Projects

Taste of Arlington

The annual Taste of Arlington street fair showcases over 40 restaurants in the Arlington, VA area. But the Taste of Arlington wanted to spice things up and give more flavor to their social media presence and online coverage. That’s where Scott Circle Communications took over.

Scott Circle Communications designed a multi-tiered campaign to increase the Taste of Arlington’s presence on Twitter, Facebook, local and national food blogs and mainstream media outlets, driving traffic to the website and generating ticket sales.

Strategy

Scott Circle Communications sought to increase the festival’s importance within the Washington, DC food blogger scene as well as among mainstream social and event media. The intent was to increase the festival’s overall attendance and recognition locally, framing the event as the premiere food festival in Northern Virginia. To achieve this goal, Scott Circle Communications implemented a social media campaign that was composed of several mini-campaigns. These campaigns included the “ABC’s of Taste,” in which participating vendors were named alphabetically over Twitter along with their menu items, and a “Taste Spotting” contest that encouraged followers on Facebook and Twitter to answer trivia questions to win a spot on the judging panel for the competition portion of the festival. Both campaigns pushed traffic back to the Taste of Arlington website through links and calls to action and succeeded in connecting with journalists, bloggers and other influentials on Twitter. Through “twitpitching” to several local and national foodie, mommy and events blogs including Washingtonian’s Best Bites, the amount of online coverage blossomed.

Results / Summary of Successes

The festival was covered by dozens of local media outlets, garnered over 80 local press stories including coverage in over 70 local and national blog posts. An increase of almost 200 followers on Twitter and Facebook, both, lead to over 100 interactions and more than doubled online ticket sales. While the Taste was covered by many prominent local publications including the Washington Post, Washingtonian, and Northern Virginia Magazine, the amount of online coverage was sizzling! Taste of Arlington was featured in both local and national food blogs including Tasting Table and Zagat Buzz, as well as highlighted on D.C. blogs such as DCist, Brightest Young Things, and We Love DC. On top of local and food bloggers, Taste was featured in posts on several popular “mommy” blogs such as Washington Parent and Kid Friendly DC.

The Taste has also gained significant followings though Facebook and Twitter due to daily interactions including the “Taste Spotting” contest that gained 66 mentions and many additional followers on both platforms.

The number of online ticket sales tripled from the previous year, overall ticket sales increased by 50 percent, and more than 4,000 people participated in the festival.

DCist.com called Taste “a great deal.” Widely read EatMoreDrinkMore blog said the festival was “a great success.”