4 Successful Christmas Marketing Campaigns
Should I buy a dress for Aunty Kate from Country Road or Seed? Should I get a voucher for Pop from Bunnings or Mitre 10? Christmas is a super competitive time, so it's no wonder that brands are breaking creative barriers and doing everything they can to be more innovative when it comes to their digital marketing efforts over the silly season.
Here are a few examples of Christmas digital campaigns that we think were really effective.
One of our all time favourite campaigns is Ted Baker’s “TedsElfie” campaign from 2014. Ted Baker fans were encouraged to follow @TedsElfie on Instagram to participate in the game. Ted Baker created a number of Instagram accounts for the campaign, with each account featuring hand drawn images where users had to find the seven ‘missing’ elves, in return for prizes. The brand would drop hints on where to look and encourage their fans to watch the TedsElfie hashtag to be kept in the loop. Ted Baker had over 37 thousand interactions throughout the campaign and 14.5 thousand competition entries. Amazing right?!
Another campaign we loved was Topshop’s 2013 “Dear Topshop” campaign. Run purely on Pinterest, this campaign was amazing for engagement and exposure. The campaign asked fans to create a mood board on Pinterest dedicated to the perfect Christmas day. Users could pin things like decorations, dream outfits and food. All pins had to include #DearTopshop and the best boards received shopping sprees worth up to 500 pounds ($900). You’d be crazy not to enter really!
A campaign we’ve loved this year is Spotify’s “2017 Unwrapped” campaign.
The campaign showed users their top artists and songs of 2017, as well as how many minutes of music they listed to. The brand incorporated a fun little quiz into the campaign, which engages users. Spotify also gifts users with two playlists - one featuring their top songs of 2017 and another handpicked playlist based on what music they love. The brand also encourages users to share their “2017 Unwrapped” on their social media pages, with links to do so. Spotify’s campaign builds customer loyalty and makes users feel special. Interestingly, it makes users login to access the campaign so this could definitely be a tactic to re-engage lost customers. Seems pretty great to us!
If you’re new to Christmas campaigns, a popular one to start with is the ‘12 Days of Christmas’ campaign where each day features a new giveaway, discount code or offer. For example, Broadsheet in Melbourne is currently doing their 12 Trays of Christmas where they give away a new product each day. This is great for engagement and obtaining new customers.
Do you want to incorporate some amazing digital campaigns into your social plan for the New Year? Get in touch today to book in a consulting session with our team.
Create, Credit, Copyright
Don’t get us wrong, the Internet is a wonderful platform that has leveraged marketing opportunities for thousands of brands and created a whole new industry for those creatively driven. However, it hasn’t come without some bad practices largely due to ignorance and laziness. If you haven’t figured it out by now, we’re talking about copyright.
Did you know that if you create something original, whether it be music, written work or a photo, your work is protected under Australian Copyright Law? This protection is instantaneous from the moment of creation and no copyright registration is required. What many people don’t realise is that this law extends to content that is posted to social media. Have you ever come across an Instagram #inspo account or seen a photo credited with ‘image via pinterest? If you have, then it’s likely you’ve come across content that is breaching federal legislation.
Social media, particularly Instagram, is a platform that encourages people to share content and inspiration. However, in some scenarios, people have taken the sharing culture a little too far by claiming other’s content as their own.
To ensure that you are following social media etiquette, we have put together a few tips that will help you to keep your feed honest, reputable and legal.
- Ask permission to regram the original content creator’s image by simply sending them a quick DM. Most people are more than happy for you to share their content as long as you tag them in the photo and credit them in the caption.
- Tag and credit! Be sure to always tag and credit the content creator in both the caption and the image tags. This way you’re never misleading anyone.
- If in doubt or you can’t find the original content creator, consider whether you really need to post that particular photo.
Why not have a go at trying to create your own content. We’ve shared plenty of handy tips and tricks in our ‘Mastering the #flatlay’ online course to help you get started.
Why Content Is King
You’d have to be living under a rock, or a very full shopping bag, to not have seen the rise of the art of content marketing.
Whether it be a blog, beautiful imagery for Instagram and Pinterest, or engaging copy for your social media channels – by now you’ve no doubt heard that content is king!
But why is creating good quality content important for your business? Here are our top three reasons why content creation is a vital part of your marketing strategy.
- It gives your brand personality and sets you apart from the crowd. If you want to create a point of difference for your business in a crowded market place, developing your brand’s personality is a great place to start and the best way to do this is through content marketing. Use blog posts, images, videos and social media interaction to connect with your customers and share your passion, knowledge and skills in a way that people want to connect with.
- It aids Search Engine Optimisation. Not only does great content give businesses a way to connect with consumers online and share information about the business and it’s services, it can also be a fantastic SEO tool and can work to improve your Google ranking.
