Two years ago, Tampico Beverages Inc. wasn’t making much of a splash on social networks. “We had a Facebook page and an application, but we weren’t really producing results,” says Marta Gerdes, the juice beverage manufacturer’s vice president of marketing.

But in 2012 Tampico’s marketing department developed a social media campaign to attract followers on Facebook and Twitter. Gerdes said Tampico wanted to build connections with consumers because the manufacturer’s products primarily appeal to younger consumers, and those shoppers typically spend a lot of time on social networks. But the manufacturer had to be creative, she says.

That’s why it developed a game last year on Facebook enabling consumers to decorate and then smash a virtual piñata for a chance to win a grand prize of a Fiat 500 car. To enter the sweepstakes, two contestants had to enter as a pair. When someone completed the game, she had to send a link to the game, along with a message, to one or more friends on Facebook. When one of those friends played the game, the two contestants were entered into the sweepstakes. That approach helped the manufacturer add between 800 and 1,200 Facebook followers a day during the four-month contest, she says.

Gerdes will explain how Tampico created the game, and developed Tampico’s broader social media strategy, on June 6 during her presentation “Engaging customers who are already bombarded with social media” at the Internet Retailer Conference & Exhibition 2013 in Chicago.

Besides the piñata game, Tampico last year rolled out a campaign that incorporates a combination of media: paid Facebook and Twitter ads, the brand’s own posts and what consumers have posted and shared about Tampico on social networks. Before the marketing effort, the brand had few Likes of its page or Twitter followers, Gerdes says. Sixteen months later it has more than 58,000 Likes of its Facebook page and nearly 1,800 Twitter followers. More followers means more consumers will see its messages, she says.

Internet Retailer editors asked Gerdes to speak because of her broad marketing experience. Prior to joining Tampico Beverages in 2011, she worked at McDonald’s Corp. where she oversaw domestic, international and global marketing programs.