Case Studies

Company: Thrive Aesthetic and Anti-Aging Center

Social Media Team: Ryan Lewis, Lisa Peyton, Danielle Hoole

Campaign Length: One year, January 2011-December 2011

Result: 694% increase in Facebook fans, 1,164% increase in Twitter followers, and 50% increase in traffic to website, including 77.4% in search and 18% in referral sources.

The Challenge

In 2011, Thrive Aesthetic and Anti-Aging Center looked to expand their reach and build their reputation as the experts in aesthetic and anti-aging services. Traditional advertising wasn’t adequately reaching the brand’s targeted audience, so Thrive’s staff turned instead to social media. Understanding the potential of digital marketing, they hired Bonfire to expand their digital presence and communicate their expertise, use of advanced technology, and quality of care.

Facebook

Bonfire developed a well rounded strategy to build an engaged Facebook fan base, incentive with monthly specials and exclusive offers, and offer valuable and entertaining content.

Beyond promotions, the page needed a variety of content to provide fans with a well-rounded experience. Bonfire began to create a broad spectrum of posts that increased brand and industry awareness while engaging with fans. Weekly “community conversations” posed questions about fitness routines, skincare regiments, and even favorite spots for healthy breakfast. Other posts highlighted celebrity beauty tips, relevant articles, and news about Thrive’s innovative technology. The page also integrated Thrive’s blog, newsletter promos, and e-mail sign up form, all of which had the ultimate goal of driving traffic back to ThrivePortland.com.

Twitter

Through Twitter, Bonfire could post similar content but interact more directly with followers. Used as a cross-promotion tool with Thrive’s other assets, the Twitter handle became a sounding board for direct messaging and issuing updates. By diligently responding to mentions, thanking users for retweets, and manually following industry-related handles, followers increased exponentially over the year.

Facebook Advertising

A Facebook ad campaign allowed Bonfire to target a more niche demographic than traditional advertising ever could—and with a much lower budget. Ads displayed relevant content about aging and engaging photos to drive click-through rates. Using specific demographic and interest-based targeting, the campaign was focused on Thrive’s target audience. Over the year, the campaign resulted in millions of impressions, and as a result Thrive’s Facebook page began to grow with both relevant fans and potential clients.

Other Platforms

Bonfire took control of the “Doctor’s Blog” and began publishing weekly posts related to the industry. Content varied between the benefits of featured products, weight loss tips, and more community conversations. By targeting competitive keywords, these posts significantly increased Thrive’s website in search results and offered visitors more in-depth information about available services.

Boosting brand awareness was the ultimate goal, but Thrive already had a large pool of regular clients. In order to retain them, Bonfire initiated a lead nurturing endeavor through eblasts and monthly newsletters. Twice a month past clients received the same specials offered to Facebook fans and a newsletter full of rich content. Quotes related to beauty or aging headlined these e-mails, and the monthly newsletter provided healthy recipes, industry-related news, and more exclusive offers.

The Results

After twelve months, Thrive’s social media presence began to reflect the success of the brand. Facebook fans had increased 694%, and its Twitter followers grew 1,164%. The website saw tremendous results as well. Through targeted keywords on the blog and an increase in referral traffic, ThrivePortland.com received 50% more visitors in 2011 than in 2010. The brand’s reach had extended exponentially through new digital marketing endeavors, and the business gained new customers while retaining loyal clients. In all of this, Thrive grew not just as a business but also in prestige as an innovative, expert leader in the industry.

Company: Paul Frank

Social Media Team: Danielle Hoole, Director of Operations, Bonfire Social Media; Ryan Lewis, President, Bonfire Social Media

Campaign Length: One year, January 2011-December 2011

The Challenge

Paul Frank began in a California garage in the 1990s, where wallets adorned with a monkey named Julius were sewn made from Naugahyde, a vinyl that is more commonly associated with mid-century automobile seats. Almost instantly the brand gained a committed fan base. SoCal surfers and skaters latched on to Julius, purchasing Paul Frank gear and blazoning Julius’s face across their boards and backpacks. Popularity surged, and the fan base diversified. By 2010 it included hipsters, techies, extreme sports fanatics, and a burgeoning number of international loyalists. Moms and teenagers alike banded behind the brand. Within a decade, Paul Frank had grown from a backyard business into an internationally recognized company.

