February was full of puppy love at San Jose, CA-based BrandVia (asi/145037) as photos of employees and their canines engulfed social media.

As part of the company’s Puppy Giveaway contest, followers were encouraged to respond by posting creative photos of their custom socks with the hashtag #bvcreates. Why socks? “When you get home and cuddle up with your pooch, you usually have your shoes off and feet up, relaxing,” says Sam Brown, director of corporate marketing at BrandVia.

As for the contest’s payoff for participants, BrandVia would award the person with the most creative photo (as decided by the company) adoption fees of a dog in a local rescue. The winner ultimately decided to have the distributor make a donation to Saving Grace Pet Rescue in North Carolina.

The campaign was a huge success, Brown says, as social media engagement numbers increased across all platforms. Facebook interactions, for example, grew from 525 in February to 856 in March. Meanwhile, LinkedIn interactions nearly tripled in the same period.

“The BrandVia marketing team has done a wonderful job of raising our social media profile,” says BrandVia President Jim Childers. “They are always testing new approaches and measuring engagement in order to determine what works best for our community to promote, inspire and educate.”

Significantly, the digital conversation generated strong buzz for BrandVia’s annual open house, Reveal. The event allows clients to browse the newest products and services while networking with BrandVia’s team. “Our goal is to demonstrate to our guests that we have the understanding, creativity, experience, depth of services and breadth of technologies to simplify the demands of their day while helping them succeed in reaching their objectives,” Brown says.

The puppy eyes on social media helped drive people to the event, with BrandVia reporting a 35% increase in attendance over the previous year. Further, 83% of sales members received a significant increase in their selling time due to the reduced effort to book appointments and connect with contacts. In what was perhaps the most promising news, all exit survey respondents said they left feeling that they had a more-thorough understanding of BrandVia’s competencies – something the distributorship believes will translate to sales.

As BrandVia plans more promotions, you can bet social media initiatives will figure into the mix, generating positive ROI in their own right and helping enhance broader campaigns like Reveal. “We’re already developing our next social media campaign not only for Reveal 2018, but for different events and occasions throughout the year,” Brown says.

Photo Gallery

Notebook

Socks

Mug with logo

Lanyard

Catalog

Ear buds

Flashlight

Tote bag

Mouse pad