As the Director of Client Social Media Services at Fabric Interactive, I was responsible for managing several campaigns at the same time. Of these, client accounts, an brand new start-up dog lover community brand called Dogasaur was our number one priority.
The website was envisioned as a social network community destination. Once the main development phases were finalized and the site was ready for it’s official launch, I was brought on board to develop the brand’s social identity and membership base.
The site initially started with about 200-300 users (friends and family). And with my help, they grew to over 3000 registered members of dog lovers within just 6 months.
OBJECTIVES
The client wanted to create a thriving online community with an ever-growing number of members. Their business model for monetization depended heavily on page-views, registrations and the overall growth of their users.
THE BUSINESS VALUE OF COMMUNITY GROWTH AND ENGAGEMENT
Dogasaur aspired to become an exciting, habit-forming brand that inspired dog lovers to:
become loyal fans and followers
sign up as community members
continuously follow the messaging and offerings provided by the brand
Through an organic form of growth, Dogasaur would not only increase their influence within the niche of canine enthusiasts, but also generate profitable revenue through onsite ad placements.
These goals, however, could not be met simply through the number of registered users, due to issues such as: empty sign ups and non-engaged members.
Genuine interest in the site is evident through the metric of page views, which advertisers would take into account as potential buyers.
Thus community growth and engagement were two essential areas necessary for Dogasaur to achieve their business goals.
INITIAL CHALLENGES
Here are several main challenges that needed to be overcome in order to move the brand’s online presence and objectives forward.
Absence of an effective means for attracting new members and keeping audience members engaged
No existing approach for helping Dogasaur reach their monthly targeted traffic milestones, aside from onsite SEO.
Need for Dogasaur to define their brand personality as well as their engagement potential
STRATEGIC SOLUTIONS - A SUMMARY
In less than a year, I was able to help Dogasaur grow from an initial group of family and friends to a promising community of thousands of dog lovers. Here is a summary of the strategies I used:
Evolved the brand’s identity by developing appealing lifestyle topics
Implemented a content development to communicate the brand’s offerings within the site and across social media
Leveraged Twitter as a cost-effective tool for building brand awareness, connecting with dog enthusiasts and building new registrations
Applied a sustainable social strategy for using Facebook ads to exponentially increase sign ups on the main community site
RESULTS
Within the first three months, Dogasaur attained over 1600 highly targeted Twitter and 35,000 page views
Between March 2009- October 2009, the number of registered users had grown to over 3000 members on Dogasaur.com.
Dogasaur was able to feature exclusive interviews on their site with notable influencers such as Animal Planet’s Groomer of the Year, Artist Knox and Pet Airways
Ellen Degeneres’ brand, Halo Pet Foods posted a link to a Dogasaur blog post from their site.
Dogasaur was able to sell their first advertising spot on the site within about 5 months following their launch.
