WORDS: JULIE BURNISTON
PICTURE: MARTIN WALKER
Social marketing agency
Viral Effect hitting the
heights for customer service
V
iral Effect is certainly putting
Teesside on the world map.
The Boho Four-based social
marketing agency is celebrating
a record turnover and an
incredible milestone of three months
at the top of the Global Food Index
through their support of key client
Domino’s Pizza.
The company also recently
celebrated a week in the lofty position
of third in the world for customer
service, according to the Customer
Service Index on Twitter – no mean
feat for an eight-year-old business.
It was a significant achievement for
both the company and their biggest
client, Domino’s Pizza. This ranking
came through their role running the
national Twitter account for Domino’s
UK, and Viral Effect MD James
Pennington and his team are thrilled to
be in this position.
“Being number three on the
Customer Service Index means we
overtook the likes of Microsoft, which is
incredible,” says James. “The index is
judged on a company’s response rate,
response time and sentiment.
“We have one of the fastest
response rates anywhere – 85 per
cent in under five minutes. This comes
down to the type of inbounds we get.
Of course, you occasionally receive
complaints from disgruntled customers,
but it’s all about turning the negatives
into positives, which we do really well.
“You also get 11-to-15 per cent of
36 | Tees Business
GLOBAL
DIG I TA L
Breaking new ground - Viral Effect’s
James Pennington and Aimee Franks.
people who just want to have light-
hearted interaction with the brand and
we encourage that because we work
for iconic brands who should have a
better presence on social.”
To capitalise on their current success,
the Viral Effect team was confident
of pulling in a handful of major
international clients at a conference in
Las Vegas before the event fell victim
to the current world health situation.
But that doesn’t mean James has
rested on his laurels. Instead, he has
taken the unique step of employing
a full-time dedicated meme and GIF
manager, Aimee Franks.
“I’m confident in saying that Aimee’s
position is the first of its kind here on
Teesside,” says James. “Her role is to
help us diversify the content we put
out for our clients. She will find out
which memes and GIFs are trending
and which categories are trending in
terms of what movies are coming out
or what’s coming out on Netflix, for
example.
“That is going to drive conversation
on our pages. People may be
discussing the latest episode of
Stranger Things and Aimee and our
copy team will already be lining up the
content – the answers and comments
to go back with about the show.
“Or it could be a conversation about
the next Love Island or Katy Perry’s
pregnancy. Aimee jumps on things like
that to help us create content and keep
it current.”
Having the facility to keep on top
of current trends means Viral is one
step ahead with engaging social media
content that clients’ consumers are
interested in talking about.
Keeping content current is vital to
make them stand out from competitors
and deliver an exceptional service in
the ever-changing and ever-growing
world of social media and digital
marketing.
Aimee is also on hand to help
respond to celebrities and influencers
who interact with Viral Effect’s main
client.
“It’s a vitally important role because
when you’re engaging with VIPs on
Instagram – guys with more than a
quarter of a million followers – you need
to have something witty to go back
with, so it goes into the copy team and
they will construct something epic.”
As well as Aimee and an increase in
the number of Viral Effect weekend
warriors – the social team who work
out of hours responding to people on
various platforms – the firm has a new
head of business development in the
shape of well-known Middlesbrough
long distance runner Matty Hynes, who
has competed with Mo Farah at the
highest level.
With such a young and dynamic
team around him, James can only see
more success.
“As long as we continue to create
more wow opportunities, there’s no
stopping us,” he smiles.