Q&A: How SkipTheDishes increases brand awareness and conversions with Twitter Video Ads

By Marissa Window
Inspiration

Video is no longer the future of digital marketing — it’s the present.  In fact, Tweets with video attract 10X more engagements than Tweets without video.*

One brand that stands out with their innovative use of organic and paid video is SkipTheDishes. From partnering with the Canadian Football League to driving conversions with Amplify Pre-roll, SkipTheDishes has found their sweet spot with engaging video.

We chatted with Cody Potapoff, Digital Marketing Associate at SkipTheDishes to go behind their Twitter video strategy.

Tell us a bit about yourself.

I’m Cody Potapoff, Digital Marketing Associate at @SkipTheDishes and part of the digital team. My responsibilities revolve around social media, both paid and organic.

My parents owned a restaurant and ran a banquet facility, so I grew up in a commercial kitchen. Food was always a major part of my life. After working in marketing and chasing other passions, I was thrilled to merge my newfound skills with my roots in the food industry by joining SkipTheDishes. Skip is Canada’s leading and largest food delivery company, and one of Canada’s fastest-growing tech companies.

What does a typical workday look like for you?

At Skip, there is no such thing as a typical workday. Each day is different and full of exciting challenges. The day usually kicks off with a huddle with the digital team to align our efforts, and then I dive right into engaging with our audiences. There’s always a queue of comments from the night before for me to address. From there, I check all campaigns to make sure we’re hitting our goals and pacing is on track.

Audience engagement and a check-in with our campaigns are a constant. My daily efforts range from reporting on campaign performance to developing new campaign strategies and planning organic content.

What’s @SkipTheDishes marketing strategy?

Skip is a growth-focused company that launched as a tech startup in 2012 and has grown to become a multinational leader in the food delivery app space, in under six years. Customer acquisition, especially through digital channels, always plays a major role in Skip’s marketing strategies.

Elevating the SkipTheDishes brand is a continuing priority. With Twitter, we’re able to do work on customer acquisition and build our brand simultaneously. We’ve found that video ads are a great way to accomplish both in a fresh, engaging way.

How does video play a role in your Twitter strategy?

Video plays a major role in our Twitter strategy, both paid and organic. We see better results in our marketing efforts when we use video because video is more intimate than a photo or GIF. Videos allow us to build strong and lasting connections with customers.

How do you plan and create videos that will resonate with your target audience?

We work hand-in-hand with our in-house content team to make the most engaging and effective videos possible. Our Compete To Eat series, featuring professional football players from partnered CFL (Canadian Football League) teams, are a great example of the type of content we produce.

We take a different approach to partnering with athletes which makes our content stand out. The content shows a side of the athletes you don’t usually see, which draws and builds upon the personal connection people have with their favorite players and teams. Our goal is to bring Skip into the bond that fans have and create a positive association.

How do Twitter Ads play a role in your marketing strategy?

Twitter is one of our primary marketing channels because of its versatility and targeting options. We use the platform with a full-funnel approach, which gets people familiar with the Skip brand and flows down the funnel until viewers become Skip users. The majority of our campaigns are focused on getting people to install our app. The copy and creative vary depending on the stage of the funnel the consumer is in.

What results have you seen from Twitter Video Ads?

Twitter video stands out as a top performer within Twitter Ads. Video is incredibly effective when the viewer is just becoming acquainted with the Skip brand. We see much higher conversion rates in groups of people who have familiarity with our brand through Twitter video.

How do you use Amplify Pre-roll? What results have you seen?

We use Amplify Pre-roll at the top of the funnel. We re-target those who have already viewed those ads and work them down the funnel. With the implementation of Amplify Pre-roll, we see a significant increase in conversion rates further down the road. Sometimes, Amplify Pre-roll generates conversions immediately. This is great to see so high up in the customer journey.

Can you give us an example of a video that stands out to you? How did you measure the success?

Our video for our most recent Father’s Day campaign, which was produced in-house, stands out as another successful initiative. We asked people to share their favorite dad jokes, which was fun and light-hearted and connected with our audience on an emotional level. The campaign articulates our brand personality clearly and gives users a peek into the personality of some of the people at Skip.

Sometimes, success is less about how far a video spreads and more about connecting and feeling intimate with an audience.

Any final tips for brands just getting started with video content on Twitter?

Tailor your videos for your audience. It’s not effective to have an author-based approach and shout your story; you have to listen to your audience and find out what stories they want to hear. Invest even a small amount in your video with Twitter Ads. A small investment can often provide the initial push to gain traction.

Want to make your brand's message memorable, shareable, and replay-worthy by adding video to your Twitter advertising strategy? Check out our Twitter video resources.

*Twitter internal data

 

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