Case study: Butlins

Aims

Butlins, one of Britain’s leading holiday companies, wanted to increase customer engagement with its brand on the internet. It also wanted to use social media to improve its customer service levels and to interact directly with its client base.

FreshNetworks was called in to help develop a social media strategy that would increase Butlins’ social media footprint.

Solutions

First of all, FreshNetworks set about assessing Butlins' online brand presence through a series of buzz-tracking exercises. After the results were analysed, it was decided that the most effective way to engage customers was by using a hub-and-spoke approach to social media.

In just four days we built, designed and implemented a bespoke blog platform for Butlins called "WeAreButlins". Butlins staff were encouraged to write posts about the various activities at Butlins, and independent bloggers wrote about their experiences on a Butlins holiday.

We also integrated Twitter, Facebook, Flickr and YouTube into the platform so that Butlins could engage with customers on multiple levels. Not only did this allow for videos and pictures to be uploaded to the site, enriching the content and the user experience, but it also meant that Butlins could interact with current and prospective customers by keeping them up to date with events and offers at Butlins.

Results

Nearly 3,000 people engaged directly with Butlins in just three months.

70% of all blog posts were written by independent bloggers, who talked about everything from new resort openings to holiday experiences.

As a direct result of the campaign, Butlins gained over 2,000 stories from a variety of different social media tools, including tweets, blogs, pictures and videos. This user-generated content not only engaged customers but also helped Butlins develop new sales channels, by giving people a real insight into the Butlins experience.