The Paul Frank marketing department wanted to appeal to a varied client base while highlighting the true identity and spirit of the brand. The company wanted to appeal to a new demographic fan base while retaining the first fans it was founded upon. In 2011, Paul Frank hired Bonfire to build and strengthen its brand through social media. Bonfire set out to increase both fans and fan engagement through appealing content and organic means.

Facebook

Though Paul Frank had an existing Facebook page, its numbers didn’t reflect the company’s popularity, and it wasn’t consistent in efforts to engage its audience. Bonfire immediately developed a trial and error strategy to determine what content resonated with the page’s wide range of fans. The popularity of each post was measured. After tweaking even minute details, analyzing the effect, and testing again, Bonfire eventually amassed a strong collection of posts that would engage and appeal to everyone. “Who is Julius” caricatures of celebrities attracted American fans, while “Where is Julius” images of global landmarks expressed gratitude to international followers. Intermixed in all of this were puzzles and games that reflected the light-hearted, comedic spirit of Paul Frank.

Additionally, Bonfire used Facebook to partner with other marketing endeavors. From promoting stops along the Paul Frank Academy of Awesome Tour to creating numerous contests giveaways, the content of the Paul Frank page rewarded its fans with prizes and real time updates. Fan engagement began to increase exponentially, and more people began to express their love of Paul Frank through its page.

Twitter

Bonfire decided to employ the Paul Frank Twitter handle as a tool primarily to connect more closely with fans. By following people who mentioned the brand and responding to their compliments, questions, and concerns, the handle became a personable face of the company. Strategic tagging of celebrities led to prominent retweets, amassing even more followers and building a stronger community. Through Twitter, Paul Frank could wish followers happy birthday, retweet photos of fans in their gear, and send short uplifting messages—all of which served as expressions of gratitude for its faithful fans.

Facebook Advertising

In addition to the organic growth of the page, Bonfire regularly implemented ad campaigns specifically targeted to help grow the United States fan base. With clear imagery and a call to action, these ads targeted fans of brands, likes, interests, and celebrities that the Paul Frank fan base would identify with. Using a variety of advertising campaigns and a relatively low advertising spend, Bonfire grew the overall fan base.

The Results

After twelve months, Paul Frank had reached millions of people through social media. With tested content and a consistent message that appealed to all demographics, Bonfire helped strengthen the Paul Frank brand without compromising its original identity. Primarily through Recommended pages, Facebook fans increased over 42%, and Twitter followers grew 22,966%.

Company: Beaverton Auto Group

Social Media Team: Ryan Lewis, President, Bonfire Social Media; Garrett Ira, Community Manager, Bonfire Social Media

Campaign Length: Nine Months

Result: Facebook interactions increased 1,021%, Facebook fans increased 172%, and Facebook cost-per-fan decreased 38.2% (averages)

The Challenge

Beaverton Auto Group consists of three auto dealerships: Beaverton Nissan, Beaverton Hyundai, and Damerow Ford. A locally owned and operated company, Beaverton Auto Group was quick to realize and understand the dramatic shift to social media in an industry that has relied heavily on traditional mediums.

Each of the three brands at hand have experienced their own significant challenges during the recession and natural disasters in Japan, which caused difficulty in maintaining a consistent supply of inventory. Bonfire was appointed to launch the company into the social space to build brand awareness, increase web traffic, nurture their communities, and ultimately drive sales.

The Customer Experience

Auto dealerships aren’t exactly known for fantastic customer service, and many customers dread stepping onto the lot. So instead of simply telling everyone how great their customer service is, we showed them by displaying photos of happy customers next to their brand new cars. Not only did this provide an avenue to build trust among potential customers, but it also helped us grow a relevant fan base—one filled with existing customers and not random visitors who want nothing to do with the product. The pictures quickly became a hit, with customers often asking for their pictures to be taken before the conclusion of the sale and showing gratitude in the comments.

We also provided exceptional customer service via social channels, further contributing to our highly interactive communities.

Incentives

One of the most significant shifts in social media in 2011 was the expectation of the consumer to be rewarded for connecting with brands online. Knowing this was a key to success, we wanted to do something fun to reward our fan base but also add value and generate business for our client.

