Client: Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia
Agency: Pangea Media/SnapApp
Objective: Engage the brand’s Facebook fans and generate buzz for the Hallmark Channel’s “The Martha Stewart Show.”
SnapApp is a customizable Web-based tool that allows users to create quizzes, surveys, polls and online contests that they can then distribute to their websites and social channels to drive engagement without having to deal with the technical backend. Once in place, the data collected by the app can be automatically delivered in real time to a user’s customer database or marketing automation system, meaning that a rich data stream is quickly pumped right into the sales funnel.
The app also tracks around 30 different data points to provide the client with detailed analytics regarding who is using the app, as well as when and why, says Seth Lieberman, CEO of Pangea Media/SnapApp.
“For marketers, the big challenge they face that we hear time and time again is that they need a way to engage and interact with their customers, and they need to build brand affinity and create lead generation and customer acquisition at the same time,” he says. “We seamlessly integrate all these needs, but we do it for them without their having to ever talk to IT people.”
STRATEGY: During the Ultimate Fan Sweepstakes, which ran on the Martha Stewart Facebook page in the summer of 2011, fans who shared their information through an online form, including full name, email and postal address, were entered to win a series of prizes, such as a trip to New York City to view a live taping of “The Martha Stewart Show,” a facial at one of Martha’s favorite salons and Martha Stewart gift baskets stocked with books, show tickets and other goodies.
The contest was heavily promoted on Martha Stewart’s Facebook page, through email blasts and on TV. The social engagement was geared toward driving “likes” while also producing leads, email newsletter sign-ups and magazine subscriptions.
The Ultimate Fan Sweepstakes fit well into the brand’s overall marketing strategy in that it rewarded Martha Stewart’s already faithful and engaged community while also growing its social audience, Hendricks says.
“We’ve seen very good retention rates,” he says. “What happens a lot of the time is people opt in for a contest to get something and when the effort is over, they opt right out again; but not with our fans, which I think speaks to the quality of our Facebook experience, our contests and our voice,” Hendricks explains.
RESULTS: Hendricks says Martha Stewart Living was so pleased with the results from the Ultimate Fan Sweepstakes that the brand ran two more successful sweepstakes using SnapApp after Ultimate Fan closed.
In the two months that the Ultimate Fan sweepstakes ran, Martha Stewart generated 56,884 impressions and received 31,611 entries. SnapApp reported that 78% of visitors who engaged with the contest entered, while 19% of those shared it, thereby referring an additional 1,626 entrants. Seventy-seven percent of those who submitted entry forms signed up for newsletters and a preview issue of the Martha Stewart Living magazine.
Though there was nothing specific in the hopper that he could speak about by press time, Hendricks says SnapApp will doubtlessly be “top of mind” when Martha Stewart begins to strategize for future initiatives, not the least because of how quick and easy it is to use.
“It’s a really great platform for sweepstakes because it’s so fast to execute,” Hendricks says. “To be able to go from the strategy stage to a live product in the span of five days? That’s pretty amazing,” he adds.
