Premium ContentMouse over Home then click on Premium Content for information.In a few weeks, Fat Brain Toys' owner Mark Carson will head to California to learn how to make the most of social media for his Elkhorn neighborhood-based toy company.
Fat Brain Toys was announced Monday as one of five winners of the American Express Open Big Break for Small Business contest. The online toy seller got 7,169 votes. The company will receive one-on-one tutelage from Facebook staff on how to use social media to boost business and a $20,000 social media marketing budget to put its plan into action.
"It's great to finally see the other winners and get to share this with the world," said Carson, who owns Fat Brain Toys and Fat Brain Toy Co. with his wife, Karen. He's had to keep the win a secret since the middle of last week.
Other contest winners, in order of votes received, are Big Daddy's Bar-B-Que, a restaurant in Gary, Ind., with 9,825 votes; HOPELights of Plano, Texas, which produces customized magazines for children with disabilities, with 6,988 votes; Distinctive Gardens garden center in Dixon, Ill., with 6,385 votes; and SpoonFlower of Durham, N.C., which allows customers to design their own fabrics, with 4,964 votes. Each of the winning companies will receive the trip to Facebook headquarters and the cash prize.
"I thought it was going to be a complete toss-up," Carson said. "These are really cool companies with great stories. We're really, really grateful to be up there with the rest of them."
American Express Open and Facebook selected 10 finalists in June after receiving more than 11,000 entries from small businesses across the country. Voting lasted for two weeks in early July.
The finalists were selected based on a variety of factors, said Julie Fajgenbaum, vice president of brand marketing and social media for American Express Open.
FatBrainToys.com, she said, already has a loyal customer following and the company is "early in their evolution" of social media marketing.
Together, that makes the company a prime case study for how businesses can make social media work for them and build over time.
But, she said, it was up to each of the companies selected to drive voters to the Facebook page where votes were cast.
Each of the five winning companies will be an actual case study, prepared by Open and available as a resource for businesses around the country.
Fat Brain Toys, an online educational toy store, was founded in 2002 in the Carsons' Elkhorn-area basement. The wholesale original toy company followed in 2006, then a bricks-and-mortar store near Village Pointe and a direct mail catalog. Its toys now are shipped around the world.
Contact the writer:
402-444-1037, michaela.saunders@owh.com
twitter.com/SaundersM
Copyright ©2012 Omaha World-Herald®. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, displayed or redistributed for any purpose without permission from the Omaha World-Herald.
