The Value of Facebook and Foursquare Check-Ins to Tampa Businesses
According to a recent Tampa Bay Business Journal report, Starbucks and Buffalo Wild Wings lead the way in food locations that have the most Facebook check-ins.
Checking-in has become culturally accepted very quickly and the ability to check-in has been made easy due to applications from Facebook, Foursquare, Gowalla and others. The process is pretty simple. Arrive at a coffee shop. Pull out your cell phone and open the mobile app for Facebook. Click the ‘check-in’ button and a message is shared throughout your social network letting everyone know that, “hey, I’m at Big Mike’s House of Coffee.”
But what drives people to check-in to restaurants, offices, ballparks and other places? And is there a value for Tampa businesses if their customers are checking in?
Why do people check-in?
Something to do: First and foremost, checking-in is simply something to do – or something fun to do. We stand in line. We wait for food to come. We’re needing something to occupy our minds for a moment. So, we pull out our cell phone. Checking-in is a growing pastime.
Image from Foursquare
Competition: The folks at Foursquare realized they could make a neat social network game out of people’s interest in checking in. On Foursquare, you can connect with friends, earn awards and even earn rewards from the businesses you check-in at. A little competition moves everything forward.
Status: You like for people to know you’re at Starbucks. It says something about you. Or maybe you want people to know you’re at the airport. It shows you’re a business road warrior. Or perhaps it shows that you’re off to another exotic local. Check-ins allow you to portray yourself in whatever way you want. Status is a part of it. Consequently, there a
re probably not a lot of check-ins at your local dry cleaners or podiatrist office.
Communication: Checking-in is a simple communication tool. Very quickly and easily, you can let a large group of people know what you’re doing and where you are.
Connect with friends: Say you’re at a Rays game and you want to see if any of your friends are at the game. Checking-in is a quick way to canvas the area.
Meet new people: Imagine you’re at Starbucks and you check-in on Foursquare. You can see who else is there. If it’s someone you don’t know, you can see their profile. If they’re someone you want to meet, now you have a quick and easy conversation starter.
How can check-ins be of value to local Tampa businesses?
Free advertising: Yes, free advertising. When a customer checks-in to a business everyone within that customer’s social network can see where they checked in. That’s completely free advertising for your business.
Implied endorsement: Not only are you getting free advertising with check-ins, but you’re getting the implied endorsement of that customer. They are essentially saying that, “I like this place so much that I want others to see that I’m here.” What better recommendation could you ask for as a business owner?
Image from Facebook
Encourage check-ins: Business owners can encourage check-ins to take advantage of the free advertising and implied endorsements. They can ask and remind customers to check-in. They can also offer rewards for checking-in. Perhaps a restaurant offers a free appetizer when a customer has checked-in 3 times. Or perhaps a dentist offers 5% off their services for checking in.
In the end, it’s all about using marketing tools to push acquisition and retention of customers. That – and positive cash flow - is the lifeblood of businesses here in Tampa. When you can take advantage of something that takes so little time management and no real dollar investment, why wouldn’t you?
Locally, per the TBBJ article, Starbucks has 115 locations here in greater Tampa. Buffalo Wild Wings has 8 locations. Have you checked-in at one of these locations?
Read the original report from Mashable.com that outlines the national Top 10 list of Facebook check-ins at restaurants and other food establishments. According to the Mashable report, “Facebook stats show that when people check in, they let an average of 130 of their friends know.”
Wow – implied endorsement AND free advertising! What’s a business not to like about check-ins?
Why Fast Food Restaurants Frequently Advertise with Direct Mail in Tampa
You see them almost every day in your mailbox – coupons from the mainstays of fast food – McDonald’s, Subway, Burger King, Taco Bell, Steak & Shake, Sonic and many more.
They arrive as direct mail flyers and they arrive tucked inside of shared mail media like Valpak, Money Mailer, The Flyer, RedPlum a
nd other advertising vehicles.
How can they afford to run so many print ads? Why is your mailbox inundated with a glut of coupons? Does anyone use printed coupons anymore?
Well, it’s pretty simple – coupons work – they’re effective. But why are so many delivered this way?
Yeah, Coupons Work: Coupons are a time-honored way of driving sales. At this point it’s a science with data driven decisions pulling the levers of sales and revenue. The big boys of fast food are smart. Coupons work for them.
