By Corinne Blair - Hill's Pet Nutrition - 12-month Social Media Strategy - UCI Extension - Winter.2013

12-Month Social Media Strategy
Hill’s Pet Nutrition
By: Corinne Blair
March 12, 2013
Page 1 of 9
Developing a Social Media Strategy (Mgmt X461.54) UCI Extension Winter 2013
Goals:
 Solidify industry leadership of Hill’s Pet Nutrition by re-educating, and engaging the pet parent community via community building and two-way dialogue on social media platforms.
 Optimize the conversion funnel by improving CTA navigation links on Hillspet.com and Facebook.
 Enhance Hillspet.com keywords on search engines to boost Web site traffic, generate more leads and increase online and offline sales.
 Create dedicated social media channels for Hill’s Ideal Balance (Hillsidealbalance.com).
 Leverage the social media initiatives of e-commerce partners to build brand awareness and incent trial of Hill’s Science Diet and Hill’s Ideal Balance dog and cat food brands.
 Gather market research to support ongoing product development planning, improve engagement, and enhance customer service quality.
Objectives:
 Increase Hill’s Science Diet and Hill’s Ideal Balance sales in all classes of trade (at retail and through e-commerce partners) during Q2 and Q3, 2013.
 By September 2013, capture 100 positive ratings/reviews about Hill’s Ideal Balance dog and cat food products.
 By September 2013, acquire 1000 new pet parent profiles via Pet Chat e-newsletter registration/sign-up.
 Generate 60% new, unique visitors each month to the Web site.
Social Media Uses:
Hill’s Pet Nutrition social media efforts will be used to accomplish the following:
 Marketing via sales/promotions, promoting products, market research, communication, listening, community building, lead generation, and to promote events.
 Public Relations via branding/reputation management, influencer relationships, monitoring conversations, brand loyalty via incentives/contests and storytelling.
 Customer Service via communications, customer relations, loyalty/retention, two-way conversation, and anticipation of service issues.

By: Corinne Blair
March 12, 2013
Page 2 of 9
Target Audience:
Pet parent consumers will be the primary target audience for the Web marketing efforts.
Audience Profiles:
 Geographic: United States
 Psychographic: Pet parents have emotional and logical needs related to their current situation and desired situation regarding their pet’s health - LifeStage, LifeStyle and LifeCare. Natural, Healthy Ingredients.
 Demographic/Decision Maker: Female decision-maker, Married/Family, 35+, 60M+ HH income.
 Behavior: Brand-Specific Pet Parents, which contain two niche persona groups
 Technographics:
 Creators (13%) – publish webpages, publish/maintain blog; upload videos to youtube
 Critics (19%) comment on blogs; post ratings and reviews
 Collectors – tag webpages (15%)
 Joiners 19% - social networking sites.
 Spectators – watch peer generated videos. Download podcasts. 33%
Paula the Proactive Nutritionist: Paula fits the traditional Hill’s Science Diet enthusiast profile. She is a gatekeeper mom, who considers her pet as family. She feels responsible to take care of the family pet the same way she is responsible for other family members. She is a healthy eater. Just like herself and her family members, she wants her pet to eat healthy foods that are also enjoyable. Paula uses social media to follow her favorite pet stores and pet food brands looking for special offers, and the latest product news, events, and cause-related activity. Paula got her pet from a shelter, so she likes to support a brand that is active in helping pets find good homes.
Betty Knows Best: Betty is drawn to the Hill’s Ideal Balance for her pets. Betty knows pets are a part of her family, and she feels a strong sense of responsibility to feed them the very best pet food. Betty is committed to continuous learning. She is on a constant quest to gather, gather, gather the facts and seeking advice from multiple sources. She is confident she knows what is best, because she does exhaustive research and asks lots of opinions before making a decision. Betty reads nutrition labels, pet expert blogs, nutrition studies/findings, reviews/ratings online, and consults every type of pet professionals (vet, groomer, dog walker, dog sitter, pet retail associate, etc), as well as her friends and neighbors about what is best. Betty thinks of pet as family. She is technology savvy with mobile technology, and is impressed when pet food manufacturers feature QR codes on their packaging and collateral. Betty subscribes to RSS feeds of pet expert/opinion blogs, and she also values online product reviews and ratings. Betty uses social media to share her expertise knowledge with her friends and family.

