In a fast-paced metropolis like New York City, people change residences almost as often as they change their seasonal wardrobe. Chasing Paper founder Elizabeth Rees is no exception, having lived in plenty of apartments since moving from her hometown of Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
“With each apartment I moved into during my 20s, I wanted to customize and really make it my own. But there are definitely some difficulties with that if you don’t have the time or the money to hire an interior designer, or if you happen to live in a building where there are strict rules when it comes to painting and sticking things on the wall.”
From studying in Paris, to working in London, to finally landing in Manhattan’s West Village, Elizabeth’s love of print and color eventually inspired her to launch Chasing Paper, an interior-design company featuring stylish and practical wallpaper. Born out of the belief that “design should be for everyone,” the removable-wallpaper company also draws from Elizabeth’s sense of aesthetics and personal style, as well as her Midwestern roots.
With her emphasis on design, it’s no surprise that social media and content marketing have played a crucial role in communicating her company’s unique story to customers and connecting consumers with Chasing Paper’s products and aesthetics. Let’s see if we can learn a few pointers from Elizabeth’s marketing success.
Building an Online Community With Visual Storytelling
For a small company like Chasing Paper, social-media platforms such as Instagram and Pinterest have become indispensable tools for raising the visibility of its online brand. The increasing influence of social sharing and social reputation in search engine rankings, as well as the growing importance of forming strong relationships with customers and industry collaborators, have spurred businesses like Chasing Paper to use blogs and social networks to nurture active online communities.
Creating valuable and carefully curated content that appeals to its followers is central to Chasing Paper’s social-media marketing strategy. Elizabeth points out, however, that depending on your business and marketing goals, not all social platforms are created equal or generate the same results.
“There are certain social outlets where it makes total sense to have a presence due to your industry or product,” says Elizabeth. “In regards to other social media, you may need to be on those sites due to the sheer number of users and popularity of the platform.”
Chasing Paper currently manages social channels on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Pinterest. However, it’s Instagram and Pinterest that really “move the needle” for the company in terms of converting leads and attracting new customers.
“Instagram and Pinterest are where we spend most of our time managing Chasing Paper’s social-media presence. For instance, Pinterest is where we get lots of ideas, especially in the DIY category. The platform is also great for browsing and posting editorial images.” Elizabeth continues, “Although we don’t have tons of followers on Pinterest, by far, the people who find our products on the site turn out to be the ones most likely to convert from fans to actual customers.”
Scrolling through Chasing Paper’s Instagram and Pinterest profiles, followers can browse through a colorful collage of Chasing Paper collections and inspirational designs. Additionally, Pinterest boards such as “Simple Stripe” and “Circle and Pop” reflect popular prints from the Chasing Paper website, as well as the eclectic tastes of its diverse audience.
Instagram has proven to be particularly powerful for promoting Chasing Paper products due to the platform’s unique presentation of artwork, photos and videos. On building a strong following and capitalizing on the diverse capabilities of social media, Elizabeth reveals her best practices for curating social content that’s interesting and relevant to users:
Keep content fresh by posting consistently: “We post once a day on our social channels and try to be thoughtful about the type of images that appear on our profile.”
Use Facebook to catalog content, analyze trends and generate ideas for future updates: “I find that Facebook can be a good reference, particularly when reviewing our publishing history and looking at trends around user engagement.”
Present your content so that it echoes the vision and tone of your brand, and sends a consistent message to your audience: “We spend significant time thinking about how to best place and position imagery on our Instagram page. When our followers scroll through our photos, we want to make sure those images are coordinated and work well together.”
Maintain a corporate blog to showcase press and customer success stories: “We use Tumblr as our blogging platform. Typically, we rely on media coverage and mentions to create the bulk of our blog content. Not only is this content easy to share, but it’s also aspirational and useful to our readers.”
When deciding where, when and how to spend time on social media, Elizabeth stresses that presenting your social content in a manner that’s both highly visual and stylistic conveys a compelling message to stakeholders about your brand and voice. “For us, Instagram has been the best way to build an online brand and community due to the visual aspect of the platform. I don’t know of any other social media that accomplishes that to the same degree.”
Removable Wallpaper That’s Accessible for Everyone
Since launching in 2013, Chasing Paper’s success has far exceeded founder Elizabeth Rees’ expectations. In addition to being named a Martha Stewart American Made 2014 Finalist, Chasing Paper currently features an exclusive collection at major furniture retailer West Elm.
When contemplating the future of Chasing Paper, Elizabeth looks forward to adding more collections, as well as partnering with additional designers and retail stores. “Collaboration is such an important part of the design landscape,” said Elizabeth. “I really see Chasing Paper doing bigger things in the industry as wallpaper becomes the focal point for innovative ideas in the decor space. We’re aiming to position ourselves as the wallpaper of choice and become the leading player for removable wallpaper that is low-barrier and appeals to different people across all walks of life.”
You can learn more about Chasing Paper at their website. If this has inspired you to beef up your business’ social presence and content marketing, see our article on tips to improve your online marketing.
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