Social Media Engagement for Cause Branding and

Community Building

Ed Nicholson, Director of Community Relations

http://twitter.com/TysonFoods

http://hungerrelief.tyson.com

•Establish the company as a thought leader in the cause of hunger•Contribute to a community that will recognize our voice as credible—and might defend us when we need it.•Leverage our in-kind donations toward more than publicity.

Goals and Strategies

•Engage employees in very productive and visible ways 107K in U.S.

•Makes them feel good about the company.•Creates people dedicated to the cause. • Is another step toward being more authentically involved; humanizing the brand.

Goals and Strategies

•Utilize our communications resources to create awareness and build community around the issue. Social networking tools are particularly effective toward this end.

•More than a “campaign” for us.

Goals and Strategies

The more we give in a genuine way,the more we get back.

•Involved since 2000•Early approach was very brand-centric. Protective. Publicity-focused.

Tyson hunger relief

•There is a phenomenal community already engaged in the issue

•Inspiring people•Great room for more online connections

•Can’t be accepted into the community overnight. Can’t “buy” your way in•As our people became engaged, our culture—our expectations changed•Became more collaborative, more outwardly-focused, more connected.

Tyson hunger relief strategy—how it evolved—what we learned

Http://HungerRelief.Tyson.com

Online in 2007

• Tell stories of people working in hunger relief—Ours and others’—Archive those stories.• Expand awareness of and engagement in the issue• Help bring the existing community involved in hunger relief online

The Hunger Community

•National organizations—SOS, Feeding America•Policy Advocates—FRAC, Cong. Hunger Center•Lawmakers—House and Cong. Hunger Caucus, Sen. Blanche Lincoln•Local organizations—Food banks•Local agencies•Inspired, inspiring individuals—Hunger All-Stars

The blog – Hunger All-Stars

Hunger All-Stars

Social Media Informing and Validating

Social Media Informing and Validating

Http://HungerRelief.Tyson.com – Live blogging

Engaging employees – RAGBRAI

Engaging and contributing to the community

Engaging the community

Engaging and informing—WeCanEndThisC

The blog –Guest posts

Tools – Flickr

Tools – YouTube

Tools--Twitter

Tools—Google Maps

Tools—Facebook

Engaging and informing—Comment for Food Efforts

Engaging and informing—Comment for Food Efforts

Recognition

Is this stuff worth the effort? How we evaluate.

• Online activity: Site traffic, blog posts, Twitter and Facebook activity

• Continually updated archive of Tyson’s activity within the issue

• Reputation and relationships--

Relationships and reputations transcend and survive technology changes.

There’s continuity in community.

The tools will continue to evolve

http://twitter.com/TysonFoods

http://hungerrelief.tyson.com

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Tyson-Foods-Hunger-Relief/200228386775

http://www.youtube.com/tysoncommunity

Where you’ll find us