Notes and Thoughts on Grocery 2.0

Speaking of Olympics, Michael Phelps will be on the box of …Frosted Flakes. And Michael Phelps has a million fans on Facebook. How can you leverage your brand and the power of social networking?

Social networking is all about finding niche areas where people find others who share the same interest. People are already talking about your brand online; engage with them, find out how to improve your brand directly from your customers, find out what’s working and why.

Here are 5 tips to get started:

1. Set up Facebook, MySpace and YouTube accounts for your brand

2. Find fans who love your brand and friend them

3. Send out bulletins & blogs to your online friends about promotions or events they will be interested in

4. To have friends you have to be a friend. Be active, but don’t try to sell – instead inform and let your friends make up their own mind

5. Offer online specials to your social networking friends only – reward them for being your friend

Social networking is wonderful way to communicate with your customers. It is a two way street on communication, once you make the commitment to join a social network site, make the commitment to be active and engage with your customers on their terms.

Here’s to being popular!

~Rebecca

Most parents rejoice once the kids are off to school again but this usual occurs after the back to school errands are complete. New clothes, shoes, books, binders, pens, lunches, and snacks are just some of the many items parents purchase to get their kids ready to start the new school year. Who’s products are the buying? Well in an ideal world, yours. Companies make an investment when it comes to back to school advertising, it’s almost up there with the holiday season. So where do you start when building your advertising campaign? You have to go to where your target market is. What’s the point of launching newspaper print ads if your target market doesn’t read the paper? Targeting your message directly to your end users will enable success.

So let’s use Mom’s for our example. They are running around the last few weeks of summer getting their kids ready for school. How do you reach them with the products you want them to buy; the Internet. According to eMarketer, “40% of all women in the US who go online - some 35 million people - are mothers with children under 18 at home”. Moms are online everyday; a perfect way to send your message directly to them. The use of the Internet also increases once a child is born, “47% of women say that they go online more often once they have a child”.

Kids likes/dislikes change everyday and your business puts research, time, and money into new products that you know kids will want. Moms may not know what these are but that is where your advertisement comes to save the day and make these moms into Supermoms! Back to school advertising and the Internet has increased immensely, a Platform-A ADlytics Group study found that, “83% of back-to-school consumers are somewhat likely to seek in-store deals based on online promotions”. So get your message out there and be sure you’ve chosen the right media outlet to do so, remember if you’re targeting hearing impaired people it won’t be beneficial to run a radio advertisement

Cheers!
Courtney

Traditional media ads only have the power is to “interrupt” people’s lives. Seth Godin’s book Permission Marketing; Turning Strangers into Friends and Friends into Customers discusses how to grab someone’s attention. First you need to get his or her permission with some kind of bait–a free sample, a big discount, a contest, an 800 number, or even just an opinion survey. Once a customer volunteers his or her time, you’re on your way to establishing a long-term relationship and making a sale. “By talking only to volunteers, Permission Marketing guarantees that consumers pay more attention to the marketing message,” he writes. “It serves both customers and marketers in a symbiotic exchange.”

Or in email mail terms that means Opt In. Duh, by getting permission to talk to customers, you are developing a personal relationship with them, where they actually enjoy receiving correspondence.

The book is a great read.

Enjoy,
Rebecca

What is it? Social Networking is a structure of links between nodes(ie often people) that can be browsed or searched like a map to help you understand the respective relationships connecting these nodes/people together. LinkedIn, FaceBook, and MySpace are some popular examples.

Here is a good overview video from CommonCraft on Social Networking.

Why is Social Networking important in the Grocery industry?

We all want to understand, engage, and retain our customers better. Consumers increasingly are spending more time on social networking sites and less time using traditional media. A recent UK study found, “This gain in popularity(of Social Networking sites) comes from the expense of other activities and media. The main activities showing a decline in time spent…, watching broadcast television (-12%), reading print (books are -10%, magazines are -8%, newspapers are -7%), visiting other web sites, and playing games. Among teens, the decline is even more pronounced with -32% less time spent on homework/work, -21% less time spent on TV, and -14% less time spent reading books.”

Ok, so I understand that some of my grocery customers and many of my younger customers use social networking sites but how do I engage them?
Here are three things that you can do tomorrow to engage your grocery consumer in the social networking space.