Michelle LeBlanc

Portfolio


Services Provided:

  • Creative concepting

  • Social Media & Content Strategy

  • Community Management 

  • Copywriting (Content)

  • Content Production

  • Social Media Training & Education


Women in Trucking Web Series

Making Truckers App-Happy

Careers Driven By Core Values

With 48,000 new drivers needed, the trucking world needed a fresh take. This recruitment vlog series put a new face on an old industry. Learn More →

Could Trucker Tools acquire new app users through enchanced social content and community engagement?   Learn More →

Core-Mark employees were living out core values, were actively posting on social media and reported being likely to recommend Core-Mark to their networks. How could we put them to work? Learn More →

Brewed For Fun Like This

One of the oldest craft breweries in the state needed a new way to stay relevant. Time to crack open a revived social strategy. Learn More →

Quality Content For Quality Gear

Reaching a niche audience can be hard. No need to make it even harder by constantly creating new content. This brand needed to turn off the firehose and think about quality. Learn More →

Local Bank to National Lender

Northeast Bank needed to publicize its national SBA lending expertise. An integrated content marketing strategy would take them from Lewiston, Maine lender to hot commodity. Learn More→

Non-profit Programming

Taking a seasonal non-profit year-round with the right user-generated programs. Learn More →

Beauty Unearthed

Could we give this Procter & Gamble beauty brand a fresh face for the American market?   Learn More →

Con-way Truckload:

Content Strategy / Content Production / Community Management

According to the American Trucking Associations, the United States truck driver shortage topped 48,000 in 2015. Con-way Freight and Con-way Truckload needed a new direction to address the driver shortage issue. We decided to focus on the opportunity to grow their female workforce, a historically underrepresented demographic in this country. With equal pay, benefits and opportunities, trucking presents an excellent career for women, but traditional stereotypes kept many women from pursuing their Commercial Driver’s License. Our strategy was to educate, dispel myths and make women comfortable with a career in a predominantly male workforce.

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Reaching Women Where They Were

Our team came up with the concept for an authentic vlog series called “Women in trucking,” which put the voices of Con-way’s accomplished women drivers front and center and spoke to a new generation of potential drivers on YouTube and across supporting social media channels.

 

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Authentic Voices

For this campaign, I worked on the initial concept, provided light video editing on the driver-filmed episodes, created the social media distribution strategy, and wrote all brand-page social posts related to the series.

Watch the episodes here. 

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Real Results

This campaign helped Con-way earn the 2015 Mike Russell Image Award in recognition of the work to change not just the image of their particular company, but the image of trucking as a potential career in general. Con-way's female driver workforce also grew by 30% while the campaign was active.

The campaign was also recognized by the Ad Club of Maine with a 2017 Broderson Award for excellence in multi-channel or integrated programs.

 

Trucker Tools:

Social Media & Content Strategy / Influencer Outreach / Paid Social

Trucker Tools had been downloaded by over 500,000 drivers, but it was still the underdog in the industry. With dormant social media channels and fast-moving competition, the app lacked social proof. A new strategy was needed to cultivate community and win over increasingly app-overloaded consumers.

 
 
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The Ultimate Goal: App Acquisitions

Since we were making a first impression with many potential users, Trucker Tools needed a full funnel approach to first engage and educate while also supporting the ultimate goal of new app downloads. Through both organic social content and paid advertising we were able to drive over 10,000 new app downloads in the first six months of engagement and within our second year we reached the milestone of one million app downloads.

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Influencer-Driven Content

Trucker Tools needed to build trust with the target audience. Paid exposure would help, but authentic endorsements from leaders with established following would lead to more sustainable long-term awareness. By partnering with YouTube content creators and Facebook group admins we were able to generate authentic content and awareness at once, all within budget.

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Social Proof Through Community Growth

When working with an audience that is averse to corporate or sales-heavy messaging, social proof is key. Positive reviews and a supportive community would help to support the Trucker Tools message of being an app created both for and by drivers. In the first six months of engagement we were able to double our following across all social channels and eventually our audience would grow to more than 90,000 social fans.

