Personal Brand Social Media Plan

Abby Mlinar MKTG 4795

www.linkedin.com/in/abbymlinar

www.twitter.com/abbymlinar

www.abbymlinar.com

www.facebook.com/abby.mlinar

www.pinterest.com/abbymlinar

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Table of Contents

Personal Analysis ………………………………….……………………………………………………………………..3 Social Media Presence ………………………………………………………………………………………………...3 Personal SWOT ………………………………………………………………………………………………………...3 Problem Statement ……………………………………………………….………………………………………………4 Industry Analysis ……………………………………………………………………………….…………………………4

Corporate Marketing and Events ……………………………………………………………………………………..4 Advertising Project and Account Management ……………………………………………………………………...4

Goal ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….5 Objectives …………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..5 Target Audience …………………………………………………………………………………………………………..6

Persona ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….6 Target Companies and Current Connections ………………………………………………………………………..7 Additional Current Connections ……………………………………………………………………………………….8 Prospective Connections ………………………………………………………………………………………………8

Brand ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..9 Tools …………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………9 Implementation …………………………………………………………………………………………………………..11

Strategy One: LinkedIn …...…………………………………………………………………………………………..11 Strategy Two: Twitter …………..……………………………………………………………………………………..12 Strategy Three: WordPress ……….…………………………………………………………………………………12 Strategy Four: Facebook ……………………………………………………………………………………………..13 Strategy Five: Pinterest ………………………..……………………………………………………………………..13 Content and Communication Strategies ……………………………………………………………………………14 Content Calendar ……………………………………………………………………………………………………..15

Evaluation …………………………………………………………………………………………………………………17 Profile Progression ……………………………………………………………………………………………………...18 Bibliography ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………22

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Personal Analysis

Current Social Media Presence My social media presence currently includes Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Pinterest, WordPress, YouTube, Foursquare, and Scoop It. I have a very prominent presence on Facebook, LinkedIn, and Pinterest. My Twitter and WordPress accounts are growing. My Foursquare, YouTube, and Scoop It are there for exploration purposes and are not currently being used to their fullest potential.

Personal SWOT

• Strengths • Futuristic • Communication • WOO • Responsibility • Relator • Passion • Leading • Team-Work • Innovation • Challenge-seeking • Drive • Intrinsically Motivated • Risk-taker •

• Weaknesses • Impatient • Indecisive at times •

• Opportunities • Extensive network already • Extensive network of my mentors and strong connections • Passion and drive for success • The growing business district of Duluth •

• Threats • The 1,791,000 people graduating with a bachelors degree

in 2013 • The low job outlook

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PROBLEM Statement

I have an unmet need of finding a career in corporate marketing and events OR advertising project/account management by May 2013.

• This need can be met by an extensive social media presence targeting specific employers at specific companies in specific industries.

Industry Analysis

Corporate Marketing and Events • High employment and annual openings in Minnesota • Foreign competition is increasing • Increasing budgets means increasing openings • Growth in online marketing • Event marketing is competitive • Event marketing is finding a need to measure effectiveness

Advertising Project and Account Management

• Very small employment and annual openings in Minnesota • Competition is very strong • Demand is related to the state of the economy

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Goal

My primary goal is to address the problem statement stated above: to achieve a career located in the Twin Cities area or Duluth, Minnesota by May 2013.

Objectives

To obtain the above-stated goal, I have created the following objectives:

1. To utilize a variety of social media platforms to communicate my brand, demonstrate my knowledge and skills and distinguish myself amongst my peers.

a. This is an objective of mine because by creating and communicating a brand online, employers will be able to know me before they know me. Social media is also a good medium for communicating my knowledge and expertise online, which employers will like to see. It is also important to show how both of these (my brand, and my skills) distinguish me among the 1.8 million other people graduating in May 2013.

2. To network with professionals in the corporate marketing and advertising industries, and to create and maintain relationships. Through these relationships, I hope to eventually speak via phone or in person.

a. Social media is a great tool for meeting and fostering relationships among connections. I want to use it to further my network of professional connections as well as maintain the relationships among my current connections. Speaking to people in person, or on the phone, helps create a stronger bond. I hope to expand upon each online relationship and create a face-to-face bond.

3. To grow and learn from marketing (internet marketing, social media, event production, public relations) thought leaders.

a. Many thought leaders and marketing professionals are on social networking websites sharing information. There are millions of marketing-related blogs, and many Twitter, LinkedIn, and Facebook profiles sharing them. I plan to take advantage of this to continue learning beyond school.

