Social Media Plan (2012)

ChampionsWay Social Media Strategy

Kyle Buyers

Overall Goal

First, the main purpose of Social Media for our company needs to be decided on. Whether the

same across all channels or different for each network, we need a concrete purpose before we blindly

move ahead. This can be things like increased traffic to our website, branding, lead generation,

customer service, etc. – but we must choose one before we move ahead.

Overall we need increased engagement in all our channels, measured as discussed in each

section below, as well as overall using Klout. We also must monitor KPI’s closely and often to capitalize

on any immediate successes.

Overall Measurement

At the end of each quarter, each network will be analyzed and reviewed based on its own key

performance indicators, then new goals will be set for the following quarter (keeping the yearly goals in

mind).

Facebook

Goals:

Quarter 3 Long Term (Dec. 2012 & beyond) 1. Increase People Talking About This from

xxx% to xxx% 2. Increase Weekly Total Reach by 15%, from

approx. xxx to xxx 3. % of fans reached: Increase the percent of

our fans that each post reaches (on average) from xxx % to xxx% in Q3

1. Continue to improve % of fans reached with each post

2. Continue to improve People Talking About Us

NB: at this time, we are not concerned with increasing the number of likes we have, but rather

reaching a larger percentage of those we already reach.

Brief strategy & outline:

Increase quality and relevance of content for our fans by researching the demographics of our

fan base and vetting content that applies to them. Move away from the model of promoting ourselves

towards a softer approach of engaging with fans through related content as well as commenting on our

most connected fans’ activity as a brand. Stick to a planned posting schedule, and don’t deviate or over-

saturate unless there are special circumstances (big news, urgent notification, etc.).

Content:

1. Product tips: informative posts (blog article, screenshot, or video) on how to better use our

software

2. Staff-related posts (tag them if possible and if they agree to it)

a. Birthdays

b. New staff

c. Farewells

3. Client posts (tag them if possible and if they agree to it)

a. New client welcomes

b. Birthdays

c. Major events (new location, sold business, etc.)

d. Testimonials

e. Fan of the month

4. Discussions: create a discussion topic that our fans will want to weigh in on

5. Questions: create polls or questions to create data that will be relevant and helpful to our fans

6. Company updates

a. Newsletters

b. Release notes

c. CEO announcements

7. Fun business facts: little-known things about major companies, popular CEOs, etc. Interesting

yet brief.

8. Trivia: create engagement by providing a different opportunity to subtly stroke fans’ egos

9. Social media tips: share ways for our fans to better increase their presence and reach in social

media

10. Contests: can be done in a variety of ways (win something if you share this post, upload a video

to get a $25 credit, etc.). Will need a budget for discounts, swag, free services, or other

motivators.

11. Promotions: similar to contests, but available to all and doesn’t require any effort on their part.

Useful in highlighting a particular service we offer as well as a tool to measure how many leads

our page can generate.

12. Motivational quotes: if put on a nice picture, our fan base has responded to them very positively

in the past. Also, cross-posting these from Pinterest will be a nice tie-in.

13. Events: each webinar will have its own separate event page created to help field questions, build

anticipation, and serve as an ongoing discussion area

Monthly Schedule:

Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday Sunday

- Contest - Inspiration / Motivation quote (link w/Pinterest)

- Trivia - Product tip - Discussion - Fun business fact

- Social media tip

- Inspiration / Motivation quote (link w/Pinterest)

- Trivia - Product tip - Fun business fact

- Question - Social media tip

- Inspiration / Motivation quote (link w/Pinterest)

- Trivia - Product tip - Fun business fact

- Social media tip

- Promotion - Inspiration / Motivation quote (link w/Pinterest)

- Trivia - Product tip - Highlight fan of the month

- Fun business fact

- Question - Social media tip

Staff- and client-related posts, as well as company updates as they occur

Contests, discussions, and promotions on a monthly basis (these should not be run frequently)

Estimated hours per week: 2.5 hours

Estimated hours per month: 12

Measurement:

The two key performance indicators we care about overall are People Talking About This and

Weekly Total Reach, since our goal is to engage with our already sizeable fan base. Review this quarterly

to determine success of the strategy and adjust as necessary.

