The use of social media by frozen yogurt shops could use plenty of improvement. Sure some frozen yogurt shops have hundreds of thousands of likes on Facebook, Snapchat accounts and their own mobile apps but social media is underutilized by even large chains. Although large chains are good about updating their main corporate FB account because they have a social media manager, some individual locations haven’t posted anything new for months.
It’s still difficult to determine which flavors a shop carries for most shops. Flavors should be posted as often as they are changed. We commend 21 Choices for listing their daily flavors, including the ingredients, on their website. Yogurt Mill consistently posts its flavors on their FB page. Yogurtland and Pinkberry’s mobile apps have flavors by store location, an extremely useful and valuable feature.
All mobile froyo apps should have a flavor finder feature. If your shop doesn’t have a mobile app, it’s fast and easy to post your flavors on Facebook and Twitter. It literally takes a minute. Even if your shop has a mobile app, not all your customers have the app, so you should be posting your flavors on Facebook and/or Twitter too.
Mobile froyo apps should also keep track of rewards since it’s easier for the customer than carrying a physical card around. And you should be able to find the nearest store and pay with your phone.
When there’s news about a frozen yogurt shop, such as new flavors, new products, promotions, events, new hours, etc., this should be announced on whichever social media accounts the shop has. Don’t you want customers to know what’s going on at your shop? It’s so fast and easy to post an update. Make it the responsibility of the manager. If you haven’t posted anything new for months, your shop gives the impression that (1) it’s no longer open or (2) nothing has changed in months.
You can do more with social media such as enticing new customers with delicious pictures and descriptions of frozen yogurt on Instagram (or Twitter, Facebook, Snapchat, etc.), building awareness for your shop, encouraging your customers to share their love for your froyo with their friends (e.g., offer a perk for checking in on Yelp or Foursquare), running contests, etc. Be sure to read the comments and respond to tweets, Facebook posts, etc. Customers will appreciate the fact that you’re listening and that you value their input.
It’s frustrating to find Facebook pages that haven’t been updated in months or to be unable to determine if a frozen yogurt shop is still open. If your shop closes, please post a message thanking customers for their support.
For additional reading about the benefits of Facebook vs. Twitter, SproutSocial has an informative article: http://sproutsocial.com/insights/facebook-vs-twitter/ and lots of other articles about social media.
