I recently attended a local small business meeting with a little over 100 members/guests in attendance. One of the members spoke about how he uses Facebook for his automotive shop. He runs specials, takes appointments and gives advice to his customers and “fans”. Why was Mark asked to speak? Well, he has experienced tremendous growth in the relatively short time he has been using social networking, specifically Facebook. It has enhanced his ability to communicate with existing and prospective customers. He used it to create a loyalty program.
The general consensus of the attendees was literally, shock. Most of them didn’t think of Facebook as a marketing tool, much less a management tool. And I can tell you, there was a crowd of folks asking him questions after his short commentary.
We are experiencing a pretty ugly economy and many small businesses are scrambling to be noticed on a very limited advertising budget. This has really set the economic climate for the explosive growth in social networking….creating a virtual stage where the tickets are free and a business can perform 24/7 to a packed house.
Many Independent Restaurant Owners are seeing social networking as their stage to effectively compete against chain restaurants; and Diningverse is a great example. Most cannot afford the price of a billboard, or commercials that air during the Super Bowl or Olympics. But for $79/month, they can level the playing field with a content rich web profile on Diningverse.
At first glance, Facebook appears to be a good place to start for independent restaurant owners. But upon deeper inspection, it lacks the tools Diningverse provides that are industry specific. Let’s face it, when you are hungry, you have little interest in reading what is on a restaurant’s Wall. You want to know what is in the area and how to get there. If you have a particular cuisine in mind, well….you get it.
….so, say hello to Diningverse, “your entree to local restaurants”.
