Social networking to promote special events

   Most retail stores now have a presence on the web in the form of a website; whether to sell product or just a front page to advertise their store.

When they host a trunk show or a beading class, the store might just post a message or a calendar schedule on their website, and leave it at that.

At the most, the store might also send out an email to their customer base, notifying them of the special event.

But that is not enough. A vast majority of the new, younger generation are not using email at all, but most are using Facebook, Twitter, MySpace and other social network tools to connect with their friends and other interests they want to follow.
So when promoting a special event at your store, such as a trunk show or bead class, use all of the above tools in your marketing arsenal; but especially focus on Facebook the night before and during the day of the event to remind your customers to come in and check it out. Take photos of the event and post to your Facebook page. Most people will check their Facebook multiple times during the day, and a lot now forward their Facebook news feeds to their mobile phones and/or their Twitter accounts which also link to their mobile phones. If they are out and about during the day doing chores and errands, the Facebook/Twitter posting will come through to their cell phones, and they will come into your store to see the event, as they are already in their cars and just around the corner,  whereas it might be days or weeks before they check their email at home, and by then the special event will be over.

Tip: Post on Facebook the day before the event, then post a new message with photos the morning of the event, then lunch time, then again around 3 or 4pm. Each time you will reach a different group of people who are out and about. The more interesting you make it the more chance you have in piquing their interest and getting them into your store.

The special event here was our bead tour to the Philipines.

Here the special event was our booth in Quartzsite, Arizona.

And here a trunk show in South Africa.

And another trunk show in CapeTown, South Africa.

J-Me and Guy are the owners of Wild Things Beads, a small family run import business specializing in Czech glass beads and buttons and finding the unusual to bring to their warehouse. They also run working bead tours to Jablonec and Hong Kong. Their warehouse is located deep in the Sierra Nevada foothills of Northern California, and can be reached by phone at (530)743 1339 or on the web at www.wildthingsbeads.com. They are also open by appointment at their warehouse.