websense

So, how about a tutorial on how NOT to use social media to promote your business? You might have seen on Twitter or Tumblr this week a story about a woman shopping and tweeting her less than enthusiastic opinion of the store.

The store turned out to be a Price Chopper. The incident was one that we have all probably done plenty of times. A shopper went into the store, was dissatisfied with the produce section and Tweeted it. What she wasn’t expecting, I am sure, is the store to take notice, track down her Twitter profile, use the info on it to contact her employers. The email sent described this shopper as “destructive and negative”, if I recall correctly. Really? Destructive? I happen to find it much more destructive of the social media folks at Price Chopper to track down this woman’s employer and rat her out for something she did on her own time, with a private Twitter account. They even went so far as to insinuate that relations between the two companies would be compromised if action wasn’t taken against the shopper.

You have got to be kidding! I think we should start offering a Breakfast Bootcamp on how NOT to use social media. In this instance it was clearly used in the worst possible way. This story is of course all over the web, and I would not be too surprised to see Price Chopper suffer some internet backlash on this. It was inappropriate at best, and downright stupid at worst.

It wasn’t like she used profanity, under her company name, with the knowledge that it could cause her job to be in jeopardy. She merely stated that :
Every time I go to @PriceChopperNY I realize why they r not @wegmans . Tonight -bare produce area & this sign (twitpic).

She did compare them to a competitor, and nobody likes a negative comparison, but she’s a consumer, entitled to her opinion. It’s one of the reasons people like Twitter. How much you wanna bet they stocked some fresh produce as a result, and are trying harder to keep it that way?

As a business owner, you have to make sure the people in charge of your social media are smart about it. Make sure they know that you don’t run down a consumer, you Tweet them back to find out how to improve their experience with your establishment. You might want to offer them a coupon or something. I bet if that had happened in this case, the Twitter user would have tweeted the good outcome, and Price Chopper would not be receiving the web backlash it is now.

There are a couple of interesting posts up about this, so if you’d like to read on:
http://www.blogworld.com/2010/09/20/social-networking-fail-price-chopper-lashes-out-about-negative-tweet/

http://pricechopperfail.tumblr.com/post/1156969465/price-chopper-attacks-customers-job-over-negative-tweet

With Twitter has come a whole new language, beyond the LOLs and MHOs and so on. The “Tweetup” is a somewhat new phenomenon, and an old one. The new part being that you let folks know about it via Twitter, and the old part is that it is any kind of get-together, whether it be friends meeting for drinks, or a networking event. If you’d like to hold a Tweetup of your own, TKG has some great pointers on the “dos” and “don’ts” of the Tweetup!

Tweetups can be just for fun, or friends, or fans, too. Celebrities have been known to cause accidental tweetups when tweeting about where they are headed for dinner. Tweetups happen in every city, just Google your city’s name and “tweetup” and choose your tweetup!

TKG has hosted several Tweetups, and it has been a great way to get a little “face time” with folks you Tweet with, but have not met, or don’t see often. As always, with anything Web related, be careful about where you are going, just watch out for yourself, and always Tweetup with strangers in a public place.

I find it interesting that as the eyes of the country turn to small businesses to see how they will react to and handle the (hopefully) rebounding economy, there is an increased focus on local search. This makes perfect sense, since small businesses are really starting to understand what the web can do for them, and web companies are eager to get a piece of that pie.

This can only mean good things for small businesses. Local search is a great tool to promote your business, and there are many, many ways to go about it. One of the first steps would be of course to make sure you have a great presence on the web. Even folks in your area will go to the web to grab a phone number, store hours, or perhaps your exact address. Making that first great impression can really help boost traffic to your brick and mortar, and therefore, sales.

The next thing I’d do is make sure your business is listed in any online listing services, such as:
GetListed.org
YellowPages.com
Google.com/places
Local.yahoo.com
Bing Local Listing
City search

There are many, many more, but you get the idea. Make sure you can be found online, even if you have not yet set up a site. A listing in most of these does not require that you have a site.

Many of these listing sites allow you to set up a profile to get reviews of your products or services. This can be really helpful to people who are new to an area especially if you are a medical professional, home service provider (such as housekeeping or carpet cleaning) or a mechanic – someone who people need a frame of reference in order to establish trust.

Make sure you have your physical address on your site. Our best practice recommendation would have you putting it at the footer of every page (most especially the home page). At a minimum have it on the contact or about page of your site.

When you are doing your on page optimization, be sure to include geographical phrases in both the copy, headers and tags. This will help your rankings when users search for business in your area.

Local Search seems to be taking on a life of it’s own. I’m excited to be a speaker at NE Ohio’s GetListed.org’s Local University on the 30th. Should be interesting to hear from others in field. I’m thrilled that some local business owners will have the opportunity to learn and implement strategies that will help boost our local economy. Hope to see you there!

TKG is sponsoring an event for GetListed.org called “Local University” at the Educational Service Center of Cuyahoga County. GetListed.org is presenting this ‘crash course’ in Internet Marketing to local small business owners. It’s a thrill to work with GetListed, and we’re honored that Northeast Ohio was chosen as a stop on this tour. I’ll be speaking at this event, so I’d love to see you out there. A little about this seminar from the GetListed site:

“Local University is an informative four-hour crash course in the basics of internet marketing–and especially Local Search. It’s largely a beginners’ event that is definitely intended for business owners. Attendees learn Search Engine Optimization tips and techniques that will lead to sustained, long-term search engine rankings–and, hopefully, new customers. ”

They’re taking this around the country, so be sure to find one in your vicinity if you’re not in NE Ohio. This seminar is totally sales pitch free, so no pressure, just come and learn! There will be some very knowledgeable local search experts with strategies for your small business, and it’s only a half day so you can still get some time in at the office before heading home for the day. Sounds good, right?
It’s about to get even better, use the discount code karcher to reduce the already great price to just $79. Can’t beat that, especially when you hear the incredible speakers lined up. So, c’mon, make me, and NE Ohio look good – register for the seminar, and pick up some great ideas for your local small business!

YStark and TKG’s 1st Annual Battle of the Bags is going to be a great time – food from Pete’s Grill and Pizza, cornhole, and a little friendly competition for some cash prizes- doesn’t get much better!
The who, what, when and where:
Cornhole Tournament – 2 people per team
Saturday, May 15th – (rain date – June 19th)
11:30 a.m. – practice begins;
12:00 p.m. – 1st round begins
$50 bucks per team

Pete’s Grill & Pizza
401 Cherry Ave., NE, Canton

Register for this fun event!

Cornhole is a time honored tradition at TKG. Anyone will tell you I’m always up for a little friendly cornhole competition, and if that happens to include a little socializing and great food, I’m there! Come help us get summer started!