The Wilton Chamber of Commerce is making a concerted effort to increase the visibility of Wilton’s business community, under the lead of executive director Janeen Leppert. She says she’s targeting social media as a method to get the town more exposure and showcase the diversity of what Wilton has to offer.
“My goal is to really utilize the social media platforms that are available. More and more, I’m seeing businesses have a Facebook page and being very, very active there. It’s a good way to reach people. When you use Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest effectively, it can be very valuable,” Leppert says.
Chamber leaders have come up with an overriding tagline that they hope will brand the different kinds of businesses based in town.
“We have a lot of unique businesses, and also many different businesses, so it’s kind of hard to create one campaign toward just one type of business. So that’s how we created, “Shop Wilton. Dine Wilton. Enjoy Wilton.” It encompasses all the different businesses and organizations,” Leppert says.
She’s been active in using hashtags on social media as part of the promotion, including #ShopWilton, #DineWilton and #EnjoyWilton in her posts on Facebook and Instagram in particular. In fact, it’s easy to find the Chamber on Instagram, just by looking for @enjoywilton.
One of the concepts she’s using in the social media campaign will focus on the “Wilton Bucket List.” Leppert said she drew inspiration from her own experience getting to know Wilton as a newcomer.
“I was new here, and I’m still learning things from talking to people who live and work here and word of mouth, saying, ‘You’ve lived here for 20 years, what do you like to do, where do you like to eat, where do you go to buy shoes?’ They have the best kept secrets of Wilton–their secrets and tidbits. It’s a good way to promote what’s available to everybody,” she says.
The first spot showcases Tom Sato, the owner of Wilton Hardware and a Wilton resident for many years. “The hardware store is like a heart of the community, and it’s such a staple to a town like Wilton. I’m from Chicago and I’m used to big box stores, so when I came to Wilton, it was about getting to know the businesses and the face behind the business. With Tom, for example, it’s not just Wilton Hardware, it’s Tom-at-Wilton-Hardware,” Leppert says.
The Chamber’s post lists Sato’s top-3 recommendations for Wilton now that we’re moving into spring, including getting a massage at Ura the Spa after shoveling (and shoveling and shoveling snow); enjoying lunch at Wilton’s newest restaurant, Café Ruche; and visiting Splash Car Wash to clean winter’s salt off his car.
Of course the Chamber is a business organization so it makes sense that they’ll feature business owners. But Leppert also hopes to include other members of the community, including residents. “I’m hoping people will start to post on Facebook what their Wilton Bucket Lists are, or they can send it to me and I’ll feature it,” Leppert says.
She adds that here will be an associated hashtag with the campaign, #WiltonBucketList.
What she finds so exciting about the medium is that as much as retailers and restaurants are so active on social media, now other kinds of businesses are getting good at using it too, including law firms, doctors and dentists, landscapers and more.
Leppert is also trying to reach residents of specific surrounding towns, for example by buying ads on Facebook that target residents not just of Wilton but also of Redding, New Canaan, Weston and Ridgefield.
That kind of targeting outside of just Wilton will be especially important for the Chamber’s next big event, the “Taste of Wilton,” on April 20.