DOWNTOWN EUGENE MERCHANTS
Downtown Eugene Merchants is a collective of over 70 businesses in Eugene, Oregon. The non-profit association was started in 1988 with the hopes of supporting community programs and building partnerships. DEM wants to engage business owners, advance policies, and create a fun and safe environment.
DIGITAL MARKETING
OBJECTIVE
Generate positive sentiment about downtown Eugene. Many college students and local families avoided downtown due to high crime rates and the homeless community. Our team's objective was to use social media to highlight local businesses and events in order to create a family-friendly atmosphere/impression.
ROLE
I was in charge of the Instagram account for Downtown Eugene Merchants. This required posting content at least twice a week, reposting local business' promotions and events, and collecting data on post interaction. Additionally, I wrote blogs for the Facebook site which featured business owners, and created graphics.
RESULTS
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Posted 3 or more times a week
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Increased followers by 385%
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Reached 600-1,400 people with each post
COMMUNITY RELATIONS
OBJECTIVE
Promote collaboration between downtown businesses through giveaways and packages. We also hoped to increase social media following and public awareness of unique opportunities and activities in Eugene. Lastly, we wanted to showcase the new and improved family-friendly atmosphere .
ROLE
My role for the community relations aspect of our PR plan was to photograph businesses in downtown, as well as monitor the giveaways taking place. For the Bar giveaway, I sorted through roughly 200 entries before randomly generating a winner and ensuring that they had followed all giveaway rules. I also connected local businesses in an effort to inspire more collaboration. The Downtown Date Night Deal was a collaboration between 3 local businesses and highlighted our goal to form new relationships in downtown Eugene.
RESULTS
200 people entered our giveaway on social media
35 people purchased the Downtown Date Night Package
We facilitated collaboration between 3 businesses
