April 20,

[AMERICAN ANGUS ASSOCIATION SOCIAL MEDIA PLAN] 2010

2010
American Angus
Association

CPKC
Consulting
Sean Callahan
Katie Pierce
Laura Kearney
Micheal Clements
[TABLE OF
CONTENTS ]
2] THE BRAND
3] YOUR BRAND’S SOCIAL MEDIA FOOTPRINT
4] YOUR COMPETITOR’S FOOTPRINT
7] THE SOCIAL MEDIA GOAL
8] IDENTIFY INFLUENCERS
9] CONTENT STRATEGY
10] ENGAGEMENT AND MEASUREMENT STRATEGY

[AMERICAN ANGUS ASSOCIATION SOCIAL

MEDIA PLAN]
A plan of action to increase membership and develop improved interaction among
current members, using social media.
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[AMERICAN ANGUS ASSOCIATION SOCIAL MEDIA PLAN] 2010

THE BRAND

Target audience
Aged 21-40; those in agriculture, and rural people who want to know more.
Most members are conservative.
Current Best Practices
The American Angus Association’s for-profit entity Angus Productions Inc.
(API) has worked to promote the Angus message and provided the means of
communication for the last 30 years to members and their customers. Through
publications like the cornerstone Angus Journal and the commercial-focused Angus
Beef Bulletin, as well as its web and other design and publishing services, API works
to provide essential Angus news and information along with an unrivaled
advertising platform and impeccable customer service.
API’s editorial department continues to provide the latest industry news,
marketing and management information. Feature stories in the Angus Journal and
Angus Beef Bulletin highlight members and customers, their concerns, problems,
solutions and the issues they face. The department also worked throughout the year
to bring that mind-set to the web.
The Association’s YouTube account
(http://www.youtube.com/user/apicreativemedia) offers a number of videos, ranging
from personal stories to previous cattle shows, to help viewers understand the
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benefits of raising Angus cattle. The videos have been viewed more than 170,000
times, and appear to be an effective means of reaching the target audience.

YOUR BRAND’S SOCIAL MEDIA FOOTPRINT

How Sociable http://www.howsociable.com/american%20angus%20association
How Sociable scans numerous social media sites for mentions of brand
names, and calculated that “American Angus Association” received a visibility score
of 20. The American Hereford Association’s score was 12, American Simmental
Association’s was 44, and American International Charolais Association’s was 2.
Here are How Sociable’s scores for the Angus Association on individual social media
sites:

Social Mention http://socialmention.com/search?

q=american+angus+association&t=blogs&btnG=Search
Social Mention calculates scores based on 4 primary qualities:
• Strength: the likelihood your brand is being mentioned
• Passion: the likelihood that individuals talking about your brand will do so
repeatedly
• Sentiment: the ratio of mentions that are generally positive to those that
are generally negative
• Reach: the number of unique authors referencing your brand/total number of
mentions
Search conducted February 8, 2010:
Type Streng Passi Sentim Reac Unique Last
th on ent h Authors mention
Blogs 4% 12% 1:1 12% 36 2/8/10
Twitter - 28% - 4% 10 2/5/10
Bookmarks - - - 17% - -
Comments* - 25% 10:1 3% 6 2/7/10
News** 4% - 1:0 - - 2/8/10
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Networks - - 6:1 - - -
(Facebook)
*Sources of comments: Boardreader, Samepoint, Backtype, Cocomment **Sources of news:
Yahoo, Bing, Google News

YOUR COMPETITOR’S FOOTPRINT

Beef Competition
The leading breeds of cattle in terms of beef production are Angus, Hereford,
Charolais, and Simmental. Each breed has at least one promotional association in
the U.S., and each has a social media presence to some extent.

Twitter
Tweetvolume results:

Angus has a huge lead in mentions on Twitter, perhaps due to the popularity
of Angus burgers at fast food restaurants. In terms of content, roughly 10% seem to
comment on the qualities of the breeds, such as pros and cons:

About 40% mention events related to raising, showing, or selling cattle:

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The rest are general comments related to the cattle, such as “Here’s a
picture of or new Simmental calf” or “Dani won’t shut up about stupid Simmental
cattle.”

Facebook
The American Simmental Association has an official page (as does their junior
association), where they post videos and notices related to events they hold. The
American International Charolais Association, like the Angus Association, doesn’t
appear to use Facebook, but several of their junior associations do, as is the case
with The American Hereford Association.
As for general groups/pages created by individuals, the content consists
mostly of cattle growers posting pictures of their animals, or talking about events on
the farm (“We just had our first set of triplets!”). There are a total of 84 groups and
17 pages for Charolais 76/4 for Angus, 35/2 for Hereford, and 12/3 for Simmental.
Only a few of the groups take an opinionated stance on the breeds. Examples:

YouTube
A search for Angus returns 2,100 videos, Hereford returns 341, Charolais
returns 571, and Simmental returns 302. Content ranges from general videos of
cattle grazing or drinking water to cattle shows where individual animals are
judged. The American Hereford Association is the only competitor with a YouTube
channel, with 7 videos receiving 4,500 views compared to the Angus Association’s
169 videos receiving 176,000 views.

