CityVoter Blog

This month we are taking a step back from profiling how a winning business promoted their nomination during our contest, and instead we’re profiling a few winning businesses that also have a winning presence on Facebook.

The award for BEST Jazz Club on the Detroit A-List this year went to Cliff Bells. Not only was this jazz club voted #1 on the A-List, but it also has a large Facebook following with over 7,700 fans.  What makes Cliff Bells’ Facebook page so great is that they create diverse and interesting posts that are usually image based. They recently conducted a countdown on Facebook for the unveiling of their new lunch menu, which sparked a great deal of interest among their fans. They took pictures of their new lunch menu and let customers sound off on the new items in the comments. They also run exclusive offers on Facebook such as the week of July 1^st, if a fan mentioned the phrase “Got That Swing”, they would receive 25% off of lunch any day that week. They are clearly engaging their fans and encouraging them to come in during weekday lunch, which is usually a slower time for most restaurants. Posting promotions and specials on Facebook also increases the likelihood that a fan will come back to see what is new.

The winning business in the Women’s Boutique category in Detroit, Flirty Fashions, also does a good job with their social media efforts. They use their Facebook page as a medium to display new merchandise that will arrive soon or just came into the store. By posting pictures of items that are coming soon, they create anticipation and keep their store at the top of mind. Flirty Fashions also has an Instagram account and has a tab for their Instagram feed directly on Facebook. An additional way that they get fans to come revisit their page is by posting pictures from fashion magazines with their opinions on the fashion trends. It is a great way for customers to stay up-to-date on the new trends that are arriving in store.

Just Baked, which was awarded BEST Bakery on the 2012 Detroit A-List also has a large following on Facebook with over 10,300 fans. Their posts are primarily image based and they posts pictures of decorative special order cakes, cookies and cupcakes, which shows off the skill and creativity that this bakery has. They also use Facebook as a platform to promote new products in their bakery like their recently added BIG cookies. They run exclusive promotions on Facebook to garner additional likes and even incorporated a contest on YouTube to increase engagement and offer a free dozen cupcakes. The contest is fun as the video submissions are for the best way to eat a Just Baked cupcake, and gives customers another reason to stop by one of their stores and pick one (or a dozen) up.

What are your best practices on Facebook? Let us know in the comments!

Facebook has become such a prominent marketing and promotional tool for local businesses. Some even use their business’ Facebook page in place of a website. By now, we have all become adjusted to Timeline and it’s time to take advantage of posts that boost likes and comments.

Like if. This kind of post works best if your main goal is to acquire as many likes as you can on a single post. We use it to announce the beginning of a contest or to increase excitement for winner’s announcements. It is a great way to get a quick response from your fans.

Questions. Instead of just posting a general status update, ask a question. This encourages fans to respond instead of just reading the status and moving on. It is also a good tool when posting an article or a photo as a fan is more likely to share their opinion.

Fill in the Blank. We typically ask questions on our Facebook pages to try and get engagement, but recently we created several fill in the blank posts and had a great response. Instead of asking, “Which category is your favorite to vote in?”, we created the post below. They essentially say the same thing, but the fill in the blank style is more eye catching and isn’t something that shows up on a fan’s news feed often. It is also a great way to get users engaged by giving them a chance to express their opinion in a quick response format, and it certainly does encourage more comments than likes.

Images. Calling all restaurants and stores! Nothing works better than posting a photo with a status update for businesses with visually appealing products. Instead of just posting about today’s special at the restaurant, take a picture of it. New merchandise came in that you are excited about? Get your customers to become equally as excited by sharing pictures of the merchandise with them. If you want to switch up the images you are sharing and help forge a deeper connection with your customers, take a behind the scenes picture to give an inside look at your business. Even though Pinterest and Instagram are known as image-centric marketing tools, Facebook can be a great resource as well. Check out this image post from WGBH about the Boston A-List.

Different types of posts work for some businesses while others don’t. Even across our Facebook pages, each city is different in regards to what type of posts elicit more of a response. In order to know posts work best for your business, you will need to do some trial and error to get a feel for your fans and what types of Facebook promotion they respond best to.

What type of posts work best for your business’ Facebook page? Let us know in the comments!

The Cape Cod A-List saw great success this year with over 10,000 votes, which makes it our most successful Cape contest to date. One business that also saw great success during this year’s contest is Uptown Dog Cape Cod. They previously won in the 2009 contest, but this year they blew the competition away in the Pet Store category by garnering almost 50% of the votes.

Uptown Dog Cape Cod was very engaged throughout the whole contest, and was active about their nomination on Facebook. They created a Voter Deal in contest and promoted it on their social networks. While Voter Deals are a great incentive to get your customers to vote, it’s also great to see a business reward their customers after they have already won. They created a post that displayed their winner’s certificate and thanked everyone for voting for them with a special “Celebratory Sale”. The limited time sale was a great way to get their customers reengaged after the contest was over and to show appreciation of their support.

On a side note, we couldn’t help but notice that Uptown Dog Cape Cod has a Doggie Birthday Club. If you/your pet becomes a member of this club, your furry friend will receive a special birthday treat during their birthday month! CityVoter is a pet friendly office and we love dogs, so it is always great to see businesses that celebrate dogs as well.

How do you celebrate your success after the contests? Let us know in the comments!