Office Products Plus is a small office supply reseller that lacks a social media presence. A social media strategy is proposed that includes developing an online listening program to understand customer sentiment and share of voice. A roadmap is outlined that implements social media tools like a blog, email campaigns, and print marketing to convey messaging and build loyalty. Goals include growing Facebook likes and Twitter followers while measuring promotions. Lessons include committing resources to social media and knowing customer objectives, as social media can benefit businesses that aggressively promote themselves online.

1. Office
Products
Plus
Social Media Strategy
5822- Instructor: Dr. Carleen Shaffer
August, 2012
Rachelle Sokan
Linda Holzschu

2. Agenda
 Company Overview (Rachelle)
 Social Media Landscape (Linda)
 Social Media Strategy (Rachelle)
 Roadmap for Office Products Plus (Linda)
 Goals and Measurements (Rachelle)
 Lessons Learned & Conclusions (Linda)

3. Company Overview

4. Company Overview
United Stationers
 United
Stationers is the leading North American
wholesaler of office products
 5B in net sales
 Carryover 100,000 products through 61 distribution
centers
 Currently manage over 25,000 resellers

5. Reseller Overview
Office Products Plus
 OfficeProducts Plus, located in Ridgeland MS is a small
reseller of office products
 Less than 30 employees
 Stock and sell over 30,000 items

6. Social Media Landscape

7. Social Media @ Office Products Plus
 OPPis starting with a blank
canvas
 Resources and skill set
constraints
 Identifieda need for an
online listening program

8. Competitive Landscape
Social Office WB Innovative New Shoplet
Media Products Mason Office England
Tools Plus Supplies Office
Supplies
Facebook     
Twitter     
Pinterest  
Blogs    
Hootsuite
LinkedIn    
YouTube   

9. SWOT - Office Products Plus
Strengths Weaknesses
Upper management positive endorsement Little emphasis on using SM
Credible Products Current lack of committed resources
Large Market base Lack of product awareness - marketing
Easily Accessible Low Brand Awareness
Small/more flexibility Started w/ Blank Canvas
Can offer personalized service Lack of employee skillsets in SM
Opportunities Threats
Engage consumers , track & measure Competitors using Social Media
Train employees in SM tools National distributors (Big box)
Coupons are a plus Provide 24 hr. customer service/ response
Make it easy to place orders Very Price sensitive / coupons
Build brand loyalty Too much information
Measure client’s business objective Poor strategy – week implementation
Personalize service and support

10. Social Media Strategy

11. 4 Key Decisions
Decisions for Strategy:
1: Define the goal & objective
2: Determine tracking methods – to measure against the
effectiveness of the goal.
3: How to map – what do your followers see – where are you directing
them?
4: Are the enterprise social media marketing efforts link to each other
– work in synergy?

12. Define Objectives
Define:
 1: The basic tactics
 2: The agreed upon strategy

13. Social Media Strategy
Develop an online listening program to
determine the following:
 Share of Voice – How is your
company performing
 Customer Sentiment – How does the
customer feel about your products
 Who is saying what and where –
Consumer feedback

14. Social Media Strategy
A well crafted social media strategy will accomplish the following:
 Brand awareness and messaging
 Make an emotional connection
 Begin with the end in mind and utilize tools that impact goals and
performance
 One size does not fit all
 Understand customer behavior
 Humanize your brand
 How can you integrate your employees into the customer experience

15. Social Media Roadmap

16. 5 Important Steps
1. What is the goal of our social media marketing project? What do we want
to accomplish / when? – Audience defined
2. What tracking methods will we use to determine if we have the right
strategies in place to achieve our goal? Metrics and reports
3. Do you need a FTE in house or is outsourcing the duties a better fit?- In
house dedicated resource (System Administrator).
4. How will we map it-What do our followers see i.e. sites/pages that we are
directing them too? Document process steps
5. Do all of the enterprise social media marketing efforts work in synergy with
each other? – Make 1 common platform for the company

17. Optimization for Road map

18. Implementation
 The Office Products Plus Home Base for engagement begins with a Word
Press blog. Content will be linked to other social media outposts, such as
posting a video on the blog while linking it to the OPP Twitter and Facebook
accounts.
 Social Media tools will be used to convey OPP marketing messaging and
loyalty with:
 • The OPP Blog (Word press and Website)
 • Email Campaigns
 • Print Marketing
 • Customer Service
 • Sales

19. Road map - Timeline
• Conducting an assessment of Office products plus current involvement
April/ May -Research & Confirm the client’s goal for social media
June • Present findings gain approvals for initial strategy to the client
July
• Determine and Document Final Strategy
• Implement Project Plan for Final Strategy
August
• Confirm measurements and interpret metrics achieved since from
Sept/
Dec implementation of strategy
• Review results with client and solicit feedback- Introduce Phase 2 of
Dec SM Project Integration for 2013.

20. Goals and Metrics

21. Small Wins
For Office Products Plus the goal was to measure the
following:
 The number of Face book likes
 Monitor conversations
 Add promotions with corresponding promo code
 Number of Twitter followers
 Determine if there was an increase in search volume
 Number of subscribers to weekly newsletters

22. Lessons Learned & Conclusions

23. Lessons Learned
• Don’t put off Social Media
• Commit both time and resources
• Know your customers objectives
• Find out what works for your competition
• Measure and interpret results
• Phase the project move to 2nd phase to add/ integrate what works
• Have patience – be flexible. Continue to understand the SM
environment/ customers/ and competition

24. Conclusions
 Positive experience working with Office
Products Plus
 Recommend they continue to aggressively
promote themselves on various SM forums.
 Part of this effort involves believing that SM can
truly benefit their company; not a passing fad.
Research shows:
 The audience of internet users in the U.S. will
expand by 3.1% to 239 million in 2012.
 Facebook will reach 143.4 million US users in
2012, up 8.2% from 132.5 million in 2011.
 About 2/3 of web users will use social networks
in 2012.

25. Thank You!
Rachelle Sokan
Linda Holzschu