Using social media currency to get stuff — or discounts on stuff — isn’t a new idea.
There was Pay With a Tweet in the summer of 2010. Facebook Like gates — “like our page for an exclusive offer” — were the hot ticket several years ago. And right now you can sync your American Express card with Twitter and get $5 off every $25 you spend during restaurant week in New York City.
But Portland, Ore.-based Chirpify believes it has come up with a new wrinkle by leveraging hashtags on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.
Chirpify, launched two years ago as a tweet-to-buy platform, pivoted last fall after determining that clients were looking for other ways to move their social media efforts beyond customer service, said Kevin Tate, the company’s chief revenue officer.
“It allows them to use social media to raise their hand about all kinds of things,” Tate said.
This week the company is touting impressive results in the platform’s first three months — reporting that more than 300,000 social consumers have used #actiontags to purchase or sample products, enter a promotion, or access premium content. In 90 days the platform drove 50 million earned media impressions, and reached more than 25 million social accounts, the company said. In one campaign, a brand added 20,000 Twitter followers (a 10% increase) in less than a week.
The company also announced that it has beefed up its backend capacity and now can handle television-based campaigns. One Chirpify client’s recent prime-time TV commercial, which offered customers first access to a new product, drove up to 5,000 tweets per hour and the hashtag in question became a nationally-trending Twitter topic.
Tate declined to identify clients’ specific metric results, but shared several success stories.
A rock band asked the crowd at one of its stadium shows to tweet to gain access to a free download of its new single. And 10% of the audience did that, Tate said.
A golf company, aiming to put a new ball into the hands of players, was able to tailor its campaign to reach players of differing skill levels, and send a sample of the proper style of ball to the appropriately handicapped golfer.
And Adidas was able to hone in on football cleat-loving audience, with this:
SNEAK PEAK! RT is you #WANT to see the new #RG3 cleats before they drop on Fresh Kicks Friday. pic.twitter.com/c5Va7E8znx — adidas Football US (@adidasFballUS) February 13, 2014
Jeremy Darlow, a senior brand and digital marketing manager at adidas, said three Chirpify campaigns have helped his company build a “substantial database of qualified consumers who want the lightest cleat in football or the RGIII cleat in their school color.”
“It’s important for us to be able capture data and re-market to those users that “missed out” on a launch,” Darlow said about the limited-run shoe, “but want to be first in line for the next drop. Chirpify has allowed for that versatility while giving our users a simple and painless way to interact and engage with our content.”
Chirpify is especially good at making that connection, Tate said, because of the transactions are natural and very low friction. “It’s about giving customers a shortcut and recognizing that we are all walking around with phones in our pockets,” he said.
Brands are increasingly looking to mine in-the-moment marketing opportunities, at events or during mass media events like the Super Bowl. Tate said Chirpify gives clients the ability to move beyond riding the social media buzz. “Our platform opens up an unique opportunity for reaching a broad audience,” Tate said. “Try the new flavor, want the new golf balls. When people respond, we respond back to them with how to do that.”
The process works best with Twitter, the most public of the social networks. Facebook and Instagram campaigns require a brand to post and ask customers to respond to the call to action in comments on that post.
You can test Chirpify for yourself by including #gimme #ChirpInfo in a tweet, like so:
Checking out a shiny new social thing. #gimme #chirpinfo — Martin Beck (@MartinBeck) March 4, 2014
Within a few minutes, you’ll get a response that includes a link to more information about Chirpify:
@MartinBeck Thanks! Let us know when you want to activate a #Hashtag for instant conversion. http://t.co/m0fje0Lq4H #chirpinfo — Chirpify Support (@iChirpify) March 4, 2014
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