AGCJ 489 Social Media Strategy

Client: Brazos Running Co.

Jordan Glidewell, (940) 452-7145, jordan1994@tamu.edu
Madison Crum, (901) 826-7297, madison-alise-crum@tamu.edu
Shelbie Warr, (972) 345-3881, texasaggie2014@tamu.edu
Brittany Buxton, (713) 855-7254, brittanybuxton@tamu.edu

Table of Contents
Table of Contents .................................................................................................................1

Project Overview .................................................................................................................2

Audience Identification .................................................................................................... 3-6

Social Media Goals & Objectives .................................................................................... 7-8

Platform Identification ................................................................................................... 9-10

Completed Profile Information for Platforms ....................................................................11

Months 1-3 Strategy..................................................................................................... 12-13

Months 1-4 Overview ........................................................................................................14

Visual Appeal............................................................................................................... 15-19

Competition/Inspiration ............................................................................................... 20-21

Social Media Management .......................................................................................... 22-24

Overview
Brazos Running Company is a family and Aggie owned and operated business. Our
group realizes that the store does not have a social media manager on staff, and that the owner
runs the accounts on his own. We have taken this into consideration when creating this strategy
and have attempted to outline reasonable tactics that can be implemented.
This strategy is exclusively intended for Brazos Running Companys existing Facebook
and Twitter platforms. Free analytics and management tools will be recommended in this
strategy to help the client maintain the platforms.
Our groups biggest goal is that this strategy can serve as a guideline to help improve
Brazos Running Companys social media marketing. We also hope this will in turn bring more
customers, community awareness and brand awareness. This strategy has the potential to make
posting on social media quicker, easier and more efficient.
We created content calendars for January - March 2016. These include detailed posts for
each platform for every day of those three months. Posts that include original content have links
to the article, recipe, graphic, etc. that the post is referring to.
April - June 2016 will be outlined in the form of a content calendar. Only posts for
important events, dates, holidays, etc. will be noted. This overview outlines key dates and events
that posts should revolve around. We recommend the posting pattern from the first three months
is continued.
In addition to the content itself, six cover photos have been designed. These cover photos
have specific times that they need to be used on the platform. We feel the client should keep the
Brazos Running Company logo as the profile picture on both platforms at all times. This creates
brand consistency and constantly reminds customers what profile they are looking at.

Audience Identification
The primary audience for Brazos Running Company is women ages 25 to 44 years old.
This group will directly receive communication from Brazos Running Company. Typically this
group of women are known as soccer moms, have a large amount of knowledge on shoes and
fitness apparel and are the decision makers. This target audience is interested in shoes for
running, walking or lifestyle, as well as apparel for fitness or everyday style.
The secondary audience for Brazos Running Company are college students aged 18 to 24.
This group will indirectly receive communication from Brazos Running Company. This group is
the secondary audience because Brazos Running Company is located in College Station, home of
Texas A&M University. The secondary audience will hear about Brazos Running Company by
sponsored social media posts, advertisements around the area or by word. This audience is
interested in things related to Aggieland, clothing and fitness.

Demographics

Out of the women who have liked Brazos Running Co. on Facebook
25 percent are aged 25 to 34
19 percent are aged 35 to 44.
Although the breakdown of Twitter followers shows a more even distribution based on
gender, the primary audience of Brazos Running Co. is still mainly female.
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 Out of those reached:

22 percent are women aged 25 to 34
19 percent are women aged 35 to 44
Out of those engaged:
27 percent are women aged 25 to 34
24 percent are women aged 35 to 44

Geographics
According to both Facebook and Twitter analytics, the primary language of the audience
is English, while 3 percent are fluent in both English and Spanish.

Psychographics
Brazos Running Companys audiences are concerned about physical comfort and fitness.
They are of middle to upper social class. According to Twitter Analytics, followers are interested
in the following areas. This is taken directly from Twitter.

In a focus group of 10 customers, six said they prefer to buy shoes at a specialty running
store like Brazos Running Company because there is a better selection and more expertise. Seven
out of those 10 customers enjoy spending spare time with family.

