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Posts Tagged ‘Twitter’

Inspiration in desk piles.

Posted in Really good ideas, Shopkeeping talk, tagged , , , , , , on September 1, 2013|

I’ve been spending the holiday weekend going through and actually DOING SOMETHING ABOUT all the notes and catalog pages and so on on my desk. (Yeh, I know, I’m a bundle of laughs and a real party animal, aren’t I?)

In amongst the October 2012 notes and the Christmas craft ideas yanked from a 1996 magazine (none of which I have felt moved in the past 17 years to do) were a couple of gems. Here’s one.

A customer of a consignment or resale or thrift shop wrote (somewhere, who knows? I take lousy notes)

How many times have we come out of [Shop Name] doing the happy dance!?!

Doin' the Happy Dance in front of my Favorite Consignment Shop!Would this not be a terrific photo op for YOUR shop? Seize the opportunity, when you have an excited and happy customer in front of you, to get her to pose, in front of your shop, with her purchase on/ in a bag/ on a hanger/ on the mover’s dolly, while dancing/ jumping/ cartwheeling in joy?

Hopefully, your shop name’s in the picture too, but if not, just add it with Picmonkey or Ribbet or whatever.

Think how many ways you can use this:

  • As a Facebook entry
  • In a Facebook Album: Our happy customers!
  • Twitter, Instagram, Google Plus, all those sites
  • As a photo in your entry or on your shop’s community bulletin board
  • On your blog (as a category!)
  • On your web site
  • In a slide show for your web site, a commercial* for your shop
  • As a print ad
  • As an uploaded photo on your Yelp etc reviews

Heck, you could even invite the year’s Happy Shoppers to a brunch event in your shop one Sunday to thank them! Talk about word of mouth!

 
* Ask a photographer friend about model releases.

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Do your staffers “share”?

Posted in economics of resale, Shopkeeping talk, tagged , , , on August 28, 2013| 3 Comments »

Here's how to share

I’ve shared this with you before… share it with your employees and volunteers.

If your consignment, resale or thrift shop uses Facebook to gain attention for the business, do your staffers share these posts with their FB friends?

Why not?

Of course, you can’t “make” them intermingle their professional life with their personal life… and no doubt there are staffers in some shops whose Facebook “personality” would fry your brains…

but if you expect them to recommend your shop to their friends and to speak well of the place they work, wouldn’t you expect them to boost the business once in a while on their social media?

Why not suggest it, next time you’re doling out those bonuses for beating the sales figures you’ve set as a goal for the day, week, month?

“Gosh, look at what we’ve profited from increased business this week. Bet it was those shares you guys gave the shop on your Facebook pages… well-done!

Or, of course, the alternative. “Gee, we didn’t make our projections last month. I’m just wondering if we’ve all been sharing the social media about the shop that [I / we/ Sam over there] works so hard on… what do you think? A “share” here and there? Could that be your social media motto to keep your job rewarding?”

BTW, click through on the graphic above to louisem.com. I think you’ll find her entire blog most helpful, if you’re spending a lot of time making social media pay off in your shop.

So what do you think? Is asking those who work with you to help promote the shop online, just as you expect them to speak well and often about the shop in real life, a reasonable thing for a boss to do? Or are there reasons you don’t want to ask this of them? Comment below, if you have an opinion you’d like to… well…

share.

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Do I blog, Facebook, or Instagram that?

Posted in Shopkeeping talk, tagged , , , , on August 25, 2013|

Where would you put this announcement?It’s all about social media, when you want to motivate those who friend/ follow/ fan you to come in to shop.

There’s lots of stuff that you could share online that would polish the reputation of your business for the long-term, that could get shoppers in quickly, or even sell an unusual piece of merchandise you just got in. So where do you tell folks?

You want it FAST

Time-sensitive messages, such as items you just got in or today’s specials, need Facebook or Instagram. Which you use depends on your number of followers. Both, of course, is the best option. Twitter works well, too.

Scads of info for bricks-&-mortar shops using FB.
 

You want it to LAST

These types of updates should be relatively timeless: companionable “chats” about your shop’s mission or vision; casual “friends'” type info like beauty tips, merchandise use, even recipes; points of view on using the type of merchandise you sell, such as “what type of sofa suits” or “what the kids need for camp.”

For messages you want to last, use your shop blog. After all, a mini-essay or even a few links to “Decorate in eco-fashion” or “Which necklace for which neckline” can be Facebook-able for months or even years afterword: a single blog entry can be used to alert potential customers on social media to your business many times!

More on blogging for your retail store, and even a resale-specific Product for the Professional Resaler.

You want the PAST to improve your business FUTURE

Have you used your remodel, move, or even just the backstage prep for a special event as Facebook status updates or tweets? Combine them with a selling message and put it on your shop’s Pinterest. Then, later, you can remind folks of your shop simply by saying “Have your seen our Santa Sale pins? To be sure you don’t miss the Valentine Values event, sign up for our email notices!”

Using Pinterest for your resale business.

(And that brings up the issue of when and how to use your broadcast email capabilities. But that’s another post! In the meanwhile, here’s our past entries about email.)

Now, you know, or can learn, to interconnect the various social media so your contributions to the constant web conversation show up where, and when, you want them to.

Don’t forget, a good entry or update is often repeatable on that channel or others… at a different time of day, on another day, or even months later.

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Motivate them on the weekend!

Posted in 5- Minute Fixes, Really good ideas, Shopkeeping talk, tagged , , , , on May 5, 2013|

HowToConsign.com tweets to YOUR future customersWhen you motivate your followers on the weekend, you build traffic on Monday. And (more…)

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Overdosing On Social Networks?

Posted in economics of resale, Shopkeeping talk, tagged , , on February 28, 2013| 3 Comments »

I know that I have some of the earmarks of social network addiction. Especially #1 and #5. Maybe you do too.Is social media addiction hurting your consignment shop?

Is social media addiction interfering with, rather than helping, your consignment or resale shop?

Read the article.

At least I’m spared some of the affliction, since I don’t have a smart phone. My phone’s dumb. Thank goodness.

How social media addiction affects your family.

Infographic from Independent Fashion Bloggers.

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