In October 2020, Newlink created #ForTheWyn, a 12-part giveaway series featuring local businesses in the Wynwood neighborhood - one of Miami’s most bustling districts, filled with mom-and-pop shops, museums both indoor and outdoor, eateries, breweries and fitness studios alike. Pandemic circumstances had affected the Wynwood area particularly hard, with so many local businesses forced to halt operations. Newlink saw a need for the community to reconnect after weeks of mandatory shutdown and isolation, and a need to help jumpstart those small shops that took the hardest of hits, all in a way that was as safe as it was engaging and captivating to Wynwood’s audience. We took to social media and amplified the very thing that makes Wynwood so iconic - its endless diversity. The goal in mind was to spotlight a unique collection of local, small businesses as a means to breathe life back into the neighborhood by creating an interactive social media campaign that would highlight different businesses and expand their reach, reminding locals of all the experiences Wynwood has to offer. We leveraged the intrigue of this social media effort with an array of free prizes, ranging from spray painting lessons, candle making classes, a free dinner, shopping spree, gym membership and more.
In creating #ForTheWyn, Newlink started from ground zero. We knew we wanted to foster a connection between Wynwood and its locals, but amidst hotspots in the pandemic, we wanted to make sure the safety of the community was top of mind. Another factor was celebrating the diversity of the area, to support local business while reminding people of all Wynwood has to offer. After so many months of loss, a campaign surrounding the idea of giving back to the community drove us to develop #ForTheWyn, a month-long social media campaign comprised of 3 weekly challenges for followersto participate in and potentially win prizes from local, small businesses in Wynwood.
We first teased our #ForTheWyn Social Media Campaign a week prior to the actual launch of the giveaways, generating buzz and excitement among the online community through dynamic storytelling videos that introduced the essence and purpose of the campaign. After this, our strategy was to put out 3 giveaways per week, all centered around the diversity Wynwood and its local shops have to offer. Through Wynwood BID’s official Instagram, we angled these giveaways to become word of mouth, inciting followers to involve their friends, tag others and spread the reach and exposure of these small businesses even further.
Over the span of this 4 week long campaign, from the 12 challenges alone, we garnered over 5,300 challenge entries. The series also brought in 90% of interactions during the campaign period while it accounted for less than half of the content released during this time frame. In comparison to the Wynwood BID’s account in previous months, there was an overall 395% increase in engagement than normal. Aside from metric accomplishments, the campaign garnered media attention, drawing in coverage from local news and publications like CBS Miami, South Florida Caribbean News and Timeout Miami.
