Reactive marketing - Why it's important to give your social media team creative freedom
The chances are if you’re active on Twitter you’ll have seen Weetabix and Heinz trending recently for what has to be one of the most unusual brand partnerships we’ve ever come across.
Whether you are a consumer browsing the feed or someone working in the FMCG, food manufacturing or marketing sectors, you’ll have noticed the companies trending together last week after Weetabix posted a picture of the brand’s famous cereal biscuits covered in baked beans.
The post simply said: “Why should bread have all the fun, when there's Weetabix? Serving up @HeinzUKBeanz on bix for breakfast with a twist. #ItHasToBeHeinz #HaveYouHadYourWeetabix”
The caption obviously suggests that this is an everyday breakfast option, even though the usual accompaniment for Weetabix is products such as milk, yogurt, fruit etc. (definitely not beans). The rest of the internet however, strongly disagreed.
Within just a few minutes of posting the update, consumers and brands from around the world piled in with their opinions and the media started monitoring the update and writing articles about it. Then, what ensued was one of the most engaging social media marketing campaigns we have seen for quite some time. A whole host of businesses got involved adding some good-natured banter to the thread including supermarkets and food related brands such as Sainsbury’s, Tesco, Toblerone and even Domino’s Pizza.
What was most surprising however, was how many businesses that you wouldn’t expect to take part in the fun did too. Many brands that are known to be quite conservative waded in with some creative responses, including Citizens Advice, RSPCA and even the GCHQ (Government Communications Headquarters).
A RECIPE FOR SUCCESS
What made this thread so great was the content posted by all involved wasn’t controversial, it didn’t push for sales and everyone that took part did so to have fun. In the words of PR Moments, it was ‘no risk, no rudeness and no chance to offend, the perfect piece of social content.’
Another reason the post worked so well, not just for Weetabix and Heinz, but for all involved was that it is clear with how timely the responses were, that a good level of trust and creative freedom had been given to the social media managers working for these businesses.
For a response to work well on a trending tweet, a social media manager has to not only be creative and a little clever with the copy, but they also have to be quick. To achieve that, the respective business needs to be able to trust the social media team to make the right decisions, represent them well and have the skills and expertise to create a great tweet that they know will work.
That’s why it’s important to ensure you work with a reputable agency that has the initiative to put together an update that will be on brand, suitable to your tone of voice and creative enough to grab the attention of other users.
We’re not saying you shouldn’t approve the work your social media team does, but you should be confident enough to let them put together suggestions and tell you how and why they will work well, and most importantly you should be able to trust their judgement.
Here at Dragonfly PR, the first thing we do when we start working with a new client is develop a tone of voice, key messaging and content strategy that works as a basis for all we do. Not only does this set a template for working and ensure we are developing copy that is on brand from the start, but it also helps to create trust and builds on our reputation for working as an extension of our client’s teams.
Furthermore, our social media team has years of experience in delivering strategic reactive and planned marketing campaigns that are engaging, creative and on-brand. All content that we create is developed bespoke to suit our client’s requirements, products, audience, budget and has been proved to increase awareness, boost reputations and often results in securing sales.
In fact, most recently, just three weeks after we have started working with a new B2B client, our social media campaign has not only helped increase followers and engagement on their platforms, but also raised awareness so much that they have secured a lucrative sales lead from a leading company overseas. If that isn’t social media marketing done well, then what is?
For more information or to speak to a member of our team about how we can help you with your social media strategy and ensure that next time there is a trending topic that you should be a part of, you’re one of the first to comment, get in touch. Call 01143 495345 or email hello@dragonflypr.co.uk.
Dragonfly PR is a Sheffield-based PR and digital marketing agency that specialises in media relations, content marketing and organic SEO for construction, manufacturing and food companies.