Gabe Cano and Glen Hodges of Specialty Color Services in Santa Barbara, California.

Photograph your love.

This is more than just a tagline for Gabe Cano and Glen Hodges of Specialty Color Services in Santa Barbara, California.

When Glen and Gabe came to speak at our Social Media Marketing class at UCSB, they shared their experiences – both hits and misses – using Facebook to promote their business.

But most of all, they shared their passion for their business – and how social media allowed them to showcase how much they care about their work.

These guys love what they do.

They love their photo retail business.

They love the photography industry.

They love their passionate, enthusiastic and loyal customers.

And that authenticity really enabled them to put social media marketing to work for them!

They decided to use Facebook as a tool to get their message out: Photograph your love.

They used Facebook to spread the word about a contest built around that theme. Participants would upload photographs representing their interpretation of Photograph your love to the Specialty Color Services Facebook page. In the process, they would  “Become a Fan” on Facebook and via word-of-mouse, encourage others to do the same.

The contest ended in January with almost 2,000 entries! For more details on how they built and engaged their active fan base, check out this great article in Photo Reporter.

While the Facebook campaign was successful in promoting engagement and awareness – it did a lot more than just boost business. It brought people with a common love together, and it helped Glen and Gabe re-create the community feel that they had missed from their days running a smaller photo business.

The digital involvement that their Facebook community created enabled Glen and Gabe to create a place for their customers to come and share their love. It helped them establish relationships with their customers beyond the retail transaction.

This place “where everybody knows your name”… it enabled them to get to know their customers better – which really should be part of anyone’s marketing plan. Plus, it created a ton of buzz and raised their “cool factor”  – which it made work even more fun while raising morale for the whole staff.

Check out Specialty Color Service’s new Photojournal Project on Facebook!

One of the winning Photograph Your Love entries - uploaded to Facebook by Greg Lawler