case study: Huntingdonshire District Council
Targeted campaigns to tempt customers back to the markets, the high street and green spaces
Sectors: Public sector, Retail, Leisure & Tourism, Health
The client
Huntingdonshire District Council (HDC) is a local authority in the East of England, responsible for the provision of public services for a population of approximately 170,000.
Campaign: #ThinkLocalHunts, July 2020 to June 2021
The services
Strategic support
Video
Photography
Organic and paid social media campaigns
Training
The numbers
221,250 people reached across Huntingdonshire and the surrounding areas
Campaign ads featured 730,653 times on Facebook and Instagram feeds
166 people reached for every £1 spent
Facebook: +2628 (a 111% increase in page likes)
Instagram: +971 (a 231% increase)
LinkedIn: +712 (an 88% increase)
Twitter: +241 (a 4% increase)
Hundreds of small businesses trained
The challenge
With the pandemic hitting local businesses hard, particularly hospitality and retail, the Council needed a strong campaign with the right messaging.
Using funding from the European Regional Development Fund, the goal of the campaign was to inform the public of reopening of highstreets safely, encourage people to shop locally and engage them in the community activities, while supporting towns and businesses within the district.
The ever-changing scene of the pandemic meant that businesses were forced to go in and out of lockdowns with often as little as a few days’ notice.
That need for flexibility and acting fast to accommodate for constant changes had to be reflected in the campaign across all social media platforms, while retaining a strong and targeted structure.
The approach
Social media management for Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.
Content creation for social media such as a series of highly shareable Instagram guides to each town, and photography to showcase local businesses and the people behind them.
Covid-safe video production telling stories through video footage, giving a behind-the-scenes peek into each destination and through highly stylised product videos, and most importantly showcasing high street businesses to the still-hesitant public.
Warmer months and the easing of restrictions allowed us to go outside and shoot fitness and reopening videos.
PPC campaigns. Video and striking graphics were the key focus of campaigns for #ThinkLocalHunts, Click It Local and the promotion of social media workshops to upskill small business owners across Huntingdonshire.
Social media skills workshops were attended by over 100 businesses, who benefited from free tips, advice and materials that aimed to support them in promoting their business online. We went on to offer four more workshops in all manner of digital skills.
The results
Throughout all the activity, we kept working closely with HDC, adhering to all health and safety measures, reporting on the success of the campaigns, and adapting activity and our action plan in line with the ever-changing challenges of the pandemic.
Social media
We discovered a keen audience on Instagram and developed a community, engaging with local business owners, residents and authorities.
HDC’s Instagram account became a beacon of that community, amplifying business owners’ voices and resonating with the residents. It allowed us to demonstrate how the Council was supporting the locals, including the high street occupants.
With fresh video and visual content, we completely reinvigorated their social media channels.
Local businesses
The right message and mix of content empowered the business owners, inspired the residents and reassured everyone, keeping people informed on what was open and how it was managed safely. This resulted in a strong community online reflecting that of real life around Huntingdonshire.
Visible results
Results were visible online as well as in real life.
Between March 2020 and May 2021, HDC’s social media platforms saw a strong and steady growth as a result of these hugely successful campaigns.