How Small-Town (Local) Businesses can Benefit from Twitter
March 7, 2010
How Small-Town (Local) Businesses can Benefit from TwitterThis is a guest post by Greg Elwell of Zephyr Marketing LLC located in Benicia, CA. Greg blogs on topics involving personal branding and how local businesses can use social media to become more visible, credible and remarkable. He’s @gregelwell and @ZephyrMarketing on Twitter.
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Twitter is a big deal. The Global Language Monitor declared “Twitter” the most popular English word of 2009. With 75 million users as of January 2010, the 140 character micro-blogging and communications platform has proven its popularity among the followers of big brands like @zappos, personal brands like @APlusK (Ashton Kutcher), and media stalwarts the likes of @CNN.
If you’re a local business in a small town none of the above matters too much. But if you could use Twitter to engage with the 100 to 200 or more Twitter users in and around your marketplace in a way that translates into business value, well that just might get you tweeting.
You may, for example be able to generate greater awareness and find ways to better serve your customers which in turn can lead to increased business by effectively using Twitter.
That’s exactly what a modest, Houston, TX based independent coffee shop called Coffee Groundz did. After trying print ads, radio spots and other forms of traditional advertising (and finding nothing seemed to work), J.R. Cohen, managing partner of the coffee shop started using Twitter in an informal way to interact with friends and customers.
One tweet led to another and it wasn’t terribly long before the word spread and the local @coffeegroundz business was “taking their orders (via Twitter), posting tweets about the local music scene and giving tips on how to make better coffee at home,” according to a Twitter success story published by MarketingProfs.
As of this writing, the @coffegroundz Twitter account has over 9,700 followers and J.R. reported business had increased 20 to 30 percent since using Twitter. The Coffee Groundz case study story is also available online in a free guide provided by Twitter: The Twitter 101 Guide for Business. Also check out the Teusner Wines case study along with others that will give you more insights and ideas on how you can benefit from Twitter.
Taking the example of the Coffee Groundz successful use of Twitter to benefit their business, there are several key ways you too can use Twitter to benefit your local, small-town business:
1. Get connected with local people. When Cohen first started using Twitter he connected with friends and current customers. This shouldn’t be hard for you to do. There are free online tools like TweepSearch (http://tweepsearch.com) or TwitSeeker (http://twitseeker.com) you can use that will search bio’s and location profile settings of users in your city and state. Click to follow them and there’s a good chance they’ll follow you back. Also, be sure to fill out your Twitter profile completely and enter your city and state in the location field – this will aid in helping you be found and followed by others in your vicinity.
Do a Google search on “find local twitter users” and you’ll find a ton of ideas and tools to help you build your local following. Here’s one from the Mashable site called, “Local Tweets: 9 Ways to Find Twitter Users in Your Town.”
Tell everyone who does business with you you’re on Twitter and ask them to follow you. Put your Twitter handle (@username) on give-away items, on your business cards and other collateral – just as you do your address and phone number. Put a link to your Twitter page in your email signature. Add a “Follow me on Twitter” link to your website or blog that will take folks to your Twitter page.
Also, log in to your Twitter account, go to the “Profile” tab and be sure to add the URL to your website or blog. Now, when Twitter users check out your Twitter page they may click the “Web” link to visit your site and check out what you have going on. Consider having a custom landing page on your website or blog that links from the Web URL on your Twitter profile page. Then, when people click on your Twitter Web link they are taken to your landing page and presented with more info about you and what you may offer them through your Twitter activity.
2. Engage with your followers. Please note, I didn’t say, “Start spreading the word about your business deals!” This is the biggest mistake I see twitterers’ doing: A constant barrage of tweets broadcasting information about their business – and little or nothing else. Start tweeting like you’d chat with others at a cocktail party or networking event. You can’t overly promote yourself – that’s viewed as being rude and self-serving. Instead, share a mix of personal stuff with interesting and helpful information your followers would find interesting and useful.
Cohen, for example, shared insights on the local music scene and tips on how to make a great cup of coffee at home. Your local followers must get to know, like and trust you before they’ll be receptive to your business info. Remember, Twitter is a “social networking” tool. It’s not a broadcast advertising platform.
