We then approached the issue with Facebook and Instagram Shops. This had been an ongoing problem for the client but, with a loyal following on Instagram, they were very keen to see it fixed ahead of the launch of their fifth issue. We approached this by setting up a Commerce Manager for boom saloon; linking it to their Business Manager and, in turn, their Facebook and Instagram accounts. With only four products, soon to become five after the launch of the next issue of the magazine, and a fairly sporadic release of new ones, we felt the best chance of success was to avoid any complications that may come with integrations. Instead, we chose to manually set up the products within the catalogue linked to the Commerce Manager. This enabled us to successfully set Shops live on both Facebook and Instagram—enabling followers to go directly to the magazine issues from the respective platforms. 

In short, ahead of the launch of boom saloon’s fifth issue, we were able to identify gaps in their digital and social media set up and close them. This meant we would be kicking off the campaigns with all necessary technical elements in place, removing the risk of lost data or inaccurate reporting, and boom saloon was fully set up for streamlined data collection and analysis; even after our pro bono agreement ended. 

Social media advertising

As mentioned, strategising for how we wanted to run the campaigns effectively was a key part of setting up ahead of actively running ads. With a limited budget and a 2-month agreement in place, we had to ensure that we approached Issue 005’s launch with precision—no wasted budget and no campaigns running without a purpose. 

Additionally, no campaigns had been run by boom saloon before. With no learning on the Facebook Ad account and a freshly installed Pixel, it was an entirely blank canvas with no pre-existing custom web audiences and, according to the editor, a very eclectic selection of current buyers; making a focused interests audience tough to zero in on. By launching in November 2020, boom saloon was also up against increased ad space competition during the festive season which was exacerbated by the ongoing Coronavirus pandemic—leading to companies, who had been more reserved with ad spend throughout the year, all making a bid for the consumers shopping for Christmas gifts. 

Our solution to this was to create a strategy that would opt for fewer ads running but with more competitive budgets, in a bid to opt for higher quality with more reach/results over quantity of campaigns. We also wanted to maximise on what little customer data they did have to spur on a better quality of site traffic, which would then feed future custom and lookalike audiences, and chose to create lookalikes of their loyal Instagram audience—allowing us to reach like-minded individuals who would be more likely to engage with what boom saloon had to offer.

Storytelling through a brand-focused video.

With fairly low brand awareness, we were aware that we couldn’t just run full-steam ahead with a series of traffic and conversion ads for the new issue, we also had to warm people to the brand and educate them about what boom saloon does. Often, the projects are what fuels the magazine content and, in turn, the profits from the magazine and their studio allows them to continue supporting the community projects. It’s a cyclical organisation and each part of it is important and influences the other. To do this, we knew we would need to create campaigns that would act as the initial touchpoint between the audience and the brand; giving them information about who boom saloon was and what the content of their issues regularly featured, before later retargeting to encourage them on to the site and then to purchase. 

With that in mind, we first started work on a video for boom saloon to convey who boom saloon are and what they do. As agreed with the Editor, this was to be more of an emotional or narrative piece that would highlight what boom saloon’s movement was, aiming to reach out to people with similar beliefs, rather than explain the 3 strains of the business. We achieved this by scripting a voiceover that touched on that emotional narrative and by using relevant and past footage of their community projects to give a visual representation of the brand. As a result, we were able to run campaigns with a brand video that sparked an initial interest in boom saloon. 

Piquing interest with immersive experiences.

We also approached advertising the latest issue to new audiences with that lack of awareness in mind. When in a shop, a customer will rarely just choose a random magazine off a shelf and purchase; they are often regular buyers or will flick through for a quick glance at a new magazine before making that decision to purchase it. Because of this, we chose to give this audience, new to the boom saloon magazines, a peek inside the latest issue through the use of an Instant Experience ad. This allowed us to create a magazine-worthy, full-screen experience that showcased some of the magazine’s top stories and stunning photography—all while keeping boom saloon’s minimalist aesthetic in mind. This ad had a floating call-to-action button that enabled the viewer to go onto the site at any time and gave the audience immersion into the issues and topics boom saloon are tackling with their magazine—a great way to pique the interest of those with similar passions.

Driving traffic and results through engaged audiences.

By focusing on this top-funnel activity, we were able to reach new people who were less likely to be aware of boom saloon but more likely to have an affinity for what the brand stood for; giving them immersion into the brand before pushing them on to the site and encouraging them to purchase the latest issue. 

Instagram Stories also proved to be a strong format for boom saloon, driving nearly 40% of overall site traffic during November and December 2020 when we were working with them, these ads, combined with the Instant Experience and video ads, provided us with rich, engaged audiences. These audiences then became the basis of further lookalikes for more prospecting campaigns as well as conversion-based retargeting; ads which were dynamically populated and powered by the Pixel and product catalogues we had set up for the client.

Though our time working with boom saloon on their social media campaigns was short, we feel a big impact was made not only through the results achieved, but also the increased functionality that the boom saloon team will be able to benefit from as they continue to use social media and analytics to their fullest potential.

During the two months we worked with boom saloon on their social media advertising, our campaigns were the biggest driver of traffic to their site by a landslide—with over 70% of the overall users coming onto the site from one of our ads. 

Our campaigns resulted in an over 3,600% increase in traffic via social media and contributed to an over 300% increase in overall website traffic. Though we weren’t able to compare revenue on a launch-by-launch basis, due to a lack of analytics, we were able to see that our campaigns contributed to a 930% increase in revenue when we compared the launch of Issue 005 to pre-launch revenue.

However, overall, our biggest result was implementing the tools to ensure that boom saloon can make the most of these platforms in the future. With that in mind, we also wanted to ensure that the boom saloon team was able to harness social media, and social media ads, on an ongoing basis—particularly for future launches.