Odyz Cards was an experiment run between August and November 2015 to answer the question: What is the most efficient way to author original content for Facebook?
The concept was to divide the task of writing into three parts:
STEP 1. Odyz Cards asks customers a daily question. The question can be delivered via SMS, email or a sponsored Facebook post (pictured above).
STEP 2. Customers answers the question casually, in their own voices.
STEP 3. Odyz Cards turns customers’ answers into complete Facebook posts.
Customers would get their first experience with the concept via #TellOdyz #Freebies, which were sponsored Facebook posts questions (pictured above). Once they signed up for the $99/mo program, daily questions were sent via text message. The final posts were published on customers’ Facebook pages.
How did it perform?
The process of generating unique content was a success. Instead of customers racking their brains to come up with ideas, they simply answered a question. The Odyz Card writer (me) would have a well-defined starting point. The final result was unique Facebook posts authored in four minutes:
- 1 minute for the customer to answer the question
- 3 minutes for me to author the post and find an image
The marketing success of the posts was limited. The average post authored for clients generated 1 like without a boost. When posts were boosted for $5 (Facebook advertising), the average rose to 6 likes. Although the content we were creating was unique, it did not appear to be all that viral and compelling. The average number of fans for customers’ pages was 200.
The efficacy of the printed cards at getting Facebook likes was limited. Although they looked cool and were designed to be physical representations of the Facebook Like Button, very few customers of a business followed through and liked the business on Facebook. Most of the likes that our customers received were due to Facebook advertising.
List of questions to get content for Facebook
The following questions were used in the Odyz Cards experiment to begin the writing process:
| What is happening at your work? |
| What is an interesting fact about your work? |
| What is a problem you solve well for customers? |
| What is a safety tip for your customers? |
| Who is in the spotlight today at your work? (Could be a customer or staff member.) |
| What is a hot topic amongst your customers? |
| What is a benefit you offer customers? |
| What is trending in your industry? |
| What is new and/or exciting? |
| What is 1 small thing you are grateful for? |
| What do you do on your time off? |
| Where’s a cool place to go for lunch near you? |
| Which entertainer does your staff like the most? |
| What’s an emergency that you fix? When does that emergency happen? |
| What’s a fun fact about your community? |
| What is a product or service you offer? |
| Who in your community do you admire? |
| What specials / discounts are you offering? |
| What’s an interesting fact about your business or industry? |
| Which animal represents how you feel in this moment? |
| What is one thing your team is optimistic about? |
| Where do you get caffeine? |
| What is an inexpensive product or service that your customers should purchase? |
| What are you looking at right now? |
| What is 1 good thing customers can do after they buy from you? |
| Your favorite plant. What is its favorite exotic drink? |
| Where is an exotic destination you’d like to vacation? |
| Show us 1 tool of your trade. |
| Tell us 1 myth about your profession. |
| Show us 1 member of your team. What do they do? |
| Tell us 1 danger (relating to your industry) to avoid. |
| Tell us 1 piece of jargon from your industry. What does it mean? |
| Tell us 1 thing you do not do. |
| What are three major categories of problems you solve? |
| Tell us about a ritual your customers should regularly do. |
| What luxury should your customers indulge in? |
Answers evoked by these questions were turned into Facebook posts by a writer at Odyz Cards (me). The writing process took four minutes from idea to final draft.
This process of dividing the creative labor between expert (business owner) and writer was the most successful part of the Odyz Cards experiment. I think that given a different publishing use case (perhaps generating “how to” articles), the end result would be more profitable over time.