Social  Media  Strategy  

 

 

Objectives

• Increase  average  user  engagement  on  social  media  by  10  percent  by  May  2015  • Increase  awareness  for  the  newly  opened  location  in  Columbia  

 

Target Audience  

The  target  is  18  to  24-­‐year-­‐old  college  students  in  Columbia,  MO.  They  love  sweets  as  much  as  they  love  to  express  themselves  and  their  own  unique  personality  and  style.  They  don’t  take  themselves  too  seriously  and  they  embrace  their  inner  kid.  They  get  bored  easily  and  love  everything  fresh,  new  and  exciting.  

 

Brand Personality and Social Voice  

The  Strange  Donuts  tone  of  voice  is  fun,  light-­‐hearted  and  humorous.  The  brand  has  a  specific  style  and  flair  that  is  a  little  bit  eccentric,  hence  the  name  “Strange”  Donuts,  but  still  clean  and  cohesive.  The  style  also  includes  a  little  bit  of  a  retro  vibe  with  themes  of  throwbacks  and  childlike  imagery.  The  creative  director  for  Strange  Donuts  has  compared  their  relatable  content  to  that  of  the  television  show  South  Park.  The  brand’s  charity,  Strange  Cares,  also  aligns  with  this  playful,  “childlike”  style.  The  owners  purposefully  selected  three  causes  that  benefit  and  empower  children.1  Another  major  aspect  of  the  Strange  Donuts  personality  is  its  local  loyalty.  The  brand  loves  making  partnerships  and  collaborating  with  local  businesses  and  regularly  promotes  other  local  companies  on  its  own  social  spaces.  Strange  Donuts  is  very  up-­‐to-­‐date  with  social  media  trends  like  ‘Throwback  Thursday’  and  basics  like  tagging  and  using  hashtags,  but  doesn’t  necessarily  go  to  the  next  level  with  engagement.  

 

Social Channels Facebook  Strange  Donuts  has  a  strong  Facebook  following  with  26,000  page  ‘likes,’  but  comments  and  post  ‘shares’  are  few  and  far  between  in  relation.  This  gives  this  platform  a  lot  of  potential  for  an  increase  in  user  engagement.  The  page  does  a  good  job  of  using  hashtags,  geotags,  video  and  Facebook  ‘events,’  but  the  majority  of  posts  are  recycled  photos  from  their  Instagram  account.  There  is  room  for  more  original,  tailored,  interactive  content  on  Facebook.    Instagram  Instagram  is  another  popular  account  for  Strange  Donuts  with  13,000  followers.  They  are  very  active,  posting  up  to  five  times  daily,  which  might  actually  be  a  little  bit  too  active.  However,  photos  are  professionally  shot,  visually  compelling  and  arguably  account  for  the  best  content  Strange  Donuts  has  to  offer.  They  have  good  use  of  Instagram  video  and  frequently  tag  other  local  companies.  Like  Facebook,  engagement  on  Instagram  is  lacking  compared  to  their  large  following.  There  is  not  a  lot  of  branded  hashtag  promotion  that  followers  can  use  on  their  own,  so  there  is  room  for  improvement.  

 

 

Twitter  Strange  Donuts  once  again  has  a  strong  following  on  Twitter  with  9,000  followers,  but  brand  engagement  is  extremely  low.  There  are  little  to  no  ‘favorites’  or  ‘retweets’  for  any  given  tweet.  Strange  Donuts  also  frequently  posts  somewhat  irrelevant  tweets  that  have  no  real  strategy  other  than  possibly  adding  to  brand  voice.  Strange  Donuts  does  a  decent  job  of  ‘retweeting’  or  replying  to  followers  who  tweet  at  them,  but  doesn’t  necessarily  start  the  conversation.  Like  Facebook,  most  of  the  content  is  recycled  Instagram  posts.    YouTube  YouTube  is  a  social  space  Strange  Donuts  uses  to  house  their  video  content,  but  not  to  be  social.  They  only  have  between  400  and  2,000  views  per  video  with  hardly  any  comments  and  only  84  subscribers.  The  videos  they  upload  to  YouTube  serve  as  their  form  of  ad  campaigns,  some  which  are  more  successful  than  others.  Last  year,  they  tried  out  a  branded  hashtag  video  campaign,  #PronutTheDonut,  to  promote  a  protein  donut,  and  it  is  their  most  viewed  video  to  date.  This  platform  doesn’t  give  them  a  lot  of  reach,  but  it  has  lots  of  potential  to  do  so.  

