YouBar Gets A "Thumbs Up" - From "The New Pepsi Generation"
By Jean Erickson
September 2009
YouBar, a customized energy bar that lets you choose the ingredients and also name the bar, is a small but rapidly growing online, social media success story. Founded three years ago by business school graduate Anthony Flynn and his mother, Ava Bise, the start-up company (www.youbars.com) has grown sales 200% annually, thanks to a savvy online social media marketing campaign. Using a “bottom-up” approach to spreading the word doesn’t cost a penny, according to Flynn, whose initial marketing effort involved advertising his unique customized protein bar concept on Google Ads. From this humble online start, YouBar has gained a following, increased sales, received heavy press coverage online, in print and on television, and the company is even in talks with a major TV network about possibly being the subject of a reality show, Flynn says.
Social media efforts have been extremely important in promoting YouBar; since the business is completely online, “There is no storefront,” says Joel Lipman, YouBar director of sales and marketing. “We wanted to get people to our Web site, and the company was working with a very lean budget … we didn’t have capital to spend on advertising.” Company owner Flynn says that after initially advertising his brand on Google, he literally “stumbled upon” a Web site called www.stumbleupon.com, which helps users to discover and share Web sites that would not ordinarily show up using search engines. The site uses a thumbs-up or thumbs-down rating system to form collaborative opinions on Web site quality. Flynn submitted information about his site to StumbleUpon in December of 2007, and promptly received 4,500 visits on the first day the site carried YouBars. “We were definitely not prepared for such a big response,” Flynn says, adding that the company ramped up and rose to the occasion to meet the demand.
From there YouBar hit the smaller blogs. Flynn says the more personal blogs are “where it’s at” in the social media world. According to Flynn, some of these sites may only have five to 20 readers, but they’re very influential and easy to get on, unlike some of the larger blogs, which can be “elitist” at times. The small bloggers read each other’s sites and gather information, slowly grow, and then the massive blogs quickly take notice within a couple of weeks, Flynn explains. Once your product gets onto the larger blogs, such as www.dailycandy.com, “You don’t have to convince The New York Times to cover you,” he adds.
Despite the undeniable influence of the blogging community, established mainstream publications like The New York Times still wield considerable clout. Flynn, who traditionally sets his Blackberry to vibrate when YouBar orders are received, says that when the Times covered YouBar in February of 2008, his Blackberry vibrated continuously, causing its batteries to die. YouBar received more orders in one day from the Times article than the company normal totals for a couple of months, says Flynn, noting that orders were backed up for months as a result. Now, though, YouBar can handle anything. Except maybe Oprah – “I might have a heart attack if that happened,” Flynn laughs.
Fans can follow YouBar on Facebook and Twitter, and leave messages on a company message board as well as post blogs on the YouBar Web site. A recently filmed YouTube video tells the YouBar story, using an engaging, casual, non-scripted manner to introduce the friends and family that make up the company. Digg, Delicious, LinkedIn, Wikipedia, Yelp – yep, YouBar uses them all. Flynn, 25 years old, says he “grew up on social media,” while the concept was “foreign” to his mother. “Twitter, Facebook … it’s endless what you can do,” says Flynn, adding that these methods “take a small amount of time … and are nearly free!” – JE
