Build-A-Brand Report: Social Media Assessment and Proposed Tactics Table of Contents Introduction ………………………………………………………………….3 Social Media Presence and Analysis ………………………….... 3-5 Breakdown of Social Media Followers by Platform ………... 6 Examples of Effective Social Media Content ………………... 7-8 Main Competitors ……………………………………………………. 9-10 Key Audiences ………………………………………………………. 11-13 Opportunities ……………………………………………………………. 13 Business Objectives …………………………………………………… 13 Business Strategies ……………………………………………………. 14 Social Media Tactics ……………………………………………….14–25 Evaluating Success ………………………………………………... 25-26 Conclusion ………………………………………………………………… 27 2 Introduction Poo-Pourri is a fragrance company that sells scented and odour-trapping, “before-you-go” toilet sprays. The company was created and founded by Suzy Batiz in 2007 with just $20,000 of initial capital. In the decade since its inception, Poo-Pourri has sold more than 22 million spray bottles and is currently valued at over $300 million USD! The company’s success and immense popularity are the direct results of its creative marketing content and its effective use of social media platforms to convey its brand. Poo-Pourri does not consider bowel movements to be taboo subject matter, but rather markets itself as a company that views defecation as a normal bodily function — one that should be celebrated and even parodied! Social Media Presence and Analysis Poo-Pourri’s immensely popular scatological marketing campaigns use “cheeky” humour and witty puns to make light of a traditionally taboo subject. For the last decade, the company has predominantly marketed its products to women between the ages of 18-49. Poo-Pourri uses a variety of social media platforms, including Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, Pinterest, and Twitter, in addition to its website blog. • The company has amassed an impressive 183,507 followers and 186,337 likes on Facebook over the last decade and generates a tremendous amount of user interaction with its posts. • Over the course of October 2017, the company posted a total of 43 times on its Facebook page. These posts have since yielded an average of 329 likes or reactions, 59 shares, and 25 comments. • Poo-Pourri caters to the older portion of its target audience (31-49) quite effectively on Facebook with a variety of posts that range from product advertisements to funny customer reviews, witty toilet aphorisms and humorous brand-related third- party content. 3 • Poo-Pourri has 15,500 Twitter followers and has tweeted over 9,000 times. • The company does not generate much traffic with its Twitter content and rarely gets more than 10 likes or retweets per post. • Nevertheless, Twitter remains an excellent platform for Poo-Pourri to conduct its customer service as the company can interact instantly (and privately, if need be) with consumers on it. • Poo-Pourri has 15,500 Instagram followers and has posted on the platform more than 1,800 times. • An average Poo-Pourri post promoting one of its own sprays tends to generate between 50-300 likes. • However, any video post that features the company’s spokeswoman, Bethany Woodruff, generates the most interest. • Woodruff’s two most recent videos have been liked a total of 5,603 times. • Instagram is an effective platform for Poo-Pourri because 59% of its users are female and between the ages of 18-29. • Its layout also allows the company to promote its products by displaying them in attractive photos. • The company has released 27 videos on its YouTube channel, where it has amassed 83,000 subscribers. • For the most part, these videos are immensely popular and tend to feature company spokesperson, Bethany Woodruff. • Poo-Pourri’s first video, “Girls Don’t Poop”, is by far its most watched commercial, amassing 39 million views. However, the company has also had success with its three “How to Poop” videos, which have garnered a total of 13.7 million views. 4 • Poo-Pourri also created a series of sixteen-second “#SaveYourRelationshits” commercials, but these have not generated nearly as many views as the above- mentioned videos. • Poo-Pourri has 2,947 followers on Pinterest and uses the platform rather effectively to promote interest in its brand and its products. • The company has created a number of brand-related boards on its Pinterest page. • Two of its most popular boards are “Deep Sh*t”, which features bathroom quotes, adages, and aphorisms, and “Shits and Giggles”, a board for crass scatological jokes and limericks. • Poo-Pourri also has boards for fashion tips, toilet-related arts and crafts activities, and all of its spray products. • Poo-Pourri also started a blog on its website this year, called “Throne Diaries”. The blog is divided into five sections: 1) “Bathroom 2.0”, a section of aesthetically-pleasing and, sometimes futuristic, bathroom photos; 2) “Give a Crap”, the company’s outreach and fundraising platform; 3) “It’s Only Natural”, a section devoted to the fecal sciences; 4) “Under the Lid”, a blog that allows the customer to learn more about the company’s executives; and, 5) “Uninhibited Fun”, a section full of interesting and witty bathroom-related content. 