How many of long Island’s small businesses can boast over 5,000 Facebook fans?

At 5,317 fans and counting, Atlantis Marine World Aquarium in Riverhead, NY is ahead of the curve in attracting virtual fans on Facebook. How was Atlantis Aquarium able to achieve such Facebook popularity in a less than year since the page went up? Well, what seems to have come naturally to the Facebook page’s owners are a few great social media marketing strategies:

Creating a Voice: The worst thing a company can do on a community-oriented site like Facebook is overtly sell, sell, sell.  Atlantis Aquarium avoids this fatal error by creating an authentic, friendly voice that fits their business.  Playful posts that mention “Feeding Nemo!” or an otter’s “mid-summer’s day snooze” create a wholesome, humorous voice for their brand. This especially helps market visiting the aquarium as a kid-friendly activity.

Interacting: A Long Island business has the benefit of having a relatively small, manageable group of customers. While Pepsi Co. couldn’t possibly respond to 50+ comments on every status update, a small business can easily manage a few Facebook posts a day.  Atlantis Aquarium takes this approach, responding to many comments—including those from children—answering questions and encouraging more interaction. Even posts such as “Thank you for posting! We want to hear more – keep writing!” show that the company is listening, which encourages more participation.  The aquarium even responded to criticism about the price of parking with helpful suggestions!

Exclusivity: If you can get all of the information you want on a corporate website, why go to Facebook? Atlantis leverages Facebook to take you behind the scenes of, for example, their Shark Week, showing pictures of how they prepared the exhibit. This is information you cannot get anywhere else.

Media Integration: As witty as the creators are, their posts alone couldn’t sustain that kind of fandom if they didn’t integrate interesting content.  The posts include pictures or videos of their animals, information about upcoming shows, and discounts. Families can also upload personal pictures to an appropriate album. Events are added to their Facebook page and links to relevant articles are displayed. All of their advertising efforts (discounts, promotional materials, videos) are integrated into the fan page in a cohesive way. They are also integrated into additional social media sites such as Twitter and YouTube.

Atlantis Aquarium’s growing number of fans is certainly impressive. More importantly, the company’s Facebook strategy is admirable because it is increasing engagement with loyal customers and deepening relationships with two generations of customers simultaneously in a meaningful way.

What other Long Island small businesses or organizations do you know that are using social media marketing well to build their brands?

Feel free to comment below to the Long Island marketing blog, contact our Long Island marketing consultants at Upside Business Consultants with your comments, or join up on Twitter @upsidebusiness.

Reference Terms:
Long Island small business marketing strategy, Facebook marketing, Aquarium marketing, social media case studies, social media marketing, Facebook, Long Island Blog Posts, Long island Business News, 452da3d3f4bd4117bf325ffd55366b97. Special thanks and credits to Kyra.