1. Social Media Written Plan
Background on Blue Apron:
Blue Apron was started in 2012 by cofounders Ilia Papas, Matt Salzberg, and Matt
Wadiak. It is a food delivery service that sends fresh “farm-to-table” meals directly to your door
with step-by-step instructions on how to cook the meals. It is a service that aims to deliver easy,
fresh meals that are cost effective and unique, to cut out the stress of grocery shopping and meal
preparation. Each meal is perfectly portioned to either a two person plan (for couples) or a four
person plan (for families). This eliminates the issue of leftovers and provide individuals with
new meal inspirations with ingredients that are often not found in most grocery stores.
Highlights Of Social Media Audit:
While performing a social media audit for Blue Apron, it was discovered that a majority
of Blue Apron’s posts were identical across our Instagram, Facebook and Twitter accounts. We
did not use utilize any custom hashtags and we did not appear to follow a daily schedule. Blue
Aron’s social media posts mainly consisted of various meals that we had strived to promote and
numerous posts lacked audience engagement such as comments, likes, shares and retweets. Blue
Apron was also certainly slacking, in regards to our video platforms. For example, we did not
possess a Snapchat handle, which acts as an effective social media platform for countless
businesses. Blue Apron’s Youtube channel contained several short video tutorials in regards to
meal preparation and had the ability to be utilized to a greater in-depth degree.
On the positive side, Blue Apron possessed an impressive, 1,520,679 followers on
Facebook, as well as 246k users on Instagram and 50,473 followers on Twitter. We posted

2. content on a daily basis, actively promoting our brand. However, while performing a competitive
analysis on Blue Apron’s largest competitor, Plated, it was apparent that we needed to further
differentiate ourselves from similar companies. We had the opportunity to further distinguish
ourselves, by creating quality, custom hashtags and adding greater variety to our posts on
Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, through the use of content such as blog posts, National ‘Food
Day’ recognitions, and video tutorials.
Upon viewing Blue Apron’s Pinterest account, we had decided that it would be beneficial
to discontinue posting content to the Pinterest platform. The reason for this decision, was due to
the fact that Blue Apron’s Pinterest content includes step-by-step directions, regarding several of
our recipes. This aspect does not benefit Blue Apron, because the step-by-step instructions allow
Pinterest users to seeks alternative options to create the recipes, such as shopping at the grocery
store. This would in fact, harm Blue Apron and detract from our overall brand.
Goals of Social Media/Digital Media/Video Marketing Plan:
We want to increase awareness through social media, the benefits of subscribing to Blue
Apron and attracting unconvinced customers. Many people have heard of Blue Aron but don’t
understand how it is cost effective and time saving, so it is our goal to show those particular
people why it’s an effective solution to the hardworking individual. We also want to promote the
health benefits of Blue Apron’s all-natural ingredients, to consumers who are health conscious
and enjoy indulging on diverse, hearty, and wholesome meals.
Strategies of Social Media/Digital Media/Video Marketing Plan:
We will use Snapchat to promote Blue Apron meals being cooked in a test kitchen by
professional chefs. This will bring awareness to the simplicity and appeal of the meals and
demonstrate the benefits as a whole. In addition to that, Blue Apron works with local farms, so

3. we will follow local farmers and show the ingredients from the farms that are used in every Blue
Apron meal. This shows users the freshness of the individual ingredients, so users become aware
that Blue Apron offers the best ingredients.
Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Youtube will also act as effective social media handles
for Blue Apron. Facebook, Twitter and Instagram will be utilized in order to promote National
‘Food Days,’ in addition to featured Blue Apron chefs. Custom, relevant hashtags will be
created, such as #MealsMadeEasy and #FeaturedChefFriday, in order to further attract various
social media users. This aspect will be especially beneficial, due to the fact that Blue Apron does
not currently possess any hashtags on social media. On specific days, Blue Apron’s Facebook
platform will promote interesting, informative blog posts for users to view as well.
Youtube will serve as another social media platform for Blue Apron to utilize, in order to
release bi-weekly video content. Every other week, brief video tutorials will be released, that
display Blue Apron’s at-home chefs, as they prepare meals and provide culinary tips and tricks
for users to incorporate into their own lives.
Target Personas:
Target Persona 1: Young working couple in their 20’s, Steven and Jessica are recent
college graduates who have limited time to go grocery shopping and cook. Their ultimate goal is
to save time and money while still eating wholesome, fresh home cooked meals instead of take-
out/delivery dinners. It’s difficult cooking for two, so they tend to throw out a lot of leftovers.
Steve and Jessica are social media oriented, using platforms such as Facebook, Instagram,
Twitter, Youtube, and Snapchat. They use these outlets to gain inspiration for new meal ideas,
learn how-to instructions, follow friends and family, and to share interesting content. They enjoy
their free time as they both work full time jobs, so having stress-free meals is highly important to

4. them. Since they both work full-time during the day, the evening is when they use social media
the most often. Certain phrases that appeal to them are “time-savers,” “meals for two,” “busy
schedule,” and “budget friendly meals.”
Target Persona 2: Nicole and Alan are a busy working couple in their mid-thirties and
they are parents to two children. They want the convenience of an easy meal after work so that
they can spend time as a family and catch up on their days. They do not want to spend a large
quantity of time shopping at the grocery store and cooking time- consuming meals for the entire
family in the evenings. They use social media moderately and we can reach them through e-mail
promotions and television advertisements, as the reach is more effective via that platform during
the evening. Radio advertisements are also effective as they are in the car often with their busy
schedules. We can promote Blue Apron on public radio programs such as NPR and offer
discount codes as well.
Editorial Approach:
Blue Apron will market content throughout our social media platforms in an informative,
interactive manner. This will be achieved by promoting our meals on Facebook, Twitter and
Instagram through the use of ‘Featured Meals.’ Blue Apron will also engage with users through
fun, informative videos, such as tutorials on Youtube, and #MealsMadeEasy and
#FeaturedChefFriday hashtags, that will allow Blue Apron users to familiarize themselves with
the chefs who create their meals, as well as meals that are being promoted. Snapchat will be
utilized as well on a monthly basis, in order to broadcast new, upcoming meals for the
approaching month.

5. Thorough communication will serve as a key factor and objective in regards to Blue
Apron’s digital presence. Therefore, tweets, comments, shares and views will be monitored on a
daily basis, to ensure whether or not the content is successfully and actively engaging users. For
instance, Facebook will be monitored by the hour, in order to appropriately respond to comments
and messages in a short, reasonable period of time. Blue Apron will respond to tweets on Twitter
and comments on Instagram within the same hourly time frame as well. It’s is also highly
important for Blue Apron to remain actively engaged with other brands on social media. Social
media outreach will act as an essential factor and as a result, Blue Apron will regularly
communicate with additional brands and products through the use of comments, retweets and
relevant shares. Google, Facebook, Instagram and Twitter analytics will be collected on a routine
basis, in order to make needed revisions to Blue Apron’s social media schedule, content and
overall, approach.
Blue Apron will strive to maintain a positive, upbeat and informative voice on social,
digital and video platforms as well. Content creation will be managed, by creating content that
has an upbeat and excited tone about the meals and recipes that are being offered and promoted.
New Video Concept:
The concept of the new video is to show and compare the two ingredient and grocery
delivery services, which are Blue Apron and Peapod. The video demonstrates significant price
differences between the two, where Blue Apron’s fresh ingredient delivery service costs less.
This would attract young professionals and couples who are willing to save time and money,
while still eating fresh home cooked meals. The video also covers the idea of low food waste,
online ordering from every device you own, high margins, and delivery right to your doorstep. In
comparison with Peapod, Blue Apron not only provides it’s delivery services of fresh

6. ingredients, it also offers all kinds of recipes along with beverages for meals you choose. It is
very convenient for young families, because those who have busy working schedules and have
children are not willing to spend a great deal of time on grocery shopping and cooking for the
entire family.
The new video concept works for the brand, because Blue Apron’s target audience are
people who are seeking affordable prices, low food waste, easy recipes, and delivery services.
Therefore, it will build stronger relationships with existing customers, as well as attracting
prospective customers.
New Creative Campaign:
Blue Apron will launch a creative campaign, through our new Snapchat account, in
addition to our video advertisement. Due to the fact that Blue Apron will strive to target young
professionals and young families, Snapchat will serve as a key component of the campaign.
Snapchat will launch a featured titled ‘What’s Cooking,’ which will consist of behind-the-scenes
videos and sneak-peeks of Blue Apron. At the conclusion of each month, Blue Apron will launch
a ‘What’s Cooking,’ Snapchat story, which will consist of videos, previewing the new meals that
will be released throughout the approaching month. The videos will also contain upcoming meal
insights from the chefs, as well as footage pertaining to the farms, in which Blue Apron’s fresh
products are produced. ‘What’s Cooking,’ will be a wonderful aspect of the creative campaign,
because it allow the target consumers to interact with Blue Apron on an alternative platform, on
a more unique level. The footage will also reinforce the healthy meal options that Blue Apron
possesses, to consumers that are health conscious.
Blue Apron’s video campaign will also provided an impactful way for Blue Apron to
promote the cost-effectiveness of our brand, in addition to further generating awareness. The

7. video campaign will serve as a cost comparison between weekly meal purchases through Blue
Apron and ingredient purchases through Peapod delivery services. The video will demonstrate
the cost differences side-by-side, by illustrating the price of a Blue Apron meal, as well as the
cost of purchasing the ingredients for the same meal separately, through Peapod. The video will
serve as an effective aspect of the creative campaign, by allowing young professionals, couples,
and families on a budget, to truly understand the financial benefits of purchasing meals from
Blue Apron, as opposed to costlier alternatives..
Conclusion:
Today Blue Apron aims to increase awareness through social media among hardworking
individuals about cost effectiveness and time saving of the company’s service. To reach its goal,
Blue Apron will market content throughout the company’s social media platforms in an
informative, interactive manner by promoting meals on Snapchat, Facebook, Twitter and
Instagram. Blue Apron will also achieve these objectives by engaging with users through
insightful video tutorials on Youtube, in order to provide users with new culinary tips and
techniques.
The Snapchat feature will also allow users to familiarize themselves with upcoming new
recipes, as well as the farms in which Blue Apron’s natural ingredients are produced, ultimately
displaying the health benefits of purchasing meals from Blue Apron. The video campaign will
support the creative campaign to a further extent, by showcasing the cost benefits of Blue
Apron’s delivery services, in comparison to a competitor, Peapod. The significant cost will act as
a strength, in regards to targeting young professionals, couples and families who are on a budget
and who are seeking healthier meal alternatives. With the new video concept and creative

8. campaign, Blue Apron will build stronger relationship with existing customers, in addition to
attracting prospective customers.