• ASOS
• AVG
• Baileys
• BBC
• bmibaby
• Cancer Research UK
• CWJobs
• Diageo
• EMI
• Hotel Chocolat
• Indesit Company
• Kenwood
• Marketing Week Live!
• Mirror Group
• NSPCC
• Powwownow
• PSP / Go View
• RSPCA
• Sanex
• Sony Europe
• Sony UK
• Ubisoft
• Videojug

Hotel Chocolat’s social media campaign has chocolate lovers drooling

Driving negativity from the search engines with strong online connections and tailored content

Aims
The aim was to build brand equity online, improve search results and drive traffic to the site.

Activities
immediate future devised a tailored campaign to increase Hotel Chocolat's profile online and support sales activity over the Easter period.
Each element of the online campaign incorporated a participative element, maximising the emotional engagement in the Hotel Chocolat brand; inspiring advocacy; and ultimately generating buzz through word of mouth.
The online audit revealed a community of chocolate fans, foodies, wine lovers and mums' networks who were all interested in chocolate or related subjects. Influencers were identified in each of these groups, as were topics of interest which would enable Hotel Chocolat to enter the conversation and engage directly with advocates.

Giving bloggers a sweetener
Contact was initiated with influential bloggers and online journalists by offering Hotel Chocolat Easter eggs for review. A positive response was received with bloggers posting complimentary comments about the quality of the chocolate and becoming strong advocates for the brand.
We set up partnerships with influential bloggers and online publications who were given a set of Easter-themed questions to post on their site. For the ‘online Easter egg hunt' readers had to answer a question by searching online; the resulting answers formed a code which was entered on the Hotel Chocolat site. All successful entrants were entered into a prize draw for a luxury Easter hamper and each partner blog or site was assured that one of their readers would win a prize.
The final phase of the activity was designed to engage with families. So we developed an Easter family guide which was shared online amongst Mum bloggers and parenting sites.
A Hotel Chocolat Facebook group was also created as part of the overall campaign - which quickly grew in volume over a short period.

Search engine friendly PR
Every part of the campaign was supported with SEO PR activity. All news releases were optimised with relevant keywords and links to the Hotel Chocolat site.

Results
Over a six week period 100 positive online pieces were published and reviews were frequently linked to by other bloggers, enabling Hotel Chocolat stories to spread quickly across the web.
The ‘online Easter egg hunt' proved to be enormously popular, with almost 4,500 entries on the Hotel Chocolat site. Nine sites partnered with Hotel Chocolat to run the ‘online Easter egg hunt' including Guardian Unlimited. And the novelty aspect of the competition ensured widespread coverage in traditional media online and throughout the blogosphere.

Improving Google rankings
SEO PR and blog relations activity vastly improved Hotel Chocolat's Google rankings as well, ensuring positive coverage and recommendations were returned on key search phrases. At the end of the campaign, coverage generated as a result of the activity accounted for 23 rankings in the first 100 Google search returns for "Hotel Chocolat".
"The social media phenomenon is an incredible opportunity for brands like ours to engage directly with consumers. Recognising our most loyal customers, Hotel Chocolat is able to create strong relationships, reward fans and generate advocacy."
Chris Bishop, Online Marketing Manager, Hotel Chocolat