Cox, Cookies and Cake: effective social media marketing

If trawling through 600 tweets, tweeted by publishers and readers, as part

of my Master’s research taught me anything – it’s that social media marketing has to be fun and interactive. The social media trend analysis I conducted for Kingston University’s publishing MA presented some convincing data to suggest achieving an ‘amplified’ online marketing message, or getting your audience to share your message with their audience, means you need to create marketing content that adds value to the online experience. Hachette’s Octopus Publishing Group is doing just that with their new Facebook game for Cox, Cookies and Cake – The Cook Book. The cookbook is the product of the renowned shoe designer and cup cake entrepreneur Patrick Cox. Cox’s popular cake shop can be found in London’s Soho, selling cakes to tickle the fancy of the uninhibited.

Wouldn't you?

The game’s challenge is to stack “complex confectionery’’ against the clock to win points before sharing your score with Facebook friends. Cox’s brand, like the game, communicates a tasty, naughty and hedonistic confectionery experience.

For the publisher the game is a clever piece of social media marketing that is fun, engaging and most crucially: shareable.

The game’s neon blue and pink ‘BUY THE BOOK’ arrow, linking to Amazon, is a nice touch too.

This is good news for those of us who hope for more sophisticated social marketing than tweets that announce the arrival of a new product. I just wish I’d discovered this particular game before my dissertation deadline.

Play the game.