Company: West Cafe
Social Media Marketing Team: Willie Crane, Bonfire Social Media
Campaign Length: 3 months
Results: Facebook fans increased by 130% & web traffic increased by 27%

The Challenge

West cafe had successfully used social media to combat the failing economy in 2008, creating amazing results by using Twitter and a community blog. Their current challenge was how to improve upon those results with a very small marketing budget. Having ceased all print advertising due to poor results and high prices, Cafe owners Doug and Sean were ready to try something new. They had experienced how building an online community via social media platforms could boost sales and keep loyal customers coming back.

Bonfire’s Social Media team agreed to work with West Cafe and their marketing team to employ some new tactics to try and boost online buzz about the cafe. These tactics included: optimizing the Facebook page, creating an email newsletter and creating online promotions to be posted on the popular West Cafe blog.

Because we were looking at a short 3 month campaign, we established modest and realistic goals. We hoped to:

• Increase Facebook Fans by 50%
• Increase web traffic by 25%
• Increase email click-throughs by 25%
• Increase positive brand mentions and interactions on Facebook by 50%

The Solution

Our team’s first step was to set up a strategy meeting with the client to prioritize tasks, create upcoming promotions and collaborate on how to best position the Cafe within their existing online community.

Fan or Foe?

The Facebook page was our starting point in trying to increase brand awareness and extend our reach. The page didn’t have many fans and zero interactions. We immediately created some new tabs highlighting West Cafe events, existing assets like a video demo, and our new Fan Rewards program.

We knew we had to give a little to get a little so we put together a program giving away a gift certificate to a lucky fan. This program immediately increased fan interactions as new and old fans discussed how they would redeem the prize if they were the winner.

Not all of our Facebook feedback was positive and we were having a difficult time giving West’s loyal customers a voice. Responding promptly and apologetically to negative feedback was imperative in demonstrating to our community that we valued their feedback.

In keeping with sharing in West Cafe’s customers’ experiences, we expanded our rewards program to include a complimentary hotel stay. In order to win,  Facebook Fans were expected to write about one of their favorite nights spent at the restaurant. Cafe owners Doug and Sean loved getting the personal stories about special occasions spent in their dining room and we were able to share these experiences with the community.

Cooking up a Hot Newsletter

The cafe had no official email system and with the increased popularity of cafe events, one was needed ASAP. Sean, owner and executive chef, had been manually sending out event invites to several distribution lists and was spending valuable time managing the list instead of creating in the kitchen.

Bonfire stepped in and created a simple email newsletter system that automated both new sign-ups and list management.

The newsletter content also included news about the Facebook promotion, Twitter profile and upcoming events. After creating a click-through baseline, we worked to improve newsletter content to encourage more guests to click-over to the website.

Baseball Anyone?

We wanted to reach out to West Cafe’s existing customer base to ensure they knew about the Facebook Fan Rewards program and the active online community we were building with social media.

We printed small, wallet-sized  ‘baseball cards’ that customers could take with them outlining all the Cafe’s Facebook, Twitter and blog details. The card also solicited feedback and listed the owner’s email address as a way to encourage communication. The overhead for these cards was amazingly low and they definitely helped to organically grow our fans and followers numbers.

The Results

After our 3 month campaign, we were extremely pleased with the results. After years of throwing money at traditional media with zero results, Sean and Doug finally had measurable results for their marketing dollars.

We surpassed all of our campaign goals while working with a fraction of the budget. By jump-starting the Facebook page and reaching out to existing customers, we directly affected almost every other aspect of the West’s online presence. Web traffic increased, brand mentions increased and the entire community became more engaged.

Result Details

Our 3 month campaign got the following results when compared to the previous 3 months:

• Facebook fans increased 130%
• Web traffic increased 27%
• Time on site increased 10%
• Facebook interactions increased by 200%
• Brand mentions on social media platforms increased by 100%
• Email newsletter click-throughs increased by 25%