The Pull of GRVTY.us

We were just trying to do something cool. Something that hasn't been done before. And of course, something that works for the client.

Each year, we are faced with a sizable creative challenge we look forward to - designing and creating the inside-cover two-page spread advertisement for BC Clark in Brides of Oklahoma Magazine. Two years ago we set out to mimic the interactivity of Facebook as a love story, but in print. There was plenty of talk about it throughout the year, awards were won, and fun was had. Fast forward one year and we weren't quite sure how to trump the Facebook ad, so we decided to not just mimic something interactive in print, but to actually make print interactive.

Thus the idea for the Gravity web app fell into place. Sure it was meant to work hand-in-hand (no pun intended) with the hand in the print ad, but it was executed well enough to stand alone as an innovative mobile web app. It was approved by the client and won a few awards. We were happy to watch it garner its own daily traffic along with measurable spikes when we would promote it via social media, outdoor boards, or print ads.

Then something happened. September 24, its traffic changed. And it didn't just jump. It skyrocketed. The force of gravity no longer seems to be at play, as the daily visits haven't fallen now for over a month, and consistently reach 3,000% higher daily visits than our previous average.

Needless to say, we wanted to know why. Something had to have happened - something beyond our efforts - to push the app into the sweaty, clammy hands of now over 22,000 future bride & grooms to be.

This is the story of how we started to dissect our Google Analytics to determine why and how our little app became so successful all of the sudden.

Here's a quick look at what traffic looked like before, and then after it went crazy.

As you can see by the line graph, if you're monitoring your analytics on an ongoing basis, you're not going to miss this.

Next we narrowed our focus to just the period of time where traffic was hoppin', and it looks like this.

Over 23,000 visits in just over a month. Not too shabby.

To begin figuring out why this is happening, our first metric is to look at how people are reaching the app, which is the Traffic Sources.

It was clear to us that referral traffic is much higher than usual, which we assumed would be the case. This means another website is sending us a ton of visitors. Is it Facebook? Twitter? Some popular blog?

We dive into the Referral Traffic to find out.

Surprise, surprise! Our referral traffic is almost completely bcclark.com. Not what we expected.

We need to look at BCClark.com's analytics to figure out why, starting with its Traffic Sources.

Its referral traffic is up from average, but not enough to be the cause of the Gravity app's huge traffic bump. Then we noticed those search keywords - gravity by bc clark, gravity ring app, gravity rings, gravity bc clark, bc clark ring app, and on and on. This is definitely it. People are Googling those terms in droves... but why?

A quick look at BCClark.com's Referral Traffic should tell us even more.

This is looking promising! Pinterest.com has sent a ton of people to BCClark.com. So we switch gears - let's search those terms people were Googling on Pinterest and see what turns up.

The only thing that turns up - a lonely pin from Kelley B. taken from a blog post on BridesOfOklahoma.com. A quick look at her profile shows she's an Oklahoma gal with 103 followers, and has provided this graphic of our app 17 likes and 34 repins, which we believe then went viral. Most interesting is the fact that she pinned it to her Tech board where she collects tech-related content, not a wedding-related board.

So the big question: why are people Googling the app, hitting BCClark's website, and then finding the app? Simple. The graphic going viral on Pinterest does not include the URL www.grvty.us.

We won't bore you with screenshots of our next 30 minutes of diving through hundres of pins, repins, profiles, etc. on Pinterest. But in going back through Pinterest, which is not the easiest of tasks, it appeared to us that Kelley B.'s pin might be the one that transitioned this from wedding-related boards here in Oklahoma, to way more than we would have ever expected within the tech community on Pinterest.

A quick look at BCClark.com's Location analytics shows numerous other states are very aware of the Gravity app and are sharing it around.

This just goes to show the power of social networks and bookmarking sites, such as Pinterest, within niche interests, and how your efforts just might pay off. That is, if and only if the content you're sharing is engaging, interesting, and unique - all qualities we're proud to say we feel are exemplified by the BC Clark Gravity mobile app and its companion print ad campaign that playfully encourages interactive behavior.