Social Media Results: A Successful Campaign

I heard late on Friday afternoon that a client of mine – a Stockholm senior high school – has just learned that the first round of applications for next year have more than doubled compared to this stage last year.

Like me, they were ecstatic! Not just because they’re way ahead of targets but also because they decided to go with a recruitment drive based around what was a totally new approach for them: social media marketing.

The Brief

My brief was to come up with a successful alternative using social media and online marcom strategies to what had previously been a series of expensive interruptive marketing campaigns that promoted the school in the national press, national radio, and on the Stockholm T-bana (metro).

The campaign needed to deliver the best qualified 250 applicants possible.

My Approach

I set up and implemened a social media campaign starting in August that included:

• a daily blog, which I’ve written
• a series of low-fi YouTube videos
• daily updates on their Facebook Fan Page
• daily updates on Twitter
• live blogging key events
• and a targeted campaign on Spotify

Working to a tight budget (when aren’t they!!!), we connected with a very tough audience – cynical teens – and communicated the school’s key message. Looking at the official application figures on Friday, it seems they really listened.

Why share this news in public?

I’m not giving any away secrets here that you couldn’t find out on the Net. Besides, bringing this all together is all about the implementation.

And, yes, I’m pleased that it’s worked out for them because something new is always a risk. And, yes again, of course I’m happy to blow my own trumpet in public just a little bit because I need to find new projects to work on to keep my business growing.

But the real reason I’m sharing this news here is that it’s a testament to the power of social media and how communications and marketing are changing.

This shows you can get results with a different approach.

On Twitter, at meetings, at dinner with friends, I often find I have to justify this kind of marcom approach because for many people it STILL IS different; not everyone’s heard of social media marketing, even if they know what Twitter, blogs and Facebook are.

If you’re a small business, wondering how social media marketing and communications can help you, maybe this post will inspire you to find out a little bit more. Or if you’re a marcom exec working with a similar client, maybe this story might help you convince them.

When success comes around I believe we need to share it, celebrate it and learn from it so we can all succeed.

Image:FlickrCC