Marketing Proposal for Christine's Toffee

The following is part of a marketing proposal I created for Christine's Toffee for a Social Mobile Marketing class at Madison College in Spring of 2014. This is not the entire proposal, as that was created with other members of a group. This is just the part of the proposal I created. (Current competitor analysis is not included here).

Marketing Proposal for Christine’s Toffee

Objectives

Target Market:  Women 25 – 44 in Dane County with a college education or above and a household income of $75,000 and up.  Our typical audience enjoys cooking, wine, reading, eating out and traveling.

Objective 1:  Increase brand awareness

Objective 2:  Increase the number of retail locations carrying Christine’s Toffee.

Objectives Summary:  To increase brand awareness as measured by doubling the number of likes and “talking abouts” on Christine’s Facebook page to 1,200 by the end of one year, doubling the number of Twitter followers, and increasing the number of retail locations carrying Christine’s Toffee from 50 (includes as “1 site” all PDQ locations) to 55 (by 10%).

Branding.  Eliminate “brand confusion.” The brand is connected to “Christine’s Gourmet@lacordisco,” “Christine Toffee.com,” “popularsnacks.com,” Christine’s Gourmet Toffee (website), and the Chocolaterian.  

Brand recognition for the toffee would improve by renaming the retail location to the name of the toffee, such as “Christine’s” or “Christine’s Toffee Shop” (with a big cup of coffee on the sign?) or (not as clear) “Christine’s Chocolaterian.”

Slogan.  Our creative message is that Christine's brand is local/sustainable, unique and gourmet (toffee and candy). Focusing on these points will appeal to the upscale Madison crowd, as well as help Internet sales. This is especially so because Madisonians pride themselves on being unique and supporting local businesses while “sustainability” is a current buzzword.  

Christine’s slogan, “Making life better, one snack at a time,” should be changed to reflect this focus.  Currently, no marketing efforts reinforce this slogan. The team felt that no one thinks of toffee as a “snack.”  We could not find wide or prominent use of this slogan.

Tactics Summary: 

Christine's Toffee can use social media tools to:

• Create engagement with contests

• Reward followers with promo codes and special deals

• Feature customers

• Build interest in events

• Engage customers and build relationships (by encouraging comments and responding promptly!)

• Post videos as well as photos, and make sure everything links back to their main web page.

• To get people into the store, post "walk-in" promotions on social media.

• As with all social media, it's important to remember that it's not so much about "selling" as it is about building relationships. 

Christine’s Toffee should take the following actions on the listed social media platforms to increase interest in the product:

Website:

Add social media logos.

End brand confusion on the Christine’s gourmet toffee site, by removing the prominent cross-promotion of the Chocolaterian.  

Service Directories:

Participate in these mobile marketing services.

Word of Mouth Promotion

Facebook:

Highlight location of retail outlets.

Improve top photos.

“Like” other local businesses.

Draw interest by holding contests.

Use hashtags in posts.

Increase the frequency of posts.

Increase the use of photos in posts.

Offer coupons for Facebook visitors.

Facebook has 1.26 billion users, the average US female has 250 Facebook friends, the average number of items shared by Facebook users daily is 4.75 billion, 30% of Facebook users have a bachelor's degree and 40% of users check Facebook multiple times a day. 

(Source: Expandedramblings.com http://expandedramblings.com/index.php/by-the-numbers-17-amazing-facebook-stats/#.UxfcYaXHPjQ)

We recommend Christine's find and "Like" other upscale Madison businesses who cater to their demographic. (Flower shops, Wine Boutiques, etc.)

On the Facebook page for Christine's Toffee, it doesn't list store hours, phone number or website. We had to go looking for it in the "About" section. We recommend putting this information on the front page.

Facebook offers many options in paid advertisements, but we suggest trying the following free options before paying for ads:

• Holding a new contest each month, such as "help us pick the next new flavor" or having people send in pictures showing themselves with Christine's toffee and they'll be entered into a random drawing for a prize. This will keep people engaged and coming back.