Part of engagement is to first listen. Recently, I heard the Maestro of the Vallejo Symphony, David Ramadanoff say, “The first job of the director is to listen.” And here we thought it was all about waving that wand all around! Get on Twitter, spend some time there, and scan the tweets as a conductor would his sheet of music. Listen to what’s being played out in the Twitter stream and then jump in to engage someone in friendly conversation.
And, as you do listen and engage, like J.R. Cohen at the Coffee Groundz, you’ll discover more ways to meet the needs of your customers than you can possibly imagine. As an example, one of the things Cohen started doing was to take orders via Twitter’s Direct Message feature for people who were running late, or were sitting outside the shop with their dog. “I’ll even bring my customer’s dog a bowl of water,” remarked Cohen.
3. Use reverse-marketing techniques. By this I mean when you do tweet information about your business, some promotion, special deal, discount, 2-for, or exclusive offer, make it seem like it’s not a direct, in your face marketing pitch. Instead, make it fun, make a game out of it, do it in a soft-sell way.
Check out the Twitter for Business 101 Guide. Under “best practices” it says, “Think about Twitter as a place to build relationships…Instead of approaching Twitter as a place to broadcast information about your company, think of it as a place to build relationships.”
Market like Sprinkles Cupcakes (@sprinkles). Every day they send out a tweet something like this: “Super rich! The first 25 people to whisper ‘ganache’ at each Sprinkles receive a free triple chocolate cupcake!” (Granted, they’re not really doing step 2, engaging with their followers in conversation, but they’re connecting with them in a way that is fun and meaningful.) The big idea here is to be creative, experiment, have fun with it and keep the focus on benefiting your followers – not you!
“My advice to businesses (using Twitter) is to just be yourself. That will take you farther than you could ever imagine.” – J.R. Cohen, Coffee Groundz
4. Attend or organize a Tweetup. Tweetups are a gathering of people in a local community using Twitter. The common ground is a desire to network offline with others who believe in the power of Twitter to build community and as a social media marketing tool.
Cohen started hosting tweetups at the Coffee Groundz too. His biggest event was the Obama inauguration organized just 24 hours before the event. According to the MarketingProfs case study: “More than 250 people showed up to drink coffee, nosh on sandwiches and watch history being made.”
Be on the lookout for a Tweetup coming to your town soon! You can use a free service like MeetUp to find or start a MeetUp/TweetUp event near you. And, here’s information on “HOW TO: Organize a Successful Tweetup” on Mashable.
So, there are 4 keys to get you and your local business better engaged with using Twitter. Used thoughtfully, Twitter can help build relationships, generate awareness and become a big deal for local businesses, even in a small town.
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5 Reasons Every Small Business Needs a Blog– Part II
January 13, 2010
5 Reasons Every Small Business Needs a Blog– Part IIHere are the other two reasons small businesses need to blog. (Continued from Part 1 on January 10, 2010. You can view Part I below) and a few myths, debunked.
4. It opens a dialogue/engages with your target market- What a better way to get your audience / target market engaged than by writing provocative and thoughtful blogs? You can use your blog to do research even. Ask a question and invite people to comment. Learn about what is missing in your industry or what your readers would like to learn about – and respond to those comments. Voila – you are engaging your audience – you are getting them interested in your subject matter. Even if they don’t post comments, they have clicked on some link somewhere to come to your blog, so you have already engaged them. With an RSS feed on your blog, readers can subscribe, so every time you post something new they automatically get it. This is how you build a following.
5. It broadens your audience. How many new prospects do you talk to on a daily basis? Really? Yes, you may belong to some networking groups; you may even do some cold calling. But what if you could get people to want to come to you? That is what blogging does. Again, writing relevant and helpful content will draw people that you would never be able to reach with your usual sales tactics. The great thing about social media and blogs is that people share them! Yes – if they read something they like, they’ll post it to twitter, Facebook, or LinkedIn – or in some cases all three. Think about how that expands your reach and broadens your audience. And the best part – it’s free!!! Yes, you may need to spend an hour or so writing something a couple of times a week – but how many cold calls would you have to make to reach the same number of people you an reach online with great content (potentially thousands in seconds!)
