JCPenney wanted to authentically engage college-bound students on social media during the back-to-school push. PopShorts came up with a creative solution that took full advantage of Instagram's internal linking structure, creating a "JCP Dorm Guide" that lived entirely on Instagram.
PopShorts enlisted social media influencers Mia Stammer and Sarah Belle to create their own dorm rooms completely using products that were available and in-stock at JCPenney.com. Users could tap (or click if on desktop) their way through the guide to see how these social media celebrities designed their spaces, from choosing their bedding sets to accent rugs and picture frames, to tie together an overall color scheme.
We took it a step further by having Mia Stammer provide step-by-step guides on how to cook up some delicious meals using only a microwave, the Cooks 3-in-1 Cooking Station, and other basic items from JCPenney that you would likely need in your typical dorm room. We capped off the guide with useful study and organization tips from Sarah Belle, and a final dorm room checklist so students could make sure they had everything they needed to successfully start their lives away from home.
We generated a total of 195,568 total social engagements across the entire campaign, with 2,718,000 total organic impressions. The 12 new Instagram accounts we created to host the content on the guide gained a total of 5,260 new followers. We placed a trackable bit.ly link over to JCPenney.com on the newly-created Instagram profile, which received over 4x as many clicks during the month of August as the bit.ly link on JCPenney's official Instagram account with over 170,000 followers. All of these results were achieved via organic promotion by Sarah and Mia, the social media influencers, and without taking out any paid promotion on Instagram.