Likes and Friends of Fans will be monitored and documented for future analysis but not

emphasized, as they are not part of our overall goal at this time. (Engaging with leads and customers

and selling to them is more lucrative currently.)

Per post, the key performance indicators are number of people Reached, number of Engaged

Users, how many were Talking About This, and Virality. This is so that we might better understand what

grabs our fans’ attention and encourages sharing the most. At the end of each quarter, we will review

the top 20 posts and look for similarities, trends, and other successes to compound on in the future.

Twitter

Goals:

Quarter 3 Long Term (Dec. 2012 & beyond) 1. Increase % of leads gained from Twitter by

10%, from xxx to xxx 2. Increase mentions by 50%, from xxx to xxx 3. Double retweets, from xxx to xxx

1. Continue to increase leads gained from Twitter

2. Continue to increase number of mentions by people other than staff

3. Continue to improve number of retweets by people other than staff

4. Increase traffic from Twitter to specific marketing campaigns


Become more active on Twitter by posting content there purposefully, not just having it

automatically stream Facebook and Pinterest updates. Begin to use hash tags more strategically, taking

advantage of trending features as well as creating campaigns around certain topics we want to highlight.

Overall, transform this network from a robotic, dry feed to a personable, interesting stream.

Content:

This list is exclusive to Twitter:

1. Thanking/mentioning anyone who follows us who is relevant

2. Thanking/mentioning people who retweet us

3. Asking specifically for retweets for big announcements (webinar this week, etc.)

4. Tweet at least once per day using one of the most popular hashtags trending on Twitter at the

time, putting our own brand and spin on it

5. Tweet at the most popular martial artists (GSP, Jackie Chan, etc.) when we have something

relevant and interesting to say

6. Contests: using a hashtag to win a prize, retweeting to get a ticket to our next event, etc.

This list is content copied automatically from Facebook:

1. Product tips: informative posts (blog article, screenshot, or video) on how to better use our

software

2. Staff-related posts (tag them if possible and if they agree to it)

a. Birthdays

b. New staff

c. Farewells

3. Client posts (tag them if possible and if they agree to it)

a. New client welcomes

b. Birthdays

c. Major events (new location, sold business, etc.)

d. Testimonials

e. Fan of the month

4. Company updates

a. Newsletters

b. Release notes

c. CEO announcements

5. Fun business facts: little-known things about major companies, popular CEOs, etc. Interesting

yet brief.

6. Trivia: create engagement by providing a different opportunity to subtly stroke fans’ egos

7. Social media tips: share ways for our fans to better increase their presence and reach in social

media

8. Promotions: similar to contests, but available to all and doesn’t require any effort on their part.

Useful in highlighting a particular service we offer as well as a tool to measure how many leads

our page can generate.

9. Motivational quotes: if put on a nice picture, these are a great tie-in with Pinterest and our fan

base has responded to them very positively in the past.

The following list will be copied automatically from Facebook, but should be immediately deleted from

Twitter because it is not relevant:

1. Discussions: create a discussion topic that our fans will want to weigh in on

2. Questions: create polls or questions to create data that will be relevant and helpful to our fans

3. Contests: can be done in a variety of ways (win something if you share this post, upload a video

to get a $25 credit, etc.). Will need a budget for discounts, swag, free services, or other

motivators.

Monthly Schedule:


- Tweet using trending hashtag - Tweet at popular martial artist / celebrity

- Tweet using trending hashtag - Begin monthly Twitter contest

- Tweet using trending hashtag













- Tweet using trending hashtag - Tweet at popular martial artist / celebrity - Tweet monthly promotion




- Tweet using trending hashtag - Contest wrap-up

Estimated hours per week: 1


Measurement:

Use Klout to determine data at the end of each quarter regarding Twitter statistics. For monthly

stats, use Twitalyzer or HootSuite.

The most important KPI’s are retweets and mentions. Number of followers, just like our number

of Likes, is unimportant – we have a big enough audience that we need to engage better with.

