By Subcontractors USA News Provider
The Small Business & Entrepreneurship Dept. is always looking for innovative and creative ways to increase our outreach and get more business owners to bid on County contracts or register as a supplier. One of these tools that have been effective is our social media channels and our hashtag campaign, #BidAlerts.
Since starting the #BidAlert posts in October of 2017, there have been 100 alerts that have gone out. These solicitations have as much variety as the businesses that bid on them, ranging from heavy equipment repair and drainage work to marketing and accounting needs.
The response on social media has had a major impact on small, minority, and women business owners seeing active formal solicitations. Since the start of the program, we have had more than 40,000 impressions over the 100 bid alerts we have posted.
“By posting to multiple outlets at once, we allow business owners to follow us and find the information they need on the platform they choose,” says SMWBE Analyst Brian Willeford. “The goal is to make it easier and make businesses more aware of the opportunities, and we have done a great job at that.”
Using a variety of social media channels, #BidAlert posts are seen by a wide range of business owners, resource partners, organizations, and individuals that may be unaware of the opportunity otherwise.
2018 saw a record number of new businesses register to do business with Bexar County, with 880 businesses now registered. That is a 8.3% increase from the fiscal year of 2017, from 5,953 to 6833.
In addition to setting records with the number of registrants, we also saw a substantial increase in the number of submissions per bid opportunity. In 2016, before #BidAlerts started, we had 58 bids with a total of 212 responses – an average of 3.66 responses per bid. In FY2017, we had 44 events with 175 responses – an average of 3.98 responses per bid. In 2018, once #BidAlerts was in full swing, there were 37 events with 176 responses – an average of 4.76 responses. That represents a full extra bid per opportunity compared to the years before!
“Using the #BidAlerts initiative, we have increased participation from vendors, brought new companies to the table, and have increased awareness of Bexar County opportunities as they come out,” said Renee Watson, Director of the Small Business & Entrepreneurship Dept. “I am excited to see where this initiative will take us in the future!”
New #BidAlerts posts are made when the opportunity goes live in the Bexar County Supplier Portal. Be sure to follow our social media pages on your favorite platform and keep an eye out for #BidAlert posts that are important to your business!
Source: www.bexar.org
