customer relationships, what clients like most about Pro Feet products over other products they sell, as well as opportunities for improvement. Sales representatives can also utilize the increased social media presence as opportunities for recognition of their loyal customers in turn.

By opening doors of communication between Live Oak and the extended Pro Feet team across the nation it showcases a long term commitment to the Pro Feet brand, customer, and reputation; one that will be a recipe for lasting success.

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