A Social Media Strategy for SEO

Will Robinson

March 30, 2009

Agenda Company background Why social media makes sense Implementation of specific social strategies Tying strategy to search Execution and management plan Measuring success

Background Supermarket founded in 1915 by John Wegman Continues to be family-owned and operated CEO – Daniel Wegman President – Colleen Wegman Headquartered in Rochester, NY www.wegmans.com

PhilosophyAt Wegmans, we believe that good people, working toward a common goal, can accomplish anything they set out to do.

In this spirit, we set our goal to be the very best at serving the needs of our customers. Every action we take is made with our customers in mind. We also believe that we can achieve our goal only if we fulfill the needs of our own people.

To our customers and our people, we pledge continuous improvement and we make the commitment:

Every Day You Get Our Best!

(Background continued)

2008 Statistics $4.8 billion in sales $800 million estimated* worth 37,000 employees 72 Stores in NY, PA, NJ, MD and VA with plans for 13

more stores extending into Boston suburbs Gave 16 million pounds of food to food banks $4.5 million in tuition assistance to employees Fortune Magazine 100 Best Companies to Work For

(#5) Forbes Magazine America’s Largest Private

Companies (#80) Consumer Reports Top-Ranked Supermarket

*Dun & Bradstreet Comprehensive Report, 2009(Background continued)

Business Model 70,000+ products in every store compared to an

industry average of 40,000 (300+ specialty cheeses in every store)

Stores are 80,000-130,000 sq. ft., which provide an open and airy shopping experience with unusually wide aisles.

Stores within a store: market café, patisserie, nature’s marketplace, food from around the world, cookware, floral, cosmetics, bakery, kids fun centers

Knowledgeable, friendly, loyal employees Suburban locations

(Background continued)

Recent Praise “We consider them the best chain in the country,

maybe in the world.” - Industry analyst Neil Stern in the Wall Street Journal

Head to this “grocery store," the one unlike all others. - Charlie Gimber, The Brown and White (Lehigh University Student Newspaper), 3/27/09

Students looking to savor a glass of local vino may not have to travel any farther than Wegmans. – Elisabeth Rosen, The Cornell Daily Sun, 3/12/2009

A world without Wegmans? Let’s not even think about it. - Courtney Kates, Pipe Dream (Binghamton University Student Paper), 3/6/09

(Background continued)

ResultsWegmans is not a grocery store - it’s an experience.

Background - Who Experiences Wegmans? College Students Moms Families Young Professionals Senior Citizens Schools Employees Local Communities

Increase market share in existing locations Continue to be an industry leader in providing

healthy, friendly and satisfied customer experience

Successfully launch 13 new stores in 2009-2010

Expansion into Boston market Employee happiness

Current Objectives

Why Social Media?• Accelerate the conversation

• Leverage evangelists (including employees) to relate experience

• Highlight original content

• History of technology adoption

• Increase SEO in search engines and within SM outlets

• Drive traffic

• Aid expansion

• Increase profits, hire workers, grow sustainably

Why Social Media?National Appreciation

Current Social Media Presence

Twitter

Facebook

flickr

YouTube

Blogger

Competitive SM Analysis

Company Stores ‘08 Revenue

Facebook (fans) Fans/Store

Twitter Followers (updates)

Followers/ Store

Wegmans 72 $4.8b 32,697 454 1,333 (219) 19

Wawa 570 $4.67b 109,708 192 84 (0) 0.15

Whole Foods 270 $6.6b 53,751 199 326,105 (1876) 1,208

Stop & Shop/Giant 577 $11.5b 631 1 1 0.002

Nugget Market 9 $273m 523 58 n/a n/a

A&P conglomerate 460 $6.4b 212 0 n/a n/a

Social Media Strategy

Integrate, focused, fresh and original content with YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, Flickr

Increase Facebook presence Engage Twitter Create microsite Partner with niche online communities/link

building

Wegmans.com YouTube

TwitterFacebook

50 Quality Videos 37 Subscribers

33,000 Fans No Content

1,327 Followers No Content

Capture Existing Opportunities Tear Down the Walls

90 Quality Videos

2,200 Recipes

One channel (wegmans.com) releasing content to multiple channels

Combine wegmans.com video with YouTube channel

Create unified experience for loyal/future customers

Facebook

Facebook’s fastest growing segment: Women over 55

Implement Facebook Connect with wegmans.com

Link customer shopping card with profile

Provide a “voice” to fan page Offer fans exclusive discounts Allow fans to share recipes Create group for employees

Twitter

Unified experience Provide community for employees to promote

and discuss experiences (twitter.zappos.com) Leverage thought leadership

Create account for Danny Wegman (CEO) Provide and receive feedback

Microsite

Conduit for social networking activity Build on wegmans.com experience

Experiencewegmans.com Wegmans.com/experience

Partner With Niche Community

Link building Industry blogs

Afullbelly.com Smittenkitchen.com

Recipe sites Foodnetwork.com Recipe.com Epicurious.com

Mom 2.0 Cafemom.com

Cafemom.com (#17 Most Visited Social Networking Site)

The Risk

Supporting SEO

Leverage existing content Keywords

Wegmans, Quality foods, Eat well live well, Cooking classes, Food events, Recipes, Grocery, Supermarket, Family owned market

Focused, repeated and consistent messaging across SM Copy on social media websites links back to copy on

wegmans.com and possible microsites Page titles, metadata Link building

Google “Wegmans”

Yahoo “Wegmans”

Google “Supermarkets”

Yahoo “Supermarkets”

Possible Implementation Plan

Discovery Research Business requirements Competitive analysis

Design/Strategy Create strategy model

Deploy Test Go live

ROI & Success Metrics

Within three months of launch: 100,000 Facebook fans 90,000 Twitter followers Mirrored YouTube experience Partner with 5 industry leading blogs Fully-integrated microsite supporting all SM activity 50,000 new registered users on wegmans.com 10/10 positive search results for “Wegmans” in major

search engines #1 organic search for “supermarket” and “grocery store” in

Northeast and Mid-Atlantic

Thank You

Questions?