Editor's Note: The following is a guest post from Meghan Holmes, senior director of strategy and insights, HelloWorld.
Summer is upon us, but it won't be long before the back-to-school scramble begins, a challenge marketers are already in full planning mode to address. For brands considering how best to capitalize on the shopping opportunity and build long-term consumer relationships, engagement hubs just might be their secret weapon.
Engagement hubs offer a cohesive digital experience that motivates consumers to engage with a variety of activities. From customizable features such as trivia challenges, polls and chance-to-win sweepstakes to incentivized sharing and user-generated content galleries, engagement hubs not only allow consumers to experience a brand through a single immersive touchpoint but also have adaptability that gives them the potential to evolve throughout the school year.
Commonly associated with short-term brand awareness campaigns, these digital portals are multifaceted and versatile. Unlike a standard website, hubs work on a rewards structure and each activity is linked to immediate feedback such as sweepstakes entries or instant prizes. The more activities consumers engage with, the more they benefit, encouraging engagement while still offering valuable insights for brands looking to embrace larger loyalty programs.
Hoping to springboard off back to school momentum and build a traditional loyalty program but wary of the commitment? Here's how engagement hub can start the conversation:
1.) Advantageous experiences: engagement at scale
Whether the week before school starts or midway through the spring semester, engagement hubs have a number of benefits for brands. Typically built around an overarching goal — such as driving back to school sales or introducing a new product line — engagement hubs give marketers the ability to break down complex messages. Consumers are empowered to explore the activities that resonate with them most in a nonlinear experience, and because the content is more digestible, they often get a deeper understanding of their favorite brands on their terms.
For example, an engagement hub for an office supply store could lean on the platform to help consumers plan their back to school shopping trips. They may offer digital shopping checklists or product trivia challenges with instant prizes, making the experience more fun and less stressful.
While games can help build consumer knowledge, creating a purchase verification center encourages shoppers to upload their receipts in exchange for rapid loyalty points, prizes or rewards. Together, these activities work to provide a cohesive experience while building overall brand engagement and loyalty.
2.) Invaluable brand insights
While engagement hubs deliver consumer value through dynamic experiences, they also provide important insights to the marketer. Since these digital portals typically run in alignment with a campaign (typically over four to nines months), brands have a cost-efficient opportunity to test various engagement techniques at scale.
Like a multi-faceted A/B test, engagement hubs can help uncover which activities consumers interact with most and which drive the most ROI. Traditional campaigns can feel disjointed when attempting to pursue multiple goals or actions, but launching an engagement hub allows marketers to cohesively leverage multiple experiences. In turn, engagement hubs can provide valuable insights for future campaigns — or even a stepping stone to a larger loyalty program.
A children's department store, for example, might discover their consumers love sharing content and are open to submitting their back to school looks to an online gallery within the hub. A grocery store chain looking to extend shopper engagement may discover a recipe center is an effective way to reach incoming college students and enter them in a sweepstakes every time they engage.
While it would normally take multiple campaigns to reveal these insights, the rich menu of activities offered by engagement hubs provides a dynamic understanding of customer engagement. Visitors often spend upwards of 12 minutes interacting with the hubs over the course of the campaign — a lengthy chunk of time for today's fast-paced world. With consumer interaction directly translating to sales, engagement hubs should not be overlooked as a more cohesive and valuable touchpoint to build long term relationships.
3.) A gateway for larger loyalty initiatives
As brands look to launch larger loyalty programs, engagement hubs equip them with proven consumer behaviors. Marketers can craft a full-scale loyalty program around the activities known to spark action. In the case of the grocery store, consumers may feel inspired to shop more following an increase in knowledge. A larger loyalty program, therefore, could inspire action by asking consumers to upload codes printed on purchased items to unlock new recipes and rewards.
The life of hubs can be extended with the ability to switch up activities and keep things fresh. The school year could kick off with shopping list planning and discovering products, Halloween can focus on contests for the best costume, Thanksgiving can focus on moments of gratitude, etc. Once consumers are hooked, re-energized content feeds directly into a long-term program tailored to consumer preferences and behaviors.
Finding a way to authentically engage with back to school consumers can seem overwhelming in our ad-saturated world. With customizable activities and carefully crafted structures, an engagement hub is an excellent jumping off point for brands to form genuine bonds with consumers while building the foundation for effective loyalty initiatives.Test the waters, observe consumers and lay the groundwork for authentic, meaningful brand relationships.
This back to school season, give your consumers an evolving, educational and fun way to engage that lends itself well to loyalty long beyond the final school bell.