On the final day of 2021, we look back at our top posts, profiles, events and videos of the year across Alabama Retail’s website and social media accounts. Enjoy the look back as we move forward to 2022!
TOP FACEBOOK POST, PHOTO ALBUM AND CONTEST OF 2021
Our top social post for 2021 was the Alabama Retailer of the Year Customer’s Choice Award contest. The Aug. 9-23 Facebook photo album voting system and online poll, featuring the 49 Retailer of the Year entries, reached more than 140,000 on Facebook and was read by more than 2,500 online. The 2021 winner was Southern Gyp Boutique in Bay Minette. The business received 1,295 votes, or 12.4% of the 10,413 votes cast.
While the Retailer of the Year entries garnered the top social response in 2021, the link to the 80 nominees also made the Top 10 on Facebook and Twitter.
TOP MEMBER PROFILES AND POSTS
Reed and Karen Ingram
With more than 32,000 Facebook impressions, our February profile of SweetCreek Farm Market just before the Pike Road business marked its fifth anniversary got the most attention among the many member profiles we highlighted throughout the year.
Campbells
The other Top 10 posts on Alabama Retail’s Facebook page featured Campbell Hardware & Sporting Goods’ 75th anniversary (12,305 impressions) and words of wisdom from Rusty Richardson at Bernard’s Store for Men in Jasper (almost 10,000 impressions).
Jamie Pursell
About 400 read our online profile of Jamie Pursell, proprietor of Birmingham’s Leaf & Petal, making it the most read Member Profile online. Almost 300 read our feature on Jay Welborn, a partner with B&W Foods, operating as Piggly Wiggly Tuscaloosa.
All of the member profiles that appear in our Alabama Retailer magazine are posted on our website and shared socially.
TOPS ON LINKEDIN
Rush Crawford & Alex Gatewood
Alabama Retail’s top Linked In post of 2021 linked to our November profile of The Locker Room in Tuscaloosa, founded in 1964 by Alex Gatewood. Comments from former employees included: “Learned a lot about retail and had some epic store experiences” and “Learned more at The Locker Room than I did in MBA school!”
Bud Skinner
Sadly, the second most seen Linked In post was our tribute to the late Bud Skinner, founder/owner of Jubilee Seafood and Bud’s Bar & Grill in Montgomery. Bud died April 19, 2021, after a brief illness.
TOP EVENT AND TOP VIDEOS
Our top video of 2021 related to the top event of 2021 – Alabama’s back-to-school sales tax holiday, which happens every year in July. The video link on Facebook reached more than 21,000. Other top videos of the year included:
- Cothran’s Bakery King Cake
- Father’s Day featuring Renfroe’s Market, Chris’ Hot Dogs, Mobley & Sons, Gregerson Foods, Spiller Furniture and Jimmy Smith Jewelers
- It’s Been A Year (How Alabama retailers weathered first year of COVID-19)
- 2021 Alabama Retailers of the Year
TOP TWEETS HIGHLIGHT RETAIL’S ABILITY TO BOUNCE BACK
The only Alabama Retail social media channel where the coronavirus came out on top in 2021 was Twitter. A March tweet thanking Gov. Kay Ivey for giving employers ample time to communicate with customers and employees about the lifting of the state’s mask mandate garnered the most notice. The second highest engaging Alabama Retail tweet pointed out the resilience of Alabama retailers: Taxed spending in Alabama hasn’t just bounced back, it has bounced beyond. The 41% gain in state sales tax collections for March/April is off the charts. Learn more at https://alretail.org/350PNv7 Continue to #ShopAlabama!
With more than 17,000 unique pageviews, the COVID-19 Resources post on alabamaretail.org continued to keep our readers up-to-date on the latest developments in 2021.
FOLLOW ALABAMA RETAIL AND SHOP ALABAMA
In 2022, follow Alabama Retail on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and LinkedIn.