Take n Pay Food Town Hyper Video Goes Viral and Increases Followers 200%

About 

Take N Pay Foodtown Hyper
Chatsworth, Kwazulu-Natal, South Africa
Department: Whole Store
Difficulty: Hard

Store Specs
shopping area: 3,000 sqm (32 000 sqft)
warehouse: 3,000 sqm (32 000 sqft)
sales turnover: $3 million US

Strategy

“We had been looking at increasing our social media following so that more of our customers have access to our specials anytime, anywhere. At the same time, we wanted to showcase the variety of offerings we provide at our store. Keeping the cost down was key. It was also important that we could talk to our customers in a way that they could relate to, and in a way that they would want to help us spread the word. To achieve all of these goals, we decided to film a unique video that we thought would appeal to the social media demographic. The video that we created starts with three men grilling meat, and one of them is furious that the meat appears to be of low quality that obviously didn’t come from Take N Pay. So, the group heads into the store to get the good stuff. By keeping it light and fun, pairing the video with music, and being subtle about the promotions that are mixed in throughout the video, we found that viewers really responded to our video, and it has resulted in just the kind of rapid social media growth we were looking for.”

184,000
views

1,086
shares

489
comments

200%
increase in Facebook followers

Why it Works

For Our Shoppers

Created Buzz
The video succeeded in getting everybody talking and laughing.

Customers Continue to Share
Months later, customers are still sharing the video. It is still performing particularly well on WhatsApp, a platform that doesn’t allow us to track shares.

Creates a Stronger Relationship
Customers enjoy seeing a more playful side to their community grocery store.

For Our Store

Achieved Our Goals
By dramatically increasing followers and views, we know that more people will have direct access to our promotions and specials.

Continue to Grow Awareness
We believe that this increased the awareness of Take n Pay Food Town Hyper as a community store, thus driving more foot traffic through the store and increasing the turnover.

Had a Little Fun
Everybody involved enjoyed creating, shooting, and marketing this video.

Tactics

1. Start by developing the concept for the video. For us, we wanted to make sure that it was fun, showcased our store, and would stand out from the crowd.
2. Once you have the initial concept, write out a script, or, if you prefer, create a storyboard.
3. Find the crew. Ask around in your store to see if any employees have any experience in acting, directing, or editing videos. You might be surprised at how many assets you can find in-house.
4. Film and edit the video. Remember to keep it short and snappy. Most viral videos are just a couple minutes long.
5. Put the videos up on all of your social media channels. Make sure to use good tags and keywords to help the first wave of customers find the video so they can start sharing with their audiences.

Pro Tips

Don’t be discouraged if your first video doesn’t take off. Sometimes it takes a couple tries to find exactly the right formula that will lead to lots of shares.

Don’t be overly promotional. Yes, you want to showcase your store and your products, but viewers won’t respond if they feel like they are just watching a commercial.

Be a little edgy. Unlike traditional advertising, customers expect you to be a little silly and playful on social. This is your opportunity to showcase the sense of humor that makes you unique.

Have a best practice of your own? We want to hear it!