Pinterest

Goals:

Quarter 3 Long Term (Dec. 2012 & beyond) 1. Increase average re-Pins of each post

(measured 3 days after each post) from xxx to xxx

2. Increase followers of each of our Boards from xxx to xxx

3. Increase our overall followers of our page from xxx to xxx

4. Get at least 10% of Pinterest traffic to visit a specific landing page on our website for them

a. Have 10% of them fill out a form on said site

1. Continue to increase number of re-Pins 2. Continue to increase number of Board

followers 3. Continue to increase number of page

followers 4. Continue to drive traffic to our website 5. Also, any specific marketing campaign

landing pages


The nature of Pinterest is exceptionally visual with a side of social. As such, we will have to think

visually. This means pinning things that are relevant to our clients/potential clients rather than things we

produce. We will also have to monitor the comments and engage with other boards/brands/users. Our

strategy for becoming visually stunning and incredibly share-able is below.

Content:

1. New Board: Astounding Kicks

a. This board is comprised of awesome-looking kicks – whether flexible, spinning, flipping,

or anything else that is eye-popping, this is the Board for it. Create a sense of “whoa.”

2. New Board: Kids’ Martial Arts

a. Anything involving kids and martial arts goes here. The cuter, the better. Create the

“awww” factor.

3. New Board: Motivation

a. This is the place for motivational quotes, inspiration, etc. A strong image with an

inspiring quote from a celebrity belongs here.

4. New Board: Feats of Strength

a. This board is complimentary to the Astounding Kicks board, but focuses on a more

overall approach. This is the place not just for punches but breaks, unbelievable

pushups, et cetera. Make the viewer feel empowered.

5. New Board: How to Hit the Next Level

a. Pinterest loves how-to’s. This board caters to that, and will tie in well with our Library.

Teach the viewers something (using an image primarily) – how to become more flexible,

how to remember a kata, etc. Help them learn.

6. New Board: Ideas for School Owners

a. This Board favors our clients more, and is a great tie-in with our webinars. Not only do

we share the recordings, but we create great quotes from them, as well as design how-

to’s specifically created for school owners (AKA our clients and ideal prospects). Again,

help them learn.

7. New Board: Just For Fun

a. Anything that’s amusing or timely/relevant goes here. A good cartoon, a news story, or

a holiday greeting would all be good things to Pin to this Board.

8. New Board: Our Incredible Clients

a. If any new clients join, Pin a photo of them or their school. Also, any VIP/existing clients

go here. This is a great place to tie in our testimonials as well.

9. Revamp existing Board: Our Team

a. If any new staff are hired, Pin a photo (with their approval). Any releases or monthly

syncs should go here, as well as any recent successes (belt tests, etc.). The goal is to

personify and humanize the company.

10. Contests: Each month, have one contest that ties in to one of the boards in some way. “Pin your

greatest kick,” “Re-pin your favorite photo of ours,” things like that. Get people sharing and

have our name and brand get out there.

Monthly Schedule:


- Pin to Astounding Kicks - Pin to Motivation - Repin someone’s Pin - Find someone to follow

- Pin to Kids’ Martial Arts - Start monthly contest

- Pin to Feats of Strength - Pin to How to Hit the Next Level

- Pin to Astounding Kicks - Repin someone’s Pin - Find someone to follow

- Pin to Kids’ Martial Arts

- Pin to Feats of Strength - Pin to Ideas for School Owners


- Pin to Kids’ Martial Arts - Pin to Motivation

- Pin to Feats of Strength

- Pin to Astounding Kicks - Pin to Ideas for School Owners



- Pin to Astounding Kicks - Pin to How to Hit the Next Level - Repin


- Repin someone’s Pin - Find someone to follow

someone’s Pin - Find someone to follow

- Pin to Motivation - Pin to Feats of Strength


- Pin to Kids’ Martial Arts - Pin to How to Hit the Next Level



- Pin to Kids’ Martial Arts - Pin to Ideas for School Owners


- Pin to Astounding Kicks - Pin to Motivation - Repin someone’s Pin - Find someone to follow


- Pin to Feats of Strength - Pin to Ideas for School Owners


- Pin to Kids’ Martial Arts - Wrap up monthly contest

- Pin to Feats of Strength - Pin to How to Hit the Next Level


Estimated hours per week: 1.25


Measurement:

Similar to Facebook and Twitter, the KPI here is sharing. However, the difference is that we are

still trying to establish a presence here, so unlike Facebook/Twitter we do need to get more followers of

our Boards and our brand page since the numbers are too low at the moment. Thus, our primary goal is

to increase sharing, and our secondary goal is to increase our follower base (both as measured in the

Goals section).

