Comments on: Free Mobile Marketing, Part 1: For The Retailer http://aislechatter.com/free-mobile-marketing-part-1-for-the-retailer.html Aisle Chatter Sat, 06 Mar 2010 14:32:21 -0700 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8 hourly 1 By: Michael Lindsay http://aislechatter.com/free-mobile-marketing-part-1-for-the-retailer.html/comment-page-1#comment-3773 Michael Lindsay Mon, 22 Feb 2010 04:18:18 +0000 http://aislechatter.com/?p=224#comment-3773 First, let me congratulate you on an excellent post! Great information in a very useful format for starting a twitter account. I have to agree with both of the previous posts. Having been a part of the social networking community for over a year now, (strictly on a personal basis) I have learned quite a bit. Being a 4 store group in eastern NC, I have to wonder how twitter will fit into our marketing strategy. The most difficult part, is as Drew mentioned, keeping up with the posts. In a small company, there are often times when coming up with ideas is a Job! There are workarounds however. Programs like Tweetlater let you set up tweets in advance and post them on your schedule. This is probably a necessity if a company is going to get into the social scene. I use a variety of twitter apps. As Brad states, who knows where this will go. The internet is still evolving and I don't think we have even begun to tap into it yet as a society and particularly as independent grocers. It is MUCH better to begin our social network branding now rather than waiting until we have to play catch up. As a personal example, even though we do not have a company twitter or facebook account (yet) during a recent Ice storm here in NC, I was doing Tweets about our store hours, road conditions, and even the availability of bread and milk in particular locations. I have my twitter feed updating my Facebook status automatically. While I did not get much feedback from the Tweets, I received many "thanks" from friends (ie customers) on Facebook for keeping them updated. I don't know how to put a ROI on that kind of thing, but it did not cost me or the company anything as I already have a Blackberry with the necessary apps installed when I got it. We are currently building an opt-in e-mail list on our website, which I have recently redone to include a blog section complete with video. e-mail, and text messaging are certainly easier to measure and have there place. (probably the primary place) however, I believe that the personal aspect of social media is well worth the time and effort if you can build your brand! I have a list of very useful twitter applications as well as automation utilities if anyone is interested. Some of them have an affiliate structure if you purchase the paid versions so I will not post them here. However, if you get the links from me I have to let you know that I would receive compensation, so do your due diligence. These are just programs that I find extremely useful. Michael First, let me congratulate you on an excellent post! Great information in a very useful format for starting a twitter account. I have to agree with both of the previous posts. Having been a part of the social networking community for over a year now, (strictly on a personal basis) I have learned quite a bit. Being a 4 store group in eastern NC, I have to wonder how twitter will fit into our marketing strategy. The most difficult part, is as Drew mentioned, keeping up with the posts. In a small company, there are often times when coming up with ideas is a Job! There are workarounds however. Programs like Tweetlater let you set up tweets in advance and post them on your schedule. This is probably a necessity if a company is going to get into the social scene. I use a variety of twitter apps. As Brad states, who knows where this will go. The internet is still evolving and I don’t think we have even begun to tap into it yet as a society and particularly as independent grocers. It is MUCH better to begin our social network branding now rather than waiting until we have to play catch up.

As a personal example, even though we do not have a company twitter or facebook account (yet) during a recent Ice storm here in NC, I was doing Tweets about our store hours, road conditions, and even the availability of bread and milk in particular locations. I have my twitter feed updating my Facebook status automatically. While I did not get much feedback from the Tweets, I received many “thanks” from friends (ie customers) on Facebook for keeping them updated. I don’t know how to put a ROI on that kind of thing, but it did not cost me or the company anything as I already have a Blackberry with the necessary apps installed when I got it.

We are currently building an opt-in e-mail list on our website, which I have recently redone to include a blog section complete with video. e-mail, and text messaging are certainly easier to measure and have there place. (probably the primary place) however, I believe that the personal aspect of social media is well worth the time and effort if you can build your brand!

