Mother Plug Music Social Media Campaign
2013-2014
2
Table of Contents:
Executive Summary……………………………………………………………………................................3
Situational Analysis……………………………………………………………………................................4
Overview………………………………………………………………………………………………………..4
Target Market…………………………………………………………………………………………………...5
Target Market Data………………………………………………………………………………………………5
Competition………………………………………………………………………………………………….7
SWOT Analysis……………………………………………………………………………………………...8
Strengths………………………………………………………………………………………………………..8
Weaknesses……………………………………………………………………………………………………..9
Opportunities………………………………………………………………………………................................9
Threats………………………………………………………………………………........................................9
Goals and Objectives…………………………………………………………………..................................9
Strategies…………………………………………………………………...................................................10
Spotify…………………………………………………………………...........................................................10
Spotify Strategies…………………………………………………………………...............................10
Tactics Summary…………………………………………………………………...............................11
YouTube…………………………………………………………………........................................................11
YouTube Strategies………………………………………………………………................................12
Tactics Summary………………………………………………………………...................................13
Mobile Site……………………………………………………………….....................................................14
Evaluation………………………………………………………………......................................................16
Conclusion……………………………………………………………….....................................................17
References………………………………………………………………......................................................19
Appendix………………………………………………………………........................................................20
Target Market Data………………………………………………………..........................................................20
Survey Data………………………………………………………………........................................................22
Mobile Site……………………………………………………………….........................................................27
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Executive Summary
Mother Plug Music (MPM) is a brand that was created in 2012 whose sole
purpose is to promote local and national artists of all genres. Though they are a fairly new
brand, they have faced many issues over the past year or so. One major problem that
Mother Plug Music is currently dealing with is that there is only a small amount of traffic
being driven to the MPM website. Although Athens, GA is considered a popular music
town, MPM has not created enough awareness about the benefits Mother Plug Music’s
site has to offer to consumers.
The social media campaign we have developed present Mother Plug Music with
strategies and tactics that are designed to achieve the organization’s main goal—to
increase brand awareness. We have compiled and analyzed both primary and secondary
research to define the most effective ways to do this. By engaging the target market
through social media platforms like Spotify and YouTube, the social media campaign we
created will use popular outlets that will hopefully increase the Mother Plug Music
website’s click through rates.
In addition, a mobile site that mirrors the Mother Plug Music website will be
developed. This will allow the brand to acquire more geographic mobility. The target
market will now be able to interact with the brand and the bands that it promotes no
matter where they are- making it more convenient to access the site and in turn driving
more traffic to www.motherplugmusic.com
4
Situation Analysis
Overview
What is Mother Plug Music exactly? Essentially, Mother Plug Music (MPM) is a
brand that consists of a website that promotes “music worth hearing” on various digital
platforms. More specifically, everyday Mother Plug Music embeds a new song on the
company website/blog (using SoundCloud) along with album art and a short description
of the musician. The chosen artists Mother Plug Music promotes cross all genres and
musical tastes in attempts to position the brand as music lovers’ favorite source of new
artists and songs.
Though, Mother Plug Music already has somewhat established a prescience on
social media, MPM is always looking for new ways to utilize online networking to
accomplish their overall objectives and goals. Mother Plug Music has a Facebook page
(www.facebook.com/motherplugmusic), a Facebook profile
(https://www.facebook.com/alex.holzworth.9?fref=ts&ref=br_tf), a SoundCloud profile
(https://soundcloud.com/mother-plug-music) and a Twitter profile
(https://twitter.com/MotherPlugMusic) that are all updated daily. Facebook and Twitter
feature Today’s #MusicWorthHearing, a small blurb about the artist featured on the main
website as well as a link to Mother Plug Music website’s daily post about the artist. The
band is liked, followed and retweeted on Facebook, SoundCloud and Twitter by MPM as
well as tagged in the Facebook post. Then the post from the MPM Facebook page is also
posted on the band’s website. These posts inform the reader if the band is playing at any
Athens venues in the near future as well as briefly describe the artist’s sound. Mother
Plug Music also tags the artist in a tweet that includes a link to the post featuring the artist
5
on the Mother Plug Music website. Finally, Mother Plug Music retweets at least nine
people who have already tweeted about the featured artist on order to provide third party
organic word of mouth Twitter endorsements for the featured artist. This helps ensure that
our audiences view Mother Plug Music as a credible resource to find great music.
Target Market
The audience mentioned above includes the target market for our social media
campaign, 18-35 year olds residing in Athens, Georgia. This demographic tends to be
trendy and “in the loop” with what is going on locally. These people keep up with the
local, national, and even international music scene. They hold strong opinions on whether
music is good or bad, and use music in their daily lives. They are frequent concertgoers;
