Twinkle Tea

✦ Social Media Design, Brand Identity

Client
Twinkle Tea

Role
Head Social Media Designer

Social Media Manager

Duration
October 2021 - Present

Background
Twinkle Tea is a small boba chain located in Alhambra and Pasadena, California. In the highly competitive boba industry, Twinkle Tea faced the challenge of establishing a distinctive online presence. Despite its existing platform, Twinkle Tea struggled to increase visibility, engage with its target audience, and maintain a cohesive brand image.

Objective

To increase online visibility on Instagram through strategic management tailored to audiences aged 13 to 30 years old. Design visually compelling content to promote beverages and food. By consistently advertising post 4 times weekly, the account following tripled, and the monthly engagement rate averaged at 32%.

✦ Process

01 | Research

Research Goal

Stepping into the dual role of Social Media Manager and Designer at Twinkle Tea, the primary objective is to sustain a robust online presence for the brand. It's not just about throwing content out there; it first requires a comprehensive understanding of the boba market landscape, knowledge of the target audience, and an assessment of the impact of the content strategy to ensure our social media is running smoothly.

Research Objective

1. Identify competitors to understand what they are up to and their social media presence.

2. Analyze the social insights of the demographics and behavior of the target audience. Who are these people? What do they like? What makes them double-tap?

3. It's not just about posting, but also evaluating how these posts perform by measuring engagement metrics, such as likes, shares, comments.

Understanding
Target Audience

So who are Twinkle Tea's crowd? They are both men and women aged 15-30, who are boba-tea lovers. Predominantly Asian-Americans, following Hispanic/Latinx representation, they frequent the shop strategically located in bustling shopping centers and schools, turning our shop into a hotspot to grab a quick drink, hang out with friends, and have study sessions.

SWOT Analysis

I conducted an internal SWOT analysis to evaluate the internal strengths and weaknesses and identify external opportunities and threats within Twinkle Tea's social media. By putting these factors into perspective, I can later make informed decisions and incorporate my findings into my plan to enhance Twinkle Tea's social media presence.

Comparative
Analysis

To reflect on the broader market dynamics, I made a comparative analysis between Twinkle Tea's four key competitors, each playing a unique role in the landscape. We have XingFuTang representing the larger boba chains, Tpumps for local boba shops, Starbucks in the coffeehouse scene, and Jamba Juice for juice bars. This diverse set of competitors isn't just a random selection, but a deliberate choice to gain fresh insight to figure out how Twinkle Tea can twinkle even brighter!

02 | Strategize & Creative Direction

Marketing Moves

Drawing from the insights I uncovered in my research, I incorporated key findings to tailor marketing and design strategies for Twinkle Tea. It aims to create a more immersive and delightful journey for Twinkle Tea's audience, build stronger connections, elevate brand experience, and enhance overall social media presence.

Design Assets

In crafting the design assets for Twinkle Tea's brand, several key decisions were made to ensure a cohesive and visually appealing identity.

Social Media
Rebrand

Before, Twinkle Tea's Instagram feed lacked a distinct visual identity. In this transformation, meticulous planning took place through the use of a grid layout to harmonize images. Through photo editing and designing graphics to amplify the visual appeal of products, it instantly enhanced the feed's appearance. Beyond the aesthetic improvement, it also serves as a compelling advertisement to entice potential customers to visit and enjoy a refreshing beverage or delectable snack at their local Twinkle Tea.

The images below display a before and after of Twinkle Tea's Instagram feed. It now projects a bright, warm, and colorful theme, creating a lively and welcoming environment for visitors to Twinkle Tea's page.

03 | Posting

Engaging Bio

To maintain a cohesive page, I revamped the bio to present a more professional introduction to Twinkle Tea. The updated bio incorporates essential details such as Twinkle Tea’s motto, locations, contact information, and website. Emojis have been integrated to not only differentiate sections but also add a playful and engaging tone.

Writing
Copy Posts

Every post requires a carefully crafted caption to go along with its content. I composed numerous innovative copies for every social post, ensuring 100% grammatical accuracy. Each caption captures the vibrant and playful personality of Twinkle Tea.

In addition, I've maintained a consistent caption template that includes a unique caption, an invitation to join the loyalty program, location details, store hours, contact information, and concluding with relevant hashtags. This approach allows easy access to Twinkle Tea’s essential information and increases visibility with hashtag usage.

Here are some examples of the captions I've created:

Scheduling Content

To ensure a timely and well-organized social media presence, I create a content calendar outlining the posting schedule. This calendar not only serves as a roadmap for my content strategy but also provides my boss with visibility into ongoing work and upcoming ideas. This collaborative approach allows for valuable feedback and approval, ensuring both our goals are aligned. I also use the scheduling feature on Instagram to set a specific date and time for each post to go live.

Maintaining a balanced posting frequency, I aim to post 2-4 times a week, averaging about 8-16 posts monthly. This focus on the quality of content over sheer quantity provides followers with valuable and engaging posts rather than spamming.

Additionally, I schedule posts between 12 PM-2 PM, a timeframe when our followers are typically most active—during lunchtime. This maximizes visibility and engagement, as followers tend to browse their phones during this leisure period, optimizing our reach and impact.

✦ Outcome

Performance

During my time at Twinkle Tea, I successfully tripled the Instagram following by strategically creating visually compelling graphics, capturing captivating photographs, and fostering personalized interactions with followers.

Additionally, I enhanced the overall engagement rate and expanded the accounts reached, ultimately improving Twinkle Tea's exposure and strengthening customer loyalty.

Content
Produced

These are some visual graphics I created leveraging my design skills to promote a variety of boba drinks, food items, announcements, and events hosted by Twinkle Tea. This series also includes a commissioned work I undertook to design Twinkle Tea's temporary food menu.