By: Corinne Blair
March 12, 2013
Page 3 of 9
Keywords:
Utilize Google Keyword Suggestion Tool, Google Insights for Search, and YouTube Suggest/YouTube Keyword Tool to power-pack keywords in the HTML coding/Metatag words and long-tail keyword phrases behind individual product pages and videos to maximum attention from search engine indexing. Start with keywords, such as “Natural Dog/Cat Nutrition”, “Natural Dog Food”, “Best Dog/Cat Food”, “Good Dog/Cat Food”, “Healthy Dog/Cat food”, “Precisely Balanced Dog Nutrition”, “Grain-Free Dog/Cat Food”, “Hill’s Ideal Balance”. Add new keywords and long tail keyword phrases overtime to test and optimize SERP results, and successful click through and engagement to the Web site.
Listening Tools, Market Research & Measurement:
Utilize various quantitative and qualitative/sentiment-specific listening tools for brand monitoring, trend analysis, customer information, and to uncover unmet needs. Primary and secondary research will be used to learn more about the audience (market research), measure marketing strategy and campaign success, in terms of content consumption, content contribution, lead nurturing/WOM, and conversion codes/keywords. Most important measurements will be conversion, opt-in, page views and ROI.
The pet community loves to post on forums/blogs. While Hill’s won’t proactively push out content on blogs, listening to activity on various forums, blogs and social channels will serve to drive social media content strategy throughout the year. Recommended tools are Buzzmetrics (www.nielsenonline.com/solutions.jsp), Google Blog Search, http://blogsearch.google.com, googlereader.com, googlealerts.com, Google search/google groups, boardreader.com and socialmention.com to monitor various forums, blogs, and social channels.
For chatter on Twitter, utilize Twitter Search (search.twitter.com), Hashtags.com, and Tweetbeep (www.tweetbeep.com), to receive alerts anytime conversations mention Hill’s Pet Nutrition, Hill’s Science Diets or Hill’s Ideal Balance.
Also, utilize Digg.com and Delicious.com to monitor tagging popularity and placement to understand content consumption. Use Linktrack.com for link tracking on any content.
For videos on the Hill’s Pet Nutrition YouTube channel, count the number of views, ratings, responses, comments, favorites, honors for this video, and traffic to links embedded in video.
Hootsuite.com to organize and publish content on various social media platforms.
Also, analyze enterprise data, such as POS or Syndicated Data that can provide insights into sales lift around online campaign activity. Utilize secondary research tools to understand Web site performance analysis, benchmarking, and reporting, such as www.keynote.com, www.servicemetrics.com,or www.alexa.com. Also, take advantage of Web analytic tools (i.e., Omniture, Google Analytics) to track Web site visits, visitors, time on page, time on site, bounce rate, exit rate, conversion rate, and engagement. Monitor Webserver logs, as well to view to views per page, unique visitors, how long visitors stay, top entry and exit pages & paths, referral Web sites, top search engines, and keywords and key phrases used to find Hill’s. Utilize dashboards to understand activity. Especially traffic to Hill’s Ideal Balance pages leading to conversion. (i.e. download rebate, compare brands, connect to e-commerce links)
Enhance the personalization features captured via the Pet Chat e-Newsletter registration to understand brand activation, such as brand preference and where they learned about the Pet Chat e-Newsletter.

