B2C PR and social media campaign
Brief and objectives
Jones Bros Civil Engineering is a leading UK civil engineering contractor based in Ruthin, North Wales.
Outwrite was tasked with raising awareness of the company’s apprenticeship programme for general construction operatives and plant drivers/mechanics, to increase the volume and quality of applications.
Outwrite PR worked closely with Jones Bros’ marketing manager and the HR and training departments to devise and implement a digital PR campaign, which ran from 1 June 2016 to 17 May 2017.
SMART objectives:
Media relations
- Average three pieces of coverage per month (two to be online = easier to share on social)
Social
- Increase Facebook likes to 500 and Twitter followers to 1,650 (and also increase engagement)
Website
- Careers pages to occupy five of the top 10 most visited pages
- Social media visitors to visit more than one page
- Increase social traffic by 40%
- Attract engaged visitors from trusted media websites
- Increase traffic to careers pages by 15%
Objectives and planning
We interviewed Jones Bros apprentices, former apprentices who have since progressed up the career ladder at the firm and the company’s HR and training departments.
This allowed us to fully understand the recruitment and retention process from both sides.
We learned:
- Most apprentices found out about vacancies via friends or family
- Some found out through a friend of a friend (another example of listening to peers)
- People applied from across the UK
- Jones Bros has an excellent reputation in Ruthin, and parents and grandparents were showing vacancies to children/grandchildren
- A big draw to Jones Bros was the variety of heavy plant they would operate
- Key questions from potential apprentices included:
- What’s the job like?
- What’s it like working away from home?
- What qualifications do I get?
- What career opportunities are there?
- What are the on-site facilities like?
Target audiences:
- Current apprentices and Jones Bros employees
- Potential applicants ie aged between 17 and 24, primarily living in North Wales
- Parents/grandparents of potential applicants
- Local schools and colleges (targeted by Jones Bros’ HR team)
Numbers and figures
%
Increase in traffic to careers web page
Video content views
%
Increase in sessions on website
Implementation
A comprehensive PR and comms plan was created and approved by the client, with a visibility plan (story ideas) covering the first three months of the campaign.
We filmed and edited videos in months one and two, with content drip fed out in the following months.
In month one, we also made the changes to the website in anticipation of an increase in visitors, for example including prominent links/page drivers on the homepage to relevant content.
We produced further videos after a new batch of apprentices started their course.
In addition, each month we:
- Drafted one press release eg announcing recruitment drive
- Drafted two additional stories for the website eg profile of current apprentice discussing qualifications achieved
Drafted and published social media content ie to share the above content directly to relevant readers
Outcome/client testimonial
Applications
- Anecdotal feedback from the director we report to, that the company had received its highest number of quality applications for apprenticeships
Media relations
Broadcast:
3 mentions in Welsh and English on BBC Radio Wales and Radio Cymru
A 3-minute package filmed at a Jones Bros careers event by the BBC transmitted on Newyddion (S4C)
Print:
- 48 pieces of editorial coverage (average 4 per month) including 24 online (2 per month)
Social
| Metric | Result | Previous period |
| Facebook likes | 1,201 | 187 |
| Videos | Viewed 17,800 times | 1,873 |
| Video consumption | 9,800 minutes | Not provided by Facebook |
| Twitter followers | 1,781 | 1,347 |
| Retweets | 380 | 322 |
| Likes | 624 | 295 |
| Quote retweets | 39 | 33 |
Website
| Metric | Result | Previous period |
| Visitors via social: | ||
| · Sessions | 1,521 (66.5% increase) | 913 |
| · Bounce rate | 57% | 62% |
| · Pages per session | 2.37 | 2.06 |
| · Average session duration | 2mins 40 (40% increase) | 1min 54 |
| Traffic to careers pages | 16,048 (29% increase) | 12,441 |
Also:
- Seven of the top 10 pages viewed by people via Facebook were careers-related
- Links in line media coverage:
For example, 108 visitors from one DailyPost.co.uk story visited an average of 3.91 pages and stayed an average of 3mins 10 (both higher than the average visitor)
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