City Sprouts: Social Media Campaign Promoting Sustainable Farming
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Project Type: Final-Year Social Media Marketing Project
Timeframe: 6 Weeks (Semester 1, 2024)
Team: Solo Project
Objective: Raise awareness of sustainable urban gardening through engaging cross-platform content for young adults and students. -
Content Strategist: Led content creation, scheduling, and strategy.
Campaign Analyst: Tracked KPIs, evaluated results, and made weekly optimisations.
Visual Designer: Designed assets including posts, EDMs, and web graphics to maintain a cohesive identity. -
Design & Content: Mailchimp, WordPress, Adobe InDesign, Adobe Illustrator, Adobe Express
Analytics & Scheduling: Meta Business Suite, Twitter Analytics, Linktree, Google Analytics
Documentation & Planning: Notion, Google Docs, Miro, Hootsuite
CitySprouts was a six-week digital marketing campaign aimed at increasing awareness of urban gardening among young adults.
The initiative aims to educate, inspire, and promote sustainable lifestyle changes by sharing engaging material on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, and a dedicated WordPress blog. The primary objective was to drive visitors to blog posts and increase EDM (email newsletter) subscribers to support long-term content distribution.
Goals & KPIs
To evaluate the success of the CitySprouts campaign, I set measurable goals across each platform, focusing on traffic, engagement, and subscriber growth. These KPIs guided both content planning and strategic decisions, helping me understand what resonated with the audience. While some targets (like Instagram followers and website visits) were exceeded, others, such as EDM subscriptions and Twitter engagement, fell short, highlighting areas for improvement. Tracking these results provided valuable insights into user behaviour and platform dynamics, reinforcing the importance of flexibility and iteration in a multi-platform campaign.
Research & Strategy
Initial audience research revealed rising interest in sustainability and food security among millennials and Gen Z. Many expressed a desire to grow their own food but lacked the knowledge or resources. This informed CitySprouts' educational tone and content structure.
Platform Selection: Instagram and Twitter were chosen for reach and conversation, Facebook for community groups, and WordPress for long-form content.
Visual Strategy: Consistent, earthy colour palette, friendly tone, and playful accents for brand consistency.
SEO: Keyword-optimised blog posts and tagged social content to improve discoverability.
Execution
Content types included:
Weekly blog posts on urban farming tips, beginner guides, and seasonal planting
Weekly EDM newsletters with blog highlights and extra resources
Instagram carousels, reels, and story polls
Facebook page posts and article shares
Twitter threads and infographics
Content was scheduled weekly via Hootsuite, while EDMs were distributed using Mailchimp. Visual assets were designed in Illustrator, with animations created in Adobe Express.
Results
The results of the CitySprouts campaign highlighted a strong performance in areas like Instagram growth and website traffic, with several goals exceeded through effective content strategy and cross-platform promotion. The campaign successfully drove over 70 new visits to the WordPress blog, surpassing its primary traffic goal. However, other areas, such as EDM subscriptions and Facebook engagement, underperformed, pointing to the need for more tailored content and platform-specific strategies. Analysing these outcomes helped identify what content and tactics resonated most, such as follow-for-follow growth on Instagram and direct link placement on Facebook posts. These insights proved valuable for refining future campaigns and demonstrated the importance of continuous testing and adaptation.
Reflection & Next Steps
Key Takeaways:
Data-led content strategies are essential for driving engagement and conversion across different platforms.
Platform-specific optimisation (e.g., link placement, format variation) can significantly affect performance outcomes.
Visual cohesion and consistency in brand tone help establish trust and recognition with a target audience.
Future Opportunities:
Explore targeted lead-generation tools or incentives to improve EDM subscription rates.
Optimise content uniquely for each platform rather than cross-posting to boost overall engagement.
Expand blog functionality with interactive features (e.g., polls, comment sections) to encourage repeat visits and user participation.