Tips to Grow Your Business with Social Media - Speaker Presentation to Business Owners at FLOMO

On April 5, 2012 FLOMO had a special guest speaker, President of MTL Communications, Melisa Latour, give social media tips for businesses at FLOMO's Back to School VIP Show. The audience included customers of FLOMO who are buyers to discount store chains, merchant buyers, independent store owners, and fundraising distributors. FLOMO arranges special guest speakers to share advice and expertise at their VIP shows year round. See below for this segment’s topic points:

 

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You can have the cleanest store in town, stocked with merchandise at the best prices, but it will not mean much if people do not know you exist. A great way to build sales is to use social media.

 

 

·    Twitter and Facebook have the largest population of users. You will want to create an account or page on these two sites and try to get as many followers and fans as you can.

 

·    Alert your customers that you are on Facebook and Twitter by putting signs at the check out, around the store and on your website.

 

·    Social media sites are a great place to advertise specials you are running on your merchandise. Let your customers know by signing up to follow you they will learn about deals in advance, receive exclusive specials and coupons. This is a great incentive for them to sign up.

 

·    In addition, you could even shoot your own low-budget commercials about your store and the items you sell, and post them onto social sites such as YouTube. You will get exposure on YouTube and then can also link the video back to your Facebook and Twitter accounts.

 

·    You can encourage customers to interact on the social media sites. Comment on the great product they purchased, request a certain brand—the more they feel involved the more loyal they will become. You can create contests and giveaways as well as an incentive for them to comment on the social media sites. If your deals and items are good enough then customers will help spread the word about them. People normally research online for local stores. With social media activity your SEO, search engine optimization, will increase. When a customer researches online your Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube accounts will most likely be the first things to pop up—putting your store at the top of the list for your customers.

 

Utilizing Public Relations to Gain Sales

The most business for your store consists of consumers that are within a 10-minute drive of your store. So take advantage of local media.  Most local newspapers have a business section that routinely reports on events and activities. A well-written press release can save reporters time and trouble by creating newsworthy angles about a business that media can use to fill column inches. Some opportunities for sending out press releases are:

·    New products and services

·    Contests and promotions

·    Awards or industry recognition

·    Grand openings and open houses

·    Special Events

·    Involvement with local charity events, fund-raisers, or local community service events--- a great example is how FLOMO sponsors the Girl Scouts.

For more information on FLOMO VIP Shows and FLOMO brand products, please visit www.flomousa.com or call 1-800-445-5936.

 

FLOMO, owned and operated by Nygala Corporation, is a major national brand of quality gift bags, party supplies, photo frames, ceramic gifts, plush items, bows, ribbons, artificial flowers, school supplies, stationery, holiday/seasonal merchandise, dollar store items, and more. FLOMO can be found in stores across the United States, the Caribbean islands and Central & South America. Nygala Corp.'s mass market distribution includes discount stores, dollar stores, 99 Cent stores, party stores, drugstores, supermarkets and also catalog companies.