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5 Ways To Boost Coffee Shop Sales: Part 1 – Social Media

Posted on 05. Nov, 2009 by Jason Coffee in How to

In this article I am going to break down 5 Ways you can Boost Coffee Shop sales with actual examples on how to go about implementing them. I have broken this article up into 5 parts and included a quick index at the top of every post for easy navigation. All of the examples I give in this article are great ideas but they are really meant to be spring boards to get your own creative  juices flowing.

Way #1:  Social Media – Twitter and Facebook

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4

By now I think most everyone is on board with the idea that social media is an important element in their overall business strategy. But I don’t think most people  really grasp that this is not just a peripheral element. It can and ultimately will be one of the biggest factors that the everyday consumer will use in deciding where they are going to spend their hard earned money. If you don’t believe me then just do a twitter search on one of your favorite brands or t.v shows. You will see a stream of real time information about that particular brand and what people are thinking or feeling about it in that moment. I think so many people are making the mistake of writing this off as a “Twitter Thing” when in actuality it will ultimately change the way people search and surf the web forever.

Now I don’t want to limit you’re exposure or thinking to just Twitter and Facebook but right now they are easily the two biggest players in real time Social Media. So if you don’t have an account at both of these sites please STOP reading this article and get one immediately. Now that you have an account on these sites how do you use them? Well this is going to depend on your overall strategy and later I am going to go into more detail of what that might look like for you. The important thing to remember is to stay active, communicate, be available, be genuine, provide valuable information, remain approachable and do not abuse these streams to over sell or as a glorified RSS feed. Below I will walk you through three examples of how to use these tools by interacting with customers at the store level. (Note: There is also a huge use for these streams at the corporate level.)

3 Ideas for Your Store

Idea #1: Facebook Fan Page Giveaway

Let your customers know you have a Facebook Fan Page. Once you have over 100 fans turn your url into a vanity url. (http://www.facebook.com/MyCoffeeShop – If you do not have a fan page Spencer at Tutorial Blog has a simple How To on getting it set up.) Once you have the vanity url it makes it a lot easier to market that page to your customers. Now that you have the fan page let’s get started with the giveaway. On your fan page update your status by saying something like, “Come in to the store for the next 60 minutes and say you saw this message and receive ANY small beverage for FREE!” Even if you don’t have all or any of your fans come in for the giveaway many of them will most assuredly tell their friends or family about it. By the end of the day you will have many more Facebook Fans and loyal customers watching your every move, waiting for the next big surprise!

Idea #2: Twitter Contest

This one is super simple. Tweet out a message that saying something like, “Who is enjoying their YourCompanyHere beverage this morning? Send me a pic and you could win a $20 gift card.” Then when some time has past and you have some pics announce the winner. This will draw people to you on Twitter and ultimate increase your companies visibility on this very important medium.

Idea #3: Coupons on Your Blog

Do a blog post the day before a big sale with a coupon in it. Tell everyone they can get an additional 20% off. Include a field where they can input their email address to receive their coupon. This not only gets you more sales but also increases your base of contacts.

Next Page >>>>> Part Two – Giveaways

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Tags: coffee business, coffee how to, coffee sales