they talk, live, and breathe music. Above all they are open to any new music worth
hearing.
When it comes to digital devices that cater to these music fanatics, they tend to
look for media that gives information about the band, music samples, pictures and tour
dates. Mother Plug’s competition in this market includes blogs like Last.fm, Pitchfork
and Flagpole. These young adults want information that is quickly and easily accessible,
because they live past-paced lives and are constantly on the move. They also like social
capabilities such as sharing on Facebook or tweeting at their friends.
Target Market Data
Data from May 2013 shows that 89 percent of online adults 18-29 use social
networking (Brenner, 2013). The combination of higher education and lower income
results in slightly more social network use. The top three social networking sites for arts
6
organizations are Facebook (99 percent), Twitter (74 percent), and YouTube (67 percent)
(Thomson, Purcell, Rainie, 2013).
In December 2012, 71 percent of online adults used video sharing sites like
YouTube and Vimeo (Pew Internet, 2013). In addition, it was discovered in a fall 2012
nationwide survey of adults who attend rock performances once a month that 18-24 year
olds were 16.6 percent of attendees and 25-34 year olds were 38.6 percent. 41.8 percent
of attendees were from the southern United States, where Athens, Georgia is located.
Those who attended rock performances once a month had heavy Internet usage
(Mediamark, 2012)
The median age of downtown Athens residents is 26.5, placing it right in the
center of our target age range. Roughly 36 percent of the population is between the ages
of 21 and 34. Fifty five percent of households downtown have a yearly income below
$25,000 with the majority housing just one to two people and no children (The Nielsen
Company, 2013).
Most Athens residents can’t afford high-cost forms of entertainment, but without
children they have both the disposable income and free time to enjoy shows at local
music venues. Because of its proximity to the University of Georgia campus, many
Athens residents have graduated or are currently enrolled in college.
We conducted our own survey of 18-35 year olds living in Athens. Forty-nine
percent of those surveyed had been to one or two music venues in the last month. Twenty
eight percent visited three to four venues, and seven percent had gone to more than five.
Only 16 percent of those surveyed had not been to a single music venue in the last month
(see Figure 9 in the Appendix).
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Our target demographic is highly active in the live music scene. Sixty percent of
participants chose the Georgia Theatre as their favorite music venue in Athens. Twenty
percent chose the 40 Watt, while Hendershot’s and Caledonia Lounge had two percent
and five percent respectively. For this reason we chose to feature the Georgia Theatre and
the 40 Watt on our mobile website’s show calendar. Though we feel our extensive
research regarding the music industry, social networking sites and most importantly our
target market will guarantee our social media campaign is a success, it is still important to
analyze the environment Mother Plug Music is working in.
Competition
A big part of the setting surrounding the expansion of Mother Plug Music is the
brand’s competition. These competitors include Flagpole, Pitchfork, Last.fm, Bandcamp
as well as any other companies dedicated to spreading the word about local and national
up and coming talent of all genres. Pitchfork features news, reviews and more on their
main website that links to their Twitter, Tumblr, Facebook, YouTube, Instagram and
Spotify channels. This makes them an especially formidable opponent because they are
utilizing some of the same social media networks as MPM. In addition, Last.fm and
Bandcamp are both sites where artists can directly upload their music as well as create
profiles for their band or artist name. Though many of potential MPM users are drawn to
sites like these when attempting to find new music, MPM offers a slightly different
service. Instead of learning about the artist directly from the source, MPM provides third
party feedback on the music making Mother Plug Music fairly competitive.
Finally, MPM music consider Flagpole magazine, a well-established publication
and website that informs users of up and coming artists and events their most threatening
8
opposition. While it is possible for MPM to overcome the competition if the brand is able
to find its own audience along with the right social media to capture their attention,
completing this process will not be an easy feat. Flagpole is an online and offline
magazine that has 20 years more experience than Mother Plug Music. Not only does it
have a much larger following than Mother Plug Music, it also has a broader reach when it
comes to social media presence. Some things Mother Plug Music and Flagpole have in
common (field levelers) are that both the services are free and accessible. Also, though
Flagpole’s variety of coverage when it comes to art and culture may be viewed a positive
characteristic by many, there are drawbacks to creating a broad scope of content such as
music, art, theater, movies, books, food, drink politics, government, people, comments,
advice and the town even schedule. This is one of Mother Plug Music’s key advantages
over Flagpole. Mother Plug Music is solely focused on the music and therefore can serve
perhaps a more personalized, dedicated and passionate audience. Another advantage
Mother Plug Music has is that it does not solely focus on Athens, GA bands. While it
does hone in on smaller, more localized bands, Mother Plug Music plans to dip its toe in
other diverse, collegiate music scenes such as Birmingham, AL; Oxford, MI; and
Nashville, TN. Mother Plug Music prides itself on its niche segment in the market and
plans to dive further into this segment while also broadening its target audience with
different styles of music that listeners find is worth hearing.
SWOT Analysis
Strengths

