social networking.can it help our business?
Discussion
It depends on whether your product is something that people love, or not. I can see footbal clubs doing well. I can see designer products doing well with fan sites. I can't see a fan site for my law firm doing very well. There aren't too many services that would do well with a fan site. Maybe beauty stuff like hairdressers and salons, but not other things.
Rich
Rich
jas xjr said:
we have a small retail shop selling toys. would a presence on a social networking site be beneficial?
my sister has a business and her customers started a fan site for want of a better phrase. just wondering if we should be on facebook.
has anybody done this? and does it work well?
We've got a site for the pub on Facebook but to be honest we don't do much with it. I'm pretty sure everyone who is a "fan" of the page we know personally and did it because they know us! In short, it doesn't really help us directly. That said, it's free to do so - why not? The only thing is the time it'll take to keep it up to date/interesting etc. You could use it to send emails out for any new items/deals. I guess it'd be a way of getting a "newsletter" without having to worry about other software.my sister has a business and her customers started a fan site for want of a better phrase. just wondering if we should be on facebook.
has anybody done this? and does it work well?
I think it would suit someone in our line of work if we had loads of events/theme-nights/offers etc.
Finally, seeing as we're "local" to each other. If you do set one up, we could become reciprocal friends!
Landlord said:
jas xjr said:
we have a small retail shop selling toys. would a presence on a social networking site be beneficial?
my sister has a business and her customers started a fan site for want of a better phrase. just wondering if we should be on facebook.
has anybody done this? and does it work well?
We've got a site for the pub on Facebook but to be honest we don't do much with it. I'm pretty sure everyone who is a "fan" of the page we know personally and did it because they know us! In short, it doesn't really help us directly. That said, it's free to do so - why not? The only thing is the time it'll take to keep it up to date/interesting etc. You could use it to send emails out for any new items/deals. I guess it'd be a way of getting a "newsletter" without having to worry about other software.my sister has a business and her customers started a fan site for want of a better phrase. just wondering if we should be on facebook.
has anybody done this? and does it work well?
I think it would suit someone in our line of work if we had loads of events/theme-nights/offers etc.
Finally, seeing as we're "local" to each other. If you do set one up, we could become reciprocal friends!
Landlord said:
jas xjr said:
we have a small retail shop selling toys. would a presence on a social networking site be beneficial?
my sister has a business and her customers started a fan site for want of a better phrase. just wondering if we should be on facebook.
has anybody done this? and does it work well?
We've got a site for the pub on Facebook but to be honest we don't do much with it. I'm pretty sure everyone who is a "fan" of the page we know personally and did it because they know us! In short, it doesn't really help us directly. That said, it's free to do so - why not? The only thing is the time it'll take to keep it up to date/interesting etc. You could use it to send emails out for any new items/deals. I guess it'd be a way of getting a "newsletter" without having to worry about other software.my sister has a business and her customers started a fan site for want of a better phrase. just wondering if we should be on facebook.
has anybody done this? and does it work well?
I think it would suit someone in our line of work if we had loads of events/theme-nights/offers etc.
Finally, seeing as we're "local" to each other. If you do set one up, we could become reciprocal friends!
a reciprocal friends thing would be fine. although i am on facebook i do not know much about how it works.will have a look tonight.
Many shops and local businesses use Twitter and Facebook successfully as ways to notify customers of sales offers. It's important to use it to communicate information and offers that you genuinely think are of interest to your audience, rather than just blast messages for the sake of it.
Don't underestimate the time element - to make it work (and gain followers) you need to put the time into posting appropriate content (it doesn't always have to be sales stuff either).
I use twitter for a couple of reasons:
1 - (as above) it helps me communicate sales offers, new vacancies etc.
2 - It's invaluable for when I have a problem with some IT system, a quick "argh, problem with tabs on filemaker - anyone got time to assist?" invariably leads to a multitude of people contacting me offering help.
3 - it's actually pretty good fun, I subscribe to a number of twitter feeds from clients, potential clients, industry experts etc and you can get the inside track on 'breaking news' invariably before it is announced via the usual channels.
4 - it personalises my business a bit more, the clients that follow me gain more of an insight into our company and myself, this way we're not seen as completely faceless.
Weigh it up before taking the plunge. There's nothing worse than reading the news page on a company website and seeing that the last update was from 2006. That most certainly doesn't look professional.
I use twitter for a couple of reasons:
1 - (as above) it helps me communicate sales offers, new vacancies etc.
2 - It's invaluable for when I have a problem with some IT system, a quick "argh, problem with tabs on filemaker - anyone got time to assist?" invariably leads to a multitude of people contacting me offering help.
3 - it's actually pretty good fun, I subscribe to a number of twitter feeds from clients, potential clients, industry experts etc and you can get the inside track on 'breaking news' invariably before it is announced via the usual channels.
4 - it personalises my business a bit more, the clients that follow me gain more of an insight into our company and myself, this way we're not seen as completely faceless.
Weigh it up before taking the plunge. There's nothing worse than reading the news page on a company website and seeing that the last update was from 2006. That most certainly doesn't look professional.
We have had varying success with social networks - we have a pretty static facebook fan page, but have had very good results through Twitter - very helpful to create a buzz around an event and also to find new contacts. A couple of good examples are - we are about to announce a competition with a major brand that came about by "tweeting", as well as having come across some PR (Good Morning Texas was the highest profile one) and sales opportunities.
Have a read of some of our blogs, e.g.
http://www.siftgroups.com/blog/4-part-guide-using-...
Feel free to ask any questions.
A good question to ask yourself is: what is my customer service like?
If the answer is "poor" then getting into social media is not going to be a magic bullet for you and may in fact do more harm than good. If you fancy attending a Twitter masterclass in Bristol or London then let me know and I will comp you a ticket
http://www.siftgroups.com/blog/4-part-guide-using-...
Feel free to ask any questions.
A good question to ask yourself is: what is my customer service like?
If the answer is "poor" then getting into social media is not going to be a magic bullet for you and may in fact do more harm than good. If you fancy attending a Twitter masterclass in Bristol or London then let me know and I will comp you a ticket
Gassing Station | Business | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff