Gas Buddy PR Plan

GasBuddy: PR Plan | April 2014

By: Chris Harrison, Katy Morrical, Lauren Pfeiffer and Breely Ungar

Primary Research: ABOUT: GasBuddy.com is a group of local websites which offers an online method for website visitors to post and view recent retail gasoline prices.

GasBuddy.com is operated by GasBuddy/OpenStore LLC. One of the few things that are as volatile and unpredictable as the weather is gasoline prices. With constantly rising fuel prices it has become important that consumers are able to identify the lowest priced fuel when filling up their vehicles.

GasBuddy.com was founded by Dustin Coupal and Jason Toews as a collection of local websites designed to serve the public with everything needed for consumers to easily and freely share gas-pricing information. With the release of the first GasBuddy/OpenStore LLC. website in June 2000 a monumental change began in the way that people shop for gasoline.

Thousands of people have been regularly visiting GasBuddy/OpenStore LLC. websites where they post gas prices and identify the lowest priced fuel in their area - helping everyone to save money at the pumps.

Since GasBuddy.com , as part of GasBuddy/OpenStore LLC., provides an entirely free service we rely solely on sponsor's advertising to cover all organizational expenses and to fund further website development. The GasBuddy/OpenStore LLC. collection of websites has rapidly grown into North America's premiere fuel prices information source. Do your part to promote competition in fuel pricing and help everyone save money on gas by posting prices to the gas price forum on a regular basis.

MISSION: Our mission is to serve the public by providing a real time gas prices forum so that consumers can have access to the information necessary to locate the lowest fuel prices available. By working together as a community everyone will save money at the pumps.

The GasBuddy.com web site was developed as an initiative to provide all residents and visitors to the area access to local current gas prices. This is an entirely free service that depends on users to input gas prices on a daily basis to keep the database of prices up to date. Since the price of gas is often extremely volatile, posted gas prices may vary as much as 20% within only a few blocks of each other. By having access to the most recent prices at GasBuddy.com consumers now are able to locate the most inexpensive fuel price in the city and fill up on a budget.

GasBuddy.com also provides other fuel related information and money saving tips for consumers in their local area .

TECH INFO: The fuel prices listed on GasBuddy.com are intended to be based on the price of Regular Unleaded Gasoline and Number 2 diesel fuel. The data base is designed to remove prices from display 72 hours after the time that they were entered which helps to keep the price data as current as possible. The GasBuddy system is designed to access the GasBuddy.com database from a remote location and displays the current local low and high fuel prices. ***About, mission and info taken from gasbuddy.com

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15 Best Cities for Young Professionals (Source)

Audible Money saving (GasBuddy helps save on gas) Text messaging (integrate a text message component to share with friends) Banking Social (app already has sharing capabilities) Uber Music Instagram Evernote Skype Roadninja (competitor) Waze Foursquare (have them check-in at station) Gilt Snapchat

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Des Moines, Iowa Raleigh, North Carolina Madison, Wisconsin Salt Lake City, Utah Omaha, Nebraska Portland, Maine Denver, Colorado Colorado Springs, Colorado Washington, D.C. Minneapolis-St. Paul, Minnesota Austin, Texas Boston, Massachusetts Greenville, South Carolina Little Rock, Arkansas Fairfield County, Conn.

Social Media Audit: Twitter Followers: 13,500+ Tweets: 4,337 (with an average of maybe 5 or 6 per day) GasBuddy has a large audience on Twitter but their tweets garner very little engagement from the fans. Generally, it’s uncommon for any of their tweets to have more than three or four retweets or favorites. Almost all of their tweets are a link to their blog, with most of them being something vaguely car-related. While that’s tangentially related to GasBuddy’s service, it might be a misidentification of their audience. While, yes, cars are involved, they’re not necessarily tweeting to car lovers. They’re looking to reach an audience of people who, for the most part, simply want cheap gas. It would probably be advantageous for more of their tweets to be on-topic. Promoting the blog is fine, but it probably shouldn’t make up such a vast majority of their social content.

One thing they do quite well is answering users’ questions. The answers are all personalized and specific and the tone of voice used definitely suggests a general desire to be helpful. They’ve also done a fine job of handling angry customers or people experiencing technical problems with the app, which is always a good sign.

Instagram Followers: 9 Their Instagram account is brand new. It launched on March 25 th. There are just three photos at the moment, one of which is the company’s logo. There’s not much to be said about what’s been posted thus far but there’s definitely a lot that an app with trip planning abilities can do on Instagram. It could be a very good medium for them.

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Facebook Likes: 135,000 Their Facebook page has a better balance of posts directly related to their app and other things from around the internet and their blog (visual to the right).

Posts are both interesting and a very effective demonstration of what their service is capable of. They’ve done a solid job of generating likes and comments, with most posts earning likes somewhere in the mid-100s range.

They also frequently post humorous photos and memes and they get a really positive response. Now that Twitter’s becoming a good medium for sharing photos, they could probably use more posts like these on their Twitter account to get more retweets.

They also post about anticipated rises and decreases in gas prices as well as general news and trends related to gas, which is good. They reply to fans’ comments, even assisting one guy with getting a foul smell out of his car. The response took half a day, but it still shows a fantastic attitude when it comes to helping people out, which is going to be very good for their image.