We achieved this in several ways throughout the campaign, the first of which was exclusive service specials for Facebook fans. To make this process ultra-convenient for the customer, we enabled them to download and print the coupons right from Facebook vs. making them click through to another site. We also ran an iPad 2 Giveaway as part of our “fan giveaway” value proposition.

Facebook Advertising

Most auto dealerships use their Facebook pages exclusively to advertise. Not our clients.

We advertise where it was meant to be—using Facebook ads. They allowed us to extend our campaign reach significantly while allocating our budget only to our target demographics. Throughout the campaign, the ads were the highest generator of new fan growth than any other medium.

The Results

A well-executed strategy, optimized tactics, and a focus on valuable content yielded phenomenal results over our nine month period from February–October 2011. In fact, Beaverton Hyundai now has more Facebook fans than any Hyundai dealership in the nation.

Beaverton Nissan

Facebook Fans: +183.2%

Facebook Interactions: +668.4%

Facebook Advertising Cost-Per-Fan: -53.7%

Beaverton Hyundai

Facebook Fans: +260.5%

Facebook Interactions: +1,480.6%

Facebook Advertising Cost-Per-Fan: -62.4%

Damerow Ford

Facebook Fans: +73.4%

Facebook Interactions: +914.8%

Facebook Advertising Cost-Per-Fan: +1.4%

Brand: Power Rangers Samurai
Social Media Marketing Team: Rob Hughes, Lisa Peyton, Ryan Lewis, William Crane, Mitch Daugherty
Campaign Length: 3 months
Results: Facebook ‘likes’ increased by 200,000 and Facebook interactions grew to almost 2,000 per day!
Watch the animated presentation of this case study: 2010 Facebook Case Study

The Team

The Goal – Saving the world from TOTAL DESTRUCTION

Saban Brands needed to create buzz and excitement surrounding the premiere of the new Power Rangers series airing in February. They had created a website and Facebook page but were unsure of how to get traction within the already thriving Power  Rangers fan community online. With dozens of Facebook pages already dedicated to the Power Rangers, Saban needed to ensure their page was the leading source for information and fan interaction. Bonfire’s task was to grow the Facebook community as quickly as possible before the launch of the new series, February 7th 2011. Let the battle begin!

MISSION

• To combat fan boredom and apathy and save the world from total destruction!

WEAPONS

• Facebook Fierceness

TIME

• 3 months prior to launch of Samurai series Feb 07, 2011

Fan Growth: Gathering the troops

Our first objective was to create a platform for fans to share their love for the  Power Rangers brand. We wanted to feature the fans and make the Facebook page about THEIR interpretation of the brand. We created a Fan Art Contest  and allowed the community to vote on the artwork that would be highlighted as our Facebook page profile image. We also created a Mighty Members collectors album featuring fan photos of all their cool Power Rangers collectibles. Within our 3 month campaign we quickly collected 600 images from our collectors.

OBJECTIVE

• Increase Facebook interactions by featuring fan content

TACTICS

• Facebook fan art contest
• Mighty Members collectors photo albums
• Tuesday Trivia

Mighty Members Collectors Album

Tuesday Trivia

We quickly learned that the fans knew more about all the seasons of Power Rangers than we did. We wanted to make sure to challenge the die-hard fans and solicited tough trivia questions from the community. Regularly updating the page with fan-created trivia improved Facebook interactions dramatically. The winners were listed in the Power Rangers ‘Wall of Fame’ as being some of our SUPER fans.

Fan Advocacy: Arming the troops

Once our numbers began to grow, we wanted to arm fans with easy to share assets allowing them to be ‘brand advocates’.

OBJECTIVE

• Arm our troops with tools to help them become brand advocates

TACTICS

• “Show Your Colors” Campaign
• “Samurai Yourself” Profile Photo Creator
• “Which Ranger are you?” Quiz

‘Show your colors’

We used Facebook to recruit and support our current brand advocates. By creating 5 unique profile images and sharing with Power Rangers fans on Facebook, we gave the community the power to ‘show their colors’. Facebook fans quickly updated their profile pics with the image of their favorite ranger.

‘Samurai Yourself’

And for those that wanted to take it one step further, the ‘Samurizer’ was created. An interactive feature of the Power Rangers website, fans could take a photo of themselves and quickly become whichever ranger they chose. The application made if easy to save the customized photo and to share on Facebook.

