Like never before...

This holiday shopping season, "Black Friday" is being hijacked.  TV and radio will have their ads as usual.  The lines will still be at the mall, the traffic still churning early in the am, but a swelling undercurrent is changing the game.

The social media sites are the new focal points. Twitter is ablaze with special offers and coupons, good at traditional retailers and/or online merchants.  Facebook groups and Facebook ads target people where they spend countless hours. (See live stats, WARNING: Fasten seatbelt first, this is WILD! http://tinyurl.com/356y6s )  The action is on your PC, Mac or smartphone now.  Shopping before the holiday rush now equates to sitting at a computer, thumbing through offers, and planning where you'll spend your money this season.  This is a profound change that shouldn't be ignored by our retail franchisees.

Have you made an investment in social media? Do you have an upkeep a Twitter page for your store?  You should. It's free financially, but like anything relationship-wise, it demands an investment in time.  You have to collect and suggest followers, and follow them back to form a community of folks with like interests.  Then you have to keep updates flowing on your Twitter site to make it relevant and interesting A new feature of Twitter is called "lists", which allows a user to categorize the people or businesses he/she follows and sort them for easy reading.  This is a great addition to help users organize the many "tweets" or messages that parse through your system once you develop followers and look to keep up with those you follow.  Shoppers will use Twitter this season like the coupon inserts of the newspapers I once delivered in New York.  Nothing was as big and heavy as the Sunday edition the week before Thanksgiving here in the US.  Now it's all in your hands, 24/7.  Have at it!

Knowing this is not a fad, can you commit to making this change to add to your existing marketing efforts?  I say "add" because it is not a replacement for traditional face to face sales... thankfully!  You need both.  Get a friend, relative or "Gen Y" employee to manage this for you.  Be a reliable and informative resource online to your clients all year, not just in the holiday crush.  This works, like most plans, if you'll work, too.  Happy tweeting, and Happy Thanksgiving!  See you online...