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SWOT Analysis

Strengths

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Weakness

Great product High rating on iTunes/Droid Dependability Free app Most popular gas app

Opportunity Using the cost trip calculator for a campaign Career fairs College campuses New social approach Improve design and user experience of website and app

W T

Competitors:     

Gas Cubby ($1.99)- tracks mileage, expenses and maintenance on your car Fuel Finder ($2.99)- very similar, more visually appealing, has cost Fuelzee (free)- social aspect to it, coupons and contests Gas Finder ($1.99)- distance and location of stations iNeed Gas ($0.99)- works with siri to find gas stations near you

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Overall app appearance Reaching a broader target audience (i.e. young professionals and college) Lack of social media presence

Threats Gas Guru (free app), Gas Chubby (free app), and Fuel Finder (paid app) Not keeping the app up-todate Not keeping social media active and two-way open communication

Consumer Profile:

College Student: Kyle Smith is a 21 year old junior at The University of Texas at Austin. He is an architect major and is a member of a fraternity. On the weekends, Kyle and his friends go to college sports games during the day and to parties or bars at night. His family lives in Oklahoma, so Kyle spends a lot of time driving on his free weekends and on holidays to visit home. He also takes a road trip every year over spring break, either to South Padre Island, Texas or to Destin, Florida and splits the cost of gas with his friends.

Young Professional: Kelly Jones is a 26 year old graduate of UCLA who was just hired on at a digital ad agency in Boston. She likes having brunch on the weekends and going out to new bars or restaurants, as well as enjoying local events including the farmers market and art gallery openings. Kelly often drives to Baltimore to spend time with her family, and she also has a 40 minute commute to work every day, so she is always trying to find new ways to save money on gas.

Additionally, she plans 3-4 road trips each year either to visit college friends or to go to major music festivals across the U.S.

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Objectives: This PR plan seeks to:   

Increase brand awareness and number of users (targeting millennials) Persuade users to become “power” users who regularly contribute pricing information Increase engaging dialogue within social media channels

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Austin, Texas Boston, Massachusetts Atlanta, Georgia Washington, D.C. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Buddy’s Van Activation: School Year SUMMARY: Buddy is going cross country in his shiny new van. Find Buddy, tag him on social media and you could win BIG. Check the GasBuddy website for when Buddy’s Van will make its way to your campus.

STRATEGY ONE: Media Relations 

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College Editor Outreach: o Create college reps on campus and host GasBuddy events – Buddy’s Van and campus reps would coordinate individual school visits o Participate in college editor events and award shows o Set up a booth at college career fairs Event on major college campus, maybe at Freshman Welcome Week or the first home football game o Invite university media (radio, newspaper, TV) and other student organizations o Hand out coupons to college students, raise awareness and increase app downloads o Give away free t-shirts, bumper stickers, etc. for brand promotion

STRATEGY TWO: Social Takeover 

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Twitter: create a hashtag, provide “hints” on where the van’s location is, use a comedic voice and make a GasBuddy spokesperson (ie. Jack in the Box) named Buddy o See @JackBox for inspiration Instagram: have people take a picture with the van & use hashtag (example: #BuddysVan) Submit pictures during road trip w/ certain hashtag for chance to win coupons

STRATEGY THREE: Grassroots Campaign 

Trivia Night: College reps could organize trivia nights or contests at local bars/restaurants or on campus for chance to win prizes – trivia about GasBuddy company/brand, travel info, gas prices in each decade, etc.

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Daily Gas Activation: Daily Conversation SUMMARY: GasBuddy is diving into the Twitter conversation with an all new social forum. Use the conversation hashtag (#DailyGas) to discuss what's trending in travel, fuel and consumer spending.

STRATEGY ONE: Media Relations 

Partner with Mashable: 10 cheapest gas stations, world’s nicest/cleanest gas station bathrooms or 15 quirkiest gas stations.

STRATEGY TWO: Social Takeover 

Twitter: GasBuddy will create a conversation on twitter using #DailyGas. The conversation will consist of: o Locations of the cheapest gas in the USA o Random facts about traveling, commuting etc. o Use the conversation as a chance to create a competitive environment. ex. who can find the cheapest gas within the next four hours?

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Festival Road Trip Activation: Spring/Summer SUMMARY: Let GasBuddy be your guide as you make your way to the nation’s best festivals. When you enter your start and end destination, GasBuddy will show you the best places to stop during your road trip. Featuring popular landmarks, trendy eateries and, of course, the cheapest gas prices around, this GasBuddy feature is sure to turn your tired road trip into one for the record books.

STRATEGY ONE: Media Relations 

Early Spring: large event during spring break in Destin, FL (or other popular spot) o Invite media to cover it and offer promos to them o Hand out coupons to college kids, raise awareness & increase app downloads o Hold a contest or trivia to win larger prizes

STRATEGY TWO: Social Takeover  

Twitter: Partner with Google maps to reveal the best destination, all on a mobile device Instagram: people taking pics at the places we recommend, have a hashtag

STRATEGY THREE: Grassroots Campaign 

Smaller sponsor at music festivals o REFUEL stations with water during festivals

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Thanksgiving Holiday Campaign: Activation: Fall/Winter SUMMARY: This holiday season GasBuddy wants you to experience serious savings on your travel home. Every time you share gas prices on the mobile app you will unlock reward points. The more points you rally the greater your reward will be.

STRATEGY ONE: Media Relations 

Partner with BuzzFeed: Travel horror stories

STRATEGY TWO: Social Takeover  

Twitter: make it a competition –How much money did you save using GasBuddy? Compare routes and prices. (also drive users to their Instagram) Instagram: have people post photos with them and a gas pump with the price etc. o Most creative/lowest price will win a gas card and/or their picture for the competition on the app

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