NORWEGIAN CRUISE LINESOCIAL MEDIA STRATEGY

By: Ciara Jones February 14, 2017

TABLE OF CONTENTS1. Executive summary 2. Social Media Audit

Social Media Assessment- Dec 1 2016Traffic Sources Assessment – Jan 1- Mar 31st 2016 Customer Demographics Assessment Competitor Assessment

3. Social Media Objectives4. Online Brand Persona and Voice5. Strategies and Tools6. Timing and Key Dates7. Social Media Roles and Responsibilities 8. Social Media Policy9. Critical Response Plan 10. Measurement and Reporting Results – Jan 1, 2017

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Our major social media plan for 2017 will be increasing awareness

of the Norwegian Cruise Line brand and increasing online customer service engagement

Major Strategies Include: Increase traffic to Norwegian Cruise Line Blog Increase content posted on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram Encourage customer feedback and conversations

SOCIAL MEDIA AUDIT – SOCIAL MEDIA ASSESSMENT – DATE: DEC 1

Social Network URL Follower Count Average Weekly Activity

Average Engagement Rate

Facebook Page https://www.facebook.com/Norwegiancruiseline/

881,218 8 Posts per week 2.8%

Twitter https://twitter.com/CruiseNorwegian

123,059 7 posts per week 2.9%

Instagram https://www.instagram.com/norwegiancruiseline/?hl=en

256,000 5 posts per week Average Interactions per post- 50

LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/company/norwegian-cruise-line

62,318 followers 3 posts per week 2.0%Assessment Summary: At present time , the highest amount of interactions per post occur on Facebook. Many customer Service requests are on Facebook. The least amount of engagement occurs on LinkedIn because the website is mainly usedfor recruitment purposes.

SOCIAL MEDIA AUDIT – WEBSITE TRAFFIC SOURCES ASSESSMENT- TIME FRAME MONTHLY AVERAGE JAN 1- MAR 31

Source Volume % of Overall Traffic

Conversion Rate

Facebook 1000 unique visits 25% 2.5%Twitter 3000 unique visits 10% 2.0%Instagram No Data No Data No Data LinkedIn 100 unique visits 0.5% 0.2%

Traffic Summary: At present time, Facebook is the biggest driver of traffic to the website. The conversion rate (conversion goal=booking) is also higher than Twitter at 2.5%. Although there is no direct trafficking on Instagram, many interactions occur on the application.

SOCIAL MEDIA AUDIT – AUDIENCE DEMOGRAPHIC ASSESSMENT – SURVEY DISTRIBUTED IN DEC VIA EMAIL- 1500 RESPONSES

Age Distribution

Gender Distribution

Primary Social Network

Secondary Social Network

Primary Need

Secondary Need

60% 18 - 30 56% Female 56% Female 35% Instagram Family friendly, fun and organized vacations

Interesting Excursions

30% 31 - 40 44% Male 44% Male 25% Facebook10% 41 - 55 50% Facebook 20% Twitter10% 56 - 80 35% Twitter

30% InstagramThe majority of responses came from females ages 18-30. Facebook, Instagram and Twitter are the main social media platforms used. Family -friendly, fun and organized vacations are the main motivators for cruising. Some more focus should be placed on Instagram content and engagement.

SOCIAL MEDIA AUDIT – COMPETITOR ASSESSMENT – FEB 2017

Competitor Name Social Media Profile Strengths Weaknesses Royal Caribbean https://

www.facebook.com/royalcaribbean/

Lots of engagement with guests. Almost used as customer service platform. Visuals in every post.

Some visuals do not really address the brand. Looks like any other cruise.

Carnival Cruises https://twitter.com/CarnivalCruise

Lots of visuals and retweets from guests. Question and answer tweets get engagement.

Lacking in engagement and posts. Does not post that frequently

Holland America Cruises https://www.instagram.com/halcruises/

Very good quality photos. Consumer engagement is abundant

No hashtag to follow. Captions are bland.

Consumer Assessment Summary: The three competitors focus on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook. High quality visuals are important for consumer engagement and quick customer service responses are important for brand loyalty. The areas where competition has room for improvement is in their overall brand image on social media and the use of a easy-to-remember hashtags.

SOCIAL MEDIA OBJECTIVES In 2016, the primary focus of our social media plan was to increase

brand awareness. However, this year to drive revenue goals, the focus will shift towards creating brand loyalty with our returning customers. This will be attained by increasing engagement on all sites and answering to all customer service complaints.

Some objectives include: Increase online engagement on all platforms by 30%

Increase brand awareness by engagement on Twitter Increase use of Norwegian Cruise Line Hashtag on Instagram and

Twitter. Increase Instagram followers by 20% in the first quarter Increase live feeds on Instagram and Facebook

KEY DEMOGRAPHICS

Women 18-30 Women and Men 30-40 Women and Men 45+

KPI AND KEY MESSAGES

KPIs Number of leads to official website Number of Instagram followers Number of Facebook likes Sentiment Analysis Number of visuals posted weekly

Key Messages #FeelFree with family and friends Adventure for everyone

ONLINE BRAND PERSONA AND VOICE Adjectives that describe our brand:

