John S. Wolfe

This is another in a series of reports about the Social Media Marketing 2010 conference, held June 17 in London.

Can social media turn online “buzz” into offline sales?

That was the question on the mind of Matt Rhodes of FreshNetworks.com, a London social media agency, when the company was invited to create a campaign for Jimmy Choo training shoes in the UK.

Matt Rhodes of FreshNetworks explains the agency’s Foursquare campaign for Jimmy Choo.

It was the retailer’s first foray into social media and officials were a bit apprehensive.

The agency took about six months to build an online community for Jimmy Choo, and blogger engagement. (They also went on Mixi in Japan.)

“We figured we had 200,000 people in the UK engaging with us,” Rhodes said. “But we wanted to find a way to make people enter stores.”

They didn’t want a flash mob. They decided to give Foursquare a try. The geo-local application involves individuals “checking in” at local establishments, posting updates and earning theoretical badges or titles like mayor.

In April they launched “CatchAChoo” on Foursquare. They invited Jimmy Choo fans to participate in a “trainer hunt” by “following” trainers and visiting the stores they did. If they were able to decipher clues and then be the first one at a particular store to approach the trainer with “I’ve been following you!,” they would walk away in a pair of Jimmy Choos. (They also promoted the event through Facebook, Twitter and the website.)

At the store being used that day, shoppers were greeted with champagne.

By the third week of the contest, one out of every 17 people on Foursquare was following Jimmy Choo. (There are an estimated 10,000 Foursquare users in London.)

The agency noted 5,000 mentions on Twitter and, at a peak, a Jimmy Choo store had 35 people stop in.

But the big surge came through old media.

When the Evening Standard newspaper dedicated a half-page of content to the contest, shoe sales skyrocketed 33%, Rhodes said.

British Vogue, Yahoo News and Reuters then picked it up and the reach of “CatchAChoo” spread.

As for the promotion, Rhodes considers it a success.

“We got people to do stuff, go places and buy shoes,” he said.

His recommendation? Have a plan.

1. Identify who is saying what and where.
2. Work out how you will define success.
3. Experiment and work hard to get successful engagement.
4. Have a clear process for measurement.

When “CatchAChoo” concluded, the retailer held a cocktail party for participants. (A summary video of the campaign is on YouTube.)

Of course, they engaged attendees with a questionnaire – and created an email list for future promotions.