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Target Audience

My target audience includes: • Marketing thought leaders • Corporate decision makers • Corporate decision influencers • Advertising agency decision makers • Advertising agency decision influencers

These people have the following characteristics:

• Influential and distinguished • Passionate and innovative • Looking (or might be looking) for new talent • Enjoy using social media to network • Located in Duluth or the Twin Cities area • Motivations for going online: research/find product information, learn new industry trends, keep undated

in the media and news, stay in touch with friends and colleagues, entertainment • Social media behavior: watch video clip, manage social network profile, read a blog, read news • On Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter • Above the age of 30 • Predominantly spectators, joiners, and creators (social media technographics)

Persona

The following is a character profile of a potential member of my target audience: Amber is a motivated and prominent member of the Duluth community. She knows a lot of people, and enjoyed creating and maintaining relationships. She is very involved in her company and other activities. She has a mentor, and is looking for a student, whom she finds to be intelligent and determined, to take under her wing. Amber works in the Marketing and Advertising industry. She holds a prominent position with her company and has leverage to hire new employees. Amber is 30 and earned the “40-under-40” award. Amber is on Facebook, and Twitter, and looking to start a LinkedIn profile. She appreciates social media and uses it to market events and campaigns for which she volunteers.

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Target Companies and Current Connections • Medtronic

o Mark Breyen, Director, Core Technologies o Keith Hug, Senior Director of HR o Carole Steenson, Principal Engineer o Paula Davidovich, Principal Product Specialist o Ashley Hawkins, Product Specialist o Julia Shaver, Sr. Marketing LDRP o Nikin Shah, Sr. Marketing LDRP  

• 3M o Heidi Anderson, Marketing Director, Technical Goods o Juliana Sanchez-Castilla, Global Marketing Manager o Marlene Lopez, Marketing Director, Home Goods  

• Westmoreland Flint o Crystal Taylor, PR Specialist and Project Manager o Matt Olin, Designer o Kat Gritzmacher, Marketing Coordinator o Jen Reierson, Ex-Account Manager and married to President  

• General Mills o Lisa Bormann, HR Strategic Communications Manager  

• StoneArch Creative  • SwimCreative

o Mike Malone, Account Manager o David Sadowski, Owner/Brand Director o Thomas Chorlton, Copywriter

   

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• aimClear o Manny Rivas, Online Marketing Account Manager o Lauren Litwinka, Publications Manager and Online Marketing Account Manager

Additional Current Connections

People that could (and have) link me to someone o Erica Danielski, Ex-Director of Marketing, Best Buy o Mitch Helgerson. Director of Marketing, Minnesota Wild o Aaron Heiber, Application Sales Representative, Oracle o Craig Samborski, CEO, DrawEvents o Terry Matson, CEO, Visit Duluth o Renee Matson, CEO, Spirit Mountain o Lynn Sulivan, Senior Meeting Manager, Maxvantage o Roger Reinert, Minnesota Senator o Cameron Koller, Marketing Research Analyst, Parker Hannifin o Jennifer Sargent, SVP Sales and Marketing, Plus One Health Management o Brian Loof, HR/Staffing & Recruiting, Maurices

Prospective Connections

• General Mills o Stacy Aase, Integrated Marketing Communications – 2nd degree connection o Kirsten Aune, Director of Strategy and Innovation – 2nd degree connection

 • StoneArch Creative

o Jessica Boden, President – 2nd degree connection o Sarah Shoenecker, Account Executive – 2nd degree connection

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Brand

My three brand points are: • Marketer • Driven • Innovative

These points encompass my brand and will be what I try to communicate through this plan. These are the points that distinguish and differentiate me.

Tools

To communicate my brand to my target audience, I have chosen the following social networking mediums: LinkedIn, Twitter, WordPress blog, Facebook, and Pinterest. Below I will highlight why I will be using these.

• LinkedIn www.linkedin/in/abbymlinar o LinkedIn is the largest professional networking website. I can use it to connect with professionals, and

build and maintain my network.

 

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• Twitter www.twitter.com/abbymlinar o Twitter is a community based social networking website. I will be able to use it to learn from industry

leaders and connect/communicate with them as well.

   

• WordPress Blog www.abbymlinar.com o The blog will serve as a hub to display all platforms of which I am using. It is also a medium to share

my intelligence in length and gives me the ability to share throughout my other platforms.  

