SUMMARY
Hallmark’s creative trends team launched the Think. Make. Share. blog and Instagram account as tools to recruit artists and engage design influencers. I joined the team to clarify its purpose, broaden the user base, and get to know and serve target audiences better.
My jobs:
— Led Think. Make. Share. content strategy and business expansion plan
— Identified and researched new consumer targets
— Interviewed artists and wrote copy for DIY project posts
— Assigned and wrote and/or edited blog copy
Think. Make. Share. blog-to-business strategy
About Think. Make. Share.
Our audience
Business goals
In addition to organic blog and social content, Think. Make. Share. produced DIY product kits, external workshops, and internal workshops to inspire products. During the COVID-19 lockdown, we produced “Make with Hallmark at Home” DIY videos.
Hallmark brand research indicated that Think. Make. Share. content improved target consumers’ opinion of the flagship brand. In March 2021, we began migrating Think. Make. Share. content to Ideas.Hallmark.com to consolidate resources and reach a broader audience.
THINK. MAKE. SHARE. PERFORMANCE
Results after first year with new content strategy (2018):
- 20%+ increase in thinkmakeshareblog.com users, new users, pageviews, and sessions
- Blog traffic from social up 17%, direct up 20%, organic search up 23%
- First year with more than 1 million blog views
- First months with more than 100 thousand views each (October, November, December)
- Email audience increased by 92%
- 45% email open rate above industry average (23%)
- 11% click-through rate above industry average (3%)
think. make. share. audience research
Hallmark’s audience was defined as Caring Connectors: people who believe that those who care for the world hold it together and make it a better place. When we defined our primary audience as Creative Caring Connectors, we conducted research to understand what that meant to our content strategy.
- UNCOVER MOTIVATIONS: I conducted a casual social media survey that simply asked, “Why do you create?”
- SYNTHESIZE ANSWERS: I synthesized the answers and aligned them to a proprietary tool developed by Hallmark that identifies nine core motivations that move people through life.
- VALIDATE THEORY: Working with Hallmark’s Insights & Analytics team, I created a survey for Think.Make.Share. email subscribers to uncover their answers to the same question (as well as content preferences and behavior).
- ACT ON DISCOVERIES: We uncovered three main reasons our users create (below). Shifted our approach to blog content by incorporating all three strategies improved our search results, site traffic, and user satisfaction.
MOTIVATION
“I have to create. It’s who I am.”
CONTENT STRATEGY
Provide inspiration to get them started.
- On-trend creative projects
- List of recommended tools and materials
- Artist notes
MOTIVATION
“My creativity is a gift I’m called to share.”
CONTENT STRATEGY
Provide ideas for giving and sharing.
- Gifting situations
- Suggestions for personalizing
- Examples of projects in use
MOTIVATION
“I want to lose myself in a project and find my flow.”
content strategy
Provide easy-to-follow step-by-step instructions.
- Projects with simple, repetitive processes
- Demonstrate and explain techniques
- Reasons to make multiples
think. make. share. writing samples
Because the Think. Make. Share. audience was more specific—and more like us—our voice was more familiar, playful, and design-savvy. We treated our users as creative peers.
How to make DIY tassel and macramé keychains to give to all your friends
Macramé is the ideal craft: Easy to learn. Uses stuff you have around the house. Deeply satisfying to do. And DIY tassel and macramé keychains are the perfect example of this theory, so we’re hooking you up with step-by-step instructions for easy, adorable keychains you can make as simple or as fancy as you’d like. They make the best little gifts, too.
READ FULL POST HERE
DIY calaveras de azúcar: How to make sugar skulls for Día de Muertos
Calaveras de azúcar—literal sugar skulls—are beautiful pieces of Día de Muertos (Day of the Dead) rituals and tradition. Names of deceased loved ones are written in royal icing on the foreheads, and they’re placed on altars created to celebrate their lives and loves. As part of Hallmark’s #My5Days creative renewal program, members of our creative team made and decorated sugar skulls, and we’re sharing what they learned.
DIY gift for Mom: block print tea towels and bandanas
Even as an adult, it’s fun to give your mom a handmade gift to celebrate her on Mother’s Day, her birthday or just because. Block printing—also called rubber stamping and linocut printing—is a simple way to add a colorful personal touch to always-useful tea-towels and bandanas.
Even better: You can use the stamp you make to create multiples, like bandanas in different colors or a monogrammed set of tea towels. Hallmark designers made a batch to show us how it’s done.
READ FULL POST HERE
TRISH BERRONG 