When Social Marketing Meets Billboard Advertising - Brilliant

Sometimes a case study inspires. This happened to me on Tuesday of this week, when Eric Majchrzak, Marketing Director of Freed, Maxick and Battaglia (FMB) presented at the B2B Marketing Summit in Waltham, MA.
Eric was speaking on a social media panel about his Buffalo-based CPA firm’s outdoor interactive Facebook billboard. Basically, this billboard projects for all the drivers and pedestrians who pass it by, the most current posting on their Facebook page.  But unlike so many other corporate Facebook pages that just talk about themselves, this Facebook page promotes non-profit community events. Genius.

The billboard is set up as follows:

• FMB logo on the left
• A rotating group of fans’ faces
• The actual posting, in letters big enough for everyone to read

Here are just some of the ways that FMB and the community benefit from this.

1. Non-profits now have a way to promote their events, for free.
2. FMB gets all the credit for supporting their community.
3. FMB creates goodwill among the community and that does not go unnoticed by all the non-profit’s board members (who own businesses or are in prominent positions).
4. Great PR for FMB.
5. FMB's brand awareness grows while it offersthe community a real service.

The Facebook/billboard positions FMB as a marketing leader and establishes their social media presence with their regional audience.
It also embraces social media best practices: creates community, encourages dialogue, stimulates interest.
By integrating one classic marketing tactic (billboard advertising) with another (social marketing), FMB has more than doubled the impact of both these tactics. A great example of how to integrate social media into the broader marketing context. Furthermore, I'm betting this not only gets them more new clients, but it makes their current ones happy they have FMB as their accountants.
Who would have thought that an accounting firm could have thought of this? I just wish I had. Hats off to Eric and the folks at FMB who gave him the green light!