Request for Proposal. Social Media Monitoring, Engagement and Measurement RFP

Transcription

1 Request for Proposal Social Media Monitoring, Engagement and Measurement RFP February 3rd, 2014

2 INTRODUCTION Brand USA is a public-private not for profit organization created by the Travel Promotion Act of The mission of Brand USA is to generate increased international visitation to the United States and to grow its share of the global travel market. Brand USA will accomplish this via marketing campaigns and programs and partnerships with the travel industry. The incremental increase in international visitation will generate billions of dollars of revenue, which will in turn create new American jobs. While the United States welcomed 60 million visitors in 2010, its share of the international travel market has decreased significantly over the past decade. The U.S. share of long haul international travel fell from 17.2 percent in 2000 to 12.4% percent in Brand USA, the U.S. s National Tourism Marketing Organization will reinvigorate the nation s image and recapture its share of the market. Brand USA delivers a dynamic marketing program that includes, but is not limited to, a global advertising campaign, earned media and public relations strategies, a robust social media outreach plan, promotional and incentive campaigns, trade shows and sales missions, and educational campaigns about U.S. entry policies. Brand USA carefully selected its marketing tools and target audience after vigorous analysis of existing and original market research. An 11-member Board of Directors governs brand USA. The U.S. Secretary of Commerce appoints each director. Each director represents a sector of the travel and tourism industry as identified by the Travel Promotion Act. The executive leadership team possesses strong expertise and experience in the travel, tourism, and advertising industries. Brand USA is committed to including diverse firms as an important part of its sourcing and procurement activities. In furtherance and support of this goal, we encourage minority, women and locally owned firms to pursue business opportunities with us. Minority and women-owned firms who otherwise meet the minimum requirements set forth in this Request for Proposal are encouraged to submit a Notice of Intent to Bid. In addition, Brand USA also seeks to do business with firms that also recognize the value of diversity and inclusion in the composition of their workforce and in their own contracting, subcontracting or teaming activities. We encourage such firms who meet the minimum bidding requirements (regardless of size or ownership) to also submit a Notice of Intent to Bid. Brand USA reserves the right to give weight or allocate bidding credit to diverse firms or those with a demonstrated commitment to inclusion as part of its evaluation process. 1 Brand USA Request for Proposal

3 PURPOSE The purpose of this Request for Proposal (RFP) is to provide the products and/or services listed in the Scope of Work, specifically to provide cloud-hosted (SAAS or PAAS) Social Media Monitoring, Measurement & Engagement platforms. SCOPE OF WORK Brand USA needs to listen, measure and respond to comments in the press, social media, governmental or public relations channels that impact the reputation and brand of the United States of America as a desirable tourism destination, and Brand USA as a public-private partnership. Brand USA seeks to capture, measure, and engage with highly active social media users who comment, post, review or otherwise actively participate in conversations about travel across the digital landscape and influence others. Brand USA needs to capture and store relevant conversations and be able to identify the sentiment and degree of influence of posts and respond with appropriate and timely messages. Brand USA seeks to listen to market messages and comments, capture reviews, and engage with three primary audience segments travel consumers, government, and travel and hospitality industry stakeholders on relevant travel websites and through global, regional and national and city-level public relations and social media platforms; to track market messages that are presented at the state- to city-level domestically; and to enable its network of representatives worldwide to respond to competitive market messages posted at the region-, country-, and city-level in specified international markets and languages. Brand USA seeks to contract with one, or several, cloud-hosted (SAAS or PAAS) Social Media Monitoring, Measurement & Engagement platform providers, which offer simple to use, easy to implement solutions developed for organizations of less than 100 employees, which have a global business model and social media footprint. Brand USA seeks to implement a solution that will fulfill the needs of four primary user/role-based scenarios, detailed in Attachment 5: Manager of Consumer Social Media Monitoring and Response Externally contracted consumer community managers located in international markets Manager of Corporate Social Media Monitoring & Response Global Manager of Research & Analytics, focused on Monitoring & Reporting Brand USA recognizes that many Social Media Monitoring Platforms are market- and/or feature-limited and its ideal solution may include multiple vendor platforms. Each vendor shall be able to demonstrate how its platform can be used by people inside and outside the organization to perform a myriad of business functions 2 Brand USA Request for Proposal

