On opening day the newest STC gym in Gothenburg had:
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98,238 daily views
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545 Likes on Facebook
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2000 Google searches
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47 requests for directions
STC Training Club is a growing gym chain in Sweden that recently opened a new location in Sweden’s second largest city, Gothenburg. A google maps search for gyms in Gothenburg reveals at least 84 listings. This presents quite a challenge to a new gym both to be found and subsequently chosen over the existing offerings.
In addition, STC was under a non-competition clause until Jan 1st of 2016 so they could not advertise a new location prior to that date. So how could STC make sure that they stood out in the crowd and build buzz for their gym ahead of its opening?
Taking advantage of social networks and search engines
STC used PinMeTo to ensure that their location had a strong presence on Facebook, Foursquare, and Google weeks before its grand opening. Once the new gym information was published, STC leveraged its existing online presence to build hype for the new gym. In addition to boosted posts, STC took advantage of Facebook’s free tools by creating a public event for the grand opening. This event resulted in 650 people attending the opening night event.
“It all comes down to who you need on your team and as a small company in a big market you really need to choose with precision. PinMeTo has given us the tools to remove unofficial content, manage our locations across the platforms in an easy to understand way and saved us a lot of time. All mixed together with a couple of good laughs.” - Peter Hedström, Head of Marketing STCThe results of these efforts were that on opening day the location had a daily reach of 98,238 and 545 likes on Facebook. Additionally, the gym had been searched for on Google 2,000 times with 47 requests for driving directions. All of this BEFORE the gym was even open for business.
STC understood how to reach a potential audience despite moving into a saturated market. They took advantage of the fans of their established brand, the ability to act locally online, and the power of social media to stand out and have a fantastic grand opening.
