brava magazine social media strategy

Social Media StrategyMay 2014

Haley Perrin | [email protected] Allard | [email protected]

Julia Birkinbine | [email protected]

ContentsExecutive Summary

Pages 1-2

MetricsPages 3-9

Statement of GoalsPage 10

Implementation StrategyPages 11-36

Social Media TimelinePages 37-38

BibliographyPage 39

Executive Summary

Executive Summary

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BRAVA Magazine is a trendy and sophisticated woman’s magazine with a large reader base. The magazine’s staff is hoping to increase the brand’s social media presence and engagement with followers and key influencers in the Madison area. Along with producing a monthly magazine with a 60,000 reader circulation and holding popular, annual events including the Madison Women’s Expo and the Madison Kid’s Expo, BRAVA additionally reaches its subscribers and followers by sending out a “Constant Contact” email blast several times per month to over 20,000 people. The BRAVA Magazine office is located in Verona, Wisconsin.

BRAVA’s current reader demographic and online followers are women in the Madison area between the ages of 33 and 55. These women are affluent, educated, busy and fashion-conscious. They care for their children and elderly parents, and are involved in their communities. The magazine’s motto is, “Madison’s leading magazine for women of style and substance.”

Since BRAVA Magazine’s rebranding in September 2013, the staff has faced a challenging dichotomy of promoting both magazine content and advertising special events held by BRAVA throughout the Madison area. The magazine’s social media presence, particularly on Facebook, has consequently often included the promotion of BRAVA events over the magazine’s content. This diversification of content has resulted in a slight change of BRAVA’s branding as the entity now seems to be focusing more on event planning, the promotion of BRAVA events and engagement via social media to gain event attendees, instead of primarily promoting the magazine’s editorial content to loyal readers and subscribers.

The magazine’s Marketing and Events Director, Stephanie Sabo, and Gabrielle Rosenthal, the Events, Sales and Marketing Coordinator, are both primarily re-sponsible for posting to BRAVA’s Facebook and Twitter brand accounts, however, other BRAVA staff members often post to the accounts when needed. According to Sabo and Rosenthal, the magazine has made a conscious effort to ensure the brand’s image and voice stays consistent throughout each social media platform.

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However, by having several staff members post to platforms, it is often difficult to ensure social media content is diversified in both content and timing of posts. Additionally, concerns that the brand is not currently reaching its full social media potential have encouraged the BRAVA staff to desire an increase in brand engagement throughout all of BRAVA’s social media accounts.

As of late April 2013, BRAVA Magazine’s Facebook page had 3,727 likes and 111 people had mentioned the brand on Facebook. BRAVA Magazine’s Twitter account, @bravamagazine, had 2,715 followers, the brand followed 1,196 users and had Tweeted 1,805 times. The brand’s Twitter account is followed by several key social media influencers in Madison, including MODA Magazine (@modamadison), Wisconsin State Journal (@WiStateJournal), Wisconsin Alumni (@WisAlumni) and Wisconsin Union (@WisconsinUnion). BRAVA currently experiences the most user engagement on Facebook. Stephanie Sabo has been the primary content provider for the magazine’s Instagram account, which has 34 followers and 5 posts.

Through social media, BRAVA hopes to create one, unified brand across all platforms which bridges the magazine’s content while also promoting BRAVA events. By doing so, BRAVA will be able to better engage with their current audience and expand their followers to their target demographic. Additionally, an increase in social media usage and engagement will help BRAVA connect with a younger, more social media savvy audience of college-aged women and young professionals throughout Madison and Dane County.

Executive Summary

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Twitter:

According to Twitonomy (www.twitonomy.com), BRAVA Magazine debuted on Twitter in July 2009. From July 2nd, 2009 to April 27, 2014, BRAVA Magazine (@bravamagazine) has published 1,804 Tweets, which averages out to 1.02 Tweets per day. The following graph shows BRAVA’s Twitter activity from 2009 to 2014. BRAVA Magazine has 2,714 followers and is following 1,196 accounts on Twitter. For every account BRAVA is following, the magazine’s account has 2.27 followers. BRAVA is also included on 100 different public Twitter lists. BRAVA most frequently posts content to Twitter on Mondays, but also publishes a high number of Tweets on Wednesdays and Thursdays. The most frequent times for BRAVA to Tweet is between 11:00am and 3:00pm.

