Power of Facebook

Initially I thought Facebook was a complete waste of time, really I did. And I definitely thought there was absolutely no use for Facebook in the business place let alone an effective marketing tool. 

I was wrong. Let me give a little background as to how I discovered my mistake.

I started a hobby game store earlier this year called, Dragon Crown Games. This was and is my first experience with a retail business and to say I was clueless is a drastic understatement. To make matters worse, I did not go with a traditional retail location but instead decided to use the extra space I have in the eMonarch suite to house the store. Not a big deal but we are 51 floors up so drive-by traffic was going to a problem.

So I began trying to figure out how to really get the word out about the store and looking at inexpensive ways to market. Being a technology guy my first thoughts were of using various websites, etc to improve our exposure. I also began looking at how to advertise events that occurred in the store on a weekly basis. In the hobby game market, it is ALL about events. Events drive people to the store and then people (hopefully) buy product.

I look at numerous tools for managing events on line and even looked at software I could buy to use in our hosting environment at eMonarch but then I came across Facebook events and then the light bulb went off.

I also had been watching how other companies use Facebook and I thought let's give it a try. So I started listing events and using Facebook as a way of inviting others to attend the events. Facebook events keeps track of who will attend and who will not attend and even those that might be able to attend. This proved to be extremely valuable.

We have regular attendance to our Facebook page, people respond to our events and almost 100% of our attendance at events has come via Facebook and/or word-of-mouth.

Facebook is actually a strategic part of the game store business now. I am able to post pictures, videos and create a sense of community amongst my customers. In the hobby game environment, community is critical as it is really hard to play hobby games by yourself.

During my experience I learned another interesting idea for social media site, Twitter. Wizards of the Coast (makers of Dungeon and Dragons) has a weekly event run in hobby game stores like mine called DnD Encounters. But what is interesting is that they are using Twitter during the game times to change the dynamics of the game. So one minute the floor your group is on is a concrete floor and the next minute it can be covered in grease. This creates a  really interesting game session and the players really seem to enjoy the interaction

Still have a lot to learn about how to use social media for business but it definitely shows a lot of promise. Do you have a plan for using social media to grown your business? Would love to hear about it!

Comments

[true religion outlet]

We have a few ideas already and I will dig them up, let’s hear some more…. make it whatever you want and we’ll vote on it.

[Puma Outlet]

It's a great beer and worth seeking out. It's widely available in my hometown of Buffalo, New York, but as for Geneva, you may need to ask one of the stores that carry Lake Placid in Geneva (Wegman's, Byrne Dairy, Halsey's, Tops, Fastrack) why they don't have the new seasonal yet, and they'll contact Lake Placid's distributors (Wright-Wisner, I believe, serves the Rochester area). Sometimes it takes a little kick in the pants from customers to get the retailers to order a new seasonal! You could also take a trip to Rochester if you don't feel like waiting. I made a few phone calls - I'll let you know what I find out.