ALCO Parking

ALCO Parking is the largest parking management company in the Pittsburgh area. In 2013 they decided to take their first baby-steps into social media, and setup a Facebook Page. Initially we focused on celebrating, championing, and sharing the cultural events in the city to promote them for others, and adding value by including tips on the best, cheapest, or most convenient parking options. 

We also created custom Apps/Tabs that showed off the efforts of the company as the partnered with the city to create greener and prettier car parks. 

Toward the end of the 2013 Football season, ALCO realized that there was a parking structure near the stadiums in town that was extremely underfilled during games. We took to Facebook to announce the option, and the new lower prices. Over 200,000 people saw the message, and the garage nearly sold out. 

We also implemented regular monthly strategies for ALCO. Recognizing that parking is a necessary side-need of other activities, our focus became one of serving the public, sharing and cross-promoting others' events, and giving advice on transportation and parking... even if it meant suggesting they not use ALCO's services.   

Whiskey Rebellion Festival

The Whiskey Rebellion Festival is an annual celebration in Washington, PA recalling the historical uprising of the same name. Every July thousands of people descend on the center of the town to watch reenactments, hear live Americana music, buy crafts, eat festival foods and (of course) sample whiskey.

I ran the social media efforts for this growing event, and was faced with the challenge of a very thin budget, and a short time in which to work. Two phases were created to maximize the budget. The first was a general awareness campaign, to get the word out about the pending festival, which included several contest giveaways to encourage attendance and participation. 

The second focused on sharing details, and encouraging active engagement immediately before and during the event. Through targeted posting, promotions, encouraging engagement, and personal interactions with the public the festival gained over 1000 new fans (a full third more) and actively engaged over 100,000 people during the festival’s run.