Can Social Media Save a Local Business?

my tweet – sorry @jasondtaylor

First you should name a sandwich, or drink, or combo meal after Chris Brogan!

I’m sure you do coupons right? Some on your website, some in the newspaper, some on the radio, or a partner company. Ask people from around the InterNETS to pay money to have a sandwich named after them (or the info on the coupon) that would include their URL, twitter handle, whatever for the day/week/month! The coupon they print, or have on their phone would have the information of the sponsor.

It give recognition to those that are helping your cause, showcases your use and understanding of social media, and bring business in. Not only that, but think of all the people that may come to your place in Peabody, MA to visit your place because they participated.

You have officially become a destination like Chrisbrogan.com and you will become the first social media-friendly restaurant established in 2009.

And if you use this idea, just for kicks, it would be cool to see an @vikdug sandwich! Let me know where to PayPal my $100!

Good luck!

Vik Duggal

As much as I love SM, Cyndee Woolley is right.

1. SM is a tactic and not a strategy. Also,
2. Restaurants and retail are two distinct animals which sell two distinct products.

No matter how small the biz (and especially restaurants) you need to think strategically about your marketing. Identifying your target market and connecting with them to support your efforts at building better relationships through channels that they utilize – if it’s SM then great but if not you’re throwing good money after bad.

I wish you the best !

Is there any way he can offer anything he sells as mail order? Mail order items, especially food, is hot commodity on the internet these days. People are always looking for items they can buy from decent grocers and it give small businesses a chance to expand to those not in their area.

Delivery is also an option or having an internet buy with scheduled pickup (for an added fee), where the items are all bagged and ready for local residents to just come pick things up. That would be something he could look into. This is attractive to busy people, especially those into PR, social media, blogging, etc. Just pop on the net, place an order, show up at the store 30 minutes later, grab the bag, and go. You can either pay online or pay at the store when you get there, to pick it up.

If he has an internet presence, then social media is going to be what can let the world know about all of the offerings he has. I.E. If his business goes mail order, what better way to spread such news than via twitter, facebook, etc.?

Social media by itself won’t save a small business (and sometimes it’s ludicrous that the large, corporate and monolithic businesses try it), but the small businesses can use it a lot more effectively for their advantage. Two out of many businesses (where the owners are also *friends* with their patrons) in our town who have created MySpace accounts are the Great Plate (http://www.myspace.com/thegreatplate) and Downtown Bakery (http://www.myspace.com/downtownbakeryncafe). Our local newspaper and some other companies have also done this as well. Most of the “friends” on their MySpace pages are local (within 50 miles). We know where these establishments are–and we patronize them frequently. Sometimes, they even post special coupons on their MySpace pages to entice more folks in or to reward their MySpace buddies. They get support, dialog, and participation with their customers through their MySpace pages. If you don’t have a regular “website”, a MySpace page can work just as well–maybe better. Because you can see the “participants”, a MySpace page has some advantage over a regular website.

But they could take it a step further–by also having a Twitter account. Twitter is great for fast-breaking announcements. And to also keep a “pulse” on what’s going on in the community and the world (usually in your same or close time-zone).

Folks need to “think outside the box”… there are ideas for paper “newsletters” (maybe printed on place-mats?), ideas for the “buy 9, get the 10th free” business cards, and other “Guerrilla Marketing” techniques. With today’s economic mess, small businesses MUST be innovative–or they risk extinction.

I hope this helps… best of luck!

Not sure how many employees he has but he should give them all social media training and have them leverage their social currency to make the success benefit all the stakeholders.

Chris, it’s a great question. I’m personally going to put it to the test. A friend of mine is the owner of Dot2Dot Cafe (www.dot2dotcafe.com; http://www.yelp.com/biz/dot2dot-cafe-dorchester on Yelp) in Boston’s Dorchester neighborhood and I just started thinking about what I could do to help with what I know about applying social media tools and techniques.

Publish your own magazine “print on demand” and resell to your customers!
Free to publish! You can buy for 20 cents a page and resell to your customers or give them out for free to customers who are on your mailing lists, then once you get all their emails and addresses you can send them coupon books to give out to their friends and family, call it the VIP club or something…
http://www.magcloud.com

Good Luck

Racheal A. Mack

http://www.moveandshakemarketing.com

I hadn’t read comments before I posted my comment, but I went back and did it. Danny Brown (I think it’s Danny – if not sorry) is right when he said John and other local businesses in the same boat do have to find ways to reach out to a wider audience if they want to succeed. That’s why I mentioned mail order. It opens up some of his products to a national (or international if he wants to ship outside the U.S.) audience.

Using social media while expanding his internet presence (through mail order, delivery services and/or pickup orders via web form) can be enhanced by social media, but for many struggling businesses without expanding the customer base beyond local, the struggles will continue.

Just a note on mail order: You can ship nearly anything these days thanks to dry ice shipping methods. I’ve received mail order cheese, meat (lamb, bacon, buffalo steaks, etc.), jams and jellies, Chicago deep dish pizza, cheesecakes, cookies, brownies, candy, etc. Even Zingerman’s Deli in Ann Arbor, Michigan sends out kits to make their world famous Ruben Sandwiches (and charges a fortune – but they are worth it – the best Ruben you will EVER eat – hand’s down!). So, there should be something John’s business could potentially mail out to customers across the U.S.

