Originally published December 2009, Today's Garden Center

She loves me, she loves me not.

Yelp! Ruibal’s Plants in Dallas, TX is not unlike many small garden centers, but for one big fan – Leigh “mess with the bull, you get the horns” P,. a frequent reviewer on the Dallas Yelp scene. Ruibal’s has a four star rating based on her review (and one other).  Yelp is a localized search engine that directs shoppers to their destination, plus provides a forum for customer reviews (like Leighs), photos, and feedback. As it turns out Ruibal’s is just one of the 160 businesses reviewed by Leigh.

Last month’s article featured ‘Leigh P’ in a review of another Dallas garden center.. When last we checked in on Leigh we found that In addition to the 160 Leigh has 206 friends. Leigh is what we would call an ‘influencer’. An influencer represents a sliver of your customer base, but their impact can affect hundreds, if not thousands of other shoppers. You see the opportunity represented by a Yelp, Google, or Yahoo review is not just the customers who know (and love) you, but the people that are connected by friends – and friends of friends, etc.

This is the challenge, and opportunity, represented by Yelp, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and legions more. With all the new media outlets emerging, and more traditional advertising outlets drying up, it is only natural to turn a curious eye towards social media. But be careful, because success in social media requires a commitment to the process. This isn’t as simple as taking out an ad in the Yellow Pages.  It takes focus, attention to detail and a willingness to seek out feedback, both positive and negative.

Where to start…

In practical terms every garden center should have a customer list. (I wonder if Leigh is on the mailing list of any Dallas garden center). This list should contain contact information for both standard mail and e-mail marketing. Typically a mailing list will yield a group of core customers, of which a fraction will move to the point of becoming ‘fans’ of your business; and only a few of these will be motivated to actually interact with you. This is your base of power – a select group of customers who identify with you. The goal should be to connect, interact and learn from this nucleus group. Social media outlets can help you with this, but you can’t connect virtually until you connect personally.

Making the connection

E-Mail marketing is a great way to connect with your customers. The important thing is to clearly define your objectives. E-Mail marketing should promote, inform and relate. Used properly it is a good way to build relationships with your customers through informative advice, special members-only discounts, and special events and other privileges.  At Sunrise Marketing we are a business partner with Constant Contact. Constant Contact recommends delivering content that adds value to your audience. Helpful tips and advice can help distinguish you from the competition, and the competitor’s e-mails.. If it is all about price then your e-mails might find themselves in a spam filter. Remember, marketing is everything, and everything is marketing. Make sure the integrity of your brand is maintained throughout all of your marketing messages.

Building your profile

In order to present your business consistently you need to establish your profile. This includes basics such as logo, brand elements like fonts and colors, but most importantly facts about your company. With this information you can begin the process of adding your business information to your search profiles. All the top search sites: local.google.com, local.yahoo.com, bing.com and yelp.com offer an option for businesses to add information to their profile. This is the description that will pop up when a successful search in your area shows your business information.

In most cases you can also add photos, promotions and listings for products and services. This is where you need to pay particular attention. Your search results will improve by using keywords to define your business.  Of course this is essential for your website, so don’t overlook it in your business description.

I would concentrate on those four sites as they represent nearly 97% of all search requests. While you are at it you should schedule time to monitor the reviews of your business. This is an important way for you to keep an eye on comments both good and bad. You can thank positive reviews and connect with negative reviews in order to possibly right a wrong. If you need help finding your business just search local business links for each search engine.

Next Step Facebook, Twitter & YouTube

Establishing a Facebook account is easy, but here is an important point to remember: You need to establish an account personally, and then establish a business page. One is the profile, and the latter is a page. From that point you can populate both the personal and professional. Just make sure you don’t mix the two. You don’t want to create a situation where embarrassing personal information, or posts, go onto your business ‘wall.’ Again, just like the search profiles, you will benefit from providing as complete information as is possible.

On to Twitter – unlike Facebook you can establish a Twitter account for your business. Try to select a name that is synonymous with your business and is easy to remember. For our Sunrise Marketing account we chose ‘sunrisetweet’ - easy to remember, hard to mis-spell.

What to say and how often…

Consider your online posts as you would any other type of advertising. You should develop a schedule for sending out your e-mail newsletters, blog posts, facebook and twitter feeds. If you are organized, your e-mail should promote the information in your blog, which you can then tease (short intro with link to complete post) on Facebook and create an automated feed to your twitter account. Sounds more complicated than it is.

The content of your messages should be consistent – promote, inform, and relate. Keep it personal, brief and to the point. Keep in mind that people are more inclined to follow a post that is concise, interesting and will speak to their needs, or interests. So go easy on the sale notices or other obvious advertising.

With all that said, the most important thing to remember with social media is what makes your business special: the personal experience, your expertise and your passion for the business. A personality that comes through the message is what attracts customers like Leigh P. – and her 206 friends.