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Case Study: Members Project Leveraging Facebook to Drive Engagement

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American Express Social Media Strategy

PURPOSE:

To create customer experiences in the social media space that strengthen the perception of

American Express as a relationship-focused brand

VISION:

American Express is a digital innovator that leverages viral engagement & discussion about products,

customer service and experiences to drive meaningful business results

OBJECTIVES:

To drive relevancy, positive buzz, engagement and differentiation by personalizing the brand to the community

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American Express was considered the 1st company to introduce “cause-related” marketing campaigns

• Restoration of the Statue of Liberty for the Centennial: 1983

• Charge Against Hunger program: 1993

• Founding sponsor of Tribeca Film Festival: 2003

• Members Project: 2007

Leading the Way for Cause Marketing

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Communication Challenge

How can we create a differentiated cause campaign that builds our brand

and brings our values & ethos of community service to life?

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Small Steps Can Make a Big Difference

Marketing Platform

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Case Study: Members Project

Mission Statement: Educate consumers that small steps can make a big

difference in their communities

Program Strategy:

Provide enablement tools and inspirational messaging to encourage consumers to give back to

their communities

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Facebook.com/MembersProject

• Re-launched Members Project in February 2010

• Created a Members Project Facebook page to increase our reach & discoverability

• 4 Key Actions: 1) Volunteer

2) Vote3) Donate4) Share

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The Role of Facebook

We leveraged Facebook as the primary social media tool to fulfill our mission & execute our strategy.

1. Increase reach and discoverability of our program. We met our audience where they already were

2. Engage our Cardmembers and Prospects in a new, meaningful, authentic way

3. Enable scaled sharing of program content to and engagement with fans' communities

4. Provide an outlet for encouraging two-way communication with fans and creating dialogue

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Volunteer

• Reward people for giving back to their communities

• Volunteer & earn Membership Reward points

• Over 28K hours logged in 2010

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Vote

• Help people support their favorite charities with funding from American Express

• 5 charities with the highest votes per cycle each won $200K from American Express

• Past winners include:• Donors Choose• Best Friends Animal

Society• American Heart

Association• Operation Smile

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Donate

• Help Cardmembers easily donate to their favorite charities

During the Haiti crisis, our Cardmembers gave over

$100MM dollars and 87MM Membership Rewards

points

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Wall Postings

Varied formats, topical content and frequency help us remain relevant

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Video Content

Original Video Content delivers high engagement & click throughs in wall postings

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Apps provide platforms for sharing and self-expression

Apps

Story Sharing App

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Partnerships

Co-branded Glee program resonated with our community and helped us reach new qualified, engaged fans

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Partnerships

360 Campaign:

• On-air TV commercials and digital media

• Charity-themed sweepstakes

• American Express internal channels

• Weekly posts on the Members Project page tied in themes of previous night’s episodes

• Weekly wall postings on Glee’s Facebook page, as well as characters ‘pages

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Shareable Content

All content that lives off of Facebook is as shareable as possible to deepen our engagement

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Leverage existing Amex social channels to deepen relevancy with Cardmembers

Owned Social Channels

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• Brand relevancy and re-appraisal

• Engagement from Cardmembers and Prospects

• Buzz about the American Express brand

• Cardmember advocacy

• Reach and growth of communities

What were our measures of success?

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• Integrate with the larger marketing program

• Service Your Community: ListenBe responsiveLearnExperimentIterate quickly

• Keep content fresh, relevant and easy to share

• Give the community a role and foster advocacy

• Benchmark success

Key Takeaways

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