P.S. Did you know?

Denim Marketing has worked with the City of Powder Springs on multiple occasions for social media campaigns. The first campaign was designed around the launch of the City’s new branding. Our team created the ‘P.S. Did you know?’ campaign, which was designed to promote the benefits of living, working and playing in Powder Springs, while also introducing the new branding in a fun and interactive way. The campaign encouraged people familiar with the City to share their favorite things about Powder Springs to Facebook, Twitter or Instagram using #PSContest. ‘P.S. Did you know?’ refers to Powder Springs, but has the secondary meaning of ‘pssssst – did you know?’ as if you are whispering a well-kept secret to your best friend!

The 90-day campaign took place September – November 2018, and it featured weekly $25 prizes in the form of gift cards to local businesses, including restaurants, retail stores, boutiques and others. Winners were chosen at random from entries provided using the contest hashtag. Although many people think of social media as a platform for individuals and businesses, this campaign shows the importance of engaging with followers through social media for cities, counties, municipalities, chambers of commerce, etc. Campaigns and promotions such as these bolster city marketing plans and help residents become raving fans by displaying and sharing their pride in where they live.

The campaign was initially promoted through a blog post on the City’s website, as well as through traditional public relations efforts. The story was picked up by Marietta Daily Journal, Atlanta Daybook, West Cobb Patch, Atlanta Real Estate Forum and Cobb County Topix. The campaign was also promoted through the use of custom graphics, including an 8×11-inch flyer, Facebook and Twitter header images, and individual post graphics.

Each month, a custom content calendar was created for social media. The content was then posted to each social site, comments were tracked, and winners were announced and contacted.

Social Media Stats

The ‘P.S. Did you know?’ campaign resulted in 390 eligible entries, with a total of 3,725 reactions, 897 comments and 373 shares. During the campaign, the City of Powder Springs Facebook page earned 237,900 impressions (+239.2%), 4,756 total engagements (+230.3%) and 147 clicks. Page fans increased by 62.3% when compared to the previous 90 days (net 1,333 fans). The Facebook post that reached the most people was a photo asking people to share how great the City is (don’t keep it a secret!) The post reached 10,086 people, and earned 208 reactions including 56 comments.

The Facebook post with the highest overall engagement rate and the most comments during the campaign was about the schools in Powder Springs. The post earned 111 total comments, as well as 283 total reactions and a 15.1% engagement rate, after reaching 5,283 people.

During the campaign, Instagram earned a total of 4,351 impressions (+631.3%) and 238 total engagements (+5,850%), while followers grew by 51 (+18.3%).

Finally, Twitter earned 6,061 organic impressions (+204.1%) and 160 total engagements (+226.5%) during the campaign. Followers increased 6.4% (+11).

An additional aspect of the campaign that was unexpected but very welcome was the tons of positive stories and interactions that occurred on the City’s social media channels. Many of the posts related to the campaign asked questions, or encouraged people to share their favorite Powder Springs business, shout out their favorite Powder Springs teacher, etc. An incredible amount of positive conversation and stories were shared during the 90-day campaign. Overall, this campaign was a resounding success, resulting in hundreds of people sharing what they loved best about the City of Powder Springs. The contest opened up a line of communication between people that live, work and play in Powder Springs that has since continued.

This is Powder Springs

After the success of the first campaign, the City of Powder Springs chose to launch a second campaign with the assistance of Denim Marketing. Our team worked together to create the #ThisisPowderSprings campaign on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, which promoted the many reasons you’d want to live, work and lay in Powder Springs. This campaign promoted a new hashtag to familiarize people with it, encourage them to use it for the foreseeable future, and create user-generated content and conversations about the City of Powder Springs.

During the three months of the campaign (July – September 2019), unique messaging was developed to promote the campaign and new hashtag. The City followed all businesses within the city on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter, as well as followed all city-related hashtags. Statuses and images shared by local businesses or by people using the hashtag were then re-shared on the City of Powder Springs social sites. Each month, a custom content calendar was created with #ThisIsPowderSprings messaging for social media. Content was posted to each social site, and Facebook ads were created and monitored.

Social Media Stats

By the end of the campaign, The City of Powder Springs received a combined 1,333,669 impressions and an increase of 3,080 followers across all social media accounts. The hashtag was used 131 times and received overall positive sentiment.

The City of Powder Springs Facebook page grew by 2,390 followers and earned 1,123,382 impressions (+239.2%), up 223% when compared with the previous 180 days.

The Facebook post that reached the most people focused on the local MasterChef Junior contestant. The post reached 16,331 people and earned 656 total engagements, including 52 comments and 92 shares.

The Facebook post with the highest overall engagement rate during the campaign was about gardening earning 1,162 engagements, including 1,101 reactions. The Facebook post that announced the new City hashtag reached 11,592 people and earned 577 reactions, including 56 shares.

During the campaign, Instagram earned a total of 149,887 impressions (+1,096%), reached an average of 466.8 people per day and increased followers by 599 (+163%).

Finally, Twitter earned 60,400 organic impressions (+249%) and followers increased by 91 (+10.2%) during the campaign.

Advertising Stats

The inclusion of budget for Facebook and Instagram advertising was new for this campaign and played a significant role in the impressive results. The advertising budget included both boosted posts and page likes. Throughout the campaign, the Facebook page grew by 1,083 followers due to advertising, with the cost averaging $0.65 per new follower. Boosted posts also performed well, reaching just over 60,000 people, for an average of $0.10 per engagement. A Boosted Post ad about Dog Appreciation Day showing a local resident’s smiling pooch performed the best in terms of average cost per result, with a $0.04 CPR.

An additional aspect of the social media campaign was that it highlighted the wonderful aspects of the City to create a sense of community and support among the people and local businesses within it. The campaign helped the City create a small-town, community feel while also creating a business-friendly image. Overall, this campaign was extremely successful, resulting in numerous people supporting the community by sharing the City’s hashtag and interacting with posts.