• Shortstack allows you to create free Facebook promotions as long as your business has under 2000 likes. Contests are great way to get more "Likes" and build brand awareness. 

• Hashtags are now on Facebook; use them to reach more people who are looking for posts in your topic. 

• Keep posts short, regular and visual. Christine's needs to post some beautiful, colorful photographs of their products.

• Coupons and specials for Facebook users could bring people into the store and build brand awareness. 

Pinterest:

Keeping in mind Christine's Toffee target market, (women age 25-44 with a college education or above and a household income of 75K and up, who enjoys cooking, wine, reading, dining out and traveling), Pinterest should be utilized. 

In September, 2013, there were 25.6 million monthly unique Pinterest users in the U.S. 80% of Pinterest users are women, and 18% of those women have a yearly income over 75K. 9 million Pinterest users have connected their accounts to Facebook, and Pinterest's share of all social sharing on iPads is 48.2%!  (Source: Expandedramblings.com http://expandedramblings.com/index.php/pinterest-stats/2/#.UxfFqqXHPjR)

• Pinterest would be perfect for creating boards of the different products, (showing beautiful, colorful photos), photos from their store and tasting events, creating theme boards (example: pair with upscale local flower shops, show flowers and candy, or boards for different holidays where candy would be appropriate, such as Valentine's day); ask customers to pin pictures of themselves with their products to win prizes (have monthly contests to build repeat traffic).

• Include links to online store for people who want to purchase products online!

• Use relevant keywords and hashtags to make pins easily found in web searches.

• Pinterest would also be a great way to tell the brand's story. A separate board could be dedicated to the history of the company. 

• Pinterest is very visual and it's important to not use too much text. It's also important to link the Pinterest page to their other social media sites (and main website), as well as have all of the pins link back to the main website. Pinterest can also be used for crowdsourcing.

• Add "Pin It" buttons to make it easy for people to pin your images, and add a follow button for your Pinterest profile.

Many of the same photos, information and tools could be shared on Instagram as well. While Instagram has 150 million active users, and 68% of the users are women, the largest demographic of users is 18-29 year olds, which is not exactly the target demographic. (Source: Jennstrends.com http://jennstrends.com/instagram-statistics-for-2014/ )

Twitter:

There seem to be three different Twitter pages for Christine's: one is "Christine's Gourmet@lacordisco" and one is "ChristineToffee.” In all, it is a little confusing. One of these accounts links to "popularsnacks.com" and one links to "Christinestoffee.com" These seem to be the same page but are under different urls. There's also a Chocolaterian store listed on their website. Is this the only brick and mortar store, or is this just a store that carries Christine's Toffee products and perhaps other products? The website is a little confusing. It would be wise to reorganize this.

Like Facebook, Twitter offers paid advertisements, but there's much Christine's Toffee can do now to utilize Twitter for free. These include:

• Tweet regularly, especially on the weekends and in the evening. Twitter engagement for brands is 17% higher on weekends. Tweet using images and links linked to the store website (Tweets with images get 2 times the engagement rate of tweets without images). (Source: Bufferapp.com http://blog.bufferapp.com/10-new-twitter-stats-twitter-statistics-to-help-you-reach-your-followers) Twitter feed or Hootsuite can be used to automate your tweets.

• Use relevant hashtags.

• Ask questions, ask for feedback, and respond quickly to all tweets about your company.

• Tweet about special events, (and tweet FROM special events, include pictures and video), tweet special offers, and occasionally ask for "Retweets".

• Find local upscale Madison businesses who cater to the same demographic and follow them and interact with them on Twitter. If you @mention them on Twitter, your tweet will show up in their stream.

• Find and post links to articles your target audience might be interested in, and things that tie into your business, such as an article on chocolate toffee used for wedding favors, or as hostess gifts, or even quotes or trivia about chocolate. Anything readers might find interesting or inspiring would help enhance the social media presence. Remember, the idea is NOT to do a hard sell.

