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Hartsville highlights event growth and social-media reach as tools to boost downtown business
Summary
Staff reported rising attendance at downtown events (based on anonymized cell-phone data), stronger event partnerships with Coker College, and large increases in social-media engagement; council discussed how to convert event visitors into downtown customers and whether to budget for additional marketing or lighting improvements.
City Manager Daniel and staff reviewed recent event metrics and marketing work, telling council that downtown festivals and partnerships with Coker College have produced substantial attendance gains and that social-media engagement is up sharply.
Staff presented anonymized cell-phone estimates showing Treats on the Street combined attendance rising to thousands across downtown and Coker campus, noted a near-1,000-person increase for National Night Out after rescheduling, and said some events produced measurable increases in downtown restaurant business.
"People are responding. They're very excited to see our staff out there," Daniel said, describing full programs, wait lists for some rec offerings and a boost in rental and registration revenue after the city assumed recreation programming from the county.
Council discussed merchant concerns that some businesses close during large events or see reduced daytime sales; others said events bring evening customers into restaurants. Staff proposed follow-up work to encourage merchants to capture more event-driven sales and to model modest capital spending to improve event lighting and stage infrastructure.
Staff also described digital-marketing gains (three-second views and one-minute views rising substantially) and said the city secured marketing grants and a free promotional video from the National League of Cities. They asked council which marketing investments to prioritize in the upcoming budget.
Staff will return with options for marketing spend, small capital improvements for event infrastructure, and metrics to measure how events translate into downtown business revenue.
