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In the landscape of digital marketing, few tools have proven as powerful as a strategic and targeted social media campaign. As a leading social media marketing agency in Philadelphia, we have demonstrated prowess in leveraging these platforms to generate significant engagement and visibility for our clients. Our recent success story with Top Pot Korean BBQ stands as a testament to our expertise. The Instagram Reel we created for our client not only amassed an impressive 1.1 million views but also garnered 11.1K likes, 22.9K shares, and 1,800 saves. This achievement underscores our ability to tap into the pulse of Instagram and social media advertising for our clients.

The Power of Instagram Reels

Instagram Reels, introduced as a competitor to TikTok, has become a vital component of social media marketing strategies. The short, engaging video format is designed to captivate audiences quickly and effectively. Neff recognized the potential of Reels early on and has been perfecting this approach to create content that resonates with viewers.

For Top Pot Korean BBQ, we focused on capturing the essence of the dining experience. From sizzling grills to vibrant dishes, every frame was designed to appeal to food enthusiasts. The key to its success was not just the visual appeal but also the timing and relevance. By aligning the reel with a viral trend, the company ensured it would capture widespread attention.

Analyzing the Metrics

The numbers speak for themselves. The reel’s 1.1 million+ views are indicative of its broad reach and engagement. However, the real impact can be seen in the interaction metrics:

These metrics highlight not only the popularity of the reel but also its effectiveness in engaging a diverse audience.

The Allure of Top Pot Korean BBQ

Top Pot Korean BBQ offers a unique dining experience that blends traditional Korean flavors with a modern twist. The goal was to convey this through an Instagram reel. By showcasing the interactive grilling process, the variety of dishes, and the vibrant atmosphere, we created a narrative that food lovers could connect with. The success of the reel is a reflection of the restaurant’s appeal and our ability to communicate it effectively.

The Impact of Social Media on Advertising

Social media has revolutionized advertising in today’s digital realm. Platforms like Instagram, TikTok, and Facebook offer unparalleled opportunities for brands to reach and engage with their target audiences. Here’s how social media is transforming advertising:

Increased Reach and Visibility

Social media platforms have billions of active users. This vast user base allows brands to reach a global audience instantly. The viral potential of content means that a well-crafted post can quickly gain traction and be seen by millions.

Targeted Advertising

One of the most significant advantages of social media advertising is the ability to target specific demographics. Through detailed analytics and user data, brands can tailor their content to reach the most relevant audiences, increasing the effectiveness of their campaigns.

Engagement and Interaction

Unlike traditional advertising, social media allows for direct interaction with audiences. Brands can engage with customers through comments, messages, and live sessions. This interaction builds a sense of community and loyalty, as customers feel more connected to the brand.

Cost-Effectiveness

Social media advertising can be more cost-effective than traditional media channels. With options for sponsored posts, influencer partnerships, and organic reach, brands can choose strategies that fit their budget while still achieving significant results.

Real-Time Analytics

The ability to track and analyze the performance of social media campaigns in real-time is invaluable. Brands can see what works and what doesn’t, allowing for quick adjustments and optimization. This agility ensures that advertising dollars are spent effectively.

Conclusion

The instant success with the Instagram Reel for Top Pot Korean BBQ is a perfect example of the power of social media. By creating engaging content that taps into current trends, can not only garner millions of views but also significantly increases the restaurant’s visibility and engagement.

In the ever-evolving digital landscape, staying ahead with cutting-edge tools and strategies is crucial to achieving exceptional outcomes. Whether crafting visually captivating content, or fostering vibrant community engagement, the goal is to make a profound and enduring impact for our clients.

The average person spends nearly 3 ½ hours online every day, likely seeing dozens and dozens of advertisements in the process.

Whether they remember them is another story.

With a successful media buying campaign, companies position themselves to get the exact attention they’re looking for. 

Working with a top-rated media buying agency, your brand message reaches the right audiences fast, broadening your consumer reach in an instant.

The digital space is a jungle. With a streamlined media buying process and optimized strategy, your advertising campaign can be king.

Media Buying Objectives 

The first step to a successful and seamless media buying process is being on the same page about objectives, first and foremost getting your messaging to your target audiences in just the right formats, in the proper context, and at the correct times.

Successful media buying is measured by a company’s overall goals. Those may include rising overall brand awareness, maximizing search engine optimization integration, or retargeting certain advertisements.