• Since Christine's Toffee is gluten-free, all natural and made in Madison, links about these things could be tweeted. There are also a number of articles online about Christine's, and the Sam Jacobsen Foundation. Links to these articles should be tweeted or re-tweeted. And if there are entrepreneurs that the foundation has helped, Christine's Toffee should follow them on Twitter and ask if they would consider tweeting about the company.

• We recommend running discounts or specials regularly just for Twitter followers, such as "The next 50 people who retweet me will receive a coupon for 50% off one item instore or online," or "Post a picture of you in our store or enjoying our product and be entered in a random drawing for a free sampler."

Geofencing:

Use geofencing to make people aware of the retail locations for Christine’s when they are close-by.

Run special promotions during community events that draw large crowds.

Geofencing would be a great way for Christine's to build brand awareness, and there are some unique Madison experiences that would reach the target market. We recommend trying some Geofencing promotions during events like the Concerts on the Square, the Madison Farmer's Market on the Square, Brava Magazine's "Women's Expo," Rhythm and Booms, Madison Art Fair on the Square and possibly UW Madison's graduation weekend.

Christine's Toffee can use all of these social media tools in the following ways:

• Create engagement with contests

• Reward followers with promo codes and special deals

• Feature customers

• Build interest in events

• Engage customers and build relationships (by encouraging comments and responding promptly!)

• Post videos as well as photos, and make sure everything links back to their main web page.

• To get people into the store, post "walk-in" promotions on social media.

• As with all social media, it's important to remember that it's not so much about "selling" as it is about building relationships. 

If posting to all of these social media sites gets too overwhelming, Hootsuite could be utilized to cross post to all sites at once.

LinkedIn is growing, but has a lower percentage of active users than Facebook, Pinterest, Twitter and Google+. (Source: fastcompany.com http://www.fastcompany.com/3021749/work-smart/10-surprising-social-media-statistics-that-will-make-you-rethink-your-social-stra). Vine and Google+ may also be helpful in the future, but we feel it's best to concentrate marketing efforts on Facebook, Pinterest, Twitter and Geofencing for now.

• The website pages for Christine's should have the Facebook Like It, Twitter Tweet, Share on Google+, LinkedIn and Pinterest Pin It buttons so that customers can easily share the products.

• "Like us on Facebook" should be incorporated on printed advertisements from now on.

• Christine's Gourmet Toffee is not listed on several business directories including CitySearch, eLocal, Hotfrog, FourSquare, LinkedIn, and Yahoo! The business should be added to these directories.

Our creative message is that Christine's brand is local/sustainable, unique and gourmet (toffee and candy). Focusing on these points will appeal to the upscale Madison crowd, as well as help internet sales, especially since Madisonians pride themselves on being unique and supporting local businesses. In addition, “sustainability” is a current buzzword.

We also recommend more cross promotions with other company is serving the target demographic.

Some examples:

• Bring your ticket in from any show at the Overture Center this month, and receive a free caramel. This could be alternated with a special each month, including Olbrich Botanical Gardens, Madison Symphony Orchestra, and the Madison Food & Wine Show.

• Offer samples and coupons to people taking a Betty Lou Cruise - a uniquely Madison experience.

• Cross promote with high end day spas in the area such as ANUI, Ultimate Spa and Salon and Sundara in Wisconsin Dells. They could offer a sampler gift bag with each "day of pampering" that would also have a coupon for an online or in store purchase.

• Talk to jewelry stores. Could they gift a coupon for a free sampler bag with each wedding ring set purchased?

• If interested in doing personalized wedding favors, may consider attending local bridal shows to promote, contacting bridal photographers, bridal gown stores, etc.

• Offer a special deal in November for "Small Business Saturday" and promote that heavily on social media.

• May also consider contacting large, local companies/corporations if interested in creating corporate gifts.

