Social

Media

Marketing

Plan

On the web: http://taiwansmith.wix.com/tjstouchofsoul-1#

On social media:

@TJsTouchOfSoul

Executive Summary and Overview

TJ’s Touch of Soul is billed as a family cuisine. We have chosen to implement a strategic social

media plan to make the dining experience interactive and innovative. According to research

conducted by the Social Media Examiner, 92% of businesses are using social media as a means for

marketing.(http://www.socialmediaexaminer.com/SocialMediaMarketingIndustryReport2014.pdf)

In addition, according to the Pew Research Group, 74% of adults use social media. Approximately

71% of the adults are using Facebook, 19% are on Twitter and 17% are using Instagram. We have

decided to launch these three platforms for our initial marketing strategy.

As of September 2013, 21% of social media users are now using Pinterest, a social media

“scrapbooking” type site that was launched in 2010. What is intriguing about this platform is the

fact that five times as many women use the site than men. TJ’s Touch of Soul continues to explore

this platform as a possibility to engage a demographic that we expect to be very loyal customers.

One of our initial branding strategies was to create and use the hashtag feature which is used a

search criteria and trend criteria across each of the above platforms. We are using the hashtag

#TJsTOS. We believe that we can create a social media “buzz” by having our staff take photos of

guests as they enjoy their meals and also encourage our guests to take photos while they are dining

and post them to social media.

We are attempting to create a niche, like no other by merging social media and the dining

experience. Part of our plan is to advertise special “social media only” discounts where the more

you post photos and utilize the hashtag, the more you can save. As part of that strategy, we will pick

one person a week who has used the hashtag #TJsTOS to advertise their positive experience, and

offer them one free entrée on their visit.

We plan to post a couple of times a week. We also plan to share and retweet as many of our

customers photo’s as possible. We believe this strategy will create a family type atmosphere in our

family style restaurant.

Our website is also optimized for the best viewing and ease on mobile devices. As of January 2014,

58% of American adults own a smartphone. Approximately 63% of all adult cell phone users use

their mobile device to access the internet. In addition, 34% of those users mostly use their mobile

device online in place of a laptop or desktop computer. This all is according to Pew Research.

http://www.pewinternet.org/fact-sheets/mobile-technology-fact-sheet/ With numbers like that, we

find it imperative that our website and social media platforms are interactive and user friendly from

not only a laptop or desktop, but from mobile devices as this continues to be a growing method of

gathering information.

Our Facebook Page:

Currently, we have 55 likes. Our plan is to continue to build upon our social media through posts.

Our Twitter Page:

Our Twitter account is just starting to grow. We will use strategies to increase our presence on

Twitter that include discounts and specials for Twitter only. We also will utilize the ads to increase

our following on Twitter.

Instagram Page:

We will rely heavily on our guests to make the Instagram site work. Instagram also allows for 15

second video clips. We plan to use these on occasions like Mother’s Day, Father’s Day and

Valentine’s Day for special messages from our guests to their loved ones.

Our Mobile Website:

Our website has been optimized for easy viewing on a mobile device. All of the social media sites

have been linked to the website for one touch viewing. Everything the mobile user needs to get in

contact with us or see the menu is right at the fingertips of the user.

Wireframe

Screen capture of the website

Personas

The below personas are representative of the large demographic that we expect to have patronize

our business. We believe that we can use social media to make their visits and experience that they

want to share with others.

A poll was conducted to find out what the best option for a name and logo were for the restaurant.

Below are the image options that participants were given to select from. Interestingly enough, our

initial idea was “TJ’s Soul’d Out”, the red image with the plates. Through our polling, we found

that “Soul’d Out” garnered more of a negative response. The majority of those polled liked “TJ’s

Touch of Soul”. We felt the need to keep “A Family Cuisine” to indicate that it is in fact a

restaurant.

Logo image options for poll:

Below are the poll questions:

S.W.O.T. Analysis

Competitive Analysis

Competitors Websites and Social Media

Granny’s uses a website, Facebook and Twitter. There website is basic, similar to the website that I

created. It describes the food, shows pictures of the food and has a preview of upcoming events.

They advertise their social media at the bottom of their page. They changed the colors of the social

media icons to blend in with their color scheme. I would categorize that as a mistake because it

takes away from immediately recognizing them as the social media sites they belong to. Overall, the

website is acceptable and user friendly. It is optimized and populates easily in a google search. The

mobile view is good. The entire page is shown and the links to social media are accessible and

direct you to the platform.

Granny’s Facebook site is nice. It tells a story of the business. It has the information to link you

back to their webpage. It also has positive reviews, a great thing for any business. The problem is

their last post was in June of 2014, six months ago. Posting this infrequently defeats the purpose of

even having the social media platforms. They don’t seem to use any type of promotions as part of

social media. This is where I believe I could capitalize by providing additional coupons and

discounts through social media channels. Many of the same people would cross patronize each of

these businesses and as long as the product is good, in this case food, people will be looking for

discounts.

Their Twitter account is similar. The last post was in June of 2014. They seem to post the same

thing from each account and they only have 39 followers after having the account for two years.

Another competitor, Southern Blues, seems to have taken a minimalist approach to the web for

advertisement purposes. The website is very basic. It provides the address, hours and a couple of

links. They have no social media presence. Their search engine optimization is easy if you know

where the business is located. If not, “Southern Blues” is a generic term which leads to many

results not related to this particular business.

Goals and Budget Overview

Our social media goals are as follows

Below is a proposed budget for our social media advertisement. I would not hire a social media

manager at this stage. The executive management team would be tasked with updating and

maintaining the content on our social media pages. I would have funding available to create

graphic images and I would buy the necessary computer products, i.e. photoshop, to produce

content in house. I would also look to a local college and offer intern opportunities to marketing

and communications students to assist in creating content. This would be a cost savings measure as

well as a community outreach opportunity.

We would monitor the increases in profit after using ads to ensure that we are getting a return on

our investment. We will reevaluate the needs based on the information that we collect from our

analytics. We would have an expectation of an increase in likes and followers on our social media

platforms. We would also expect an increase in profits. Some of the easy data collection will be

from the internet/social media only coupons and discounts that will be offered.

The cost associated with this budget is inflated in its first year. Much of this is a one-time budgetary

item. The goal is to have a surge of followers and likes and then allow our guests to share our

messages which will act as advertisement. SEO Monitoring and Graphic Design are the only areas

when specific budgets will carry over year to year. This will allow for us to change our approach if

need be and also purchase royalty free graphics for advertisement purposes. This strategy would be

reviewed after year one to determine its effectiveness.

Increase Likes and Followers

Engage in two way dialogue

Answer any complaints received

within 8 hours

Continuously brand using the

hashtag #TJsTOS and the handle

@TJsTouchOfSoul

Push traffic to website

Post pictures of our guests daily

Post pictures of special events

Acknowledge holidays and

occasions with special

infographics

Build a positive reputation

Facebook

Ads $5,000

Google Ads $5,000

SEO Monitoring $5,000

Twitter Ads $5,000

Graphic Design $2,500

Computers and Software $2,500

TOTAL $25,000