The finalists of WOBA 2015 were announced at a Celebration of Business event at Abbott Diabetes Care last week. In the mark-making* Social Media Award category, we were thrilled to receive even more entries than last year. The quality of entries was overwhelming, and demonstrated that an impressive array of social media activity is taking place in businesses across the district. This in itself is great to see!

Businesses were definitely taking extra time and care to complete their entries, and really evaluating their own activities in the process. Many businesses are taking a step back to look at the whole picture, explaining what sort of things they measure to gauge their success, and how they collect those results. In doing this, they have provided us with clear evidence of the real, tangible impact that social media has had on their business. And, ultimately, they’ve shown us how much money they make on their investment.

We would like to say a huge thank you to everyone who entered the mark-making* Social Media Award category, and to congratulate our three finalists without further ado!

• Shakeshop
  Shakeshop use social media to increase footfall and sales. With a good balance between promotion and conversation, they keep up on going engagement across all channels, and their personalities and customer service style really shine through in their exchanges.

• Sheepskin
  Sheepskin use social media as a research tool to improve audience understanding. They use it as an avenue for driving bookings and, in turn, income. Running competitions through social media has helped to boost newsletter signups and increase exposure.

• Smart Photography’s sub-brand, Smart Boudoir
  Smart Boudoir use social media to empower women, through testimonials, true stories and photography. They use social media as a selling tool, with a balance between self-promotion and sincere engagement. They protect clients’ interests and can control all communications and interactions.

They are all smaller businesses, from totally different industries, each with a different physical set-up. All demonstrated great practice on social media, but also put together really excellent applications, giving us all the information we needed to understand the impact social media has on their businesses.

In the interviews, the basics were all there, and these finalists in particular were well-prepared, with data to hand that explained their achievements. On the whole, we were really pleased with the improving quality of entries and level of knowledge we’re seeing. Keep it up West Oxfordshire!

We’re really looking forward to the awards night, and seeing which businesses will come out on top in the other Award categories. To keep up with the latest from the West Oxfordshire Business Awards on Twitter, follow @wobateam and the hashtags #woba2015, #wobaopensdoors