Using Facebook at an Event: A Case Study
Need more sign-ups on your Facebook page? Take a tip from this case study of Cramster.com, an online study community aimed at high school and college students. Marketing Associate and blogger Carleigh McKenna contacted us after a HARO request for stories on how companies are using social media in conjunction with events.
Here’s how Cramster.com kick-started their Facebook page:
At a “Boston Back to School Party” last year, Cramster.com hosted a booth at CollegeFest crammed with several computer stations. They encouraged students to log in to their Facebook pages to check updates. While logged in, they asked the students to join their Cramster.com Facebook page.
To entice as many students as possible to sign up, they dangled a $1500 prize to be given to a member of the new Facebook page at random after the CollegeFest was complete. Since they had just created the page and went into the event with zero members, they explained the odds were pretty good.
As Carleigh put it: “Not only did we take a Fan Page from 0 members (it launched the day before CollegeFest) to almost 1,000—which has allowed us the credibility of an established page as we attract more members– we also got more information than a simple e-mail address alone will ever provide.”
Since CollegeFest, the Facebook Fan Page has continued to grow. As of last check they were at over 2000 fans.
Carleigh adds that students (and perhaps some parents) are active on the Facebook page; joining in a weekly brainteaser, checking out photos and posting status updates or questions.
Check out Cramster.com:
Hi Tim,
Thanks for sharing our tradeshow success story!
One thing I’d like to note: this promotion can definitely work with a smaller prize. Our $1500 reward was probably double the amount of any other rewards or incentives that were being offered at CollegeFest. We feel the promotion could have been just as successful with a prize of $700 or even $500.
Still, considering current college tuition rates, we were happy to award a student with $1500– a small price to pay for loyal, enthusiastic and active facebook fans.
Agreed – offering an incentive is sure to move most of those ‘undecideds’ into your arena. The size of the prize or incentive may not have to be that much, but to my mind it’s got to be significant enough to move them into action.