How Clorox Keeps Its Content Strategy Squeaky Clean

For a household brand approaching its 100th anniversary, Clorox remains true to its beginnings as an innovative company with a mission to offer customers value.

Ninety-eight years ago on May 3, 1913, five Californian entrepreneurs invented a method for converting the brine in San Francisco Bay salt ponds into a disinfecting solution that they named Clorox bleach. Today the company’s ubiquitous laundry and home cleaning products — including brand names such as Pine Sol and Formula 409 — are sold in more than 100 countries worldwide.

Contently recently caught up with Amanda Mahan, creative director of digital and content for Clorox, to discover how the company juggles a variety of digital platforms to maintain its reputation as the icon of clean.

Contently: What kind of web content does Clorox produce and what need does each type of content fill?

Mahan: We want the content we produce for the many brands at Clorox to add value. To do this, we try to ensure that our content reaches each of our consumers in unique and meaningful ways. In addition to product information, we strive to be a resource.

Our varied content includes videos, blog posts, expert content and even user-generated promotions where consumers can interact with each other. For example, besides detailed product information, Clorox.com also provides resources on cleaning tips, promotions and offers and games. We feature two blogs by employees. ‘Dr. Laundry’ allows fans to ask and receive expert cleaning advice, and our ‘Mom Moments’ blog is written by a working mother of two who dishes on her day-to-day at home and work.

Contently: What about social media?

Mahan: In social spaces like Facebook, we look to engage our fans and keep our conversation relevant to what our customers are talking about. We get involved in trending topics, relevant headlines or common concerns and
experiences.  

We’re also proud of our award-winning MyStain smartphone app that gives people convenient stain removal advice and our new Ingredients Disclosure app that allows consumers to scan the UPC codes of our products to learn about our ingredients. We’re always looking to provide content on-the-go.

Contently: How much and how often do you publish?

Mahan: Frequency depends on the brand, budget, bandwidth and audience. In social media channels (Facebook and Twitter) we publish nearly daily. Finding balance is key. We ask ourselves if we’re adding value before we share any content.

Contently: What sort of a mix do you include in terms of promotions, contests and surveys? 

Mahan: Much of this comes through our digital strategy, but we try to offer a variety of content so that we’re more than information on products. For example, we launched ratings and reviews on our website to include content from other users of our products. Our content often involves promotions, but it also includes other resources like germ-fighting tips during cold and flu season. On Facebook, we try to be part of the conversation and engage the customer, so that particular content isn’t often related to a product or promotion.

Contently: What types of content have been most well-received? 

Mahan: The most successful content is often around our cause partnerships. We had high engagement around a donation we pledged to the Children’s Health Fund for each new fan on Facebook, resulting in a $100,000 donation. Clorox also donates bleach and other products to the American Red Cross for disaster relief, and fans resonate when we we share news about this support after disasters like the tornadoes in Joplin, MO.

Most recently our Bleachable Moments campaign has provided fun and engaging content for our community on Facebook. Everyone can laugh at a “bleachable moment” in their own life. We’ve experienced an increase in nearly 50,000 fans since the campaign launched.

Contently: How do you determine the effectiveness or ROI of the content produced?

Mahan: We are currently working on measurements for content ROI. It’s a challenge, but we track engagement and other metrics to help ensure our content resonates and adds value.