It's a Miracle

If you've been on any form of social media lately, I'm sure you've seen the hundreds of posts about UGA Miracle. UGA Miracle raises money throughout the year for Children's Healthcare of Atlanta. This past week, Miracle had their $100 day, where each member of UGA Miracle aims to raise $100 in one day. In the spring, towards Miracle's total reveal at Dance Marathon, news feeds are flooded with people aiming to raise money to achieve their personal goal. In order to achieve these goals, members post on social media encouraging donations. Some of their tactics included Venmo requesting people for donations and offering things in exchange for donations. For example, for a $5 donation, they will change their profile picture to an embarrassing picture from middle school, for $50, they will wear a funny costume to class, etc. Additionally, members post a story of how they got involved in Miracle and pictures of themselves with children from Children's Healthcare of Atlanta, where the donations go.

Instagram stories, Snapchat stories, and Facebook posts blow up whenever there is a goal that needs to be reached. Hundreds of people view each post or story, bringing a huge amount of awareness to this cause. With the recent surge of Venmo, it is now easier than ever to donate to people's totals. In addition to sending Venmos to people's totals, the people raising the money are able to send Venmos to people, usually for little amounts such as $1-$5. By Venmo requesting people for small amounts, the people receiving the Venmo requests are not likely to say no, since it is such a small amount, and requesting a small amount from a lot of people quickly adds up.

I'm not affiliated with UGA Miracle, but it is amazing how social media can promote a cause and raise so much money. Through social media, members of UGA Miracle are able to raise money towards their totals, often even raising their total goal. It also raises a huge amount of awareness for Children's Healthcare, since members are creating so many impressions with all of their followers. If you ask any UGA student, they are sure to know what UGA Miracle is and have seen people trying to raise money for it, which is incredible, especially considering that this is a non-profit and does not have a marketing budget. This is word-of-mouth marketing at its finest, and it is even more impressive and phenomenal that it is bringing awareness and raising money for such an amazing cause.

Mama's Boy MarkEATing

Mama's Boy is one of the most popular restaurants in Athens, with up to a 2 hour wait for Sunday brunch. Their infamous biscuits and breakfast dishes result in countless Instagrams of their food and long lines in which customers are more than happy to wait. Mama's Boy is one of the best local social media marketers, using Instagram as their main marketing platform. Mama's Boy's Instagram is filled with pictures of their famous and photogenic food, many of which are submitted by customers. By using customers' content, Mama's Boy is able to both involve their customers and market in new and different ways. In addition to posting pictures of their normal menu items, Mama's Boy also goes to Instagram to promote their daily and weekly specials. For example, every Tuesday is "Pancake Tuesday", the only day when Mama's Boy serves pancakes, and their Instagram features pancakes with that week's special twist. Additionally, they also post pictures of their menu board and of plates featuring their daily specials to help draw in customers.

 

Due to their success, Mama's Boy recently opened up a second location on Macon Highway. This second location has the same menu as the original location, but is bigger and has more parking (a solution to one of the biggest complaints about the original location). Although the new location is bigger and has been open for a few weeks, there is little evidence of this on their social media. On Instagram, their main platform, Mama's Boy did not post anything notifying followers of their new location. Mama's Boy has also not updated their website to include their new location, leaving customers like myself to wonder where it is and if it is even open yet. Mama's Boy does have a new and separate Facebook page for their Macon Highway location, but it seems as though that is their only acknowledgment of the new location. When I searched for Mama's Boy's new location on Google, I couldn't find any information about where the new location was or when it would open, except for a few outdated articles that were written when they decided to look for a second location. If Mama's Boy wants to have a similar loyal customer base as they do with their Oak Street location, they need to make information about the Macon Highway location easily accessible, and should promote their new location to their customers through Instagram.