With weeks to opening day Play Avenue was keen to create a buzz. Social media was key in attracting customers to North Lincolnshire’s first children’s role-play centre. To achieve this the business needed to grow its social media audience. With the help of Evolve Business Developments, Play Avenue has developed a strong social media presence, with thousands of followers and likes. And its opening day post went viral. Families now travel from miles around to visit.
Initial meeting
Karen loves helping start-up businesses succeed. And her digital marketing strategy also impressed Play Avenue. Amanda Carpenter, owner of Play Avenue, said: “Karen very quickly understood our needs and goals. As a new attraction we knew the value of an expert who understood marketing and digital strategy.”
Activity
Play Avenue decided to use Facebook to reach its target market. One of the main goals was to create interest in Play Avenue in the run up to opening day. A challenge to achieve this was what to show people when the centre wasn’t yet ready. Karen encouraged Play Avenue to use photographs and video to create anticipation and emotional buy in. Play Avenue’s number of Facebook likes grew from 1,400 to 4,300 within weeks.
On opening day Karen created a Facebook post simply headlined ‘Today’s the Day 🥳 🎉 🎈😆.’ The post went viral. It had reached over 51,000 by the end of the day, appearing on thousands of people’s timelines. This was only possible because of the work that had taken place on the run up to opening day!
Results
The first day of opening was a success for Play Avenue which was packed with visitors. And it has become a popular attraction for young families from across Lincolnshire and East Yorkshire.
Play Avenue’s Social Media marketing strategy has grown from strength-to-strength. With Karen’s help Play Avenue’s Facebook page grew to 8,100 likes in its first two months. It now has an Instagram page with 2,000 followers and is also receiving great reviews on Trip Advisor. Play Avenue has now employed someone to run its Social Media on a daily basis. And Karen is supporting this new staff member and the team with their strategic Social Media and Marketing moving forwards.
Amanda said: “Karen was confident she could deliver and has exceeded our expectations. Our page likes have gained pace after only weeks of her input. We’ve been very busy with visitors and this is down to awareness among our target market. And Karen has been a key contributor in this.
“Every step of the way Karen has helped us understand the mechanics of Social Media.
“Karen joining our team ahead of the launch was one of the best decisions we made. Over the following months the relationship we have has developed amongst the team and we now consider Karen part of the Play Avenue family.”
