KYS Launches Facebook Social Media Experiment on April Fool's Day
By KYS Editor
On April 1, 2014 Karma Yacht Sales set out to accomplish a few things in the form of an April Fools 'joke'. The 'joke' was launched in the form of a mock Press Release laced with Google Analytics to track the results and to measure to what level 'followers' on Facebook and Twitter would go. It sought to verify what they were liking or following and to what degree followers would read the 'prank' link. It was also a guerrilla marketing tactic as one of the outcomes was that it lead to increased web traffic originating from both social media channels - Facebook and Twitter.
The post went live at approximately 10:32am on April First with the heading " PRESS RELEASE- this news broke late yesterday. Boat Entrepreneurs expand offerings. Karma Auto Group to Open May 1st." #getbusydriving #getbusysailing"
The post was placed on Facebook and cross-posted to Twitter. The results were varied over the first two hours of tracking the post:
In the first 2 hours there were 800 clicks on the link out of 2300 views. 47 likes. 4 shares 12 comments. 10 comments without clicking on the link to read.
Breaking down the Statistics: 65% of social media traffic resulted in views only. A smaller percentage (35%) actually took time to read the press release itself. 83% of the individuals that commented on the post did so without clicking through to read the content of the release.
The post was amended at 5:49 pm that evening to reveal the April Fools prank with corresponding Facebook /Twitter posts.
The 'prank' was the idea of Karma Yacht Sales Co-Owner Lou Sandoval who manages the marketing for the boat dealership and serves as the social media manager.
"It was a bit risky- but in the end it reflects the light hearted nature with which we operate. We try to not take ourselves to seriously." said Sandoval "I got the idea from listening to an NPR story that morning. You really wonder if individuals really read what we put on our social media outlets."
While the group is not looking to make any conclusions or correlations- it does provide an insight into what 'followers' activities might mean.
To see the original Post/Prank.
For More Information Ask Karma Yacht Sales by email or call 1-877-KARMA-Y-S (527-6297)