Metrics

Metrics

The above graph indicates BRAVA’s Twiter activity from the creation of their Twitter account in 2009 through 2014. The graph demonstrates BRAVA’s sharp increase in Twitter activity starting in 2013 and continuing today.

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Metrics

In total, BRAVA has mentioned users 672 times in Tweets, which averages out to 0.37 mentions per Tweet. BRAVA’s most mentioned users are included in the following infographic:

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Metrics

Of BRAVA’s total number of tweets, 10% (85 tweets) are Retweeted content originally published by other accounts. BRAVA’s most frequent sources for Retweets are included in the following infographic:

BRAVA has replied to fellow Twitter users a total of 388 times, which constitutes 22% of its total number of tweets. BRAVA most frequently replies to these users:

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Metrics

Of BRAVA’s 1,804 tweets, 13.64% (246 Tweets), have been Retweeted by others 313 times. One hundred sixty four, or 9.09%, of BRAVA’s tweets have been favorited 201 times by others. The following infographics list BRAVA’s most Retweeted and favorited Tweets:

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Metrics

BRAVA has utilized hashtags in 163 Tweets, a rate of 0.09 hashtags per Tweet. The most frequent hashtag used by BRAVA is “#w2w,” and has been used in 29 Tweets. BRAVA’s most used hashtags are:

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Metrics

Facebook:

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Metrics

Instagram:

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Statement of Goals

Statement of GoalsUtilize Social Media Management Tools

Integrate Content and Platforms

Reach a Younger Demographic

Promote Content and Increase Engagement

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Implementation Strategy

Implementation StrategyUtilize Social Media Management Tools1

BRAVA is interested in using a social media management tool to make posting to each platform easier and to populate each post through one management outlet. We suggest using TweetDeck to focus on Twitter, a platform that helps BRAVA engage with its current followers, grain new followers in a younger demographic and promote BRAVA events. With TweetDeck, BRAVA can schedule posts, organize the brand’s Tweets and monitor engagement with the magazine’s handle and hashtags from other users.

• How to use TweetDeck -Install Tweet Deck from the App Store or from this website: (https://about.twitter.com/products/tweetdeck) -Sign into the BRAVA Twitter account through the TweetDeck app -The app features four main columns: -”Timeline” is the Twitter feed you would see on the normal Twitter website homepage -”Interactions” is the Tweet stream of things that include @bravamagazine (similar to @connect on the Twitter website) -”Activity” is the stream of Tweets and other actions made by people @bravamagazine follows -”Messages” is the private messages the brand sends or that are sent to BRAVA on Twitter. This will be helpful to use for any private engagements the brand makes on Twitter -On the left side there is a toolbar where you can search for Tweets, users, hashtags or to compose a new Tweet

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Compose new Tweet

Add new column

Sidebar Options

-When clicking on the compose new Tweet tab (top most tab on toolbar) you have the choice to compose a Tweet to be published immediately, add a picture, or schedule Tweets -To schedule a Tweet, type the Tweet content in the space provided and select a time and date on the calendar for the Tweet to be published later


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-Add more columns with the + tab on the toolbar -Click + -Selectaspecifictypeofcolumn.Ifyouwouldliketokeeptrackofa specificuserorhashtag,selectthesearchcolumn. -Typewhatyouarelookingforinthesearchbar.Ex:#bravamag -Select “Tweets” and then “Add Column” at the bottom -Ex:#Madison,#BRAVA,@cheekychicago -SeevisualsA,B&Cbelow -YoucanalsomakeacolumntoshowyourscheduledTweets

A. B. C.

A. Click the + tab, then select “Search” or “Scheduled”B. With “Search,” type in a hashtag (#) or user handleC. Monitor your new search item (or scheduled tweets) on your main TweetDeck page

ImplementationStrategy

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Integrate Content and Platforms2“Most people think of social media as distribution and use the same messaging on every platform. That’s not fully exploiting the tools,” explains Gary Vaynerchuk, author of “How to Master the 4 Big Social Media Platforms.”2 Vaynerchuk emphasizes the differentiation of platforms, while still maintaining a unified image for your business or brand.

