Five Small Businesses Win Digital Facelift from American Express OPEN at …

NEW YORK, Jul 25, 2011 (BUSINESS WIRE) –
The voting is over and the results are in. Five small businesses are
headed to Palo Alto, CA to get personal tutorials to learn how to make
social media work for them at Facebook.
Out of more than 11,000 entries, five winners of the “Facebook
Big Break for Small Business” contest can rest easy knowing they are
headed to Facebook with $20,000 to help them optimize their social media
presence and grow.

The winners are:

        Winner                           Name of Business  Location             Type of Business
        ------------------------------   -------------------------------------   -------------------------------------------------
        Dawn S. Grosvenor                HOPELight Media, LLC in Plano, TX       Activity magazine for children with special needs
        ------------------------------   -------------------------------------   -------------------------------------------------
        Darquia and Gordon Biffle        Big Daddy's Bar-B-Que in Gary, IN       BBQ eatery services
        ------------------------------   -------------------------------------   -------------------------------------------------
        Lisa  Bud Lefevre               Distinctive Gardens Inc. in Dixon, IL   Garden center
        ------------------------------   -------------------------------------   -------------------------------------------------
        Mark A. Carson  Karen Carson    Fat Brain Toys in Elkhorn, NE           Toy retailer
        ------------------------------   -------------------------------------   -------------------------------------------------
        Stephen D. Fraser  Gart Davis   Spoonflower in Durham, NC               Fabric design and printing service
        ------------------------------   -------------------------------------   -------------------------------------------------
        

Background:

American
Express OPEN and Facebook teamed up to create the “Facebook Big
Break for Small Business” contest to give five small business owners
access to social media experts. Through one-on-one consultations in a
classroom setting, the five winners will receive valuable insights that
they can implement in real-time while they’re at Facebook. American
Express will also package lessons from the contest to help educate other
small businesses on how to better leverage Facebook for their marketing
efforts. The content will be available on OPEN
Forum, American Express’ award-winning online resource and
networking site for small business owners.

“Social media marketing is rapidly moving from nice-to-have to must-have
for small businesses,” said Julie Fajgenbaum, Vice President, Brand and
Social Media, American Express OPEN. “These five businesses have great
potential and will make excellent case studies for the millions of small
business owners out there who are looking to accelerate their social
media marketing efforts in order to grow.”

“We’ve always been committed to small businesses, and we’re inspired by
their initiative to adopt Facebook and use it to find new customers,
grow new communities and bring people into their stores,” said Adele
Cooper, Director of Global Customer Marketing and Communications at
Facebook. “Any company, big or small can use Facebook to be more social
and harness the power of word-of-mouth marketing at scale.”

The Specifics

Each winner will be tutored on how to maximize the power of Facebook to
better market their businesses, products and services to their existing
customer base, and target new customer segments. Each will get practical
and personal training on best practices for using Facebook
Pages, Ads
and Social
Plugins, and will also receive consultation about their current use
of Facebook. All expenses will be covered.

To enter the “Facebook Big Break for Small Business” contest, small
business owners submitted answers to a short questionnaire describing
how they would utilize the competition’s winnings to better their
business. From the more than 11,000 entrants, a panel of judges
including Laura Fink of American Express, Adele Cooper of Facebook, Guy
Kawasaki of Alltop
and John Battelle of Federated Media chose ten finalists based on the
following criteria: commitment to their business and growth; overall
social media need where Facebook could improve their business; and
energy and enthusiasm for small business. Fans of American Express
OPEN’s Facebook page then voted for their five favorite small businesses
based on videos of the business owners explaining why they deserved to
win. All ten finalists won $2,500 in Facebook advertising to help them
target and acquire new customers.

American Express and Facebook

Earlier this year, American Express OPEN and Facebook teamed to offer
OPEN Cardmembers the ability to pay for Facebook Ads using Membership
Rewards(R) points, marking the first time any company has connected a
rewards program to advertising spend in this way. Cardmembers can redeem
Membership Rewards points for Facebook Ads through American Express
OPEN’s Facebook Page at facebook.com/OPEN
or the Membership Rewards program website at membershiprewards.com.

American Express OPEN also unveiled a first-of-its-kind marketing tool, “Go
Social,” for small business merchants to create and distribute
coupon-less cardmember offers for mobile users of Facebook Places and
other location-based social networks, this past week. The announcement
was a part of American Express’ “Link, Like, Love,” the unique
application on Facebook(R) that delivers cardmember deals and experiences
based on the likes, interests and social connections of cardmembers and
their Facebook friends.

In 2010, American Express and Facebook partnered on Small
Business Saturday, a day designed to recognize the importance of
shopping at small, independently owned businesses. Small Business
Saturday falls on the day after Black Friday. Small Business Saturday
2011 will be held on November 26.

About American Express OPEN

American Express OPEN is the leading payment card issuer for small
businesses in the United States and supports business owners with
products and services to help them run and grow their businesses. This
includes business charge and credit cards that deliver purchasing power,
flexibility, rewards, savings on business services from an expanded
lineup of partners and online tools and services designed to help
improve profitability. Learn more at
www.OPEN.com
and connect with us at
www.openforum.com ,

www.facebook.com/open
and
www.twitter.com/openforum .

American Express is a global services company, providing customers with
access to products, insights and experiences that enrich lives and build
business success. Learn more at
www.americanexpress.com
and connect with us on
www.facebook.com/americanexpress ,

www.twitter.com/americanexpress
and
www.youtube.com/americanexpress .

Facebook(R) is a registered trademark of Facebook Inc.

SOURCE: American Express OPEN

        
        Media: 
        M Booth for American Express OPEN 
        Sal Della Monica 
        212-539-3272 
        sald@mbooth.com 
        or 
        American Express OPEN 
        Rosa M. Alfonso 
        212-640-1712 
        rosa.m.alfonso@aexp.com
        

Copyright Business Wire 2011

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