Case Study

Getting thousands to like you

Objective:

Silver Beach Carousel needed a cost-saving way to broadcast its upcoming events and fundraisers quickly and easily to its primary target audience of 20-mid-40 year-old parents in Michigan, Indiana and metro-Chicago.

Insight:

Since more than 60 percent of Facebook's users fall in that age range, we knew parents would use this social media to look for upcoming events, exchange invitations to Carousel happenings with their friends and families and post comments and photos about their Silver Beach experiences. Soon after the Carousel opened in 2010, we helped it create and manage a Facebook® page.

Results:

To generate Facebook fans, we introduced the new page during a fundraising contest in February. Using a press release and the Carousel's website, we directed people to the Facebook page to track bids to be the first rider on the "guest" Ohio State University (OSU) horse. Since this region has very few OSU fans, the Facebook page spurred many good-humored jabs from Michigan, Michigan State and Notre Dame sports fans. We also added a "Facebook" button to the website and included the Facebook url in ads, press releases and promotional materials. Since its launch, nearly 3,000 fans have "liked" the page and more than 100 use the check-in app, making this one of the best communication values for the Carousel.