I’m sure you’ve seen examples of larger companies putting social media to good use, but examples of smaller local businesses aren’t exactly busting at the seems. This post highlights how a local business could be using social media to increase their customer base.
As you may have learned through my “Get Fit” series, I’m an inline speed skater – or at least one making a comeback. Skating is something I’ve done since I was very young; it’s not only fun, but also a great form of exercise. Roller derby, another type of competitive skating, seems to be gaining steam as of late, especially in my hometown of Greensboro, NC.
My interest recently peaked in the derby form of skating after finding out one of my female friends was interested in doing it, but even more so when I learned that there was a Greensboro Roller Derby Facebook page that has more than 1,000 fans.
After checking out the page on various occasions I’ve learned a few things:
- Some of the people interested need to freshen up their skating skills and are actively going to skating sessions
- Those involved are really excited
- The local skating rinks (both owned by the same family) don’t seem to be overly helpful in catering to the group or providing a place for them to practice
Roller skating isn’t exactly a booming sport/recreational activity and increasing a skating session by 50 or so people is likely thought of as a big deal. That could easily be done with active involvement by the local skating establishment on the Derby page (one of the rink owners is on FB so it could be done). They might even go as far as sponsoring the page (the rink could be allotted one of the page tabs), and the team.
The local skating world is mostly made up of session skaters, inline speed skaters and art skaters. By getting involved with this group via Facebook the skating rinks would add another group of skaters to the mix and grow the potential customer base.
There’s lots of other opportunity, but this is simply a starting point.