I have a list of very useful twitter applications as well as automation utilities if anyone is interested. Some of them have an affiliate structure if you purchase the paid versions so I will not post them here. However, if you get the links from me I have to let you know that I would receive compensation, so do your due diligence. These are just programs that I find extremely useful.
Michael

]]> By: Brad http://aislechatter.com/free-mobile-marketing-part-1-for-the-retailer.html/comment-page-1#comment-590 Brad Wed, 26 Aug 2009 20:28:59 +0000 http://aislechatter.com/?p=224#comment-590 It seems like the first commenter is not as familiar with some of the people (younger) who shop in stores. Yes, Baby Boomers and some Gen X shoppers are not into the social networking. The Gen Y's and beyond are very attuned. Some twitter and text more than they talk and do it from the stores. This twitter is not a solution for all retailers, all suppliers or all products. It does not have good metrics for ROI as yet. However, it is a growing trend that might be good to employ as an investment to build the measures needed to evaluate return. And, you might just delight a few young people as well. It is very true that the investment is more in time than money to constantly update and keep current. The tweeters and texters out there have very short attention spans and hate repitition. They love new, exciting and interesting content and ideas. This is something hard for some people to grasp. I cannot predict where the twitter type promotions will go, but I believe that they should be part of an arsenal to reach potential shoppers. Good luck. It seems like the first commenter is not as familiar with some of the people (younger) who shop in stores. Yes, Baby Boomers and some Gen X shoppers are not into the social networking. The Gen Y’s and beyond are very attuned. Some twitter and text more than they talk and do it from the stores. This twitter is not a solution for all retailers, all suppliers or all products. It does not have good metrics for ROI as yet. However, it is a growing trend that might be good to employ as an investment to build the measures needed to evaluate return. And, you might just delight a few young people as well. It is very true that the investment is more in time than money to constantly update and keep current. The tweeters and texters out there have very short attention spans and hate repitition. They love new, exciting and interesting content and ideas. This is something hard for some people to grasp. I cannot predict where the twitter type promotions will go, but I believe that they should be part of an arsenal to reach potential shoppers. Good luck.

]]> By: Drew http://aislechatter.com/free-mobile-marketing-part-1-for-the-retailer.html/comment-page-1#comment-57 Drew Thu, 06 Aug 2009 17:53:31 +0000 http://aislechatter.com/?p=224#comment-57 Sounds easy. The problem now is you must regularly feed this beast you created. You can't let it sit unattended for days on end. what biz owner has that kind of time available to them. Secondly, only a small % of their consumers will actually follow them on Twitter or FB. The majority of their consumers 1) don't have a twitter acct 2) don't know what twitter is 3) don't want to get sucked into social media. And lastly, what sort of guarantee does the biz owner have that their tweets are actually being read in a timely fashion? Just 'cause you send, doesn't mean I read it. This is where SMS marketing has a huge advantage. the biz builds an opt-in database of loyal customers they can connect with thru their mobile. No special app or web enabled phone required. Plus the read rates can be tracked and responses can be measured. Tracking and ROI are more important to running a business than social chatting. Sounds easy. The problem now is you must regularly feed this beast you created. You can’t let it sit unattended for days on end. what biz owner has that kind of time available to them. Secondly, only a small % of their consumers will actually follow them on Twitter or FB. The majority of their consumers 1) don’t have a twitter acct 2) don’t know what twitter is 3) don’t want to get sucked into social media. And lastly, what sort of guarantee does the biz owner have that their tweets are actually being read in a timely fashion? Just ’cause you send, doesn’t mean I read it. This is where SMS marketing has a huge advantage. the biz builds an opt-in database of loyal customers they can connect with thru their mobile. No special app or web enabled phone required. Plus the read rates can be tracked and responses can be measured. Tracking and ROI are more important to running a business than social chatting.

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