Brand Positioning & Messaging Strategy

 Product  Promotion  The  product  promotion  content  pillar  includes  the  use  of  social  media  channels  to  promote  the  brand’s  donuts,  merchandise  and  events  such  as  grand  openings.  For  example:        

 

Partnerships  Posts  in  the  partnerships  content  pillar  include  tweets,  statuses,  photos  and  videos  that  mention,  tag  or  promote  other  local  businesses  or  collaborators.  For  example:                                  Causes  The  causes  content  pillar  includes  posts  pertaining  to  Strange  Donuts’  charity,  Strange  Cares,  and  philanthropy  events  such  as  National  Donut  Day.  For  example:  

 

 

  Social Tactics  

One  tactic  to  promote  engagement  and  spread  awareness  is  using  branded  hashtags.4 Using  open-­‐ended  branded  hashtags  across  Facebook,  Twitter  and  Instagram  does  a  better  job  of  promoting  engagement  than  a  simple  “follow  us  on  Twitter”  by  inviting  the  audience  to  participate  and  add  to  the  conversation.5    Another  tactic  is  to  promote  engagement  is  launching  social  media  contests  or  interactive  campaigns.  Among  the  most  popular  interactive  campaigns  are  Facebook  comment-­‐to-­‐win  contests,  best  photo  challenges  on  Instagram  and  Twitter  hashtag  contests.6    

A  third  tactic  would  be  engaging  with  Twitter  followers  in  a  more  direct  and  personal  manner  by  replying  to  tweets  and  using  promoted  tweets.  Promoted  tweets  yield  engagement  rates  between  three  and  ten  percent  on  average  and  much  higher  rates  than  standard  online  advertising,  such  as  banner  ads.5  Promoted  tweets  are  also  effective  at  spreading  brand  awareness  by  targeting  audiences  that  don’t  already  follow  Strange  Donuts.5  

References

 1. Alive  Magazine  Blog.  (2014).    “Strange  Donuts  Launches  Strange  Cares  Charity  Effort  For  Three  

Children’s  Charities.”  Retrieved  from  http://www.alivemag.com/blog/index.php/2014/10/  strange-­‐donuts-­‐launches-­‐strange-­‐cares-­‐charity-­‐effort-­‐for-­‐three-­‐childrens-­‐charities/  

 2. Feast  Magazine.  (2014.)  “How  Strange  Donuts  Conquered  St.  Louis.”  Retrieved  from  

http://www.feastmagazine.com/dine/article_c4ab8f1a-­‐8aed-­‐11e4-­‐9348-­‐8b7bb855312d.html    

3. St.  Louis  Magazine.  (2014).  “2013:  The  year  of  Strange  Donuts.”  Retrieved  from  http://www.stlmag.com/dining/2013-­‐The-­‐Year-­‐of-­‐Strange-­‐Donuts/  

 4. Study  Breaks  Magazine.  (2014.)  “Using  Social  Media  Platforms  to  Reach  College  Students.”  

Retrieved  from  http://studybreakscollegemedia.com/2014/using-­‐social-­‐media-­‐platforms-­‐to-­‐engage-­‐college-­‐students/  

 5. Mashable.  (2011).  “5  proven  Twitter  Marketing  Strategies.”  Retrieved  from  

http://mashable.com/2011/06/22/twitter-­‐marketing-­‐guide/    

6. TRAFFIK.  (2015).  “Emotional,  Unique  and  Outspoken:  What  Millenials  Want.”  Retrieved  from  http://www.traffikonline.com/2015/02/emotional-­‐unique-­‐and-­‐outspoken-­‐what-­‐millennials-­‐want/