According to St Pierre, it was vital for brands to be agile in their approach to business during the unprecedented times brought on by the pandemic and, perhaps more than ever, this included social media. By adapting to the mood of a nation under lockdown, it was possible to grow engagement and support brand growth.
Heather Burgess, marketing manager at St Pierre said food has become far more important and people are looking for inspiration and escapism; an area where social media comes to the fore.
“Extra time at home means more consumers are taking a greater interest in how they prepare and serve their food and are looking for easy ways they can treat themselves and their families using everyday store cupboard ingredients,” she said.
“As our day to day lives began to rapidly change earlier this year, we recognised that people were looking for mealtime inspiration, as well as advice and cheerful entertainment, so we adapted our social media strategy to suit.
“The St Pierre tone has always been light-hearted, and we found that adapting our content to reflect the mood of our consumers kept our followers engaged and entertained, whilst still educating them on the brand and our range of products.”
As a result, said Burgess, the company’s reach increased by over 1,000% on Facebook and Instagram in April.
Adapting to the new ‘normal’
“Since the beginning of the health crisis, we have focused on posting Instagrammable recipe ideas, as well as engaging polls and quizzes, which our followers have enjoyed participating in.
“We launched a series of exciting campaigns that promote our Parisian heritage. One campaign, French Fridays, has been a really popular way of engaging with our followers as it has allowed them to embrace Parisian living from afar through French music, films, art and recipes – creating a few moments of much-needed escapism.”
The Paul Hollywood brand owner also hosted a competition to win a subscription to Disney+, which generated over 6,000 likes across Facebook and Instagram. It also celebrated National Brioche Day in May with a feel-good video that already has had over 40,000 views.
“As consumers are still adjusting to the new ‘normal’, we will continue to monitor and adapt our content and messaging with a focus on summer,” added Burgess.
“The BBQ season is a key time of year for St Pierre, and even though the health crisis undoubtedly means BBQ events will be on a smaller scale this summer, we can still inspire people to elevate their garden BBQs with ‘gourmet’ style burgers and hot dogs in buttery brioche buns at home, as well as continuing to celebrate French Fridays, of course.”
St Pierre recently won its first multiple listing in UK retailing giant Tesco. To support the rollout, the brand introduced new branding, releasing visually-engaging content across its channels that reached over a million people.