Competitive Market: Tampa is a competitive market. Plus, the economy is down. Dropping coupons is a quick and easy way for fast food companies (and companies from many other industries) to stimulate sales.
Business is Down: With the economy down, marketers use the most direct, the most ‘heavy-handed’ and simple marketing approaches they can. Coupons equal savings. Savings means more money left in their pocket (at least that’s the psychological equation going on in the mind of consumers).
Traffic Flow: Coupons generate foot traffic and drive-thru traffic. They get new customers and existing customers to come in to the restaurant. And, they get those customers to come into the restaurant more often. Once people are in a restaurant, they are spending.
Steady Traffic Flow: Marketers use coupons to even out sales peaks and sales valleys. With advanced analytics, marketers understand what products need a sales lift, which days of the week are better or worse than others, what time of the day is slow and so on. By using specific offers, marketers can even out the sales a market or a location sees.
Tampa is a Test Market: Tampa is well-known test market, especially for restaurants. Apparently Tampa offers up a populace that’s relatively representative of the rest of the country when it comes to making food decisions. Fast food companies and other restaurants use their Tampa locations try new offers, new products and new promotions.
Support Specific Locations: Every McDonald’s location pulls in different amounts of revenue. The same goes for Burger King, Taco Bell and every other fast food company. There are a lot of factors involved. Customer service. Traffic flow around a restaurant. The individual franchisee that owns the location. The household income of the surrounding area. The level of competition within the area. Coupons can help stimulate traffic and sales to specific stores.
Now that you know why you’re getting so many fast food coupons here in Tampa you can make the decision to use them or chunk them into the recycling bin.
3 Reasons Why We’ll Miss Steve Jobs Here at Exo Creative
Last week Steve Jobs of Apple stepped down as CEO of Apple.
Image from BGR Media, LLC.
For roughly forty years, Jobs was the living, breathing public persona of the Apple mystique. It’s a relative understatement to say that he was a visionary marketer and business leader as well as an advanced design engineer and problem solver.
Jobs, his company and the company’s products influenced everything from product design to cultural habits to breakthroughs in new marketing techniques.
Here are the 3 reasons why we’ll miss Steve Jobs here at Exo Creative:
- His innovation: Apple personal computers, iPods, iPhones, Pixar, etc…what more is there to say?
- His passion: Yes, he was known to be aggressive and demanding, but inspiration and charisma equate to difficulties in allowing others to take over. We look on the bright side here.
- His creativity: Being able to ‘see into the future’, anticipate and sculpt trends and behaviors while creating functional and fun American icons – that’s amazing!
We’ll Miss Steve Jobs Here at Exo Creative
This Ain’t Your Mamma’s T-Shirt
Who said knitting isn’t cool?
We love getting the opportunity to work on crazy fun projects, where the client has an idea they toss in your lap like a live grenade and just say go with it. Lately we’ve been working on some super cool apparel designs for Starstruck Cat Studio in Indiana.
We’re loving them…almost as much as we love a client who’s willing to be a little different. We can’t knit to save our lives, but we just might give it a try once we get one of these on our backs.
Exo Creative of Tampa, Florida To Work With Encore Orchestra Camp of Atlanta, Georgia
Exo Creative of Tampa, Florida is proud to announce its new relationship with The Encore Orchestra Camp of Atlanta, Georgia.
Exo Creative will help The Encore Orchestra Camp with re-branding efforts geared toward making a stronger connection with students, parents and teachers in local Atlanta schools. Phase one of the effort will focus on updating the current logos the camp utilizes in it’s marketing outreach.
Now working toward its 24th season, The Encore Orchestra Camp provides an enjoyable musical experience for string orchestra students from beginner level through 9th grade. Students receive a blend of educational and recreational activities throughout the camp sessions. Rehearsals and master classes are conducted by highly skilled specialists with proven success in working with younger orchestra students. In addition to rehearsals and master classes, the camp provides afternoon and evening recreational activities including swimming and dance. The camp is held annually at Emory University in Atlanta.
Social Media Basics for Small Business
So, you’re a small business and people keep saying, “you should use social media!”
At this point, there are really only two replies you can utter. The first is, “yeah, I should” or maybe, “yeah, I’m doing some things already.”
The second reply – and a very common reply when asked about social media – is, “uh…social what?”