• Facebook www.facebook.com/abbymlinar o All of my main target companies and many more are on Facebook. I am able to follow them, and

interact with them, and allow my network to see my personal side.  

• Pinterest www.pinterest.com/abbymlinar o Pinterest is the fastest growing social media platform because images are more relatable and

shareable. I will share pins throughout my other mediums.

 

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Implementation

Next, I will be describing the strategies and tactics that I will be using to meet my objectives: 1. To utilize a variety of social media platforms to communicate my brand, demonstrate my knowledge and

skills, and distinguish myself amongst my peers. 2. To network with professionals in the corporate marketing and advertising industries online to create and

maintain relationships. Through these relationships, I hope to eventually speak over the phone or in person.

3. To grow and learn from marketing (internet marketing, social media, event production, public relations) thought leaders.

Which will help me meet my goal: To achieve a career located in the Twin Cities area or Duluth, Minnesota by May 2013.

The platform specific strategies and tactics start below. The tactics outline the “how” part of the plan. There are three potential purposes for social media marketing: awareness, sales, and loyalty. For my personal branding plan, the purpose is sales: I am selling myself to employers as the best candidate. The ultimate goal of each is to convey the brand and reach my objectives.

Strategy one: LinkedIn 1. Tactic: Connecting with people I know, and people that I want to know.

a. I can use the “Introduce Me” function to connect with 2nd and 3rd degree connections on LinkedIn. From there I will be able to connect via email and then potentially on the phone or in person. I will also use it to maintain my relationships.

2. Tactic: Saved job searches a. I have saved three job searches that meet my goal criteria and get emails once a week on new

openings. From there, I can apply for the jobs that sounds appealing, and see if I have any connections in common with the person whom posted the job.

3. Tactic: Look at peoples profiles so they look at mine a. I will spend 15 minutes every other day browsing profiles of potential target audience members.

When I view other people’s profiles, then, if they are avid-LinkedIn’ers, they will notice, and be able to look at mine.

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4. Tactic: Discuss in groups a. I will monitor groups that I am a part of on LinkedIn. I will chime in to discussions once a week in

three or more groups. Strategy two: Twitter 1. Tactic: Monitor my lists that I have created: 1)MKTG/SMM/PR list, 2)Interesting Companies list, as well

as the ones that others created and I am following. a. By monitoring these lists, I will be able to keep up-to-date with important people and thought

leaders. I can also learn from them and their posts. 2. Tactic: Tweet 6-12 tweets a day (including retweets). 4-8 should be marketing related. 2-4 should be

between 8 PM and 11 PM. a. Many of the people in my network tweet often. In order to keep relevant and not get lost in the

buzz, I need to tweet that many times. It is also important to have the majority of them be about my industry because then I will share my knowledge and skills.

b. The time parameters are because that is when Crowdbooster says my followers are online. 3. Tactic: Participate in hash tag conversations.

a. Hash tags form communities. Communities are an important part of Twitter. I will participate in these conversations.

4. Tactic: Leverage TweetDeck to create efficiency in my monitoring and communicating. a. I will use my TweetDeck account that has all of my important lists to monitor as well as a more

efficient way to send out tweets. 5. Tactic: Schedule two marketing posts on TweetDeck for each day on Sundays.

a. On Sundays I will be able to take time to surf the web and schedule out posts. This way, no matter what happens, I will already have a guaranteed two industry-related tweets going out.

Strategy three: WordPress blog 1. Tactic: Submit blog posts 3 times a week: on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.

a. Blogging can be difficult to get going. I will commit to 3 posts per week, and can increase from there. Three posts will be able to display my personal brand as well as my knowledge and skills.

b. The posts can range from remarks on another article, to original thoughts, to top 10 lists, to updates on my job search. Like on other platforms, I will stick to marketing-related topics and throw in the occasional personal post.

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2. Tactic: Read and comment on blogs for 30 minutes on Tuesday and Thursday. a. It is important to communicate in the blogging community. I will go out and comment on other

people’s blogs so that they will come back and look at mine. 3. Tactic: Tweet and share posts on all platforms.

a. I will be able to tweet my posts, share on LinkedIn, share on Facebook, and pin to my Pinterest “Blogging” board.

4. Tactic: Always have an image or a video in my posts. a. Images and videos are more shareable. I will be able to share the post and have an image

associated with it. The image will in turn be more likely to influence views. 5. Tactic: Reshare my favorite blog post from the previous week on Sundays.

a. Many people in my network are online on Sundays. I will reshare a blog post on that day to create more views.

