Building the Häagen-Dazs USA Social Media presence
Challenge
As the first-ever social media hire at Goodby, Silverstein & Partners (GS&P) in San Francisco, I was tasked with starting, establishing and managing Häagen-Dazs' social media presence across Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and YouTube. Given budget constraints, I needed to perform a wide range of duties, from strategy to content creation, while simultaneously creating a new social media business process for the agency as a whole.
My Role
My top-line responsibilities included the following:
End-to-End Social Media Management: As a 'one-stop-shop,' I handled everything from strategy, photography, content creation, and community management to account management for HD.
Campaign Development and Execution: Launched several successful campaigns, including a notable one that sent artist influencers to Italy to explore artisanal gelato and engaged the community through a haiku contest on Twitter, with the winner receiving the same Italian artisan tour.
We also launched a campaign for the 'Concerto Timer' app, an augmented reality application activated by scanning a QR code on the packaging. This app featured a musician who would appear on the phone, performing a classical ‘concerto’ atop the ice cream carton.
Process Establishment at agency: Developed and implemented a new process for managing social media within GS&P, ensuring streamlined operations and effective management of social media activities across multiple accounts.
Outcome
The initiatives led to significant success for Häagen-Dazs:
Community Growth: Started Häagen-Dazs branded social accounts from scratch and grew the Facebook fan base organically by 900,000 in one year.
High Engagement: On Instagram, achieved a 7% overall average engagement rate on individual posts and grew the follower count by 70,000 in a year and a half.
Sales Increase: The gelato “Artisan” social launch campaign led to a 150% increase in new product sales, directly contributing to the expansion of gelato production.
Enhanced Social Media Presence: Successfully launched the new Gelato product social media campaign in 2014 and improved all Häagen-Dazs social media strategies and platforms.
Roles & Responsibilities
Creative Lead: Managed photography and copywriting for all always-on social content.
Copywriter: Developed engaging social content.
Production Lead: Oversaw the production of social media assets.
Social Strategist: Created and implemented social media strategies.
Community Manager: Working closely with compliance and client customer teams, performed all customer service duties on social media, and created escalation guides and processes.
Client Relations Lead: Managed client communications for all things social.
External Partner Lead: Coordinated with platforms, influencers, and media agencies.
Creative Briefs: Wrote and managed creative briefs.
Campaign Lead: Led the Concerto timer app launch and collaborated with influencer agencies for the Gelato launch.
