Cheyenne Padgett

SOCIAL MEDIA POLICY

M AINTAINING THE T ONE OF THE B RAND

Target has a very specific tone that we try to maintain throughout all social
media platforms. Using eye-catching images, bright colors, and catchy taglines,
the Target brand emits a playful, innovative, and friendly tone to its customers.
We do this primarily via the art we create out of Target products that can be
seen across all social media platforms.

T HE T ARGET B RAND

The Target brand is committed to serving its customers by providing innovative products, exceptional guest experiences,
and a community of people willing to serve its customers. Over the years, Target has built its brand to be the main
competitor in its industry. Part of the reason Target has risen to the top is because of its social media presence on the
web. The Target brand is devoted to reaching out to its customers via the internet in order to reach the maximum
amount of its customers.

T HE T ARGET A UDIENCE

Target markets its products to every one of every age, but its main customers seem to come from the middle class.
While Target markets to everyone, we also sell product of higher quality than other competitors, making the prices
higher than other stores. It is because of this that the middle class and above is our main customers. It goes without
saying however that Target accepts every one of every background and class.

E XPECTED C ONTENT

Targets presence on all social media platforms needs to be appropriate for young users and market recent or trending
products. The content posted on social media needs to follow the Target Corporation Style Guide which outlines the
right and wrong way to approach certain words and phrases. Each post needs to link to a Target product page and
include an eye-catching image and a tagline that encourages further discussion among the customers.

S OCIAL M EDIA P LATFORMS

Target has a presence all over social media, promoting discussion with customers, leading people to the Target website,
and catching the eye of customers with colorful, eccentric photos. Targets tone must remain the same across the board,
along with the type of content that is posted. Targets main presence on social media is on Facebook, Twitter, and
Instagram.

F ACEBOOK

As a social media platform, Facebook does well marketing large amounts of content, as opposed to other types of social
media. Targets presence on Facebook should be in the form of the following:
Links to Target product pages
Videos
Pictures including but not limited to those on Instagram
Interactive topics

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Giveaways and promos
In order to reach the maximum amount of Facebook users, all posts must encourage discussion and mass commenting.
As stated in the list, links that take the user directly to the Target website is required with every post. Each post should
capture the essence of the brand by the use of visual images, tone of content, and video. 1-3 posts to Facebook will take
place each day, including the automatic post from Instagram. These posts should be sent out around 9:00am, 12:00pm,
or 8:00pm EST.

T WITTER

As a social media platform, Twitter does well with content that is short in length due to the 140 character limit to each
post. Targets presence on Twitter should be in the form of the following:
Links to Target product pages
Pictures including but not limited to those on Instagram
Retweeted Endorsements
Trending hashtags
Promos
Each tweet posted to the Target Twitter page must have a tagline that promotes discussion and a link to a product page
on the Target site. As stated in the list, links that take the user directly to the Target website is required with every post.
Each post that is retweeted must be proofed for inappropriate content prior to posting. Retweeted content needs to
promote the brand and encourage discussion. Each post should capture the essence of the brand by the use of visual
images and tone of content. 1-3 posts to Twitter will take place each day, including the automatic post from Instagram.
These posts should be sent out around 9:00am, 12:00pm, or 8:00pm EST.

I NSTAGRAM

As a social media platform, Instagram does well with content that is primarily visual. Targets presence on Instagram
should be in the form of the following:
Photo contests
Links to Target product pages
Products
Gifs
Videos
Trending hashtags
Each photo posted to the Target Instagram must be approved by the art director. All photos posted to Instagram will
automatically be posted to the Facebook and Twitter page. Each post should promote discussion with viewers and lead
them to product pages. Each post should capture the essence of the brand by the use of visual images, tone of content,
and video. One upload to Instagram will be posted daily, subsequently also being posted to Targets Twitter and
Facebook pages.

R ESPONDING TO C OMMENTS

Because Target posts content to social media that promotes discussion among its customers, those customers will post
comments to posts no matter what the content is. As expected, comments will be posted of both positive and negative

Cheyenne Padgett
connotation. It is because of this that standards need to be in place regarding how to respond to these comments
professionally and personally.

N EGATIVE

COMMENTS

As a professional company that prides itself on being professional and personable, it is important to respond to negative
comments with respect and authentic helpfulness. Typically, people who post negative comments on social media have
had a bad experience in one of the Target stores, talking with customer service, or they simply just disagree with Targets
stance on different issues. Because of these reasons, several steps need to be taken, depending on the circumstance of
the comment:
Redirect the public conversion to a direct or private message
Refer complaints to the appropriate branch of the company
Include personal phrases like Thank you for your feedback
Fix the problem
Make the customers feel like they have been heard
It is very important to the Target brand that we fix the problem and keep it from happening again. This can be seen in a
variety of different ways, most of which are listed above. A simple nudge of kindness can go a long way, but the most
important thing is to remain genuine and real with the customers, always replying to these negative comments to keep
their complaints from repeating.

P OSITIVE C OMMENTS

Target loves hearing positive comments about its products and customer service on social media. These kinds of
comments are helpful for other customers to see, promoting the Target brand. It is important that we, promoting
ourselves as a personable brand, respond to positive comments. As a small gesture, Target responds to comments such
as these in the following ways:
Show appreciation
Reach out to the customers
Make the customers feel like they have been heard
No matter how positive the comment, Target must try to address every positive comment to ensure that Targets social
media presence stays in line from what we are promoting as a brand.

S OCIAL M EDIA P OSTING R ESPONSIBILITY

All posting to social media will be made by the social coordinator. The social coordinator may relinquish some of the
responsibility of various social media platforms to others that work under him/her, but the choice is that of the social
coordinator. The social coordinator and whoever he/she may relinquish some posting rights to must understand the
brand, know the audience, and be able to post in the tone of Target.

H ANDLING P ROBLEMS

If for some reason social media is handled incorrectly or reflects the Target brand in an off-putting way, steps must be
taken to ensure it does not happen again.

R EASONS

FOR

C ONSEQUENCES

Cheyenne Padgett
If the social coordinator, those who have been appointed, or someone else posts something negative to social media
under Targets name, consequences must be put in place. Reasons for these consequences are as follows:
Writing opinions about Target on a personal social media accountyour personal information is a reflection of
the Target brand
Posting obscene images or offensive comments to Target social media
Posting something that was not approved by the social coordinator or any of the marketing team
Unapproved personnel posting on Target social media
Uploading a video or image that could damage Targets reputation
Making derogatory comments about Target
Other reasons apart from this list may be considered a reason for consequence. It is the Director of Marketings job to
decide whether or not these instances require disciplinary action.

D ETERMINATION

OF

C ONSEQUENCES

Determination of disciplinary action will be made by the Director of Marketing or, if selected, any of the secondary
managers. In the event of a breach of content, the disciplinary action will be notified to the accused in a face-to-face
meeting with the accuser. This meeting will take place upon immediate request. If the accused refuses to attend the
meeting, termination of his/her job will be effective immediately.

C ONSEQUENCES

Consequences will vary based upon the disciplinary action. After the meeting is held, 1 point will be added to the
accuseds record. If the accused gets 3 points during their Target employment, termination of employment will take
place immediately. We at Target understand that some breaches of content may be accidental or unintended, and we
will plan accordingly.