A disc jockey service company started by an ASU student was recognized Tuesday for having one of the best small business pages on Facebook.
Fans and friends on the social media site nominated Arizona Pro DJs, a teen entertainment company, for Social Media Examiner’s Top 10 Best Small Business Facebook Pages of 2011 contest.
This is the first year the online social media magazine held the contest, and it received more than 1,400 entries.
To be considered for the honor, small businesses had to be nominated by two people.
“We held this contest to highlight small businesses who are using Facebook well to promote and grow their business,” said Phil Mershon, director of summits of Social Media Examiner, in an email.
The winners of the contest will receive tickets to the Facebook Success Summit 2011 in October, the largest online Facebook marketing conference.
A panel of judges chose the top 10 winners based on the quality of the Facebook page, the frequency of the company posting information on its wall and fan engagement.
Will Curran, president of Arizona Pro DJs and bachelor of interdisciplinary studies senior, began disc jockeying at his friends’ parties and wanted to incorporate elements he saw at concerts and clubs and bring the package to high school events.
Curran applied for the Edson Student Initiative Entrepreneurship Grant, a campus program that funds student ventures, and won two years in a row.
Arizona Pro DJs offers special lighting, video DJs who mash viral videos and movies over music, photographers, dance crews, percussionists and more for high school, charity, dance parties and even a few ASU events.
“We tell our clients, ‘If you’ve seen it before on TV, if you’ve seen it in the movies or the VMAs, we can do it,” Curran said.
Arizona Pro DJs was ranked fifth in the contest. According to the results online, the judges liked the Facebook page’s graphics, prize incentives for liking the page, spamming policies and the company’s engagement with fans.
The Facebook fan page has become an important customer service tool for the company, Curran said. Employee’s respond to all inquires posted on the page. If a fan posts a comment on the page about the company putting on a bad show, the vice president of events Eileen Wells responds and asks how it can improve for the next show.
Because Arizona Pro DJs has more than 10,000 Facebook fans, Curran deals with a lot of fans posting their own website and profanity on the page, he said. He hides the posts and asks them to stop. Fans receive three warnings before they are banned from the page.
Arizona Pro DJs also posts video testimonials and photos from events.
“We stick a camera in every person’s face we can find after an event and say, ‘What did you think?’” Curran said. “It’s a really great validator of our services.”
Using social media is a great way to find and build customer loyalty. More than half of Americans use social media accounts and more than a third of those people log on daily, Mershon said.
“Smart businesses go where their customers are,” Mershon said. “Social media is one of those places.” Reach the reporter at mmistero@asu.edu
