Marketing Monday is a weekly feature that showcases a cool company, individual, or application of internet marketing. Got an idea? Send it to me!
So a completely serendipidous and slightly odd opportunity came over my Facebook feed this week. A couple who happen to be my friends own Barkwheats, a Maine-based organic grain-free dog biscuit company. Their newest flavor treat involves blueberries so they had an opportunity to buy bulk organic Maine blueberries at $2/pound. The price, however, would be even lower if more boxes would be bought so he passed on the opportunity to his Facebook friends.
The catch? The berries came in 30 pound boxes. Mission still accomplished. We bought enough so the price ended up being $1.75/pound. But how?
They used social media to tap into their friends (and friends of friends) to offer a unique opportunity.
Chris knew he could get the price lower if he could just buy a few more boxes. Between his 200 something friends and my 400 something friends on Facebook, we made it happen (Chris has a much larger Twitter following, while my Facebook is a more powerful network for me).
Social media is great in that you don’t accidentally forget someone’s email address or otherwise exclude a certain person. Interestingly, several individuals who I less actively interact with ended up taking the opportunity, some even buying a couple boxes.
If you are the organizer, just pick a time and place.
If you are in charge of something, give deadlines. When do you need the order by, and when and where is the pick up. Chris did a great job of communicating this to everyone, and by creating a limited time frame, drove more people to participate in this unique opportunity.
In case you are wondering what 30 pounds of blueberries looks like, it’s about the size of a box of copier paper. But despite the enormous size, I couldn’t pass up the opportunity.
Since I live alone, people have been asking what I am going to do with all this fruit. Here’s what I’m doing with my 30:
Freezing. Blueberries have really high levels of antioxidants and freeze well. Take a tip from Jodi: Place blueberries on a cookie sheet in the freezer for a few hours before placing them, prefrozen, into freezer bags. It’ll keep them from getting mushy. Note: All mine were prefrozen this way so I could skip this step.
Giving. I have a few very generous friends whose kindness I have not yet reciprocated.
Jam. My friend Sally has a great recipe for blueberry lime jam. I quadrupled it. Great for me (Try dipping pretzels in it!) and a great hostess gift too.
Infusing alcohol. Infusing alcohol with fruit is yummy, for Too Cute Tuesday and beyond.
Baked goods. I’ll bake something now and use the frozen berries for future baked goods. Blueberry muffins, here I come!
You can get bulk berries (organic or otherwise) from farms like Merrill Farms in Ellsworth. Maybe you can use social media to get some friends together to split a bulk purchase. The internet: making our lives more exciting all the time. Thanks to Chris and Renee (Barkwheats) and Facebook for the opportunity to save money and live better through social media!