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Justin
He's gone about it the old fashioned way, but with a much needed twist. He's created this very novel, very cool
"customer disloyalty card".
Which encourages customer disloyalty. Why?? How crazy can he be? Taking the customer loyalty card concept and reversing it. That's just dumb. Isn't it?
Apparently not. Because being not only the master of the bean – he’s also the master of his coffee drinking community.
Quite frankly, it's genius.
Because what this card does is demonstrate a number of things all in one.
It sends his customers to 8 other coffee establishments, to sample the unique blends and baristas that operate around the east of London. If they can prove they do that by this card, they can come back to him and get a coffee from him, for free.
Through one card he encourages interaction. But ironically, it's through dis-interacition. Something that many individuals, businesses and marketing agencies would consider ludicrous. And perhaps this is the major crisis occuring in the crossover from old businesss to new.
But for those passionate about business, about their craft, and about that interaction they have with their customer it will absolutely make sense.And so when I think about this, what Davies is doing here, is telling a story. And for him, it's quite a natural one.
It's a story about good coffee. As the champion, he knows it.
He's made the main protagonist his very customer. And he's given his customers the licence to explore the local coffee drinking landscape.
Because this master coffee connoisseur is also sharing his passion – and his knowledge with his customer base. By doing so he is allowing his valued clientele to develop their taste buds, exploring, enhancing and enriching their coffee drinking experience. At the same time, he boosts his own business, partnering with his peers equally passionate about making a good brew.
He is encouraging his customers to become more discerning in their coffee drinking, and he's making himself part of his coffee-drinking community. And by doing that he is attracting not only the kinds of people he wants – but people who are passionate about great coffee. People who will come back and appreciate the connection.This is also something that’s at the heart of any social interaction. Which means it is also important groundwork for anyone willing to understand social media. Because, by involving his customer in a community experience he is building a connection that everyone appreciates.He's adding social value to the transaction by sharing his own knowledge.
Because business IS social. And by being seen to enhance and encourage the social aspects of your business – it can reap countless benefits. Because it’s all about the passion, and knowledge, and sharing that passion. The more knowledgeable you are about your customer's the more you are about turning them into discerning about your business and the quality you bring to it.
Gwlyim Davies is adding value to his clientele by enabling and celebrating the community that appreciates fine coffee. Not only that, but also encouraging word of mouth, conversation about it too. And in the end, coffee-maker, other coffee makers and all his customers benefit.
Via:
jimseven.comRetailers are in a unique position to use Social Media in creative ways. Many retail staff actively use Facebook and Twitter for personal use so asking them to post for work to is probably easily answered. The goal: More conversations in and around your company creating positive social capital.
Connecting the online and offline customer experience is a powerful way to engage with customers at a higher level and share more about your business, products or services. Check out @Giapo and @Thewinevault or@Mojooldbank for two great examples of how retailers can use social media.
Your shop will need a computer of course or an iPhone where staff can post updates to the company account. Its a good idea to check out @Cotweet or @Hootsuite which are applications you use to manage your Twitter and Facebook profiles so all your staff and stores can access and post to the same account.
Let your imagination run wild, brainstorm, and have some fun thinking about unique ideas for your business. Here are 5 of mine to get you started
Unpacking new stock
Unpacking the new seasons fashion is both exciting and great content. Chances are your staff will want to try on new items and use their staff discount on a few special garments. If you have a FlipCam it's very simple to take videos of the action and upload to Youtube and Facebook. Your staff can talk about what they like and get feedback from the community on whats hot this season.
Demonstrating or using products
Show Off! Let people inside your products, your flash new gadgets, talk about the new technology in those running shoes, the faster processing power of the lastest Netbook or the quality of the fabric in the new winter suits. You're not only sharing your product knowledge, interesting ways to use the product but building trust and empowering your customers and followers to be more knowledgeable about you and those products, which will make them look good when sharing that with their friends later
Video and pictures are key for content. Visuals provide fast recognition and understanding and in the Social Media world you want stuff to be viewed and sharable quickly. A lot of text will put people off.
Register for @Foursquare
Fourquare is a location based Iphone and Android application where you can "Check In" to locations near by. Every retail shop, cafe, bar, restaurant, in fact any business with a physical presence should register themselves. Then you can load up deals and special offers for the 'Mayor' of your business. When people Check In more than anyone else they become the Mayor. @Giapo gives the Mayor a free Gelato and @Mojooldbank has set up a coffee card system where on your 5th check in you get a free coffee.
Gianpaolo Grazioli Founder of Giapo @giapo wrote a great article on Foursquare thats on http://socialmediaschool.posterous.com
Questions and Support
Asking and answering questions is of course the best way to engage with your followers. All staff should be allowed to answer questions posted by people and ask questions, seeking opinions about new stock, new window displays or what products they would like you to stock.
Customer service is becoming increasingly social which is why being where your customers are is so vital to your business. Being there to help out when called upon is a really nice way of reaching out, being supportive and building trust with your customers
Special News and Information
Every customer standing at your counter making a purchase should be asked "Are you on Twitter or Facebook". Most will say yes to Facebook and some will be on twitter too but when you mention that you share information and special offers that they can access if they follow or fan you it will encourage them to participate more.
