Chamber-funded influencer pilot reaches tens of thousands of views; merchants report no clear sales data yet

Laura (speaker 5) told the committee the group was awarded $3,000 that was used to fund visits by local Instagram influencers through a Chamber gift-card program. "We were granted $3,000 that we put into the Chamber gift card," she said.

She reported contracting four influencers who visited downtown and profiled shops and restaurants; she cited performance metrics for several posts: Traveling Bliss (~3,000 views), CT Diary (~7,500 views), Kelsey Nyman (~21,000 views) and Connecticut Life (~18,900 views). Laura said the influencers produced 'day in the life' content highlighting downtown shopping and dining.

Laura said she selected influencers on the basis of authentic engagement, with help from Alan Magrino of the Chamber board and associated PR contacts. She said the program is a "leap of faith" because direct correlations between posts and merchant sales are difficult to measure; staff will circle back to merchants for follow-up data.

Laura also previewed the weekend Stroll (Friday night), listing regular vendors and attractions and noting that Laurent Ranch will bring a vendor called Rising Star with mini ponies in a corral (no riding). She asked committee members to share posts promoting the downtown lights fundraising she’s leading; the Chair said the lights program costs "about $35,000."