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How AJ Bombers is Powered by Social Media - Kitchen Table Talks with Chris Brogan

Posted by Jeffrey J Kingman on February 5, 2010 at 10:41am
Are you still trying to figure out how to use social media in your specialty coffee/tea shop? Social media heavyweight Chris Brogan (@chrisbrogan on Twitter) lands at AJ Bombers restaurant in Milwaukie for a meal and video interviews a multiple location restaurateur on the power of Twitter...

Can you say 75% traffic coming from Twitter alone?

How AJ Bombers is Powered by Social Media

Let me know what you think.... and if you are using or contemplating the use of social media for your operation, I'd love to meet you at two seminars I'm running at Coffee Fest NYC in March.

Here's Chris Brogan's website: http://www.chrisbrogan.com/

Jeffrey Kingman, CEO
Chalkboarder
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Social Media Ideas for Espresso & Coffee Houses

Posted by Jeffrey J Kingman on September 21, 2009 at 4:30am
Are Your Baristas Rock Stars?With Coffee Fest Seattle approaching this week, we wanted to share some ideas on how to drive sales in coffee houses using social media.The explosion of independent espresso and coffee houses across North America in the last ten years is phenomenal. Over the last few years we’ve seen top barista competitions at not only coffee business conventions, but also at the National Restaurant Show in Chicago.Most independent coffee shops have relied on word-of-mouth, traditional advertising and the ubiquitous buy-ten cards to build their business over the years. There’s a huge opportunity now to jump on social media (Twitter, Facebook, etc) and increase sales.How can you use social media to build your coffee business?We’ve got several ideas. But first, we want to direct you to this article on the ROI and Best Practices of Social Media in Hospitality.Okay, how do you increase business by making Barista Rock Stars?* First, set up your own social network accounts, if you haven’t already. We can email you good advice on that if you need it – just click here.* Market to your customers that you are online in social networks. Use a poster at the counter and get it on your website. Invite them to follow you by saying you’ll announce special deals once a week. By the way – customers should have it easy to enter your virtual door.* Introduce your talented staff both online and in-store. Ask your staff if they are willing to have a work-related Twitter account, and if they are, share that with your customers.* Turn your baristas into online Rock Stars. Every customer of yours has a favorite employee on your staff. Encourage your staff that is participating, to build online relationships (using their work Twitter) with their fans. This is all about leverage and we’re going to the next step.* During the week, take pictures of each baristas specialty drinks and share them online – with the work-Twitter account of the maker. Ask followers to rate them.* Set up a competition with your customers to vote for the best barista at your shop online – by offering them something valuable. Maybe it’s a week or two of free beverages. But here’s how you have them vote – they vote by bringing their friends who aren’t customers in to sign up for your buy-ten cards (you can keep track by using a pen and paper grid). Post the results daily on your social networks. Make the contest run for a month – as new customers join, they’ll refer their friends! You know the baristas will be encouraging the customers to vote for them and you should offer the winning barista something of value too.Barista David Sarah Jane ZekeWed .... 10 ..... 7 ..... 12 ... 5Thu ...... 6 ...... 0 ...... 9 .... 7.Sound like a crazy idea? Sure, you bet. But it’s crazy ideas that create change. We’ve got other suggestions too, like what Starbucks did a few months ago with their free pastry/buy a beverage coupon, shared only on social media. By the way, that promo only cost Starbucks $12,000 and it grossed them $500,000 in one day.Use your staff – they’re likely young and highly creative. Have a sit-down and ask them for ideas on how to use social media to drive up sales. I’m pretty sure you’ll see positive results.We’d love your feedback. After all, social media is all about engagement and dialogue. Do you have any great experiences using social media? We’d love to hear about it.Still not convinced that social media can change your business for the better? Watch this.Chalkboarder.com offers clients digital community management consulting and services across North America.
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this site

Posted by John Cunningham on March 23, 2009 at 2:15pm
I've become quite enamored with Batista exchange. All of my previous attempts at social networking via web sites have stagnated and died due to apathy. This site however continues to facinate me much as coffee continues to. I can honestly say that I've learned more about the nuance of pulling a shot of espresso than in years of trial and error. There is also the people. Here I'm likely to meet intellegent individuals of passionate reason guided interest rather than the common social networking hipster sceenster shallow consumptave... Yeah I'm a little bitter I guess. Anyway I think bx is one of the greatest resorces availabe to the specialty coffee comunity and the perfect remedy to my social networking malaise.
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Coffee House Marketing Ideas

Posted by Cafe Mundo on December 26, 2008 at 4:30am
Got this site from my business partner. Many of these are very effective tools for coffee houses and we use them here ourselves, so I know they work. Check it out:http://www.articlesbase.com/entrepreneurship-articles/effective-marketing-ideas-for-your-coffee-shop-452367.htmlIn addition, I have to agree with many of the marketing ideas here. I have a degree in marketing and have working in advertising many years before opening a coffee shop, and if anything, I've learned where to best place your advertising dollars. Funny enough, many of the suggestions you have here are identical to the ones we are currently using. This is a good confirmation that they are effective. In addition, I would suggest getting involved in local organizations and committees. These are great networking opportunities and show that you give back to the community. I'm vice-president of our downtown improvement association and president of our downtown merchants association which brings positive publicity to the business as well as offers me the chance to have a part in how the downtown area will develop to include my business. Punch cards and loyalty cards also help, as well as creating a guestbook that allows you to send email reminders of events and offers.Cafe Mundo - www.mycafemundo.comGreer, SC
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Starbucks to try its hand at social networking

Posted by Matt Milletto on March 24, 2008 at 12:43pm
At least I had Howard beat on this idea :) ... ... "Schultz isn't stopping there. He also wants customers to push back to the company using MyStarbucksIdea.com. In other words, the coffeehouse's own social networking site. Schultz wants to empower his customers to help shape the future direction of the coffeehouse he founded. This is more than a blog or a forum -- customers can discuss ideas, argue about them, post new ideas, vote on ideas and form more opinions on improving the Starbucks experience. Well, I though this was exactly what Schultz was busy doing these days? Is he really interested in what every Tom, Dick and Harry thinks?" Link to full article
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