The brief
A quick overview of the business: Houghton Hams is a well established producer of high-quality meat products based in Northampton.
A family run business, they’d celebrated their 40th anniversary just before I started working with them and had won prestigious awards.
But while they were a long-standing, successful company, they were yet to focus on their digital footprint and their social media presence.
Until late 2023 that was.
The brief was to launch, establish and grow the brand across social media, with a particular focus on LinkedIn to develop B2B opportunities.
Success at a glance
The work
With the business being over 40 years old, it was clear from the beginning that they had a rich story to tell.
But it needed a structured approach, with a well thought out strategy.
So that came first – a strategy workshop with the business to understand what they wanted to achieve, what they wanted to be known for, and who they wanted to be known to.
From there, I established four core content pillars that aligned with the business, which each included key connection points and storylines that would resonate with our target audience.
I also developed a visual look and feel for the company, using their existing brand assets to create social-first designs.
And it was then time for action, delivering my done-for-you social media management package, which covers:
- Strategy
- Content creation
- Day-to-day management
- Proactive outreach and engagement
- Monthly, quarterly, yearly analysis
Getting the content engine firing
Every business has a story to tell. And your target audiences will be interested in your story.
Houghton Hams is no different, and theirs stretches back to 1983.
But they weren’t telling it on social media. Their channels were posting once every few weeks, at best.
Luckily for me, they’d captured much of their story in photos and the family could re-tell many tales from years gone by.
Although a story is only worth telling if it’s delivered in an effective way, for social media.
It was my job to do exactly that, draw the tales out and craft them into impactful social media content that would resonate with our audience.
Take this, for instance, a celebration of Nigel and Jo’s (the founders) wedding anniversary.
It was also my responsibility to manage the flow of content, ensuring we were showing up regularly across LinkedIn, with consistent posting and engaging.
↳ The result: The creation of a consistent content engine, producing up to 15 posts per month across the first seven months.
Inviting our audience to the conversation
One key connection point with our target audience is a love of food.
And being a food producer, naturally, we wanted to include food in our social media content.
To do that, and to create content that drives engagement, I developed a series of food-based polls that would divide opinion and create conversation.
For instance, how crispy do you like your bacon?
Or, what’s your condiment of choice on a ham sandwich?
They’re simple, easy-to-understand questions, with a clear visual example, that everyone has an opinion on.
And people were happy to share those opinions!
↳ The result: The company page received more than 900 comments on its posts over seven months.
Wider impact than solely on social media
Seeing the green percentage increases on LinkedIn follower numbers, impressions and engagements gives me a little buzz.
But it’s not what makes me feel all warm inside. I’ll tell you what does:
“We’ve got a new opportunity through LinkedIn.”
“Our customers have mentioned our social media in meetings.”
“Our staff have noticed the posts and are enjoying seeing us shout about them, their work, and the business.”
That. That’s what I love. And that was feedback that I got from this business in our once-a-month meetings.
While the numbers are great and show an indication of brand growth, they don’t paint the entire picture.
But feedback from this business showed that social media was doing so much more than just increasing their followers, impressions and engagements.
↳ The result: The social media activity was having a direct impact on business performance and staff morale.
"Ryan has turned our social media into a major talking point. In every meeting with new or existing clients, someone always mentions how engaging and interesting our content is. We receive constant compliments, which is a testament to his creativity and dedication. He's such a great guy to work with that we even invite him out to our socials!"
Joe Nicholson
National Sales Manager
Houghton Hams