‘Which Ranger are You?’ Quiz

Knowing that our fans typically identify with one of the Rangers, we created a quiz that would help them learn more about the new Samurai Rangers. The quiz shared fan results on Facebook and promoted the new series premier.

Community Facebook Quotes: Fans speak out!

I don’t know if this can be classified as ‘Power Rangers swag’ or not, but its not everyday you get re-tweeted by the Power Rangers, and I am quite proud of this accomplishment. Go Go Samurai!

-Josh green

People comment on this page 24/7. ITS AWESOME

- Delaney Cummings

I would simply like to applaud the people in charge of this page for their hard work, fast news, well-kept site, and lack of bs that other pages seem to be burdened with.

- Todd Olsen

The Press – Power Rangers Tops Allfacebook.com’s Most Explosive Facebook Pages List

During the height of our campaign, the Power Rangers Facebook page was featured as one of allfacebook.com’s ‘Most Explosive’ Facebook pages alongside Microsoft, ‘The Bachelor’ and Adidas. The international list offers up the top ten pages that have seen ‘tremendous weekly growth totals’.

The new series was publicized in several other major news outlets:

Los Angeles Times:http://articles.latimes.com/2011/feb/07/entertainment/la-et-power-rangers-20110207

Los Angeles Times ‘Hero Complex’ Blog: http://herocomplex.latimes.com/2011/02/07/power-rangers-samurai-looks-for-fighting-chance-with-new-generation/

EW.com – http://insidetv.ew.com/2011/02/01/power-rangers-samurai-video-intro-exclusive/

IGN Television News – http://tv.ign.com/articles/114/1145326p1.html

AOL TV Squad: http://www.tvsquad.com/2011/02/02/exclusive-power-rangers-samurai-photo/
Results

TV.com – http://www.tv.com/video/10517281/power-rangers-samurai

ClevverTV.com Interview with new Rangers: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UTVeuHoGN4k

The Results: MISSION ACCOMPLISHED!

During our 3 month campaign the community grew dramatically.  The new TV series premiered Feb 07, 2011 with a staggering 16.8 million viewers in the show’s first week!

Result Details

Facebook ‘Likers’

Nov 01 – 1298
Feb 07 – 201,666

Daily News Feed Impressions ( Daily The number of times people (Fans and non-Fans) have viewed a News Feed story posted by your Page.)

Nov – 877,196
Dec – 3,443,998
Jan – 9,004,560

Facebook Interactions (Daily Likes and Comments)

Nov  -  13,268
Dec  – 22,026
Jan -  39,663

Company: Intel Software Partner Program
Social Media Marketing Team: Ryan Lewis, Bonfire Social Media; Jon Bullinger, ISSP Global Program Marketing Director and Rick Puckett from Intel’s marketing team
Campaign Length: 9 months
Result: 32% increase in overall program participation

The Challenge

Intel’s Software Partner Program (ISPP) works to support independent software vendors using Intel technology. The program provides a portfolio of benefits spanning the entire product life-cycle, including research and planning, development, marketing and distribution of their applications.

The challenge was attracting new participants and getting the word out on program benefits to a segmented group of developers. The ideal participant worked in the B2B market developing software for other businesses. The campaign’s original methods of communication included a quarterly newsletter and a blog with infrequent posts. They were finding it difficult to keep the content in the newsletter fresh as it only went out every 3 months and the blog wasn’t getting much traffic.

They had seen success using a LinkedIn group, but this group proved excessively time-consuming as it required manual updates of information for group members. Intel’s team was overwhelmed with all the communication options available and they were struggling with consistent messaging.

The Solution

Bonfire worked with Intel team members Jon Bullinger and Rick Puckett to develop a social media strategy from the ground up. The goal was to increase program participation by at least 25%. The key components included a plan for consistent messaging across all distribution platforms; Social Media network automation; a blog content strategy and newsletter integration. continue

Company: Gresham Toyota
Social Media Marketing Team: Ryan Lewis, Garrett Ira,  Doug Gabbert, General Sales manager, Gresham Toyota
Campaign Length: 3 Months
Result: Inbound sales calls from Facebook increased by 600%
Social Media Award Winner 2011 – Best ROI Category

The Challenge

Gresham Toyota is a family owned and operated auto dealership located just outside Portland, and has been one of the top Toyota dealerships in the nation since 1970.  With the latest trends in sales and marketing always on their radar, GT’s owner recognized the transition from traditional to social marketing during a very challenging period for the company; Toyota had undergone heavy criticism in the media following a series of unexpected recalls on several top models. Bonfire was appointed to launch the company into the social media space to better connect with their customers and build a business platform for GT’s future, with objectives to build brand awareness, drive web traffic, and ultimately gain new prospects.

