SOMERS POINT — Chuck Westcott of the Economic Development Advisory Commission said the city’s marketing campaign continues to grow.
Westcott spoke before City Council on Oct. 24, detailing the efforts and outcomes of the third quarter of 2024.
“Our focus this year has been primarily on two things — marketing and our participation in the Master Plan re-examination,” Westcott said.
He said the “Do you love Somers Point?” campaign features a QR code that takes visitors to the city website to sign up for emails about activities going on in the city.
He said that as of September, about 1,000 addresses had been added to the list.
“We’re getting consistent lists of 700 to 800 going out on a monthly basis,” Westcott said, noting the open rate (51.55 percent) is 2.5 times the industry average (20.51 percent) and the click rate (14.56 percent) more than 6 times the industry rate (2.36 percent).
“That means not only do they want to see what’s going on but they have questions and want more information,” he said.
Regarding Facebook, he said the city is doing well by increasing the number of followers and its reach.
“The gold standard is shares, so our push is to share,” Westcott said. “I would encourage all of you to visit the Facebook page. The whole idea is to get the word out there, and the more we increase the reach the more effective it becomes.”
Westcott said the number of new followers peaked at 279 in April, the same month as the peak reach, which was 63,100 new views. May had the largest number of interactions with 2,400.
“We continue to see numbers that support the expectations,” he said.
Westcott said the boosting plan, which is limited to $150 per month for Facebook, “is very effecting getting beyond just the native followers, pushing beyond Somers Point.” He said the EDAC recently met with the city’s firm, Performance Marketing, to review successes and begin planning for 2025.
“What we’d like to do is see if we can come up with some more funding to boost more posts,” Westcott said. “We are fine where we are but we are going to see things level off, and the goal is to continue that momentum.”
The boosted posts consistently receive greater engagement, impressions and shares compared to the organic content, he said.
Regarding the Master Plan, Westcott said the EDAC has been working with Triad Associates to generate ideas for economic development.
He called Triad a nationally known firm that is “well equipped to handle our needs.” During a recent tour of the city with Triad’s Michael Epifanio, they traveled to “all four corners, places that most people don’t go.”
“We looked and poked and prodded and showed him all the issues that we would love to be able to address, showing him the whole thing in the hopes they can come up with a plan that can provide us legitimate economic development,” Westcott said.
– By CRAIG D. SCHENCK/Sentinel staff