Christchurch community given the opportunity to point and shoot – their own prize that is...

AMP Capital Shopping Centres recently asked 236 respondents in Christchurch a broad range of questions to understand how they combine social media with their shopping experiences.

The survey revealed that Christchurch shoppers regularly take to social media to find out or talk about shopping and 73.3% of those surveyed said they use Facebook or Twitter for this purpose. The Palms Shopping Centre has embraced this trend and regularly interacts with the 5,502 ‘likes’ on the centre’s Facebook page.

“Facebook has become a great way for us to connect with the local community,” says The Palms Shopping Centre Manager Simon Carter. “Because of the instantaneous nature of Facebook we can directly communicate with the community and give them information on events, activities and trends at the centre.”

In Christchurch, 65.3% of shoppers follow a particular brand or shopping centre on Facebook, so the audience at stake is huge. With shoppers embracing social media in this big way, The Palms Shopping Centre is running a campaign for the month of February called Pic Your Prize.

The competition will directly use social media as it invites shoppers to upload photos to The Palms website (www.thepalms.co.nz/picyourprize) and share via sites such as Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest. It is a simple concept – shoppers simply come into the centre and take a photo (using a Smartphone or camera) of something they would like to win, up to the value of $500. This is then uploaded to be entered into the draw.

Simon Carter sees the competition as a great way to further connect with the local community through social media. “Shoppers can literally select what they would like to win and all they have to do is take a picture of it and share. The initiative demonstrates The Palms’ commitment to embracing the changing face of technology within shopping.”

With 36 prizes up for grabs, shoppers can enter up to one photo a day, giving them many chances to win. There are also added incentives of extra prize entries for shoppers when they share their photo on designated social media channels. More information on the campaign can be found at www.thepalms.co.nz/picyourprize.