JT's Bagel Bar & More Social Media Marketing Report

The objective of creative/messaging is to make the reader stop scrolling, actually read and interpret the message, and most importantly, take some action towards the post. And an action could be as simple as interacting (liking, commenting, or sharing the post) and even taking it a step further to spread word-of-mouth about a certain post OR even better yet, getting a sale! An ideal situation for any marketing campaign is to have so many positive things to say about a particular product or campaign, that it is difficult to decipher which words to use to describe it!

By catering our messaging to the behavioral motivations (what gives us emotional purpose to pursue our goals - the emotional fuel to ACT), we are able to speak directly to our customer. In a recent branding project, we found that our customers are driven both by being nurtured, as well as engaged. Meaning, people relate with content that shows that they are appreciated, loved, and taken care of by us or them taking care of us (think: support and shop local) through the nurturance motivation. Also, our customers aligned with the feeling of being captivated, excited, and the sense of nostalgia (engagement motivation) in our social media posts.

Since we are in the restaurant industry and rely on great food and experience (table stakes) to succeed, it just makes sense that we drive the engagement style home in our social media messaging. For nurturance-styled messaging, we feel that with being a local business located in a small, close-knit town, and with most of our customers being ‘regulars’ and going out of their way to support local, this motivation helps us stick out from our competitors and foster relationships with our community (hence, engagement and nurturance are playing hand-in-hand and work great with one another).

Therefore, 70% of our content is currently focused on being engaging, and the remaining 30% being nurturing. We use words, pictures, videos, emojis, gifs, etc. that provoke readers to act upon a post after viewing it, whether it be interacting with it on social media or even when the transaction extends to an in-store purchase. This technique of posting engagement-styled content is used because it gives our shop a cool social media presence and creates a persona and fun atmosphere in our shop (enhancing our brand).? On the other hand, a nurturing post ensures that audiences feel a sense of belonging to our specific brand and business. With nurturing posting techniques, we make sure that our current AND new customers feel the love, we’re able to maintain and establish a relationship with newer customers while also keeping our current ones very appreciative and supportive of our business.

All in all, these posts are completely necessary because customer loyalty is arguably one of the most valuable assets to a businesses’ success, and using more welcoming and friendly language helps achieve that purpose. And William Leach’s Marketing to Mindstates (posted in the footnote) strategy optimally and effectively allows us to accomplish this messaging method.

Looking at our progress, we’ve used the Facebook, Instagram, and BusinessSuite platforms to analyze our social media metrics and analytics. Both Instagram and Facebook (the social media that JT’s is present on) and Business Suite (a dual-posting data analytics tool) are some of the most popular platforms that help track social media progress. The social media metrics consist of an increase in followers and engagement, two easy ways to help us decipher success in our social media presence. Our main measurements of success included: 1) how many people our page reaches, 2) new followers, and 3) overall engagement.?

Below are a few indications that provide evidence that our use of the 70/30 motivation model ratio to creating social media content has been successful in the first month and a half of my internship.

JT’s Bagel Shop Facebook statistics (January 31 - February 27, 2022)

Page Reach: 17,184 people (146.9% increase)

Page Followers: 49 (48% increase)

Page Engagement: 3,639 (214% increase)

***Data pulled from Facebook Analytics and BusinessSuite***

Now, it’s easy to see these numbers and instantly want to celebrate. Let’s dive in on what made my first month and a half of work so successful! One thing that was kept in mind was the structure of the posts. This comes down to wordiness, along with the choice of words used within our posts to make them as engaging as possible.?

When analyzing the data, we typically found that audiences prefer a post that is less wordy, and more “straight to the point”, based off of engagement statistics on Facebook Analytics. When creating social media content, it is important to follow Leach’s “70/30” approach; with 70% of posts being engaging to current and prospective customers, and the remaining 30% being nurturing the current customer. Interestingly, engagement posts typically saw significantly higher engagement rates than nurturing posts did (an example of this is an engagement post from 1/26/2022 receiving 2,700 views, versus a similarly-performing (but not quite as impactful) nurturing post on 1/29/2022 receiving 1,400 views). This strategy does create a ton of page reach and engagement, which are great for short term success, but lack in follower success; which is vital to long term success. Obtaining followers is typically done by creating a balance between engaging prospective audiences, while nurturing current audiences and welcoming new followers. The 70/30 approach ensures that this is being performed efficiently, which also ensures the consistent growth and engagement of our social media page.?

One example of outstanding success seen so far during this internship opportunity was the 7th birthday week celebration. This was a project that was a work-in-process needing team collaboration for marketing brainstorming, and required some “on the spot” thinking.?

Our team had collectively rolled out quite a few promotions, such as: daily sandwich specials, daily gift card drawings, chocolate freebie treat giveaways, a ribbon-cutting ceremony, and concluding the end of the celebration week with a grand finale drawing. Creating these engagement-filled posts was a unique opportunity that I really had some fun with. Collaborating with my internship manager, Ms. Romick, and the owner of JT’s Bagel Bar, Ms. Schank, allowed me to find engaging post ideas, while ensuring that our audience remains nurtured at the same time. Creating these posts made me realize just how important it is to find things to celebrate, whether they are big or small. The post saw significantly greater success than what we typically saw, due to the countdown effect that we used in order to lure and engage a greater number of customers. As seen in the screenshot below, the 7th Birthday Post alone had reached over 4,500 people, with over 200 interactions to the post.? Attached below is a screenshot with the results of our 7th birthday week celebration:

7th Birthday Facebook Post Screenshot (February 13, 2022)

All in all, this internship opportunity has given me the opportunity to utilize my prior educational knowledge, along with my interests in digital marketing and advertising. JT’s Bagel Shop is considered one of the staples of Tiffin, Ohio, and specifically known for its wide variety of breakfast options. Getting to know the ins and outs of a successfully ran social media platform has equipped me with the proper tools to further develop my skills as I continue my professional career, and I owe JT’s a huge thank you for giving me the opportunity to hone in on my interest of digital marketing and enhancing a social media presence as a digital presence becomes more essential to businesses.

As this internship opportunity has developed my digital marketing and social media skills, I have also utilized knowledge gained from numerous courses that can be found on my resume. My resume can be found on my profile, along with my contact information!