By using different social media platforms, BRAVA will be able to create content for each site, which will, in turn, each provide a slightly different image of BRAVA’s overall brand. While these platforms should be integrated, consistent and each provide similar information, it is important to tailor the information to best suit a specific platform. It is also important to remember that each platform has different times for when is best to post content and promote your brand.

How to Improve Social Media Platform Bios:The BRAVA brand would benefit from updating their Facebook, Twitter and Ins-tagram bios. By having a catchy bio, BRAVA’s platforms will tell both current and new readers what BRAVA is all about and encourage new followers to visit their social media account pages.

Current bios:• Facebook: “Madison’s leading magazine for women of style & substance”• Twitter: “Madison’s leading magazine for women of style and substance”• Instagram: “women+style+substance”

Suggestions to improve bios:• BRAVA’s bios should include more information about the magazine and the

brand itself• Bios should be very similar for all of BRAVA’s social media platforms• Each BRAVA bio should include the magazine’s website URL



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• Within the Twitter and Instagram bios, use hashtags to tag keywords to attract attention and increase amount of followers

• Examples: #fashion, #beauty, #workingmoms, #Madison, #magazine• For Facebook’s “About” section: -Include BRAVA’s mission statement and the main editorial topics included in each magazine -Mention BRAVA’s history, Madison Women’s and Kids’ Expo, and that BRAVA hosts many events

Basic Information on Social Media Platforms:1. Facebook• Facebook is the world’s largest social networking platform. Facebook is pri-

marily used to post and share photos, events and text content. As of April 24th, 2014, Facebook had 1.28 billion users

• When to Post: -The Huffington Post recently featured a great article, “A Scientific Guide to Posting Tweets, Facebook Posts, Emails and Blog Posts At the Best Time”, by author Belle Beth Cooper3

-According to the article: -The best time to post on Facebook is between 1:00pm-4:00pm -Engagement rates on Facebook are 18% higher on Thursdays and Fri days and are 32% higher on weekends• What to Post: -Content:

-The blog post “Best Practices: Posting (and Analyzing) Effective Face book Content”4 says short bits of text should be used for posts to Face book. These posts should be between 100-250 characters or 3 lines or less -According to Crystal Vilkaitis, Social Media Director at SnapRetail, content should be 10% promotional, 20% shared content, 70% original content that adds value to your brand -Pictures: -The aforementioned blog post, “Best Practices: Posting (and Analyzing) Effective Facebook Content” emphasizes posts that have just one image generate 120% more engagement than a post without an image

-Images also take up more space on a user’s newsfeed and thus gives a brand more attention from users


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-Pictures cont.: -When posting multiple pictures, post the photos in an album rather than as individual images. Photo albums generate 180% more engagement than an average image post, and are a great way to promote content from events or new magazine issues2. Twitter• Twitter is a social platform that allows users to share content in posts of no more

than 140 characters. Twitter users share “Tweets”, usually consisting of text, images, links and hashtags. Twitter allows users to favorite and Retweet Tweets from fellow users whom they follow. Twitter has 243 million users and receives the most engagement from mobile device users.

• When to post: -According to the above mentioned Huffington Post article by Cooper: -Engagement for brands is 17% better during the weekends or Thursdays -Click-through rates are highest on weekends or mid-week on Wednesday afternoons -The best time to post on Twitter is between 1:00-3:00pm each day -Tweeting during common commute times, 7:00am-9:00am and 5:00pm- 7:00pm, also attracts a lot of attention from users, as 181% of commuters are on Twitter and 119% of people reportedly use Twitter during the work or school day -Retweets on Twitter most often occur at 5:00pm each day -Click-throughs occur most between noon and 6:00pm each day

• What to post: -In “10 Surprising New Twitter Stats to Help You Reach More Followers,” Belle Beth Cooper writes5: -Tweets with image links/images get two times as much engagement -Tweets with less than 100 characters get 17% more engagement -Tweets with hashtags get twice as much engagement than those without hashtags -66% of user-generated Tweets that mention brands come from mobile users -Tweets have a 12x higher chance of being Retweeted if you ask for it, and 23x higher if you actually spell out the word “Retweet” -Tweets that include links are 86% more likely to be Retweeted


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• Jay Adams, author of “Seven Habits of Highly Effective Tweets”, outlines import-ant things to keep in mind when creating content for Twitter:

-Focus on clarity -Be concise -Use key words -Save character numbers by shortening links -Use “you” when addressing followers -Link to lists--They allow information to be easily consumed -Ask questions in Tweets to increase engagement3. Instagram• As Gary Vaynerchuk explains, “Instagram is personal. It’s for those real-life mo-

ments.”6 Instagram is a way to share photos with your followers. Its filters add an artistic touch to photos taken with a smartphone or tablet. Because Instagram can’t be used on a computer, the platform really does imply the “here-and-now” to your audience. Instagram has a total of 200 million users6.

