Customers are Your Fans

I know I write about Facebook and its influence quite a bit on this blog, but I don’t believe that you can overemphasize how important it can be for your business — at this time.

Over the weekend I was discussing a cut-flower business my friend owns with her father. They are a small business, but the only one that does specialty sunflowers and oriental lilies in Kentucky. It truly is a unique business.

With that, I learned that this business, Three Toads Farm, didn’t have a Facebook page or an up-to-date website. She wasn’t even really sure how having a great Facebook page, or a website could help their business, considering its size.

We took a couple of minutes and I listed out a couple of the following ideas for her business to help it become more prevalent in its market:

1) Facebook will allow your customers to interact with you daily.

For them, customers will be able to send photos of flowers they purchased, or flowers they grew in their own flowerbeds. Facebook allows your fans to show you why they are fans. It can allow them to show off results and discuss why they love using your business.

2) Facebook connects your digital business.

At Club Solutions Magazine, we use our Facebook page to heavily promote what’s going on at our website. We also provide our viewers with opportunities to sign up for our newsletter as well as CS Deals — a monthly deals site that we provide to our readers.

Three Toads Farm will be able to do the same. My friend can do some light work on the company website and start writing a blog that provides pertinent content to their customers. This will then allow them to create an e-mail blast to promote what they will have on hand at the local farmer’s market — where the majority of their business occurs.

Clubs aren’t any different in this category. You need to continually inform members — whether it’s on nutrition, personal training, Group X classes or discounts that you’re offering. If you don’t inform your members, they will never know what’s going on at the club. Basic signage by itself is no longer enough for getting your point across. Have your employee blogs on your website. Give five different employees a day of the week and have them provide members with helpful content.

3) Facebook gives you viral recognition.

My friend has recognition among her business’ current customers. However, how does that business grow? Is it safe as a small-business owner to simply hope you’ll grow by word-of-mouth?

I’ve heard many refer to the reach you receive on Facebook as a form of word-of-mouth marketing. However, it’s so much greater than that. It can give you a much greater presence than hoping someone will name-drop your company over brunch.

You need to encourage your members to follow you on Facebook and provide them with content that they feel good sharing on their wall. Once you have shareable content, you will then be grabbing fans in droves.

Finally, what I told my friend was to make sure they started getting e-mail addresses every time they made a sale. Why? Because, when you have e-mail addresses you have the ability to create multiple sales from a single customer, even if they never return to your business on their own — if you don’t remind them, they may never come back.

As a club, it can easily be perceived that if you stay in touch with members too much, you might wake the sleeping dog. Although this may hold some truth, you’re not realizing that if you stick on members regularly and remind them of why they should use your club, they will simply forget about you. And, when it becomes convenient, they will wake the sleeping dog and cancel their membership — they might even go to the club down the street that has touched base with them via e-mail since their first encounter.

Take some time and check out my friend’s business on Facebook. Watch how they slowly grow their Facebook page and provide customers with a way to interact. It’s not like owning a club, but it is a business and has customers just like your club. I hope you enjoy!