When Jayne Furniss, co-owner of design agency Furniss & May, heard about our partnership programme she knew it was the right move for her business. Their Digital Mum Claire Bingham developed the strategy and ran the #WeLoveThisSpace social media campaign, celebrating favourite spaces.
Jayne says:
"We were a design agency who wasn't even on Pinterest
To say we were in the social media dark is an understatement. But we’re a small business and simply didn’t have the time to dedicate to it. All our working hours were spent with clients so social media just never made it up the To Do list. Business mentors told us we needed it as part of our marketing strategy but there was never time.
Taking on a Digital Mum was a no brainer
It honestly felt like the concept was made for us. It meant we could find out about social media without a huge cost. Being a Programme Partner was £500 plus VAT for five months of social media management. We were prepared to invest the time in it and wanted to learn ourselves. Supporting a Mum to up-skill felt good too.
We got the most qualified trainee ever
Claire has sixteen years experience at a senior management level in branding and design agencies so she was really only a novice in social media terms. She was a perfect match and when she joined in March 2015, she just totally got what we were trying to do. It helped she had a great understanding of current and emerging trends within design and what was going on in our industry.
There was absolutely no hand holding
Quite the opposite; she was the one guiding us! As a small business taking on a trainee can seem daunting but Claire was incredibly professional. We spoke weekly to discuss strategy and regularly via email. While it was important to have our input, Claire was excellent at getting on with things and I was confident in her ability to do that.
The level of exposure on social media is astounding
During the campaign we made some really high profile connections, particularly with journalists. Those relationships would have taken so much longer to develop off line. We have also connected with local businesses via Twitter. Their products have supported a pitch concept recently that we went on to win.
People think my Digital Mum is actually me on Twitter
It’s a testament to how much Claire just gets our business. She has totally nailed my tone of voice. She has made our brand come alive on social media and shown us the importance of that. People have said how much they enjoy following our channels. We still get a buzz every time we see a Furniss & May tweet.
We had our first company party as a result of Twitter
Claire’s #WeLoveThisSpace campaign was a huge success so we held a party for our clients and invited everyone who had taken the time to share their favourite space. It shows how social media can feed into your entire marketing strategy. It was a great profile raiser and something we’ve been meaning to do since our launch two years ago
This is just the beginning of our journey
As Furniss & May grows we want Claire to be part of our story. She graduated from Digital Mums in September and we were so pleased when she agreed to keep working with us. She is such a natural fit; we honestly don’t know where we would be without her now!"
Claire says:
"I’ve always loved design and have worked in the industry for many years. Devising and managing my own creative campaign was a fantastic experience. There is so much opportunity for visual companies like Furniss & May to use social media effectively and that’s what I tried to harness.
The results speak for themselves; 100 percent increase in followers on Twitter and Pinterest, plus an 800 percent increase in impressions. We’re now using social media for business development, and have some exciting campaigns and collaborations coming up."
Follow Furniss & May on Twitter, Facebook and Pinterest
