blog, facebook and phones

[greenoak]

i did blogging, now im doing facebook ....will i have to learn phones too???? i dont even have a smart phone and dont want one...
phones are changing our business already...customers are sending pictures of our stuff to their friends on the spot... wanting pictures from us on the spot.... one even sold a lot for us just thru her phoning to her friend.... several customers kept up with the severe weather radar during the last hours of our big event.., i know they use their phones for directions to us..
im not ready for this at all...my phone is 3 yrs old and i rarley even use it....
i htnk i might fall off the learning curve on this one...
whats the minimum i should do to get s tarted on this? we are on google places... and we have a couple of workers who can send pictures...

[Patrysha]

Can this be something you delegate to someone else to learn? Pictures are good, those can be sent to customers, your FB wall and your blog (not all of them to the same place all the time, mind you.) Another potential use from your end (doesn't require the use of the phone by you, just some initial set up and monitoring) with the geo-location type apps (4Square, Gowalla). Another one is internal integration of QR codes...this might be especially handy for slower moving vintage pieces that need you or one of your higher level employees to describe and explain to your customers...a QR code set to a page that goes to a video or pictorial explanation of the piece would be amazing for busy days when the key people are stuck behind the till or in the stockroom.

[KristineS]

QR codes, 4Square, stuff like that should definitely be considered as you have a physical location.

Also, eventually, you should look at making your website mobile friendly too. I surf the web on my phone and many other people do too.

[tylerhutchinson]

Yes, mobile is the trend now. More and more people are using smart phones which gives them access to apps, social media, Qr codes ect. All of which you should learn more about. I use my smartphone to do most of my socail advertisement. If I am waiting or traveling to see a client I will go on my facebook, twitter, linkdin, blog, or even my website and write or work on any number of things. I can have actually built pages on my smart phone for my company website through an app while waiting for lunch one day! Not only is it good to help with your marketing ventures, but it allows you to work when you have extra time anywhere. I am one of those people who would be lost without my smartphones.

[Nicole Hurley]

I think you should definitely look into Mobile marketing if you are already seeing your customers use them, and it's growing your business! You may be surprised by this, but you don't even have to own a phone to allow your business to go mobile. The company I work for allows businesses to send text message campaigns to their customers using a website. QR Tags are an avenue you should be looking at as well as Mobile Apps, and transforming your website into a Mobi Site. If you need help with any of this, let me know. I can speak in Laymans terms so you can understand it all.

It's really great that you noticed this trend, and that you are looking to do something about it! You have an eye for business

[greenoak]

thanks a lot....
...i know i kind of ask about this last week too.but we were so busy with our big weekend i didnt get on it........
..this coming week i will be taking these notes to my web person....obviously we are benefitting a lot from all our web involvement....but its sure hard to keep up....especially when we arent a tekk company in any way.......

[greenoak]

Ann's dil here...I'm working on Gowalla, have 4sq in the works and we are talking about the qr codes and how to integrate them here...what are you thoughts on twitter? I've been against tweeting..

[KristineS]

We use Twitter a lot for our company (supplies for commercial garment decorators) and it's been pretty successful. I think Twitter can be a good tool if used properly.