Yogafly Studio is a new yoga studio to downtown Auburn, Alabama. Now before proceeding, I should note that we’re a flexible bunch here at Verge Pipe Media. To wit: we are good about our accommodating clients, we like just about any craft beer, our music tastes range from 80s hair metal to mellow indie… but we’re not that kind of flexible.

So we were definitely curious when The Dee Armstrong Show in Columbus, Georgia asked us on to join a panel of “mompreneurs” and – specifically – the insanely fit proprietor of Yogafly Studio, Peach Dumars.

Our role: marketing and word-of-mouth nerds.

In preparation, we sat down with Peach and talked a good deal about her business and grand opening plans (August 25^th). We don’t have a formal client relationship with Yogafly Studio, but we all agreed to run some fun, friendly marketing tests so we’d have something useful – and encouraging – to talk about on air.

Here are a few notes and observations from our Facebook social engagement case study!

Before we dive in and claim hero, a tremendous amount of credit should be given to Peach and Yogafly Studio. A solid foundation was already in place prior to the test period:

• Yogafly Studio has prime real estate in downtown Auburn, near the University. Fabulous for word-of-mouth.
• Yogafly Studio was facilitating word-of-mouth by running smart specials and giveaways designed to get prospective members in the door with friends.
• Yogafly Studio had a branded Facebook page that was populated with content and had a baseline of several hundred users.
• Most importantly, Yogafly Studio has a great “product” — one that fills a gap in this community. They have a fun, non-intimidating environment and credible, welcoming staff members.

Our goal going in was simple: get more people talking about Yogafly Studio and showcase the excitement that is already evident within the community. For us, that meant giving people something to talk about — whether it was in-person or online – and making sure it all was captured on Facebook, where it could be amplified.

When we talked with Peach about giveaways in the pipeline, a quick campaign strategy snapped right into place.

Fall semester is just getting underway and football is in the air. In case you aren’t familiar with Auburn, eagles are a big deal around here. The plan was to get Yogafly members, friends and yoga enthusiasts to take photos in the “Eagle Pose” (or, Garudasana for the initiated) and tag or post it to Yogafly’s wall. A winner would be selected and prizes would be doled out.

Reality: it’s a goofy pose that takes some serious skill… it’s a talker.

We launched the photo contest on August 10th, tweaked the tagging procedure on August 13th and just wrapped. The upward trend at the end of the data corresponds directly to this time period (click on any image to expand and check out the data gallery at the end). The numbers speak for themselves, but we’ll break it down:

By far, the posts generating the most reach are inherently shareable. The Grand Opening event (complete with poster) reached 10x Yogafly Studio’s Facebook fanbase. After that, a photo album of all the pictures submitted during the Eagle Pose contest pulled in BIG numbers. If you take a look at it, you’ll understand why… it’s adorable and inspiring. People young and old participated. And, oh – you know – three Marines too.

As suggested, Peach pinned the photo contest announcement to the top of her page for the vast majority of the contest and updated the timeline regularly with submissions as they started coming in. Contest visibility was high and the updates helped promote conversation.

Yogafly’s contest-related posts – all anchored by a photo – generated dozens of likes and comments and far outperformed text-only updates and announcements.

The contest also produced residual enthusiasm for Yogafly Studio, with members and Facebook fans asking when the next contest would be and posting comments under the grand opening poster, asking if the depicted pose would be the next “challenge”.

Case study takeaways: empower your community and give them a way to express their enthusiasm for your brand. Think about the types of content people share and why. With your brand in mind, go after content that generates a reaction: “awwwwww!!!”, “hahahaha”, “no way”, “I can do that…” and make it easy for people to share their own experiences with the group. Stoke the fire and keep the conversation going.

Well done, Yogafly Studio and thanks so much for letting us have a closer look at your business!