Sebago Brewing:

Social Media & Content Strategy / Social Media Contest Program / Paid Social

Sebago Brewing was one of the oldest members of the quickly-growing Maine craft beer scene. A revived social media strategy was needed to stay top-of-mind with consumers hopping from pint to pint.  

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Engaging Content

To increase awareness of Sebago's high quality beer offerings, I created quarterly content programs to match the "Brewed For Times Like These" campaign that was currently in market. Each season included a social media contest that incentivized sharing activity and helped the brand build up a bank of user generated photography. These user photos lent an aura of authenticity and gave viewers a sense of social proof, reminding drinkers that Sebago was a local favorite.

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Paid Social Advertising

Beer launches were supported with paid social advertising—Facebook link, video and carousel ads, as well as Instagram ads—driving traffic to Sebago's online Beer Finder. The paid social program increased awareness of seasonal beer releases and encouraged trial of new products. In addition, relationships with distributors and sales locations (bars, restaurants) were improved through paid social support of activity. 

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Planning & Calendars

To produce a large impact on a small budget, Sebago needed to take advantage of trending topics and seasonal holidays. I created an annual marketing content calendar with important dates across channels (blog, email and social), wrote copy and created social media images to service this iniative, and continuously monitored for new opportunities in the industry to add.

Globe Turnout Gear:

Content Strategy / Content Production / Copywriting

Globe Turnout Gear had already invested in building a wide array of content as high-quality as their products, but traffic had slowed to a trickle. Better management and creative repurposing helped the brand spark new interest from a niche audience. 

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Shareable and Short

Globe Turnout Gear had already invested in content, building out many long-form downloadable PDFs for use in inbound marketing. With this evergreen raw material, I was able to build out six months of organic social media content for use on Globe channels, bringing their posting frequency in line with industry competitors and taking advantage of their status as an industry thought leader in health and safety. By repurposing in this manner, Globe could reach new audiences, see more value in their content investment, and continue to drive leads back to the full downloads. 

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Product Promotions

By looking at past post insights, I discovered that fans of Globe Turnout Gear were genuinely interested in new products, regardless of where they were in the buying cycle or their status as decision makers. By repurposing paid ad and website content in fun ways on social media (such as with animated gifs) we could generate more buzz and better educate these enthusiasts. 

In addition, paid social supplemented these efforts. The 2016 launch of ATHLETIX at the FDIC event was recognized with a 2017 Ad Club of Maine Broderson Award.

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Thought Leadership

Globe Turnout Gear was already sponsoring industry research, and not getting the credit for their investments. As part of these sponsorships, we were able to produce exclusive video for Globe social channels. I edited raw video into shorter, social-friendly clips and looked for opportunities to make older content relevant once more, such as around industry conferences. With planning and calendars, content was no longer forgotten the moment it finished the production cycle, bringing better ROI. 

Northeast Bank:

Content Strategy / Content Production / Community Management / Copywriting

Northeast Bank needed to take its image from Lewiston, Maine-based community bank to trustworthy, nationwide SBA lender. Regular banking operations in the state of Maine still needed support, while integrating a new advertising program and it all needed to get done on a budget. Careful content planning and a strategically deployed paid content marketing strategy were called for. 

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Paid Meets Owned

To launch the Northeast Bank national lending brand, we built a new, more useful website and launched a vertical-specific paid media campaign targeting hotel owners. As part of this campaign, I wrote thought leadership content on behalf of the bank that was placed with industry publications in paid guest blog / advertorial spots and supported with additional paid media (search and social ads, and other digital units). This helpful content was also deployed to the new website for additional reach.

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Informative  & Easy

If there is one thing small business owners don't have, it's extra time. Northeast Bank's value proposition included a fast response time on new loan applications. To accompany that message, I developed organic social content that was quick to digest, informative and helpful. No need to fill out a form, or even visit another website. This content also included the new Northeast Bank branding where possible to present another memorable brand touchpoint. 

