Cyber Monday for Local Business

Read our Previous Post about Black Friday >

Cyber Monday is a more recent tradition in the holiday shopping season. Online retailers looked for ways to capitalize on the hype of post-Thanksgiving shopping. Cyber Monday takes advantage of a workforce sitting at computers following a long holiday weekend. Cyber Monday is becoming (if it has not gotten there already) just as big of a shopping day as Black Friday. Small/local businesses can also take advantage of Cyber Monday to boost sales.

Small Businesses With Online Stores

Many small businesses now offer online stores and ordering. With the creation of easy-to-use content management systems and online stores, local businesses are more capable than ever in this area.

For small businesses with online stores, Cyber Monday can be pretty straight forward. Special promotions and money-saving discounts can be offered to your customers. The key is getting your message out there on a day when all online retailers are looking to promote something. Utilize social media, especially Facebook, and encourage your followers to share you promotions so they spread with your local audience.

Small Businesses Without Online Stores

Things are different for local retailers (or restaurants) that do not have online stores. Cyber Monday normally involves purchasing items online that are shipped to you. However, there is no reason why you can not offer 'online promotions' that are redeemed at your actual business location.

Local businesses can offer special promotions and coupons on Cyber Monday only, meaning the coupon/promotion is only published on your website or on social media for that single day. People can print it or save it on Cyber Monday. At the end of the day, you can take the promotion down. The promotion can then be redeemed anytime after.

Gift Cards

Many local businesses do not have online stores or traditional products to sell. Gift cards are big sellers during the holidays. Restaurants, local retailers and small businesses can take gift card orders on Cyber Monday, offering discounts on their gift cards. Many people will take advantage of this promotion to buy gift cards as gifts for others.

Black Friday for Local Business

Black Friday is the day after Thanksgiving in the USA. Generally, it marks the beginning of the holiday shopping season and features large sales, discounted items and early store hours. On Black Friday millions of people go out spending money. They shop, they buy gifts and they often dine out. Despite not having the big ticket items or large advertising budgets, local businesses can still participate in Black Friday (if they choose to be open).

Restaurants on Black Friday

Local restaurants can see a lot of business on Black Friday. Much of the shopping is done in the morning and in the early afternoon. This means, there are a large number of people who are out of the home and will be hungry for lunch (not everyone wants Thanksgiving leftovers everyday). If your restaurant is open, make sure you are letting people know on social media. You can also run a special promotion to help draw in more people.

Promoting on social media is essential. Mobile devices users who are out shopping will be checking Twitter and Facebook to see news, updates, where their friends are and what their friends have bought. Your restaurant should be part of this conversation and let people know that they can stop by your location to refuel.

Small Businesses

There probably won't be a lot of business in the mornings for small/local retail businesses. The morning crowd is dominated by large retail chains with big ticket items and huge savings. However, the afternoon could be prime for the taking. Most shoppers plan out their morning - what stores they will hit and when. But, the afternoon is often overlooked. If you have a local retail store with specialty items that holiday shoppers are interested in, try promoting special "Afternoon Savings". Your small business may not be where they line up at 5 AM, but you could be the final stop on the way home.

Not for Everyone

Black Friday may not be for every local business. Restaurants are more likely to see big crowds and some local retail shops may decide it is better to just not be open. It all depends on your market and your situation. If Black Friday is not for you, maybe Cyber Monday is...

Next week we will take a look at Cyber Monday, the digital cousin of Black Friday.

Embed a Video on Your Event Details

Why Videos?

Videos rule. They grab attention and convey information in a more engaging way to viewers. Using videos can help you promote your events and boost attendance. Earlier this year, Forbes ran an article entitled "Why Online Video Is Vital For Your 2013 Content Marketing Objectives". The article mentions 4 reasons why we are drawn to video:

• #1: The Fusiform Facial area makes us pay attention to faces
• #2: Voice conveys rich information
• #3: Emotions are contagious
• #4: Movement grabs attention

Read the full Forbes article here >

Videos for Events

The easiest way to get video content for future events is to record video during your current events. If you have a special Trivia Night, you can record a short video to show off your big crowd and people having fun. Now, you have this video to use when promoting future Trivia Nights. Add your Trivia Nights video to the event details of your schedule Trivia Nights to help promote these future events.

How to Embed a Video on an Event

• Upload your Video to a video service such as YouTube or Vimeo.
• Get the Embed Code for your video. Copy this code.
• On the Add/Edit Event page, go to the Content area.
• Click the "HTML" button on the content editor.
• Paste the embed code into the page's HTML (the top is usually the best place to feature the video).
• Click the "Update" video.
• Save the Event.