There are several different ways to approach media buying. Direct media buying means buying advertisements directly for placement with a specific publisher or on a certain channel.

The network approach means bidding on and purchasing specific advertising space through supply-side or demand-side platforms. The programmatic approach is buying and selling digital advertising through technology utilization. 

A successful media buying experience begins with defining and being on the same page about top goals. Then the process can begin.

It Starts with a Basic Strategy and Planning Session 

During the early stages of the process, the discussion turns to vital but basic aspects of a campaign. A target audience will be pinpointed, a budget will be agreed upon, and a company will share the metrics it wants to hit to make a media buying campaign a success.

Determining a target audience should be a thorough and meticulous process. Audiences should be divided into certain demographics, such as gender, age, and marital status, as well as location, and other behaviors, like general interests.

Once the target audience for a media buying campaign is determined, there should be a strong effort to think broadly about the best ways to reach them. Does the audience tend to live in a certain area? Are they more likely to see an advertisement online or in person? When and where do they shop?

This first stage also includes a bit of planning, hammering out details of the campaign schedule (including its launch and overall time frame), where ads will be placed, and which creatives the company wants to work closely with. A common question to think about is which media channels would be most effective to pursue.

Should the campaign mainly include ads on search engines? How about on social media networks? Should it only be online or also on TV or radio? 

Be Prepared to Negotiate

Once the right media outlets are targeted, media buyers frequently negotiate with them to settle on the perfect price before buying the ad spaces. While online advertising is usually sold through an automated process so negotiations won’t be traditional, buyers can still use this time to make final plans for the best prices, times, and places for their advertising campaigns.

Data Comes into Play

The media buying process isn’t just a guessing game, even after a campaign launches. The process includes tracking the overall performance of the media buying campaign through detailed reports. This data is carefully analyzed to adjust the campaign approach if necessary.

Tracking such data on ad performances can begin right away, but it’s important to not make quick judgments too early. To get a full picture of a media buying campaign’s success, there should be enough data to paint that picture.

Throughout the campaign, buyers should remain committed to monitoring its results to make sure the optimal results are being achieved. Any problems encountered, whether it’s early, in the middle, or at the end of the process, should be addressed swiftly.

The Bottom Line

Media buyers should be partners in a campaign but also fully skilled in pushing for the best strategies to maximize each campaign they work on.

They should have experience working on q wide variety of channels and publishers — and know all the best practices and approaches to making a media buying process go smoothly and achieve the best results.

Once upon a time, social media was really just a way to connect with friends or family – to share news, photos, and important updates. While major advancements have happened since the days of social media’s conception – those fundamental values should be at the core of any social media strategy.

At Neff, our social media strategies are custom created for each client’s personal needs and goals. To find the perfect roadmap, we start by asking ourselves the following questions.

Who’s Your Audience?

While many social media practices overlap from client to client, one size strategy does NOT fit all. It’s important to first understand the audience or desired audience of a client. This can help our team determine which social media platforms best fit the brand in question.

Is your company B2B? LinkedIn will play an integral part of your brand’s story and social media strategy, allowing the right content to get in front of the right eyes. Is your brand sought after by a younger demographic? Platforms like Instagram, or even Snapchat or TikTok, will be crucial for reaching the right audience.

Once you have your audience defined, you can tailor your content to that specific set of people. It’s easy to fall victim to social media trends and viral content, but it’s important to make sure your content fits the person you want to reach. Keeping your audience top of mind will always help keep your platforms on track.

What’s the Brand Goal?

Some brand goals are simple. A retailer may have a straight-forward objective like ‘sell more product’ while another could have a slightly more complex goal, like ‘reach a new audience or expand our product offering’

At Neff, we believe communication is key. By understanding our client and the goals they wish to achieve, we can better build out our strategy and determine the right content to share on their social media channels.

For a client that wishes to grow their audience, we can test methods such as social media advertising, and more basic, but effective, actions like engaging with the local community and sharing user-generated content.

With social media growing and changing every day, there’s always a new path we can carve out to reach a brand’s overall goal or goals.

What are the Competitors Doing?

Imitation is the highest form of flattery, right? We’re not saying you should copy and paste a competitor’s content but analyzing the social channels of others in your space will help give you a leg up on the competition. Especially helpful when starting social channels from scratch, looking at what the competitors are doing well or poorly will help determine what sort of creative you should include in your social media content and how to tailor it to your particular client.

How Can We Grow?

