Guest Blogger: Using Facebook to Market a Business

Recently the bizdev team met with a local group of entrepreneurs to discuss a project. Eric Curtis, Bill Nolan and Kim Nolan have developed a methodology that they call The Octopus Solution, that they use to help business owners to manage 8 key aspects of their businesses.

Eric also owns a company called MetroRock, which operates two successful indoor climbing gyms here north of Boston. During our meeting, Eric described how he successfully utilized Facebook to virally market the Newburyport location to a hard-to-reach young audience. We were so jazzed up about it that we asked him to write it up so we could post it to our own blog, which is a first.

So with no further ado, an excellent case study by Eric Curtis:

The MetroRock Indoor Rock Climbing Gym Case Study

MetroRock is an indoor rock climbing facility that originated in Everett, Massachusetts. It set a precedent for the size, scope and amenities that corresponded to the growth of indoor rock climbing. Pat and Bruce, the owners of MetroRock Boston, decided to expand to another location after two incredibly successful years in operation. In the process of looking for a second location they found another entrepreneur, Eric, who was in the process of opening his own indoor rock climbing gym in Newburyport, Massachusetts. Pat, Bruce and Eric realized they could position themselves better in the New England market if they joined forces and worked together in a partnership. The partnership immediately led to accelerated growth and in October of 2006 MetroRock opened their second location in Newburyport, MA.

MetroRock North was doing well in the first several months mainly due to birthday parties and Learn to Climb classes but after the first few months business began to slow down and membership was not growing at the planned rate. Customer’s return frequency needed to be increased, along with memberships and overall sales.

Eric knew he needed to change some of his marketing but was hesitant to spend money on conducting a Newburyport demographics analysis. When looking at the two gyms, the biggest difference was climber demographics. Everett attracted climbers from ages 25-35 while Newburyport attracted 15-25 year olds. The demographic difference was mainly attributed to the different ways the gyms executed marketing and operations.

Also during this time, Eric was in the process of implementing his co-designed consulting package called The Octopus Solution. The simple step-by-step method was created for launching, growing, structuring and controlling any small business; Eric used this new solution to implement the marketing of MetroRock North. The Octopus Solution showed Eric his real target market very quickly and put a plan into action.

Eric approached the high school employees of MetroRock. He was seeking marketing ideas geared toward students to grow that segment of the business. One of the students mentioned a new website that was becoming the primary method of communication in high schools… Facebook.

Facebook was an awaking, an epiphany, and ah-ha moment at MetroRock North. It was a tool to break through all the noise in today’s very busy and chaotic lifestyle. Facebook was originally just created for students and did not allow any other type of user. Facebook went public to allow any user to open a personal profile or create a group. Almost every high school and college student within a 40 mile radius of MetroRock North had an account.

Originally MetroRock used a MySpace account to create awareness but the interface was inferior to Facebook. Facebook allowed users to integrate email, photos, build friends, join/create groups or events, and play games. MetroRock was one of the first businesses to open a group and start to link students to business. The new B2S!

Now, a capable high school student operates the MetroRock Facebook account. Eric wanted to make the business appeal to students via Facebook. He began announcing the formation of High School Climbing Teams and promoting Friday Night Rocks as student night.

Friday Night Rocks was designed to cater to the high school/college crowd with special events and classes which got the momentum going. Facebook became the communication tool MetroRock was missing. After the implementation of Facebook the Friday Night Rocks attendance went from approximately 15 students to more than 70 and those numbers continue to grow. Friday nights became so popular MetroRock was able to promote additional events such as mini-competitions, theme nights, glow-in-the-dark climbing, and live music performances. Revenue increased across all levels of the company because the new climbers coming in for Friday Night Rocks lead to day passes, memberships, programming, and the formation of climbing teams at twelve local high schools. The Facebook group initially attracted Newburyport High School students, but now the Facebook account has grown from around 30 to over 500 in just several short months!

Facebook was and still is an amazing tool for marketing and sales. Now, more social networking websites are popping up so it is imperative for our business to stay in tune with our customers. Relating to customers includes understanding their preferred method of communication and what avenues of advertising/marketing they respond to. I am always looking for new and improved ways to reach out to new climbers as well as stay in touch with our current climbers.