LinkedIn

Goals:

Quarter 3 Long Term (Dec. 2012 & beyond) 1. Increase number of company followers

from xxx to xxx 2. Have at least xxx% of MF’s connections be

martial arts school owners

1. Continue to increase number of company followers

2. Continue to grow & develop MF’s connections


Historically LinkedIn has failed to deliver any worthwhile leads for us, so rather than use it as a

lead generation tool the goal is to use it as the face of the company, as well as make MF more public to

familiarize others with our founder & CEO. The purpose here is not to deliver sales, but to improve our

brand image overall. The challenge, then, is how to do this measurably.

Content:

1. Have Master Farid (or whoever manages his account) connect with any other martial arts school

owners; build his network as CEO and school owner.

2. Any big changes with the company should be posted as a company status/update – new

employees, farewells, new product releases, etc.

3. Our relevant, well-written blog posts should be linked to from the company page and from MF’s

page as well. Note that this does not include every blog post – nothing about MMA news and

the like, strictly things we write to establish ourselves as experts in our field.

4. Due to LinkedIn’s tone and purpose, keep posts professional and business-related. Anything

overly/exclusively visual or not directly related to martial arts should be avoided. Facebook and

Pinterest are far better for that kind of material.

5. Unlike the other networks, LinkedIn should not be running any contests or promotions. Again,

keep things strictly professional and informative.

6. Use LinkedIn to market anything that further establishes our credibility, with special focus on

webinars and upcoming events.

Monthly Schedule:

Due to the drastically different approach with LinkedIn (versus other networks), combined with each

item being reactionary and having very few elements of being proactive, there is no schedule for

content. Rather, it should be posted on an “as-it-happens” basis.

There are two exceptions to this rule: first, webinars, which should be posted once a week; second,

industry events, which will be posted every other week with a link to our related webpage.

Estimated hours per week: 1


Measurement:

Because we are using LinkedIn for branding and industry presence, the KPI’s are the number of

people who follow our company and the percentage of MF’s connections that are school owners.

At this time metrics such as employees, their connections, and number of posts are irrelevant to

our main LinkedIn strategy.

YouTube

Goals:

Quarter 3 Long Term (Dec. 2012 & beyond) 1. Increase our YouTube subscribers by 10%,

from xxx to xxx in Q3 2. Increase our YouTube channel views by

2%, from xxx to xxx in Q3

1. Get 250+ views of each monthly sync/release within one week of its posting

2. Generate and post at least one testimonial per month

3. Have our main promotional video(s) garner 1,000+ views within 6 months of their posting date


Video networks are our main place to not only post videos, but host them and track their

successes when we embed them elsewhere for other campaigns. We will track the data to determine

where our videos earn the most views, as well as determine what our viewers are most interested in.

Because we use these sites primarily for hosting and data tracking, at this time we are not concerned as

much with the social aspect – comments, connections with other users, and similar approaches are not

the primary focus of our marketing in this medium. Finally, these will also be our main location for

creating how-to’s for our products (which will also be linked to via our related Pinterest Board).

Content:

1. Post each webinar one week after it is held

2. Post all client testimonials we receive and/or create

3. Post each monthly sync/CEO announcement video

4. Post all release notes highlighting our great new features

5. Post how-to videos for each main branch of our software: scheduler, attendance, reports, etc.

a. Have these created by customer service and released consistently to help our customers

better understand the product

6. Create several entertainment-themed playlists that clients can watch rather than looking

through videos and leaving our front page

a. Best movie fight scenes

b. Greatest knockouts

c. Martial arts techniques

7. Create playlists for our various categories of videos

a. Release notes/CEO announcements

b. Webinars

c. Product how-to’s

d. Testimonials

e. Staff videos

8. Once we shoot a promotional video, use that as the main video on our profile page as well as

the “face” of any of our video endeavors; in other words, put our best food forward in the video

realm.

9. Contests should not necessarily be run primarily through YouTube/Vimeo, but they should still

have a video element every so often. “Post you doing your favorite technique and enter to win 1

month free service,” “post a testimonial and enter to win 6 months of our Library free,” etc.

