This little piggy went to market

As you will know, we have waxed lyrical about the benefits of using social media as part of your marketing communications in many of our newsletters. We know this not only from our own business experience but also by running social media campaigns for many of our clients. Social media is a very effective communication tool that will keep your business in your customers mind, raise awareness to new customers and bring you new business.

So in this edition, rather than simply taking our word for it we thought we would bring some of the advantages of social media alive through one of our clients, Oink of Edinburgh.

Yours Fiona, Janice and Fiona

Oink - Going the whole hog

As working farmers from the Scottish Borders, Adam Marshall and Sandy Pate had the simple yet brilliant idea of bringing their quality natural product from the farm to the city. Passionate about good honest food they introduced a very different food concept to Edinburgh with their fresh and delicious Scottish hog roasts.

Coming from families who have farmed in Berwickshire for many generations they certainly know a thing or two about good meat. They began by specialising in hog roasts and brought their freshly carved hog roasts to the Edinburgh Farmers Market in 2001. Their delicious hog roasts (pulled pork as some of you know it) were such a runaway success with the public that they decided to open their very first shop in Edinburgh – and that’s when Oink was born.

Oink was launched in Edinburgh’s Victoria street in the Summer of 2008 and have been serving delicious hog roast rolls to hungry workers, locals, students, festival goers, shoppers and tourists 7 days a week ever since!

Ultimately Oink has a loyal customer base because it is a great product which many residents of Edinburgh and visitors to the capital love. However Adam and Sandy were very aware from the outset that in order to ensure business all year round they needed to not only have a great product but they also needed a strong attractive brand and they needed to let as many people as possible know about Oink. The Oink brand has been popular from the start and many people worldwide have bought the merchandise that goes along with it as a memento of a delicious pulled pork roll in a beautiful city. Oink, like many businesses have tried various marketing communications over the years. The key was identifying the main customer groups that were most likely to be Oink customers and from there look at the appropriate marketing communications. Oink have used advertising, direct mail, taken the pork direct to potential customers with tasting sessions, Press and PR and vouchers and will continue to use these mediums, however the foundation of their marketing is social media activity. Oink updates their Facebook and Twitter pages daily why? Because it brings them business. There are three very good reasons why they do so.

1. Social media is the new ‘Word of Mouth’
We all know that word of mouth is the best form of marketing but in today’s world it has arguably been taken over by social word of mouth. Traditional word of mouth may reach up to 10 people. Social word of mouth can reach hundreds, thousands and in some cases if it goes viral, millions of people.

Oink is not quite reaching the millions yet but it is achieving thousands on a regular basis both on its Facebook page and its Twitter feed. Most of the content that is added to the page is provided by Oink customers themselves. Oinkers as they are affectionately known, post photos of their visit, write great testimonials both on the social media site and also review sites such as Trip Advisor and Yelp. Oink is regularly blogged about, particularly by overseas fans but also closer to home too. This not only provides regular content for the Oink social media sites but more importantly it is genuine word of mouth communication that Oink is a great place to go and eat in Edinburgh. Word of mouth also works for Oink but is completely surpassed by social word of mouth.

2. Social media is targeted
You can take out an advert, send a piece of direct mail or gain some Press and PR and then be surprised that it doesn’t work. Why not? Because you have failed to think about your customer and the communications that they use. If you reach the wrong customers it’s unlikely that your marketing will work. It is also the same in social media. It’s not about the quantity of your following on Facebook and Twitter it’s about the quality. Oink is lucky to have a loyal following on both mediums but the important point is that their followers fit the customer groupings that were identified in the original marketing strategy. This was updated when Oink recently opened their new shop on the Royal Mile. The shop is very close to the Scottish Parliament so work was done on Twitter to follow people associated with the Scottish Parliament, many of whom are now doing a great job of spreading the social ‘word of mouth’ about the new Oink shop. If you use social media effectively it can be your most targeted piece of marketing communications.

3. Social media takes business forward
Social Media is a key part of Oink’s ongoing business strategy as it grows and builds the business. Oink use it to carry out customer research for example they now offer soup and a roll over the winter period on the back of asking customers on social media if this was a product that would be of interest. The regular daily feedback from customers gives Oink a greater understanding of the needs of their customers and ideas for what they might like to see in the future. Carrying out research and also daily analysis of feedback from customers is invaluable and another advantage of social media. But more than that social media works for Oink as every day it brings customers through the door of both Oink shops, brings them back again and they form a social word of mouth network that brings more and more customers.

Bringing home the bacon
Bright Light Marketing are social media experts and we work with our clients to ensure that they use the social media tools that are right for their business in the most targeted way. If you are interested in learning how your business could benefit from social media or make what you are currently doing more effective or just want to know how we could market your business then get in touch with us by email or 01750 505053.

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