Behaviors
A majority of the two audiences participate in marathons, half-marathons and other races.
Their degree of loyalty is high because they need a running store that supplies dependable
running shoes. The audiences want to lead a healthy lifestyle and are interested in staying fit.
Brazos Running Company sells nutritional products and hosts bi-weekly yoga classes, which are
beneficial to both audiences. Both of the audiences will have a high usage for all of Brazos
Running Companys products.
The buyer readiness stage for the primary audience is in the late stage of conviction. This
group can afford these products and are willing to purchase them. They will buy consistently and
frequently. The buyer readiness stage for the secondary audience is in the middle stage of
preference. This group prefers to have better shoes, even if it does mean that they are more
expensive. This group will not buy as frequently as the primary audience. This audiences needs
and desires are satisfied when they shop for what they need at Brazos Running Company.
Nine out of ten customers said they were more likely to shop at a store that is locally
owned. This shows that the audiences have love and support for the Bryan/College Station
community and are involved.

Social Media Goals and Objectives

Key messages
Brazos Running Companys key messages are that the company is Aggie owned and
operated and have a passion for promoting healthy lifestyles in the Brazos Valley. The client
wishes to provide an unparalleled shopping experience through excellent customer care,
outstanding product selection and a deep love of the community. The overall goal of Brazos
Running Company is to help customers pursue their own fitness goals.

Goals
The companys social media goals are to raise awareness and build community. More
specifically, the client wants to:

Gain more Twitter followers and likes on Facebook

Follow other profiles relevant to our audience
Engage in daily conversation with audience members on each platform
Increase overall posting frequency
Develop more creative content, other than just promotional shares
Visuals, links and related articles
Utilize an organized posting schedule to alleviate more work and confusion
Mention brands in posts that are relevant to the business
Reach more audience members per post
Voice
The social media voice for Brazos Running Company needs to be fun. The business
revolves around what the clients customers do for recreation in their free time: fitness activities.
Some posts should inform the audience of upcoming events, races, etc. to build a community, but
the tone should never be too serious or over-professional. The main aspect of the companys
social media voice is to highlight its customers or potential customers and make them feel
involved.

Note: All social media activity is frozen in the event of a community, state, nation or worldwide
catastrophe.
Examples of effective social media voice:
Good luck to runners taking on the Armadillo Dash today! #Support
Sometimes you just dont have time to cook a full-blown meal. Here are some quick,
easy and healthy recipes! #Health #Fitness #Lifestyle
If customers post a concern:
We can definitely look into this! (Ask more detail about their concern)

Platform Identification
Platform recommendations
The social media platforms that are recommended for Brazos Running Company to use
are Facebook and Twitter.
Facebook should be used because it is the most used social media platform out there with
968 million daily active users. This holds true with Brazos Running Company since its current
Facebook page has the most audience users compared to its other existing social media accounts.
Since the companys primary audience is women, Facebook is important. According to Sprout
Social, 77 percent of all users are women.
It is also important that Brazos Running Company focuses on Twitter so it can
accomplish its goal of gaining more followers. The secondary audience, college students, are
active Twitter users. Thirty-seven percent of overall Twitter users are between the college age of
18-29.
Content recommendations
The client should post content that involves:
Upcoming races to run in
Triathlons, Marathons, half-marathons, trail runs, 5K and anything in between
Competitions in Aggieland
Events planned by Brazos Running Company
Receiving a certain number of followers and likes and social media outlets
Photos of new merchandise
Articles, videos or infographics related to exercise, running or eating healthier
Holidays
Sales
Specific hashtags/themes with corresponding days:
Monday: Share relevant article, blog, photo, etc.
Tuesday: Yoga announcement, share a race in the area, #TransformationTuesday
Wednesday: #WearItWednesday, #WorkOutWednesday
Thursday: #ThursDate recipe, featured staff members
Friday: #FunFriday, #FitnessFriday, New products
Saturday: #SportsSaturday

Sunday: #SundayRunday, Run Fact

The client should post this type of content because it is what the audiences are looking
for. This is what the audiences are interested in and why they are shopping at Brazos Running
Company. This type of content will reach a large number of individuals and cause engagement
from its customers. From posting about new races to posting about sales that are happening
within the store, this content recommendation will appeal to both the primary and the secondary
audience of males and females.
This content is also a great way to draw in new customers, set the type of attitude that the
store holds and secure loyalty of past customers. Although the content recommendations are
broad, Brazos Running Company will keep the fans and customers intrigued when going into
more detail on each of the content posts, as well as keeping the content different instead of the
same as every week.
Time recommendations
The client should post at certain times of the day when the audiences are most active on
social media. For Brazos Running Company, the times when the audience is engaging the most
are at 5:00 p.m. and 8:00 p.m. on Sundays and Fridays. This time of the week and time of the
day, backed up by research, make sense for the company because this is usually when the
primary audience is home from work or has time for social media. Both audiences have the most
time to shop on the weekends because they typically do not have work or class to attend.