- It provides you with engaging material to share on social media. For maximum reach on social media, we recommend businesses post online at least 2-3 times per day. This may seem like a lot of work, but when it comes to social media marketing, consistency is key. You can assume that each time you post online only 20-30% of your following will see your content – so now you see why it’s important to have a presence throughout the day to ensure visibility. By consistently creating quality content for your brand, you will have plenty of engaging material to share out to your audience online, putting your brand one step closer to social media success!
Here at Melbourne Social Co, we understand that when you’re running a business, finding time to create engaging content and consistently manage your social media presence can be stressful and time consuming.
That’s where we come in.
Melbourne Social Co has a team of highly experienced content creators at our fingertips. From bloggers, to photographers and stylists – we have the right content creator to suit your business.
We will customise a content creation package to suit your business. Contact us today to find out more!
How To Build A Following On Pinterest
One of the biggest social media platforms right now, Pinterest, is an essential digital marketing tool for many businesses.
However, building a following can be hard, so it’s important to build a strategy and to implement some great techniques to amp up your Pinterest profile and to develop an engaged online community.
Read on below for tips on how to grow your following on Pinterest.
Create niche boards:
In order to stand out from the crowd on Pinterest, a great tip is to create niche boards with titles and images that are very specific. This means you have a better chance to be found and can be followed by a specific and more engaged target audience.
Post to your most popular boards:
Regardless if you are new to the Pinterest world, or an expert, if you continue to pin most of your content to your most popular boards you know you will get a great response. There’s a reason people love those boards and chances are others will continue to discover your content!
Use keywords:
Pinterest images with keywords rank highly when they are searched for on Google, so ensure that you caption all your images with keywords that describe your board, theme and business. This will not only help people find you on Google, but it will attract the right target audience to respond to your boards, pins and profile.
Advertise:
Coming soon to Australia, Pinterest advertising is the next big thing to help you grow and expand your Pinterest community. You can selected two main campaign objectives, including boosting engagement with your pins, or increasing traffic to your website. All campaigns allow you to personalise your budget and target audience and track your campaign.
Promote!
Don’t just leave your pinning to Pinterest. Promote your pinnable images on your website by adding a button that allows readers to pin your content straight from your site. Also adding in a follow section on your website, blog, email marketing and even sharing content on other social media networks will help to spread the word.
Have you got a Pinterest account that needs a boost or simply need some help getting started? Contact our expert team for some advice today.
Social Media Terminology 101
Sometimes the world of digital marketing and social media can seem hard to understand, that’s why we thought we’d share with you some of the most commonly used terms in social media so you can start to get your head around this essential marketing tool.
Common social media marketing terminology:
SEO: Perhaps one of the most important terms for all businesses to know is SEO – which stands for Search Engine Optimisation. Search Engine Optimisation refers to implementing strategies and techniques to improve the quality of unpaid traffic to a website from search engines.
Hashtag: A hashtag is used to categorise content on social media platforms and make it searchable for consumers and audiences. An example could be #fashion.
Engagement Rate: Here at Melbourne Social Co we are big believers in measuring the engagement rate of your social media marketing content. But what does it mean? Engagement rate refers to the amount of times people have clicked, liked and shared your content on any given platform.
Facebook Advertising: Advertising on Facebook has quickly become a huge part of any business marketing strategy. It refers to paying to “boost” posts on Facebook so more people can see the content and engage, or to create banners or posts with varying objectives to target your consumer. Facebook advertising can be tailored to a range of demographic variables from location, age, gender and interests.
Re-tweet: This term comes from Twitter and happens when another account shares the tweet you have posted so that their followers can also see the content regardless if they are following you or not. Re-tweeting is a great way to make your twitter account and content visible.
Snapchat: Loved by millennials, Snapchat is a social media platform where you can send pictures or videos of your day-to-day life with a 10-second time limit to your choice of friends. You can send “stories”, which means all your friends can view the 10-second media for the next day or so, or send images directly to a person for a one-time only viewing.
Instagram: One of the most on-trend social media marketing platforms right now is Instagram, a great way to share images to your followers in a visual, creative and engaging way.
Pinterest: Commonly referred to as the new ‘Google’ of image searching, Pinterest is a way to create visual boards of images on various topics that have link backs to your business or personal website or other sites of interest.
GIF: GIF is an acronym for Graphics Interchange Format, which means small-animated images that consumers love!
Handle: This term refers to the name of someone’s social media account. For example, our Instagram handle is @melbournesocialco.
Need help figuring out other social media lingo or social media in general? We have a range of packages and services available for your business, including content creation and distribution and social media 101 training.
Contact us: e: [email protected]
The Biggest Content Marketing Trends for 2016
The New Year is fast approaching and here at Melbourne Social Co we like to stay ahead of the curve, so we’ve rounded up some of the biggest content marketing trends to look out for in 2016.