Dedicated and creative staff.
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
Delivers fresh, quality content (music worth hearing) that appeals to the target
markets.

Compelling and cohesive owned media.
Weaknesses

Small staff with large workload.

Low brand awareness.

Poor search engine optimization
Opportunities

Target market appreciates concise, aesthetically clean websites.

Because Mother Plug Music crosses many genres, its appeal is constantly
expanding.

Social media sites like Spotify and YouTube make sounds easily shareable.

Most of our surveyed target market had been to at least one music performance in
the last month.
Threats

Mother Plug has some well-established indirect competitors such as Flagpole and
Pitchfork.

36 percent of survey participants find out about local shows through friends,
while only 17 percent find out through social media (Facebook).
Goals and Objectives
With that said, the goals of our campaign are to 1. Bring higher awareness to the
Mother Plug Music brand and to 2. Drive traffic to www.motherplugmusic.com. We plan
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to do this through the creation and strategic management of a Mother Plug Music’s own
YouTube and Spotify channel.
Our objectives are:

To increase awareness among 18-35 year olds in Athens.

To increase followers to 400-500 across chosen social media outlets (Facebook,
Twitter, Spotify, and YouTube).

To streamline all social media sites.

To average 50 visits per day to motherplugmusic.com.
Strategies
Spotify
Spotify is a commercial music streaming service that allows users to create their
own channels, as well as compile songs that fit into certain genres. Therefore, there are
individual stations that conform to specific musical topics as well as playlists created by
users and are believed by the creator to be worthy of others' attention.
Spotify Strategy
By building a Mother Plug Music Spotify station, MPM will be given the
opportunity to provide its consumers with a platform to listen to a set playlist. This gives
the company more power over what those who listen to the station hear. MPM chooses
the music that will be a part of the station and consequently the brand will include those
bands that the website discusses and promotes. This is how the Spotify channel connects
to MPM and will to drive more traffic to the MPM website. Over time, as the station
grows and acquires an increased amount listeners, more refined playlists that belong to
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the station will develop. It will help the fulfillment of the brand, as well as round out the
different audiences and attract a larger consumer base.
The promotion of the Spotify social media platform will be a part of the other
platforms that Mother plug uses. It will be highlighted on the Facebook page, as well as
directly associated with the YouTube station. It will also be embedded onto the MPM
website. This means that if someone goes on one of the social media platforms, they will
be directed to the others. In the end, the directing of audiences will lead more attention to
the website.
Tactics Summary

MPM will create a playlist for each band we post about (including our personal
favorite songs the band recorded) and share them on Facebook and Twitter
including a link to our post featuring the artist on the MPM site

MPM will post themed playlists (for holidays or special musical events) and link
them to themed posts on the MPM site

MPM will follow people in their target audience on Spotify to obtain better
insight into their musical tastes. We will use their indirect suggests and tag them
in our posts that link to our MPM website the next time we feature an artist they
turned us on to

