Knowing your target market is incredibly useful for succeeding in any marketing campaign, especially giveaways. This case study is proof that audience knowledge can generate thousands of leads and impressive sales.
We shine a spotlight on Gisèle Rebel who used UpViral to help her client in the restaurant business. Read that again – the restaurant business. Clearly, she has figured out a way for her client to keep on attracting potential customers during COVID-19.
In just 2 and a half weeks, Gisèle got these results:
- 2,599 total leads
- 1768 were direct leads
- 831 were referred leads (That’s about 32% free leads by using UpViral🔥)
- 8,000€ in sales
Read until the end or watch our interview video to learn all the tactics she used. If Gisèle did it, you can do it for your business, too! 😉
🙌🏻 GREAT NEWS: Gisèle was so kind to share her UpViral campaign link with us. Feel free to check out the link to see her campaign setup in detail and get some cool ideas for your campaign opt-in page, share page, and more! Here’s the link:
Get to Know Gisèle: What She Does and Her Story
Gisèle is the founder of Foodie Content Factory, a marketing agency that helps hospitality entrepreneurs with social media.
She knows for a fact that most restaurants do marketing the traditional way. As with other brick-and-mortar businesses, owners aren’t always familiar with social media. Or some of them may have an online presence, but don’t have web traffic. That’s where Gisèle comes in.
Through her service, these entrepreneurs can attract more guests to their restaurants, hotels, coffee bars, or Airbnbs.
With a strong background in food, butchery, and leisure, Gisèle describes herself as someone who sets goals, plans, and perseveres. You can read more about her here.
Gisèle focuses only on the hospitality industry for this reason: She’s passionate about food and knows what customers want.
Why UpViral for This Campaign?
Gisèle was already running lead campaigns for her clients that didn’t have guests anymore but were looking for new opportunities amidst the pandemic.
She had a client in Belgium who owns a restaurant called Common Sense. While she helped that client with their Christmas and Valentine’s Day campaigns, he also wanted to start a BBQ online shop.
In the shop, they would be able to sell their BBQ grills and workshops that taught people how to use these grills.
The goal? Attract more leads through a new lead campaign in the weeks leading up to Father’s Day. To entice their audience, they gave away one of their products which was a Kamado Joe Jr.® BBQ Grill.
Realizing the Growth Opportunity
What’s interesting is that Gisèle’s client was already happy with the results of their Christmas and Valentine’s Day campaigns. So, they expected the same strategy for this new lead campaign – set up a regular landing page.
But Gisèle thought, why not integrate UpViral into the campaign to get more leads? After all, she tried UpViral in the past and had great results.
She was able to convince her client and so they started setting up the campaign.
The UpViral Giveaway Campaign Setup
Now, let’s find out how Gisèle structured her client’s giveaway campaign.
Campaign Duration
The campaign lasted for about 2 and a half weeks and ended 5 days before Father’s Day in Belgium (where her client was based). That’s when they started sending out discounts and small prizes to participants who didn’t win.
The UpViral team thinks that doing the giveaway around Father’s Day was a smart strategy. This was a time of celebration which heightened people’s interest in winning the prize.
Giveaway Prize
Gisèle’s client gave away 3 prizes:
The MAIN PRIZE was a Kamado Joe Jr.® BBQ Grill worth 500€. This was awarded to the person who earned the highest points in the campaign. See the image below:
The SECOND PRIZE was a smaller table BBQ grill worth 295€. This was awarded to the participant who invited the winner into the giveaway.
The THIRD PRIZE was a recipe magazine plus a discount on the BBQ shop. Everyone who participated in the giveaway received these small prizes.
When you look at all the prizes, you could tell that they made the best decision. Here’s why:
1. They attracted prospective customers.
For this campaign, the target audience was foodies who were likely to be interested in BBQs and recipes.
Choosing the right prize requires careful planning. Any prize can attract people, especially popular products or cash prizes. But if your end goal is to attract more customers to your business, pick a prize that appeals specifically to them.
