2010
InSinkErator Evolution PRO Series A Social Media Plan This is a social media campaign submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements of ADPR 4953: Social Media in Advertising and Public Relations Spring 2010.
Nicole Cirone, Katie Fanella, Lauren Lakomek, and Jessica Landry 5/6/2010
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InSinkErator: The PRO Evolution Series Launched in 2006, the InSinkErator Evolution PRO Series was designed to specifically satisfy consumers’ wants in a food waste disposal. Earning a Net Promoter Score of 78%, far above the average of 16%, this series has earned the “world class category” status. Using new technology, InSinkErator has created a sophisticated and contemporary product line that meets consumers’ most important wants, grinding finely, quickly and quietly. “Become part of the Evolution…Grind More. Hear Less.”
Buyer Persona Meet John and Linda John and Linda are celebrating their 35th wedding anniversary by building a beautiful new home on Lake Geneva in Wisconsin. John, the CEO of a mid-size software company, and Linda, a retired accountant, have achieved great success throughout their lives both fiscally and personally. Having four grown children and two young grandchildren, these empty nesters have always dreamed of retiring on the water.
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SWOT Situational Analysis Strengths • •
Easily navigable website, clean, modern design Well established, 75 year old company
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Invented the first disposal in 1927
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Go-to brand as it is the choice of 9 out of 10 plumbing professionals
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We Come To You™ In-Home Service Warranties
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The easiest disposers to install
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Quick-Lock Sink Mount Available only from InSinkErator
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Technology competition doesn't have: Dura-Drive Induction Motor
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Colored parts to match kitchen decor
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Environmentally-friendly
Opportunities •
Individuals are already talking about the high quality and high satisfactition levels with this product.
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Practical for those who can't compost at home
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Garbage disposal creates bi-product: bio gas. this can be used to fuel garbage treatment facilitates and other locations
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More municipalities requiring garbage disposals be installed
Weaknesses •
Biggest challenges: Resources (money and manpower) and time within the company
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How to get consumers to come back since they only buy a disposal on average only once every 8-10 years?
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Website has great potential to be helpful, but consumers could face difficulty navigating the content. Where do I click next?
Threats •
Premium line is at a higher cost to consumers
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Not as prevalent internationally
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Issues Long product life cycle InSinkErator should not have to apologize for the durability and quality of their product. However, since the Evolution PRO series is so reliable, consumer disposals typically last for at least 8-12 years and consumers do not have a real need to connect with the company or brand again until the end of the product cycle. Social media participation would give consumers a reason to engage with InSinkErator even if they are not in need of a new product. It would also give consumers a reason to return to the official company website.
Unaware of the benefits the InSinkErator Evolution Series offers There are a significant number of consumers unaware of the benefits that the InSinkErator Evolution PRO Series offers. The MultiGrind feature allows consumers to grind almost any type of food waste, while the SoundSeal feature is at least 30% quieter than the typical food disposers. Both are benefits that no other disposer has been able to offer. Also, food waste disposers play an important role in responsible waste management and environmental protection through a number of different ways. Therefore, social media provides the ideal opportunity to inform customers of the various benefits.
Comments to be shared, but nowhere to share them Though it is known that InSinkErator is talked about positively online through data collected by the company’s email surveys, 24/7-customer service and testimonials submitted online, the World Wide Web is much larger. On the internet, there are many InSinkErator brand advocates who have stories and comments to share about the product. However, there is currently no official InSinkErator forum for them to post them on. There are some conversations occurring in outside channels, such as Amazon.com, but, currently InSinkErator.com only allows consumers to send in feedback using a general comment sheet. Social media participation would encourage more conversation in regards to InSinkErator products, with the company itself and other consumers. Social media allows the conversation to start and get people talking to one another.
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Target market’s social media use is rapidly increasing For the Evolution PRO Series, one of the InSinkErator’s main target markets is homeowners over the age of 50. This demographic is increasingly participating in social media as 19% of 45-54 year olds and 10% of 55-64 year olds are currently active on social media sites (http://royal.pingdom.com/2010/02/16/study-ages-of-social-networkusers/).