Recapping Our Understanding Series

For the past six weeks, we have been taking a closer look at various aspects of Squareberry. Our "Understanding" series has provided insightful looks into popular features and managing sections of your account.

Now, we are taking a look back. If you missed any of these articles we encourage you to take the time to read them. Understanding all aspects of your Squareberry account is important to getting the most out of the mobile & social marketing tools. The articles are listed below.

Understand Your Account Settings

Read the Full Article >

Understanding Event Views

Read the Full Article >

Understanding the Social Media Conversation Inbox

Read the Full Article >

Understanding Your Planner

Read the Full Article >

Understanding the Social Conversation Search Feature

Read the Full Article >

Understanding Listen & Count Polls

Read the Full Article >

We Love Hearing From our Users

If you have any ideas for articles or features you want to see blog posts about, let us know. You can tell us on the Forum or email us at squareberry@squareberry.com.

Understanding Listen & Count Polls

Listen & Count polls allow you to set-up interactive polls and track how many times people respond with certain keywords.

Setting Up a Poll

In the Listen & Count polls area you can add new polls and edit existing ones. Polls have names, response tracking options, a poll question, start & end dates, a response option and a list of keywords that will be tracked. For each keyword you add, you can add aliases. Aliases are other words that count as responses for that same keyword.

For more details on setting up a Listen & Count Poll, read this blog post.

How Keyword Tracking Works

Responses which include the keywords you dictate are tracked and counted for your polls. On Twitter, keyword in replies to your Twitter messages are counted. SMS works similarly, as keywords mentioned in replies to your SMS number are counted. Website and mobile pages have widgets which show your polls question and allow readers to type in text responses. Responses with keywords are counted for your polls.

Date Ranges

Date ranges determine when keywords are counted. Keyword mentions and submissions outside of your set date range are not counted towards your polls. If you select "No Date Range (ongoing)", all keyword responses are counted.

Displaying Stats

Stats for each poll can be added to websites as widgets, allowing you to share results publicly. There is a Calendar Count Widget which shows results by day. There is also the Poll Count Widget which shows overall stats of your poll which can be displayed as a pie chart or column chart.

Understanding the Social Conversation Search Feature

The Social Conversation area in your Squareberry account allows you to monitor and manage social media conversation. Previously, we took a look at fully understanding the Social Media Inbox. The Inbox is your centralized location for your ongoing conversations. But what if you want to start new conversation or find new things to talk about. That's where the Search features come in.

Twitter Searches

The Search features are currently limited to Twitter. Twitter is generally much more open than other social media platforms. People's posts are public and can be seen by anyone. This allows organizations to find new individuals & leads who are talking about their industry or looking for a company just like them.

The left column of the search section features all of your current searches. Clicking on a search term will show the current search results for that term. You can add a new search term by clicking "Add a Search".

Starting a Conversation

Once your search results are shown, you can Reply to or Retweet any tweet that is shown. This allows you to start a dialogue with someone you may not know. Click "Reply" and a pop-up appears to compile your reply message. You can instantly send the message right from this same screen.

Using Quotes

Putting a multi-word search term in quotes does a search for the words in that order. For example: "miami restaurant" will look for tweets with those two words together, instead of just tweets using one or the other.

Understanding the Social Media Conversation Inbox

The Inbox in the Social Conversation Area allows you to manage ongoing conversations in various social media accounts from one centralized location. When someones comments on a Facebook post or replies to you on Twitter, it will show up here and you will be able to comment/reply instantly.

All of the people you are having conversations with are listed on the left side. Clicking a person brings up the conversation with them, showing you the full history of your conversation with that person.

Refreshing / Refresh Button

Your Social Inbox will refresh automatically throughout the day. New comments/replies you have received will show up in the Unanswered section. The total number of conversations that are "unanswered" are also displayed on the Welcome screen when you login to your account.

You can also manually refresh your Inbox at anytime by clicking the "Refresh" button.

Unanswered / Answered

Any conversation you contribute to with a comment or reply will be moved to the "Answered" section of the Inbox. You can completely remove a conversation by clicking the "Remove" link in the top right corner of that particular conversation. You can also move a conversation to 'Answered" or "Unanswered" by clicking the "Mark as" link at the top of the conversation.

Reply or Comment

You can easily and instantly write comments/replies on any social media conversation. You can also "Retweet" any message in a Twitter conversation. Click the "Comment" or "Reply" link to bring up the pop-up to compose and send your message.