Social media growth doesn’t always just mean gaining a larger following. We measure growth by a few factors, such as overall impressions and engagement rates.

When it comes to growing an audience, tools like social media advertising, influencer features, and community engagement are tried-and-true methods to reach a wider audience and hopefully get more people to click that ‘follow’ button.

An often-overlooked strategy is really examining your content and what’s performing best. By looking at top content (and poor performing content), you can determine how to continue to optimize your social platforms and create content that will increase engagement. Increased engagement leads to more newsfeed visibility, which is vital to growth.

The work doesn’t end after a post goes live. Analyzing your social channels should be a main part of your evergreen strategy to continue to grow the visibility, size, and credibility of your social media presence.

#neffknows

So your brick and mortar business was closed due to COVID-19… now what? Although it seems like an incredibly scary time — and it is — there are still ways to stay afloat digitally. One of your strongest business tools is right in your back pocket and can be done from the couch, social media. Let’s review some basic ways to use social media to drive online business.

using social media from home, social media to drive business

How to Use Social Media to Drive Online Business

There are a few important ways social media can help you and your business stay afloat during these trying times. The key is building and maintaining a positive relationship with your audience. Your social media platforms can be an entry point to conducting online sales. Whether it’s gift cards or products, the more your audience connects with you on a personal level, the higher the chance they will make a purchase with you during these tough times.

Chances are they’re struggling as well, so even if they can’t make a purchase with you, a loyal customer or fan will do their best to share your content, write reviews, and help spread the word. As they say, build your tribe, love them hard. (Or something like that…) No matter how it goes, the more you love your following, the higher the chance of them loving you back.

Commit time to your social media presence.

We know. Although you are not in your store or restaurant, you are busy. You are making legal calls to figure out how to pay your workers. You’re running through your books. We get it. But, it’s very important to set aside time to focus on social media. Right now, that’s all your customers have to connect with you. This is your time to show your regulars you’re still thinking about them and their needs. To make it easier, schedule 1-2 hours per day to focus on creating and posting content.

Announce how you are still serving your customers.

If possible, set up online ordering, delivery, video conference appointments, etc. Any type of business you can still do, try to make it happen. Your customers will appreciate you going the extra effort to serve them. It’s important to emphasize safety and compliance with government standards here. Let them know that you’re here for them, and will continue to be, as long as it’s allowed.

Drive your customers to your website.

If your online orders, services, etc. are funneled through your website, don’t feel ashamed to lead them that way. Typically, it’s better to be less sales-focused on social media and more relationship-focused, but people understand right now. Reminding your customers to visit your website is important for not only sales, but also SEO, which is crucial in maintaining a business digitally.

Engage with your audience.

This is where it gets fun. While you should always keep a professional manner, now is the time to emotionally connect with your audience. They’re also going through hard times right now, so why not talk about it together. The main goal with customer engagement is staying top of mind with them. When life returns to normal and we’re allowed back out in the world, you want to be the first business they visit. There are numerous ways to engage an audience:

  1. Post a selfie with a personal message. Your face will be a better connector than any photo of a dish, product, graphic, etc. Note – Selfies and personal messages are always a little risky. Be sure the image is tasteful, authentic, and appropriate. Keep your message short but thoughtful. Pay attention to anything that could be read as insensitive, tone-deaf, offensive, or inappropriate. Read it as your worst critic would and have a trusted peer read it over as well.

  2. Introduce your staff. Similarly to posting your own selfie, customers like to get to know your whole business. Maybe there is a specific waiter or technician they always have, but don’t spark up conversation. This is your chance to personally introduce your staff to the world.

  3. Create an interactive experience. Host a Q&A. Publish a poll. This is your time for your audience to get to know you and your skillset. This is also a great time for you to get to know your audience better. You’ll learn what content they like to see and what they don’t. This will increase engagement and keep you visible to your audience. Stay top of mind as other businesses increase their interactive experiences and gain visibility through the algorithm as well.

  4. Create informational videos. Whether it’s a cooking class, exercise sessions, or mini fashion shows, chances are your audience is bored and will welcome a new experience with open arms. Along with helping your visibility in the algorithm, this will also position you as a leader in that skill. If you’re a well-known Italian restaurant, chances are your audience would love your secret to perfecting a homemade carbonara.

  5. Share behind the scenes looks. Take this opportunity to share more “behind-the-scenes” from your restaurant or store that you might normally not have time to post. Give them a tour of what goes into your day-to-day life. The more they know, the more they appreciate.