When users are tagged, the MPM post will show up on their Facebook and Twitter
profiles.
YouTube
YouTube is currently the most used social media channel when it comes to video
streaming and video blogs. This year, they attempted to capitalize on that by hosting the
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first ever YouTube Music Awards. Though the awards were not as successful as YouTube
had hoped, the fact that YouTube even had a Music Awards show is a testament to how
vital YouTube is and has been for musicians in their rise to the top. Mother Plug Music
understands the huge role social and social media plays when it comes to music. For this
reason, our campaign involves creating a YouTube Channel for Mother Plug Music.
YouTube Strategy
Mother Plug Music wants to use their new YouTube channel to post videos of the
talent they promote playing live. This way, it will be possible for users to see if the
featured artists that are posted about daily on the site actually sound decent live.
MPM will not only start a channel on YouTube, but will also add a new section to their
site called acoustic performances. This way users will have to stay on the site longer and
navigate to different pages to see if they enjoy the acoustic players. Our campaign also
involves putting those links to the each band’s performance in it’s own respective post
(specific to the band). These links will be sections of a Mother Plug Music YouTube
Channel we will create. We will then post the link to the site with the YouTube videos all
over our Facebook page, profile and Twitter feed as well as anywhere else. We will tag
the respective bands in each one of these posts. We will also post these links on the band
pages (on Facebook, Twitter and anywhere else we find them). Finally, we will post links
to our YouTube Channel in our Twitter, Facebook and SoundCloud profiles.
These strategies will help drive traffic to our site and build awareness for many
reasons. The first: from the beginning users will be spending more time on the site
because under our daily blog posts (that we post links to on our/the featured bands’
Facebook and Twitter pages daily) there will be a link that takes them to the acoustic
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performances section in our site and says “see what they sound like live here.” The page
they are sent to will have links to our YouTube channel all over it as well as our YouTube
channel’s videos embedded in the section’s post. The second reason these strategies and
tactics accomplish our goals is because we will be posting these YouTube videos and
links to our acoustic section on our brand website on the band’s sites. This means that
anyone that follows the band (on Twitter, on Facebook, and now on YouTube) will see
our links and become aware of our brand as well as potentially be driven to our site.
Finally, links to our YouTube channel will be placed all over every social media that are
already active. Because our YouTube channel will be covered in links to our site (links
specific to the band driving traffic to both the acoustic section as well as daily blog posts
about those bands), the followers we already have will now have new, sharable acoustic
performances all consolidated on our site to show their friends!
Tactics Summary

MPM will create a new section of the site featuring acoustic
performances/concerts

Links to the each band’s performance in it’s own respective post (specific to the
band) will be featured in sections the MPM YouTube Channel

MPM will post the link to the site as well as YouTube videos all over our
Facebook page, profile and Twitter feed. MPM will tag the respective bands in
each one of these posts. MPM will also post these links on the band’s social media
pages

