BlueParrott
Background
When I took over the BlueParrott social media pages and Driver’s Club Newsletter it was clear that I had to up the quality. After giving the newsletter a graphic facelift I turned my attention to the actual content. In mid 2019 I started some more substantial give-aways, like our “5 Weeks of Giving” social media campaign around the holidays, as well as our Driver Appreciation campaigns that have taken the place of our in-person trade shows.
Next up was creating some engaging videos for the brand. Starting with our B450-XT launch in May of 2020, I introduced a video franchise called “Parrott Talk.” The 3-minute videos highlight specific bit-sized, things in the BlueParrott world, ranging from new products to enhanced features and even contest and giveaways.
Below are more details about some of the BlueParrott Initiatves.
Parrott Talk Videos
Parrott Talk videos started as a way to announce new products. In 2020, we planned to launch our newest headset, the B450-XT at the Mid American Trucking Show in March, but when COVID forced organizers to cancel that show, we were left with no clear launch plan. I volunteered to script, edit and distribute a launch video to somewhat take the place of our in-person launch. The B450-XT video was posted on YouTube on May 1st and gained almost 10K views in the first week. As well as the video was received by our customers, it was an even bigger hit internally. Suddenly I (along with on-camera talent Alex) was the go-to guy in my company for video projects as the requests started rolling in…and they’ve never stopped.
Since then, we’ve created a handful of additional videos including a much-needed episode explaining why it’s important to update the firmware on your headset (here) that is still used by sales and support when the topic comes up with customers. We’ve also produced videos announcing contests (here) and highlighting new enterprise products (here), among others.
Click on the image above to watch the video on Youtube
Click on the image above to watch the video on Youtube
Driver’s Appreciation Week
Giveaways are a big part of our social strategy. Our audience goes bananas for the chance to win a free headset but is not too keen on interacting with content that’s more informative or interesting. Instead of fighting that obvious trend, I embraced it. Starting with the COVID-related cancellation of the Great American Trucking Show in August 2020, I launched a series of Driver’s Appreciation contests with some premium prizes. Check out the video to the left to see what we ran in August of 2020 and the video above that launched our Holiday 2020 giveaway.
5 Weeks of Giving
Our most successful giveaway, from an engagement standpoint, is the annual 5 Weeks of Giving campaign. Starting right around Thanksgiving every year, we give away one headset a week via social media. We ask followers to like, comment on and share the post for a chance to win whatever headset we’re giving away that week. In the example to the right, followers are asked to tell us what their favorite part about winter is for a chance to win a B350-XT headset. That post reached over 3,000 people with 366 engagements, 87 comments, and 58 shares on Facebook alone, numbers that are consistent with the other 4 posts that were part of the campaign.
Overall Social Media Success
BlueParrott has always had a dedicated following in the real world, but not much of a following on social media. Over the course of the last two years, I’ve been able to gain substantial brand traction on Facebook and Twitter without the benefit of very much budget at all. I’ve leveraged the above-mentioned giveaways and videos, as well as a plethora of other methods, in an effort to increase our followers. This has resulted in an increase in followers of almost 100%.