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Susan Toalson sits in her office on Main Street in downtown Urbana. Her inbox is filled with more than 100 e-mails and still growing. Posters of upcoming events in Urbana cover the bulletin boards. Her iPhone buzzes to notify her that she has a new message.

“That’s the only reason I justify the iPhone, for the social media,” Toalson said.

Social media has been one of Toalson’s tools in her quest to revive the city of Urbana. Toalson is the executive director of the Urbana Business Association, an organization that seeks to promote the city of Urbana as an ideal location for business development. Since taking the position as executive director less than two years ago, Toalson, along with fellow members of the UBA, have made expanding Urbana, and particularly the downtown Main Street area, their mission. And expand it has. Since January 2008, more than seven new or relocated businesses have opened in the downtown Urbana area, with a few more looking to open by the end of the year.

In order to draw more action to what Toalson admitted was in years past a “somewhat stagnant” area, the UBA tried to think of new and inventive ways to get people out the door and into the streets of downtown Urbana. This summer, the UBA is looking to make a big marketing push with Second Saturday, an event that will take place the second Saturday of each month this summer in which local retailers will take to the street to promote their businesses. Toalson said the event was designed to draw some of the traffic from the weekly Farmers’ Market over to the Main Street area. Scott Schaub, the owner of the recently relocated Furniture Lounge, said it’s events like these that help him grow and develop his own business.

“It’s just one less thing we’ve got to worry about when we’ve got somebody on the ball like the UBA,” Schaub said. “We don’t have to worry as much about getting events situated and getting people down to the business. A lot of that is being taken care of.”

In addition to sponsoring more local events, the UBA also expanded its marketing approach beyond the standard outlets of newspapers, television and radio promotions to more modern methods via the social networking sites Facebook and Twitter, a weekly e-pamphlet that lists events going on each coming weekend and a Web site that is set to launch by the end of the year. Toalson said those tactics offer a quicker way of letting the greater community know what’s going on and of drawing foot traffic to the area.

“If we’re going to be sensitive to all the different age groups, we have to be sensitive to micro-marketing, and that’s having your Facebook, having your Twitter,” Toalson said. “We can be that positive edification for my businesses … I feel like our organization has a responsibility to help edify.”

But Toalson is also quick to say that the rapid expansion of the downtown area is not solely due to the efforts of the UBA. She credits as equally important the desire of the business owners themselves to see not only their own businesses grow but all the businesses in the area flourish.

“In this economy, it’s easy to be myopic because you’re worried about your bottom line,” Toalson said. “But [the business owners] are coming to it with the spirit of promoting everybody.”

That camaraderie among the individual business owners was one of the factors that inspired Buffy Vance, owner of the recently opened Madeline’s Confectionary Arts Studio and Gallery, to start her business in Urbana.

“If someone comes up to my gallery, I’ll tell them about the others,” Vance said. “Or when somebody comes in, I’ll ask them, ‘Well, how did you hear about me?’ Nine times out of 10, it’s one of the other businesses. I think we just all help each other. The more foot traffic down here, the better for everyone.”

The combination of dedicated and selfless business owners coupled with Toalson’s savvy business mentality has turned the Main Street area of downtown Urbana into one of the most attractive business locations in the area.

“I feel like there is something going on down here, some momentum happening,” said Sarah Compratt, who opened her store, Fleurish, in February of this year. “The city is really supportive and into it. They want to see new businesses.”

“Everything needs to be working together, and I feel like that’s really happening,” Toalson said. “Now you’re seeing businesses coming in, and I just think a lot of great things are happening all at the same time.”