How a family-run sausage business used social media to double sales and secure £1m growth capital

Image courtesy of yorkshiretimes.co.uk
I have been watching BBC2’s The Fixer. If you’re not familiar with the show, expert “fixer” Alex Polizzi (perhaps most famous as ‘The Hotel Inspector’) works with struggling businesses to help them them troubleshoot, change their approach and achieve business success.
In a recent show, Alex worked with Yorkshire-based family-run sausage producer, Heck, to build up a new client base after they sold their original business. More on the Heck story here.
One of the main things they focused on was developing the Heck Sausages social media presence. They brought in a digital marketing agency to help.
Heck Sausages: the social media campaign
Having identified the company values and brand messages, the next step as to decide which social media platforms to use. The Heck Sausages owners were advised; “Each channel has its purpose as part of a larger content strategy. Facebook provides a backdrop to tell a whole story, Twitter is better for engaging in shorter bite-sized communications and YouTube is the best tool for seeding content.”
The Heck Sausages team choose to focus on creating great video content to tell their story. During the show, the agency introduced them to the famous IRN Bru ‘fanny’ campaign.
From posting through just one fan account, the video racked up over one million views in a week. The video didn’t cost much, but its impact was huge.
Click here to watch the video in a new browser.
Of course, a lot of time was invested in creating a coordinated campaign behind the launch of the video. You can read all about this here. But the principle point is around creating fun and engaging content.
Heck Sausages: What happened next?
Heck Sausages has since seen sales double and has secured £1m in growth capital from a private equity firm. If that doesn’t illustrate the power of social media, then perhaps some of the impressive social media facts below will.
10 staggering facts about social media for business
(All facts are courtesy of @AndrewsAldridge and were quoted during #bbcthefixer program with @alex_polizzi_
(1) 24 million Britons use Facebook every single day.
(2) The average person checks their Facebook 16 times a day.
(3) Glenlivet Whisky saw a 1,600% increase in YouTube views thanks to a social media campaign.
(4) Social media gives you a platform to reach a large number of individuals cost effectively.
(5) 80% of people are more likely to purchase products after being influenced by social media presence.
(6) 89% of small business marketers are already using Twitter.
(7) 75% of small business marketers are already using Facebook.
(8) 65% of small business marketers are already using YouTube.
(9) Cisco are estimating that by 2017, 67% of all consumer internet traffic will be video.
You don’t need to spend a huge amount to make an impact on social media. But you do need to be prepared to invest time and resources into creating great content (photos, videos, stories, blogs) to use in your social media campaigns.
I can help you to do this in a cost effective way: creating viral videos, managing a blog, running social media campaigns, or whatever you need.
If you’d like to talk through your ideas, give me a call on 01133 20 21 21.
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[…] – Tyrrells Crisps – and sold it eight years later for £30m. And Heck Sausagues who I blogged about in 2014, are now turning over […]