How Brand24 helped Ukrainian marketplace establish new collaborations in Poland
Lalafo is a showcase example of making the most of Brand24's potential. Because when you hear the term “web monitoring tool,” you don’t necessarily associate it with making new collaborations or connecting with influencers. Lalafo’s case shows that it's worth thinking about monitoring holistically and incorporating the results into strategies, as it can realistically translate into marketing and sales results.
We spoke with:
Lalafo is a Ukrainian platform for the online exchange of items, which, due to the war, had to move its operations to Poland.
The app allows refugees living in Poland to order necessities, e.g., clothes, chemicals, and supplies for children. Thanks to donors the service's activities here are charitable, so it is important for them to get as many collaborations and publications as possible. For this, they needed a tool that would streamline their work and speed up their Internet searches to connect with potential donors and partners faster. Brand24 proved to be a hit, and after a brief conversation with our sales department, lalafo was granted free access to the tool.
Jan Jankowski, marketing manager at lalafo, uses Brand24 in his work. During the interview, he talked about what the media monitoring tool has been crucial for and in what situations they used it.
Although he has been using Brand24 for a fairly short time, Jan was able to quickly recall many situations in which the tool came in handy for lalafo's marketing (and other) efforts.
Media monitoring
The main use of the tool is, of course, lalafo's mentions monitoring. For a marketer, being able to quickly see where all over the Internet the app they are supporting is being talked about is of great branding value. As an extra benefit, there are filters here to sift out the irrelevant comments and focus on those that may have marketing or sales value. The ability to respond quickly to mentions and user comments builds more trust in the brand. Over the past two months, there have been 680 mentions of lalafo in various online sources. Thanks to Brand24, it was possible to review them all and respond accordingly.
We can catch people talking about us and expand cooperation by submitting additional information and publications on similar topics.
Acquisition of marketing partners
Any person, news portal, or company that mentions lalafo independently and has the potential for expanding cooperation goes to Jan. Due to the charitable nature of the service and the small marketing budget, acquiring partners is difficult. However, if lalafo appears in an article or post without its own participation, there are much higher chances of developing a partnership.
"We can catch people talking about us and expand cooperation by submitting additional information and publications on similar topics. Ukrainianinpoland.pl wrote about us – I saw it through Brand24 and got back to them. Now we have ongoing cooperation," Jan says.
The cooperation with a Ukrainian news portal, which wrote an article about lalafo without prior notice to the service is another example. In addition – the proprietary name – lalafo was written in Cyrillic, which Brand24 (before the full set-up of the project, in which our CST team later helped) did not catch. The article was tracked from a comment under the post on Telegram.
Currently, the ongoing cooperation with the YAVP portal generates 1.5 thousand new users of the application with each new publication. This would not have been possible without Telegram monitoring offered by Brand24.
These are just a few examples of establishing cooperation using our tool. With the help of Brand24, lalafo has managed to establish permanent cooperation with 16 news portals in Poland and 26 in Ukraine.
We were able to get in touch with a tiktoker who got the facts wrong and asked her to remove the video and record a second, correct TikTok.
Preventing misinformation
If we are mentioned, there is always a danger that someone will overlook or confuse an important fact. To prevent this from happening and to prevent misinformation and understatement in the context of the nature of lalafo's operations, Jan monitors whether the mentions that Brand24 catches are correct.
"We were able to get in touch with a tiktoker who got the facts wrong and asked her to remove the video and record a second, correct TikTok. On another occasion, an article in a niche local media in Poland threw in a brief mention of us. We read it, added a few words, and sent them two more paragraphs to make the note more complete," he recounts. With these actions, lalafo is improving the brand’s image.
Thanks to Brand24, we were able to find the source of the traffic.
Analysis of traffic sources
Lalafo uses Google Analytics to analyze and monitor website traffic. Although this tool is indispensable for the work of any marketer, we do not always get a full analysis of website traffic. That's when the web monitoring tool comes to the rescue. Jan adds, "Analytics, Firebase, Google Play Console, and Clickhouse are not always enough. And monitoring certainly speeds up the investigation," and gives examples of such situations.
"Increased direct traffic to the main page in the amount of 5k entrances in two days and an additional 900 app installations? – From where? Thanks to Brand24, we were able to find the source of the traffic."
Lalafo was once mentioned in a very niche news channel on YouTube. They were talked about for 30 seconds and referenced in the description under the video (no links attached). Another Ukrainian youtuber recorded an entire episode about us, also without links. After watching those videos, viewers went directly to the site or downloaded the app on their phones. "If it wasn't for Brand24, we would never have figured out how we got sudden leaps in the app," he says.
There have been situations like this at lalafo, so when other tools fail, Brand24 always helps them.
Often, if it weren't for this information, employees wouldn't be able to make it out to send and receive orders for the day.
Anti-crisis measures
In lalafo's case, anti-crisis measures are not related to PR actions, but to warehouse management. At lalafo, sorting goods and sending out packages is a priority.
The team, however, is not always able to anticipate an increase in demand. This situation occurs when a new article about the service is published, or when those in need find out about it from other channels. If such a publication occurs without the team's knowledge, quick action must be taken to meet the need for the day. "For example, a quick response will often allow adding people to the warehouse. Using historical data, we can predict something will be happening (this will translate into traffic - an increase in DAU and/or app downloads, and in our case, more orders and packages)".
In the case of Ukrainian publications and the influx of thousands of new people in need, the team mobilizes more people to pack orders. If the publication is Polish, they track the number of app downloads in the country and send there more employees to receive packagesand take photos of products. Often, if it weren't for this information, employees wouldn't be able to make it out to send and receive orders for the day.
Acquisition of influencers (in the future)
Soon lalafo plans to launch a major promotional campaign on TikTok. However, in order for the campaign to catch on, they need to find people to help their videos become viral. That's not easy, especially if the company wants influencers to align with lalafos' values. Tracking hashtags related to circular topics and proprietary filters, such as Influencer Score, can help them do that.
In addition, the hashtag initially expected to appear on TikTok may be picked up by other social networks, and an option to monitor them in the tool will be very useful.
I always know where the peaks are coming from in-app installs or site entrances. I know this because I have Brand24.
Increasing the chances of promotion
“It doesn’t surprise my bosses anymore, when I always know where the peaks are coming from in-app installs or site entrances. I know this because I have Brand24 and I can see where they are talking about us. We didn’t have that kind of tool before,” Jan recounts. With a wink, of course, but we ask: what better way to impress your boss as a marketer than by always being up to date on where and what is being said about the brand? #foodforthoughts
Which features of the tool are most useful in Lalafo and why?
Currently, Jan is the only person at lalafo who uses Brand24. Mostly, he monitors the news that arrives in his email inbox. "So far there is not a lot of mentions, so I don't open the panel every day, only when I get an email about a new mention," he says.
In addition to email notifications and Storm Alerts, a big benefit is the ability to filter mentions. This allows Jan to plan his day accordingly and decide when he should be monitoring YouTube, blogs, or social media.
