We’re always happy to see a new business start up and succeed in Lawrence, and even happier when we have the opportunity to help with that process. If you’ve been browsing LJWorld.com in the last few weeks, you’ve probably seen banner ads for the new Orange Leaf Frozen Yogurt at 6th and Wakarusa, which has been up and running for about a month but had its official grand opening Friday, Dec. 3.

A December opening for a fro-yo shop? You bet. Between the location (within walking distance from Free State High School, and next door to the new Lawrence Smashburger) and a solid opening-day deal (fill-to-the-brim yogurt cups for 99 cents), Orange Leaf had a great vantage point for a launch promotion. Then it was just a matter of getting the word out to folks – and that’s where social media came in.

During the course of a 10-day campaign, we ran banner ads across World Company sites that, when clicked upon, sent users to Orange Leaf’s Facebook page. When they got there, we made sure folks saw photos of the new shop – very bright and cheery with winter looming on the horizon – as well as a custom landing tab with some general info on how the whole build-your-own-yogurt concept works. Finally, we let prospective fro-yo friends know that if they stuck around on Facebook and Twitter until the store’s opening day, they’d have the chance to win free yogurt the day of the big party.

Similar strategy for Twitter, but with a few additions: Our research means we know a lot of Lawrence tweeters with an interest in food and drink, so we followed some key influencers with the hope that they’d see the value in our message and follow us back – or even retweet and recommend us to others. (Those of you who did, thanks, and we hope you like the fro-yo!) Twitter’s immediacy also made it possible to run some fun “respond right away and win free-yo” contests, which we also promoted via our house channels of @CraveLawrence (daily lunch specials), @LJWMarketplace (local events, deals and contests) and @KUSportsDeals (area game day offers). Additionally – and this is the most critical aspect of any social media campaign – we monitored Twitter, Facebook and Foursquare closely during the 10-day promo period, making sure to respond as quickly as possible to any questions or comments about or directed to Orange Leaf.

So how did it work? Check out this opening-day video we posted on Facebook to see footage from the day-long party, or have a look at @benasmith‘s photo of lines out the door as the sun went down. (Our favorite feedback from opening day? @into_the_beams‘ statement of “About to leave work and head to @OLFYLawrence for my free cup of froyo. Been looking forward to this all day :)”)

Of course, you can’t chalk all that success up to social media promotion, but a little monitoring reveals that a lot of folks were talking about fro-yo online the week after Thanksgiving. It goes to show that, depending on how you use it, social can be just as important in your overall promotions plan as other traditionally-valued ways of getting the word out – particularly when all those channels work together. In other words, social media doesn’t just have to be the cherry on top – whether you’re talking about frozen yogurt or any other product or service.