I’d be focusing strongly on building your contact list so you can start emailing etc. I’d also suggest upgrading the photos on your Facebook page – luscious food and product is much more appetising than equipment.

Can someone help you with the marketing side? I’m guessing your time is totally taken up with food preparation and service…and then sleep after a 16 hour day.

Good luck!

It’s my personal mission to introduce the small businesses in my little community to social media and I’m doing that thought my local chamber of commerce. There is a lot sm can do for them, but in order to do that, I believe, they need to be online and active en masse to support and promote each other. Luckily for me, they want to learn, and that will be giving me a lot of business soon!

Look for a local networking group to join. Have a sampling booth at a local fair. Collect people’s email addresses and Twitter names. Do a monthly email newsletter. Friend those people on Facebook and follow them on Twitter. Then provide coupons, tastings and freebies just for them.

I plan to check you out next time I’m up on the North Shore!

As small biz owner with a very local market like yours. Join the local chamber of commerce and any local chamber groups. Get active with other local biz owners & treat them like gold. They’ll refer their customers to you and you’ll get tons of new customers in return. You might want to post a bulletin board in your restaurant so locals can post notices. That always go over well. It’s simple but it will endear you with others. They’ll be more loyal. Try bringing sandwiches over for free to a couple of busier stores & see if they’ll talk to you. A local dessert store did that at my Pilates studio & boy did that work well! Good luck. Work hard. You’ll be fine.

John could consider using Twitter to cater to the business crowd and other hurried clients. Announce daily specials and fresh items. Establish pre-paid accounts and use Twitter for incoming orders as well as outgoing “orders ready for pickup.” Social media could also enable a “refer a friend” program that gives the referrer some reward for a specified number of referrals that become clients.

It’s all about local relationships – social media is local as well as global.

Dominick has a good point. John, check out the Zingerman’s business model. There have been dozens of articles written about their phenomenal success, both as a local deli/bakery/restaurant in Ann Arbor and with their catalog/mail-order business. You might even consider attending one of their seminars if you get the chance: http://zingtrain.com/about_us.php

Local coffee shop (@bluehouselife) here in Baltimore uses Twitter to announce soup specials for the day and anything that might be of interest.

Local coffee shop (@bluehouselife) here in Baltimore uses Twitter to announce soup specials for the day and anything that might be of interest.

Chris,

your post was the best social media thing that could happen to John.
Easy, not pricey and an international reach.
What a pitty, I cannot order directly some hot food from Germany.

Stefan

Chris,

your post was the best social media thing that could happen to John.
Easy, not pricey and an international reach.
What a pitty, I cannot order directly some hot food from Germany.

Stefan

How about doing a contest to create a special sandwich and name it after a loyal customer or local well respected person? What kind of meat, cheese and condiments would a Chris Brogan have on it? What kind of chips would go well with it? Would it be good enough to be featured as the Wednesday special? Do you think Chris would tell his friends? Would he sign their sandwich wrapper or napkin? I think he’d even be a fan of the restaurant on Facebook.

How about doing a contest to create a special sandwich and name it after a loyal customer or local well respected person? What kind of meat, cheese and condiments would a Chris Brogan have on it? What kind of chips would go well with it? Would it be good enough to be featured as the Wednesday special? Do you think Chris would tell his friends? Would he sign their sandwich wrapper or napkin? I think he’d even be a fan of the restaurant on Facebook.

I feel for John – similar problem for us, but we’re in a tourist town (Lincoln NH – Kancamagus Highway / Loon Mountain) so rely heavily on vacationers. We’re just getting our social media act together with a goal of reaching people who might be traveling to the area and introducing them to us. That said, we meet lots of people from eastern MA and North Shore – I’ll be sure to ask them if they know about the Simply Gourmet Bistro in Peabody and hopefully send some new business John’s way. And just maybe John will know some folks heading to Loon or Cannon for a ski trip and will send them to King’s Corner ;-)

What are your customer’s “pain points”? Try to meet those.
I have 2
First, the 4:30 pm “what am I going to cook for dinner?” moment. How I’d love a daily email, twitter, or RSS feed with your “take home” dinner specials. I have read that this is a sector that is particularly growing; people who are too busy to plan home cooked meals, but want to still have dinner at home with the family.

Secondly, as someone suggested above, healthy. It’s January. Places like Weight Watchers have maximum enrollment numbers. They meet weekly, and what do they talk about at these meetings? Food! Where to eat out and stay on program, what to eat at home. Most restaurants have few if any healthy options that fit into the plan. If you can seed into that market, word of mouth will spread, both in person and online. You probably cannot use the official Weight Watchers ‘points’ system, but if you get hold of the parameters, you can post the required nutritional information so that members can figure it out for themselves. Make this available online as well — in fact, if I were on WW, I would love a “WW only” daily email, so I wouldn’t be tempted by the other offerings.