Spreading Awareness and Information Through Live Event Updates

Situation: For the past decade, Foot Locker hired BWF to handle all event public relations for the Foot Locker Cross Country High School National Championships, an annual race hosted in California for the top 80 high school cross country runners throughout the nation.  In 2010, the corporate public relations team from Foot Locker asked BWF to also take on the management of the Foot Locker Cross Country High School National Championships Facebook page and Twitter account.

Objectives: While the Facebook and Twitter account existed beforehand, the corporate public relations team asked BWF to help increase the traffic on the page.

Process: In the weeks leading up to the annual race, BWF utilized various techniques to engage current users as well as develop new followers.  Contests, even ones without tangible prizes, were the most popular tool for user interactions, which in turn successfully recruited new members to “Like” the page and participate in the daily posts.  Other posts focused on profiling top runners coming to Nationals,  fun facts related to the Hotel Del Coronado (our host hotel) and San Diego (our host city), runner trivia, and well-wishes from elite race alumni. BWF also utilized popular Facebook tools such as “Polls” to gather opinions from Facebook fans, continuing to develop the Facebook page into an interactive experience.

Results: Through BWF’s efforts, the amount of “Likes” on the FLCCC Facebook page increased approximately 15% in the first year of efforts, and an additional 10% the following year. While Foot Locker corporate maintains the Facebook page throughout the year, the increased efforts by BWF helped drive more awareness of the event and of the brand in the months surrounding the National Championship race.