• See if high end Madison floral stores like George's Flowers, Chloe’s Floral, J. Kinney Florist, Klein's Floral & Greenhouse, Floral Designs by Paul, Beauty Blossoms, etc. would be interested in creating gift "baskets" using Christine's Gourmet Toffee, or carrying the products in store. This could be cross-promoted on social media.

One more idea:

More and more people are having issues with gluten and trying to live "gluten free." Since all of Christine's products are gluten free, it would be smart to capitalize on this trend. Some suggestions:

• Add a small, brightly colored, "gluten free" burst sticker to all products, like the one that's on their home webpage.

• Search the internet and post on blogs like "Living Gluten Free In Madison" and blogs about living with Celiac disease. Local and national, there are hundreds of gluten-free organizations. Be sure to have the website link in your signature.

• Register on sites like "GlutenFreeRegistry.com" where people who are looking for gluten free products can find you. There are a lot of groups online, like the Gluten Intolerance Group of East Central Wisconsin, where they may let you post information about your products.

• See if places specializing in gluten free would carry Christine's products. (Silly Yak in Madison, health food stores like Trillium Natural Foods Community Co-op in Mount Horeb, Yahara River Grocery Co-op in Stoughton, Gluten Free Trading Company in Milwaukee, etc.)

• Search out events like the Gluten Free Expo in West Bend, Wisconsin and see if it would be worth attending.

• Consider advertising in niche publications like Simply Gluten Free Magazine, for more online sales.

References:

http://blog.bufferapp.com/10-new-twitter-stats-twitter-statistics-to-help-you-reach-your-followers

https://www.candinas.com/

http://chocolateriancafe.com/new/about/

http://christinestoffee.com/

Mobile Marketing: What's The Big Deal?

You may have heard the term mobile marketing being thrown around a lot recently. It's becoming not just a buzz term, but a crucial part of any good marketing plan.Wikipedia says mobile marketing is "marketing on or with a mobile device, such as a smart phone. Mobile marketing can provide customers with time and location sensitive, personalized information that promotes goods, services and ideas."

One way that mobile marketing is different from traditional marketing is in that it is a two way street; you no longer just broadcast your message, you need to interact with consumers, respond and build a relationship with them.This is where social media marketing comes in to play even more than the above mobile marketing examples. Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and other social media outlets allow consumers to interact with companies in real time. 

Another important thing to keep in mind with mobile marketing is that your website MUST be optimized for mobile devices. If consumers can't easily read and navigate your website on their mobile device, they'll just go someplace else.

There are several different tools in mobile marketing, including but not limited to:

• SMS or Short Message Marketing - sending a message directly to a persons cell phone or mobile device. The important thing to remember here is that you need to have the consumers trust in order to have them "opt in" to receive your messages. You also need to give them an option to "opt out" of receiving your messages. Redbox utilized a SMS marketing strategy by offering discounts to consumers who texted DEALS to 727272. They rewarded their loyal "text club" and reached new customers. This was extremely successful, generating over 1.5 million texts from 400,000 unique users including more than 200,000 new subscribers. 

• QR Codes - Quick Response Barcodes - A marketer can place a QR Code on a brochure or in an ad, and consumers scan the code for more information. This can quickly take the consumer to a webpage or Youtube video relative to the business.

• Location Based Services -  Deliver messages to mobile device users based on their location (via GPS technology).(1) Coors Light utilized location based marketing in their banner ads, when consumers would click on their banner ad, they would land on a branded page with a map of locations near them serving Coors Light products. Consumers can then click through to find directions and contact information for those locations. By using location, Coors Light targeted consumers at a local level to drive foot traffic, while also keeping their brand highly visible. 
This allows real-time communication, consumers can share experiences, businesses can offer rewards and publicize their location. (2)
Here's a good article on whether location based marketing is dying. Applications like FourSquare allow users to "check in", post their locations, and earn rewards.This chart from MediaBistro shows that in 2014 digital marketing is getting 25% of the marketing budget. While 75% of those surveyed plan to spend more on mobile marketing in the future, social marketing will also increase - according to this survey social marketing budgets will double in the next 5 years.


