I recently started as the media coordinator at KaliAndrews Dance Company – a new dance school in Ottawa. Right from the start, I was faced with the dilemma of creating awareness and promoting the studio with little to no advertising budget. A series of press releases attracted some attention from the community newspaper and a local television station, but ultimately failed to make an impact on such a broad audience.

PUSH – Creating Awareness through Social Media

One of the greatest advantages of Social Media is the ability to target your audience so specifically, and accurately measure their behavior. As a regular Facebook user myself, I believed I could use this tool to catch the attention of pre-teen and teenage girls. The main focus of the campaign would be a Push promotional strategy, where I would be marketing directly to the end user. The KADC brand needed to be in the spotlight, in front of the consumers’ faces, in order to create awareness.

I began by creating Facebook Page for the studio, where we could post pictures, share videos, and announcements. My next step was a series of ads targeted to girls in the Ottawa area, between the ages of 13 and 19, with a specific series of dance related keywords. The ads promoted both the Fan Page and the dance studio itself, with great success. In a little over a year, KADC has recruited over 550 fans!

Creating awareness of the studio’s unique brand will always be important, but a year later we’re realizing that our Social Media Strategy needs to grow with our business. How can we differentiate KaliAndrews Dance Company from other Ottawa studios? How can we instill a sense of pride and loyalty in our customers? Word of mouth is undoubtedly the most effective form of advertising, how can we utilize Social Media to encourage our customers to talk about us?

PULL – Creating Content to Meet Consumer Needs

Marketing and Advertising are everywhere! There are more channels, and more media than ever. In today’s world, every moment we face yet another brand trying to shove its name in our face. It’s almost condescending, how some advertisers think the only incentive we need to buy is yet another commercial, with yet another celebrity encouraging us to open our wallets.  Today, consumers don’t want to feel as though they are being marketed to. Consumers want options, and they want to take control.

Another amazing advantage of Social Media is the ability to create a sense of community. A place where loyal followers can talk about issues that matter most to them, where they can share news, pictures, and links, and where they feel they can be heard. KADC strives to do just that through our Facebook Fan Page.  The studio is encouraging fans, not just our dancers but very importantly the moms and dads that support them, to get talking.

I have created a discussion forum on the page with a number of topics to get parents talking — Do they feel they should have more say in how a studio operates? What do they think judges are looking for at competition? How do their children juggle homework and dance?

I have also been posting third party articles related to dance — Are You a Dance Mom or a Stage Mother? Tips to Survive Recital Week! And so on. The content doesn’t necessarily need to be directly related to KADC; it needs to be interesting and relevant enough to draw in our fans and get them to participate.

The strategy is relatively new, but the theory behind it is that customers, in particular studio moms who feel as though they are part of a community and free to be themselves, will feel a greater sense of loyalty and spread the word to others about what an incredible experience they’ve had with KaliAndrews Dance Company. I’ll keep you posted on how things work out!

For more information about Relationship Marketing, Pull Strategies and Social Media, I recommend reading Webtrends’ White Paper / Best Practices for Relationship Marketing. Visit www.webtrends.com

 

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