If you’re looking to boost activity on your social media sites this season, take a page from Girardin Jeweler. Last year, the Valdosta, Ga., fine jewelry store had so much success with its first-ever “Pay It Mom*ward” giveaway—a hide-and-seek promotion designed to amp up Facebook activity—the retailer has reprised it for 2013.

Here’s how it works: Every weekday between April 29 and May 10, the shop will be “hiding” a gold and purple gift box containing a store gift certificate (valued at $200 or more) in a public location, offering clues to seekers on the company’s Facebook page, along with the Facebook page of local radio station 95.7FM. Clues are posted at 6 a.m., 10 a.m., and 2 p.m.—and even later, if the box hasn’t been found.

The flyer for Girardin Jewelers’ Mother’s Day promotion (courtesy of Girardin Jewelers)

Hints to the locations are fun and playful. For example, “Up the creek but you don’t need a paddle,” and “Great futures start here,” both led to someone finding a Girardin box outside the local Boys & Girls Club.

“It’s been a very exciting promotion in our community,” says Paxton Morris, owner and partner of Girardin Jewelers, who launched the promotion to “build our Facebook traffic and interaction.”

So far, the efforts are working. Girardin Jewelers has seen a spike in Facebook activity in the first three days of the promotion, adding 200 likes to its 8,000-strong fan base, and is on track to grow its online community by 8 to 10 percent during these two weeks, according to Morris. 

“We use Facebook pretty heavily since, as a whole, it does drive a lot of traffic to our store,” notes Morris. “It’s an easy way for us to communicate with customers we already know like us.”

Emili Vesilind

JCK Senior Editor