Allows for easier brand monitoring The InSinkErator disposer team currently only informally monitors what is being said about the product on the web and a formal monitoring system has yet to be established. By creating profiles for the brand on social media websites, brand monitoring would be significantly easier. It would also offer another branch of customer service that would greatly benefit consumers.
Demographics of the Target Market •
50+ year old homeowners
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Married couples
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Educated
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Financially stable with a large amount of disposable income
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Located nationally, but quickly expanding worldwide by energized brand advocates
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Social Technographic Profile •
Part of the fastest growing demographics adopting social media.
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Currently participate in social media but are not concentrated in specific areas.
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Spend their time only visiting general media outlets, blogs and hobby sites.
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Majority are characterized as “Spectators”
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Proposed Social Media Plan Goal One Increase awareness of the InSinkErator Evolution PRO Series among the main target markets, specifically homeowners over the age of 50.
Objective To increase awareness of the InSinkErator Evolution PRO Series among potential customers by 20% by the end of 2010.
Strategy Provide information on the InSinkErator Evolution PRO Series, in addition to the main product website, using the most prevalent social media channels. Tactics: 1. Utilize social monitoring tools to formally monitor where relevant conversations are occurring. •
Online social monitoring tools: o
http://www.socialmention.com
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http://www.icerocket.com
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http://www.search.twitter.com
These tools will allow the InSinkErator team to monitor social media sites though the use of keywords. A set of keywords that are relevant to InSinkErator will help establish where consumers are participating, what they are saying and how they engage. It will also help decipher the tones consumers use when talking about the InSinkErator product, whether it is positive, negative or neutral. More importantly, these tools will help target in on key bits of information from the wide realm of social media sources. 2. Utilize the social media platforms that are most relevant to the target market. •
Create accounts for the InSinkErator disposer brand on the most relevant social media outlets used among the target market.
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YouTube Account
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Twitter Account
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Facebook Page
YouTube, Twitter and Facebook are a few of the top social media sites in which that the target market is participating. As “spectators,� they enjoy watching videos and reading online forums and customer reviews. If utilized properly, these social media sites can encompass all of those above mentioned aspects. Creating profiles on these three sites would be highly beneficial for InSinkErator. Timeline: Begin a six-month trial period starting June 2010 to see where the consumer is going and what they are talking about. This information will help implement new creative strategies and tactics to promote the InSinkErator brand, which, in turn, will raise consumer awareness. Measurement: The objective will be achieved if the amount of online conversations increase by 20% after the implementation of social media profiles.
Goal Two Encourage visitors to return to the InSinkErator website even when not shopping for a new product.
Objective: Increase the number of return visits to the InSinkErator website by 10% by the end of 2010.
Strategy Create online platforms on the InSinkErator website for consumers to actively participate in.
12 Tactics: 1. Establish a recipe aspect to the company website in which the InSinkErator team will post recipes for consumers to enjoy. Each recipe will also list all the ingredients that can be disposed of using an InSinkErator. •
Recipes will be in accordance with the season (Fall, Winter, Spring, Summer)
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Consumers can submit recipes and InSinkErator will tell them what ingredients can be disposed of using the Evolution PRO Series or other model of disposal.
The recipe section of the website uses information relevant to the target audience to generate more traffic to the company website and to encourage consumers to return even when they’re not in need of an InSinkErator product. 2. Establish an official forum on the company’s website. The forum will be dedicated to comments that consumers have about the InSinkErator disposer. It will give consumers an official place on the website to share their thoughts on the product. The forum will also allow the brand to display positive comments about the brand. 3. Utilize the already identified male blogger. The InSinkErator disposer team has already established a blogger whom they would like to run a product blog. He would be the perfect voice for the target audience. When there is no longer a scheduling conflict with the blogger, the blog should be draw in consumers through the use of interesting content and interactive elements. This could include videos, photos, contests, etc. Timeline: Begin the recipe site before Memorial Day 2010. Set up recipes in which barbeque food will be prominent and relevant for the upcoming holiday and summer barbeque weather. This will attract the target market that is most likely to be hosting such parties and how the InSinkErator will be ideal for clean up. This site should be continued throughout the year, changing the recipes every season to incorporate seasonal recipes relevant to particular holidays and festivities.