By: Corinne Blair
March 12, 2013
Page 4 of 9
BzzAgent.com and Klout.com will also be utilized to track shopper behavior offline and online to ignite influencer posts and word-of-mouth marketing campaigns.
Stay current on best measurement tools, and continue to explore other options, along with the current tools in place.
CatCat Categories and Tools:
The following are the primary categories and tools used by Hill’s Pet Nutrition:
 Microblogging = Twitter
 Social networking = Facebook
 Photosharing = Instagram and Pinterest
 Video Sharing = YouTube.com
 Mobile = QR Codes and digital banner ads and/or RSS feed listings; Sweepstakes entry apps
 Search = Google, Bing, AOL, Yahoo
 Social Bookmarking = digg.com; delicious.com
Long term, Hill’s Pet Nutrition should consider publishing blog and dedicated social media channels for Hill’s Ideal Balance to improve search engine visibility, and social bookmarking.
Partnerships:
Hill’s Pet Nutrition will leverage the social media efforts of the following partnerships to drive trial and brand awareness:
 Klout.com; BzzAgent.com
 E-commerce and Retail Partners: Petfooddirect.com and Petco.com Facebook sponsored ads; Petco Caturday videos and Facebook/Twitter contests (#caturday); Pet360 image postings on Pinterest; Petco campaigns on Google+
 Other Partners: Foodnetwork; PetMd “mybowl” interactive tool; Pepsi Puppy Project (P3) Guiding Eyes for the Blind
Integration:
Social media initiatives will be integrated with offline and online promotional activities (QR code cards handed-out in-store; SEM (SEO, PPC and Display Advertising; Mobile/digital advertising on pet-related e- zines) to drive the acquisition to conversion funnel, as well as retention campaigns (e-mail marketing and re-targeting display advertising on affinity Web sites) to ensure Hill’s Science Diet loyal customers do not deflect due to packaging and formula changes.
Competition:

By: Corinne Blair
March 12, 2013
Page 5 of 9
The following is an overview of the social media tools used by the competition:
 Blue Buffalo: Facebook and Twitter. Facebook page recently posted a response to the negative press Blue Buffalo has received. The post received 1371 comments, over 3000 likes.
 Natural Balance: Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Google+ and Pinterest
 P&G/Natura Brands: Facebook, Twitter and YouTube for each brand.
 Iams/Eukanuba: Multiple blogs, Facebook and Twitter.
 The Nutro Company: Twitter and Facebook
 Greenies: Blog, Twitter, Facebook
 Wellness Dog and Cat food – Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Google+
 Purina Pro Plan – Mobile dog training app; Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest, Google+ Marketing & Social Media Budget:
Social Media budget will be 20% of total Marketing budget. The Marketing budget is 20% of overall sales revenue.
Team/Departments (Defining roles) and Time Dedication:
The executive team is on-board with Hill’s involvement in social media marketing, so a microplan is not needed to persuade them.
Cross-functional involvement will be needed to ensure successful social media outreach:
 Human Resources will ensure employees follow the social media policy, and make adjustments as needed.
 Customer Service will have ownership in responding to related questions on social media channels.
 Brand Team will work closely with the Digital Marketing team to develop strategy, and decide on analytical tools.
 Agent of Record who manages the Web site design and content will work closely with the Brand and Digital Marketing team on strategy and analytic dashboards to monitor the acquisition to conversion funnel.
 IT department involvement to ensure company security.
 Digital Marketing team will have ownership of strategy development, content publishing and monitoring, analytical reporting and recommendation. Digital team includes a Manager and a Coordinator.
Total team involvement will dedicate approximately 20 hours a week.
The Social Media Voice will be shared between Customer Service and the Digital Marketing team.