Strategy four: Facebook 1. Tactic: Monitor the companies that I follow.

a. Watching what companies share on Facebook shows what their culture is like. I will be able to learn a lot about the companies from continuing to monitor them.

2. Tactic: Like and share company’s posts and communicate with connections that I have on Facebook. a. Communicating on Facebook with them will be more relaxed and casual. It will keep me on their

radar and hopefully cause them to look at my profile. 3. Tactic: Keep links to other social media websites on my Facebook.

a. When people look at my profile, they will be able to see links to my other profiles. Strategy five: Pinterest 1. Tactic: Pin to my “Marketing” and “Favorite Advertisements” board for 30 minutes on Tuesdays and

Thursdays. a. These boards will display my knowledge and interest in the industry. My other boards will display

some of my personality and style. 2. Tactic: Follow business boards, and share and comment on their pins.

a. This will give me a more casual way to communicate with them and be on their radar. 3. Tactic: Pin my blog posts to my “Blogging” board.

a. These will provide a means for circulating my posts.

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Content & Communication Strategies • The message to share is that I am a driven, innovative, marketing candidate with many skills and a lot

of valuable experience and am looking to start a career in May 2013. • Examples of the way I speak of myself:

o LinkedIn: Innovative and passionate young professional focused on online/internet marketing, event production, and public relations. Lead 300+ and 30+ student organizations; marketed, branded and grew both. Worked four jobs at once through 3-year undergraduate degree in marketing communications, events coordination, and student affairs. Driven to succeed and constantly improve. My mission is to live every day working on things that challenge, excite me and fuel my fire for life.

Very professional, and tailored to provide more information. o Twitter: Emerging #MKTG and events professional. Carpe diem-ing in Minnesota. Huge sweet-

tooth. Professional and personal intertwined.

• The things I talk about: o Industry trends, current topics, hash tag threads, what I am learning, what I am being a part of,

personal promotion, semi-personal fun-facts, and interactions and community participations I will appeal to the reasons my audience is coming online: research/find product

information, learn new industry trends, keep undated in the media and news, stay in touch with friends and colleagues, entertainment

• Tone: friendly, inviting, semi-humorous, relaxed, informed, and nice • I will curate from ScoopIt, Newsle, and blogs that I follow and connections’ posts

   

 

   

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Content Calendar The following will depict the “when” of the personal brand plan.

Weekly tactic plan breakdown: Sunday Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday • Schedule 2

marketing-related tweets per day

• Reshare a blog post from the week

• Read blogs • 6 tweets

• Browse LinkedIn profiles

• 6-12 tweets

• Post on blog

• Read blogs for 30 min

• Discuss in groups

• 6-12 tweets • Pin to

Marketing boards

• Browse LinkedIn profiles

• 6-12 tweets • Post on

blog

• Read blogs for 30 min

• 6-12 tweets • Pin to

Marketing boards

• Browse LinkedIn profiles

• 6-12 tweets

• Post on blog

Rest!

Examples of effective posts

Facebook:

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Twitter:

These are all on different topics, but they were all successful. I will take into consideration that, on Facebook, images are important, as well as being exciting and different. On Twitter, hash tags, and mentions help tweets become successful.

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Evaluation

The following is a chart to display the three metrics of measuring success. I highlight short-term outcomes, intermediate outcomes, and long-term objectives. Outcomes Indicator Data Source Collection Short-term outcomes

Successful plan A on Personal Brand Social Media Plan eGradebook End of Semester Intermediate outcomes

Facebook Likes and comments Klout Weekly

LinkedIn Profile views, new connections, search results

LinkedIn Weekly  

Twitter Retweets, mentions, favorites, new followers

Crowdbooster Weekly

Pinterest Followers, repins Pinterest Weekly WordPress Followers, views WordPress Weekly Long-term objectives

Job by May 2013 Receiving a job by May 2013 Myself Once Twitter Follower growth Crowdbooster Monthly WordPress Follower and views growth WordPress Monthly Current Klout Score: 55 Twitter follower growth over the last month, via Crowdbooster

 

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Profile Progression

Old LinkedIn

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New LinkedIn

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Old blog

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New blog

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<http://www.prdaily.com/Main/Articles/13317.aspx>.

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<http://www.socialmediaexaminer.com/pinterest-marketing-what-marketers-need-to-know-to-succeed/>.