Ecofinder for iPhone Launch: Social Media Case Study

Sunday, 06. 28. 2009  –  Category: Featured

Two weeks ago, Haku Wale launched the EcoFinder for iPhone application in partnership with the City of San Francisco. We’ve been pleased with the positive response from the San Francisco community, and thought we might share some information from the last two weeks.

EcoFinder for iPhone Stats:

Although the numbers below are small relative to some of the hit iPhone apps out there, the EcoFinder app is highly local, so smaller numbers were expected. We’re excited that our app is helping over 2,000 3,000 people to recycle and dispose of their waste properly.

• App Downloads: 2,182 3,351 [updated 7/21/09]
• Views of EcoFinder Video: 440
• Tweets about EcoFinder: 100+

The Launch Strategy

To support the launch of the app, we worked with SF Environment to organize a PR effort that included a blog post from San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom, coverage on major sustainability and green tech blogs, as well as local San Francisco media outlets. In addition to a traditional press release, we used Facebook and Twitter to help get the word out. The Haku Wale team also created a video about the EcoFinder app, which was included in many of the articles.

Media Coverage:

• Recycling In San Francisco Made Easy With The iPhone (CleanTechnica)
• Eco-Finder app lets you dump responsible (San Francisco Chronicle)
• Who Can Possibly Govern California? (New York Times – EcoFinder mentioned on page 5)
• Government 2.0: San Francisco Releases EcoFinder iPhone App (FastCompany)
• San Francisco Launches iPhone Recycling App to Help Citizens Avoid Fines (TreeHugger)
• iPhone Green App – EcoFinder and Haku Wale Help You Recycle (EcoTechDaily)
• Waste disposal for the cool kids (SF Gate: The Thin Green Line)
• Hmm, how do I recycle? (SF Examiner: Under the Dome Blog)
• Gavin Rolls Out iPhone Recycling App (CBS News Local Blogs)
• San Francisco Rolls Out EcoFinder iPhone App to Help Residents Recycle (GreenBiz.com)
• San Francisco Promotes Recycling With Green iPhone Application (GovernmentTechnology)
• San Fran Tightens Up on Recycling, Composting (Earth911.com)
• San Francisco Creates iPhone App for Recycling (PublicCEO.com)
• EcoFinder iPhone App Helps You Recycle! (TakePart.com Blog)

Traffic Sources for Ecofinderapp.com:

A look at the referring traffic sources for www.ecofinderapp.com gives some insight into the power of the media channels used for this launch. Facebook was the dominant traffic source, followed closely by CleanTechnica (where Mayor Newsom’s post made its debut). The traffic data helps to explain why the Haku Wale team believes in the importance of social media – even though the EcoFinder app was covered in some fairly high profile publications (FastCompany, SF Gate, TreeHugger) – the most dominant traffic sources were from the social platforms. Facebook, Twitter, and Vimeo (the host for the EcoFinder video) combined to generate about one third of all traffic to ecofinderapp.com.

The traffic data also validates another phenomenon commonly mentioned in online media – the Long Tail. The other two thirds of traffic to ecofinderapp.com came from over 60 different sources. Except for Facebook and CleanTechnica, no one source contributed more than 7% of traffic, with most sources contributing 1-2% of traffic.

Lessons Learned:

• Traffic generated by social media tools can dwarf traffic from websites of traditional media outlets.
• Broad distribution is good – make your story easy for others to talk about with easy access to media
• Video can get you more eyeballs – the text of your press release may not make it onto other sites, but a video often will.

Interested in a social media campaign for your project? Contact the Haku Wale team.