Followers of Radioactive Content have no doubt caught on to one of our common mantras–focus on quality content over quantity.
We also hear clients express this concern over and over: There are so many digital platforms for brands to feed– marketing budgets are stretched thin!
Bringing up this question: Can quality content be achieved with so many social feeds requiring content?
Answer: Absolutely.
As long as you have one more critical component: Smart content strategy and planning!
Full Disclosure and Lasagna Recipe Credit: Roasted Bell Pepper and Turkey Lasagna by Corningware. Our Rocket Man Digital team creates loads of delish recipes for World Kitchen, maker of Pyrex glassware, CorningWare bakeware, Corelle dishware, Snapware food storage and Baker’s Secret metal bakeware.
Ingredients for Content Lasagna
Quality content doesn’t just mean flashy, well-polished content with all the newest bells and whistles. To us, it means content that:
- Plays equally well on multiple platforms, owned, earned, paid and even syndication to corporate partners
- Includes user participation or engagement
- Generates valuable content with multiple reuse opportunities
- Plays across multiple brands (when possible)
- Crafted in multiple layers, just like lasagna. They are delicious when fully baked, but each ingredient is also tasty as stand alone assets. (Who doesn’t sneak a lasagna noodle after boiling? I do!)
This multi-level content creation mindset makes measuring ROI and content effectiveness much easier to illustrate and communicate, especially when it all plays together to deliver overall results across digital platforms. That’s one way to excite C-level execs who want to see what content ROI looks like before they dig in with a serving spoon.
Show Me the Content!
Enough talk. What does it look like in action? Is it a blog post? A series of blog posts? Tweets? Both? A contest? In this example, all of the above!
Here’s one of our favorite, fully-integrated content programs, connecting several World Kitchen brands in one multi-layered, multi-usable and reusable idea–Recipe Madness.
Who really loves food more than World Kitchen and Rocket Man Digital? Passionate “fans” of their digital platforms. We created Recipe Madness as an integrated content program across multiple brands:
- Theme + Timing. This fun, food bracket plays on on the very popular NCAA March Madness tournament, arguably the most participative event of all sports. And the bracket format? A no-brainer!
- Multi-Branded. Five brands were highlighted in this content program. Four facing off in weekly bracket challenges and one (Corelle dishware) serving as the host of this entertaining event.
- Social Voting. The winner of each week’s recipe contest was selected by social media voting, driven by posts for each brand. Followers ended up back to brand web sites, able to access their favorite recipes.
- Reusable Content. All content and recipes created for this program are usable year after year as searches for tournament-themed recipes spike in March. Score!
How It Works
The concept was simple.
- Harness the competitiveness of brand leaders and the appetite of users looking for fun basketball-themed recipes.
- Our talented recipe developers collaborated with each brand team, creating unique recipes they felt would dominate the bracket-Chili for a Crowd, Slam-Dunk Cookies and Full-Court Chocolate Peanut Butter Oat Bars, and Boozy Basketball Cupcakes, to name a few. Think it wasn’t competitive? Game on!
- Once created, the bracket was released to coincide with 4 weeks of March Madness. Each week featured brand-to-brand match-ups, and “fans” following those brands voted through social media platforms, selecting the recipes that advanced to the final four and eventually the head-to-head Recipe Madness Championship.
Spoiler Alert: In 2014, Snapware’s Chili For a Crowd won the bracket. 2015 saw CorningWare take the championship with Spicy BBQ Kielbasa Bites. But the real MVP? World Kitchen for signing off on the playbook. Here are a few highlights:
- One Campaign, 5 Brands: This campaign integrated 5 unique product lines around one cooly promoted recipe idea. By doing this, each brand used this content in social feeds, reaching the broadest fan base possible.
- Cross-Brand Awareness: An assist here– the cross-brand voting brought awareness to additional brand and product lines. Example: Pyrex to Bakers Secret, Corningware to Snapware. Corelle to all brands. That’s spreading the awareness across the World Kitchen portfolio.
- Asset Replay: March Madness may only run one month each year, but basketball season lasts for several. Each brand walked away with two, ownable recipes each year that now play even bigger following seasons. Swoosh!
- Measurable Engagement: The voting set a benchmark for engagement in social media, and delivered solid results on all platforms. The recipes are performing well each time they take the court. The takeaway: A win for all brands!
- Earned Media Hype: The brands had fun with this content program. And when brands have fun, their “fans” have fun. World Kitchen’s Recipe Madness campaign drew thousands of voters via social media two years running. And, in 2014, the Recipe Madness contest bracket was named by LonelyBrands blog as one of the best branded “Final Four” campaigns among all consumer brands. Other brands joining World Kitchen for the championship: Dove, Oreo and Capital One.
Talk about ROI on one, multi-layered content idea. That’s called a slam dunk!