Dennis Yu

603% Growth from Sponsored Stories- What One Small Biz Learned

This is a guest blog post by Kathy Hipple of Noosphere Marketing

Sada Shop increased its fan base by over 600% in just two months by launching a clever quiz and a fun contest and adding sponsored ads to amplify its fans’ response. Here’s how we did it:

  • Devise an engaging contest or quiz idea to engage your prospective fans.
  • Find an app that works (we chose Wildfire)
  • Support your contest or quiz with Facebook and Search ads
  • Keep posting engaging content on your page to support the quiz or contest
  • Use sponsored stories to reach your fans’ friends — leverage the real power of social media
  • Use sponsored posts to amplify news of the contest or quiz and anything topical that builds on the growing fan base

Sada Shop, a Saudi-based online concept shop, which sells fabulous design products, Sadashop.com, had just launched at the time of the contest. Of course, the ultimate goal has been to increase organic traffic to the site – check out these results.

We at Noosphere Marketing helped Sada Shop launch a True You Personality Quiz and the Worst Gift Ever Contest (for a chance to win the Best Gift Ever). We targeted people throughout the Middle East who would appreciate Sada Shop’s unique designs that are in stock for fast, local shipping. (They also ship worldwide.)

We used a Wildfire app to launch both the quiz and the contest. We drove traffic to the Facebook page through Google and Facebook ads.

The True You Personality Quiz determined whether each respondent was a Secret Rebel, a Jetsetter, a Zen Goddess, a Good Girl, or a Fashionista. (Fashionista was the winner, if you must know. Jetsetter, and Secret Rebels, were close runners-up.)

Our primary goal for the Quiz, which ran for one month, was to drive awareness of Sada Shop and increase likes. We increased likes from 160 to 1600 in four weeks, and during one week of the contest, Sada Shop was #3 on SocialWatchList.com in Facebook fan page growth for the Middle East and North Africa; edging out many large brands.

We also built an email list, as most respondents gave their email addresses in case they won a prize. Some questions were asked about ideal gifts, the best ways to spend time, favorite fashion items, and dreamy travel spots. Talk about market research for the Sada Shop team, who want to offer their customers compelling products that meet their secret fantasies.

Throughout the Quiz and Contests, Sada Shop kept posting regularly, about awesome fashion and eco-friendly design throughout the world. They are passionate about great design and wanted their wall to reflect this. You can see for yourself.

Since the Quiz was such a success – 1500+ entries in a month, an 18% entry rate. – we wanted to keep the fan growth momentum and engagement with the Sada Shop fan page. We then launched another contest, again using Wildfire App. We asked participants to describe their Worst Gift Ever and to describe what they would consider an ideal gift. Again, we’re primarily trying to build on the existing fan base, add to the email list, and gain crucial market research about “ideal gifts” that would make up for the Worst Gifts.

Throughout the two months, we ran the quiz and contest, we wanted to build on Sada Shop’s existing fan base. In particular, we wanted to reach new fans, ideally through the friends of existing fans, to amplify the existing fan base. To do this, we ran Sponsored Stories ads.

Sponsored Stories ads ensure that Sada Shop would appear in the Friends of our existing Fans’ newsfeeds, saying, “(THIS FAN) likes Sada Shop.” As social media research suggests, Friends of Friends are 3-4 times more likely to like a page if one of their friends already likes the page.

In particular, we were really focused on increasing the number of People Talking About Us (PTAs) People Talking About Us have increased, as you can see. This is super important because it means your ads are reaching the friends of your fans and it increases your Edge Rank. A high Edge Rank helps your ads appear in the newsfeeds of your fans’ friends:

We also added a created Page Post Ad, featuring a recent post about Madonna, who was wearing a Leigh & Luca scarf, which Sada Shop carries. We wanted to target people in the region who already like Madonna and are interested in Fashion. We thought this might be a great way to introduce them to Sada Shop, in case they missed the original post. Madonna had just performed at the Super Bowl, and the post had been popular on the page, and we wanted to build on that popularity.

