Pragmatic Social Media: An example of how to integrate social media into your off-line, brick-and-mortar business

Put your social media presence everywhere.
It’s so simple, it never occurs to many.
Look how long it took many businesses to get their website addresses on vehicles, business cards and ads.
And some still have yet to get with the program (very few).
In fact, I haven’t seen a sign like this yet… except at this business outside DC (a business very close to my heart!)

Of course, it’s bigger than this and there is other information on the door, but I know many clients both current and potential who’ve expressed delight at being able to contact this business in so many ways… especially since it’s closed on Sundays unlike many traditional retailers.

But, hey, who wants to be traditional?!

In fact, this business encourages people to friend them, fan them, tweet them, check in on foursquare, and anything else they can think of.
And they offer rewards like Starbucks gift cards, drawings and merchandise.

Give me your thoughts on this one because I humbly think it’s genius
If you’d like to learn more about social media and real business, even if it’s just to check on your brand, check out the book The Social Media Equation. One tip from it could save you embarrassment or make you thousands!
Click the image to order and you will be able to download it immediately.

All the best,

Chris

A WebMindSet Tip – Another technique for establishing a web culture of awareness in your team.

In my “brick and mortar” position I spend countless hours working to establish a culture of web awareness and weave that into our corporate environment. It’s very enjoyable, but it requires consistent effort.
I send these emails out once in awhile to give everyone in the company a sense of involvement in our online efforts.
This, in turn, yields far more cooperation when I step outside the brick-and-mortar box.
In fact, I’ve gotten responses to some of these emails that have spurred blog posts yielding increased traffic! 

From: Christopher Moline, LEED AP
Sent: Thursday, September 09, 2010 1:29 PM
To: [Everyone]
Subject: Web searches
Good afternoon gang [over 70],
Along with the absolutely stunning weather, I thought I’d pass along
some of what’s been happening online this morning.
What’s on our web customer’s minds?
Here’s a peek into just a few of the hundreds of searches from just this morning… 

composit tile retail alexandria virgina 
52501 armstrong vct carousel taupe THIS LED TO A FLUID PAGE WHERE SOME OF OUR INVENTORY IS LISTED AND UPDATED
camael tigressa carpet review CAPTURE THE HURRIED WHO ROUTINELY MIS-SPELL. WE HAVE MULTIPLE
POSTS ON TIGRESSA… SOME INCLUDE INTENTIONAL MIS-SPELLINGS
dealer in washington, dc area for mannin LED TO OUR MANNINGTON PAGE
offices with stone walls LED TO THE PAGE WITH MULTI-COLOR SLATE
PICTURES OF THE BACK WALL IN THE SALES AREA
hardwood stairs refinishing LED TO A MAGNUS ANDERSON-ORIENTED PAGE
tigress carpet fiber, what is it?
floor restoration virginia dc metro
commercial carpet in DC

With Google’s launch yesterday of “Google Instant”, an auto-complete,
search while you type modification to the king of all search engines,
there will be some changes to how searches look on this end, but we’re very
to grab even more inquiries because of our in.
That means more web leads and sales!
Anything on your mind that you think should be spun on the web? 

Onward and upward! 

Chris
Christopher A. Moline,LEED AP
Residential Group Manager
Chief Blog-meister + Social Media-izer
BLOG    WEB    EMAIL    FACEBOOK     TWITTER
If you need immediate response, please call Elisha at (301) 440-3421.” 

Note my email signature, which I’ve included for your benefit as well.
It includes hyperlinks to my blog, website, email, Twitter and Facebook presences.
That is another tool to keep the “webmindset” at the forefront of everyones mind.
Note also the “24-hour response” note… I’ll thank Tim Ferriss for that one!
All the best and let me know how it works for you, 

Chris 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Target will be offering Facebook gift cards… are you game?

I feel a bit sneaky because I do not, nor will I ever, play Farmville… but it’s HOT and the Target-loves-Facebook news is, too!
      

So, I’m not going to slam it although any doe-eyed baby calves wandering my way better steer clear and learn the lesson of the cute little baby duck who disappeared in a puff of feathers.
Ok, I’m joking, but gaming is far too important to ignore.
I’m in the middle of working with SCVNGR to launch a beta for our brick-and-mortar flooring business and I can tell you it’s already paid off with some positive buzz.

What do you think?

If you are a consumer – would you like Facebook gift cards?

If you are a business owner – are you game to put a little online gaming into your marketing mix?

Let me know and we’ll follow this together.

All the best,

Chris