• When to post: -The online article, “7 Ways to Gain More Likes on Your Instagram Photos” explains: -The best time to post during the week is during the middle of the day, as most people find themselves surfing the web later in the afternoon -Posts after typical dinner time are good because many people look at their feeds when the evening has quieted down -There is increased Instagram traffic surrounding holidays and special oc casions, so providing your followers with content during those events is essential -Examples: Halloween, Valentine’s Day, Earth Day, St. Patrick’s Day -According to “8 Surprising New Instagram Statistics to get the Most out of the Picture Social Network,”7 Most people post pictures to Instagram on Thursdays, but Sundays are actually the most effective days to post• What to post: -Post photos people will want to see--Things people are familiar with but in ways that are new to them -Make sure to use hashtags in photo captions to attract more attention to a posted photo -Use more than one hashtag when possible -Apply filters to photos -Instagram filters give your photos an artsy feel


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-Useothermobileappstogetextrafilters,createcollagesoraddstickers to your Instagram posts -Examples:InstaCollage,Camera+,Overgram,PhotoEditorby Aviary,etc. -Onaverage,Instagramusersget33likesforevery1commentontheirpic tures.Toincreaseuserinteractionwithcomments,addaquestionor statementtoyourcaptiontoencourageresponses

Integrate Social Media with Website Content:• AnimportantaspectincreatingaunifiedBRAVAbrandisconnectingandinte-

gratingtheBRAVAwebsitewithitssocialmediaplatforms.• Todothis: -MakesureiconsconnectedtoBRAVA’ssocialmediaplatformsare prominentlydisplayedontheBRAVAwebsite -CreateanInstagramiconandaddittotheothersontheBRAVAwebsite

-AddasidebartickeroflatestTweets,Instagramphotosand/orFacebook poststoBRAVA’swebsite -Includestaffmember’ssocialmediahandlesand/orusernamesonthe website’sstaffpagetocreateamorepersonableimageforBRAVA -AddsocialmediaiconstotheBRAVAwebsitecontactpage -AddTwitterandFacebookpagelinkstoMadisonWomen’sExpoand MadisonKid’sExpopagesontheBRAVAwebsite


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Reach a Younger Demographic3The majority of BRAVA’s current readers are between 33 and 55 years old. BRA-VA recognizes that many women over age 55 also read the magazine, but there isn’t a lot of readership from women under age 33. To expand their current de-mographic, BRAVA should try to increase the brand’s social media and web pres-ence and focus on connecting with younger community professionals and audi-ences affiliated with Madison’s colleges and universities.

• Increase BRAVA’s social media presence, especially on Instagram and Twitter, which are very popular with younger audiences

• Engage and cross-promote with university audiences: -The UW-Madison Center for Leadership and Involvement (CfLI) provides information about campus organizations (https://cfli.wisc.edu/index.htm) -The Wisconsin Involvement Network (WIN) offers a directory of campus organizations (https://win.wisc.edu/organizations) -Using the search function on the right-hand side, filter through clubs by name or keyword or specifically seek out organizations that are listed as professional, service or Greek based• Examples of female-based organizations at UW-Madison: -College Fashionista; @CFashionista -Fashion website for college fashions, style and trends on campuses -Her Campus, UW-Madison Branch; @HCWisconsin and Facebook page -MODA Magazine; @modamadison -UW-Madison’s life and style student-produced publication -Association for Women in Communication; @AWC_UWMadison -Society of Women Engineers Facebook page -Badgers Empowering Women Facebook page -Women’s Sports Teams and Club Teams -@BadgersWHockey, @BadgerWBB, @BadgerWTennis -Sororities -http://greeklife.wisc.edu, @ThetaBadgers, @alphaphiiota