• In Game Mobile Marketing - In May 2006, mobile games were downloaded at a rate of five million per month, and of the 16 million unique players, 35 percent were in the 18-34 male demographic (much sought after by advertisers). This number has increased significantly since then, with the demographic also expanding to include women in their 30s and 40s. Games are a great way to integrate mobile in advertising because they fill the whole screen and don't allow for competing ads at the same time. Gaming is also a leisure time activity when users are more receptive to marketing messages and it's cost-effective. (3)

• Push Notifications - Once users have downloaded your app, sending push notifications can allow your brand to initiate and maintain a conversation with the customer, letting them know about specials, etc. This will motivate them to stay engaged with your brand.(4)

• App Based Marketing - Companies develop their own application. Great for knowing your demographic, could be expensive to develop. It's tricky, because it could flop after a large initial investment.

• MMS or Multimedia Mobile Service - similar to SMS, this allows you to send and receive images, text, audio and video with consumers.

Pros and cons of mobile marketing: (5)

Pros:
• More people in the world own a cell phone than a toothbrush. • Your audience will have their mobile device by their side constantly.• Creating content is relatively inexpensive, and more easily changed than traditional marketing.• Mobile marketing has massive viral potential (it's easily shared).• Marketers can receive feedback instantly, and use that to build relationships with consumers.• Most mobile marketing campaigns can be easily integrated into current campaigns.
Cons:
• If ad campaigns are not relevant to audiences, they can back fire. Consumers don't want to be interrupted with "advertisements" they dislike.• A good marketing campaign will take some time and resources, you need to be ready to commit to that. (Although it is still relatively cheaper than traditional media. You need to realize you can't just have a Facebook page and call it a marketing plan. You need to use the avenues most suited to your target audience, and it takes time to build relationships with consumers.)

All areas of media marketing are growing and changing rapidly. This article on Forbes titled "The State of Mobile Marketing" reminds us the most important word every marketer needs to remember is "relevance". Consumers are not going to opt in to receive messages from your company unless it's relevant to them. Consumers love a deal and love to be heard, remember this to make the most of your mobile marketing strategy.

References:  
(1) Harp Social
(2) Smallbusiness.chron
(3) iMedia Connection(4) MarketingLand.com
(5) ramarketing

How can marketers use Twitter for business?

Twitter is a great social media platform for marketers. As younger people are moving away From Facebook and to Twitter, businesses would do well to focus their marketing energies here - if the 18-27 age demographic is their target audience.Some of the ways marketers can use Twitter for business and include sharing links (there's 86% more engagement on posts that include links); posting images relevant to their objective (there's 200% more engagement on posts using images!); responding to customers promptly with good customer support, and of course contests are always popular and a good way to increase engagement and build conversations.

Nike has done a great job at using Twitter to respond to customer concerns about all of their products. They've created a separate Twitter handle @NikeSupport which makes it easy for customers to contact them about any problems they are having. They respond promptly and publicly to customer issues, which is key to good customer service and building relationships. They will also admit when there's an issue with one of their products and let customers know they're working on the problem and what they can expect. This builds trust, another good marketing technique.

Etsy is a good example of a company looking to drive customers back to their site and build customer loyalty. They post often and include images and antidotes from their shops, as well as occasional contests. They tweet links to different shops on their sites, and have encouraged those with Etsy shops to tweet links to certain products. 

Zappos is a good example of a company with great customer service taking full advantage of Twitter. They encourage all of their employees to tweet. They use a lot of product images in their tweets and have conversations with their customers on Twitter.

One company that is doing a good over all job using Twitter is Dove. Their key messages are that they are a company that wants to help all women realize their beauty potential. Their voice is positive, encouraging, fun and engaging. They ask questions, inviting responses, have contests, post coupons and links, post positive quotes, ask people to retweet them, and post images of their products. They respond to posts about their company in a positive, prompt way. I think they are engaging and building brand loyalty.They have a variety of products, and do use YouTube videos, They do use Vine now, for videos like this one below, but I think they could do a little better. 
At the very least, post more videos.  They do have a lot of products, so I think that lends them to a lot of unique marketing opportunities.Follow Dove on Twitter, and see what I'm talking about.

