Greggs Social Media Content
Awards
Digital Impact Awards 2012 | Best Use of Digital in the Retail Sector | Gold
Digital Impact Awards 2012 | Best Use of Digital in the Food and Beverages Sector | Silver
I joined STEEL’s social media team for Greggs in 2012 when the brand had around 450,000 Facebook fans and 20,000 Twitter followers. I left in 2014 with Facebook at 780,000 fans, Twitter at 83,000 followers and a pair of Digital Impact Awards for Greggs (pictured).
We were responsible for planning, designing and writing copy for each post, as well as responding to user comments. With a bias towards Facebook (Greggs strongest platform at the time) and a thin slice of Greggs marketing budget, we created content around four key themes: Product, Seasonal, Topical or Campaign (see below).
Product Theme
Heaven and Hell
You can’t be right all the time. So on the rare occasions a new Greggs product faced delisting, we would prompt the Facebook fans to vote – should it be sent to Heaven or Hell? The results would determine whether the product received either a loving or wickedly spiteful epitaph.
As well as keeping customers up to date with the Greggs menu, this approach would always spark comments both for and against the product. Plus it gave us an excuse to write some silly poems.
Illustrations
While content like ‘Heaven and Hell’ (above) was designed to specifically prompt comments, other content was designed to prompt Likes and Shares. An example is the range of original Greggs-branded illustrations we produced.
Dunk Week
As a way to discreetly promote Greggs coffee, we spent a week celebrating the noble art of dunking biscuits.
Over a series of social media posts we pitched traditional British biscuits against one another to determine the ultimate dunker. Outcomes of each biscuit vs. biscuit face-off were decided by our Facebook fans.
It got quite heated at times. Who knew the ultimate dunking biscuit was a custard cream?
Seasonal Theme
Halloween 2013
If we found there wasn’t a particular product or campaign to shout about, some weeks we’d just have fun. Racking up almost 36,000 shares, with no financial boost behind it, ‘What’s YOUR Monster Movie?’ was Greggs most successful post of all time.
Valentine’s Day 2014
As Valentine’s Day always divides opinion, we designed a series of posts in a variety of styles to raise a smile instead of a sneer.
Christmas 2012
What’s worse than an epic social media fail? An idea that doesn’t make so much as a ripple. Such was the fate of Christmas 2012’s ‘#101usesforasprout’ – the idea being that we could think of 101 things to do with Brussels sprouts, but eating them wasn’t among them.
As we steadily posted our own suggestions, we challenged Greggs Facebook and Twitter fans to send us their own #101usesforasprout.
We thought it was hilarious and our in-house vegetable-sculptor deserved an award. It just didn’t seem to capture Greggs fans’ imaginations. Live and learn. But since you’re here and this is my page, you can sit there and enjoy them all.
Topical Theme
The Essex Lion
We had a couple of social media wins for Greggs at moments when we could remain on brand while riffing on the hot topic of the day.
One of these was during the bizarre Essex Lion scare in Clacton-on-Sea in August 2012. There’s a Greggs in Clacton-on-Sea. We thought this post would help.
Man of Ginger
In June 2013, the one-sheet for upcoming blockbuster Man of Steel was everywhere online – depicting a handcuffed and serious-looking Superman. Which is why, on the day of the film’s release, we posted this.
I still prefer it to the orginal.
Fish Custard
November 23rd was a big day for Doctor Who fans. The 50th Anniversary special was due to be simulcast (shown in cinemas and on TV all around the world at exactly the same time) at 7pm. Big things were promised by the billboard posters.
A mainstream, generation-spanning British institution; a character obsessed with strange food; a hashtag, #savetheday, the BBC was promoting up the wazoo… We had to get in on that.
Using Greggs’ stock photography we comped together an image of the current Doctor’s favourite snack, Fish Fingers and Custard, and added it to Greggs standard menu on their website. Then we asked everyone we knew to tweet its location. No big PR spend – just a little design time and some very game folks at Greggs.
By lunchtime, it had been picked up by Buzzfeed, Gizmodo, and Daily Star with Twitter roundly voicing its approval.
Campaigns
The Great Greggs Sandwich Maker
Winner: Gold Digital Impact Award, 2012
In just a few days, over 6000 sandwiches had been made and shared on social channels.
#PastySanta
To promote their Christmas range, and rival the iconic Starbucks red cups, Greggs released a limited edition red #PastySanta bag for December. Anyone eating a pasty straight out of a #pastysanta bag would look like they had a big, white Santa beard.
Every day we awarded prizes for the best #PastySanta photos and shared them on Greggs social channels.
Meal Deal Reveal
An integrated campaign across POS, press and digital channels, Meal Deal Reveal was a mechanic to promote Greggs £3 Meal Deal.
With every purchase of a Meal Deal in shops, customers would receive a scratch card. Scratching the left side could reveal a free Greggs product, redeemable instantly. Scratching the right side revealed a unique code.
That’s where we came in.