By: Corinne Blair
March 12, 2013
Page 6 of 9
Content Strategy:
Content strategy will focus on communication, collaboration, entertainment, and education.
First step is to enhance the Hill’s Pet Nutrition Facebook page to include the following links = events (i.e., meet one of the pet nutritionist who developed Hill’s Ideal Balance), Where to Buy, Pet Chat e-Newsletter Sign-Up, compare brands tools, special offers (i.e., Hill’s Ideal Balance Try Free mail-in Rebate), frequently asked questions, testimonials, ratings/reviews, and Petmd.com MyBowl interactive tool, and Hill’s Pet Nutrition YouTube Channel. Also, Hill’s pet nutrition should “like” other pet affinity-related Facebook pages such as Petco, Petsmart, Petfooddirect.com, Pet360.com, Dog.com, Animalplanet.com, Dogchannel.com, Catchannel.com, Blogpaws.com, Americandogmagazine.com, Caster.com, Dogster.com, Peoplepets.com, Dogtipper.com, Petside.com, Pawnation.com, Dogfancy.com, Catfancy.com, Barkmagazine.com, Fidofriendlymagazine.com, Cats101.com, Dogs101.com, Petfood-connection.com, Redbook.com, Realsimple.com, Goodguide.com, Food Network.com, Pepsi Puppy Project (P3), Guiding Eyes for the Blind, etc.
Next, Hill’s Pet Nutrition should set-up a Twitter page, as well as a dedicated Twitter and Facebook page for Hill’s Ideal Balance to purposefully separate the brand from the more “sciency” brand reputation of Hill’s Science Diet and Hill’s Prescription Diet.
January through April, content strategy will focus on quality and comfort promoting the re-formulation of Hill’s Science Diet backed by the “Feed with Confidence” quality control video. Supporting campaigns will engage customers asking if they have questions about the new formulation, and encourage them to call the 800#, if needed. Also, posting a contest app on Facebook for people to enter to win free product. This time period will also be used to educate pet parents in-store about Hill’s Ideal Balance, asking them to scan the QR Code to compare their brand to Hill’s Ideal Balance.
Starting in April, content strategy will focus around themes to drive excitement around the new launch of Hill’s Ideal Balance. Post a contest link on Facebook, such as a “Natural Moments” campaign, requesting customer generated content (video or photo submission) showing their pet’s most natural moment (what is uniquely natural about their pet) for a chance to win Hill’s Ideal Balance product and a professional pet photography session. Pet Parents to click on a link which will take them to hillsidealbalance.com to enroll in the contest, and post their videos/photos. Test similar contest on Twitter. Host a chat with a Hill’s pet nutritionist on Twitter.
Throughout the year, run various short campaigns to generate immediate brand/product interest. Leverage partnerships to help maximum social media campaign success, like the Petco Caturday Video campaign featured on the Petco YouTube channel with a Petco Twitter hashtag and Petco Facebook page. Hill’s product-specific messaging can be included in the Caturday video with opportunities to enter to win product by participating in a contest posted on the Petco Facebook page or Petco blog. Also, Hill’s Science Diet and Hill’s Ideal Balance can benefit from the Facebook sponsored advertising by e-commerce partners who serve-up Hill’s product-specific ads on highly targeted Facebook profile pages. Also, e-commerce partners are posting product images and offers on Pinterest under PetProductsWeLove, Dog Food, Cat Food, as well as Google+. Hill’s social media platforms can drive engagement by directing pet parents to the partner social media sites to participate.
Also, Klout.com and Bzzagent.com will be used throughout the year to send out new product samples to top influencers for lead nurturing.
Holidays and seasonality should also be used for content engagement.
Hill’s Science Diet content themes/ideas: Formula Change/Customer Service content; Quality “Feed with Confidence” Video; New Hill’s Science Diet commercials featuring Veterinarian advocates; Articles on Precisely Balanced Nutrition and Reading Labels; Pet of the Week Consumer Generated Content; Did you know? Content. Caption this Picture? Name that ingredient? Kansas trivia – maybe something around the Wizard of Oz dog Toto. Also, use Buddy – the dog that started the Hill’s Pet Nutrition company, as a brand character for content engagement; Twitter chat with a Veterinarian.

By: Corinne Blair
March 12, 2013
Page 7 of 9
Hill’s Ideal Balance content themes/ideas: separate Facebook page. Natural Moments contest; Facebook chat with pet nutritionist; what comes natural content; healthy/active images/photos and content. What’s in your dog’s food? themed-content; Quality Promise video; New Ideal Balance Commercial; Rebate Download. “Try Now”. Be the first to write a review. Perfect pairings – wet and dry. Balanced lifestyle content. Pet Nutritionist Experts content. Compare Tool, Events, Blog, but test with Twitter for now? “Feed with Confidence” video – How many safety checks? Watch the video and post the answer. Balance means? ____ ; Pet-friendly Farmer’s Markets; How to make home made treats?
Please see the next two pages (Page 8 & 9) for the 12-Month Strategy.