5 Breakdown of Social Media Followers by Platform: Followers by Platform Pinterest 1% Twitter 5% YouTube 28% Twitter Facebook Instagram YouTube Pinterest Facebook Instagram 61% 5% 6 Examples of Poo-Pourri’s Most Effective Social Media Content (Facebook/Dec. 13th: “Poop the Potato” post — 824 likes; (Facebook/Nov. 16th: “Stormtrooper Pooper” — 925 likes; hundreds of comments) 139 shares; hundreds of comments) (Instagram/Sept. 4th: Poo Review — 116 likes) 7 (Instagram/August 17th: “This poop is bananas” — 275 likes) (YouTube/Sept. 10th: “Girls Don’t Poop Video” — over 40 million views; 96,000 likes; hundreds of comments) (Two of Poo- Pourri’s most popular Pinterest sections: “Deep Sh*t” [302 pins] and “Shits and Giggles” [192 pins]) 8 Main Competitors In the wake of Poo-Pourri’s success over the past decade, Squatty Potty and Airwick have both created products and marketing campaigns that are quite similar to those of Poo- Pourri. Unicorn Gold: • Squatty Potty debuted its Unicorn Gold “before you squat” toilet sprays in the fall of 2016 along with a YouTube commercial that closely resembled Poo-Pourri’s comically crass style of online commercials. • This video has been watched more than 3.5 million times and has been commented on over 1,000 times. • However, Unicorn Gold does not have its own social media platforms like Poo- Pourri does and, is only advertised, in periodic posts on Squatty Potty’s various social media accounts. • As a result, the product does not get nearly as much exposure as Poo-Pourri’s toilet sprays. 9 V.I.Poo: • Airwick’s toilet spray, V.I.Poo, also emerged on the scene around the same time that Unicorn Gold did. • V.I.Poo has also created an online marketing campaign similar to Poo-Pourri’s, and like the Texas-based company, V.I.Poo also advertises its products on a small handful of social media platforms. • However, these accounts have not attracted substantial amounts of followers and user engagement since the product’s inception in October 2016. • V.I.Poo has 5,741 followers on its Facebook account and has only posted a total of seven times on the platform. • V.I.Poo has over four thousand YouTube subscribers and 199 followers on Twitter. • Unlike Poo-Pourri, V.I.Poo does not have its own Instagram or Pinterest pages. • V.I.Poo’s has released 13 videos on YouTube. Its most watched commercials are the company’s first two online commercials, “Introducing V.I.Poo (full version)” and “Introducing V.I.Poo. (short version)”, which have been seen a total of 6.4 million times. Although these numbers appear to indicate that the videos have been successful, a closer examination of the commercials’ metric suggest otherwise. “Introducing V.I.Poo (full version)” received only 4,000 likes and a total of 2,000 dislikes, while the shorter version of the same commercial accrued more dislikes (293) than likes (86). In fact, these commercials received so many negative comments that the company was forced to disable the comments section under each video! 10 Key Audiences Primary Audience Poo-Pourri’s target demographic is comprised of female consumers between the ages of 18 and 49. This audience can be further broken down into two categories: females aged 18-30 and females aged 31-49. Females aged 18-30: • students and young professionals in the US and Canada. • who are adept at social media. • who prefer Instagram, YouTube, Snapchat and Pinterest to other social media platforms. • who possess a variety of economic statuses. • who live in a variety of accommodations — i.e., alone, with partners, or with roommates. • who are secretive about their own bowel movements. • who desire an effective toilet spray that makes it seem like they never used the bathroom in the first place. Females aged 31-49: • mothers and middle-aged professionals in the US and Canada. • who are less adept at social media than our 18-30 demographic, but are still comfortable using some of the more accessible platforms. • who prefer Facebook and YouTube to other social media platforms. • who possess a variety of economic statuses, but generally have higher incomes and more disposable cash than our 18-30 group. • who are less secretive about their own bowel movements than the 18-30 group. • who have become less put off by the scatological over time (whether from years of diaper-changing or living in close-quarters with their husbands, children, pets and/or roommates). • who desire a toilet spray that can be trusted to do the trick even during the most heinous of toilet crimes. 11 Secondary Audience Poo-Pourri’s secondary audience is comprised of male consumers between the ages of 18 and 49. This audience can be further broken down into two categories: males aged 18-30 and males aged 31-49.