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-Association for Women in Agriculture -https://www.facebook.com/pages/Association-of-Women-in-Agricul ture-at-UW-Madison/120764347713?ref=ts -Women In Science and Engineering -https://www.facebook.com/wiscwise -Aspiring Nurses Association -https://www.facebook.com/groups/127221687405583/


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Promote Content and Increase Engagement4By increasing their social media presence, BRAVA hopes to better promote both magazine content and events on their social media platforms. It is important to promote this content because it supplements the physical magazine, the BRAVA website and the activities and events BRAVA hosts each month. Though BRAVA has been successfully interacting with the brand’s followers on both Facebook and Twitter, the staff’s marketing team hopes to further increase this level of en-gagement. To do so, BRAVA is looking to create and utilize new hashtags for fol-lowers to engage with the brand and for the magazine to promote its editorial content via social media. Using specific hashtags is a great way to gather a mass of people in one cyber area through trending and common interests. BRAVA will also need to reach out to influencers in different aspects of the magazine, such as fashion, health, beauty, etc. By targeting influencers on Twitter, BRAVA will be able to expand the brand’s audience reach.

By comparing BRAVA’s current social media presence with the amount of content and online engagement of other, similar publications, the magazine’s staff can gain valuable insight into how other brands are successfully fostering online en-gagement and content promotion via social media and begin carefully tailoring their social media content to emulate the positive aspects established by similar publications.

Consider Platforms:1. Twitter• BRAVA’s bio should include more of what is offered in the issues and what BRA-

VA is all about. It is important to also include hashtags with the bio -Ex: #fashion #beauty #health #workingmoms #trendy • BRAVA should be Retweeting, Tweeting at different accounts and using

hashtags daily. Try to use at least one hashtag in every tweet. Retweets should be focused on articles and events from Madison area accounts and BRAVA’s influencers



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• Use pictures in as many BRAVA’s Tweets as possible, but make sure they are rel-evant and applicable to content

2. Facebook• The amount of albums BRAVA has on Facebook is great! As stated earlier, photo

albums attract much more attention than just a random handful of pictures -Try to steer away from “mobile uploads,” as it makes it seem like someone is just simply running the brand’s social media accounts from their smart phone. Even if that’s the case, don’t let the audience know it!• When BRAVA has an upcoming event, focus on creating the event page and

using share tools to integrate the Facebook event into your other social media platforms to create buzz about the event. Post and Tweet about the event each day with links to more information such as the BRAVA homepage, the event’s homepage or a recent article about the event

• If BRAVA has videos, create a separate icon on your homepage for those. It will attract more attention because your current videos folder is within the photos icon and viewers might not know they are there

3. Instagram • Add a picture and bio to the account, including similar bio content as those on

Twitter and Facebook and include relevant hashtags in the bio• Post pictures from within the office and at events, when possible. Viewers are

interested in both the behind-the-scenes aspect of the office and pictures from BRAVA events

• Write engaging captions for photos with hashtags• No need to like your own photos--Leave it to the followers! • More behind- the-scenes content from BRAVA--Inner office workings, out of of-

fice meetings, special events (see example from Madison Magazine below)• Use Instagram for picture posts and link posts to Facebook and Twitter right

from the Instagram app -This can be done by going into your phone’s settings, finding where the Twitter and Facebook apps are stored and turning on the “Instagram” button within each Twitter and Facebook to allow the applications to connect. Then in the Instagram app, go to “Settings” (the gear-looking button), select “Share Settings,” and select Twitter and Facebook


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Consider Engagement• Offer more behind-the-scenes content -Let your audience know what a view of a BRAVA staff meeting is like. Share a behind the camera view at a photo shoot. If a company caters an event or a company luncheon, snap a photo of the food and let the catering company know how much you enjoyed it by tagging them or Tweeting at them.BRAVAhasagreatofficespace,soitshouldbesharedwithyour audience! If you want to build a relationship with your followers, let them know what BRAVA is really like.