MPM will post links to our site on our YouTube Channel and links to our
YouTube channel on our Twitter, Facebook and SoundCloud profiles
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Mobile Site
These social media plans as well as the MPM mobile web site design are both
geared specifically towards the 18-24 year old target demographic to further promote
both of the objectives and goals of the campaign. Since 40 percent of people respond
better to visual information than plain text, and 46.1 percent of people say a website's
design is the number one criterion for discerning the credibility of the company.
Consequently, visual milieu of the page was one of the most important factors taken into
account (Sibley, 2012). The site is featured in Figures 14 through 21 in the Appendix and
is modern, with bold graphics in the header as well as plenty of band images/content,
such as in the “swipe image” widget on the home and artist page. The mood of the site is
modern rustic with warm wood tones and features type that seems handwritten. It is kept
simple for easy navigation with no extraneous buttons. There is only one menu and it
appears on the top of each page. You can go back to the home page simply by clicking the
MPM logo on top. The visual appeal of the site will increase brand awareness by setting
it apart from “run of the mill” or cluttered websites. This will make the mobile site
memorable and consequently inspire viewers to share the content with friends on social
media platforms.
Visual appeal aside, the content and purpose of the site are what elevate brand
awareness and also increase traffic to the Mother Plug Music website. The integration of
an Event Calendar is the most significant aspect to the page. On it local shows that are
happening in Athens, GA and their located are described. If one clicks on the artist in the
calendar, they are directed to the live performance in the “live performance” section of
the site. This is appealing because as a young, music savvy consumer, users not only want
15
the time and place of an event, but a taste of what the music is all about. There is an
“Artist” page, which has longer descriptions of local Athens bands. This is a unique
aspect to this mobile site in that the online MPM website has very concise descriptions,
focusing more on the music embedded from SoundCloud. The target demographic will
find the fact that they are able to learn more about the local artists appealing. Audiences
will also love the feature that allows them to be redirected to the blog post on the MPM
blog site when they click on the artist’s picture. Here they then can listen to their songs
via SoundCloud.
The Live Performance, and Venues section of the mobile site is also a great
edition to the MPM brand. The Live Performances button allows viewers to watch local
Athens bands as well as bands they say on the MPM event calendar perform, The Venues
section of the mobile site describes the top three Athens venues in order to better inform
viewers where they would go to see the bands they are watching and listening to.
This integration of the mobile site and the online website will generate website
traffic as well as cross platform brand interaction; viewers will not only be interacting
with MPM online, but on mobile, YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, and the Spotify channels.
The use of video in the site specifically is effective because posts with videos attract three
times more inbound links than plain text posts (Sibley, 2012)
One other aspect of the mobile site that is sure to increase brand awareness and
drive traffic to the site is the social capability. On each page is the opportunity to
“recommend” the page to friends on Facebook. There are also buttons that link to Mother
Plug Music’s Twitter or Facebook on every page on the site, as well as a button that links
to the Blog site. This increases Search Engine Optimization, which will put Mother Plug
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Music higher up on organic search. Since word of mouth recommendations are held in
the highest regard concerning a consumer’s trust in a brand, these social aspects are
crucial to organic growth and website traffic. The simplicity, modernity, and useful
content that MPM Mobile provides is sure to boost brand awareness and website traffic
by giving users something to talk about in addition to interesting sharable content.
Evaluation
We will use several different social media metrics to determine how effective our
campaign was in achieving our objectives. Recommendation is the highest form of social
media engagement and word of mouth recommendations will be very useful for
increasing brand awareness. Word of mouth and “buzz” can be difficult to measure, but
anytime someone shares content created by Mother Plug Music they are essentially
recommending the brand to their friends. We will use Google Analytics to record how
many times our videos are shared and embedded in other social media sites. If fans listen
to one of Mother Plug’s playlists on Spotify it will show up in their Facebook newsfeed
(if this feature is enabled), essentially recommending the playlist to their friends. This has
the potential to be very effective but will be difficult to measure, since many Spotify
users choose not to share listening habits. Retweets and shares on Facebook are also
forms of recommendation and can be tracked and measured by their respective sites.
We will also measure brand liking, as it relates to our objective to increase Mother
