People soshalize. They don't care how it's spelled. They just do it.
Social media activity has essential benefits for local businesses that include strengthening your brand and raising your SEO ranking. In many instances, it may be hard to link social media involvement to immediate sales, but growing your online presence will certainly make more people know about your business. They are bound to come your way as soon as the need for your service or product arises.
You’ve made a customer extremely happy with their purchase and exceeded their expectations. They’re smiling, shaking your hand, and thankful that you earned their business. They show all of the signs of being a potential brand ambassador. Now, how do you actually convert them from happy customer to brand ambassador?
Let’s assume, for a moment, that you have step one on the path to building your Brand Ambassador Factory covered. For those who don’t know, step one would be to make sure that your business is operating in a way that creates extremely happy customers and clients. There’s nothing I can say on this social media blog to help you there – run a good business and make people more than satisfied with the results you deliver. If you aren’t doing that, social media can’t fix it.
I found it humorous that Yelp’s stock prices fell after Facebook announced Graph Search. If there’s one thing we’ve learned about Facebook over the years, it’s that the only thing they’ve been able to slay in their various attempts to jump into something was social networking pioneer MySpace, and even they’re bringing sexy back to some extent. Facebook didn’t kill Foursquare. It couldn’t kill Twitter. It never emerged as a blip on Amazon’s radar and their Craigslist killer was a no-show. No, Facebook will not replace Yelp for business reviews and they won’t make a measurable impression on Google’s search dominance.
Back in America’s early beginnings, during the Industrial Revolution, men like Carnegie and Rockefeller were titans among the masses. These men single handedly changed the world. While their visions made our world what it is today, they did not provide us with oil fields and railways out of pure kindness; money was made and it made men like Carnegie and Rockefeller very wealthy.
There’s no doubt. When it was first uttered, “there’s an app for that” was as much wishful thinking as it was great advertising. But now there really is an app for everything. You’re a soccer mom needing a cleaners near an away game? There’s an app. Someone owes you money and you need to read up on creditor rights? There’s an app. In this deluge of new programs, some are good, some are bad, some are helpful, and some are useless.
The best apps help you find something you need on a regular basis, they do that well, and they give you a little something extra. To that end, here are my favorite apps for finding restaurants (something I need on a regular basis). They’re all free (because why pay for it) and some help you score bargains.
#5 Yelp
I am a great fan of Yelp for two reasons. First, it’s helped me find an endless array of great goods and services, and especially when it comes to restaurants the reviews are plentiful and helpful. Second, Yelp has increased the power of reviewers considerably, which means that when you get really bad service somewhere the threat of a negative review is generally enough to get you a steep discount.
#4 Foursquare
I’ll admit, I’m not a huge fan of Foursquare check-ins in principle. Usually when I go out somewhere it’s to get away from people I know, and the last thing I want is for people I know to find out where I’m at. But that aside, the Foursquare app does help you find places where people you know have checked in. Following the flavor trends of friends I trust has served me well on many occasions.
#3 Around Campus
Although I’m no longer a college student, the college environment is always a good place to find good fun and a good conversation. In the right college bar, you can even get wasted while discussing Kierkegaard with a co-ed – and that should be enough to recommend this app to anyone living in a college town in the US who has either a beer or a brain…or both.
#2 Scoutmob
Scoutmob connects customers looking for a new dining experience with restaurants looking for new customers. The restaurants offer deals, which can sometimes be as much as 50% off their prices, in order to pull customers in. That means you get a steep discount on your meal, and because you’ve let the restaurant know you’re a first-timer (and prospective regular) you’ll usually get great service as well.
#1 Drink Specials
This might not be the #1 restaurant-finding app out there, but it is probably the best app for finding cheap drinks nearby the restaurant where you just spent your money having a nice meal . Drink Specials uses GPS to locate you, then pushes deals from bars convenient to that location.
While it’s true that the app the soccer mom uses to find the cleaners or that the creditor uses to bone up on creditor rights are valuable when they’re needed, these apps will help you satisfy three of humankind’s most basic needs: food, drink, and a good deal.
The rumors surrounding online review service Yelp going public have been circulating for a couple of years now. Well, the San Francisco-based company finally decided to put an end to all the speculation because it recently filed its IPO papers with the SEC in an effort to raise $100 million. According to reports, it is hoping to start the year of 2012 off as a publicly traded company.