📚Related: How to Choose a Contest Prize That Attracts Qualified Leads
2. They were tied to the occasion.
Father’s Day is a great time to fire up the grill and just enjoy food with the family. There’s no better way to celebrate it than to eat BBQ outdoors.
3. Everyone was a winner.
At the end of the day, everyone who participated got to bring home a prize. The giveaway was worth their time and effort. In fact, Gisèle’s client was a great chef and knew that people in their niche loved recipes, thus the recipe magazine was one of the smaller prizes.
Mechanics
To participate in the giveaway, people had to enter their name, email, and phone number.
Once they’re entered, they need to share the campaign with their friends. The person with the most points wins the main prize. But the good news is, even non-winners would still win a small prize.
Lead Capture Page
Gisèle had already seen some of the lead capture pages used by our UpViral users in our case studies. She noticed that these pages were designed simply.
“If this works, then I’m going to keep it simple,” said Gisèle.
She created 2 versions using different images but with the same UpViral template. See the screenshot below:
The opt-in page on the left (version A) used a text headline. Meanwhile, the opt-in page on the right (version B) had the headline within the prize image at the top of the page.
According to Gisèle, version B was the best performing version. It had the most conversions, although she couldn’t recall the exact numbers.
Let’s take a closer look at each element of the winning opt-in page:
Prize image
When people land on the opt-in page, this is the first thing they see. It shows the main prize – the Kamado Joe Jr.® BBQ Grill.
The text beside it reads (translated to English): “Kamado Joe Junior – FATHER’S DAY GIVEAWAY – Register for free! – We will announce the winner on June 10th!”
This copy gets attention because it mentions the event, prize, and when the winner will be announced. And most importantly, that it’s free to join.
Copy
Below the image, visitors get to know more about the campaign and the people behind it:
Here’s the translated version:
“Have a chance to win this Kamado Joe Junior BBQ! – Our new BBQ shop is online and we celebrate that with a cool giveaway. – Who are we? – Rogier and Kim run Bistro Common Sense in Bilzen. – From our passion for grilling we started giving workshops for BBQ workshops on the Kamado Joe and the Green Egg. – Our own BBQ webshop is now online. Filled with those BBQ products that we use ourselves.”
Below is an orange box with a text explaining how the giveaway works:
Here’s the translation:
“How does the giveaway work? – You can register for free using the form at the bottom of this page. No purchase is necessary. All participants receive a prize.”
Signup form
Most giveaways usually ask only for a participant’s name and email address. But we’ve noticed that Gisèle added a third field asking for their phone number.
We asked about the reason behind this. According to Gisèle, she wanted her client to be able to call their leads after the giveaway. Also, this might be a good way to pre-qualify their prospects.
People who are truly interested in your business are more likely to enter their phone numbers.
💡UpViral Tip: Alternatively, you could create an UpViral Custom Action that asks for their numbers in exchange for extra points. By doing this, you’re incentivizing your audience and they get more chances to win your giveaway.
Social Share Page
Gisèle also created 2 versions of the social share page. The one on the left had the most conversions:
Let’s check out that social share page starting with the headline.
Headline
We loved this headline (Translated to English): “WAIT 1 MINUTE BEFORE CLICKING AWAY👇INCREASE YOUR CHANCES TO WIN!”
It’s hard to ignore. Like cherry on a sundae. 🍒 It uses a number (which catches attention) and makes an audacious promise – “increase your chances to win!”
Copy and image
Things get more interesting here. At this point, people learn that there’s a second smaller prize, a table BBQ grill, for the person who invites the winner.
The text below reads: “EXTRA PRIZE – The participant who invited the winner will receive a beautiful table barbecue worth € 295”
You could see the actual photo of the table BBQ grill. We think this is a great photo because it helps the audience visualize how it’s used.
Below that photo, you’ll find a list of steps on winning:
Here’s the translation “How do you handle this? – Step 1 – Share the personal link via email, socials or Whatsapp with your network – Step 2 – Earn extra points by following our socials via the buttons below. – Step 3 – Earn extra points by viewing the top prize.”
Social share and custom action buttons
Gisèle added 4 social sharing buttons for the channels that were relevant to her client’s business. These were Facebook, Whatsapp, Facebook messenger, and email.
