Loving Republic

The reach and power of social media was tested recently during Republic Bank’s #lovingrepublic social media promotion.

For the two week period February 5th to 16th, Facebook users across Barbados were encouraged to comment on Republic Bank’s page to indicate what they love the most or to share a message they would send to someone special. “The response was fantastic,” said Marketing Assistant Keimar Williams. “We really did not expect some of the comments we received about the Bank itself, nor did we imagine the number of people who would participate,” he added.

The promotion included offerings from the Bank’ customers as prizes with the winning participants either receiving the most likes or being selected at random based on the post written. “It was really easy to partner with Republic Bank for this. While Hotel Foods tends to use Instagram, the response on Facebook was interesting although the possibility of winning one of these fabulous prizes might have had something to do with it, but we’re not complaining at all,” noted Eva Michelle Fields, Wine Sales Representative with Hotel Foods.

Hundreds of posts later, Jennie Armstrong, Faith Chukwuka, Diane Forte and Janelle Jordan were celebrated for their winning posts. Prizes included lunch at the Yacht Club Port St. Charles, lunch at Apes Hill Club, brunch at Relish Epicurea, champagne from Hotel Food Supplies (Barbados), cupcakes from Ladyfingers Cake and Pastry Shop and a photo-shoot from Pro Photo.

“I really found the challenge to post about love interesting. People generally find it so hard to express themselves, but it seems that once everyone got started, the love just kept being shared,” said Chukwuka, who will enjoy lunch at Port St. Charles.

According to Marketing Officer Channels Keisha Belle, the promotion was devised primarily to engage the public while providing information on the Bank’s products and services in an interesting manner and wrapping it all around Valentine’s and the month of love.