As one of the UK’s top 5 hair care vendors, specialising in natural textured hair, this particular client makes sure to provide their customers with a little something special every year in the form of a Black Friday sale event.
As social media is their main marketing outlet, it’s my job to promote the sale to as many people in their target audience as possible.
This year they afforded me a budget for paid promotion to run alongside organic content.
This is a mini deep dive into the Black Friday social media campaign that put them in front of over 20,000 people in their target audience.
Project overview
Project goals
Develop an organic campaign that would serve to build trust and provide more information about the sale.
Goal 3
Develop a paid ad campaign that would run across Meta to specific target audiences.
Goal 1
Build anticipation for the upcoming sale and raise awareness so that the most customers could benefit from it.
Goal 2
Paid ad content
After a conversation with the company founders about the way Meta products change their algorithms to favour ad content in the winter months, they decided to provide me with a budget for paid promotion on Instagram and Facebook.
A week before the Black Friday event was set to commence, I learned exactly what the sale would be. I decided that in order to reach as many people as possible, I would create two different ads.
The first ad (on the right) was designed to build anticipation and emotional connection all in one swoop.
As I’ve worked with the client to present them as the home of curl confidence, I wanted to incorporate that into the ad itself. This was the crux of the emotional connection, ensuring people that they would feel more confident in the products available in the sale.
I opted for this visual simply because it draws you in. The movement of the camera to the model as text flashes on the screen captures your attention, and helps you take in information that’s being relayed to you.
After this ad, we saw an increase in followers and engagement in feed content.
The second ad (on the left) was set to run across the length of the Black Friday sale.
Just as with the first ad, the aim was to get people to focus on the information, so I opted to create the reel with a static base image and moving text that captures your attention.
I made sure to emphasise the brands that were included in the sale for two reasons.
Firstly this would create product recognition and ignite any brand loyalty that people may have. Not all of these brands are available elsewhere in the UK, so the idea that this company would have them at a reduced cost and without importing fees could lure viewers to the site.
Secondly my client stocks over 100 hair care brands, and the sale wasn’t site wide. I wanted to make it clear which brands would be discounted over the weekend, so people didn’t make mistakes or accidentally assume we were being dishonest with the advertising.
I included the companies preset CTA (call to action) on this ad and not the previous one, simply because this ad was trying to sell while the other was warming up the audience. Additionally there was an active link that sent viewers directly to the company website when they clicked it.
Both ads included trending, royalty free music that suited their prospective aesthetics. The first ad was accompanied by a calm piano, giving the illusion of elegance and grace, while the second ad was accompanied by a livelier composition that matched the beat of content changes and created an upbeat vibe around the Black Friday sale.
Social media feed content
Above all else, I wanted feed content to not only sell the products, but build trust - especially as paid ads were bringing in new viewers.
So on the feed, the campaign began with a Reel that showed one of the companies founders answering questions that the audience had submitted. Immediately giving the brand a face helps people to connect.
To prepare people for the sale, I then created some interactive content where the audience would get an idea of some of the brands that would be included. This encouraged people to get involved, while I made sure to respond to every comment to double down on that sense of trust.
Finally I produced a carousel that highlighted each brand in the sale. Strategically calling it the “Black Friday Curl Confidence Edit” aimed to evoke an emotional response in the viewer. Meanwhile every slide shared information about the featured brand, including what hair types the products would work best with and what they specialise in.
Instagram story development
With direct links available on Meta stories, I used them to keep the Black Friday sale front and centre. That way followers who had somehow missed the feed content and ads were made aware of the event.
Across the weekend (Thursday-Sunday) when the sale was live, I made sure to highlight specific brands and products that had 30% off. To keep it interesting for people that frequently view our stories, I switched up the design on a daily basis. This kept people interested and more likely to engage with the content.
Project Metrics
Results from the first ad
Results from the second ad
Weekly insights
FAQs
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The skills I used in this project include:
Organisation & management
Project planning
Campaign development
Content planning
SEO caption writing
Ad copywriting
Content creation & development
Ad management
Budget management
Video editing
Social media & community management -
If I were to undergo this project again, I would obtain more raw footage and UGC to promote the specific products and brands. I’d also like to have an increased budget so that I could A/B test different SEO and visuals in ads.
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A huge amount! The feed content in particular was produced to engage the audience, and every comment is a chance to build relationships between the business and the customer. I also had a range of questions about the sale come in through the DM’s, so I was responding with information about shipping, stock, and how long it would take for people to receive their orders - all of which I responded to as soon as possible to continue building trust and to build a positive experience for new customers.