Digital & Social Media

The Project Summary

Using the skills I learned from my social media emphasis, I started a business/brand named ACRONYM. I created and sold stickers of movie quotes written out as acronyms. I also planned and launched a social media campaign for 6 weeks, posting at least once daily.

I used my content creation, brand management, and social media strategy skills to see how far I could take a business starting from scratch and how many sales I could generate. It also allowed me to experience what it would be like working for a smaller company as their sole marketing coordinator (either through my freelance work or as a paid employee).

The Goals

I set several goals at the beginning of this project:

Create and launch a new brand (ACRONYM)
Create a storefront with 50+ stickers.
Create and manage Instagram ad campaigns.
Create products to advertise/sell.
1 Weekly Paid ad campaign (either a post or story)
2 Content posts a week.
5 Stories daily

I accomplished many of these goals and more throughout my senior project. Some goals, such as five stories daily, evolved as I created my brand’s content calendar and content.

I shifted my mindset to a value-first rather than a product-first mindset and focused on making content people would want to interact with. Instead of worrying about posting more content, I focused on the quality of the content. Instead of posting 5 stories weekly, I created 2-4 quality stories as the daily post.

The Product

I used Canva to create the designs for my storefront. I wanted to keep the designs bold but minimal to attract attention when the stickers are on a water bottle or laptop. The original idea was to have the acronym and an icon alluding to the movie, and I found an icon supplier. After some debate, I settled on only the text on the sticker.

You can find a breakdown of all the designs linked below.

The Storefront

View the Store at https://acronymofficial.etsy.com

Creating the storefront proved to be more challenging than I expected. I started the project with the idea of selling on Redbubble. However, I didn’t have the resources to print and ship the stickers independently, so a print-on-demand supplier was my best choice.

I selected Redbubble because I was most familiar with it. Everything was going great until I started uploading. Then, because of the visual content of the stickers, they were quickly copyright-claimed. I had taken steps to avoid this by buying the icons and crediting the authors, but I still needed to do more to stop the takedowns. This was particularly disappointing because there was far more obvious copyrighted content sold by other creators and not taken down.

I adapted and transitioned to Etsy. I found a third-party print-on-demand company, Printful, to fulfill orders. The program included Etsy integration and free product mockups. I used the built-in tools on Instagram and Etsy to track my brand’s reach, engagement, and traffic.

Keywords:

sticker, movie quote, movie quote sticker, film, film sticker, film quote sticker, acronym, acronym sticker, acronym quote, acronym quote sticker
Anything related to the quote (Disney, Star Wars, etc.)

Primary Listing Description:

Bring some personality to your belongings with this vinyl acronym sticker! This high-quality vinyl sticker is weather-resistant and easy to apply and remove. Can your friends guess the quote? Get yours today!

Example Listing:

Description:

Pay homage to the classic film The Princess Bride with our acronym sticker!

Featuring the memorable quote, “Hello, my name is Inigo Montoya. You killed my father. Prepare to die.” this vinyl sticker is perfect for adding a pop of personality to your laptop, notebook, or any other flat surface. Perfect for fans of the iconic movie and its larger-than-life characters.

The Social Media Content

You can find the catalog of my posts and stories on my Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/acronym.official/

My social media activity focused on driving traffic toward the store to get sales. However, I prioritized creating content that would be of some value to a movie-loving audience. I set a goal to have one boosted (paid) post weekly to increase my reach. I also had weekly “content drops” as static posts or stories to create interest in my products.

I also wanted to create valuable content for a movie-loving audience outside of promotional material so people wouldn’t feel I was only in it for sale. I posted weekly “guess the quote” stories to drive engagement. I posted content for their benefit, like movie night tips and movie reviews.

My most significant social media project was my video. I interviewed students and faculty around campus, asking them to guess the quote based on the acronym sticker.

Overall Content:
Posts: 13
Reels: 1
Stories: 17
Ads: 5

*Outliers are paid boosts

The Results

Social Media:
Total Reach – 12.7k
Total Likes – 61
Total Comments – 5
Total Shares – 6
Total Favorites – 5
Total Link Clicks – 240
Followers – 22

Storefront:
Total Views – 849
Total Page Visits – 484
Total Product Favorites – 20
Total Listings – 60
Total Designs made – 91
Total Sales – 0

The Future

Going forward with this project, I have two options.

The first is to revamp my sales line. Since I haven’t had any sales, I need to look at what is potentially killing my sale and address that issue. My hypothesis is the price. I would half to find a cheaper supplier and handle the shipping myself to reduce the overall price for my customers. I would also want to move off of Etsy and build a site to match the overall tone of my brand.

The second option is to pivot the brand in a new direction, from stickers to a board game. I had multiple discussions throughout my project with a co-worker who worked in that industry. He gave me some great ideas for pursuing that avenue.

Either option would require a major shift in my plans and additional research and time to execute.