Premier Bank (formerly First Federal Bank of the Midwest) asked ZAG Interactive to help with their third-annual Pay it Forward marketing campaign in an effort to drive brand awareness, engagement and buzz. The Ohio-based bank, whom ZAG recently redesigned a website for, planned to give away $10,000 in grant funding to those who wanted to make a difference in the local community. In addition, the Bank gave $10 to each employee on their annual Pay it Forward Day to spread over 600 random acts of kindness throughout their footprint.
Social Media Strategy
After developing a comprehensive campaign strategy, ZAG implemented a social campaign that featured a series of social media posts asking members of the community how they would “pay it forward” if they were granted funding. Social media advertising was leveraged, targeting Facebook and Instagram users who lived within the bank’s footprint and who had relevant interests such as “paying it forward”, “fundraising”, “charities and causes”, and additionally targeted existing fans and friends of fans.
All of the social media posts drove traffic to a custom landing page that featured a form to submit a pay it forward idea to the Bank, a carousel of hand selected ideas, and content that spoke of the Bank’s commitment to its community. The Bank offered up to $10,000 in grant funding to help bring 13 projects to life within their footprint. ZAG also wrote press releases to announce the launch of the campaign, the culmination of the campaign and winning ideas.
Social Media Campaign Results
The Pay it Forward campaign was very successful at increasing brand awareness, engagement and buzz.
-
The Bank reached over 100,000 people on Facebook over a six-week time period, driving over 2,500 visits to the landing page.
-
Two-thirds of landing page traffic represented new visitors, demonstrating that the campaign was effective at exposing new people to the Bank’s brand.
-
The campaign also garnered a 2.41% social engagement rate, and received 135 campaign entries and email addresses, for a low cost of $0.17 per entry and email.
-
ZAG’s promoted social media posts saw a cost-per-click (CPC) of $0.35, beating industry benchmarks by 94%.
-
ZAG also increased the amount of Facebook fans, growing more than 300% from the year prior, and increased average impressions by over 1000%.
Additional Campaign Buzz
Premier Bank was featured four times on their local TV news as new projects were funded and selected, and was featured in several local news websites, with an estimated press reach of 472,000.
As the grant recipients put their funding to good use, Premier Bankcontinues to receive stories from local reports, long after the campaign ended. A sampling of press coverage included:
To see all of the selected ideas that received funding, please visit Premier Bank's updated landing page.
If you’d like ZAG to help you plan your next social media marketing campaign, contact us to speak with a marketing specialist.