The Solution

Other than quality products, one of GT’s strongest unique selling propositions is their commitment to an exceptional service experience. In a world of pushy, ruthless salespeople, GT has an approach that dismisses the “hard sell” and treats customers with a high level of respect. This philosophy integrated well into the social channels and was the basis for the campaign. Bonfire worked with GT to implement a series of promotions to reinforce the brand, tell customer stories, and ultimately get the phones ringing. continue

Company: Judith Arnell
Social Media Marketing Team: Danielle Hoole, William Crane
Campaign Length: 9 months

Results:

• Increased Facebook likers by 1605%
• Facebook was top overall referring site of web traffic
• Increased Monthly Facebook page interactions by 439%

The Challenge
Judith Arnell is a local jeweler in the Portland Pearl District offering high-end, custom jewelry. Their marketing efforts had centered around print advertising and billboards and were yielding no measurable results. At the start of the social media campaign, Judith Arnell had a flaccid Facebook page that wasn’t  recruiting or engaging the community.  The challenge was to create and foster an engaged Facebook community while showing a positive ROI.

The Solution
Bonfire developed Judith Arnell’s Facebook community by focusing on three different areas: fan engagement,  advertising and promotions. continue

Company: Thrive Aesthetic and Anti-Aging Center
Social Media Marketing Team: Ryan Lewis, Lisa Peyton, Danielle Hoole, Colleen Siviter, Pamela Peterson, Dr. Adam Maddox, Cathy Roche
Campaign Length: 6 months
Result: 400% growth in Facebook community, 117% increase in referral traffic to thriveportland.com from all social sources

The Challenge
Thrive Aesthetic and Anti-Aging Center is a local Northwest Portland medi-spa specializing in cosmetic and anti-aging medicine.  Thrive was a relatively unknown player in the local medi-spa industry and needed to increase brand awareness and boost business. Thrive had been focusing a majority of their marketing efforts on traditional media, and our challenge was to prove the added value social media profiles could provide to their overall business objectives.

The Solution
Bonfire focused on developing and optimizing a variety of social media assets to increase brand awareness, promote services and specials, increase online community participation, and increase referral website traffic from all online sources to the Thrive website. continue

Company: Lightspeed Systems
Social Media Marketing Team: Lisa Peyton, Danielle Lee, Amy Bennett, Illeana Rowe
Campaign Length: 9 months

The Challenge
Lightspeed Systems develops comprehensive network security and management solutions for the education market. The primary challenge was to build and promote social media platforms that connected with their hard to reach, target audience and were seamlessly integrated into their website.

Lightspeed’s target market of educators, school district superintendents, and school district IT managers were beginning to have conversations online and it was our job to find those conversations and present to the client the important themes and topics that their market was discussing so they could address it directly. The other challenge was to identify and address both the positive and negative feedback that educators and students were facing with Lightspeed’s products and the products of their competitors.

The Solution
Bonfire worked with team members Amy Bennett and Illeana Rowe to develop a Blog, custom YouTube Profile, custom Facebook page and Twitter profile. These updated profiles would be used for promoting content, monitoring community conversations for valuable information, and ultimately increasing Search Engine visibility and sales. continue

Company: Mio Gelato
Social Media Marketing Team: Lisa Peyton/Ryan Lewis, Bonfire Social Media
Campaign Length: 3 months
Result: Up to a 44% increase in sales at various locations
SoMe Award ‘Peoples Choice’ Winner 2010

The Challenge

Mio Gelato is a locally-owned cafe with 4 locations around the Portland metro area. Best known for it’s  frozen gelato, Mio’s owner wanted to combat slower  sales during the winter months. He hoped to utilize the power of social media along with great promotions to keep patrons coming back; not just for gelato, but for soups, Italian hot cocoa and/or a quick lunch.
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