Fun Adventurous Family-friendly Accommodating Relaxing Free-style

When interacting with customers we are: Informative Professional Friendly

EXAMPLE SCREEN SHOTS OF POSTS

#CruiseNorwegian

#FeelFree – Video on Facebook

Questions for followers to answer

STRATEGIES AND TOOLS Paid: Every other day consider boosting a post based on how important the content is. The post must have a minimum organic reach of 200 as well as minimum of 5 comments. Owned: Continue using #CruiseNorwegian on Instagram posts. Encourage in captions for guests on the ship to use it. Make sure to re-gram and re-tweet guests using the hashtag. Tell ship staff to encourage guests to the hashtag. Earned: Begin a #CruiseNorwegian sweepstake where a guest can get 20% off of vacation if their photo is picked on Instagram. Find a blogger or writer to go on a Norwegian Cruise Line vacation and blog the whole vacation. Tools: Approved: Hootsuite, Canva Rejected: N/A Existing subscriptions: Adobe Creative Suite, Vimeo

TIMING AND KEY DATES

Holiday Dates: Christmas HolidayMemorial Day Weekend (Long Weekend) Columbus Day Weekend (Long Weekend) Presidents Weekend (Long Weekend) Labour Day (Long Weekend)

Internal Events: Decemeber 19- 25 - Christmas Toy DriveFebruary 14- Valentine Cruise Tour

Reporting Dates: Reporting will occur twice a quarter. Times will be scheduled in the beginning of each quarter

SOCIAL MEDIA ROLES AND RESPONSIBILITIES Social Media Director: Ciara Jones - Responsible for setting the

social media calendar for the quarter. Also in charge of boosting posts and social media budget

Social Media Manager: Samantha Bove- Responsible for posting content on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. Copy from the social media content assistant will be edited and reviewed by Samantha.

Social Media Content Assistant: Eddie Cosio- Responsible for writing copy and researching trends in the market. Also, he is responsible for digital visuals and audio.

Additional Help: Marianne Vela – Head of online customer support

SOCIAL MEDIA POLICY As an employee and representative of NCL one is required to show

best practices and etiquette while engaging with consumers online. Please follow these simple guidelines: Be respectful to all people engaging on social media Never delete a comment on the Facebook page without consent Treat every post the same Be polite and friendly Act helpful at all times Act quickly and carefully Feel re-post content that you are excited about on your personal social

media pages

CRITICAL RESPONSE PLANScenario 1 – Angry guest currently on a ship complains Action Steps:1. Contact Social Media Director for assistance on whether to respond or not 2. Check if person is actually on the ship through guest services 3. If guest is actually on ship, answer with contact to ship director/coordinator. Pre-Approved Message: Good Afternoon _____. Please go to the ship’s guest’s services office and ask for ‘Ship Directors Name’ . He will be more than willing to help and/or answer your questions. Scenario 2- Sick guest on-board, looking for help 3. Screen-shot post to guest services and provide the Facebook name.4. Respond to guest privately through private messages Pre- Approved Message for both Facebook and Twitter: Good Afternoon ___. Please go to ship infirmary located on the 4th floor of the ship. If you need more assistance please contact ship director at in the Guest Services office.

MEASUREMENT AND REPORTING RESULTSQuantitative KPIs Reporting Period- 3 months Data as of: January 1Website Traffic Sources Assessment – Timeframe monthly average Nov 2016- Jan 2017

Source Volume % Overall Traffic

Conversion Rate

Twitter 1000 unique visits +10% growth

15% 2.4%

Facebook 4000 unique visits +15% growth

30% 1.9%

LinkedIn 500 unique visits +5% growth

5% 0.5%

MEASUREMENT AND REPORTING RESULTS

Social Network Data – Timeframe as of January 1 2017 Social Network URL Follower Count Average

Weekly Activity Average Engagement Rate

Facebook Page https://www.facebook.com/Norwegiancruiseline/

900,000+30% increase

16 Posts per week+10% increase

3%

Twitter https://twitter.com/CruiseNorwegian

229,059+15% increase

8 posts per week +5% increase

5%

Instagram https://www.instagram.com/norwegiancruiseline/?hl=en

306,000 +10 increase

7 posts per week +2% increase

Average Interactions per post- 60

LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/company/norwegian-cruise-line

72,318 followers+14% increase

5 posts per week+10% increase

1.0%

- Our Instagram followers has grown by almost 50,000 in 2 months.

- The team has done a great job in creating engaging content on Twitter with an engagement rate of 5%. Question and Answer posts have received a lot of good feedback. We have surpassed our goal with visual content by 20%.

- LinkedIn also has seen a increase in engagement with the increase in weekly activity. There is now a greater focus on reaching out to perspective employees on this platform.

SENTIMENT ANALYSIS

An analysis of the interactions on 100 Facebook posts, 100 Instagram posts and 100 Tweets revealed the following:

An abundance of positive feedback when posts ask a question with visuals. This includes likes, photo comments and re-posts.

The biggest driver of negative sentiment is related to bad experiences while on the ship. Most complaints have to do with dissatisfaction with service, food or scheduling.

#CruiseNorwegian has shown significant increase due to promotion onTwitter and Instagram. Engagement with the hashtag has increased by 20% on both platforms.

For the future it is suggested that NCL continue using all three platforms and maybe branch out to Snapchat. Focus on engagement and awareness Is essential for a good social media campaign. Continue using #CruiseNorwegian on all platforms.