Tag

blogging for business

Nov 29
Love0

Charlottesville Restaurants and Social Media: A Tour of Five Fine Dining Establishments Online

By Social Media

C & O Restaurant has a blog, which has post from May and . . . November. Can we expect that posts will now pick up with some regularity?

Maya is on Facebook but they have set up a profile, not an official page for the business (this is the wrong approach — read more about pages vs. profiles here). One shouldn’t have to “friend” a restaurant. You can like a restaurant, but it’s really tough to be friends with it (you never call me!)

Michie Tavern may be one of the oldest restaurants in Charlottesville, but they’re still hip enough to be using social media. The historic restaurant has a Facebook page and they allow fans to comment on the wall (sometimes they interact with those who have posted there.)

Escafe has a blog. OK, not really. I’m sorry I made you go look, but they should be, too.

Downtown Grille surprised me with a Facebook page and a Twitter presence. This old-school, steaks, bourbon and cigars establishment doesn’t seem like it would be leading the pack in social media use, but indeed, there they are. While I’m thrilled to see Downtown Grille using Twitter, there’s room for improvement with more frequent tweets and interaction — I want to be tempted to come to the restaurant with tweets about menu items and specials. Just a reminder of the fabulous meals I have had there makes me want to go.

This is a selection of some of the finer restaurants in Charlottesville – others, including Ivy Inn, Hamilton’s, Fleurie, The Local, L’Etoile, have no discernible social media presence, other than the throngs of locals and visitors blogging and tweeting about them, posting their visits to their Facebook profiles or checking in on FourSquare.

In upcoming posts I’ll look at what other, more casual dining establishments are doing with social media and how it’s working for them. I’ll also share some tips on what these businesses could be doing, to gain a competitive edge and remain top of mind with those dining out in Charlottesville.

Nov 17
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Charlottesville Car Dealerships and Social Media: A Study of Four Automotive Brands

By Social Media

In the last few years I’ve noticed an uptick in the number of local car dealerships ending their television commercials with “Friend us on Facebook, follow us on Twitter.”

I became curious about what the local social media scene among the automotive brands really looks like and decided to conduct a small independent study.

  1. Price Kia is the first dealership that appears in a Google search that has an evident social media presence on its home page. The Kia dealership’s Facebook Page has 248 “likes,” 30 photos and four videos but  not a lot of engagement or customer interaction.
  2. Brown Automotive is the second leader in the Google search, and has a Facebook Page with only 141 “likes;” surprising because this dealership is so engaged in the local community. Twitter is where this dealership really stands out and that is largely due to www.twitter.com/brownautogal What really makes Brown’s social media engagement successful is that Brown Automotive’s Twitter presence has a face and a voice — and these belong to Jamie Schwartz, aka Brown Auto Gal.
  3. Jamie SchwartzFlow Volkswagen Charlottesville only offers a Facebook page for customer engagement. The page has only 50 “likes,” but offers good content, helpful tips and reminders. With such great content, it’s too bad that Flow Volkswagen isn’t living up to its social media potential.
  4. BMW of Charlottesville earns points for having Facebook and Twitter badges on its website home page, making it clear to their community where to engage. BMW’s Facebook page is active so it’s surprising that it has only 30 “likes.” The dealership also has a Twitter account, but they seem to be a bit confused about it — the account is http://twitter.com/bmwcharlville but the bio lists it as BMWCharville:

BMW

The Twitter account needs some help. A keyword-rich bio should be added and it should be evident who the person is behind the account. There are thousands of engaged Twitter users in our community – and yet BMW of Charlottesville is only following 12.

There is definitely some untapped potential for social media engagement in the car sales arena in Charlottesville. I see plenty of people in our community tweeting and posting on Facebook about a need for a new car, recommendations for where to get a car fixed or the next car they should purchase. With such a competitive marketplace, these dealerships should take a hard look at how they can pull ahead of the others with some simple social media strategy.


Nov 12
Love0

My Social (Media) Life

By Social Media

I’ve been very fortunate to have the opportunity to teach audiences all over the country about social media this year. I’m wrapping up my last planned out-of-state speaking gig this week and reflecting on all the great people I’ve met through social media in 2010.

I’ve spoken to groups in California, Illinois, Missouri, Ohio, Washington D.C., Georgia and Virginia — speaking a number of times in Charlottesville/Central Virginia where I live. Add to that a series of webinars with a reach of an additional community who didn’t have to leave the comfort of their offices to learn about social media tools and how they can be used for their businesses or nonprofit organizations.

I have had a great time and I’m excited to think about where social media might take me in 2011.

Let me know in the comments if you’re looking for social media education for your organization in the coming year — I truly love sharing best practices with a live (or online) audience and would welcome the opportunity to talk to you.

Nov 01
Love0

No One Cares About Your Blog

By Social Media

Here’s the deal: no one cares about your blog. No one cares about your status updates or your Twitter feed. No one.

The fact is, people care about you.

Once again I’m reminding you that social media is about relationships. No one has a relationship with a website; they have a relationship with the person who updates it, the person who posts the content that is the tweet or the update or the photo, the video or podcast.

It’s true, no one cares about your blog, but a lot of people care about you. Think about that before you post. Are you posting as a person or as a corporate bot? Are you posting as a friend, trying to make the world a better place, or as a content generator trying to boost SEO.

People do business with people.

Oct 12
Love0

The Content Creators will Rule the World

By Social Media, Uncategorized

Not long ago I read Super Sad True Love Story: A Novel by Gary Shteyngart a weird but worthwhile futuristic book that made me laugh and grimace all at once.

In it, the content creators are “so Media” which is a compliment as they are the most popular, successful people in the culture of the future. What are they doing to become so sought after? Streaming content constantly; the trashier, the more outrageous, the better. The rest of the population is so addicted to absorbing information that it’s practically all they do, constantly staring at their “äppäräts” — the next-generation smartphone in Shteyngart’s world. (If there was a prize for BEST USE OF AN UMLAUT IN LITERATURE this would be it.)

Is this where we’re headed?

In a way, I think yes.

As a society we’re constantly increasing the amount of time, the methods and the places we’re absorbing content. Take a look at this information from Nielsen:

Nielsen2

Nielsen

We’re spending MILLIONS of hours a month absorbing content from blogs and social networks. We know, statistically, that a website with a blog gets 55% more traffic. There is an exponentially, rapidly increasing value in having employees who create content on behalf of your company.

Are your employees ready for this? Have you built this responsibility into employees’ responsibilities, schedules and performance ratings?

If there’s not a plan for developing this content within your company, are you able to outsource it? How?