Drum up new reviews.

A lot of people want to help their local small businesses, but don’t have the financial means to do so. Share that a review on Google or Yelp would be a huge help. This is a harmless, free way they can help you build. The better reviews you have, the higher you rank in search engines. The higher you rank in search engines, the more traffic you get to your website. This is a great way to build new customers during this time.  

Boost content to a targeted audience.

One of the beautiful things about using social media advertising is that you get to decide how much you spend. You’re tight on money… you probably don’t have thousands of dollars to put up a new billboard. Guess what, that’s ok, that’s actually ideal right now. People are at home on their phones, you want your advertising dollars to be going digital. Whether you invest $20 or $100, boosted social media posts will help you target a whole new audience you may not have been previously reaching.

how closed businesses can use social media to drive online business, social media, boosted content

In conclusion — How to use social media to drive online business

  1. Commit valuable time

    Schedule 1-2 hours a day to commit to social media. This will help you maintain a regular posting frequency with valuable content.

  2. Deliver services you still can.

    Although it won’t be in person, you may still have the opportunity to deliver services to your customers. Whether you can offer takeout or sell your products online, use this time to transfer to a fully digital experience.

  3. Drive customers to your website.

    Whether you typically use social media to drive leads to your website or not, now is the time to do it. People are understanding and it will boost your SEO.

  4. Engage with your audience.

    Learn what they want. Learn who they are. Teach them who you are and what you do. Hosting interactive experiences and posting informational content will help establish you as a thought leader and help create a personal connection.

  5. Encourage new reviews.

    Most people are looking for financially friendly ways to support small businesses. Reviews boost your SEO and website traffic, which lead to new business.

  6. Boost content.

    Boosting social media content is the most budget friendly, effective way to spend advertising dollars today. We’re breaking screen-time records around the world while we’re all stuck at home. You’ll have more eyes than ever on your social media posts.

We understand maintaining a social media account takes considerable time and energy. If you find yourself overwhelmed by everything else happening right now, a partnership with a trusted third party like Neff can alleviate the stress and pressure to be on top of it every day. Our social media team is well versed in managing all social accounts for our clients, such as Geno’s Steaks and Tuna Bar.

In 2017 we celebrated our 30th anniversary, and after three decades of marketing excellence in Philadelphia, it was time to update our brand and redefine our mission. We moved on from a brand presence that felt like it was created 30 years go (because, well, it was) to something that reflects our growth and who we are today. So our team and owner, David Neff, took a closer look at our brand, where it came from, and where we want it to go. Have a look at the Neff rebrand process below.

Old logo
New Neff wordmark and tagline

In marketing and advertising, your brand name is synonymous with who you are, what you do and what you stand for. With that, the first thing we wanted to redefine was our mission and our name. We agreed that Neff Associates sounded too buttoned up and old fashioned, more like a law firm than a modern agency, and it didn’t represent who we are. After endless rounds of brainstorming, SWOT analyzing, and a little bit of debate, we concluded that there’s no word that can encompass everything we do.  We’re a collaborative full-service agency, meaning we cover all of our clients’ marketing and advertising needs from branding and websites, to public relations and social media, to media strategy, to videography and photography, and everything in between. How could we possibly narrow all of that down to one word or phrase?

We wanted to contemporize our image, to simplify and reflect who we are today.

David Neff, President and CEO

The Name

So, we thought, what else could describe who we are? How do people know us?  In casual conversation, both internally and with clients, we’ve always cut it short to just “Neff.” Maybe that’s all we needed to be, maybe the new name didn’t have to be totally different, but just instituting a simple phrase that we already use. It was an easy decision; we unanimously decided we are now “Neff!” Goodbye to that stuffy suffix.

Re-branding as Neff would present the opportunity to showcase our creative work and unique office culture. During the process, we took a deeper look at who Neff is. And no, we don’t just mean the guy who started the agency, but the business and the culture he has grown so vastly over the last thirty years. The twenty-three faces who show up to the office every day ready to create and collaborate, the dozens of awards that adorn our lobby walls, the portfolio of work that amazes potential partners every day, the long list of happy clients that span almost every possible industry, the office dogs who give endless kisses, and everything in between. This was all deeply considered during the Neff rebrand.

