FROM THE BOTTOM OF THE FREEZER TO TOP OF

MINDMICHELINA’S: HOW TO TAKE A BRAND ONLINE IN 2013

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Mobile Websites & Apps

Social Media Marketing

Search Marketing

Email Marketing

Analytics & Reporting

Responsive Websites &

Design

STEVE RETKA: SOCIAL MEDIA COORDINATOR

ABOUT MEABOUT SPYDER

TRAPMINNEAPOLIS-BASED DIGITAL MARKETING

AGENCY

Selected as one of the “100 Best Companies To Work For”

two years in a row, here are few of the reasons our clients

have said they’ve chosen to work with us year after year:

Involved with all aspects of social media marketing, from

digital strategy and ideation to campaign execution and

reporting. I have coordinated the launch of multiple

profiles across different social media channels, as well as

organized promotions, contests, and engagement events.

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THE CHALLENGE WE FACED

ABOUT MICHELINA’S

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FROZEN FOOD COMPANY THAT HADN’T WARMED UP TO DIGITAL

Michelina’s is a nationally-distributed frozen food

company based in Minneapolis.

The brand had little to no online presence before 2013

• Limited traditional marketing

• No social media presence

Underwent a complete rebranding before coming to

Spyder Trap

• Refocused the brand on positivity, sentiment, and

appealing to life enthusiasts

• Branding re-defined by CBX

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RESEARCH & GOALSMEASURE TWICE, CUT ONCE APPROACH STILL APPLIES

Before developing a digital strategy, we had to assess 3

things:

• Where the brand was at digitally

• How they stacked up against competitors

• What they wanted to get out of social

What we found:

• A lot of conversation was already happening

• Polarizing sentiment among users

• Social media was a highly competitive space

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THE PATH WE TOOK

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HOLISTIC APPROACHSOCIAL MEDIA IS JUST ONE PIECE OF THE PUZZLE

Once we had a strategy determined, we utilized all

aspects of digital to strengthen each other

Strategy components:

Established Facebook and Twitter profiles

Launched paid advertising effort

Revamped email marketing strategy

Designed and launched the new Michelinas.com

HOLISTIC APPROACH

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FINDING THE VOICE OF MAMA MICHELINA WAS KEY

Tone was a major part of the new branding we were

given, and had to be incorporated

Prewritten content tone matched the new branding and

reflect the language on the website

• Positivity and life enthusiasm

• Warm and wholesome

Tone on Twitter was adjusted to better fit the channel

• Users talking about the brand didn’t fit with the new

branding’s demographic

• Kept the overall positivity in tone

• Introduced more humor for broader appeal

REAL RESULTS

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STRONG DIGITAL GROWTH SO FAR

0

5000

10000

15000

20000

25000

Apr May Jun Jul Aug

Social Media Growth

Michelina’s has seen remarkable growth in the first 5 months

on social media

• Over 20K Facebook fans

• 4K Twitter followers

• Thousands of new social media traffic referrals, a

previously untapped resource

• Increased coupon downloads

• Stronger and more streamlined customer service protocol

• Improved sentiment in the social media space

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THE LESSONS WE LEARNED

BE AGILE AND TAKE RISKS

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MAKE PLANS FOR THE LONG TERM, BUT BE READY TO CHANGE

THEMWe knew the brand was slow getting into social, but we

were determined to make them fast once they arrived

Social media was completely new ground for the

brand, and user reaction was unknown at launch

Initial ad spend was influenced and adjusted based on

popularity of posts

• “Mama’s Words of Wisdom” post was promoted after

initial traction, wound up getting 19K likes

BE AGILE AND TAKE RISKS

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SPEED IS MORE IMPORTANT TODAY THAN EVER

We wanted to capitalize on Game 7 of the NBA Finals

with a 2-hour microburst Twitter ad campaign

• Targeted promoted tweets to followers of each teams

Twitter account

• Each team’s fan base was shown a specific tweet

The entire process went from ideation to completion in

6 hours

The results justified the approach:

• 187K impressions

• Over 2K clicks

• 37 mentions

• 5% increase in followers

DON’T HEAR, LISTEN

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COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT CAN PAY DIVIDENDS LATER

We set up a listening campaign to find existing

conversations about Michelina’s that were already taking

place

• Taking advantage of low hanging fruit

• Grassroots effort to build rapport with users

One on one engagement was important

• Low risk, high reward

Variety of conversation allowed for more creative

responses

• Humor and customer service became our

distinguishing factor from competitors

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RISE ABOVE THE NOISE

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CAMPAIGN-LEVEL THINKING HELPS YOU STAND

OUTOrganic content alone makes it difficult for brands to

stand out from the millions of other accounts

• User attention is now a commodity

“Make It Your Michelina’s” campaign

• The first campaign for Michelina’s

• Encourages users to share how they make their

Michelina’s recipe ideas through user-submitted entries

Offers a variety of media opportunities:

• Owned: Brand-created content in August

• Paid: Paid advertising efforts and influencer outreach

• Earned: Blogger content and user submissions

THANK YOU