If you're a business and you're not using social media, you're missing out.
That's the message that local small businesses are shouting from the rooftops — or rather, tweeting, pinning, and posting on Facebook.
"The companies that are not utilizing social media are going to fall short, especially in this day and age," said Cathy Melanson, owner of Emma Jean's Cupcake Factory & Ice Cream Shoppe, which opened in Fairhaven last October.
Social media "has helped me immensely," she added.
Facebook helped create a buzz about the Huttleston Avenue store even before it opened. Emma Jean's had 500 "likes" on Facebook by the grand opening, when a line stretched around the building and the 700 cupcakes the business had prepared were sold out in three hours.
Recognizing that she would not have time to start a business from scratch and create online buzz, Melanson worked with social media experts at SouthCoast Media Group to create and maintain her Facebook page and Twitter account, as well as a blog.
Melanson's daughter and head baker now make regular updates on Facebook to tell customers about upcoming specials — with an enticing photo to accompany each post. For St. Patrick's Day, for example, Emma Jean's advertised its Guinness cupcakes and leprechaun cookies on Facebook.
Customers post as well; recently, one visitor thanked the store for making a gluten-free cupcake while another had a concern about a gift card transaction. Both posts were followed up with responses from Emma Jean's.
Social media helps the company reach more people and create a following of loyal customers. As of mid-March, more than 1,100 people "liked" Emma Jean's on its Facebook page.
Although Emma Jean's is also on Twitter, Facebook is its main form of social media. That's OK, said Elizabeth Cincotta, a social media consultant for The Celtic Coffee House in downtown New Bedford. She said it is not necessarily the quantity of social media sites a business is on, but the quality.
"I think it's important to know which ones work for your type of business and how to use it correctly," she said.
In the case of The Celtic Coffee House, Cincotta supplemented the business' Facebook presence with a Twitter account, from which customers can place orders for pickup in the store. Cincotta also registered the coffee house with KangoGifts.com, a Cambridge-based company that allows customers to purchase "microgifts" from participating vendors — at The Celtic Coffee House, the microgift might be a cup of coffee or a muffin.
The recipient of the microgift is informed of it via text message, which he or she shows to the clerk at the business. The text message acts as a virtual gift certificate to redeem the gift.
Although KangoGifts receives 10 percent of the purchase price of the microgifts, the benefit to the coffee house is the added business from online purchases and the chance to make a new loyal customer when a KangoGifts recipient enters the coffee house for the first time to redeem his or her prize.
In addition, The Celtic Coffee House is perhaps the only local business offering this service.
"They're really the first business in this area that we're aware of using it," Cincotta said.
Cincotta, whose day job is the director of new media for an insurance company, has used social media sites for that job as well, including Pinterest, the fast-growing site that allows users to "pin" online images to virtual boards, which can be liked by others. Pinterest users can also be followed by other users.
It might seem like an unlikely forum for an insurance company, but Cincotta has a strategy.
"I'm pinning pictures of interesting buildings that we insure. There are a lot of people on Pinterest who are interested in beautiful, interesting pictures like that."
Some of those users are interested because they own a building that needs insurance. When a user clicks on one of the building "pins," he or she is taken to the insurance company Web site.
Even if a certain social media site does not seem to be driving business directly, activity on those sites will also help with search engine optimization, the process of improving the visibility of a Web site by making it appear closer to the top of the search results on a search engine.
Having a presence on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube will move up the Web site of Dr. Agata Brys in search results, Brys said. The plastic surgeon came to the area in September and joined with Hawthorn Medical to open the Center for Facial Plastic and Hair Restoration Surgery.
Now, Brys is a pioneer in social media at Hawthorn Medical, where she is teaming with the marketing department and an outside public relations firm to create a social media presence for her business.
"It's more of a market type of medical practice rather than an insurance-based practice," so there is more pressure to attract business, she said.
Brys echoed Cincotta when discussing her social media site choices.
"I think you have to be aware of who your audience is and what your audience is doing," she said. Facelifts are not as popular with the generally-young Twitter crowd, for example. When using that site, perhaps nose jobs would strike more of a chord.
Brys also has a presence on Facebook and LinkedIn, which is more of a professional network.
"I had previously used it more as a professional source; I think it's a convenient way for patients of customers to view my history," she said, adding that putting one's curriculum vitae online can be useful.
In fact, any sort of online presence lends legitimacy to a business, Brys said, because it shows that the business has spent the time — and, sometimes, money — to be seen. It is also a first impression for clients, before they even walk in the door, Brys said.
"It's a good way for the company to give the customer a sense of what they are."
Saturday, March 24, 2012
Creative, targeted use of social media gives businesses an edge | New England Business Bulletin #SoulcialMe
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