Other companies using Twitter well for marketing include Starbucks, The Home Depot, Whole Foods Market,  Ford Motor Company, H&R Block, JetBlue, and there have also been some marketing snafus on Twitter, such as Kenneth Cole's tweet about Syria, and Urban Outfitters inappropriate tweet about hurricane Sandy.

It's important to remember that Twitter, like most social media marketing platforms, is changing. The companies who were on top of the list for best social media marketers five years ago may not even be on the list now. The marketers who keep up with and adapt to the rapidly changing tools will come out on top. It's best to remember the field is wide open. This is a great time to be in marketing and embrace the latest tools available.

Questions or comments? Did I miss some great marketing on Twitter? Please let me know in the comments section down below!

Which company has the BEST Facebook page?

This week I'm trying to decide which company has the best Facebook page, from a marketing standpoint. This is tougher than I thought it would be. A lot of companies have good Facebook pages, but I didn't find anything that blew my mind.
When researching "best company Facebook pages" on Google, a few kept coming up over and over. They included Coca-Cola, Disney, Burt's Bees and Starbucks. They were all good. But I found one I thought did a better overall job.
I chose Gaiam, a company from Colorado that sells physical fitness, (a lot of yoga), equipment, dvds, clothing, etc. I chose them because they have a good variety of posts; they're not just there "advertising" their wares.
Right across the top they have links to their company on Instagram, Pinterest, a link to email them, and a link to view their stunning photos (like this one).

From an article on how to keep your romance burning all year round, not just on Valentine's Day.

Posts like this are one of the reasons I think this is a great website, from a marketing view point. I like that they have a variety of posts, including recipes, coupon codes, articles on current events (like the Olympics), and other things that all represent what this company stands for. It's a healthy lifestyle, and they know that people who are interested in their products want to live a healthy lifestyle. 

They also have links to their website, their other social media sites, (Instagram, Pinterest, etc.), as well as photos of celebs using their products. 

Their photos and visuals are stunning. It's easy to find your way around their page. And they have a lot of "contests" where they ask for customer input. For example, they're coming out with a new color on their Balance Ball Chair, and they're asking their followers to vote. As a reward, they will randomly pick one of the voters to receive a new chair. It's great to interact with customers, and to have giveaways keeps people coming back. They also ask customers to send in photos using their products, and they post some of those. There are also short videos and tips on yoga poses and other things they know their customers will enjoy. The page has a lot of interesting information. One other important thing they do is respond to posts from their followers, recommending products they may be interested in, or just answering their questions. I love this. This is great public relations and helps to build a relationship with customers, very important when marketing and I'm sure that is a main goal of the company. Even though this may not be the biggest company out there, I love their Facebook Page.

See them on Facbook here, and let me know what you think!

Are there any company Facebook pages that you think are excellent? Please let me know in the comments below!