Plug’s social media following. Brand liking is extremely easy to measure. We will simply
track fans, friends, followers, retweets, hashtags, and likes on Twitter and Facebook.
Brand liking on YouTube will be measured based on likes and subscribers, while data
from Spotify will be measured by subscribers.
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Measuring engagement will be critical to averaging 50 visits per day on
www.motherplugmusic.com. Users will only click through to the main website if they are
engaged in Mother Plug Music’s content on social media. A great way to measure
engagement is to track the number of comments on YouTube videos and Facebook posts.
Comments represent two-way communication, meaning the consumer is interacting
directly with the brand. If a user is engaged enough to comment on social media, they are
very likely to visit the main website for more content. By monitoring comments we can
perform attitudinal research and sentiment analysis by filtering comments with positive
or negative words. With Google Analytics, we can also measure how long viewers are
watching our videos. If someone watches an entire video on YouTube it is likely that they
are highly engaged. Unfortunately, engagement is difficult to measure on Spotify
because many listeners are simultaneously involved in other activities.
Conclusion
After careful execution of the Spotify Channel
(https://play.spotify.com/user/12121445298) the YouTube channel
(http://www.youtube.com/channel/UCSU77AGmqXmKQWpvHn1-oUw) and the mobile
website, we expect to see an increase in website traffic, as well as growth in brand
awareness in the 18-24 age sector. This would occur because of the relevant, and
intriguing content that these social media channels provide for the demographic including
music playlists, video live performances, local artist descriptions and an event calendar.
Through consumers excitement over Mother Plug Music’s content, word of mouth
recommendations, Facebook and Twitter shares/retweets, as well as YouTube and Spotify
18
followings, users will interact with Mother Plug Music and help the brand grow
organically.
Mother Plug Music has dreams of someday transitioning into its own record label
company. Increasing awareness and website traffic will be the first of many steps MPM
will have to take to accomplish their vision. It is our hope that the YouTube, Spotify
channel, and mobile site will generate a large following, and foster brand love within our
audience, making them our best allies in sharing the Mother Plug Music site, and mantra,
“No Genres, Just Music Worth Listening to” with the world.
References:
19
Brenner, J. (2013). Social networking (full detail). Pew Internet , Retrieved from
http://www.pewinternet.org/Commentary/2012/March/Pew-Internet-SocialNetworking-full-detail.aspx
Mediamark Internet Reporter. Mediamark Research, Inc. (Fall 2012). Product:
Leisure/Sports Leisure Activities-How Often Engaged In/Attend Rock Music
Performances. Retrieved October 3, 2013 from MRI Plus database:
http://www.mriplus.com
Pew Internet. (2013). Trend Data (Adults). Pew Research Center, Retrieved from
http://www.pewinternet.org/Static-Pages/Trend-Data-(Adults)/OnlineActivites-Total.aspx
Sibley, A. (2012, August 06). Retrieved from
http://blog.hubspot.com/blog/tabid/6307/bid/33423/19-Reasons-You-ShouldInclude-Visual-Content-in-Your-Marketing-Data.aspx
The Nielsen Company. (2013). The Most Common Segment for Zip Code 30601 Athens,
GA. My Best Segments, Retrieved from
http://www.claritas.com/MyBestSegments/Default.jsp?ID=20&m
enuOption=ziplookup&pageName=ZIP+Code+Lookup
Thomson, K. Purcell, K. Rainie, L. (2013). Organizations and Digital Technologies,
Retrieved from http://www.pewinternet.org/Reports/2013/Arts-andtechnology/Main-Report/Section-4.aspx
Appendix
20
Target Market Data
Figure 1. Media Followed on SNSs By Age
Figure 2. Frequency of Visits to Social Networks By Age
21
Figure 3. How Often Engaged in/Attend Rock Music Performances Once a Month,
Adults
22
Survey Data
Survey Link: https://ugeorgia.qualtrics.com/SE/?SID=SV_25yWZzw9H6D6k8B
Figure 4. Survey Results
23
24
Figure 5. Survey Respondents Age Graph
1. Age
Figure 6. Survey Respondents Age Table
#
3
1
4
2
Answer
25-35
Under 18
36 or older
18-24
Total
Figure 7. Survey Respondents Gender Graph
2. Gender
Response %
0
0%
0
0%
0
0%
43
100%
43
100%
25
Figure 8. Survey Respondents Gender Table
Table Options
# Answer
1 Male
2 Female
3 Other
Total
Response %
5
12%
35
81%
3
7%
43
100%
Figure 9. Survey Respondents Music Venue Visits Graph
3. How many music venues have you been to in the last month?
Figure 10. Survey Respondents Concert Knowledge Source Graph
4. How do you find out about shows at these venues?
26
Figure 11. Survey Respondents Concert Knowledge Source Table
#
1
2
3
4
Answer
Venue website
Facebook
Flagpole
Friends
Other- Write answer in box
5
below
Total
Figure 12. Survey Respondents Media Use Graph
6. Which media do you use most often to find out about local shows?
Figure 13. Survey Respondents SoundCloud Use Tables
7. Do you have a SoundCloud account?
# Answer
1 Yes
2 No
Total
Response %
8
19%
35
81%
43
100%
8. Do you have the SoundCloud app on your smartphone?
# Answer
1 Yes
2 No
Total
Response %
6
14%
37
86%
43
100%
Response
5
7
10
15
%
12%
17%
24%
36%
5
12%
42
100%
27
Mobile Site
Figure 14. Home Page
28
Figure 15. Event Calendar Page
29
Figure 16. Artists Page
30
Figure 17. Live Performances Page
31
Figure 18. Venues Page
32
Figure 19. 40 Watt Page
33
Figure 20. New Earth Page
34
Figure 21. Georgia Theater Page