Social Media for Business. Yes it really can turn the online community into dollars!

Case study: Manly Surf School

In this case study we will go through how we manage the social media for Manly Surf School as a case study for how to convert a social media campaign in an online community into real live money.

After taking over the brand management for Manly Surf School, we convinced the owner (who wasn’t even on facebook himself) to let us create profile pages for MSS on twitter, facebook, vimeo, and YouTube.  After assessing the business goals we decided to spend 3 hours per week building the online presence – half an hour Monday–Thursday and an hour on Friday. Each day we added friends, followers and content.

Key aspects of content building for social media are:

 

  • value – you won’t gain followers with details about how delicious your breakfast was – no on cares! Except your mum.

 

 

 

  • variation – a variety of content is necessary to balance out the times when you so want to sell. Interesting relevant information pertaining to the industry is key. And if you are always providing interesting, valuable, relevant information, when it comes to sell a product or service it will be seen as valuable too.

 

 

 

  • don’t try too hard – That’s where the ‘social’ aspect comes in. It needs to be like a conversation. Interacting and liking relevant interesting comments are great, but just like in real life, keeno tactics can scare people away. Pace yourself.

 

 

Turning friends into dollars

What we created for Manly Surf School was what we called an “online friends reward day.” They paid $70 per person and it was bring a friend for free. This encouraged people who wouldn’t normally take a surf lesson to come and have more fun with a friend. The day included:

 

  • Two hour Surf Lesson
  • Stand Up Paddle demo
  • Surf photography lesson from 2 local professional surf photographers Murray Fraser from Sprout Daily and Ian Bird
  • BBQ to refuel the fun tank
  • Raffle from amazing sponsors Finger Grip, Aloha Surf, RipCurl, Electric, Beauty Beach
  • Showbags for everyone – everyone loves a showbag.

 

Not only did they receive value, We reminded them that it was an exclusive event for online followers and will not be advertised in any other way.

The end result was fantastic. SpicyBroccoli Media designed a social media plan that included an event to help business for Manly Surf School. It provided both a value-filled day for the attendees and reached out to an online community who may not have other wise come to the beach in the middle of winter.

Check out the photos from event on Manly Surf School’s facebook page.