When Levi’s decided to launch their “Ready to Work” campaign in 2010 that featured their new lineup of outdoor clothing, the company focused on the residents of Braddock, Pennsylvania since the area residents were trying to revive the local steel mills. They took these resident’s rugged image and featured it in several Facebook ads that were targeted at the 18-34 year old demographic. Levi’s also tested Facebook-only 40% off discounts during this campaign to have a measurable conversion rate among the viewers.
Campaign designed to introduce new line of denim clothing
Featured a rugged, All-American steel town
Targeted the 18-34 demographic
Within 15 minutes of the campaign launch, Levi’s saw the traffic to their website double as consumers cashed in on the 40% off incentive. Traffic to the Levi’s Facebook page saw 1500% more interactions, with their total amount of fans increasing by 35% over the course of the campaign. A spokesperson for Levi’s stated that the Facebook campaign was a very cost effective way to drive in new business and they will definitely use similar approaches in the future. To view the actual study, click here.
Houlihan’s Restaurants, a chain that competes with the Appleby’s of the world, has taken a unique approach to marketing themselves online. Eschewing common advice to “go where the eyeballs are,” Houligan’s created a closed online community, letting it promote exclusive invitations to tasting events and other member-only events.
Backed by a 200,000-person email address list, the chain started by identifying its most active customers (those who participated in surveys, RSVPed to offers, etc.)
The chain’s community runs on the private-label Ning service. About 15 to 20 per cent are active members. “We gauge that by hits to the HQ site (when an e-mail is sent asking for feedback, to do a survey, etc),” Houligan’s digital marketing manager said.
Note: Transcript of interview now available for download.
There are hundreds of social media evangelists out there who’ll tell you that your business absolutely needs a Facebook Fan Page, or you’re all but watching dollars slip away. Problem is, ask those same people what return you can reasonably expect from, say, creating and keeping a Facebook Fan Page updated, and the talk about return-on-investment starts going soft. Suddenly, it’s all about “return-on-influence.” Or maybe it’s just something you need to trust.
In the business world, at least where I stand, the only real proof is hard, cold, ROI numbers:
Is my business earning more money?
Have I reversed member attrition?
Has my cost to obtain a client gone down?
Are the numbers of customers walking through the door increasing?
The study “How Effective Is Facebook Marketing” is being featured in this month’s issue of the Harvard Business Review. Utpal Dohlakia is an associate professor of marketing Rice University’s Jones Graduate School of Business and Sara Brook is the owner of Desert Gallery Bakery and Café in Houston TX [Facebook Fan Page]
Case Studies Online publisher Tod Maffin interviewed them both about the company’s social media marketing campaign’s results.
* For the record, I do own a real license for eCamm’s Call Recorder for Skype. Never do software reinstalls just before doing a Skype interview! {grin}
So what about the numbers?
Researchers in the Rice study claim that Facebook Fan Page membership changed customer behaviour for the better. The study involved surveys of more than 1,700 respondents over a three-month period. As for the results, the bakery’s Facebook fans:
Made 36 per cent more visits to DG’s stores each month;
Spent 45 per cent more of their eating-out dollars at DG;
Spent 33 per cent more at DG’s stores;
Were more likely to recommend DG to friends;
Had greater emotional attachment to the company.
Still some caveats: Only about five per cent of the firm’s 13,000 customers became Facebook fans within three months. This could indicate that Facebook fan pages may work best as niche marketing programs targeted to customers who regularly use Facebook. “Social-media marketing must be employed judiciously with other types of marketing programs,” admitted the study author.
Has your company or client achieved similar real-world ROI success from a social media marketing campaign? If so, CaseStudiesOnline.com wants to hear about it! Please let us know about your success.
Trust Agent co-author Chris Brogan sits down with Joe Sorge, who runs AJ Bombers in Milwaukee, Wisconsin about how Twitter is being used to connect with hungry customers.
While there’s not a lot of meat in this case-study burger (no real sense of numbers, stats, etc), Sorge does show off a couple of interesting ideas, like putting the business’ Twitter information on the menus, responding to negative mentions of his business, and showing off some Twitter account names scrawled graffiti-like on the wall.
CoffeeGroundz, a small café in Houston, used Twitter to boost its sales and help spread the word in its community. To begin with, a company executive began following members of tje local Houston “Twitterati” and quickly gained 1,000 followers. Twitterers spread the word quickly — since then, Twitter has been used to actually to take and confirm coffee orders. CoffeeGroundz then hosted a Tweetup event to spread the buzz; nearly 100 people participated. Case Study
Tod Maffin, COO and Senior Strategist at tMedia Strategies, is a digital marketing strategist, specializing in social media, mobile marketing, and viral marketing. [keynote speeches | bio]
Backed by a 200,000-person email address list, the chain started by identifying its most active customers (those who participated in surveys, RSVPed to offers, etc.)
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Tod Maffin, COO and Senior Strategist at