4 including: Translation General sentiment aggregation Volume and influence measurement Drill-down into individual posts Flagging posts Workflow management for engagement across Social Media platforms and travel review sites Customized reporting metrics that can be shared through open APIs And in the following target international markets and languages: Canada (French & English) Brazil (Portuguese) China (Simplified & Traditional Chinese) South America (Spanish) Spain (Spanish) Germany (German) Japan (Japanese) France (European French) Italy (Italian) Turkey (Turkish) Russia (Russian) India (Hindu) Korea (Korean) Arabic The winning candidates will have best-in-class solutions for the criteria listed in Attachment 3 Proposal Evaluation as well as well a articulated response to each of the highlighted user scenarios; coverage for the specified international markets and languages; pro-rated pricing models that allow Brand USA to easily scale the number of people using the platform, the number of posts or conversations engaged in, the number of keywords tracked; digital documentation and training materials; as well as professional services to either train resources or provide additional service capabilities and bandwidth. QUALIFICATIONS 1. Provider will provide relevant 3 case studies from existing accounts 2. Provider will provide 3 current client references 3. Provider will provide 3 past client references 3 Brand USA Request for Proposal

5 BUDGET Proposer must submit an appropriate and realistic budget for the desired capabilities described in the Scope of Work, outlining implementation phases for each of the functional capabilities and duties of personnel, including all services, hourly rates, consulting and support fees, out-of-pocket costs, reimbursements and administrative fees (these costs shall include telephone, postage, travel, shipping, research, etc. if applicable), and an estimated timeline for discovery and implementation. Quotes should be provided for: 1. Seat License models based on 25, 50 and 100 users 2. Number of posts or conversations engaged in per year in increments of 50,000 from 0 to 500, Number of keywords tracked in increments of 100 from 0 to Brand USA Request for Proposal

6 MINIMUM REQUIREMENTS Proposals must address each item listed, giving specific details of techniques to be used in achieving these requirements. Proposals may be rejected if minimum requirements are not met. All proposers wishing clarification of this RFP must submit questions in writing to Brand USA, no later than March 4 th, 2014 (due by 3:00 pm, EST), and sent by to rfpadmin@thebrandusa.com. Costs for developing proposals are entirely the responsibility of the proposer and shall not be reimbursed by Brand USA. 1. Notice of Intent to Bid (Attachment 1) must be received by February 21 st, 2014 (due by 3:00 p.m. EST). The notice shall be sent by to rfpadmin@thebrandusa.com at the Brand USA office. The NOTICE OF INTENT TO BID, is nonbinding; however, it ensures the receipt of all addenda related to this RFP. Proposals will be accepted only from applicants who submitted a timely NOTICE OF INTENT TO BID. 2. RFP Responses must contain the following information: a. Executive Summary b. Services and Activities: Provide description of the nature of the organization s services and activities. Note when the business was established, brief history and location. List the location(s) of the office(s) from which the primary work on this contract would be performed. c. No Conflict of Interest: Client relationships that could potentially be considered a conflict of interest must be listed. d. Contract Manager/Team: Identify one individual on the proposer s account team who will manage the contract work. Identify the role of each member who will service the account. Current resumes must be attached for each person who would in any way be associated with this account. e. References: Provide at least three current and three past client references. f. Budget g. Timeline and/or Project Plan 3. Certification Form (Attachment 2): Must be signed and accompany all RFP Response submissions. 5 Brand USA Request for Proposal

