Campaign
#saturdayshortset
Duration
Began March 20, 2020, ongoing
Objective
To provide outlet for live music performance, garner dedicated following, spread positivity, and connect with people socially despite living in a pandemic. While I perform for free, I ask viewers to donate to a different cause each week, with a link built into the live stream viewer.
Details
This started as me playing a solo half hour show and evolved to become a weekly live stream event. By the third show, I was also including my bandmates in the set, by utilizing a pre-recorded version of their parts (which I compiled, edited, and produced) as accompaniment to my playing. I have even built in choreographed jokes and banter so as to simulate a live interaction.
Additionally, I have been producing a weekly teaser video to promote each Saturday show. The videos also involve my bandmates recording their parts separately. I share a raw take of each song with them (with instructions built in). They record their parts to it, share them with me. I re-record my part(s) — often infusing the videos with multiple versions of myself (interacting and harmonizing) — edit the pieces together, and produce a final video for posting on FB and IG.
This campaign has garnered a dedicated following and generated on average $75 in donations with each show. As of June 16, 2023, I have performed 147 shows and generated over $11,200 for over 120 different charities. More updates to come...
Here are two examples of social media campaigns I managed while serving as Marcom Director for Saint Joseph Prep. Without a dedicated staff, I was responsible for conceiving, designing, operating, and analyzing these campaigns. I shared some of the workload with a colleague, but ultimately, I governed their operation. Unfortunately, I did not hold the purse, so I was often hamstrung by what our budget could afford.
Digital Marketing Campaign
Duration
July, 2020 - February 2021
Objective
To increase brand awareness and inquiries from parents of prospective high school students using ads on Facebook and Instagram
Adjustments Timeline
August 18, 2020: Added a custom engagement audience to our Facebook Retargeting campaign. This resulted in a 31% Lead Volume increase in the month that followed.
August 24, 2020: Layered Native Ads into the Display Outreach and Retargeting campaigns. These ads generated strong click through rates, especially with Retargeting (0.28%).
October 2, 2020: Creative refresh: Layered ‘Explore Your Passions’ copy into the Behavioral campaign. ‘Explore Your Passions’ copy generated 43 in-platform leads in its lifetime.
December 12, 2020: Paused the Product Discovery Video ad set and began running with just the image ads. Lead volume increased 30% in January after making this optimization.
Lifetime Conversion Overview
• Campaigns generated 287 conversions in their lifetime, including 278 new
leads
● Facebook was the main driver of these leads, bringing in all but one:
- Lookalike audience generated the majority (78%) of these leads (this audience came from an optimization made during our 2019-2020 campaign and has shown strong performance YoY)
● Display campaigns generated three ‘Entrance Test Registration’ button clicks and one RFI form completion
● Cost-per-lead on Facebook remained competitive throughout the entire
duration of our campaigns:
- Average CPL for the Facebook Behavioral campaign was $38.69,
which was far below the industry $120.98 benchmark for this tactic
● Ad above was our top-performing creative combination, generating 64
leads from the Lookalike audience and 15 from the Behavioral
● Facebook ads also showed strong lifetime click-through rates, all
exceeding industry benchmarks:
- Behavioral: 0.63% vs. 0.30% industry benchmark
- Lookalike: 0.53% vs. 0.36% industry benchmark
- Retargeting: 1.08% vs. 0.43% industry benchmark
● Display campaigns generated 2,757 clicks and more than 2.8 million
impressions
- Majority of all clicks (77%) and impressions (87%), which makes sense here given the larger audience that we were targeting
Conclusions
Once our campaigns concluded, we realized that we should have run some paid search campaigns alongside our other tactics. Paid Search would have helped us reach a high-intent audience of people who are actively searching for our brand. Unfortunately, our budget did not permit us to make this kind of change midstream when we recognized its value. This campaign was an exploration for us as most high schools have not been utilizing these platforms for deliberate and enduring campaigns. That is changing now.
There are more analytics regarding the effectiveness of our follow-up email campaign reaching out to the leads generated by this campaign. This information can be provided upon request.
Class of 2020 Social Post Campaign
Duration
April 27, 2020 - June 4, 2020
Objective
To honor members of the Class of 2020 in a special way on FB, Twitter, and IG due to the challenges and cancellations forced by the pandemic, and increase engagement among primary constituencies.
Observations
This campaign generated our highest average engagement rate (20%) over a sustained period of time. It also garnered a broader range of visitors, spanning all generations, and resulted in 36 new organic page likes during the campaign.
This campaign was bolstered by periodic videos highlighting various virtual events and milestones that occurred within the two plus month period. Individual student posts happened two or three at a time during the weekdays for the duration of the campaign, until all 71 students were showcased.
Each post included an individual’s custom senior portrait layout, yearbook quote, a personal statement or collage, and the logo of the college/university where each will matriculate.
