CASE STUDY

Decision Making Made Easy

CLIENT: Strauss Feeds

The Challenge

Strauss Feeds is a family-owned business specializing in milk replacer for infant animals. The company is paving the way in animal nutrition, welfare and production management. In 2020, the company launched a new website and added social media platforms. The new channels provide an opportunity to engage with customers and those interested in animal agriculture. The company wanted to ensure its staff had a proactive strategy for managing content and engagement, especially comments that may be unwanted or inappropriate.

Our Approach

Strauss Feeds needed an effective, easy-to-use strategy to manage its online brand and story.

Look East developed a two-pronged method to empower the Strauss Feeds management team. The first element is a Guidance/Decision Tree. Developed with input from employees and our expertise in digital communications, this tool provides specific guidance on when and how to respond to detractors. The Guidance/Decision Tree includes potential scenarios to identify comments that could impact the company’s brand voice and communication goals. It also outlines the staff members assigned to assess and respond to comments.

The other portion of the strategy is a Message Blueprint that supplies staff with go-to copy they can use at any time. These messages enable Strauss Feeds to enhance its online presence, in addition to managing social media.

The two tools work hand-in-hand. Employees use the Guidance/Decision Tree to determine if a social media comment warrants a response and, if so, they consult the Message Blueprint to craft it.

The Results

Look East provided Strauss Feeds employees with orientation for using the new strategy and empowered them to put the new tool to work.

The resource has been a time saver and boosted the company’s online credibility in addressing questions. When it comes to online comments, staff monitoring comments recognize topics and how to address them using the Guidance/Decision Tree. They select an appropriate response and post it on the page with a link to related resources if needed.

“Boom, done! This is so much better than 15 internal emails back and forth on how to respond!” one employee shared regarding her experience using the tools.

Even more encouraging, the content engagement by Strauss Feeds has inspired other individuals to engage with content and practices supported by Strauss Feeds.