These posts can be Tweeted at us or linked on our Facebook (can’t be FB videos though, since

we will want to be able to embed and track these) and considered an entry – thus, while not

entirely based on the YouTube/Vimeo network, they will still be considered part of the video

strategy.

Monthly Schedule:


- Add one cool new video to one of our entertainment playlists

- Post webinar 1


- Post how-to video of one feature of PM


- Post webinar 2

- Post monthly sync/CEO announcements

- Be sure to have 1 client testimonial posted by the end of the month, minimum

Estimated hours per week: Varies from .5 to 2 (not including recording & editing time for our

videographer)

Estimated hours per month: 5 (not including recording & editing time)

Measurement:

KPI’s are mainly video views, rather than number of likes, favorites, or comments. We do this

because we will be measuring how engaged people are with the videos by what percent of it they watch

before they leave the page. Given the nature of our videos (shot mainly to be helpful for potential

clients & clients rather than shareable and viral), we don’t expect many comments or shares, nor do we

make them a priority.

Thus, there are two main metrics we will observe and document: views for each video and how

many people are watching/subscribing as a whole.

Finally, although not a specific goal within the video strategy, we will be monitoring how many

people watch the videos all the way to the end, as well as what major points within videos people tend

to drop off so we can improve our offering and learn from our shortcomings.

Google+

Goals:

Quarter 3 Long Term (Dec. 2012 & beyond) 1. Increase number of +1’s to our page by

10%, from xxx to xxx 2. Increase number of people who have us in

their circles by 10%, from xxx to xxx

1. Continue to increase number of +1’s to our page

2. Continue to increase number of people who have us in their circles


Our Google+ page is still getting off the ground. It is off to a good start, but still lacks momentum

and weekly engagement. In order to boost interactions, we must first boost our numbers; thus, the

strategy of G+ (unlike Facebook and our other channels) is to increase +1’s and circles in Q3 and the

remainder of the year. Once we have weekly (or even daily) interactions, at least 500 +1’s, and 350+

have us in their circles, it will be time to revisit and redevelop the strategy.

Content:

1. Hangouts: our page will host two monthly hangouts: one with a sales staff for potential

customers, and one by a customer service employee for current clients.

2. Take best posts of Facebook during the month and re-share here

a. Don’t overdo it; do not make G+ too similar to Facebook! 2 to 3 of the same post per

week maximum

3. Google+ has an advantage over Facebook in that it has trends and hashtags right on its front

page. Thus, similar to Twitter, we will post at least twice weekly to capitalize on what’s hot and

get ourselves more exposure.

4. Events: Google+ recently released (June 2012) their Events feature, which has great potential for

in-person events (although not online or virtual events). We will incorporate this with our next

major company event, CWAY, to not only increase our social reach but have an already well-

designed area for those looking to follow in real-time and reminisce later.

Monthly Schedule:


- Post monthly contest

- Post something related to current trend on G+

- Hangout: customer service




- Post 2-week promotion


- Hangout: sales




- Celebrate monthly contest and declare winner - Close promotion

Staff- and client-related posts, as well as company updates as they occur

Contests and promotions on a monthly basis (these should not be run frequently)

Cross-posting with Facebook as necessary, although not often

Estimated hours per week: 1.25 (not including Hangout time, only setup)

Estimated hours per month: 5 (not including Hangout time, only setup)

Measurement:

As stated in the goals and outline, the initial objective of Google+ will be to grow our numbers.

Thus, the two key performance indicators will be number of +1’s to our page (this does not include any

outside webpages of ours, only our main profile page) and the number of people who have us in their

circles.

Lounge/Blog

Goals:

Quarter 3 Long Term (Dec. 2012 & beyond) 1. Lounge: Receive at least one daily post

from a client, lead, or prospect 2. Lounge: Respond to all posts within 24

hours 3. Blog: Create at least 1 post per month

(videos acceptable)

(Same as quarterly goals)

1. Respond to any post on our Lounge within 24 hours, regardless of business day, holiday, etc.

2. Praise any big client successes by having more than one employee respond


Our Lounge serves as a place people can post and talk with us once they are signed up and in

the system – it is not public. Our blog is public, but currently used infrequently. However, the main

reason we would use a blog is to increase our SEO and/or establish our expertise and credibility in a

subject. Given that we already rank very high on SEO and have been known as the main software for

martial arts schools for over a decade, there is no reason to reboot our blog and dedicate time writing

articles to accomplish things we are already doing well.