Blogging Myths:
Blogs are for teeny-boppers and diarists: Sure, that may be how they started, but every great idea the concept has expanded and been improved upon. Almost all major companies are writing blogs and using them as a way to reach out to their customers and potential customers in a more casual, fun and educational way than they’ve done with traditional advertising. Because blogs have roots in the teeny-bopper diarist world they allow us to be a little more casual; allowing us to use our own voice. So have fun with it! Find the inner writer in you.
Blogs are just advertisements: Some people thing blogs are all about selling their product or service. And while that may be the ultimate goal, blogs are really about bringing people to you based on content they want to read. No one is going to visit your blog to be sold. But they will come to learn something new or to be reminded of something with a fun and engaging story.
I have a website, a blog is redundant: Absolutely WRONG for all the reasons I gave above. Blogs also allow you to expand on your traditional marketing messaging in your blog, explain things a little more, and tell stories, share experience and expertise. They also allow you to archive and organized content, so content will always be there for your website visitors to access.
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5 Reasons Why Every Small Business Needs a Blog – Part I
January 10, 2010
5 Reasons Why Every Small Business Needs a Blog – Part II preach to small businesses every day about the necessity of having a blog. For me it’s a no-brainer: but then I’m a daily drinker of the marketing/social media/blogging Kool-Aid Cocktail. So I wanted to write this blog to explain to those who don’t eat, breathe, sleep and dream marketing and social media how a blog can help your small business.
So really why does a small business, say the quaint gift shop in Downtown Fairfield, CA or the fence builder in Anytown USA really need a blog? Does it really make sense? Well, I’m going to give you 5 good reasons why I think every small business needs a blog.
1. Blogging helps you get found. The fact is, blogging helps with SEO – that big scary acronym we in marketing and social media like to throw around is simply “Search Engine Optimization”. What does it mean in the real world? It simply means that every time you post fresh content to your website or blog, Google’s site-crawling robots jump up and down like high school cheerleaders hyped up on Red Bull cheering, “New content, New content, Rah Rah Rah.. Let’s Go!”
Search Engines love new stuff and their “spiders” will crawl sites with new, quality content more frequently. So the more you post, the more authoritative your site becomes. In the search engine world that means your chances of getting found when people start Googling “unique gifts in Fairfield, CA” or “fence repair in Anytown USA” will be greater.
2. Blogging builds trust. What is marketing? Marketing is getting people who have a need to know like, trust, and want to buy from you. How are people going to get to know like and trust you if you hang out in your store or office all day and they never get to hear all of your wonderful and creative ideas, experience and expertise?
Blogging is such a great way to reach large numbers of people (yes even local people) that you would never be able to reach offline. By writing quality blogs about your industry, your customers, and your business – making it fun and informative (and without selling) your target market is going to start realizing that you know your stuff. They are going to start turning to you as a trusted source and an educator. People like to buy from competent businesses. We as consumers want to trust our fence builder, chiropractor, or marketing coach before we even work with them. How can we do that if we don’t know them? Blogging gives us, as small businesses the perfect avenue for showing people that we know our stuff; we are knowledgeable, friendly, consistent, and maybe even kinda fun!
3. Blogging positions you as an expert. In addition to building trust blogging allows you to show the world how much you know about your business and industry. Blogging is a way to tell masses of people all at once that you understand them; you know how to solve their problem or fulfill their need. By telling stories and sharing facts and tips and advice you are not only telling, but demonstrating that you are an authority in your field.
By writing helpful and thoughtful content, you are building trust and qualifying yourself as a go-to resource for information; creating that great top-of-mind awareness we all want when our prospects make the move to buy!
OK- I’m going to stop here for today or this post will be too long and I’ll lose you!
Check back on Wednesday for 2 more reasons why every small business needs a blog, plus I’ll address some common myths about blogs. If you’re worried you’ll forget to check back, subscribe to my blog by clicking on the Subscribe button on the top right and side of the page above the Facebook box.
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