SEPT. 13 I SOCIAL MEDIA I PROMOTIONS
Harnessing Facebook

The June issue of Music Inc. looked at how piano and keyboard retailers were taking advantage of Facebook. Since then, several full-line dealers and specialty shops shared their uses for the social networking Web site. Highlights:

Facebook Friday
Cris Behrens, Summerhays Music (Murray, Utah)
Every week, we post a new Facebook Friday video showcasing a different product. One of the first ones we did was for ukuleles, and our uke sales have doubled since then.

Celebrate Ringo
Donna Fischer, Percussion Center (Houston)
We had a Ringo Starr birthday celebration sale and posted it on Facebook. We also sent an e-mail out to our regular mailing list.

Targeted Ads
Leslie Faltin, Instrumental Music (Tucson, Ariz.)
Our guitar restring event in May was almost exclusively driven by Facebook. D’Addario came out and offered free strings to people if they paid us $5 for the work. As we restrung, they walked about the store, and we visited with them. We had about 30 people come out. I did a Facebook ad, targeting Tucson, Ariz., and surrounding areas. We did sell a few guitars that night and had some people say they would be back.

Last-Minute Traffic
Ted Eschliman, Dietze Music (Lincoln, Neb.)
We had a last-minute guitar clinic scheduled. We were able to get 50 people show up for a relatively unknown clinician with only four days’ notice. We made some phone calls and [used our] e-mail list, but I credit Facebook for bringing it home.

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