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Smart social media campaign by Sumac Ridge

Written by Smartt Team on October 20, 2009

It started with a morning jog in English Bay. A co-worker, out for his morning run, spotted a number of signs posted up on telephone poles and taped to walls, asking for help locating a lost diary. The posters offer a reward to any good Samaritan who finds the missing diary and contacts the owner on his Twitter or Facebook page. Taking note of the fact that the posters looked pretty slick for their purpose, he continued his jog until, lo and behold, he spotted two diaries sitting on a retaining wall not too far down the same trail. A closer look reveals that the diary is not your standard repository of personal thoughts and feelings, it’s actually a cleverly disguised promotional package for Sumac Ridge, a Summerland based BC winery.

The pages of the diary are filled with bits of local wisdom, gourmet recipes, a spattering of brand story and some very gentle plugs for featured varieties of Sumac Ridge wine.

Why it works

This campaign does a great job of tapping into the fascination with found objects that has swept the Web in recent years and leveraging it to drive traffic to the winery’s newly minted social media pages. The “lost diary” posters are just unusual enough to get people interested, and they get a quick payoff when they inevitably spot a well-placed diary nearby.  The added prospect of a reward for the finder makes logging onto Twitter and posting about the discovery a no brainer – giving the campaign a viral element and growing the company’s online follower base. I have no doubt that this campaign will get good press and lead to a healthy influx of fans and followers for Sumac Ridge. As more companies start to recognize social media marketing as an integral component of their marketing mix, I have high hopes that we’ll be seeing more creative campaigns of this variety.

5 takeaways to apply to your own social media campaign

1. Make it fun
As marketers around the world are discovering , fun is a very effective call to action. Make the process fun and your customers will love you for it.

2. Make it worth talking about
They call it social media for a reason. No one cares to pass on a boring press release, but if you wrap your promotion in a story that’s worth sharing, you will see results.

3. Give people an incentive to find you online
Discounts, giveaways, draws and rewards are all good ways of enticing new fans and followers.

4. Don’t play hard to get

Make sure that your Twitter name, Facebook address, or URL is prominently displayed in your materials. This may seem obvious but we’ve seen countless examples of companies leaving out this crucial information.

5. Once they find you.. Engage!
Make sure to keep on top of what people are saying about your promotion online. Social media is all about two way communication, so join the conversation!

More information on the benefits of social media marketing