Social Media: Anatomy of an Ice Cream Sale
With the rapid rise of social media over the past year or so, one of the things I’ve struggled with most is how it can benefit small and medium businesses. There are case studies aplenty on the effectiveness of Twitter and other social media campaigns for large corporations. However, what about the small business? Would a social media strategy work for a small business in our local marketplace?
Well, let me tell you a tale of Two Frosties:
Two Frosties - Mint Oreo and Peanut Butter Cup
You have to go back to Friday, September 11 and this tweet fora FollowFriday recommendation from @LocalLondonLife for @WharncliffeDQ. I looked at the twitter feed for @WharncliffeDQ and it looked like an active, interesting feed, so I followed them.
For out-of towners, the Wharncliffe DQ is London Ontario’s first DQ location, established in 1954. My family and I visit them occassionally throughout the summer, but not much in the fall/winter.
Fast forward a few days. DQ posted their Secret Twitter Treat special for September. Buy one small Frosty, get another small Frosty, free. Sounded like a good idea – I wondered how effective the campaign would be.
The following weekend my wife and I were thinking about taking our daughter to the Western Fair. She is 3 and, no doubt, would have enjoyed it. However, the cost of parking made us question the value of going. We concluded that she would enjoy an afternoon at the park with her parents just as much as the Western Fair.
Before long, I realized we were a short drive from the Wharncliffe DQ decided to see if we could get the September Twitter treat! After running the little ones ragged at the park, we trekked off for some Ice Cream.
I have to admit the poor girl working the counter may have thought I was a bit crazy when I asked for the September Twitter Treat at the serving window, but we soon sorted that out. They even managed to upsell us to a small dipped cone (pictured above) when I found out you could get it coated in sprinkles! (I knew my daughter would love sprinkles!)
The beauty of social media is that this transaction would not have happened if not for the Follow Friday recommendation from @LocalLondonLife. And that recommendation would not have happened if @LocalLondonLife did not find DQ’s twitter content interesting. I would not have been following @LocalLondonLife if I did not think her feed posted interesting content. The seeds of participation that the staff at the DQ had put into maintaining their twitter feed probably took a while to bear fruit – but here it is, a tangible sale they made by partipating in the medium.
My recommendation for organizations over the past 6 months has been – JUMP IN and participate. You never know when it will result in a sale.
P.S. It helps if you offer sprinkles.
David Billson, President and Co-founderAs our fearless leader, David spends most of his time finding new work to keep us busy. As the face of the company, he also spends considerable time with clients to identify and find solutions to their communication and technical challenges. As a father of five six, he doesn’t have to look far to find something fun to do when he’s away from the office. Personally, he has a strong sense of commitment to family, friends and community – which are all the same thing in his mind. He brings this keen social sense to rtraction, and has been instrumental in ensuring that the company follows through on its commitment to corporate social responsibility. The most satisfying work moment for David was when rtraction received the HOPE award from the London Epilepsy Support Center. A busy individual, his greatest annoyance in life is simply how quickly time passes. In his own words, “It seems that every time I blink a new month has gone by.”
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