Social Media Strategy AUGUST 2013

Big Picture 1.Utilize social media to deepen relationships with current clients and widen our potential customer reach to maintain and increase sales. 2.To deepen and widen relationships with media and digital influencers for minimizing time and effort within operations such as pitching.

Guidelines We also recommend implementing social media guidelines since everything we do online reflects back on zcomm. In order to help the staff with this transition, there will be training sessions on social media platforms as needed. To find and use each social media platforms to target the most appropriate audience (b2b or b2c) for the success of zcomm sales and services.

Content Content should not be exactly the same across each platform. It should: Be informative, relevant, useful and timely Be original, entertaining and engaging Include behind the scenes, quick tips, special offers and events, breaking news and developments Reactive to current events, comments, posts, re-tweets, likes, posts, and if appropriate (LinkedIn) business trends.

Measurement We are looking for social media engagement and relationships that are created utilizing the appropriate audience, and within the guidelines. – Re-tweets (or re-post) – Likes – Comments – Messages in and out

Twitter GOAL: To increase engagement with our Twitter audience, showcase social media skills to increase success in social media proposals. To increase digital influencer relationships for use in pitching, digital influencer programs, and client promotion (owned media). Twitter is not a broadcast media, it is more like a telephone than a television. Create tweets that engage but also reply, respond and react to other tweets to increase engagement. Consider: Company news (b2c audience – like new employees or a move to DC), b2c blog posts, client promotion, trending news, vines, food trucks, food/beverage/beauty/government relations, weather, DC, art, reactions and responses to other tweets, retweets, digital influencer engagement. Twitter is a b2c mechanism and should not be used for direct sales. Save this for LinkedIn or direct communication within Twitter 80/20 Rule – stats show that people are only willing to put up with 20 percent of sales content at most

Facebook GOALS: Increase engagement and influence the Facebook community. To showcase social media skills in order to successfully land proposals to clients Widen relationships with current/potential clients Use in pitching social media campaigns and journalists POSTS: Post regular updates, including industry news and original zcomm content Interact with, comment on and share posts from other agencies and news sites

YouTube GOAL: Generate at least 10 videos by 2012 to increase SEO and visbility CHANGES: Create and upload video content regularly – Minimum one video per month Update channel profile and tags Topics for videos can include: – Footage from events we attend (short clips) – Industry information presented as graphics with music and/or voiceover – Biz Buzz Bites video series – How-To videos – Interviews WHY? YouTube tells a small part of zcomm’s story and builds trust It’s the third most visited site on the internet (4 billion views per day) and viewership increased by 25 percent last year Videos get preferential search placement – a search term is 53 times more likely to get a first page Google search result if it has a YouTube video correlated with it Video in an communication can double your open rate Good content gives your business credibility 75 percent of senior executives watch work-related videos at least once a week. More than 50 percent visited a vendor’s website based on a video they watched and nearly 50 percent made a business decision based on a video they watched.

Blog GOAL: Receive 3,500 page views total in 2012 CHANGES: Secure a direct domain: zpr.com/blog Start incorporating how-to posts, lists, interviews, trending topics, announcements, events, etc. Titles need to be clear and literal for SEO purposes; can revamp clever titles into opening sentences instead Keep tone conversational, but professional; Avoid profanity, slang, excessive jargon, etc. because it’s a turnoff All posts need to have a strong and clear focus Use smaller paragraphs, subheads, bullets, etc. to make content more digestible for readers Update the theme of the blog so it’s cleaner and easier to read – light background, dark text – usability! Begin commenting on other blogs (agencies, PR blogs, etc.) Link to the zcomm blog on all online profiles and in our signature WHY? Blogs should be the cornerstone of online engagement and our content marketing strategy; it tells zcomm’s story and establishes subject matter expertise SEO experts agree that having an integrated blog is the number one way to increase your site’s search engine results Allows us to better track analytics and stats Commenting on other blogs will help build relationships, increase traffic to our blog and establish zcomm as a thought leader Blogs are good PR – they extend the value offered to customers and clients by providing information they find relevant and useful Blogs have a better chance of being indexed in search engines index blogs if you publish on a regular basis, on a set schedule

LinkedIn GOAL: Set up a minimum of five business meetings through online networking CHANGES: Make sure executive staff members’ profiles are 100 percent filled out Update and maintain zcomm’s company page Join appropriate groups Participate and begin group conversations WHY? LinkedIn generates testimonials

Google + GOAL: Familiarize ourselves with the platform and find new ways for zcomm to become visible to clients CHANGES: Update and maintain our profile Brainstorm ways zcomm can use the Hangout feature Add clients and agencies to our circles WHY? Companies are having a lot of success using the Hangouts It’s important to have a presence in all the major social platforms to show we know what’s new

New Elements to Consider Podcasts (one per month) – Short audio or video podcasts – Write a blog post for each one to share with readers – Topics can include: Five things to keep in mind this week Rundown of new keys stats Interviews Monthly series’ focusing on one topic – One page “white papers” on a specific topic that can then be condensed and repurposed for videos, podcasts, tweets, Facebook posts, etc. – Example: focus on curation for March