Hokey Pokey, an ice cream shop in India set out to discover if their word of mouth social media campaigns increase their sales.

Hokey Pokey identified influencers of their brand (people who lived close to the business, had many other friends/followers who lived nearby and those who spoke about ice cream products often). Hokey Pokey then had these influencers tweet on Twitter and post on Facebook about the ice cream products at Hokey Pokey. The number of comments likes and retweets were measured and given a value based on how well they influenced their friends/followers.

After several complicated calculations, values were given to each individual influencing situation. Hokey Pokey discovered that there was a sales lift because of the social media campaign. The results were a 49% increase in brand awareness, an 83% in ROI and a 40% increase in sales.

This is a good article to learn about the impact of word of mouth marketing and valuing social media influencers.

Editorial

As an analyzer of data, the formulas and conclusions drawn in this article interest me. Since the advent of social media, business owners, CEOs and anyone involved, have been interested in finding out whether or not social media is a sales driver. Sure, we all know that social media is important for brand awareness, but does it really increase the bottom line? YES! At least according to the research found in India. Having real data and numbers to back up social media is huge for our industry. So if you’re a manger, CEO or you’re trying to prove to your manager that social media is important, then check out the formulas and proof in this research article.

I recommend members of the DAA read this paper.