Little Red Rooster started out as purely a PR agency, and PR remains the heart of our business. But as we’ve grown, we’ve spread our Rooster wings and diversified to deliver social media, content creation, event management and more. We’re ever evolving to meet the new opportunities of a fast-changing media landscape and an equally diverse range of client needs.
Little Red Rooster’s differences make us perfectly placed to maximise results in a multichannel media world. Where some PR agencies dabble in social media, it’s long been one of our core services: we’ve been running client social media accounts since 2011 – mere months after the launch of Instagram.
Iconic luxury heating brand Bisque (now Zehnder Radiators) was one of the first to take a punt on Little Red Rooster. At the time, we didn’t have any experience managing a client’s social media channels – nor within the high-end interiors industry, for that matter. But it was Vic’s enthusiasm, drive and get-up-and-go approach that gave us the opportunity. Social media in 2011 was still very much in its infancy, but we already recognised we needed strategic approaches across different platforms; as we developed Bisque’s social media strategy and curated its Instagram and LinkedIn followings, we adapted our content in line with the core audiences across each channel.
This strategy remains relatively untouched since, with LinkedIn primarily marketing to B2B professionals (in this instance, kitchen and bathroom showrooms, retailers, distributors and the like) while Instagram met the needs of Bisque’s target consumer: affluent homeowners and interior designers.
Through our work with Bisque, we also identified the power of early influencer relationships for developing a brand’s following, partnering with Kate Watson-Smyth and 2LG Studio long before many other brands followed suit. Our aim through these partnerships was to create bespoke content to populate Bisque’s feeds and provide valuable case studies for both PR and social media – proof that the two are inevitably intertwined.
Image credit: Megan Taylor
We have spent the years since learning and testing the features and benefits of Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, X/Twitter, and Pinterest to drive results for our clients. We understand how to combine organic/creator content with paid activity – and our wider PR outreach – to drive engagement, reach and beyond. It’s as common to find a Rooster creating a Reel as it is writing a press release!
Smeg was a pivotal brand that has been instrumental in the continuous growth of Little Red Rooster. When we first won the PR back in 2015, the brand firmly put us on the map as an agency to match the big guns, representing household names with the best of them. The relationship we have developed with the client since then is one built on immense trust, so when we made recommendations and advised on methods and tactics to improve its social media strategy, we were granted the opportunity to flex our muscles across its core accounts and truly make a difference.
An initial three-month campaign generated a 16% increase in IG followers while engagement rates also soared to 16% – well above the industry standard of 2-3%. Facebook, Twitter (as it was then known), Pinterest and Houzz all witnessed similar success stories. This three-month trial led to Little Red Rooster scooping the ongoing retainer for Smeg’s social media management, and since that day we’ve boosted its Instagram following by 116%; its Facebook visits by 40% and its monthly Pinterest views by an impressive 180%.
For Smeg, our work is so much more than simply social media channel management; we provide a fully-fledged consultancy service, offering the level of strategic planning that you’d typically find within standalone social media agencies.
Image credit: @alabasterfox
Our work on Hush Puppies – heritage footwear brand who became true purveyors of casual style in the 60s – offers a similar level of service to Smeg. From defining the look and feel of the channel to re-vitalise the brand’s approach to social, and reach a younger audience, consulting on content and shoots, devising briefs to drive organic reach and engagements, we’ve been able to drive change to generate great results for the brand. In the last nine months, we have seen content interactions increase by 100% and organic reach surge by 253%.
Just as we have built excellent relationships with traditional media, we’re working closely with the best of the new generation of content creators. We’ve delivered a rich selection of influencer partnerships and UGC (User Generated Content) for brands, cutting through the hype and noise to reach new audiences and generate excellent engagement and million-plus-view posts.
In fact, we’ve invested heavily in sophisticated software to help the efficiency of our influencer marketing, drawing on key data from this platform to help identify the perfect influencer partners for our brands based on reach, engagement rate and target demographic. So much of social media is data-driven; while PR is built on creativity, this industry is all about analytics.
Our approach to influencer outreach has been complex. Like many PR’s, in the early days the influencer ‘bubble’ seemed a minefield to navigate. We initially had huge success orchestrating gifting programmes for both premium and fast-moving consumer goods, such as travel mugs and water bottles from Contigo; this formed a fundamental part of our PR and social media office to generate content and build the brand’s visibility online.
As the content creator landscape became more sophisticated – and as influencers picked up their own agents and recognised the ability to make profit – we once again had to demonstrate our nimbleness and willingness to adapt.
Partnering with brands such as Sanderson Design Group, who recognised influencers as a core part of its marketing strategy, helped establish our new-found appreciation for influencer partnerships. Take one of our early projects for heritage fabric and wallpaper firm Morris & Co, whereby we partnered with various licensees (such as Scandinavian baby brand Dockatot) to promote key Christmas gifting ranges with target influencers. Just four partnerships provided a huge return: over 3500 new followers to the Morris & Co account.
But it’s not just the traditional fashion, lifestyle or interiors market that influencer success resonates with. The tech and gaming industry has a huge platform of YouTubers and key opinion leaders dominating the social media stratosphere.
We tapped into this via a campaign with gaming star Spawnpoiint on behalf of Western Digital to build brand awareness and promote its range of gaming accessories. The campaign drove killer results across Instagram, YouTube and TikTok, with engagement rates as high as 9%. The content on TikTok was a particular standout, with over 320k likes and over 70k users saving Spawnpoiint’s content.
Crafting compelling social media content is just one weapon in our creative armoury. With several former journalists and editors on the Little Red Rooster team, we’re perfectly placed to write compelling copy. From technical copy to lookbooks to complete website re-writes, we’re here to help.
Consultancy is another offering, drawing on our team’s decades of combined experience, across multiple industry sectors and disciplines. For product benchmarking; brand positioning feedback; affiliate marketing and more – come talk to us! Combining all these elements ensures greater brand consistency – from core messaging to tone of voice; this multichannel alignment provides higher impact, credibility, and authenticity.
But, as anyone who knows Little Red Rooster will be aware, we never like to stand still. We’re continuously looking at ways we can further develop our social media and digital marketing offering. Our impending move to a shiny new office in the heart of Reading’s town centre will see our social media division establish its own in-house content creation studio – something we’ve dabbled with in the past but never typically had the space or resources to offer properly. Professional equipment, backdrops, lighting and so forth will enable our talented team to create studio-style content to further enhance our clients’ content strategies as required, with even more plans currently in development in the background.
You’ll find a plethora of social media case studies available to download here. Take a look; and if you too want a more joined-up approach, get in touch (via any platform!)