By: Corinne Blair
March 12, 2013
Page 8 of 9
Month Category Tool/Platform Content Strategy Product Focus Engagement Tactics Measurement Observations/Change to Plan Responsible Person/Team
January
social networking, search, microblog, mobile
FB, Twitter, YouTube, QR Codes
brand awareness, education, perception modification
new/improved Hill's and Ideal Balance
communication, educate
In-store hand-out with QR Codes - links to Brand Comparison Tool and Feed with Confidence Video. Pet of the Week CGC
Conversion, Opt-In, Page Views, Content Contribution, Content Consumption, Blog/Forum Comments & Tagging
Comments = define ongoing content strategy
Digital Marketing & Customer Service Teams
February
new/improved Hill's and Ideal Balance
entertain, educate
QR Codes continued. Vet-featured Commercial on Facebook - leading to Web site to view video on YouTube (or vice versa). Pet of the Week CGC
Conversion, Opt-In, Page Views, Content Contribution, Content Consumption, Conversion Codes, Blog/Forum Comments & Tagging
March
Lead generation, and customer retention
new/improved Hill's & Ideal Balance
collaborate
Hill's Science Diet Transition engagement on Facebook. Hill's Ideal Balance Rebate Download via Facebook or Mobile. Petco Hill's Science Diet 30day Hairball Challenge (Petco blog) Campaign; Pet of the Week CGC
April
Lead generation, brand awareness
New Ideal Balance & Crunchy Cat Treats
entertain, collaborate, educate
Natural Moments campaign. New Ideal Balance Commercial/Video with Pet Nutritionist. Klout.com and Bzzagent.com WOM cat treat sampling. Petco Caturday YouTube Video FB/Twitter contest around Cat treats. Pet of the Week CGC
conversion, opt-in, page views, comments; comments & tagging; lead nurturing
May
Lead generation, brand awareness
New Ideal Balance Cat Food
Natural Moments campaign. Klout.com and Bzzagent.com WOM cat treat sampling. Petco Caturday YouTube Video FB/Twitter contest around Cat treats. Pet of the Week CGC
conversion, opt-in, page views, comments & tagging; lead nurturing
June
FoodShelterLove (adoption month)
how did your pet find you? Pet of the Week CGC. Adoption stories video on Facebook and Twitter.
July
brand awareness, education, lead generation
New Dog Treats / Ideal Balance feedback
Natural Moments Facebook Content - Picture/Video dog/cat in their best natural moment. "Be the First to Rate/Review Hill's Ideal Balance" - E- mail to Hill's Ideal Balance users who redeemed the rebate review of the product. Pet of the Week CGC. 4th of July themed visual content

By: Corinne Blair
March 12, 2013
Page 9 of 9
August
education
Pepsi puppy project (P3) - guiding eyes for the blind
Pet of the Week CGC
September
FB, Twitter, YouTube, QR Codes, Pinterest
education; thought leadership
articles: feeding wet and dry
entertain, collaborate, educate, thought leadership
Pet of the Week CGC. Pet360.com Pet Pack Giveaway Promoted on Twitter, Facebook and Pinterest. Featured articles around "Natural", "Precisely Balanced", "Ingredients vs. Nutrition", Maybe ask users what topics they'd like to read an article about.
October
FB, Twitter, YouTube, QR Codes, Pinterest
education; brand awareness, lead generation
Minced Loaf/Grain Free Wet Food - Dog/Cat
Klout.com and Bzzagent.com WOM minced loaf/grain free wet food sampling. Pet of the Week CGC. Petco Howloween Re-Pinning Contest (Pinterest)
November
FB, Twitter, YouTube, QR Codes, Google+
Holiday themed
Pet of the Week CGC. Petco "Crazy About Giving" Holiday Sweepstakes promoted on Google+
December
Dog/Cat Treats - Holiday Gifts
Pet of the Week CGC. Holiday gifts.

By Corinne Blair - Hill's Pet Nutrition - 12-month Social Media Strategy - UCI Extension - Winter.2013

Recomendados

Recomendados

Mais conteúdo relacionado

Destaque

Destaque (8)

Último

Último (20)

By Corinne Blair - Hill's Pet Nutrition - 12-month Social Media Strategy - UCI Extension - Winter.2013