SA start-up used by Gordon Ramsay sees 500% revenue spurt

Johannesburg - A South African social media start-up, which recently powered a campaign for international chef Gordon Ramsey, has seen revenue growth of 500% in the space of a year. 

Blue Robot allows brands to create and increase organic engagement on Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest and Instagram using an innovative app. The app is the brainchild of entrepreneur and founder of Ad Dynamo, Sean Riley.

The genius of Blue Robot was to develop a technology that allows brands to interact automatically with audiences across social platforms, offering social experiences such as a ‘Retweet to Redeem’ feature that delivers an instant coupon to the customer. This is done using Artificial Intelligence, or powered chat bots.

Riley said the platform increases engagement and delivers up to five times higher returns on investment to brands.

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He added that the platform is also a benefit to small and medium enterprises. 

“The experience most relevant to SMMEs is our Tweet to Redeem experience that allows businesses to reward vocal customers on Twitter with coupons. Our app, Redeemable, means that any business can activate their own campaign immediately,” Riley told Fin24. 

“We have serviced over 200 businesses around the globe - including Vodacom, Fox, Aston Villa, Capitec, FNB, SuperSport and Coke. We've also had success with smaller businesses - particularly with restaurants and coffee shops - that make use of our Tweet to Redeem experience,” he added. 

“Our photo mosaic is a great way to celebrate customers - we capture all posts related to a #hashtag conversation on Twitter and/or Instagram and build an interactive photo mosaic experience.”  

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“There are a number of simpler experiences we offer that also increase engagement and grow followers, such as a Retweet to Subscribe mechanism. This experience subscribes a user to future posts when they retweet - the retweet is at the same time amplifying the brand message to a wider audience,” Riley told Fin24.

The service has made a big impact in a relatively short space of time and dominated the Chat, Messaging and Dark Social Category at the 2017 Bookmarks by providing the technology for all of the campaigns that were nominated in that category.  

Blue Robot also powered a campaign for Gordon Ramsay, which won the Drum Search Awards in 2017 in the UK for Best Use of Social Media.