When customers buy Girl Scout Cookies, they're doing SO much more than just indulging in classic, one-of-a-kind treats—they're actually empowering girls to do amazing things in their communities and beyond. That's what the Girl Scout Cookie Program is really all about—helping girls become rock-star entrepreneurs, reach their goals, create change, and learn five essential life skills, all while preparing for bright futures full of success and smiles, and of course, having tons of FUN!
Through monitoring conversations on social media, Girl Scouts of the USA learned that it wasn't always easy for interested consumers to find a Girl Scout to purchase cookies from during the highly anticipated season that runs every year from January to April. With these insights in mind, the social media team wanted to drive cookie booth searches on girlscouts.org, boost downloads of the new Girl Scout Cookie Finder mobile app, and increase in-app searches for local booth sales—after all, the more cookies girls sell, the more impact they can have on themselves and on others, and the more impact Girl Scouts can have overall.
That's why it quickly became our mission to make it easier for cookie fans all over the country to satisfy that oh-so-serious Girl Scout Cookie craving, helping us change the world (it's our favorite thing to do!) one box of cookies at a time!
To make it easier for cookie fans to support Girl Scouts, the team invested in mobile Girl Scout Cookie Finder app installation campaigns on Twitter, connecting consumers with cookie sellers easier and faster.
To reach the right people for the paid media portion of the campaign, we targeted ads based on gender, age, interests, keywords, location, and mobile devices. For the Twitter App Install campaign, @GirlScouts used an App Card, which enabled users to download and open the Girl Scout Cookie Finder app right from Twitter. These cards allowed @GirlScouts to marry 140 characters of delicious copy with an eye-catching image of our most iconic cookie flavors (Thin Mints and Caramel DeLites—yum!) to stand out from the clutter while driving interest, conversions, and ultimately, impact. These creative choices helped users quickly grasp the value of the app, helping us achieve our goals and get more cookies into more hands—yes!
While installations were the primary goal of the paid Twitter campaign, we were also interested in driving engagement in the app following the initial download. To encourage repeat searches in the app, we included people who had already downloaded the app when targeting new users. During the campaign, in-app searches increased as app users saw the campaign and were reminded that a nearby cookie booth was just a click away—who could resist?
Keys to Success for Paid Twitter Campaign:
•Use the App Card image to showcase the Girl Scout Cookie Finder and the most iconic Girl Scout Cookie flavors.
•Maximize opportunities to drive engagement by including existing users when targeting new app installs
•Optimize targeting every two to three days
Total app installs in 2015: 309,026
Increase in app installs from FY14 to FY15: 77.5%