12 Measurement: In order to establish if the objective has been achieved, the InSinkErator team needs to look to the company website analytics. If the number of return visitors has increased by at least 10%, the company website tactics have been a success.
Goal Three Create a strong social media presence that provides the opportunity for two-way conversations for both consumers and the company.
Objective To create and maintain a presence on social media sites that result in at least 500 Facebook fans, 300 Twitter followers and 750 YouTube views by the end of 2010.
Strategy Create profiles on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube and actively participate on all networks, engaging and responding in a timely fashion. Tactics: •
Create a Facebook Product Page o
Dedicated to brand advocates that are interested in engaging with others about the brand
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Utilize discussion sections to encourage consumer-to-consumer interaction
The Facebook Product Page is the ideal meeting place for brand advocates. Consumers can engage with the brand, while also engaging with other brand advocates. The Facebook page will also be an effective way for InSinkErator to post information about the product in order to raise awareness and encourage engagement. •
Establish a Twitter account o
Focus on customer service
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Provide assistance to consumers
The Twitter account should mainly focus on customer service. Consumers often turn to Twitter to reach out to brands about questions and concerns. In order to be most effective with this platform, InSinkErator has to constantly monitor the account so that consumers receive timely responses. •
YouTube Account o
Upload official InSinkErator spots from modern product demos to vintage advertisements
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Allow for user-generated content
YouTube is a great platform to display official InSinkErator videos. Videos are an effective way to catch consumers’ attention while also providing them with important product information. The YouTube account would also allow InSinkErator consumers to upload their own videos. User-generated content is often very popular among consumers and is a great way to humanize a brand. Timeline: The Facebook Product Page will be implemented before Memorial Day 2010 coinciding with the recipe site. This Facebook page will reinforce the recipe site and vice versa. The Twitter account will also be implemented immediately as a way to cater to already existing customers and answering questions for interested customers as well. The first YouTube video will be implemented immediately. It is important that InSinkErator gets their name out there and also establish a foundation for late tactics that will allow the user to not just passively know about the product, but actively engage in product related promotions and product media. Measurement: This success of the objective will be measured by the amount of fans, followers and views InSinkErator gains by the end of the year. This can easily be established by looking at the brand’s social media accounts.
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Monitoring By making a shift to formally monitoring the consumer conversation online, InSinkErator will be able to precisely answer the questions who, what, when where and why of WOM online, and be able to engage and interact with brand advocates. At the same time, if negative comments arise, it is important for the brand to immediately address the situation and continue to protect their positive image. Two free tools to do so are Social Mention and IceRocket.
Analytic Tools Tweet Stats (tweetstats.com): Monitors Twitter activity While using Twitter for social media monitoring. Just plug in your twitter name to receive information on daily and hourly tweets and what users reply most to your tweets. This will help determine what consumers are talking about and help you to effectively respond to questions and concerns.
Facebook's New App Measurement: Monitors user activity and interaction SiteCatalyst is a product that allows marketers to monitor the performance of their brands on websites by tracking traffic metrics such as page views, referrals, and time spent on a page. This new product allows marketers to see just how users interact with their Facebook applications. Ideally, this product should allow marketers with no technical background to have an immediate analytics tool that shows a robust set of metrics of how their brands are doing on Facebook.
Google Analytics (www.google.com/analytics): web analytics that gives rich insights into website traffic and marketing effectiveness Web analytics solution that gives you rich insights into your website traffic and marketing effectiveness. This will help you track how many people are coming to your site and tell you how many people are engaging in the new recipe page as well. It generates how much of your content is generating traffic and how successful your marketing is.
12 All these tools are great to determine whether or not you need to change some of your approaches or change any techniques that do not seem to be working for you. You will have instant results at your fingertips that will help you determine the right moves to make.