How Small Coffee Shops Can Succeed Using Social Media Essay

Everyone has a local coffee sponsor that they consider to be their favourite. That one place 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 trope as much as Tim Hortons (Starbucks) that this is the place theyll always recommend to their friends. A few years ago, it was nearly impossible for a local coffee shop to fence with the deep pocket coffee shops. Today, even the smallest cafe with the a very little marketing budget can compete. All they need is a story worth telling and of course, a coffee worth brewing. If they have those, the clients ordain keep coming back the main concern is usually getting them there in the first place. Here ar some ways that kind 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 year. However, the buzz isnt unwarranted. Twitter is one of the largest social networking channels in North American consisting much than 15Million accounts. And while its still in its infancy it provides businesses an unparalleled opportunity to communicate with consumers and current customers in real-time. So what does this mean for coffee shops? It means that they can communicate more effectively than ever with consumers. If that means setting up a search that tracks their brand and direct a simple thank you or going as far as taking a pre-order, so be it.Twitter gives these brands a befall to bring out a personal connection with their consumers and make their brand worth talking somewhat. By being active in the twitter community an opportunity exists for coffee shops to offer their space for events such as tweet ups. Hosting these live events at your venue non only gaurantee that youll be selling your products, but excessively guarantees some buzz (tweets) about your brand. On top of that, some of these new customers were probably never in your shop in their life however, because you got involved in twitter and hosted this event you were able to attract new customers to experience your shop. What more can you ask for? Im glad you asked.How about 1 communicate LatteWhile blogging can be an all-important(a) begin of a social media schema, its not worth having if you dont have a outline behind it. If your main goal is to develop an online community it might be in your best interest to blog about different beans or maybe do a Wine Library TV segment Coffee Style. However, if your strategy is focused around getting more butts in your cafes seats, it might be in your best interest to discuss offers on the blog. As great as a blog can be for an organization it can to a fault be their downfall. A company that views their blog as being a great way to only talk about their brand and how great they are will never find readers. Well maybe theyll have their spouse and empl oyees but customers wont be interested. If you can provide your readers with something of shelter they will return. I often tell people looking to start a blog to try and offer the three Es of Social Media.Entertainment, preparation or EngagementAn Extra Large 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 have 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 other stores. It can also use Facebook to promote other content that they have created.This means they can post links to their blog, videos, pictures and even co upons reaching an auditory modality 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 gist out to a number of people is one of the key reasons why businesses have found such success on facebook. Those tweetups we discussed earlier can comfortably 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?Foursquare 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 playacting 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 sensible business model in there too, meaning that foursquare could well be around in a few years. Coffee shops seemed pretty quick to caress 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 idea of neat city manager. 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 must always remember your compa nies 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 important to not put all your eggs into one basket. Facebook is already talking about their new function 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 weight 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.