Small Business Case Study: How An Oxford Agency Added Some Cool To A Recruitment Agency.
This week’s edition of Hi Social is rather exciting. It focuses on a B2B company — a recruitment agency. Now, I usually hate recruitment agencies to be completely honest. They are pushy, boring and not that essential.
The company listed below may have changed my opinion. It just shows what some clever branding and messaging can do.
ABOUT THE CLIENT:
Meet Allen Associates. They are a recruitment agency based in Oxford.
This case study is supplied by Syndicut, a small marketing agency also based in Oxford.
The first thing I notice about Allen Associates is there bold branding and website, which is quite unique for a recruitment agency.
In my eyes, recruitment agencies are a necessary evil, and they are usually very boring. Just my personal opinion. When I went to check out Allen Associates’ website, I was shocked.
They have bold and beautiful branding, which, in my opinion, makes them stand out from the crowd of beige recruitment agencies. This branding is also copied across their print and social media.
THE CLIENT BRIEF:
Syndicut are responsible for designing the branding for the recruitment agency, and we asked by their client to refresh their content and social media strategy.
Previously, Allen Associates’ channels were overpopulated, so Syndicut (the marketing agency), set out to do fewer and more concentrated posts that would drive engagement.
The main objectives of the campaign were to build brand awareness for the recruitment agency’s two key audiences: job seekers & employers and to generate some leads for the client.
THE UPDATED PLAN:
Syndicut worked with the management team and consultants at Allen Associates on a regular basis, gathering information on the latest recruitment trends (e.g. the emphasis on flexible working).
This insight helped to create daily organic content for Twitter, Linkedin, and Instagram. These social media posts were designed and written on a weekly basis alongside reactive posts.
They also produced paid social ads for the client.
The whole brief was to position Allen Associates on social media as thought leaders due to their 20+ years of experience.
Allen Associates agreed for Sydicut to handle their social media for a one month trial period.
THE CONTENT:
Nick, the Director at Syndicut has kindly provided me with some examples of the social media posts.
AFTER THE ONE MONTH TAKEOVER:
On Twitter, the results after the first month were a 1400% increase in followers and a 212% increase in profile visits.
Basically, the client loved it.
Syndicut were asked to continue working on Allen Associates social media after the one month trial.
The client loved that the agency were encouraging interaction and engagement on their social media.
The agency went onto run a variety of paid social media ad campaigns to increase their client’s website traffic.
TAKEAWAYS FOR YOU:
1. A human voice is always best. People want to connect with people so show the human behind your brand.
(The text in quotes are my, Garry’s, comments)
What I personally love about this campaign is that they used real images of their office and team. Any novice can spot a stock image.
Syndicut and Allen Associates stayed WAY clear of this.
2. Interaction is key. Your platforms offer an opportunity for your audience to become a part of a community.
The focus on the campaign was all about thought leadership, and Syndicut wanted to start conversations. All of the social media posts they designed were based on this one key idea.
3. In the same vein, this provides an opportunity to ask your audience what THEY want to see from you.
One of the best things I have done for the current company I work for is to speak to customers. I know it sounds simple and stupid, but by phoning up your current customers and conducting market research with prospective customers you can get to know what they want.
Start honest, human conversations with target audiences and you will learn a lot. I would even go on record and say that it is better than any fancy AI listening tool (which are overpriced).
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