Make sure you tell everyone, every customer that walks through your door should leave knowing that you have a Facebook page and a Twitter account and how to find you. If you have a computer in store ask for their name and invite them to your Facebook page with a special offer you only give out to those invitees. Do the same with Twitter, follow that customer and tweet @them thanking them for popping in.
If you're a retail or bricks n mortar business using Facebook or Twitter in other ways please share your ideas by commenting here. You can also check SocialTalkNZ.com for more posts on Social Media for Business and I blog atiamflitter.com or tweet me @justinFlitter if you want to ask me a question directly.
Every customer interaction is a conversation, the more positive, constructive and fun conversations you have around and about your business the better.
I just landed on this article, 8 tips for using Twitter for your business
Know the 8 steps to Twitter failure, courtesy of Joel Comm.
Don’t follow anyone.
Become the Twitter promo king (that is, do too much self-promotion).
Don’t interact with others.
Talk about yourself incessantly.
Use your Twitter feed as an RSS feed.
Use an impersonal brand as a user name.
Don’t track anything.
Don’t tell your customers you’re on Twitter.
Perhaps people are a little shy about sharing with in-store customers they are on Twitter. There are after all many people that just don't and wont get twitter that might think you're a bit weird.
Every opportunity to have a laugh and talk to your customers is a positive one. Even if you ask "Are you on Twitter? sometimes we have special offers for Twitter people and talk about the latest fashions" and the customer gives you a sideways look you can still throw out a big smile and crack a joke, its an opportunity to engage.
If the customer says they are on Twitter your POS terminal should have a web browser and Twitter open so you can instantly grab their @Name and mention meeting them.
Businesses and retailers especially have great influence to help build the local Twitter community, encouraging people to sign-up to follow them.
How you integrate your online social media with your offline bricks n mortar customer experience is very important. A great idea could be to have your carry bags printed with your @Name, at the very least add your Twitter details to your till receipt.
How does your business bring Twitter 'in-store'?
Remember the days of old where your folks, and/or Grand Parents, would go to the local Post Shop and talk at length with the woman behind the counter, the days where we knew the names of everyone in your street, the days where the curtains twitched at the latest gossip of Mr Jones having an affair with Ms Smith?
Well Social Media is no different, the curtains still twitch, and the conversations still go on except it's moved to an online space but you now you can guide the conversation about you or your brand.
On Wednesday, Aussie telco Telstra published their internal social media policy online, enabling us to take a look into how a company their size approaches social media engagement.
It's a move that brings corporate transparency to a whole new level. It means anyone can go check it out, your neighbours goat can go check it out... even Telstra's competitors can check it out. And that's something most companies would have shyed away from.But Telstra didn't. By doing so they've not only made themselves look forward thinking and up with the play but they've also shown that they are bold enough to set a benchmark in the way business approaches social media engagement from an internal perspective.Their social media engagement policy is quite neat. It covers the basics to the more complicated issues and is simple enough to cross the cultural and global boundaries a company their size may face. They call it the “3Rs” of social media engagement.That is: responsibility, respect and representation.
It makes a lot of sense. Because it's perfectly consistent with other endevours the company has in terms of it's overall social media strategy, especially in relation to consumer engagement and customer service. As this recent case study demonstrates. It's entirely suited to the approach they take to bring their employees together on the same (socially savvy) page online, too.By releasing it all online they invite criticism while at the same time demonstrate that they;re ahead of the pack.I think it also says a lot about how Telstra are positioning themselves as a “socially” integrated business. Especially when it comes to engaging their customers, namely businesses who will be looking to implement their own social media strategies soon if they've not already. Clever thinking Telstra.And as mentioned in this previous post they clearly understand how staff, with their customer service hats on;Because, according to Justin, "no-one knows more more about a business than the people working in it."
are the eyes and ears of any company, they should be the people ,listening and replying on social media and they should be some of the most knowledgeable people in your company.
VIA
Following a conversation I've been having on twitter, I had to create a post about Augmented Reality. Don't hold your breath. There's a lot of hype surrounding AR at the moment... and It's a huge trend that's been gaining momentum over the past 8 or 9 months overseas. The NZ market is just on the cusp of it.
So I figure that the time is right to go and take the piss, really.
So that's why I predict that the catch-call "theres an app for that" could very well be "there's an augmented reality for that"
Every man and his goat is keen to try out what he can do to generate buzz for his product with the new technology. And that's fair enough. That will be true in advertising too, as more and more marketers will look for solutions that involves something cutting edge, with the "ooh - err " factor attached.
Put aside the fact that they are ridiculously expensive to make, there's also the fact that while AR is cool and new - it's important to question the purpose of the app and how helpful it is. So before you get sucked up in the hype, when you come across a new app just ask: it utility, is it entertainment... or is it pointless?
Because there can't be an AR app for everything. That's why some might say that actual reality really is the new virtual. In fact, it's lot more entertaining and perhaps more satisfing... as these videos show ;) So be prepared for a lot more more hype in NZ in 2010.
Like Twitter I have been using Linkedin for about a year now.
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