Then she added 3 Custom Actions which were:
- Like us on Facebook
- Follow us on Instagram
- View the grand prize
As you might notice, higher points were assigned to higher priority social channels and Custom Actions.
For example, the Custom Action “View the grand prize” was a high priority because it took participants to her client’s BBQ grill shop.
Visiting the shop would give people a feel of their products, not just the main prize. That could somehow spark their interest in the business. And maybe, if they didn’t win, they might decide to buy in the future.
Traffic and Engagement Strategies
You have to be proactive in promoting your campaign if you want more people to find it. An equally important step is keeping every lead engaged.
To increase traffic, Gisèle did the following:
Organic social media posts
Gisèle started with organic posts on Facebook and Instagram to test their audience’s response towards the campaign. Check out the first Instagram post:
Notice that in the screenshot above, they encouraged people to interact with the post itself. They asked them to like the post, follow them, and tag the person they want to barbecue with. But more importantly, register for the campaign by clicking the link in the Instagram bio.
Social media ads
After posting organically, they started to run ads on Facebook and Instagram for 2 and a half weeks. According to Gisèle, they targeted Belgium and the Netherlands since her client’s shop was located at the border.
As for the ad spend, it was 1,000€ split between Facebook and Instagram.
Email marketing
Gisèle set up notifications within UpViral that will automatically be sent to every person who:
- Registered for the campaign
- Successfully invited a friend into the campaign
- Won the giveaway
Additionally, an email was sent whenever a suspicious activity was detected.
Facebook group
A week before Father’s Day, her client set up a Facebook group as per her advice. In that group, people were able to connect on a personal level. They shared recipes and asked questions.
We also learned that eventually, some people from the group ordered from the BBQ shop. 😮
Announcing the Winner
The giveaway winner was announced on Facebook, Instagram, and via email. Here’s email message they wrote for the winner:
Email subject line:
{{name}}, congratulations! You won our campaign!
Message:
Great news, {{name}}.
You won our giveaway! We will contact you by phone to award the prize.
Smoking greetings,
Roger
Here’s a screenshot of the Facebook post:
Why Was The Campaign A Success?
Gisèle, without a doubt, has created a campaign for her client that went viral. 2,599 leads and 8,000€ in sales in just 2 and a half weeks is superb. Here’s a breakdown of the strategies that led to her success:
- Knowing the audience well. The choice of prizes and messages were all relevant to an audience within the food industry. As a bonus, they were appropriate for the occasion – Father’s Day.
- Making sure that everybody won. Everyone who participated won something. If not the Kamado Joe Junior BBQ, it would be the smaller BBQ grill, food magazine, and discounts to the BBQ shop. This prize strategy helped create more engagement and increased the number of referrals.
- Simple opt-in page and share page. Gisèle wrote a copy that’s understandable, scannable, and focused. Anything that’s unnecessary can distract your audience from your main purpose – getting them to sign-up and share.
- Running split tests. Gisèle A/B tested the opt-in page and share page to determine the best-performing version and keep it running. Split testing can improve the results of your giveaway. Those simple tweaks can make a big difference!
What Would Gisèle Do Differently Next Time?
Each UpViral campaign teaches you a new lesson or skill which you can apply to a future campaign.
Gisèle plans to use other UpViral features in her next campaign. There are lots of features within UpViral that let you create the kind of campaign you envision for your goals. A few examples are geotargeting and adding a leaderboard on the share page.
She also mentioned wanting to improve her email sequences and invest more time in creating better opt-in and share pages.
Final Thoughts
The UpViral team congratulates Gisèle for a job well done. If you’re also running an agency focused on helping business owners in your industry, do what Gisèle did. Just get started!
We loved what Gisèle said in our interview: You learn by doing.
Take inspiration from this awesome campaign. There’s no need to reinvent the wheel – observe successful campaigns, replicate, and improve wherever possible.
Finally, we’d like to invite you to give UpViral a try. Stop wishing for more business leads and start doing. The good news is, we’re offering 14-day full access to UpViral for only $1. 🙌🏻
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