Emmaus' Main Street Moves to the Social Network

 With a Main Street known for its walkability, businesses in Emmaus have an interesting problem: Most of their customers come from out of town.

But merchants want local feet on the sidewalks, too, so they decided to put their best faces forward and started a “Shop Local” campaign in the stores and online.

A few business owners have posed for pictures in their stores, and then posters of them have been hung in the windows of other shops under the banner – SHOP LOCAL.

This is a sort of, get-to-know-your-local-merchant campaign that has one business advertising for another. But it’s also an effort to unite local stores and pull them into 21^st century.

“We are looking for new ways to reach our customers,” said Jill Killo, owner of Perk on Main. “Newspapers don’t work anymore, so we are helping people connect to us in other ways.”

That means the social network.

“There are several of us using Facebook and Twitter for our businesses on a daily basis,” said Julia Horn, owner of Iobst Travel; “however, we would like to increase that significantly.”

To that end, the campaign has created a Shop Local Shop Emmaus Facebook page; its Twitter account, @ShopEmmaus, will be up and running this week, according to Horn. 

“As you can see, our main focus is better communication, and social media will be a primary focus,” said Horn in an email.  “Our goal is to come together as a business community to make the LV, as well as the local community, aware of what Emmaus businesses have to offer, and help each other by cross-promotion.”

Horn is actively encouraging residents and business owners, to “Like” the Shop Local Facebook page to get updates on local merchants and receive any specials they are promoting.  

This new effort has actually been quietly underway for several weeks and came out of the Emmaus Main Street Program’s marketing committee. But the idea is more inclusive than that.

“For too long Emmaus businesses have been at odds with each other,” Killo said. “We have the Main Street Program and Shops of Emmaus – two groups working independently … Shop Local is an effort to show a united front.”

Teri Madison, executive director of the Emmaus Main Street Program, said, because of their work hours, many business owners have never actually met.

To solve that, the Shop Local committee has organized an old-fashioned, face-to-face, meet-and-greet at the Emmaus V.F.W. March 24, from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m.

The event will also serve as the official launch of the Shop Local campaign, and is open to all Emmaus business owners and principals.

Of course, the ultimate goal of this for storeowners, said Killo, is “Foot traffic, foot traffic, foot traffic.”

In today’s connected world, however, the route to that goal may not be Emmaus sidewalks, but customers’ laptops and cell phones.