Brands Turn to Faithful Friends – Promotions and Pictures – for Engagement
Promotions and pictures are tried and true methods of inspiring participation from fans, and all the Big Movers This Week on Media Logic’s Retail Social Juice Index (RSJI) turned to those faithful friends to boost engagement.
Stella & Dot’s #socialjuice score peaked at 969 last week, the result of a single-day gain of 877 points. How’d the brand do it? A photo of a box of Stella & Dot merchandise with a link to a sweepstakes entry form and a status that built excitement for the prize: “’Like’ this post if you’d like to receive a giant Stella & Dot delivery at your doorstep.” Nearly 50,000 fans did! With a fan base of around 228K, however, that kind of interest didn’t just happen. Contest aggregators helped spread the word, as did fans who were given incentive to do so. They qualified to win $500 in jewelry – a bigger prize than the main offer! – if they got three friends to enter.
The second spot in the RSJI’s Big Movers This Week also belonged to Stella & Dot … this time for a drop in engagement. The day after its super successful post about the sweepstakes, it published an image with respectable engagement – 3,217 likes and 1,165 shares – but it wasn’t able to rise to the bar set the day before.
Green Mountain Coffee used a promotion to fire up fans, too. It offered free samples of its new Hazelnut Iced Coffee, an engagement tactic that has worked well for the brand in the past. Though many used the comments to complain that they couldn’t get the entry form to work, most everyone seemed thrilled … and the brand had to come back later to say the samples were all gone.
A bizarre move spiked engagement 224 points for 1SaleADay. It posted a photo that appeared to have absolutely nothing to do with brand identity accompanied by a link to an unrelated product. The photo showed a young girl standing in a parking lot while her dad looked on with crossed arms. She held a sign that said, “I lied to my dad.” The interesting call-to-action from 1SaleADay? “Parenting question: Do you agree or disagree with this punishment? Comment. Technology question (unrelated): Do you own a tablet?” Huh? We don’t know if fans followed the mismatched link or not, but they certainly responded to the photo! It earned 2,798 comments, 10,237 likes and 1,640 shares.
In contrast, Hayneedle’s pictures of captivating indoor and outdoor spaces align very well with the brand. The photo that earned high engagement this week was a desk, a laptop, a cocktail and candles arranged on the beach. The call to action? “Post the first word(s) that comes to mind when you look at this.” Many people wanted the set-up to be their office. Others suggested losing the laptop and just enjoying the surf. Either way, it got people talking!
Promotions and pictures are great ways to boost engagement, but make sure it’s not fleeting by using them to have fun and build your brand. Want more tips? Contact us.
