BC Clark Gives It Away First Friday Facebook Style

Ever since social media emerged as a viable piece of the marketing mix a few years back, we've championed it to our clients as an important part of their repertoire. Some listen to us, some don't. Some run with it themselves, some let us take the reins.

Of all our clients, none have embraced social media (namely Facebook) more than BC Clark Jewelers. And none have seen social media pay off more. A large part of that success stems from BC Clark's huge following and loyal customer base. But having an established and growing audience to talk to just gives us the freedom to have more fun and think up more ways to leverage the power of social media. Like our efforts for Pay It Mom*ward, First Friday Facebook Giveaway, Susan G. Koman, Diamond Dash, and the Jingle page.

And that brings us to our latest effort, which we're hailing as the single biggest social media success in Oklahoma in 2011. Sure, that's a completely unsubstantiated claim, but we've got some pretty impressive numbers to back it up.

In all actuality, it's really just an evolution of the First Friday Facebook Giveaway promotion we've been running every month for the last 20 months. The premise of which is: Like BC Clark on Facebook. Fill out the FFFG entry form on BC Clark's Facebook page during the week of the first Friday of the month. Have your name randomly drawn that Friday to win that month's piece of jewelry.

For 19 of those 20 months, BC Clark's Facebook page saw a steady growth in Likes to go along with a fairly predictable 300-ish FFFG entries per giveaway. Then December 2011 happened. Instead of jewelry, BC Clark decided to throw down a $500 BC Clark gift card. And instead of pushing it out only to BC Clark's 4,500 fans, we opened it up to the Jingle's 10,000+ fans and built a full-fledged Facebook app to include mobile participation and make it easier to share. 

Now, remember that whole "single biggest social media success in Oklahoma in 2011" thing? Here are some statistics to support it:

• 4,512 - number of Likes on the BC Clark page Monday morning, November 28.
• 11,130 - number of Likes on the BC Clark page at 2pm, Friday, December 2.
• 6,618 - increase in number of Likes on the BC Clark page from Monday morning to Friday afternoon.
• 16,076 - total FFFG entries.
• 12,629 - unique FFFG entries.
• 11,720 - new addresses added to BC Clark's email list.

As impressive as that is, though, BC Clark wasn't finished. No, they had another $500 gift card up their sleeve, and they wanted to give it away the week before Christmas. Here's how the Anniversary Sale Holiday Giveaway performed:

• 11,167 - number of Likes on the BC Clark page Monday morning, December 19.
• 13,360 - number of Likes on the BC Calrk page at 2pm, Friday December 23.
• 2,193 - increase in number of Like on the BC Clark page from Monday morning to Friday afternoon.
• 8,001 - total FFFG entries.
• 7,175 - unique FFFG entries.
• 2,394 - new addresses added to BC Clark's email list.

All said and done, over the course of 10 days in December, we increased BC Clark's Likes by 8,811. Add the ones that have trickled in since, and BC Clark now has a Facebook following of more than 13,500 engaged, responsive fans. 

Of course, not everybody has the luxury of throwing out a grand in gift cards, but the principle is universal. Engage your customers, talk with them, get your name in front of them as often as possible (through traditional marketing channels), and gain their trust. Once you do that, leveraging social media is the easiest part of the mix.

So, who's up for the single biggest social media success in Oklahoma in 2012?