In our quest to become more physically fit, healthier, and get some quality outside time, we began Jibe Jogging three weeks ago. Things are going well, and some of us have even received that $50 running shoe credit, while others have completed the dreaded “Loop”—yet, no one has completed the route in 45 minutes, so there’s still room for improvement.
I’ve found that the easiest way to improve my running time (besides strength training and just running more) is to track and store my progress. On our Pinterest page, we shared one of our favorite apps to do so—MapMyRun. This app efficiently uses GPS to map your route by alerting you at the completion of every mile, stating your average pace after that mile, and giving your total time for that particular workout. In addition, MapMyRun allows you to find great runs in your city, log your food, find events, and ask questions. Besides all these great features, the good folks at MapMyFitness are smart, and they’ve turned what could be just another personal app into a socially integrated campaign.
Last week, I got an email from MapMyFitness. It announced the winners of their app-based contest, Battle of the Cities. Unfortunately, Salt Lake City did not place. I chalk it up to the fact that we’re so hardcore here in Salt Lake and run barefoot in the wilderness where our phones don’t even get service.
This weeklong competition was organized in honor of World Health Day, which also coincided with another very important event two Sundays ago—the Season 6 premiere of Mad Men. So if you didn’t run that day, we understand that Don Draper took priority. While all you ad nerds were getting your fix, allow this ad nerd to explain what MapMyFitness did well with this socially driven campaign and what they could have done better.
What they did well
Current Event- First and foremost, MapMyFitness had a great idea. They jumped on a popular current event and made it their own. Doing so helps generate more SEO hits and enhances the credibility of the campaign. They piggybacked on the idea of being healthier and the buzz surrounding World Health Day, and offered an opportunity to do it by using their product.
Incentives- Secondly, they offered prizes—more than $132,000 worth. The great thing about the prizes was that each city had to work together collectively to receive the benefits, but if that city placed, prizes were given to each participant of that city individually. This encourages people to get their friends involved and participate.
Social- MapMyFitness promoted their competition on their social assets, mainly Facebook, Twitter, and their blog. In addition, they hashtagged Tweets with #worldhealthday.
Design- At the end of the competition, they displayed the results in an organized, well-branded, shareable infographic on their blog. This kind of data would have been boring to read in a wordy blog post, so they got visual and used their brand colors and icons to make the information easy and quick to process. To drive traffic, they sent an email to app users announcing the results and promoted the results on Twitter and Facebook.
What they could have done better
Earlier Promotion– The day the contest started was the first mention of the contest. Giving people more time to discover the competition, spread the word, and get involved would have ultimately generated more participants and more social engagement online. In addition, a stronger social presence with more consistent posts and updates would have kept the momentum of the campaign going.
App Notification– I used my both my MapMyFitness apps that week without having any knowledge of the contest. A push notification or an alert when I opened the app could have prompted me with something like: “Have you heard of our Battle of the Cities contest? Celebrate World Health Day and win some great prizes. Learn more.” Then directed me to the blog post about the contest.
Online Advertising– While the Battle of the Cities competition was promoted on the blog and social mediums, I saw no visible promotion on the actual MapMyFitness site. Adding social streams to the home page, creating banner ads, or displaying a clickable, animated image on the home page would have generated more buzz.
Social Interaction– MapMyFitness was smart to hashtag Tweets with #worldhealthday, but they also could have created a personalized hashtag, like #BattleoftheCities or #MapMyFitnessBOTC, and invited participants to hashtag their Tweets similarly. This would result in crossover exposure.
While the point of this contest was to celebrate World Health Day, the other part of it was meant to drive awareness to the brand and get people engaged. So the more solid your social strategy, the more potential for participation. Speaking of participation, are you Jibe Jogging with us today? We’ll see you at 4:30!