Back in March, we wrote a post lamenting social media usage by frozen yogurt shops called Social Media & Froyo Shops. We’re back with practical advice on how frozen yogurt shops should use social media to connect with their customers and community.
Frozen yogurt shops, think about your customers. Do you think many of them use social media? What about their friends? If you answered yes and you haven’t been doing much with social media, it’s time to make social media work for your shop.
The good news is that the main social media platforms are free to join and easy to set up and manage. Social media platforms make it easy for your shop to answer customer questions, talk to customers, monitor what people are saying about your shop, learn more about who your customers are and get the word out about your shop. For customers, social media platforms make it easy to connect with your shop, stay informed and share their opinions.
We’ll tackle social media in a series of posts. First up, we answer the question, which social media platforms should you join?
Selecting Social Media Platforms
If you’re new to social media, you’re probably wondering which social media platforms you should join. We recommend being on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. Each attracts different audiences and each one is best for certain uses. If you’re ready for a fourth, Snapchat is on the rise and it’s great for reaching the young adult demographic.
Why Facebook? First, most people use Facebook. There are 1.6 billion active monthly users and 798 million users access FB via mobile every day. Second, your customers will expect you to have a Facebook page. Use Facebook to share news including events, run promotions, and connect with your fans. Those positive Facebook reviews can come in handy too.
Why Instagram? Frozen yogurt can be beautiful. Use images of frozen yogurt can entice current and new customers to your shop. Instagram also attracts a younger, more engaged audience than FB and Twitter. Your customers will likely enjoy sharing images of their froyo on Instagram. Encourage that behavior by thanking them for Instagram posts, reposting top customer images, running an Instagram contest, etc. Instagram has 400 million active users and higher engagement levels than Twitter and Facebook.
Why Twitter? Tweets are so short (a maximum of 140 characters), so it’s expected that you’ll tweet more often than you update your Facebook page. The majority (over 80%) of people checking Twitter are doing so via mobile. Twitter is a great venue for sharing timely news (e.g., it’s the last week for a favorite frozen yogurt flavor, a new flavor is swirling) and sending reminders (e.g., about your promotions) to people in a format that’s easy for others to share. Twitter has 310 million monthly active users with 79% of users living outside the US.
In our next post on this topic, we’ll cover how to create and maintain an engaged follower base.
