Our Director Ben Reynolds was recently invited to speak at a CIPR (Chartered Institute of Public Relations) Cymru Wales Social Short. Held in Tata Steel in Port Talbot, Ben talked about how Urban Foundry used social media to build the Uplands Market brand (with no budget!).
Uplands Market launched in 2013 and the strategic use of social media led to Uplands Market being ranked in the top 10 street markets in the UK by the Daily Telegraph, it has twice been runner up in the Observer Food Monthly best markets category, and has been the Welsh nominee in the BBC’s Food and Farming Awards.
Ben shared how the team utilised a range of social media platforms and offered some tips on how to successfully promote a new business on social media. Since the success of Uplands Market, Urban Foundry has been invited to advise on a number of other new brands hoping to launch in Wales (with very limited budgets).
Some of the tips we shared were:
- Everything still stems from knowing your market and having a really good product and brand. For all the online wizardry now at our disposal, the basics are still essential.
- ‘What’ and ‘how’ you post is key. Technical knowledge is useful but if you can’t write an engaging post, no amount of marketing spend will endear you to an audience.
- Engage. Don’t ignore the conversations that are happening on your page. Even the negative ones.
- Recognise your changing business and adapt to survive. Sometimes a paid advert will pay for itself.
- Understand the different needs within your market – segment.
- Don’t be greedy. Talk about your community, your stakeholders and share news that is interesting to your audience.
- Be bold. Budget is not the answer to a successful social media campaign. Time and enthusiasm are.
If you would like to arrange Ben to talk to your organisation about how we built the Uplands Market brand, please contact us ideas@urbanfoundry.co.uk
