How Small Coffee Shops Can Succeed Using Social Media Essay

E trulyone has a topical anaesthetic coffee shop that they consider to be their pet. That one propose where they know theyll be welcomed with open arms and the people behind the counter know their name (or at least their face). The place that even if their coffee costs almost double as ofttimes as Tim Hortons (Starbucks) that this is the place theyll always recommend to their friends. A few geezerhood ago, it was nearly impossible for a local coffee shop to argue with the deep pocket coffee shops. Today, even the sm allest cafe with the a very little marketing bud narrow can compete. All they need is a story worth telling and of course, a coffee worth brewing. If they support those, the clients give keep coming back the main concern is commonly getting them at that place in the first place. Here are or so ways that tender media can be used to help local coffee shops compete with the big players.Two Tweets and One SugarAs I write this post, twitter has become one of the biggest buzzwords of the division. How constantly, the buzz isnt unwarranted. Twitter is one of the largest social networking channels in North American consisting more than 15Million accounts. And while its still in its infancy it stick outs businesses an unparalleled prospect to communicate with consumers and current customers in real-time. So what does this mean for coffee shops? It essence that they can communicate more effectively than ever with consumers. If that means scene up a search that tracks their brand and sending a naive thank you or deprivation as far as pickings a pre-order, so be it.Twitter gives these brands a chance to take a personal connection with their consumers and make their brand worth talk about. By being active in the twitter community an hazard exists for coffee shops to offer their space for events such as tweet ups. Hosting these blistering events at your venue not only gaurantee that youll be selling your products, only if alike guarant ees almost buzz (tweets) about your brand. On top of that, some of these impertinent customers were probably never in your shop in their deportment however, because you got involved in twitter and hosted this event you were able to attract new customers to get it on your shop. What more can you ask for? Im blithe you asked.How about 1 Blog LatteWhile blogging can be an grievous lead off of a social media strategy, its not worth having if you founding fathert crap a strategy behind it. If your main finish is to develop an online community it might be in your best use up to blog about different beans or maybe do a Wine Library TV segment Coffee Style. However, if your strategy is think around getting more butts in your cafes seats, it might be in your best interest to discuss offers on the blog. As majuscule as a blog can be for an organization it can also be their downfall. A company that views their blog as being a great way to only talk about their brand and how grea t they are willing never find readers. Well maybe theyll bind their spouse and employees but customers wont be interested. If you can succeed your readers with something of value they will return. I often tell people feeling to start a blog to try and offer the three Es of Social Media.Entertainment, Education or EngagementAn Extra double FacebookFacebook has become the grand-daddy of them all when it comes to social networks. It has recently gone from being a questionable place to induce your brand, to a necessity for many companies in the food industry. With its most recent changes to the facebook pages it has become obvious that brand experience on facebook is back. Brands are now able to create facebook pages with more customization than ever and truly deepen their relationship with their customers. The frazzle-dazzle applications arent the only way for a local coffee shop to set itself a part from opposite stores. It can also use Facebook to promote other content that th ey have created.This means they can post links to their blog, videos, pictures and even coupons reaching an reference that may not be present on the other social networking channels. With that said, we cant forget the meat and potatoes that Facebook was built upon. The ability to get your message out to a number of people is one of the discover reasons why businesses have found such success on facebook. Those tweetups we discussed antecedent can easily be cross-promoted using a Facebook event. The opportunities available on facebook are great its up to you, to turn them into something remarkable.Whose your Manager Mayor? forthright is the new kid on the block in the social media world. It will be the most talked about social networking platform for the rest of this year and will definitely be playing a big part in several social media plans. James Hoffman explains on his blog why, You have people competitively visiting you, talking about you. More than that there is a pretty sen sible business model in there too, meaning that foursquare could well be around in a few years. Coffee shops seemed pretty quick to breast twitter, and it will be interesting to see if that experience has soured social media for them, or if theyll embrace foursquare too. Something tells me that theyll embrace foursquare like a seat-belt embraces impact.Mayorship TechCrunchOne of my favourite tactics that coffee shops can use in Foursquare is promoting the image of becoming mayor. The basics behind this tactic is that you tell the consumers that if they become the mayor of your shop they get their beverages for free. Seeing that there is an incentive now for going to the shop more and more Youve ultimately created a competition that will keep the people swarming your shop. The whole idea of providing customers with rewards for loyalty has been going on for years. This race to be the mayor however, takes customer loyalty, flips it upside down and turns it into a competition.Lets not get our Mochas in a BunchWith all that said, you mustiness always remember your companies core strategy and goals. These channels discussed above may take a similar route as hi5 or geocities in a few years time. For that reason, it is outstanding to not put all your eggs into one basket. Facebook is already talking about their new map that will be the Foursquare Killer. (Keep your eyes open) Finally, remember that the value you provide your customer in the store will always out weightiness the value you can provide them with a social networking tool. While its important to do things to get your customers in the door its just as important to make sure theyll want to come back.