Brief
Holmes Smokehouse, a family-owned sausage manufacturer proudly operating out of Texas, enlisted our expertise in May 2022 to elevate their social media presence and refine their marketing strategy. Although Holmes already had an award-winning family recipe and a loyal fanbase, they were eager to draw in new fans and extend their reach.
We worked to develop a brand voice that was family-oriented and traditional, but could seamlessly contribute to the microtrends so vital to consumer goods content marketing, and eventually connect with new audiences.
We kept our strategy agile, deploying a variety of mini-campaigns and content types as we worked to establish the brand as a social presence through both organic and paid channels. Keep reading to see how the sausage was made.
The challenge
Starting from scratch is hard, and can be even harder when unseen obstacles appear at the outset. When we inherited the Holmes Smokehouse accounts, we also inherited an incredible amount of purchased followers, who not only weren't genuine market participants, but negatively impacted important metrics and signaled to algorithms that Holmes’ content was low-quality.
We took action, deciding to shed these followers at a slow rate while focusing on attracting real, in-market followers to improve the account's reach and performance — all while laying the foundation for the new and improved online identity for the sausage kings.
The results
Between 2022 and 2023, audience share grew from 39.2% in 2022 to 43.6% by the end of 2023. By January 2024, 59.4% of the Instagram account’s follower base was based in the United States, with 6% living in Texas, a massive improvement from when we first inherited the account. During this time we also exceed the average engagement rate for food business profiles (1.45%) by garnering a 3% engagement rate for the Holmes Smokehouse Instagram.
By January 2024, we saw a 1,889% increase in followers on Facebook alone earning the page 11,445 followers in total. With 65,519 link clicks from ads and a solid engagement rate of 4.32% (the industry average was 0.74% at the time), our nimble and principled strategies exceeded our expectations.
How we did it
1. Creating a cohesive brand design across social media platforms
Utilizing current product photography, user-generated content, and a little Texan humor, Baal & Spots crafted 10+ posts every month across Facebook and Instagram that spoke to the brand’s roots while appealing to their target demographic. With interactive prompts and mouth-watering visuals, we were able to capture our audience’s attention and, more importantly, encourage them to take action. Recipes, trivia, video content, and fan-curated content helped elevate the Holmes Smokehouse feeds to new heights.
2. Establishing influencer marketing to attract in-market followers and customers
While crafting our high-level social strategy, we identified a missing key component in Holmes’ feeds: high-quality video content. Given Texas's rich culinary scene and abundance of food-focused content creators, implementing influencer marketing was a no-brainer.
We collaborated with three food-centric content creators: Jaime (@livinglocalhtx), Bill (@cookwithbill), and Emily (@grocery_obsessed) to cook up recipe content using Holmes Smokehouse products.
We aimed to demonstrate how easily consumers could incorporate our sausages into their home cooking while emphasizing their availability in local grocery stores. These Reels and videos resonated strongly with our audiences, resulting in significant engagement and providing valuable exposure for Holmes Smokehouse across our social platforms.
3. Paid marketing strategy
Alongside our organic social media endeavors, we strategically integrated a paid social media strategy to amplify Holmes’ reach and engagement. Recognizing the importance of targeted advertising, we tailored campaigns and ad content to our desired, in-market audience.
Additionally, we optimized ad placements across various platforms to maximize visibility and engagement. Continuous monitoring and adjusting ad performance allowed us to make the most of our budget and increase the brand's reach online.