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• Create more posted content variety -Let readers/fans/followers know what’s in your upcoming issues or what readers should make sure not to miss in the current issue. Inform them when you’re shooting the cover photo for a future issue or when you’re editing the upcoming stories. If you’re busy planning for an event, let the brand’s social media audiences know what you’re working on! -If you keep variety in your posts, people will be more likely to follow what you’re up to and will want to stay up to date with all-things BRAVA. If social media content is predictable or redundant, followers may skip over new brand posts -Draft more content that is promotional for BRAVA Magazine editorial content -WriteshortTweetsorshortFacebookfeaturepostsonaninfluential woman featured in a BRAVA article in that month’s issue (like your “contributors” page in the magazine) -Create a monthly “meet BRAVA” Facebook or Twitter post where you showcase a member of your team -Take items from monthly issues and publish short tweets/ Facebook posts about them (see below)


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• Weekly or monthly #WellnessWednesday feature -Since BRAVA has already established a #WellnessWednesday (#WW) posting, it would be easy to get followers and readers more deeply engaged in this awesome premise. Each Wednesday, ask readers to contribute to #WW via Facebook, Twitter, Instagram or email (integrate ALL platforms, plus give non-social-media-savvy readers an alternative way to contribute). It could be a healthy recipe, their favorite ab workout, an upcoming event they’re going to attend that week (like free Tai-Chi at the Monona Terrace on Thursdays!) Post all of these contributions on the BRAVA website and the best submissions on all social media platforms -Offer a contest incentive--The best contribution each week gets a prize. It could be something small, such as a free subscription, or something big, like a free facial at a local salon, but keep it BRAVA and/or wellness based!• Ask viewers to contribute social media content that is relevant to the main

theme of the month’s magazine (see Madison Magazine Twitter example below)

• Suggested Brand Hashtags: -#BRAVA for general posts -#BRAVAevent for events -#BRAVAmag for magazine content -#FeatureFriday for engagement on magazine content one day a week -#WriterWednesday to promote/feature contributing writers -Participate in #tbt with old magazine issues/content -Participate in #ff to promote/engage with similar accounts, other magazines, blogs, staff, etc.


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• Consider new/more methods for people to submit to contests and giveaways, promote across all platforms and promote in different ways

• Consider contest participation with any of your social media platforms and/or email to make it easier for people who might not be familiar with social media and prefer to use email

-Offer multiple ways to engage (for women that are less social media savvy)• Rephrase posts to garner more response and more quality engagement • Ask people to like/share/re-post/Retweet/favorite/comment on posts! People

will engage if you ask them to• Tweet at individuals, especially influencers, and companies• Engage with other women’s resources and events in the Madison area -Professional Women of Wisconsin (PWoW) Madison Chapter -Influencers: Mary Hall Scott @simplicityfit, Sheri Maass @sherimaass -Young Womens Christian Association of Madison; @YWCAMadison -A Fund for Women; @AFundForWomen -A Madison area nonprofit that helps women and girls tackle challenges throughout their lives -Junior League of Madison Facebook page -National Women’s Music Festival; @WIA_NWMF -Local music festival put on by Women in the Arts Madison -Go Red for Women (American Heart Association); @AmerHeartWisc -Madison Junior Woman’s Club Facebook page -Volunteer organization dedicated to support Madison area nonprofits that serve women and children -Domestic Abuse Intervention Services of Dane County; @DAISofDaneCo -GALtime Madison; @GaltimeMadison -An online trend-watching site for young women in Madison -Her Campus Wisconsin; @HCWisconsin and Facebook page -An online community for college women at UW-Madison• Link to relevant articles that reflect BRAVA’s brand and image, but are not

published by BRAVA -Recent beauty, fashion, health or education updates, city area events (link to Isthmus or Wisconsin State Journal articles), local events for women, new products for women that the BRAVA staff has tried or is interested in trying! -While we realize these other sources may be considered competition for the magazine, engaging with other sources will help to boost the BRAVA brand following


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• Consider similar publications’ platform engagement

CheekyChicago (www.cheekychicago.com)

CheekyChicago is an online lifestyle magazine for the women of Chicago. CheekyChicago’s website operates much like an online magazine and provides visitors with interesting and relevant articles on all-things dining, events, healthy living, arts, culture and style in the Windy City. Similar to BRAVA, the website additionally produces daily and weekly newsletters on “all things fresh, feminine and fun.”