Other Competition
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Other competitors include other types of meat, including pork and chicken, as well
as issues such as swine flu and issue-based groups like PETA.
Twitter volume by keyword

• Pork association- 495 • Swine farmers- 137,000

• PETA- 670,000 • Chicken Farmers- 1,940
• Pork Farmers- 2,290 • Chicken farms- 2,200
• Swine Flu- 558,000 • Poultry producers- 839

Competitor’s YouTube Channels

Pork Checkoff National Pork Board
Channel Views: 8,395 Channel Views: 1,149
Total Upload Views: Total Upload Views:
43,138 1,348
Joined: May 02, 2008 Joined: April 27, 2009
Last Sign In: 3 weeks Last Sign In: 2 months
ago ago
Subscribers: 55 Subscribers: 3

Tyson Community
Channel Views: 1,348
Total Upload Views:
12,566
Joined: August 04, 2008
Last Sign In: 1 week ago
Subscribers: 21

Facebook Competition

Nebraska Pork Producers (fan page) California Poultry Federation (group)

• Type: Consumer Product • Type: Organizations
• Fans: 66 • Members:112

California Pork Producers Association NO on CA Prop. 2- Californians for

(fan page) SAFE Food
• Type: Non-profit • Type: Common Interest
• Fans: 358 • Members: 1,199
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THE SOCIAL MEDIA GOAL

Based on our discussion with Crystal Young of the American Angus
Association
Goals
• Improve communication with members, drive traffic to Angus.org and its
social media accounts.
Ideal Portrayal
• Members should know their interests are being served by the association.
They also want to dispel rumors about agriculture.
Message
• “We are the #1 beef association in the US. We provide great marketing and
support for our members. We help to keep members in business.”
• The message should aim to recruit new members and inform those who are
in agriculture as well as rural people who want to learn more about
agriculture.
• The message should focus on agriculture and emphasize the support Angus
has for farmers. Angus helps keep farmers in business and helps members
market their animals. The message should showcase agriculture in a positive
way to combat campaigns by PETA, etc.
• Promotion of online tools and engagement in conversation between
members. The message should work to improve communication
with/between members and drive traffic to angus.org
How will you be saying it and why?
The Association will encourage the producers/ranchers to connect with each
other via e-mail, direct mailing pieces, and updated posts on angus.org.
Conventional methods to spread the word about social media will most likely need
to be utilized to encourage members to go online. Once online, the social media
network will allow them to better interact through discussions, networking,
video/picture posting, etc. To drive traffic, the Association should promote the new
online community with discounted membership fees, coupons (ex. for supply
stores), and video/picture contests- drawing off of the current “I Am Angus”
promotion. Also, the new Twitter and Facebook accounts can be launched at the
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Association’s annual National Conference, where kiosks can be set up allowing

members to follow the Association, and create their own accounts if necessary.

IDENTIFY INFLUENCERS
Influencers are vital to developing a strong social media message. The five
characteristics that define an influencer are:
• Activists: influencers get involved, with their communities, political
movements, charities, etc.
• Connected: influencers have large social networks
• Impact: influencers are looked up to and are trusted by others
• Active minds: influencers have multiple and diverse interests
• Trendsetters: influencers tend to be early adopters (or leavers) in markets
Angus Influencers:
FACEBOOK
Influencer/Group Membe Pos Neg Neutr Key Influencers
rs . . al
Angus Cattle 357 8 3 33 Tyler Biglow & Ben Clutton
(officers)
Angus Cattle Are the Best 181 1 1 16 TJ Klopp (creator)
Angus Cattle Producers 82 - - 1 RJ Cline (creator)
I Raise Angus Cattle 85 1 - 7 Parker Douglas Morrison
(creator)
Upchurch Bros. Angus 135 - - 24 Upchurch Bros. (business)
Cattle
Wright Angus Cattle 61 - - 1 Wright Farm (business)
Farm

YOUTUBE
apicreativemedia - 144 - -
Honestagency - 1 - 1
Gregthoe - - - 2

BLOGS
GreenRanchingMom.blogsp - x - - Green Ranching Mom
ot.com
blogcatalog.com - 4 - 11 Mgravlee
- 2 - - 3boysandadog
eaheadlines.blogspot.co - - - 3 Everything Angus 24/7
m
Brianallmerradionetwork - 1 - 1 Brian Allmer
(Wordpress)
britishwhitecattle.us.com - 2 - - Jimmie
nic-o-le.blogspot.com - 1 - - Nicole.W
lizahennigan.blogspot.co - - - 1 prof2mom
m
hypenotic.com - - - 1 Jodi Lastman
aberdeen-angus.co.uk - - - 1 Chrissie
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FORUMS
Farmers for the Future - 9 2 10 Bobbi Johnson
Cattle Today - 140 100 2600 Dun
0 0

