Challenge: Strategic Storage Trust, Inc. (SSTI) manages a portfolio of wholly owned facilities operating under the SmartStop™ Self Storage brand name at more than 90 properties in 17 states and Canada. Anton Communications has handled the company’s public relations work since its founding in 2008. Once it branded all of the properties under the SmartStop® Self Storage name, SSTI wanted to launch a social media campaign to engage potential customers, existing tenants and employees.
Action: To kick-start the creation of an online community, Anton Communications designed and implemented a video jingle contest through the SmartStop Facebook fan page based on the concept of American idol, with judges that included fierce competitors such as a champion MMA fighter, a professional cyclist and a German Shepard rescued by a local shelter. We produce an original video featuring the CEO shooting hoops and the judges doing their thing while promoting the contest. We created a branded landing page on the SmartStop Website featuring the Contest Video with links to How to Enter, Official Rules and Meet the Judges. An email blast was sent to 56,300 tenants, former tenants and business contacts. We researched and targeted faculty at 50+ music, film/video and advertising schools to share the contest information with students and submitted it to musician message boards and online video contest websites. Through the coordinated use of Twitter and other social media channels, the word spread like wildfire.
Results: The contest drew dozens of entries, which the judges narrowed to 15 song finalists that received a total of 5,300 votes in two weeks. The client’s fan base in Facebook soared from 26 to more than 9,000 in less than three months. Total outreach – which includes friends of their fans – number 417,795. Perhaps more telling is this: at the height of the contest Facebook reported that more than 1,440 people were “talking about this,” which means they are posting, mentioning, tagging or otherwise interacting with content on your page. The SmartStop YouTube account now has 19 videos, including contest jingles and reactions from the winners and “thank you” posts.