7 TENTATIVE SCHEDULE This tentative schedule may be altered at any time at the discretion of Brand USA. Brand USA reserves the right to reject any and all proposals, or any part thereof; waive an informality in the proposals and accept the proposals that best meets the needs of Brand USA. A. Proposal Released February [ 3, 2014 B. Written Questions (due by 3:00 p.m. EST) February 10, 2014 C. Written Questions Answered and posted to Brand USA Website February 14, 2014 D. Notice of Intent To Bid Due (due by 3:00 p.m. EST) February 21, 2014 E. Proposal Due (due by 3:00 p.m. EST) March 4, 2014 F. Proposal Evaluation by scoring committee March 14, 2014 G. Notification and Scheduling of Finalist Demos March 20, 2014 H. Finalist Demos April 3-4, 2014 I. Demo Evaluation by scoring committee April 4, 2014 J. Notice of Intent to Award Contract and Public Posting April 8, 2014 DELIVERY OF PROPOSAL Each bidder is required to deliver its proposal to Brand USA s office at the address listed below, no later than March 4 th, 2014 (3:00 p.m. EST). Electronic PDFs of proposals may only be ed to rfpadmin@thebrandusa.com. Physical proposals may be sent by courier such as Federal Express, UPS, etc. to: Brand USA Headquarters C/O RFP Administrator 1725 Eye Street NW, Suite 800 Washington, D.C ATTN: RFP Customer Relationship Management Service Phone: rfpadmin@thebrandusa.com EVALUATION AND CONTRACTING All proposals satisfying the requirements of this Request for Proposals will be evaluated to establish which of the providers best fulfills the needs of Brand USA and this project. This Request for Proposals in no way commits Brand USA to award a contract, to pay any costs in preparation of a proposal, or to contract for the goods and/or services offered. Brand USA reserves the right to accept or reject any, some or all proposals received as a result of this request, to negotiate with all qualified providers or to cancel this Request for Proposals. After awarding the contract, the schedule will include a period of collaboration between Brand USA and the selected Contractor to better define, elaborate upon, and fix the Contractor s final Scope of Work and general Terms and Conditions. 6 Brand USA Request for Proposal

8 ATTACHMENT 1 NOTICE OF INTENT TO BID Due: February 21, :00 PM EST. SEND TO: Brand USA Headquarters C/O RFP Administrator 1725 Eye Street NW, Suite 800 Washington, D.C ATTN: RFP Customer Relationship Management Service Phone: rfpadmin@thebrandusa.com NAME OF BIDDER / COMPANY: CONTACT PERSON: MAILING ADDRESS: TELEPHONE: FAX: ADDRESS: SIGNED: 7 Brand USA Request for Proposal

9 ATTACHMENT 2 CERTIFICATION Please include this statement as part of the Proposal Certification Statement By submission of this proposal and authorized signature below, Proposer certifies that the undersigned corporate officer has authority to bind the bidder to the terms of this Proposal and hereby certifies on behalf of the bidder that: 1. He/she has read and understands all commitments and terms of this Proposal. 2. The information contained in this Proposal is accurate. 3. Proposer s quote is valid for at least 120 days from the date of proposal s signature below. 4. Proposer understands that if selected as the successful Proposer, he/she will have ten (10) business days in which to complete contract negotiations, if any, and execute the final contract document. Date of execution can be extended by mutual agreement of contractor / Brand USA. Authorized Signature: Title: Typed or Printed Name: Date Official Contact Brand USA requests that the Proposer designate one person to receive all communications for clarification and verification of information related to this proposal. Please identify this point of contact below: Official Contact Name Phone number: Official Contact Title Facsimile Number: Address Street, City, State, Zip 8 Brand USA Request for Proposal

10 ATTACHMENT 3 FOR BRAND USA USE ONLY Bid/Proposal: Evaluated By: Date: PROPOSAL EVALUATION CRITERIA The evaluation committee will judge each written proposal based on the following criteria: Vendor Selection Criteria Max Points Score Responses may be evaluated using criteria in accordance with Brand USA's strategic goals including, but not limited to, the following: Total cost for solution 10 Availability of pro-rated pricing model Time it takes to add a new source to the Social Media Monitoring solution on average Cost to add a new source to the Social Media Monitoring solution on average Prior experience with travel and hospitality sector clients with similar scale, multiple markets, types of users and volume of social media posts listened to and interacted with Availability and cost of digital and in-person training 5 Availability and cost of Professional Services 5 Site & Content Coverage & Refresh rates 5 A minimum of 24-hour cycle for frequency of harvesting sites (scraping, indexing or other means of capturing and assessing content. etc.). A clear delineation of relevant travel and hospitality source content that the provider receives as a direct data feed on a 24-hour cycle. Competitive Analysis Capabilities 10 Facilitates the direct comparison of Brand USA versus competitors on post volume Facilitates the direct comparison of Brand USA versus competitors in sentiment Facilitates the direct comparison of Brand USA versus competitors on post categories and subcategories Facilitates the direct comparison of Brand USA versus competitors on influence measures such as reach, etc Brand USA Request for Proposal

