Our Facebook followers were probably thinking "not another generic holiday post." And they were right. It wasn't. Introducing the first virtual trick-or-treat experience, where we converted all six Chevrolet Facebook channels (@Chevrolet, @ChevyTrucks, @Corvette, @ChevroletCamaro, @ChevroletCruze and @ChevroletElectric) into one neighborhood. We knew holiday posts typically underperform, so rather than ringing the same doorbell we decided to do something totally different that leveraged the American tradition of Halloween.
The biggest challenge was figuring out how to seamlessly transform all six channels into a neighborhood regardless of how many of them were visited. So, we mapped out an approach where it didn't matter what channel our trick-or-treaters started or ended on. First, we designed a digital neighborhood, providing a visual to each channel in the form of garages. Each garage uniquely matched the demographic and passions of the channel's (or vehicle's) target audience. For example, we know our Camaro followers are car enthusiasts, so we decorated the garage with their interests in mind. Each garage followed a similar format.
The digital neighborhood was then converted into channel-specific videos inviting each viewer to partake in our virtual experience. Each video needed to establish the neighborhood, grab the viewer's attention and provide a reason to engage and make the viewer aware of the next channel along the route.
It wouldn't be trick-or-treating without passing out some treats. So, each video contained a trivia question that prompted viewer responses, and in return some of those viewers were mailed physical gifts. For example, one treat was a Chevy Camaro clock, which was hanging on the back wall of that channel's garage.
On the day before Halloween, we posted a teaser video on each Facebook channel, informing our followers to come back and take a stroll through our neighborhood. The next morning our trick-or-treating experience went live across all six channels. Throughout the day our community managers were highly engaged with our fans.
The goal was to encourage fans to explore new pages they may have not previously considered, which would increase traffic on each of those channels, and improve opportunities to share the experience.
So where does this leave us? We generated 551,000+ organic impressions across the channels with a 95% video completion rate – all without paid media. And here's the really fun part: 25 fans received real Chevy gifts that were featured in our garages.
On a day that typically underperforms in social media, we think it's safe to say these results were more of a treat than a trick.