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Completed Profile Information for Platforms

Facebook
The clients long and short about me descriptions, location, store hours, contact
information, product price range, web address and date founded sections were already current
and filled out correctly. Brazos Running Company even had 219 reviews in the review section
where customers rated them and left helpful comments.
Our group created a call to action on the page. We added a Call Now button that
appears in the cover image. It places the companys phone number in a place that is easier for
people to find that do not know how to maneuver around pages very well.

Key milestones our client should include on its Facebook timeline are:
When the page reaches 8,000 likes
When the page reaches 1,000 check-ins
Post about race registrations
Any time Brazos Running Company picks up a new sponsorship
Twitter
Our group updated the avatar and header images to be more consistent with the Facebook
page. We added a new blurb in the bio section to include the city, more details about the business
and its phone number. The theme color was changed to navy to match the company logo, which
is used as the header image.

Key milestones our client should include on its Twitter feed are:
When the microblog reaches 500 followers
When the microblog reaches 500 tweets
Retweet tweets that the client is mentioned in
Tweet about race registrations
Post photos of new merchandise

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Months 1-3 Strategy

Measuring Profile Success on Analytics
Measuring profile success on the analytics is a very important step in the social media
strategy. The client can measure its profile success on the analytics by measuring the accounts
reached, impressions and the activity of followers and fans. Aside from that, tracking the number
of fans, likes or favorites, mentions and the engagement rate are all key concepts to improve trust
and influence. By measuring Brazos Running Companys success on analytics, this will be an
easy way to be aware of what needs more focus, the areas the company will need to grow in and
the areas the company may need to develop in. The client can monitor its followers comments,
as well as engage with them, identify the customer needs from social media and address
customer complaints, problems or praise. In doing so, the client is able to gain trust, loyalty and
awareness for the brand to help it grow and develop.
January
Running Events in College Station
Womens Quarter Marathon & Mini-Quarter Marathon - January 9, 2016
Texas 10 College Station- January 31, 2016
Holidays
New Years Resolution
February
Running Events in College Station
Rocky Raccoon 100 mile - February 6, 2016
Rocky Raccoon 50 mile Endurance Run - February 13, 2016
Stampede for Need 2016 - February 27, 2016
Holidays
Valentines Day deals for that special someone
March
Running Events in or near College Station
Armadillo Dash Half Marathon & 5K - March 6, 2016
Spartan Houston Sprint - March 12, 2016
Texas Wine Half-Marathon and 5K Series - March 20, 2016
Holidays

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 St. Patricks Day - March 17, 2016 - Post pictures of green merchandise
Spring Break - March 14-18, 2016
Easter - March 27, 2016 Post photos of pastel merchandise for Easter
Feature article

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Months 4-6 Overview

April
Running Events in or near College Station
April 2: Run for Remembrance 5K
April 4: Pasture Mud Run and Nourish the Children Vitameal Cookoff
April 9: Blue Bell Fun Run
April 23: Austin Super and Sprint Weekend
TBD: Flyin Hawaiian 5K
TBD: Footprints Road and Trail - 5K Run & Walk
TBD: Gladiator Dash (post about in March)
May
Running Events in College Station
The Original Mud Run - Date TBD
BCS Marathon Relay - Date TBD
BCS Marathon and Half-Marathon - Date TBD
College Station Running Club Registration
Holidays
May 11, 2016 - Eat What You Want Day; Post recipes
National Physical Fitness & Sports Month
June
Holidays
June 3: National Running Day
June 20: First day of summer
June 23: 4th Year Anniversary
Summer Youth Camps in College Station/Bryan (Register at
https://rectrac.cstx.gov/)
Summer Athletic Groups in College Station/Bryan (Register at
https://rectrac.cstx.gov/)

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Visual Appeal
Profile pictures:
Profile pictures need to stay the same. The Brazos Running Company logo creates brand
consistency. It also constantly reminds customers of what profile they are looking at. However,
profile picture can be changed if a new logo or logotype is created.