The biggest content marketing trends for 2016 are:
New publishing options available on social media:
Facebook started this trend when it introduced “Instant Articles,” which allows you as the consumer/ or us as your social media managers to publish articles directly onto the Facebook platform. Google is also going to introduce its own version of this and we bet other social networks will follow on! This trend highlights the importance of high-quality written and visual content for brands and businesses as part of any social media and marketing strategy.
Content will demand more visual mediums:
We’ve said it before and we will say it again! Visual content is king. Content on blogs and social media will rely more on adding images and videos to engage and connect with consumers. Great visual content has become a vital way to quickly grab the attention of your consumer, who are becoming more time poor and are after fast media consumption.
Mobile optimisation is key:
You can’t deny the importance of ensuring that your business website is optimised for mobile users, as the majority of your consumer will likely be accessing your website from their phones. Mobile optimisation is essential to keep visitors and potential consumers on your website and coming back for more. Make sure your mobile site is also share friendly, allowing consumers to share your content and images via their own social networks to increase engagement and to get people talking.
Buy buttons will be everywhere:
Facebook and Pinterest have added buy features to their platforms to transition their social media consumers into buyers of products and services, making it more vital than ever to be on social media and to have an effective strategy. Other social media and online platforms are sure to follow suit and the trend will only grow as buying habits change.
Need help?
Is your business set-up to adapt to these content marketing trends for 2016 so you don’t get left behind? Get in touch today to find out how we can create amazing digital content, branding, strategy and more for your business.
Contact us for more information.
4 Reasons Your Business Should Be On Pinterest
One of the fastest growing platforms, Pinterest, has become an essential part of any digital marketing strategy, with its powerful Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) benefits, ability to increase traffic to your business website and an opportunity for pinners to become creatively interactive with your business.
Not convinced? Here are 4 reasons why your business should be on Pinterest.
Your target market is using it:
A recent survey announced that more than 100 million people are on Pinterest, which means there is a large consumer base just waiting for you to connect with. The target market is typically females under 40-years-old, who have broad interests in a range of topics including pets, fashion, food, travel, fitness, creative DIY, business and more.
Pinners want to engage with businesses:
According to Pinterest, a recent study has shown that when pinners were asked if they’d rather follow a celebrity or business, 83% said they would rather follow a business. This means Pinterest encourages active audiences who are keen to know about your product or service and engage in your business inspirations and interests.
Your pins last forever:
There’s no secret that social media and content marketing is gold for Search Engine Optimisation and Pinterest is no exception. Unlike other forms of SEO strategies, your pins on Pinterest last forever. That means that as search and discovery are at the forefront of what makes pinners engaged, your content will always be there, available and searchable so they can be pinned, clicked on, liked and shared for many years to come.
Pinterest drives traffic:
If one of your main social media objectives is to get people to click through to your website, then Pinterest is the place to be. When you pin an image from your website, it allows pinners to then save that image onto their own boards, or simply click on that image to be taken to your business’s website for more information or to purchase your products or services.
Do you know how to strategically use Pinterest to boost SEO, increase website traffic and create an active online following for your business?
If not - Melbourne Social Co has a range of social media account management and training packages available for your business now.
Contact us for more information: [email protected]
Why is Social Media important for small business?
Because your customers are already using it.
Consider these statistics of Australian Social Media users from August 2014:
Social Media Statistics Australia – August 2014 - source socialmedianews.com.au
1. Facebook – 13,400,000 users (steady)
2. YouTube – 13,000,000 UAVs
3. WordPress.com – 6,100,000
4. Tumblr – 4,600,000
5. LinkedIn – 3,900,000
6. Blogspot – 3,050,000
7. Twitter – 2,791,300 Active Australian Users (see calculation)
8. Instagram – 2,060,000 Active Australian Users (see calculation)
9. TripAdvisor – 1,550,000
10. Yelp – 1,300,000
11. Snapchat - 1,070,000 Active Australian Users (see calculation).
12. Tinder – 1,000,000 Australian users
13. Flickr – 740,000
14. Pinterest – 380,000
15. Reddit – 160,000
The chances are that much of your target market is already using social media. If you want to reach clients and prospects, you need to be where they are – by using social media you’ll increase the odds that your marketing message will get through to a significant number of them.
It will help you connect with your customers/clients.
Most marketing channels are one-way in nature – a business sends out its marketing message, and the consumer receives it. With Social Media, you can actually have a conversation with your audience. Social Media helps to create a community of fans and followers that see you as more than just a business entity.
They’ll view you as someone they trust, and people use the services of those they trust.
Not sure where to start in the crazy world of Social Media? Melbourne Social Co offer a range of packages for businesses looking to begin, expand on or capitalise on the ‘noise’ their brand is making in the digital world.
Contact us for more information - [email protected]