11 Ability to automate changes to Brand USA partners competitive sets as well as add new Brand USA partners with competitive sets at least monthly, in a timely manner and at no additional cost Ability for select user groups to alter the criteria by which a destination is identified. Ability for select user groups to add or delete Brand USA partners and competitive set of Brand USA partners. Internal Work flow for Web Browsing, Posting, & Calendar Processes Workflow processing of engagement with posts including the ability to assign status of open, closed and resolved. Provide the history and reporting on the life cycle of engagement with posts. Ability to set up customized Work-flow and alert tiers Ability to send alerts when Brand USA or our partners receive new posts on regularly scheduled frequency, at minimum not less than 1 time per 24-hour period. Ability to respond to posts within the reporting application and assign these tasks to specific users. Ability to add notes to a post Ability to offer interactive help links with directions, tips and best practices. Compatibility with all current major web browsers including Internet Explorer, Safari, Firefox, Chrome, etc. Ability to set calendar reminders / integrate with Outlook for Mac calendar, Exchange Server or OWS and the ability to send directly from the reporting application. Integration & Interoperability 10 Ability to integrate data and workflows with 3rd Party platforms Availability of documented, published multidirectional APIs Tracking & Reporting 15 Ability to filter, search and group results by source, Destination Marketing Organization (DMO), Brand USA partner, themes/key words, time period, DMO global and region, DMO country, etc. easily and on the fly Brand USA Request for Proposal

12 Ability to deliver static reports and stakeholder-level scorecards of overall satisfaction, percent recommend, ranking, and number of reviews from major global, regional and national Social Media Sites for Brand USA partners and their competitors, at least monthly. Ability to track specific posters on the various sources of social media. Ability to Social Media Monitoring reports to users and stakeholders. Ability to embed widgets presenting current Social Media Monitoring data in external applications, scorecards and webpages. Ability to download data and the verbatim posts from application (self service). Ability to deliver custom or regular data feeds outside application per user requests. Ability to deliver posts (preferably through a live data feed) to a text analytics provider for the assignment of categories, subcategories and sentiment to individual clauses within the verbatim comment. Then integrate these attributes back into the Social Media Monitoring application. Audit Capabilities 10 Data integrity/quality assurance processes for ensuring that the social media content in the solution is accurate (correct posts associated with the correct Brand USA partners, does not contain duplicate posts so that volume metrics are accurate, etc.), and is comprehensive of the social media discussion volume Transparency in the data collection and partner identification processes Ability to track and report on system usage including which properties a specific user accesses and the ability to extract this information for all users for external reporting. Offers permissions based access to the reporting system including ability to limit access to editing of property identifying criteria. This would also allow for the creation of tiers of users within a hierarchy of rights for instance corporate power users, corporate users and DMO level users. Multi-Market, Multi-Language Coverage 15 Ability to present posts in the original language and provide an English translation 11 Brand USA Request for Proposal

13 Multi-language capability for: Arabic Chinese (simplified & traditional) French (Canada) French (Europe) German Hindu Italian Japanese Korean Portuguese (Americas) Russian Spanish (Americas) Spanish (Europe) Turkish 12 Brand USA Request for Proposal

14 ATTACHMENT 4 FOR BRAND USA USE ONLY Bid/Proposal: Evaluated By: Date: ORAL INTERVIEW / DEMONSTRATION CRITERIA The evaluation committee may, if it deems necessary, select certain proposers for oral interviews and/or demonstrations. Interviews/demonstrations apply only to the top finalist(s), as determined by the evaluation committee. The oral interviews/demonstrations will allow finalists to demonstrate their understanding of the project objectives and to articulate their capability to meet or exceed the requirements of this RFP. The evaluation committee reserves the option of conducting the oral interviews/demonstrations via teleconference, at the Brand USA office, at the finalist s and/or the proposed subcontractor s site, or other designated site. The evaluation committee reserves the right to designate one or more members of the committee to perform the oral interviews/ demonstrations, if needed, so that grading of oral interviews/demonstrations may be done by fewer than the entire committee. If interviews/demonstrations are not required, the maximum number of points is 100. If interviews/demonstrations are deemed necessary, the maximum number of points is 150. If a finalist cannot meet on the designated interview/demonstration date, the evaluation committee reserves the right to disqualify the finalist as non-responsive. The following criteria will be used for scoring the oral interview/demonstration: MAX. POINTS SCORE 1. Provider software demonstrations and/or trials will be judged on the same criteria as listed in Attachment 4 Proposal Evaluation Criteria. 50 SUBTOTAL POINTS 50 TOTAL POINTS Brand USA Request for Proposal