Cover photos:
January Facebook:

January Twitter:

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February Facebook:

February Twitter:

March Facebook:

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March Twitter:

April Facebook:

April Twitter:

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May Facebook:

May Twitter:

June Facebook:

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June Twitter:

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Competition/Inspiration
Under Armour runs a very successful Facebook campaign with over 3.8 million likes.
The company posts almost daily and frequently responds to feedback from followers. Under
Armour utilizes hashtags that increase the posts reach, as well as links to relevant YouTube
videos and the Under Armour website. Additionally, every post includes either a picture or
video, maximizing viewer interest.
FitBit maximizes Twitter usage by employing hashtags, links, pictures and video in its
tweets. The company posts daily, and sometimes more than once a day. Almost every post is
accompanied by a bright or thought provoking image, catching followers attention. The
company also takes trending hashtags and relates them back to FitBit in clever or cute posts.
Links to blog posts on the FitBit website are also extremely common in tweets. Everything FitBit
posts emphasizes health and fitness, motivation and inspiration, which are the companys key
focal points.

Facebook Recommendations
Newton Running
Brooks Running Shoes
LUNA
Clif Bar & Company
Gatorade
Nike
Nike Running
Nike Women
Nike Training
Saucony
Mizuno Running North America
Zoot Sports
Inov-8
City of College Station
City of Bryan
KBTX

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Texas A&M Track & Field

BCS Fitness
Womens Running Magazine
College Station ISD

Twitter Recommendations
Asics
LUNA Bar
Zoot Sports
Inov-8
Nike
Nike Women
Nike Training
New Balance
Clif Bar
Crossfit Aggieland
Runners World
Real Runners
Womens Running
Running Times
Trail Running
BCS Marathon
BCS Fitness
Texas A&M Rec Sports
Half Marathons USA
Texas Running Post

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Social Media Management

Social Media Management Tool Recommendations
Hootsuite Free should be used to manage Brazos Running Companys Twitter and Facebook
accounts. This tool can be used to manage up to three networks. Our client will feel comfortable
starting out with a free service to test the process, then can upgrade later to a paid service.
Hootsuite Free will allow Brazos Running Company to schedule Facebook and Twitter posts
from one dashboard. The client can also utilize the social listening feature remain current on
what audience members are talking about.

To use Hootsuite:
1. Go to www.hootsuite.com
2. Set up a FREE account
3. Log in
4. Hootsuite will guide you through the basics of connecting networks and organizing
streams

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For Hootsuite help:

Mashables Beginners Guide to Hootsuite http://mashable.com/2013/09/18/hootsuitebeginners-guide/#I8pf01PuTgq4
Hootsuite Help Desk
https://hootsuite.com/help

Engagement Strategy Recommendations

The client should
Welcome its new followers on each social media outlet
Host contests twice a year
Keep an eye on regular audience participation
Host a Question and Answer once a quarter
Make a customer of the month
Like or reply to comments on Facebook posts
Tweet back to and retweet mentions on Twitter timeline
Make posts engaging by creating discussions
Share timely content
Use relatable hashtags
Post when fans are online
5:00 p.m. and 8:00 p.m. on Sundays and Fridays
Make shareable content
Listen socially to customers, competition and industry influencers
What they are talking about on social media using the social media management
tool recommendation
Use keywords
Create unique content

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Time
The time that it will take to manage the social media strategy each week is approximately
7 hours. On Mondays, it is recommended to review the content calendar for the upcoming week,
as well as the complete social media strategy. Reviewing the complete social media strategy will
remind the client of the goals and the objectives. This should take a total of one hour each
Monday. The client should spend one hour per day, Monday through Friday, scheduling, creating
or posting content on each social media outlet.
The client should follow the engagement strategy recommendations to increase the
brands awareness and to stay engaged with its followers and customers. Implementing the
strategy on each day is crucial. Each Friday, the client should spend an hour checking the
analytics and engagement levels of each post that was posted throughout the week. By doing
this, the client is able to see how many followers on each social media outlet the brand has
received, view which posts did well and which posts did not and identify areas of growth.
Tracking the growth, engagement and influence will help with the success of managing social
media.
Increase of SM Brand Recommendations
Change Twitter handle from @RunAggieland to @BrazosRunningCo, to draw attention
to the company name and make the account more searchable
Join conversations happening on followed pages that are relevant to running, fitness, the
community, etc.
Create your own conversations
Ask questions for audience members to respond to
Host a weekly Twitter chat about certain running/fitness topics
Use the hashtag #BrazosRunningCo on every post to maintain consistency
Use recommended Facebook and Twitter cover photos
Offer contests and giveaways as often as possible, and promote them on Facebook and
Twitter

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