MARKETING STRATEGY
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Aims
The aim is to build an online following by introducing the company to Instagram to aid with the branding of the business.
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Increase engagement with consumers
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Build online following to 150
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Introduce business to a new market
Strategy
My market research showed that Instagram accounts of other companies in Dundee had the ability to reach 800 followers over the course of one year from first being established. From statistics of Café Rodi and Jute Cafe Bar my goal was to use the social media app Instagram and gain 150 followers in the first month of being active.
My methods in making the aims of this campaign successful were:
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Post daily with original food based content
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Curation of business hashtag i.e. #madigansfoodemporium
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Make feed aesthetically pleasing and consistent by utilizing filter options
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Offer discounts and promo codes to increase user engagement
Timeline
This campaign is still ongoing however a timeline was set when aiming to gain the first 150 follwers. The campaign started on April 1st and within the first 4 weeks, so by the 29th of April, it was intended that the acocunt reached or surpassed the 150 follower count.
The main social media platform used for this campaign was Instagram.
Name - The main factor that I first made Madigan's aware of was the username. The name of the company on the building is "Madigans Food Emporium' but they name they are known by on social media is 'Madigans Tearoom and Bookshop', the business wanted the latter name to keep in theme with their Facebook page, however I made it aware to them that the longer the name the more difficult it would be for people to find the account. I also suggested that a consice plainly indicating who the company are would be more effective in making gaining followers. Taking these factors into consideration we agreed to have the account name 'Madigan'stearoom'.
Hashtag - The use of hashtags boost the chances of your image being seen by other users who search for similar content. I searched Instagram for existing hashtags to build from but noticed only a coulpe of images had used location tags with also location tagged every post to Madigan's Food Emporium, I used this current tag as it showed epople were already using and aware of online activity, again to boost and reinforce the brand name.
I decided to llink the Instagram to the Facebook so every or at least more of the posts uploaded to Instagram will be uploaded to the Facebook page simultaneously, the purpose of this was for two reasons:
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To provide more content to the Facebook page other than text posts; as previously stated image driven posts see more engagement – this could be beneficial in also boosting the engagement on the Facebook page.
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For Instagram to acts as the bridge between the existing consumer and the newly formed audience, posting to new followers on Instagram will draw them to the business and linking the post to Facebook fulfils the need for content to dedicated customers of the business.
Feed
It was important to create a visual aid that stood out against the other food based companies in Dundee. This was achieved by using free photo editing apps such as Afterlight, Pixlr and Phonto. All images posted to the account were edited using the same filter and colour scheme to highlight the consistancy of the feed in supporting the image of the brand.
One of the main aspects that made Madigan’s individual is the colour scheme; looking at Madigan’s Instagram feed it is clear that there is a recurring theme of purple. This came naturally as the outside building of the tearoom is purple and as well as the décor inside – this consistency from real life transcends into the digital.
'Today is...'
Another strategy to increase user engagement was the creation of daily posts of ‘National Food Days’. In my research into food based products I discovered that every day has been labelled as a food day. With this I created daily ‘filler’ posts to upload as to ensure the Instagram feed was consistent with relative content. The content of the posts included colourful fonts, the same one being used for consistency and a brief discription of the food of that day. The following are examples of the 'Today is…' posts:
Examples of original posts:
Promotional Offers
Market research of competing food companies, both local and further, indicated that discounts and competitions were a successful way to reward customers. With this I curated a mock up post for Madigan's owner as to the possible promotional offers that could be provided on the Instagram account.
As seen in the example, the offer could be a weekly run promotional deal i.e. 'Cupcake Monday', this tool would offer something to the user which would require them to and access the page and the easiness of a screenshot can be shared with friends or family and increase the number of customers actually visting the cafe.
