In April 2014, AT&T launched Business Circle, a website where small business owners (SBOs) and employees can find support and inspiration. AT&T knows that small businesses need more personalized support and attention. After all, every small business is unique. So in order to start a more meaningful conversation with this target audience, the team decided to focus on the passion and hard work that drive small businesses and their owners. As such, Business Circle is all about the target audience and is specifically NOT about AT&T's efforts to "sell" to this audience. This was achieved in a variety of manners, including:
In less than a year, Business Circle has earned more than 2.4 million unique views, and live Meet the Experts webinars earned more than 284.6 million total social media impressions. The community is spread across the web, Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, Google+, and YouTube to meet the audience members where they already live and make it easy for them to engage with AT&T on their terms.
With the launch of Business Circle, AT&T created a unique place for small business owners to ask questions and get answers about technology, social strategy, business management, and more. From tips and articles to live webinars and in-person events, Business Circle makes it easy for SBOs to find what they need. They can even share their own stories with the community.
One of the most successful Business Circle efforts is the Meet the Experts (#BizCircleLive) events hosted via live webinar and promoted on social. Experts like Rieva Lesonsky, Mario Armstrong, and Gilt Group co-founder Alexandra Wilkis Wilson shared their insights with the Business Circle community. The first of these events was supported with a sponsored trending topic that helped garner more than 3 million of the 284.6 million total social media impressions. For those unable to join live, the full webinar videos are hosted on Business Circle.
The team also hosted two rounds of in-person, small business events in U.S. cities featuring other small business influencers. SBOs could go meet expert Susan Solovic or Ramon Ray to learn best practices and get answers to their toughest business questions. Approximately 170 attendees joined the events. These seminars were a great way to take the conversation offline and meet with small business owners face-to-face. Hear direct feedback from some of these attendees HERE.
Business Circle also has a great relationship with celebrity entrepreneur Bill Rancic. He collaborates with the team to highlight small businesses, sharing what makes them successful and what drives their passion. Bill also shares some personal stories and tips behind his success. For Business Circle, it is a great opportunity to offer new insights and strategies to the community. But for small businesses, it is an amazing opportunity to learn from successful small business owners like them.
But Bill Rancic is not the only one able to shine the light on deserving small businesses. Business Circle highlights a variety of great people and the businesses they run through a series called Real Stories. This collection of stories increased in quantity thanks to a video contest run with Zooppa. Business Circle was able to highlight even more businesses and the independent filmmakers who shot them. They are entrepreneurs just like the SBOs they filmed. This contest generated 64 new videos, approximately 11,600 total video views, and 5,513 total votes. The winning videos are now highlighted on Business Circle.
Outside of these campaigns, the team works to maintain an ongoing series of tips, articles, and more that benefit small businesses. These come from the internal Business Circle community, guest bloggers, and even the previously mentioned experts and influencers. They cover everything from social marketing strategy and technology to disaster preparedness.
In the end, Business Circle is there to help business owners find the best strategies for building their businesses through shared insights, community, passion, and support.