Since Sada Shop posts regularly – great fashion design and eco-friendly designs — we have incorporated Sponsored Stories for almost all their posts. We can also build on what others are writing about them. Recently, a blogger wrote about Sada Shop and we wanted to amplify the impact of the blog post. See our example below:

We also were able to promote Valentine’s Day, by running a Sponsored Story ad about a Sada Shop pillow:

When I reached out to Dennis Yu of Content Factory, for his advice, he was super-helpful. His session at #OMS2012 “How To Plan, Execute, and Measure Like the Pros”, and his one-on-one help afterward really helped increase fans and drive organic traffic to one of Noosphere Marketing’s clients in the Middle East. Thank you, Dennis and Content Factory, for the great tips!

Noosphere Marketing helps companies — especially entrepreneurs, e-commerce, and women-owned businesses –with their online marketing. We use a thoughtful combination of savvy traditional marketing expertise and sassy online expertise. Its co-founder, Kathy Hipple, especially enjoys helping entrepreneurs realize their vision.

 

Dennis Yu

Dennis Yu

Dennis Yu is co-author of the #1 best selling book on Amazon in social media, The Definitive Guide to TikTok Ads. He has spent a billion dollars on Facebook ads across his agencies and agencies he advises. Mr. Yu is the "million jobs" guy-- on a mission to create one million jobs via hands-on social media training, partnering with universities and professional organizations. You can find him quoted in major publications and on television such as CNN, the Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, NPR, and LA Times. Clients have included Nike, Red Bull, the Golden State Warriors, Ashley Furniture, Quiznos-- down to local service businesses like real estate agents and dentists. He's spoken at over 750 conferences in 20 countries, having flown over 6 million miles in the last 30 years to train up young adults and business owners. He speaks for free as long as the organization believes in the job-creation mission and covers business class travel. You can find him hiking tall mountains, eating chicken wings, and taking Kaqun oxygen baths-- likely in a city near you.
I'm a member of Blitzmetrics Academy and a friend of Dennis to boot. Not only is Dennis highly intelligent and full of great and creative ideas, he's also incredibly generous with both his knowledge and his time. Success couldn't come to a better guy. Thank you for all that you do for the world, Dennis! 🙏

Michael Pacheco

Marketer

Thanks 🙏 for being shining light in this industry. Love what your building for works overseas too network for jobs so innovative. Dennis helped me navigate having bad experiences with marketing agencies and doing dollar a day marketing which has helped my personal brand tremendously. Highly recommend.

Eric Skeldon

Founder at Kingdom Broker

Working with Dennis has been a delightful experience. After meeting him in 2015 I got to collaborate with him on countless occasions. His understanding for state-of-the-art marketing, his implementation, and his leadership put him into the top 0.01% of marketers and mentors.

Jan Koch

Ihr kompetenter Partner für innovative KI-Strategien.

I had the pleasure of interviewing Dennis for my podcast in 2021 and since then we have maintained a friendship that grows with each interaction. I have seen Dennis' devotion to his friends and clients firsthand, and our conversations often result in us talking about how we can provide more value to the people around us. He is someone whom I can ask questions on a technical level, and look to on a personal level. If you have any hesitancy about hiring him, get over yourself and do it!

Isaac Mashman

Help scaling personal brands.

Geez, where do I start recommending Dennis? First, he is an absolutely brilliant marketer who understands where marketing is today and where it's going tomorrow. He also has an incredible passion for the International Worker community. The lessons he has taught me from his almost 20 years of experience hiring International Workers have been immense. Most importantly though. Dennis Yu is someone who wants the absolute best for you and is willing to tell you the truth. Dennis sat with me at a point in my business where I was floundering but did not want to admit it. He asked some very straight forward questions to get me to admit my issues, highlighted the issues, and then helped me create a roadmap to success.

Atiba de Souza

International Keynote Speaker | Video Content Superman | Superconnector |

Dennis, which I had the pleasure of working with is one of the most giving, honest and tell you as it is person I ever know. The knowledge this man has is remarkable and he just gives it out freely. He is not pretentious and always entertain anyone big or small in the industry always willing to help. If you ever get a golden opportunity to work with him or mentored by him say YES!. You will notr regret Dennis, which I had the pleasure of working with is one of the most giving, honest and tell you as it is person I ever know. The knowledge this man has is remarkable and he just gives it out freely. He is not pretentious and always entertain anyone big or small in the industry always willing to help. If you ever get a golden opportunity to work with him or mentored by him say YES!. You will not regret

Nixon Lee

The PR Whisperer

Ready To Take Your Marketing Game To The Next Level?

Register today for the Dollar-A-Day Coaching Program and accelerate your growth journey!

Scroll to Top