The reality is that there are a lot of small business owners that do not utilize Social Media tools to help market their business. Per a Wall Street Journal small business post “according to a recent poll, nearly half of small business owners do not use Social Media.”
Why don’t they use Social Media?
- They don’t know about what tools are available and how to use them
- They’re more comfortable with – or better understand – traditional media
- They’ve been doing the same thing – the same way – for a long time
- They feel that it’s not necessary to their business
- Gasp! – they’re 40+ in age!
- No one has held their hand and made it easy for them
At Exo Creative, we help small and mid-size businesses understand and use social media as part of an overall marketing approach.
What is Social Media?
Social Media is an umbrella term for any online activity that fosters sharing, interaction and communication between groups of people that have some sort of connection. The term Social Media generally refers to specific things like a blog, Facebook or Twitter. There are fancier definitions for Social Media of course, but really, this it.
So, how do you use Social Media for small business?
There is an entire industry built around how to best use Social Media with a lot of brilliant minds creating fantastic solutions every day. But for a small business, the most important step is to just get started.
Getting started is simple:
- Create accounts with Social Media that make sense for your business
- Listen to what others are saying
- Educate yourself on how to use these Social Media tool (or have someone help you learn)
- Have a strategy / set goal – what do you want to accomplish?
- Define how (or if) each of these Social Media tools will help you reach your marketing goal
What can you use Social Media for?
- Advertising, marketing and promoting your business
- Public relations
- Customer service
- Amplifying word of mouth
And what are some common Social Media tools?
Facebook is the big daddy of them all – you’ve probably heard of it! With over 750 Million users worldwide, it’s where a lot of people are spending their time – and where a lot of advertisers are going to reach both new and existing customers.
Twitter is an interactive messaging system that allows users to connect with their friends or anyone else they might share a common interest with. It’s a great place for businesses to send out timely messages to their customers.
Foursquare offers the ability for people to ‘check in’ at business locations. When they do, they can also opt to share their location on Facebook and Twitter. That’s like free advertising.
Blogs like WordPress, Tumblr and Blogger are where you can establish yourself as an authority in your field or industry, communicate with customers and much more. Blogs offer many benefits to small business owners.
Yelp is a business review site. If you care about what customers are saying about your business – and they probably are already talking about you – here is a way to help guide the opinions of others. You can also respond to positive and negative reviews here.
The variety of uses that Facebook and Twitter and the others provide is infinite. And there are many other Social Media to use as well when managing your brand online.
In the end, Social Media is just another tool you can use to help solve business problems.
So – what’s keeping you from starting?
The Five Myths of B2B Social Media Marketing (via Social Media for B2B Marketing)
Here is a nice, succinct outlook on Social Media Marketing from a B2B perspective.
Exo Playlist to Kick Off Your Weekend
Music is big around here. It’s at least as necessary as coffee. We can’t work without it.
Here’s a playlist that’s been circling around the office for the past couple weeks. Check em out. It’ll put you in the groove. Don’t say we never gave you nothin’.
Moneygrabber—Fitz & the Tantrums
A Darkness Rises Up—Broken Records
Young Blood—The Naked and Famous
Hate to Say I Told You So—The Hives
Under Cover of Darkness—The Strokes
12 Quick Blog Tips Plus 3 FREE!
Here are 12 quick blog tips to use as you’re creating copy and content for your blog.
Blog Tip # 1: Starting easy – make sure your blog updates your Facebook and Twitter accounts (and make sure readers can share your post on Facebook and Twitter).
Blog Tip # 2: If you make a salient point, back it up with a colorful example or a relevant link.
Blog Tip # 3: Interact with readers who take the time to comment on your blog. A ‘Thank You’ and an honest reply go a long way to building rapport and community.
Blog Tip # 4: Do you have a friend on Facebook or Twitter who is an ‘influencer’ that can occasionally share your posts to their fans and followers?
Free Tip: Write short, crisp bullet point sentences for easy brain digestion! 
Blog Tip # 5: Are you link building by posting thoughtful and well conceived comments on other similar blogs?
Blog Tip # 6: Break apart old (but relevant) longer posts into 3 parts. Refresh and/or update some of the content if needed and them send them out as a 3-parter. Voila! 3 easy posts!
Blog Tip # 7: Are you linking back to other posts within your blog? It helps give your readers more reason to stick around on your blog.
Blog Tip # 8: Are you focusing on keywords and phrases as you’re writing your headlines and body copy.