How To Piss Off A Designer In 40 Seconds

Legal And Ethical Issues Of Social Media

     Do I think companies should have a Social Media Policy for employees? Yes, I think they have to or they're leaving themselves wide open to numerous problems. These include everything from lawsuits (if something is not spelled out in black and white, and you fire an employee for doing it, they will probably sue you), to having disgruntled employees post disparaging video or photos of your company all over social media, or employees speaking out on social media in a negative way, and if they're speaking as one of your employees, it's a poor reflection on your company.Employers could find themselves being held vicariously liable for the conduct of their employees on social media sites. 
     Sharing work habits on social media can be risky for employees as well. While employees need a place to vent, and social media has become the new "water cooler", they should keep in mind that whatever they say may be seen by current and future employers. If you're looking for a new job and a search of you online comes up with a lot of complaints and whining you did about your current job, chances are you won't be hired. Keep in mind, whatever you put online now will remain online for a long, long time. Also, if you're slacking off, doing something illegal, or stealing from your company and you post it online, chances are someone in your company will eventually see it and there will be consequences.
     If there are poor conditions at a workplace, or something shady going on, I think employees have every right to post that online for the world to see. But in these times of government regulation, there seems to be less need for "whistle blowing". If an employee is not happy with something at their job, they have every right to go out and find a different job, or go through proper channels at their company.
     The National Labor Relations Act of 1935 protects most negative things you might say about your boss or company on social media under certain circumstances. But it's complicated. I do believe in an employees freedom of speech, be it on social media or in person. The National Labor Relations Board says "workers have a right to discuss work conditions freely and without fear of retribution, whether the discussion takes place at the office or on Facebook."
     In an interesting article from Forbes, titled "When Is It OK To Diss Your Boss Online?", (written by Susan Adams), Daniel P. O'Meara, chairman of the employment law division of a Philadelphia based law firm explains a quirk of the National Labor Relations Act of 1935; managers and supervisors are not afforded the same protections as employees, because the statute is meant for employees who are trying to improve their working conditions. So, a salesperson who is not a supervisor would be protected by the NLRA but a supervisor would not. And really, if you have a gripe about your supervisor and you post all over social media about it, you better understand your rights before you do so. Employment lawsuits are becoming more common in recent years 
     In 2009, six employees at the Hampton, Virginia Sheriff's Office got fired after "liking" and commenting on the Facebook page of their bosses' opponent in an upcoming election. However, U.S. Circuit Judge William Traxler found that "liking" something on the social network site was the same as displaying a political sign in your front yard, an act the Supreme Court had ruled protected speech. Earlier a Circuit Court of Appeals had ruled the opposite way on the case, saying liking a Facebook page was "insufficient speech to merit constitutional protection."
    The Ethics Resource Center (ERC)  "the oldest non-profit organization in the U.S. dedicated to independent research and advancement of high ethical standards and practices in both public and private institutions.", has produced a National Business Ethics Survey since 1994, gathering information about employees' perspective of ethics in the workplace.  A 2013 report concludes "active social networkers show a higher tolerance for activities that could be considered unethical." I find this statement questionable at best. Especially since their classification of "active social networker" was a person who spends 30% or more of their work day participating on various social network sites. This seems like a ridiculous group to survey for such a thing, those people aren't really "working" 30% of the time, and this survey only included 2089 workers in U.S. companies. I have searched the internet for other studies on this, and was unable to find more data. If you know of any, please leave a link in the comments below.
     The best way I can see to handle the changing landscape of social media is for a company to have a very specific social media policy and for employees to be aware of it and sign a contract agreeing to abide by it. This protects both the employer and employee. A good example of a company who put this practice in place is Apple.
     If you are an employee or a potential employee, you have the right to agree to this or not agree to this.
     As for whether a company has a right to know your social media passwords, if you are not representing the company online, (as far as if you are personally blogging or Tweeting), or not using company property to do so, I don't believe they have a right to your passwords. I think this falls under privacy. As in what you do on your own time is none of their business, as long as it is not a reflection on their company. This does bring up a lot of ethical questions. What if the company doesn't agree with your politics, as in the case of the Virginia Sheriff's office listed above?  What if they disagree with your religion, and you are passionately blogging about those subjects on your own time? My opinion is, if you are doing so in a personal capacity, it is none of their business.
     I do believe that this is an important topic, as with everything involving social media, it is changing rapidly. Companies would do best to keep abreast of these changes and adapt company policy accordingly. Employees need to know their rights and responsibilities, and their employers expectations. It's a pretty grey area, but if everybody is careful, no one should get hurt.
     What are your thoughts on this? Please comment below and let me know what you think!

     Here's some food for thought, the person who made this video worked at Best Buy. He posted this video online and was suspended, even though he made no mention of Best Buy in the video. (Caution, contains strong language) Do you think that's fair?

