The Intuit marketing team recently proved the power of social media in a campaign that combined mobile training and a social contest. Intuit – a global provider of financial software – is active on social media, and began this campaign looking to grow its Facebook audience and to improve the brand’s online reputation. Learn how Intuit’s efforts led to consumers being twice as likely to recommend the brand’s software, and to a 22% increase in Facebook likes.
The Goal
Intuit wanted to build the brand’s reputation and audience through training and engagement, and to increase followers and reach on Facebook.
Understanding Your Audience
According to Adrian Parker, Head of Social, Mobile, and Emerging Media, Intuit APD, the brand’s research revealed that “the number-one reason customers use social media is to grow their practice, and attract and identify new clients and new opportunities.”
In addition, through “trial and error testing,” Intuit’s team discovered that customers are more likely to respond to images and video than to text, and that they enjoy sharing their own experiences – and those of their colleagues.
This data helped inform the type of contest that would best suit the brand: on November 9, Intuit’s “Innovators” campaign was launched, focusing on two main elements — a Facebook contest and mobile sites.
Innovators Contest
The contest invited followers to “share creative ways they found to engage clients through social media.” A Facebook tab was the focal point of the contest, featuring a video that played automatically where Parker introduced and explained the contest. Viewers then saw two large call-to-action buttons: “enter now” and “explore entries,” as well as instructions for entering the contest, updates from Intuit feeds around the world, and ads for Intuit products.
Participants could send entries via text, photo or video, and three winners were picked every week. Winners were featured as Intuit Innovators on the brand’s Facebook page, and received different prizes — from a $50 gift card to an iPad (Marketing Sherpa). A countdown widget on the Facebook tab displayed the time remaining before the next set of winners would be announced.
The user-generated contest was judged by three major criteria, and clearly stuck to the brand’s messaging around innovation:
- Impact – the potential or actual results of the idea
- Creativity – in relation to the idea and its presentation
- Innovation – points for unique and inventive ideas
Training Offered Via Mobile Sites
Intuit took three months to create mobile content from scratch, hoping to gain credibility among accountants and get them to share their expertise with the product. A mobile-friendly microsite featured videos with customer testimonials and software training, as well as social plugins to show live chatter about the brand on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn.
A QuickBooks training and certification program – available on Apple smartphones and tablets – included training courses and exams for certification and social sharing buttons. Parker told Marketing Sherpa that by creating their own mobile content, Intuit ensured its compatibility with social sharing and plugins. Users were also surveyed before and after using the mobile sites to gain valuable feedback.
Promoting the Campaign
Intuit’s team invested in a social content management system to help maintain a strategy on multiple platforms, including Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, LinkedIn and Pinterest.
Social media promotion efforts included: updates about the contest and mobile sites across multiple social platforms (using #IntuitInnovators where possible), customized social profiles across platforms to “provide a consistent look and feel,” and paid ads on Facebook.
The team reached out to influential accountants on social media, hoping they would take part in the contest and mention it to their social followers. Intuit also encouraged its over 8,000 employees to promote the campaign in articles and social media updates.
Measuring Success
Just one week after the contest began, the results were clear:
- 5x more reach on Facebook
- 22% increase in Facebook ‘likes’
- over 850 ‘likes’ for one contest post – a team record
Results from the survey following the mobile training also revealed success in terms of brand credibility: customers were 4.5x more confident using the software after the training, and were twice as likely to recommend the software.
Intuit’s efforts show that taking the time to understand your audience – who they are, what they’re looking for – and tailoring your brand’s campaign to their preferences can bring immediate results. Parker told Marketing Sherpa that the increase in Facebook reach alone “surpassed our expectations.”