Free Tip: Using “How To…” is a great headline. People know immediately you’re helping to solve a problem.
Blog Tip # 9: Think ‘problem/solution’ when writing your blog. What does the reader want? A solution, knowledge, insight, a better way to do something? Yep.
Blog Tip # 10: Authority and Relevance. What was the intent of writing the post? How did you deliver on your message? Did it satisfy the reader’s need?
Blog Tip # 11: Mention and link to other authorities in your industry. Then brazenly drop them a line saying, “hey, I mentioned you in my blog post because I appreciate your content.”
Blog Tip # 12: If you can, have someone proofread your post. Example (this post was published before it was finalized – whoops!).
Free Tip: Engage upfront! Readers are cramming in a post before their coffee cools and have to get back to work.
7 Design Inspiring Websites You Should Know About
What keeps our fires stoked here at Exo Creative? What keeps us moving in the right direction?
- Extraordinary design
- Talented friends
- Unusual solutions
- Music, music and music
- Full fat lattes (so sue us)
Cold hard cash
Atypical design, branding and marketing plans that raise your eyebrows and make you hyper-focus. Pushing against the norm and taking calculated risks. Causing people to rethink everything they thought they knew, and see with fresh eyes. Being different. Never apologizing for thinking off the wall. After all, until the client sees all the options—especially the ones they didn’t realize they wanted—how can anyone be fully satisfied with the end result?
Ever thought about suffragettes this way?
Probably a bit more like this, right?
Point is, when creating you must explore every corner, even the darker ones.
Here’s a shortlist of others who have pushed the envelope and, in taking the risk of going their own way, propelled themselves way above the pack (and inspired us).
Flywheel Design: Award-winning Flywheel is a dynamic small agency, and they’re particularly savvy at self-promotion and killer homepages. Of course, they also know how to harness good design to solve problems for their clients. Their ‘About’ page is one of the best we’ve ever read. Need an example of their skillz? Check out Watt’s Grocery. Simple and bold, with an obvious understanding of the unique tenets of this restaurant and the community in which it thrives.
Joy The Baker: Joy’s site is the triumverate of honest writing, mouth-watering food porn and fantastic recipes for the home cook. How else do you explain the sweet tea bourbon cocktails post? Need a quick recipe? Don’t go here. Need a break from the drudgery of Thursday mornings? Pour a coffee and grab your reading glasses.
NPR: When we need our news fix, we head to NPR. They cover all the major topics, but they also have expansive reporting on human interest stories, people, art, culture and music. (Check out the Small Desk Concerts and tell me you don’t have serious job envy.) NPR typically exhibits authentic, compassionate insight with a slight twist of humor. Plus, where else can you get a great mix of written reporting along with the corresponding audio interviews?
Anthropolgie: Illustrative. Bespoke. Looks as hand-crafted as the clothes they sell. Anthropologie’s site is a seamlessly branded bridge between it’s storefronts and online retail. This company takes extreme care with every tiny detail, from the way they sew their seams to customizing their online shopping carts.
West Egg: Good food in a great urban environment is always inspiring. West Egg Cafe in Atlanta is a bustling hub (even very early on a Sunday morning), emanates a nonchalant hipness, and holds bragging rights to a mean eggs benedict. Most significantly, they win the award for best type-only menu. The play of weights, faces and color is just fantastic. This is not easy to do and they earn extra credit for getting it right.
Dwell: Ah, Dwell. Dwell Magazine covers all aspects of modern architecture and design. The website is clean, uncluttered, relevant and easy to navigate without being elementary. It is by far the resource for getting an inside peek at uber-cool modern homes from around the world. Heck, the even inspired this post from us. A nod is also due to the now-defunct, late great National Geo Adventure magazine. Their article opening spread designs were inspired and crazy-creative with type treatments, and they deservedly garnered the design awards during their heyday.
Joe Posnanski: Joe Posnanski’s sports posts are billed as ‘curiously long’ and indeed they are—and that’s why we love them. As a senior sports writer for Sports Illustrated, he has an amazing knack for diving really deep on sports topics, especially baseball. Most of the posts are thousands of words and are best digested over morning coffee or a long lunch. He’d be exactly the kind of guy you’d want to watch a baseball game with. If you’re a fan of America’s pastime, he is a must read.
What websites inspire you?
