I have a confession to make: I am a social networking skeptic. Or, let me correct myself, I was a social networking skeptic. I have recently been converted to an enthusiast – sort of. As publishers, we work in a business-to-business environment, so it was difficult for me to see a lot of value in Facebook or Twitter. Who really cares what Ashton Kutcher or Oprah is doing at any given moment? As a method to promote products or services to consumers, I could see the merit, but still wasn’t convinced it would work for baby boomers.
When Prime Minister Stephen Harper decided to prorogue Parliament, I gained a newfound appreciation of Facebook and, by association, Twitter. Harper’s fateful decision to shut down the government for the second time in a year was too much for Christopher White, a graduate student at the University of Calgary. He started a Facebook group and urged fellow Canadians to join and voice their displeasure. At last count, 208,000 likeminded Canadians had joined his group. This wouldn’t be so astounding if these people had been existing Facebook users, but 55 per cent of the people who joined had to set up Facebook accounts for the first time and the majority of people who joined for the first time were over 45 years old. White may have changed the nature of how the social media works on the political scene in this country.
The fact that social media can be used as a tool really hit home with me the next day when I read a story about a young man helping to save his mother’s independent bookstore by Tweeting. The article, which appeared in the January 2010 issue of Inc. magazine, tells the story of Roberta Dyer, owner of Broadway Books in Portland, Ore. After 17 years of business, Dyer was already struggling due to franchise bookstores and online booksellers but the economic downturn coupled with a record setting snowstorm before Christmas 2008 had her ready to call it quits. Her son, Aaron was devasted and decided to write about it on his blog, Everydaydude. He offered to buy a burrito for anyone who spent more than $50 at Broadway Books. The site usually averaged 20 hits a month. He put a link to his blog on his Twitter page, and within minutes a friend had Retweeted his offer. In one afternoon it was Retweeted 30 times. The story quickly jumped from the private world to the public and Portland giants Nike and Adidas posted it in company-wide e-mails. Dyer’s story had gone viral. The local media picked it up and Broadway Books started to see a completely different mix of customers. Besides their middle-aged regulars they were seeing people in their 20s and 30s – the people who use social media. The story demonstrates that when you have a good story, social media can be a very effective tool.
So where does this leave florists? Marketing and branding are just telling or selling your story, as Aaron did on Twitter and his blog, and White did on Facebook. Their stories were true tales that appealed to our natural affinity for an authentic opportunity to make a difference in our community. Your story may be about service, product, community service, saving a bride’s day or simply your bargain of the week. Social media such as Facebook, Twitter and blogs are inexpensive tools that can put your story out there to the buying public. So, go find a teenager or a 20-something and get them to help you start Tweeting your own horn. Then browse our website for more ideas on how to use Twitter and Facebook effectively.
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