CheekyChicago has established a strong online presence through Twitter and Facebook, though the brand experiences the most engagement with readers via Twitter, unlike BRAVA’s Twitter presence. Their Twitter account, @CheekyChicago, has 20.7K followers and the brand usually promotes new website content through a minimum of three Tweets per day. CheekyChicago successfully interacts with the brand’s Twitter followers by Tweeting at specific followers or other Chicago-based publications or companies to increase engagement and knowledge of the CheekyChicago brand. Additionally, CheekyChicago often includes links, relevant or brand hashtags and photos in each Twitter post to ensure their content is both eye-catching and engaging. CheekyChicago’s Facebook account has 6,117 likes. The brand posts to Facebook an average of 3-4 times per day though the brand’s Facebook presence does not foster as much engagement as their Twitter content. BRAVA would benefit from taking CheekyChicago’s approach to engaging with other local publications and organizations to gain both Twitter and Facebook followers and brand recognition throughout Madison. On the following page are examples of CheekyChicago Facebook and Twitter posts in which the brand successfully utilizes hashtags, linking and promotion of magazine content to garner engagement from followers:


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Today’s Chicago Woman (http://www.tcwmag.com/)

Today’s Chicago Woman (TCW) is Chicago’s only print and digital lifestyle magazine for women. The magazine’s website offers interview and blog content and articles on fashion, travel, jobs/money, dining, health/beauty and relationships. Like BRAVA, Today’s Chicago Woman has a fun, well thought out motto, “Smart Women. Smart Read. Smart Website.”

The magazine’s Twitter account (@TCW) has 6,700 followers and a bio that includes a few Twitter handles of TCW staff members. The brand Tweets on average four times per day and often Retweets content from other Chicago brands, publications and organizations. Most original Tweets promote news, specific print or online articles and cover stories and publicize local events of interest to TCW readers. Most Tweets include photos, links to articles and hashtags and the Tweet content is diversified and relevant. The Today’s Chicago Woman Facebook page has over 4,000 likes and has, on average, two new posts per day. Every post includes a link and a photo with clever captioning to spark readers’ interests and drive traffic to the magazine’s website content. BRAVA’s frequency of posts and types of content on both Twitter and Facebook mirrors those of Today’s Chicago Woman, demonstrating each brand’s success at utilizing links, photos and hashtags to garner engagement. However, TCW additionally utilizes Instagram (@tcwmag) to offer readers behind-the-scenes content of the magazine’s production, a key aspect of which BRAVA’s social media presence is missing. With an average of five Instagram posts per week, TCW successfully garners social media engagement with its magazine readers by offering high-quality photos of the magazine’s staff, Chicago city landscapes, covers of latest issues, and jewelry, shoes and clothing featured in the magazine’s articles. BRAVA would greatly benefit from posting similar behind-the-scenes content to give readers an exclusive, inside-look at the magazine’s production and BRAVA event planning.On the following page are examples of CheekyChicago Facebook and Twitter posts in which the brand successfully utilizes hashtags, linking and promotion of magazine content to garner engagement from followers:


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SELF Magazine (http://www.self.com/)

SELF Magazine is a national, American magazine for women that specializes in health, fitness, nutrition, beauty and happiness. The magazine is published monthly by Condé Nast and has a circulation of 1,528,583 and a total audience of 5,904,000 readers. The magazine’s Twitter account (@SELFMagazine) has 276,000 followers and over 24,000 Tweets. Since 2009, SELF Magazine has utilized Twitter to post an average of four times per day to promote both print and online editorial content and relevant lifestyle or fitness news. BRAVA would benefit from adopting SELF’s dedication and adherence to regularly schedule posts each day to promote magazine content.

Like BRAVA, SELF’s primary source of engagement is through Facebook. With nearly 1 million likes and over 30,000 mentions of the brand on the site, SELF perfectly utilizes photos, links and hashtags to engage with followers on Facebook and drive visitors to their other social media sites on Pinterest and Instagram, as well as the magazine’s main website. While it is unrealistic for BRAVA to be garnering the number of likes and comments as this nationally published magazine, BRAVA should mirror SELF’s Facebook posts with high-quality and relevant photos and links to editorial content. Furthermore, SELF successfully garners engagement via Facebook by including interesting and intriguing questions in their posts to encourage comments and share SELF’s posts on their personal Facebook pages. This is an aspect of Facebook posting that BRAVA may want to consider to increase overall engagement.

