From group events to discussion boards, club-specific leaderboards and promotional giveaways, we’re seeing brands, teams, individual groups and shops use Clubs in some really creative ways.
Earlier this year we worked with Specialized to develop some additional functionality for our Club pages, specifically for bike shops. Once these were all set up, we ran a contest to see which stores could build their Club membership the most. There were three winners of the contest – Art’s Cyclery, Goodale’s, and Liberty Bikes.
We caught up with each of them to learn more about how they’ve used this opportunity to engage with their local community and get customers involved.
Art’s Cyclery
The thirty year old bike shop located in San Luis Obispo, CA has built quite the following and now has over 550 members in their Club. Art’s Cyclery uses their Club as a way to connect with serious cyclists, as well as those that are new to the sport. They’ve also found that it’s a good way for customers to connect with each other and find like-minded individuals that ride the way they do.
We’ve had great success by cross promoting our Strava club with other social media platforms. Creating contests that inspire people has also been very effective. – Tom
They try to boost the social aspect of the club by developing contests that get people out riding together. They figure if they’re having fun, they’ll tell their friends and grow the club, while giving the shop an opportunity to provide them with deals on products.
The shop hosts events on a regular basis that are usually aimed at bringing new people into the cycling community, and they also host cycling-related book tours and speaking engagements. They hope to grow the sport by providing a positive experience to new cyclists while helping them navigate the sometimes rough waters of cycling culture.
Goodale’s
New to Strava but not the community, the New Hampshire based store was founded in 1919. They’ve built their Club by talking it up in the shop. After a bike is sold, while the customer waits for the mechanic to put on the final touches, they will ask if they have a smartphone (or just notice that they do) and take the opportunity to talk about Strava. Most of their employees can pull out their phone and show or talk about the app as well.
Goodale’s has a strong core of riders that go on their shop rides and they’ve always had a little competitiveness to them – putting them all in one place has just enhanced that sense of community and makes it all “official”. They say “It’s always funny to hear riders refer to local segment names as if they are common knowledge to anyone.” They’ve also found that their customers recommend the Club since it serves as the source of ride info for the store.
The Nashua, NH store has 3 weekly rides and on each one they include the event details and route for that particular night. They also find that tweeting out the details has been effective.
Here is one of their favorite routes called UNC:
Another way they’ve engaged athletes is through their annual GPS race where riders have 48 hours to complete each “stage”, which is really just a long Strava segment. The quickest time at the end of 4 stages in each age bracket wins.
Liberty Bikes
Located in the heart of downtown St. Catharines Ontario, Canada, Liberty Bike’s is a small shop that punches above their weight. They believe their strength is in their people. The shop hosts big rides, events, and races to build community.
After using Strava Clubs more, they see their potential in being an athlete-specific social media channel for them. Through the Club, they can connect with clients and follow their adventures and progress. They also host group rides four days a week: two off-road, and two road. To get beginners involved, they have rides specifically geared to them. They’ve even talked about hosting special Strava-specific events.
For now they are trying to use the Club be more inclusive and low on intimidation so that people can jump in on the appropriate ride for them. The employees at Liberty Bike’s are all into something a little different: for some it’s about training, or Tri, or off-road. They even goof around with bike-polo. This helps in being able to connect with a variety of athletes.
—
We know there are many amazing Clubs on Strava and we’re working to provide enhanced shop-specific features for everyone. Let us know what things you’ve been doing to communicate, coordinate and engage your community through Clubs. Add comments below!