The Neff agency office space is warm and welcoming

After 30 years, we still have that startup mentality. We hustle and don’t quit, we do whatever it takes to help our clients succeed and builds relationships with those clients. Neff is a full-service marketing agency based in Old City, Philadelphia. Our mission is to use integrated strategies to tell your story and expand your brand. We thrive on collaboration, creativity, and forming strong relations, both internally and with every client.

The Logo

Great! Now how do we create a logo that encompasses all of that? It was time to put pencil to paper. We first explored dozens of rounds of sketches with the team, breaking one of our biggest rules by involving the whole office every step of the way. But it was important to get every single person’s input, because we all work as a team, and the creative influence of the social and PR teams was just as important as the ideas coming from our designers.

Our first round of sketches consisted of logos from all walks of life: tall, short, wide, thin, square, round. We thought everywhere except inside the box. In the first few rounds of drafts we explored many different logo styles: iconographic, typographic, minimalist, detailed, hand drawn, etc. Seeing all of these different options made the team think even deeper about who we are and how we could show that.

Potential logo solutions for the Neff agency rebrand

As we narrowed down the logo choices, we paid attention to how we reacted to each design, how each idea correlated with the work that we do for clients and how they connected to our culture. We decided on a direction that was simple, yet bold. This approach would capture the viewers eye, but in an understated way.

Drawing the Neff logo for our rebrand

Getting closer and closer to our final mark, we started developing a custom typography solution. What kind of creative agency would we be if we just picked a font and used it? Our designers worked hard to make sure every angle, every curve, was thoroughly thought out.

Logo design process

The brand

Finalizing the wordmark form wasn’t the end of the journey for this logo. What fun would it be without an icon sidekick? We didn’t want to sacrifice the bold impact of wordmark by putting an icon with it, so we needed one that could stand alone and represent the brand independently as a companion mark. This is where the new logo family in the Neff rebrand started taking shape.

New Neff logo

The next agency-wide debate was: go wild with the color or tone it down? As you can see, we compromised. We chose a blend of our classic navy blue and a new bright coral. And for the new color, we wanted to choose something that is loud, yet classy, and has strong character. To emphasize our services coming full circle, we blended the blue and the coral for shades to represent each service.

Neff services include branding, Public relations, social media, websites, advertising, media strategy, photography and videography.

A new brand wouldn’t be complete without rules. Our design team poured countless hours into a 180-page guidelines document communicating how the Neff rebrand should and should not be used. The brand book covers all topics from stretching the logo to blog posts to T-shirt designs. It gives guidance on exactly what we can and can’t do. Our brand coral will never be printed as pumpkin orange, or Santa red, if we have anything to say about it!

Brand guidelines book

The Website

After the rebrand was complete, it was time to bring our new website to life. Content hierarchy was our first priority. Were we thoroughly communicating our capabilities to our audience? Was it immediately obvious how cool we are? It was time to shout to the world what we do it and how effectively we do it. Through an extensive research and architecture phase, we reconstructed the sitemap to create an intuitive experience.

To contrast our new bold brand, we chose a thin, concise font for our page headers and a minimalist type approach to the layout. Our main focus was showing how we help our clients communicate their brand through public relations, social media, branding, websites, advertising, media strategy, videography, and photography. Using eye-catching, yet understated graphics and a bold font to define our services, we let our portfolio do the rest of the heavy lifting.

An update responsive website for the Neff rebrand

Social Media

Now that we had a new brand and a beautiful, updated website to show for it, it was time to let the world know. Through the efforts of our social media team, we launched the new @Neff_Knows campaign. Over the course of a two-day launch, our handles adopted our new tagline and our profiles got a facelift. Not only did we update our social media platforms on the surface, we are undergoing a complete social identity overhaul. With new social guidelines in place, our posts will have an updated, concise style. It reflect our new look and feel.

New social pages for the Neff rebrand

The Swag

And how could we stop there with the re-branding fun? With no sign of “Associates” in sight, our office is now decked out with new signage and swag. There’s no shortage of newly brand Neff t-shirts, hats, pins, and stickers, and business cards to show off.

Shirts for the Neff rebrand

We’re excited to share our new brand with the you. We hope that it gives some insight into the creative, collaborative, innovative agency that we are. Also, we genuinely love helping our clients launch their brands and are thrilled to be able to give ourselves a makeover for the first time in thirty years. (Can we say case of the shoemaker’s child here?) For updates about the Neff rebrand and our clients, follow us on social media @neff_knows and sign up for our newsletter in the footer below.