SELF’s Instagram account has over 73,000 followers with 931 posts. Much like their Facebook page, SELF’s presence focuses on providing readers with high-quality and interesting images with captions that include links to related content, tags to other Instagram accounts and hashtags. BRAVA should focus on increasing the amount and frequency of posts on Instagram and feature more behind-the-scenes content to entice readers to buy the print magazine or visit BRAVA’s website. On the following page are examples of CheekyChicago Facebook and Twitter posts in which the brand successfully utilizes hashtags, linking and promotion of magazine content to garner engagement from followers:


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• Consider the organization’s resources -Staff Members Responsible for Publishing Content: -There are currently three staff members who post the majority of content on BRAVA’s social media platforms -Keep BRAVA content publishers to a minimum to maintain voice and consistency -Designate a schedule for who posts what and when -Timing -Don’t over-post or post multiple things right after each other -Pick one day a week to schedule all the weeks posts on the media tool of your choosing (see analytics above) -Designate people to post spontaneously on certain days/times of the week -Money -Think about allocating a budget for social media outsourcing and website upkeep -Add online articles and magazine content to website in addition to posting print magazine PDF -Think about future social media auditing or strategy reform

Examples of Facebook & Twitter Posts1. Twitter:

“We’re busy prepping next month’s issue today. Watch for #summershoes, style saving tips and #spicyrecipes in May! #BRAVAmag #summerstyle” -Includeapictureoflayoutdesign,photoshoots,officemeetings,etc.

“#tbt to when the #BRAVAmag staff partied like it was 1983 at our BRAVA Night Out #Flashdance event in February! -Attach picture from Facebook from event and link to event!

“Excited for #SpringBreak? Check out our ‘Jet Set” article (pg. 44) in this month’s issue of #BRAVAmag. -Include link to article(or website) and an image March Events (pages 54-58)--Tweet about each event from the events page a week or few days before they happen and link to their website


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2. Facebook:

“The #BRAVAmag staff is gathered in the conference room to start planning for our #summer editions. To get us in the mood, we brought summery treats: lemon-ade and s’mores!”

“Do you have a child going to college in the fall? Check out #BRAVAmag’s arti-cle, ‘College Planning Primer’ in the #MarchIssue, on newsstands now! -Attach a photo from the article and link to the article online


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Social Media Timeline

The following timeline is a list of month-by-month suggestions for BRAVA to continue to expand their social media presence and build upon the strategy outlined in this report throughout the next 12 months.

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Bibliography

Bibliography1. “How to Use TweetDeck.” WikiHow. N.p., n.d. Web. 28 Apr. 2014. <http:// www.wikihow.com/Use-TweetDeck>.

2. “How to Master the 4 Big Social-Media Platforms.” Inc.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 28 Apr. 2014. <http://www.inc.com/magazine/201311/gary-vaynerchuk/ how-to-master-the-four-major-social-media-platforms.html>.

3. Cooper, Belle Beth. “A Scientific Guide to Posting Tweets, Facebook Posts, Emails and Blog Posts At the Best Time.” The Huffington Post. TheHuffington Post.com, 13 Nov. 2013. Web. 26 Apr. 2014. <http://www.huffingtonpost. com/belle-beth-cooper/a-scientific-guide-to-pos_b_4262571.html>.

4. “Best Practices: Posting (and Analyzing) Effective Facebook Content.” The Nimble Blog Best Practices Posting and Analyzing Effective Facebook Content Comments. N.p., n.d. Web. 28 Apr. 2014. <http://www.nimble. com/blog/posting-and-analyzing-on-facebook/>.

5. “10 Surprising New Twitter Stats to Help You Reach More Followers - - The Buffer Blog.” Buffer Blog. N.p., n.d. Web. 28 Apr. 2014. <http://blog.buffer app.com/10-new-twitter-stats-twitter-statistics-to-help-you-reach-your- followers>.

6. “How Many People Use Facebook, Twitter and 416 of the Top Social Media, Apps and Tools? (updated April 2014).” DMR. N.p., n.d. Web. 28 Apr. 2014. <http://expandedramblings.com/index.php/resource-how-ma ny-people-use-the-top-social-media/5/#.U12UGuZdWso>.

7. “8 Surprising New Instagram Statistics to Get the Most out of the Picture Social Network - - The Buffer Blog.” Buffer Blog. N.p., n.d. Web. 28 Apr. 2014. <http://blog.bufferapp.com/instagram-stats-instagram-tips>.

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