You know those ugly frames you see in some frame shops? The ones that are covered in dust because they’re so hopelessly unappealing they just never sell? Well, The Framing Place & Gallery has given these little monstrosities their moment in the sun—while also creating a highly successful social media promotion for their business.

“You really can’t underestimate the importance of online brands,” says Matt Coles, owner, “especially when you consider the ever-expanding social media networks. Contests like ‘The Ugliest Frame Contest’ are simple, cost-effective ways to help establish your online brand.”

Social Media-Savvy Marketing

Here’s how the contest worked. Using Social Apps HQ (www.socialappshq.com), Matt created a promotion that would run seamlessly on Facebook. People were invited to post pictures of their ugliest frames, or to make their own ugly frames and post the pictures via the contest. Then, users would encourage their friends to vote on the worst frame by “liking” the image and sharing with their Facebook friends. As you can imagine, this created a lot of viral activity. When the voting deadline was over, the picture with the most likes was crowned the winner, and the person who submitted it was awarded a $300.00 framing makeover. Fun stuff, great branding and a buzzworthy promotion.

“The competition was a success in more ways than one—not only did participants have fun viewing and voting on ugly frames, but the more likes a picture got, the more exposure it would get on Facebook through users’ news feeds,” says Matt. “As a result, The Framing Place and Gallery was promoted to new audiences on social media, who were directed to The Framing Place website.”

As a side note, Matt also took care to accommodate those contestants who aren’t on Facebook but still wanted to participate. He simply asked them to email him their photos and descriptions, and he uploaded the images for them. That should tell you a lot about the kind of customer service you’ll get at The Framing Place.

The Little Frame Shop That Could

Nestled in the small, Canadian town of Huntsville, Ontario, The Framing Place & Gallery has been doing business for 30 years. It all began in Orla Irwin’s basement, when she set up shop and began to share her passion for framing and decor with her neighbors. Her innovative approach to design began to attract more and more clients, and before she knew it, she had opened a framing shop and gallery space in downtown Huntsville.

The secret to The Framing Place’s success? Innovation, creativity, and client care: “When you frame something,” says Orla, now retired, “you can’t treat it like a simple object, because it’s not just an object to the client. It means something to them, a memory, a hope, a desire. Whatever the connection is, you have to be aware of it, and let it influence the decisions you make.”

Matt began working at The Framing Place eleven years ago. A landscape painter, Matt already had both knowledge and an intuitive feel for composition and design, and he easily applied his skills to the world of framing. Orla quickly recognized his talent for the business.

“He really had a natural instinct for framing. He was creative, great with people, but most importantly, he had vision – he knew how to compete in the modern world and brought our business to new levels.”

It was precisely this vision that inspired Matt to purchase The Framing Place from Orla and her husband, Doug, in 2012, after the couple had run the business successfully for decades. Now, he plans on bringing the business to new audiences and new heights.

“There are a number of new challenges in the modern business landscape with social media, online businesses, networking, etc., but I really see these as new opportunities to develop the business and bring its services to new audiences,” he says. “And I’ve always liked the idea of contests; not only because they’re a cost effective marketing tool, but because they’re a lot of fun.”

Over the last decade, in addition to managing The Framing Place, Matt has found time to jury numerous art shows and has worked as the Art Director at the Algonquin Art Centre, a world-class gallery in Algonquin Provincial Park. We’re looking forward to seeing more great things from him in the future.

Visit The Frame Place & Gallery online at www.framingplace.net and be sure to like them on Facebook too.

The post “Ugliest Frame in the World” Contest: A Beautiful Promotion for The Framing Place & Gallery appeared first on Art Business News.

by Joseph Armstrong

Social media can be a colossal waste of time, but it can also prove beneficial for business—especially for artists eager to build a following or for gallery owners wanting to promote their offerings. Marketing through social media can reach a vast audience. With so many websites, however, properly spreading the word can be time-consuming and downright onerous. Fortunately, there are plenty of social media- management tools that can help. Here are 10 tools that are worth a look.

Sprout Social allows users to simultaneously publish to multiple social-media sites. Other features include message scheduling so you don’t have to watch the clock, audience-response tracking, a customizable contact list and a help desk for your audience.

TweetDeck by Twitter is an app that manages an unlimited number of Twitter accounts. With TweetDeck, you can schedule tweets and track trends, and notifi cations allow you to immediately connect with your audience. Its customizable filters keep you on top of incoming and outgoing tweets.

One of the more popular sites available, HootSuite is a social-media dashboard that organizes messages and tracks results across multiple sites at once, including Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Google+ pages and more.

Twitterfeed, a must-have for hard-core bloggers, feeds your posts directly into various networks, including Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn. Users who don’t yet use blogging as part of their marketing strategies will have the time to do so with this app.

Seesmic, a mobile app on the Android market, simultaneously updates Facebook and Twitter feeds. Full access to feeds allows users to track timelines and to share photos, messages, posts, likes and more. Seesmic received an average 4.3-star rating with nearly 80,000 five-star user reviews. Available in the Google Play store. 

ScrOOn advertises itself as “all-in-one community management,” and that’s exactly what it is. It connects users’ social platforms and allows tracking across the web from desktop to tablet to mobile device.

Postling targets small-business owners, consolidating social platforms into one source and allowing for posts and responses, metrics tracking and post scheduling. Postling connects to users’ e-mail and produces a “Daily Digest” email that recaps recent network activity. It is also compatible with the iPhone.

Buffer connects multiple networks, allows users to add team members for work distribution and provides free analytics about recent activity. Buffer is compatible with all mobile devices and newsreader apps.

SocialOomph schedules tweets, posts and updates; tracks trends by keyword; and connects to users’ blogs and e-mail accounts. It links multiple accounts, provides activity data and has a spam fi lter. One key feature that sets SocialOomph apart from others is its automatic-response function: the ability to set up automatic follows, messages and responses.

The mobile-device-ready Spredfast app provides engagement analytics about users and their audiences, has a team-management feature and even provides audience demographics.

The post Marketing Made Easy appeared first on Art Business News.