Maple Hill, a 100% organic grass-fed dairy manufacturer, tapped into the power of user-generated content to educate, drive awareness, and fuel sales for their products sold in a select range of retailers nationally. With each localized activation, the brand leveraged Social Native’s geotargeting capabilities to source local influencers to generate custom creative that resonated with the unique interests and nuances of various target markets. In harnessing the enthusiasm of real, local consumers and families, Maple Hill successfully fueled their marketing with authentic and personalized consumer recommendations across multiple touchpoints. The goal of this campaign was three-fold: (1) Increase in-store sales, (2) Grow brand awareness and credibility through authentic and educational customer testimonials, and (3) Create relevant, engaging, high-quality content that can be repurposed across social media accounts and digital marketing channels.
Step 1: Source and activate local influencers
As part of their brand and retail strategy, Maple Hill partnered with Social Native to identify and activate 200 micro-influencers located within a 10-mile radius of retailers nationwide to create authentic user-generated content. Since Maple Hill products are only sold in select U.S. retailers (including Whole Foods and Publix), it was important for them to leverage Social Native’s geo-targeting capabilities in order to source select micro-influencers to tap into specific, local markets.
Shoppers today increasingly demand transparency when it comes to the source of their products. Maple Hill’s core mission is to educate the benefits of and offer consumers a 100% organic grass-fed alternative to regular dairy, and user-generated content enabled them to extend the reach of their message. Local micro-influencers were asked to purchase Maple Hill milk at their local grocer, take photos of their families and children enjoying the products, and share their experience and feedback across their own social media channels. As a result, Maple Hill mobilized local ambassadors and families to create buzz surrounding their products hitting the shelves of nearby stores. By having consumers share their true enthusiasm for the products, Maple Hill effectively established itself within the local markets, increasing brand awareness and driving in-store sales.
Step 2: Repurpose user-generated content across brand channels
After the initial activation was complete, Maple Hill repurposed the authentic user-generated content across their owned marketing channels, including in their paid ads, across their social channels, in their video collateral, on their website and even on their packaging. As an emerging brand, Maple Hill did not have access to the large scale creative budget larger dairy competitors did, so the ability to leverage authentic cost-effective and high-performing user-generated content created by their consumers has been a major driver in scaling their success. Furthermore, as a brand that specifically targets families, Maple Hill consumers - namely moms and dads - chose to create content showcasing their children enjoying the product, which worked to validate and build brand authenticity.
Step 3: Scale & expansion
With so much success from their initial user-generated content activations, Maple Hill continued to unlock the power of their local consumers to showcase the diversity of their growing product portfolio and drive sales across the Holidays through innovative customer recipes. Activating local micro-influencers to generate user-generated content has become a core part of Maple Hill’s multi-touch strategy and an invaluable resource for in-store sales, content creation, consumer feedback, and brand growth.
Maple Hill has run 7 user-generated content campaigns with over 200 influencers since partnering with Social Native. The brand has seen a significant lift in engagement rates and in-store sales and has created over 250 images and videos to reuse across their marketing initiatives. Maple Hill’s partnership with Social Native creates a true win-win: local consumers have the opportunity to work with a brand they love, and Maple Hill receives a plethora of genuine ads at a fraction of the cost.
