Content Marketing
A case study
Background
Thriving In Engineering is a multi-platform personal brand for Alex Ponomarev. Alex has over 25 years of experience in the software engineering industry, taking on a variety of roles, and even founding his own company, Volt, and scaling it to multiple 7-figure projects.
Challenge and Goal
To grow, Thriving In Engineering needed to build a funnel from social media to its newsletter. The goal of this funnel was to convert viewers/followers to subscribers. Obstacles included high competition in the software engineering space on social media and starting social media operations from scratch.
A secondary goal was to increase social proof by increasing follower count. This would better position Alex as a thought leader in the industry and increase the likelihood of converting viewers/followers to subscribers.
A secondary goal was to increase social proof by increasing follower count. This would better position Alex as a thought leader in the industry and increase the likelihood of converting viewers/followers to subscribers.
Strategy and Execution
Instagram was chosen as the primary social media platform for Thriving In Engineering. Reasons included the already large and engaged audience on the platform as well as the ability to run ads through Meta Ads Manager.
Initial steps included analysis of competitor accounts and analysis of related successful accounts, such as those targeting project managers or only software engineers instead of also engineering leaders. From there, Thriving In Engineering built a baseline of what was needed to start executing its social media strategy quickly.
The strategy employed the following elements:
To accelerate success, many posts were also boosted to increase reach. These were boosted within the times Thriving In Engineering’s target audience was most active and at an amount tested for optimized results.
Additionally, as social proof increased, ads were run through Instagram. These directly called for the target audience to subscribe to the newsletter and had the added bonus of increasing follower count as well. Variations of the ads were tested to determine the best combination of creative and copy. Once identified, that combination was scaled to, again, accelerate growth.
Initial steps included analysis of competitor accounts and analysis of related successful accounts, such as those targeting project managers or only software engineers instead of also engineering leaders. From there, Thriving In Engineering built a baseline of what was needed to start executing its social media strategy quickly.
The strategy employed the following elements:
- Post at least once a day
- Repurpose content from the newsletter guides to build interest for that topic and provide a natural lead into the guide
- Develop and use templates that only required minor adjustments to publish
- Publish at times when the audience was most engaged
- Use consistent messaging, especially within the caption
- Keep the posts simple and easy to digest
- Monitor for results and make adjustments as needed
To accelerate success, many posts were also boosted to increase reach. These were boosted within the times Thriving In Engineering’s target audience was most active and at an amount tested for optimized results.
Additionally, as social proof increased, ads were run through Instagram. These directly called for the target audience to subscribe to the newsletter and had the added bonus of increasing follower count as well. Variations of the ads were tested to determine the best combination of creative and copy. Once identified, that combination was scaled to, again, accelerate growth.
Results
- 1.55 million reached
- Followers increased by over 1,200
- Subscribers increased by over 1,400
- Reached 500+ follower growth per month
- Over 40% newsletter open rate
Key Takeaways
- Careful planning allowed for quick and consistent execution. Upfront research and preparation built a strong foundation for Thriving In Engineering’s social media campaign. From templates to testing, the process, once begun, was sustainable, repeatable, and efficient to implement.
- Boosted posts and ads accelerated growth but only with proper testing and audience research. In order for scaling to work, first, there had to be proof it would work. This required knowing the audience well and seeing what competitors had done. Doing so allowed for a stronger, deeper resonance with content messaging and positioning as well as the ability to test several variations.
- Strategic repurposing maximized output. Instead of coming up with entirely new material, part of Thriving In Engineering’s strategy was to reuse content already created for its newsletter in its social media posts. This allowed for a smoother funnel to the newsletter as well as minimal resources to run its social media arm.
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