15 ATTACHMENT 5 User Scenarios Please use these to respond to the needs specified the role-based scenarios. Simple Use Case Social Media Manager 1. User Profile: What is the user s title? What is the user s primary role or function? Social Media Manager, to manage the content strategy, messaging, platform strategy, and advertising of Discover America and its social properties. 2. Background: Why is the user interested in using the toolset? To monitor the sentiment of consumers about travel to the United States, track active posters and respond to posts. 3. Objective: What task will the user complete? What does the user need or want to achieve? Tracking sentiment and measuring the effectiveness of the consumer social media campain in its ability to impact the sentiment, and address negative comments. Idenfity Discover America influencers and naysayers and respond to them in real time through the toolset. 4. Narrative: What happens after the user completes their task? What is the result they want to see? What will they do with the information they receive? Explain what the user does, decisions that the user makes based on interactions with the toolset, and/or the consequences of using the toolset: The user will track sentiment as a baseline, and measure sentiment as new social campaigns are rolled out. The user would like to sentiment tied to social campaigns and marketing efforts increase. The user might alter a campaign or future campaigns based on tracking. 14 Brand USA Request for Proposal

16 Simple Use Case Local Community Manager 1. User Profile: What is the user s title? What is the user s primary role or function? Request for Proposal Local community manager, to manage the local community in- language on the local level and generate/maintain interest in travel to the United States. 2. Background: Why is the user interested in using the toolset? To monitor the sentiment of local consumers about travel to the United States and respond to posts in language. 3. Objective: What task will the user complete? What does the user need or want to achieve? Tracking sentiment and listening to what locals are saying about travel to the USA to provide insight on how to influence travels to be interested in and travel to the USA and identify active users to engage with to influence others. 4. Narrative: What happens after the user completes their task? What is the result they want to see? What will they do with the information they receive? Explain what the user does, decisions that the user makes based on interactions with the toolset, and/or the consequences of using the toolset: The user will track sentiment as a baseline in their local market and language. They will measure sentiment throughout the year and as new campaigns are rolled out. The user would like to be track sentiment associated with social campaigns and marketing efforts and positively impact sentiment. The user might use the information to better localize social media messaging to fit their market and concerns. 15 Brand USA Request for Proposal

17 Simple Use Case Manger of Corporate Communications and Social Media 1. User Profile: What is the user s title? What is the user s primary role or function? Manager of Corporate Communications and Social Media 2. Background: Why is the user interested in using the toolset? To monitor the sentiment about Brand USA as an organization. This includes the opinion of government officials, potential business parthers, members of congress, the press and other stakeholders. 3. Objective: What task will the user complete? What does the user need or want to achieve? The user wants to monitor the mentions of Brand USA across the socialsphere and address issues and misrepresentations of Brand USA. The user would like to increase sentiment of Brand USA in the hopes of getting the organizaiton reauthorized by the Federal government. The use wants to identify Brand USA advocates and naysayers in the digital space and engage with them as appropriate through social media or other channels. 4. Narrative: What happens after the user completes their task? What is the result they want to see? What will they do with the information they receive? Explain what the user does, decisions that the user makes based on interactions with the toolset, and/or the consequences of using the toolset: The user wants to see positive sentiment of Brand USA in social channels. They can use corporate communications efforts to address misconceptions out the in social sphere and address concerns directly. The user will be better able to target naysayers in the government, media and stakeholder groups directly as a result, and would be better able to support those who champion Brand USA. 16 Brand USA Request for Proposal

18 Simple Use Case - Global Manager of Marketing and Analytics 1. User Profile: What is the user s title? What is the user s primary role or function? Global Manager of Marketing and Analytics 2. Background: Why is the user interested in using the toolset? To monitor and evalute social media campaigns and test the sentiment of travel to the United States as it evolves over time. 3. Objective: What task will the user complete? What does the user need or want to achieve? The user would use the tool to track sentiment and identify trends over time. The user will also use this tool as a way to track the effectiveness of social campaigns. 4. Narrative: What happens after the user completes their task? What is the result they want to see? What will they do with the information they receive? Explain what the user does, decisions that the user makes based on interactions with the toolset, and/or the consequences of using the toolset: At the business level, we are tracking sentiment and its increase as part of ROI for social and intent to travel. The user might also work with the social media manager to adjust campaigns to improve sentiment or messaging to better fit the audience. 17 Brand USA Request for Proposal