I think the power of social media has yet to begin to peak. The potential out there is just incredible.
Today I met with a potential client who owns several Italian restaurants here in the St. Louis area. They are (just like every other restaurant) wondering how they can tap into the search engine and social media fields to gain new clients. With the down economy, people are being more and more select about where they spend their money for dining. Here’s where Twitter can come to the rescue.
I don’t want to go into the whole explain-twitter-to-me thing, but here’s something cool that many people may not know – twitter can link up to your cell phone, and you can receive updates about whatever it is you choose to see updates about. You can see what friends are saying, or you can get notified anytime someone uses a certain phrase, etc.
So let’s say I’m looking for a good Italian restaurant in St. Louis and I post a quick note to Twitter via my cell. (Just a note here – if you don’t use your cell phone to do that, don’t think others don’t. A *lot* of people are using their phones for this and a lot more.)
Using their API and search tools, Mr. Restaurant Owner can watch for phrases like “italian food” and “st louis”, “saint louis”, etc. Anytime one of those phrases come across twitter, Mr Restaurant Owner immediately (or through automation) sends out a coupon for a free drink at his restaurant. Or a free appetizer. Whatever.
Using social media, getting clients that may have otherwise never known about you will get easier and easier. But if you don’t know how to use the social media platforms to do these things, you’re going to be stuck standing on the front porch hoping customers see your sign.
Wonder what Italian Restaurant you’re talking about. How can you give me guidance on real estate or refer me to someone who can help. Remember “there’s 2 sides to a street” or “washy washy”
Took Doug along too. After talking with that potential client, I thought maybe we had better ‘research’ the restaurant. You know, to better understand. Dang was it ever good.
As for real estate, I can help you out. Are you signed up for the Marketing seminar or the Social Media one? TONS of good info in both.
I second that “research”. I am going back and taking my brother & sister in law & my wife on Saturday night for my 40th birthday and a more in depth research study.
That Sicilian Pizza was Un-B-Leavable!
You mentioned twitter’s search tools. Is this an APP?
Great post. I was interested in finding how you can do this search locally in your area.
Eric,
Thanks for the questions. Twitter’s search tool is located at http://search.twitter.com/
To look for searches relative to your local area, you may want to check into the hashtags option. For example, a lot of people that are talking about the St. Louis MO area (where I’m located) would add an #stl to their tweets. So a search like this would show me a lot of what’s buzzing in the area. http://search.twitter.com/search?q=%23stl
You could also check out Twitter Local (http://www.twitterlocal.net) which is a great little app that will show you tweets from people within x miles of your location.
For info on hashtags, try http://hashtags.org/ or http://www.google.com/search?q=twitter+hashtags
Will