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Frequent & Friendly

Northeast Bank needed to position itself as a fast-moving, modern entity, but lacked frequent touchpoints with customers or topics to address. Introducing the new bank branding through a consistent social posting calendar of holidays and evergreen topics helped improve frequency of posting. I produced video, images, gifs and content calendars in support of this initiative. These were deployed across both the primary Northeast Bank social channels, as well as by their mortgage loan officers.

Wreaths Across America:

Content Strategy / Social Media Contest Program

To engage Wreaths Across America’s dedicated base of existing supporters, and — in doing so — spread public awareness of the organization during a traditional "down" period, I created a social media contest program in support of the Month of the Military Child (April) and Memorial Day (May). As a result of these efforts, Wreaths Across America received over 200 unique contest entries, including fan contact information that could be utilized for future fundraising and outreach efforts. In addition, posts related to the contests on Facebook received 2.2 million organic impressions, spreading awareness of the organization during a time of year better known for barbeques and beach parties.

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December in May

Wreaths Across America day happens annually in December, but the organization needed to drive awareness and donations throughout the year. This contest program allowed them to build community around their social channels and gather leads for future fundraising. The program was recognized by the Ad Club of Maine with a 2017 Broderson Award for organic social programs.

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UGC

User submitted content not only allowed fans to become invested in being part of the Wreaths Across America story, it also provided a steady stream of content to post to the page and opportunities to develop earned media pitches around the individuals. 

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Results

The Wreaths Across America Facebook page gained 16,660 new fans during the months of April and May 2016 with no associated paid promotion, accounting for 55% of total page likes for the page in that year.

SK-II:

Community Management / Influencer Marketing

Procter and Gamble were looking to launch the SK-II skincare line in the U.S. market and reach new, younger consumers. The KBS+ team created a new beauty blog, Beauty Unearthed. This custom-designed Tumblr would support the brand with influencer and brand-created content around topics relevant to this audience in a space that appealed to female luxury consumers.

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From Chaos, Content

I acted as community manager for this project, creating monthly content calendars, monitoring for and engaging with brand mentions from live events, and interfacing with beauty influencers to build out blog and social "takeover" content. 

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Beautiful UGC

In tandem with the online launch, we also hosted pop-up shops in NYC and San Francisco where fans could have exclusive experiences with the brand and create user-generated, authentic social content. 

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From Cate To Kate

In addition to influencer and user generated content, our Tumblr hosted exclusive productions featuring brand spokes women Cate Blanchett and Kate Bosworth. These high-end elements were combined with earned media coverage and curated finds for a high-low mix worthy of the fashion world.  Shortly after the launch, Beauty Unearthed was named by SAY Media as one of the 9 Best Brand Tumblrs of 2014.

 

Hitting The Mark: Careers Content

 
 
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Raising Awareness Without Becoming A Commodity

As an Employer Brand, Core-Mark was facing low awareness with potential employees.  Meanwhile, discovery interviews uncovered that current Core-Mark employees were living out core values, were actively posting on social media and reported being likely to recommend Core-Mark to their networks. By tapping into authentic employee stories we could encourage retention and raise awareness of this Fortune 300 brand without resorting to short term tactics like hiring bonuses.

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Uniting 32 Divisions and 8,400+ Employees

With a widespread geographic presence, the employee experience was highly variable. However a strong understanding of shared values across the company was a uniting factor that both leadership and front line employees could get behind.

A produced, high-touch internal rollout accompanied by online user-generated content clarified the meaning of the Core Values and brought it to life in employee imaginations (and online too!)

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Our Diverse Family

The millennial and Gen Z audience responded well to values-driven content and real examples of corporate social responsibility with a 295% increase in social engagement.

In year two of the program, we moved more actively towards displaying the diversity within the workforce and driving referral traffic into job applications.