After a whole month of intensive judging we are happy to announce the finalists of the mark-making* Social Media Award at this year’s West Oxfordshire Business Awards (WOBA). This year’s Entrants’ Celebration event took place at AirTanker, Brize Norton, an unusual and exciting venue to hear the news, coupled with a tour of the premises.

We are very grateful to see that the WOBA Social Media Award, sponsored by us this year, was so popular amongst local businesses, of all shapes and sizes. Nic and Kasia had an enjoyable time visiting the diverse entrants to the award, interviewing them for the judging process. They were inspired by their use of and devotion to social media, and the sheer quality of this county’s businesses made the decision of choosing finalists a very difficult job.

We judged the entrants by evaluating them on their evidence of strategy, creativity, implementation, and results. This approach looked at the full circle of social media activity; as crucial as it is that implementation is based on strategy, creativity, and best practice, ultimately what matters is the results.

The decision was not an easy one but after a few days of debating, we decided to honour the following three businesses:

• Feathered Nest
• Just Fabrics
• SpecialEffect

Each of these entrants showed excellence in the way they are using social media for brand awareness, customer service, and marketing. They can become a great example for others by proving the potential of social media as a promotional and advertising tool.

 

Feathered Nest is a country pub and restaurant located in the picturesque village of Nether Westcote, nestled in the heart of the Cotswolds Area Of Natural Beauty. They are not only famous for their delicious cuisines, but their mouth-watering tweets of food, taken by the head chef.

 

Just Fabrics is a curtain fabric shop, providing designer fabric, upholstery fabric, and curtain material, online and from their shops in Cheltenham and Burford. They don’t just have pretty fabrics, but very eye-catching Facebook and Pinterest accounts, which will surprise you in their creativity.

 

SpecialEffect is a UK charity dedicated to providing specialist technology, advice, and support for everyone to benefit from the fun, friendship, and inclusion of video games. They’re “putting fun and inclusion back into the lives of people with disabilities by helping them to play video games.” They are turning tweets and Facebook posts into awareness tools, showing how donations and fundraising activities are changing the lives of many.

We would like to thank everyone who entered the Social Media Award. Thank you for taking the time to complete the application form and prepare for the interviews. Even if you haven’t made it as a finalist, we were impressed by everyone who entered and we are very much looking forward to following your progress.

Keep up the good work and always be looking for ways to take your social media to the next level. We look forward to seeing you at the awards dinner on the 14th of March.