To Market We Go | The Meat Of A Digital Strategy
Today’s newsletter is about the digital strategy that was employed for the Manhattan Beach 10K Run and how I assisted in getting them back to their high registration numbers. To do this, they needed a kick a$$ plan and that is what I delivered!
Content Strategy
Beginning in June, at the onset of each month, I formulated a detailed content strategy. This is a great practice to get into the habit of doing yourself as it gives you a focus and clear direction for the month. It becomes your guide that you can always turn to and keeps you on the right path so you aren’t just dreaming up random content willy nilly.
Each content strategy included:
- the intent/goal for the month
- updating the website
- email newsletter topics
- social media content strategies
- facebook ad strategies
Digital Footprint
In June, I started building the infrastructure for the digital footprint. The run already had Facebook and Instagram pages but they were lacking a Twitter page.
They had over 1,300 followers but the page needed to be freshened up. I tidied it up and made sure it had the current logo, the 2016 race date and a new cover photo. Next, I updated the “About” section and added in all the important categories in that area which included an overview and detailed page information.Those seemingly steps brought new life to the page and followers started liking the new imagery immediately. I also began to follow all of the race sponsors as the page admin and began liking their content and commenting on it. Suddenly there was a human being behind the page making things happen and people were noticing.
The page initially had 41 followers and one lonely post. Off to work I went and started editing the profile. Gave it the same logo as I used for Facebook, made sure the website address was correct, changed the bio to reflect the 2016 race date and announce that registration would open in July, and updated the email address. Once again, started following every single race sponsor, as many Manhattan Beach {and for that matter - South Bay} businesses, offices, restaurants, etc. as I possibly could.
The run did not have a Twitter page, so I created one. Can you guess what I did next? Yes...same logo for the profile picture as the other 2 platforms, a cool header photo, race date info., link to the new website. And what else? Started following all the usual suspects.
Method To My Madness
Do you see a pattern here? Yes! The 3 social platforms became a unified team as far as branding and reflecting all the pertinent information about the race. No longer could people say, “Well geez I couldn’t run the race because I didn’t know when it was.”
When registration opened in July, people immediately began to sign up for the race because they had been properly informed (via the website and social media) about the why, when and how.
Content, Content, Content
Once the infrastructure was built for the digital footprint, I began to populate the 3 platforms with content. And not just any content, it was purposeful (see content strategy above). It went from informing everyone about the newly designed website, to disseminating race information, to creating content that brought value to anyone who would be interested in participating in the race, to encouraging people to start using the hashtag - #mb10k.
While content was being spun, I made damn sure I was following, liking, and commenting on as many Manhattan Beach businesses as I could. If they saw that the MB10K was paying attention to their content, my hope was that they’d pay attention to ours and return the favor and ideally share it on their pages. And boy did it work! Followers started growing and our content began getting tons of likes, comments, shares, retweets and people were using #mb10k!!!
Cross Promotion
All of a sudden the Manhattan Beach Farmers Market and the Manhattan Beach Parks and Rec Department started following and interacting with the race. The farmers market reached out via Instagram and asked if we’d like to have a booth there this summer. We did and it was a great success where people stopped by and were rewarded with treats and incentives to register. In turn these 2 groups started cross promoting the race and we promoted their various events. It was a win win for all involved!
Free 90 Free
And by the way, having a Facebook business page, Instagram and Twitter pages are FREE!!! This is your opportunity to put your hat in the game and start having other people notice you. There's no Yellow Pages anymore my friends, it is the digital age and I hope for your sake you are on this train. No excuses!
Check in next week for more exciting happenings. Facebook ads and newsletters started creating a stir, and a big name sought out the run for cross promotion!
Dial the digits so I can help you with your digital strategy 310.748.9128
Image Credit: Molly Taylor
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