Social advertising is different across all businesses. The large more established businesses like Starbucks utilize their larger capital to highlight the company. In Yelp, you'll find them as the "star" business if you look up coffee shops which no only stands the location out on the map but also makes the business the number 1 on the list. Smaller businesses like mine rely on saving as much revenue as possible by avoiding trying to compete with market giants such as Starbucks and using picture ads that show off the products. I think it's safe to say that depending on the size of the business in terms of revenue will determine what type of advertising is chosen.
The things that I tend to gravitate toward are usually pictures/videos. Like everyone says, a picture is worth a thousand words and for ads that utilize text, I simply don't have the patience to read. Instagram's fitness gear gets me every time because seeing the pictures of the products with fit people make want to get in shape. So naturally, I click on the images to check out the products. More recently, I was browsing instagram and an ad for black Friday electronics sale was showing and got me to click on it almost instantly.
Advertising through traditional methods just simply doesn't reach the same audience size as social media advertising. I know I personally haven't picked up newspaper since the early 2000's. In my mail, I still receive ad mailers and coupons but I don't bother looking through them and it goes straight to the trash. Social media allows ads to reach a larger audience, can repeatedly reach the same customer over and over, and can be a cheaper alternative than traditional.
Sunday, November 17, 2019
Sunday, November 10, 2019
Week 12B: Researching Other Online Tools
My previous post mentioned that utilizing Yelp would be very beneficial to Central Brew. By doing a quick search in Yelp of "coffee" within the San Marcos area, I can directly see my competition in the area. In the same general area, I can easily see three other coffee shops. The first one I see is Starbucks which is flagged as an ad in addition to the normal pin point. From that, I can see the benefits of using money to have my location stick out from the rest of the points if people do Yelp searches. Just glancing over, I can also see that they're ratings are low with only 72 reviews for 3.5/5 stars. Another competitor in the area is Perks Coffee House which has 4 stars for 373 reviews. Unfortunately, Yelp shows one blurb of a comment on the search page and this happens to talk about flies throughout the entire store. Had this review been for my business, I would have attempted to make a resolution immediately. Now anyone looking for a coffee shop in the area will be turned away if they do not look further into the page. The last coffee shop in the area is Duke's Hawaiian Coffee which only has 1 review and is 2/5 stars. Clearly, they have not made an attempt to utilize yelp to it's full potential and I would deem them as not a threat.
Similar to Yelp, if you go to Google and search for a business in an area, business blurbs and ratings also pop up. In t his case, I searched "coffee shops San Marcos" and really only one of the coffee shops mentioned above show up. Perks Coffee House has 4.5/5 stars on Google for 228 reviews. I personally use Yelp way more than the Google functions but for my business, it would be another way to get more details and customer feed back to allow me to adjust any issues I find.
LinkedIn to me as always been a networking type social media and as an avid user, I don't see a draw for businesses to utilize aside from recruiting and getting their name out there. For my business, I would not use LinkedIn as I feel it would be a waste of resources that I could be using to improve my customer interaction social media applications such as Facebook/Twitter.
Similar to Yelp, if you go to Google and search for a business in an area, business blurbs and ratings also pop up. In t his case, I searched "coffee shops San Marcos" and really only one of the coffee shops mentioned above show up. Perks Coffee House has 4.5/5 stars on Google for 228 reviews. I personally use Yelp way more than the Google functions but for my business, it would be another way to get more details and customer feed back to allow me to adjust any issues I find.
LinkedIn to me as always been a networking type social media and as an avid user, I don't see a draw for businesses to utilize aside from recruiting and getting their name out there. For my business, I would not use LinkedIn as I feel it would be a waste of resources that I could be using to improve my customer interaction social media applications such as Facebook/Twitter.
Week 12A: Other Online Tools
Aside from Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter, there are other methods of social media that could help with growing and maintaining my business. For a coffee shop, Central Brew would definitely utilize Yelp to help get customer feedback and to promote our business. Utilizing the "check in" function with deals will not only lure in new customers but repeat customers as well. I know that when I go to my "go-to" Thai restaurant, I always make sure to check in to both show support and to get my free Thai iced coffee. A similar strategy could also be used for Central Brew where we give a discounted or free drink with every check in.
Yelp's best feature is the built in rating system. The app allows users to giving ratings and post reviews of a business. This allows for increased customer-business relationships and gives the business and idea of how they're currently doing. For Central Brew, we could not only acknowledge any customer issues but also keep an eye out for suggestions such as a type of coffee or ideas for an event. The idea of utilizing Yelp is to give the customers a voice and for the business to be able to see both negatives and positives.
Yelp's best feature is the built in rating system. The app allows users to giving ratings and post reviews of a business. This allows for increased customer-business relationships and gives the business and idea of how they're currently doing. For Central Brew, we could not only acknowledge any customer issues but also keep an eye out for suggestions such as a type of coffee or ideas for an event. The idea of utilizing Yelp is to give the customers a voice and for the business to be able to see both negatives and positives.
Sunday, November 3, 2019
Week 11A: Newsletter Usage
For many coffee shops, the standard email news letter being sent out is usually a "Happy Birthday" email or even a promotion notification. These newsletters come out every month or even quarterly. For Central Brew, I think the best frequency of newsletters going out would definitely be monthly. Anything less than that would be missed opportunities for attracting customer attention and anything more would be annoying and information would be redundant. Of course a secondary email newsletter would go out to individuals on their birthday with a free drink coupon to hopefully bring in add-on sales.
Unlike most coffee shops, Central Brew does events throughout the year and deal days. I think our newsletter wouldn't just be a promotion letter but instead, we would send out a monthly calendar. This will have added benefits as it will let viewers know what events are coming up throughout the month such as Trivia Night or BOGO drink days. Also, having a calendar would possibly lead to people wanting to remember certain dates and printing out the calendar to post on their fridge or at work. This will increase visibility and act as a reminder everyday.
-Calendar Events
-Promotions/Sales
-New Drinks
-Instagram picture of the month
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