Most folks work for the weekend. We work through the weekend. My senior copywriter and social media manager, Nicholas Fonteix, and I spent the weekend of Oct 4th and 5th at the 26th Annual Chowderfest on Long Beach Island, New Jersey, managing and updating multiple social media accounts throughout the event for the Southern Ocean County Chamber of Commerce, who sponsored and organized the event.
Long Beach Island is a hugely popular vacation destination on the New Jersey Shore and Chowderfest is the biggest event of the year for the island, drawing tens of thousands of visitors from across New Jersey and the nation. The main draw of the event is a Chowder Cook-off in which area restaurants compete for the titles of “Best Red” and “Best White” for Manhattan and New England style clam chowder, respectively.
While this was Creative Click Media’s first time managing social media promotions for a live event of this size, we maintained impressive engagement numbers throughout the event while still having an absolute blast.
How?
By working as hard as we play!
Ready, set…
In the lead-up to the event, Creative Click Media ran a Facebook page, “LBI Featured Events”, for the Southern Ocean County Chamber of Commerce, in which we posted custom images, event information, and curated content to promote the event and highlight this year’s comic-theme. In only 90 days we were able to grow a fan base from nothing to over 400 people. We also created two custom videos to promote the event which we published on YouTube and shared through social channels.
[svpGlobalVideo v=7]…Go!
On both days of the event, Nicholas and I posted content across multiple social media channels, including the Southern Ocean County Chamber’s official “Chowdefest” Facebook and Twitter pages. By running these varied but associated social media channels, we were able to incorporate tons of cross-promotions into our efforts to bolster their impact. We posted dozens of photos of guests tucking into their chowder, the many skillfully decorated vendor booths, entrants into the event’s costume contest, and posted names and photos of the cook-off winners in real-time.
The Power of Live Promotions
While managing social media for such a large event presented its fair share of challenges, we took the whole experience as a fantastic opportunity to flex our social media promotional skills. Working with community and government organizations, like the Southern Ocean County Chamber of Commerce, is a fantastic way to build a positive reputation with the local community and business leaders while helping to support meaningful outreach efforts. In the case of Chowderfest, proceeds are used to support the area businesses, community events, and advertising and tourism efforts.
“Being a part of such an important and community-focused event is incredibly rewarding,” says Fonteix, “Both on a professional and personal level.”
Now that the event is behind us, we here at Creative Click Media are looking to the future and seeking further opportunities to manage live-event social media promotions. Whether your event is publicly or privately funded, regionally or globally focused, we have the experience and proven track record to help support your social media outreach efforts. Get in touch and see what our team of social media specialists can do to promote your upcoming event.
Hey Adam,
I can imagine that being a LOT of work but if you’re hanging around an environment like that then it’s also just crazy fun too. I’m sure that the Chamber of Commerce was very pleased with what you were able to do through social media and encouraging more people to attend and share about the event.
That’s very impressive and I love the pictures. Growing the fan base that quickly is awesome. It can only go up from there.
You’re on a roll my friend, great job. Now on to the next big job right!
~Adrienne
Hi Adrienne,
The event was a blast. What made it even better is that my dad was able to bring Miles to the event which allowed me to enjoy some family time as well. It was also great to get out from behind my desk and into some photo journalism.
I don’t know if you are into clam chowder, but it is as popular at the Jersey Shore as BBQ Smokers are in Texas. The food was amazing and the sense of community was also very powerful.
Thanks for stopping by with some positive vibes 🙂
Adam