WestJet Christmas Miracle: real-time giving

My vote for "Best of Social Media" campaign has to go to WestJet for their Christmas Miracle campaign from December, 2013.

WestJet Airlines is a Canadian airline that provides air service to 85 destinations in Canada, the United States, Europe, Mexico, Central America and the Caribbean. They started in 1996 as a regional carrier with three Boeing 737 jets and have grown from a regional carrier into an international carrier landing in 76 destinations on 98 aircraft.

With Thanksgiving and Christmas being peak travel times, the holidays are a busy time for airlines. WestJet released their campaign the night of December 8, 2013. With plenty of time for it to be seen by consumer's making travel plans for Christmas. It also worked in great with the feelings of sentimentality people have around the holidays.

WestJet had Santa Claus ask customers what they wanted for Christmas. There was a kiosk set up in two airports where customers could interact with Santa through video, once they scanned their boarding passes, Santa knew their names and asked them what they wanted for Christmas. The real time interactive Santa, who spoke to people using their names was a great idea since no one likes traveling at the Holidays, and I'm sure it helped pass the time. And he was also wearing a blue suit and Santa hat, reinforcing the colors of WestJet Airlines and keeping with company branding.

Once customers told Santa what they wanted for Christmas, a team of behind the scenes people went to work. They raced to stores they had teamed with for the project, such as Best Buy and Under Armour, and purchased what each customer had asked for. When the planes landed and people went to pick up their luggage, Santa was there, and WestJet had presents with everyones names on them on the luggage carousel. Some people who had asked for tickets home for the holidays, received free tickets on the airline, some people received large gifts like a new television.

The customers where astonished and delighted. WestJet's strategy of building a relationship and feelings of good will with the public paid off. You can bet those people will be customer's of WestJet for life! People watching the YouTube video also found it touching and it generated a lot of positive feelings about WestJet, which was one of their objectives. Brian Reid, creative director at Studio M who created the campaign, said the goal of the campaign was "to make it personal and make people feel heard." So, customer loyalty, brand recognition and good publicity all resulted from this one campaign.

WestJet used YouTube to release the video. They also paid for ads on Facebook and Twitter, pointing viewers toward the video. WestJet encouraged people to share the campaign on Twitter by telling them they would gift a flight to a family in need once they reached 200,000 views. This is a great strategy- to encourage a reward for engagement. By giving customers a reason to comment, share or follow, you're post will stand out and get shared more. (WestJet is working with Ronald McDonald House Charities to donate flights to families in need.)

WestJet had been expecting maybe 800,000 video views, and they had received more than 13 million views within just a couple of days. Currently the video has been views over 31 million times. The video was released on the night of December 8, 2013. By Friday, December 13, the video had more than 19 million views on YouTube, and on December 11 alone, there was 67 percent more consumption around WestJet then there was the entire month of November. (This statistic is from Kontera , a content marketing platform). By consumption, they mean how often a term is seen online including text, video, and mobile via social media. December 11 there was 146 percent more consumption around WestJet then there was for their competitors Air Canada, Southwest Airlines, Delta Air and Spirit Airlines combined. 

WestJet also received some great publicity from the campaign with articles about them in Forbes, Mashable, NPR, Financial Post, The Huffington Post, The Calgary Sun, and a lot of sites dealing with marketing and social media telling people "this is how it's done." 

WestJet's creative strategy of making people feel good, building good will and counting on a creative approach to capture people's attention and make them want to share the video has paid off. Their video pulls viewers in emotionally, we want them to succeed. We want to see people's reactions when they open their gifts. We feel good about this company and what they've done for people. Next time we're going to fly in this area, we will remember the airline  that made us feel this good! Their target market, existing and potential airline consumers, will remember it too. I think this campaign was very successful, and although they won't say how much they spent on the campaign, it was probably much cheaper then buying expensive airtime on television. WestJet was creative and had a clear message that reached a lot of people.

Do you know of any social media campaigns that hit it out of the park? Please let us know in the comments section, we'd love to check them out!