REPORTSPECIAL

Are you one of the many skeptics out there

thinking, “Why in the world has ValleyCrest ventured into social media?” Cat’s out of

the bag, folks—social media has become one

of the main forms of personal and business-

to-business (B-2-B) communication across

the globe and it’s here to stay. Still not a

believer? Remember the days when e-mail

was considered a “trend?” How many times

have you e-mailed today?

Looks like that statement got your attention!

How did social media get its start? Well, marketers

found many of their customers were talking about

them online. Instead of ignoring, deleting or just plain

scrutinizing those discussions, companies decided to

join in and engage in real-time, open, honest and casual

dialogue directly with their customers. At ValleyCrest,

we had to face the facts—we could join in or be left

behind.

Let’s talk about ValleyCrest’s approach to social media,

how we’re performing and why we know we’re making

a significant impact. Before we get into it, an important

disclaimer:

Nothing replaces face-to-face interaction in our line of business. Social media helps to build relationships, trust and credibility by enabling us to listen to our customers, share informative content and provide another avenue of customer support.

ValleyCrest has long been the best-known landscape

industry brand offline. Now, we’re widely considered

VALLEYCREST, MEET SOCIAL MEDIA

the best online landscape company, too, recognized by

many as social media pioneers and industry innovators.

We’ve had major successes since our start and are

continuing to measure and fine tune the fruits of our

labor. Our social media goals include:

•Increasebrandawareness•ShowahumansidetoourBIGcompany

•Nurtureexistingrelationships•Drivenewbusinessopportunities•Identifyqualitytalent&prospectiveemployees•Demonstrateindustrythoughtleadership•Increasenetworkingopportunities•Boostabilitytofieldcustomerservicesuccesses,inquiries&issues

One of our most successful campaigns is #landscapechat, a weekly Twitter discussion about landscape topics and

trends. From snow management plans to design-build

and sustainable landscape best practices, we cover the

gamut of hot button industry topics. We’ll spotlight a

customer (i.e. Associa) or association (i.e. Design-Build

Institute of America) and position ValleyCrest as the

expert. We’ve found the involvement of our customers,

associations and the media on Twitter is growing each

and every week. Snippets of our discussions have been

shared on Twitter and beyond—via blogs, association

newsletters, industry news articles and customer

Facebook pages.

See how fun and informational it is for yourself—tune in on Wednesdays 2pm Eastern/11am Pacific (just click

the Twitter icon on the intranet Homepage to access

the ValleyCrest Twitter feed).

ValleyCrest’s social media campaign, started January 2011, has directly impacted the number of sales leads coming throughwww.valleycrest.com from 217 in 2010

to 356 as of October 2011

“Social media is the

use of web-based and mo-

bile technologies that turn

communication into inter-

active dialogue” — Wikipedia entry for

“Definition of Social Media”

ValleyCrest has hosted #landscapechat discussions on Twitter since March 2011

Each #landscapechat

reaches an average of

30,000 Twitter users WEEKLY

90%

28 A few of the customers tweeting with @ValleyCrest

regularly:

There are

28,000 corporate blogs

on the Web today

55% of

the construction industry has a Facebook account

10 LinkedIn Groups to Join & Network:

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

SOCIAL MEDIA SNAPSHOTS2,980,000

LinkedIn users

are in the

construction industry alone

(Source: Construction Marketing Association)

LinkedIn has

800+ property management

networking groups

of LinkedIn’s

100 million

users participate in groups to network & share subject-matter expertise

56% of users are more likely to recommend a service provider they fan on Facebook (Source: Mashable)

Visitors arriving on

www.valleycrest.com via

social media channels spend

(on average)

longer on

our site than

anyone else

Of the Top 10 referring sites to www.valleycrest.com, social media channels rank:

LinkedIn

Facebook

Twitter

#3

#8

#9

www.valleycrest.com receives

22,000visitors each month

2minutes

WHEN&HOWWEGETSOCIAL

Social Media Channel

Social Media Channel GoalsNetwork Reach Where To Find Us

Corporate Blog a.k.a. ValleyCrest Takes On: Water Management

5,000+ Followers5,300 tweets to date

500+ Fans or “Likes”

800+ unique visitors each month

1,100+ Followers on Company Profile; Fantastic business development usage company-wide to build relationships and share thought leadership

Average 3,180 views per month; 102 views per day

Average 670 views per month

27 customers who publicly reviewed us in four months – all with 4 or 5 stars

Build brand awareness, spread company news, increase thought leadership

Strengthen brand awareness, trustworthiness and efforts to attract talent by presenting “human side” of ValleyCrest

Promote thought leadership by discussing relevant trends, innovation and resources concerning water management

Leverage B-2-B networking, increase sales opportunities and recruitment opportunities, promote thought leadership

Showcase beautiful photography across nation

Showcase talent and thought leadership through how-to, informational and viral videos

Customers can post public reviews of ValleyCrest’s work directly on new tree care websites. The approach is much like the Yelp philosophy—let them speak, let others decide and hopefully we learn how to be a better service provider because of it

www.twitter.com/valleycrestSearch: #landscapechat @ValleyCrest

valleycresttakeson.com

www.linkedin.com/company/valleycrest-companies

www.flickr.com/valleycrest

www.youtube.com/valleycrestlandscape

www.facebook.com/valleycrestlandscape Check It Out – we just launched the corporate Facebook page!www.facebook.com/careersatvalleycrest

www.treecareservices.com

Toseereviews,visitourPhoenix,So Cal or Nor Cal pages!

ValleyCrest Tree Care Services

Local Websites Customer Reviews

1. Like,Follow&ConnectWithUs. Visit the intranet Homepage to access the LIVE feeds of all our pages. Simply click on the icons on the left hand side. Then, “Like,” “Follow,” and “Connect” with us. Note that except for LinkedIn (open to all users) you’ll only be able to access pages via the direct links we’ve provided while inside the ValleyCrest network. Attempting access any other way or trying to sign into your account will block you from the social sites.

2. Spread the word! • VisittheintranetMarketingpagefortools&tips

• Sendyourcustomersane-mailthatlinkstoallournetwork pages

• Printoutoursocialmediaone-pagerstouseat trade shows, meetings, Lunch n’ Learns, etc.

3. Learn the ropes. Create a LinkedIn account. If you’re already a user, get more familiar with all the bells and whistles and you’ll be leveraging your relationships in no time.

4. Know your stuff. Check out the cool facts on the precedingpagetobecomeaSocialMediaSuperstar!

5. Enjoy yourself. Mostimportantly,haveFUN and get engaged!Asareminder,you’rerepresentingValleyCrestwhether you’re on the clock or off. Use social media wiselyandrefertoValleyCrest’sSocialMediaPolicyshould the need arise.

5WAYSTOGOSOCIALWITHVALLEYCREST!

BREAKING NEWSispublishedfortheemployeesofValleyCrestbyitsMarketingDepartment.Please send branch news and information, digital photos and story ideas to

cdonnelly@valleycrest.com, or call 818.737.3131. Every effort is made to avoid errors, misspellings and omissions. If, however, an error comes to your attention, please accept our apologies and notify us.