Overall, our main goal for these mediums is to use them as customer service and support, and

as such they are to be monitored and posted in by the customer service team rather than the social

media marketers.

Content:

N/A

Monthly Schedule:

N/A

Estimated hours per week: 1 (only includes monitoring and linking to other social media initiatives;

doesn’t include customer service)

Estimated hours per month: 4 (only includes monitoring and linking to other social media initiatives;

doesn’t include customer service)

Measurement:

The KPI’s of our Lounge and Blog revolve around user engagement: how often they post, and

how quickly we respond. Thus, activity is measured in two ways: how many times per day users post,

and how long it takes for employees to respond.

Community/Ning

Goals:

Quarter 3 Long Term (Dec. 2012 & beyond) 1. xxx different people updating a status each

week 2. xxx people uploading at least one photo

per week 3. xxx different people uploading a video per

month 4. xxx different people taking part in the

discussion forums each month

1. xxx new registrants each week 2. xxx updated statuses each week 3. xxx different people uploading photos

each week 4. 2 new videos each week 5. xxx people taking part in the discussion

forums each month


The Community should be our main posting hub for the vast majority of our social media

endeavors. With 3,000+ members and full control over everything, from the branding to content/user

moderation, we can maximize this to have the largest martial arts social network in the world, which

also happens to be hosted by a martial arts software company. For Q3, our main Community goals are

centered around reviving and rejuvenating. Once we get the user base active again, we will revisit the

Community strategy to determine what to do with it from there.

Additionally, this can be the main area for all our content postings: YouTube/Vimeo videos,

contests, etc. can all be posted here, making this our umbrella for all our social endeavors. Facebook will

serve a similar purpose, but we are not able to measure, control, or brand the page nearly as well as the

Community.

Content:

1. Use broadcast feature to message all members about the following:

a. Monthly release notes/CEO announcements

b. Webinars

2. Use the following content strategies, similar to Facebook (copy if necessary)

a. Product tips: informative posts (blog article, screenshot, or video) on how to better use

our software

b. Staff-related posts (tag them if possible and if they agree to it)

i. Birthdays

ii. New staff

iii. Farewells

c. Client posts

i. New client welcomes

ii. Birthdays

iii. Major events (new location, sold business, etc.)

iv. Testimonials

d. User of the month

e. Forum posts: start one new topic per month for users to weigh in on

f. Company updates

i. Newsletters

ii. Release notes

iii. CEO announcements

g. Fun business facts: little-known things about major companies, popular CEOs, etc.

Interesting yet brief.

h. Trivia: create engagement by providing a different opportunity to subtly stroke fans’

egos

i. Social media tips: share ways for our fans to better increase their presence and reach in

social media

j. Contests: May have to be run similar to YouTube contests, in that the Community

piggybacks off another network to drive user engagement. Will need a budget for

discounts, swag, free services, or other motivators.

k. Promotions: similar to contests, but available to all and doesn’t require any effort on

their part. Useful in highlighting a particular service we offer as well as a tool to measure

how many leads our page can generate.

l. Motivational quotes: link to each one we post on Pinterest

m. Events – create event pages for the following:

i. Upcoming webinars

ii. Upcoming live events (ex: Training Days)

Monthly Schedule:

For the most part, follow the Facebook posting schedule. The only things that will be different

are the message broadcasts, which should follow the schedule below:


- Post monthly contest

- Upcoming webinars

- Upcoming webinars

- Month’s end promo

- Close monthly contest

- Blast monthly release notes

Estimated hours per week: .5


Measurement:

The KPI’s of the Community for Q3 are centered on higher levels of usage across multiple users.

As such any activity on the Community will be monitored and logged (updates, uploads, etc.).

One drawback of this approach is because the Community is powered by Ning, it will be harder

to find automated measurement of its data and activity. Thus, a closer eye will have to be kept in regard

to measuring and reporting member usage.

Guidelines / Policy

Refer to the guidelines and social media policy already posted internally on our website.

Social Media Plan (2012)

Technology

Transcript of Social Media Plan (2012)