TWITTER
CertAngusBeef - x - - Other users/supporters (AAA)
Agritweets - 300 - - Cattle tweets
Sfoods - 2 - - Food sales
Cottonaggie - 2 - - Arizona Farm Bureau PR
Texas Wild Bill - - - -
Day Angus - 20 - - Angus Producer
Meatheadsgirlie - 20 - - Hamburger critic
Beef Magazine - 10 - - Magazine’s official page
Vetsweb - - 10 - Cattle, health concerns
ShaunaHermel - 10 - - Editor, Angus Journal

Utilizing Influencers
Social media consultant Tamar Weinberg of Techipedia.com interviewed the
founders of Facebook, Craigslist, Mashable and more about the best way to
approach utilize them as influencers. They suggested the following:
• Contact them
• Be direct and keep it short
• Be as useful to them as they are to you (for example, let them know
about select news before it becomes public knowledge)

CONTENT STRATEGY
Twitter/Facebook-Angus Events
Twitter and Facebook will be used to inform followers/friends of upcoming
Angus events in 140 characters or less. The Facebook account can be linked to the
Twitter account so they are updated simultaneously. The Twitter/Facebook will be
updated for events big and small, such as national/regional shows, cattle sales, and
upcoming conferences/events.
Tweet a few specific sales and provide link to calendar on angus.org in such
tweets. Tweeting about all shows (since there are fewer shows in comparison to
sales) a couple weeks in advance so people can plan to attend a show. In the show
tweets we would recommend providing a registration information/form link. Tweet
feature stories and general “how to’s” to followers.
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When Angus Association members win at a show or do something significant,

tweet about it to encourage people to get involved in the AAA social media
networks. It would give individuals and their farm/ranch welcomed publicity. For
Facebook, create a page for AAA and use it to mirror your Twitter posts.
YouTube
Add on to the existing I Am Angus video content and make it into a contest
for AAA members. Another contest to get people’s attention: Meat My Cow videos
(one for AAA and Junior AAA) winner gets free entry fees and lodging at a particular
show; national listing for their cows. Change channel name from “apicreativemedia”
to “AmericanAngus” to let people out there looking for the channel to know that it is
from AAA and strengthen the unity of the brand online. Consider adding “pop-up”
ads to the bottom of the videos to drive members back to the angus.org and other
social network sites.
Flickr
Members can submit photos to AAA group page. Create an online contest
based on the popularity of “show cattle” competitions, where people can submit
photos of their cattle and people can vote for their favorites. Finalists get a
biography posted on all social media sites including angus.org and in the Angus
Journal. Grand prize winner receives cash or a similar motivational prize.
Angus.org
Add promotional information and incorporate social network presence on web
site. Be sure to include links to: Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and Flickr accounts.
Post information/press releases on angus.org to remind members about online
contests.

ENGAGEMENT STRATEGY
Two week sample of Twitter/Facebook posts:
5/3 Sale today at Spickler Ranch in Glenfield, ND. Get more information at
http://tinyurl.com/ykrzed
5/4 Be sure to check out the sale at Philip Bull Days in Philip, SD today! More info available
at http://tinyurl.com/ykrzedq
5/5 Have you seen our YouTube channel? http://www.youtube.com/user/apicreativemedia
5/6 Bull Sale today at Vollmer Angus Ranch in Wing, ND. Get more information at
http://tinyurl.com/ykrzedq
5/7 Weekly market wrap up at www.cattle.com/markets
5/1 Wendel Livestock sale today in Lamoure, ND! More info at http://tinyurl.com/ykrzedq
0
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5/1 Get free Angus Screen Savers and Clip Art at http://tinyurl.com/yzbww9g
1
5/1 Find out the advantages of Angus at http://tinyurl.com/yfrj6jw
2
5/1 Complete your wardrobe with the Angus silk tie! http://tinyurl.com/yet79fc
3
5/1 Weekly market wrap up at www.cattle.com/markets
4

MEASUREMENT STRATEGY
Message effectiveness can be measured on Facebook through Fan Page
Statistics. This information, which is provided by Facebook, will allow Angus to see
how many new fans were added each week and also number of wall posts,
comments, likes, and page views. Twitter will be measured by number of followers
and re-tweets. The Angus social media network can be measured by the amount of
member message board posts per week.
After implementation of this social media plan Angus can expect to see an
initial surge of 200 Facebook fans and Twitter Followers within one month. With
proper marketing Angus should expect 5 new Twitter followers and Facebook fans
per week. The Angus social media network should expect, with proper marketing, to
see 200 posts per day within 6 months.