American Express knows that small business is the lifeblood of the US economy, and small business health is critical to any economic recovery. With that in mind, American Express has spent the past two holiday seasons promoting Small Business Saturday, possibly the most focused, results-oriented national effort ever to aid Main Street. Their long-term goal: keep the cash registers in towns across america ringing year-round.
Says American Express OPEN President Susan Sobbott, “Two-thirds of every dollar spent at a local business goes back to the community.”
American Express and Facebook: A Partnership to Take to the Bank
When American Express paired up with Facebook for Small Business Saturday, it became a remarkable business partnership – both for its reach and its impact. And impact was clear: local sales proved about 28 percent higher in 2011 compared to the same day of the 2010 shopping season, says Amex Chief Marketing Officer, John Hayes.
According to the Business Insider, for the 2011 holiday shopping season, consumer awareness of the program rose to 65 percent of shoppers, higher than AMEX’s own estimate of 40 percent of the U.S. population. Even President Barack Obama chimed in to support the campaign on the White House blog. That’s a pretty effective and authoritative way to grab attention!
Facebook Provides Engagement for Small Businesses and Consumers
Climbing toward the 3 million fans mark with its message of “Let’s Shop Small All Year Long,” the Small Business Saturday Facebook Page offers engagement options for both consumers and small business owners. That’s one way to get your third dragonfly wing humming.
AMEX invites shoppers to Get Involved by Liking their favorite hometown businesses. Small businesses with the most likes are then featured on the Small Business Saturday Facebook page.
Small business owners get even more perks. American Express provides a bevy of free business tools, including free signage, Twitter adverts (for the first 10,000) and tips on how to promote your business online.
Think Near for the “Hyper Local” Customer
At the American Express Open Forum, a community dedicated exclusively to helping small businesses grow, small businesses can learn how to use Think Near to increase their sales. According to AMEX, the algorithm for this mobile platform takes into account weather, foot traffic, current inventory and allows small businesses to drive traffic during off-peak times.
From POTUS to the hottest new hyperlocal mobile advertising service, there’s good reason that Forbes.com dubs Small Business Saturday “One of Four Holidays that Out-Glitter Christmas.”
Our mission with Small Business Saturday was very simple, Sobbott told Facebook, “It was to get people to shop at a small business.”
Can you distill your next social marketing campaign’s mission into a single succinct sentence? If so, tweet it to us (@DflyEffect) and we’ll retweet your campaign message to our community.
Like the folks at American Express OPEN, we at The Dragonfly Effect want to help keep Main Street USA a diverse, locally-powered bustling place.