The following is an excerpt from Chapter 4 of the Top 100 Case Studies in PR Guidebook, Vol. 5

Match Social Media Strategy With Goals and Brand Values

Social media strategies should be reflective of a brand’s values. “It starts with those strategies that help guide the marketing mix,” says Sara Matheu, director of corporate communications at Sara Lee and leader of the “Mama Sagas” campaign. “Our focus on quality, convenience, taste and variety of our lunch meat needed to come through in our social media outreach.” That’s where the objectives of “entertain, educate and engage” came in.
 

1. Entertain: After hiring Second City Communications, an agency that specializes in entertainment, high visibility was achieved through a brand-sponsored channel on the prodigious video site MetaCafe. “We specialize in connecting people with brands through the humor of everyday life—and great material is really funny when it’s true and connected authentically to real life,” say Tom Yorton, president and COO of Second City.

2. Educate: The satirical videos caught viewers’ attention and led them to the Sara Lee Facebook page, which served as the central information hub for all things related to Sara Lee Fresh Ideas sliced-to-order deli meats.

3. Engage: The campaign sought interaction on two different fronts. Facebook was the major toolfor initiating and hosting ongoing conversations about how moms would handle the situations presented in the Mama Sagas videos. Twitter served as an informational tool to get Mama Sagas messages out quickly.