The Web and You

Making the web work for your business

The Web and You Presents: Small Business, Big Voices

I’ve decided to start expanding a little more into video as part of my efforts on this blog.  I started with my two recent posts “Adding Flair to your Site: Private Little Video Studio” and “Is the Elevator Pitch Dead? Enter the Twitpitch,” which were more about experimenting with video and trying to explore effective ways to integrate it into my blog than they were about the actual subject matter.  I struggled a little trying to come up with a topic that might be interesting to a wide audience but in preparing for a class last week it finally hit me:

I’m going to try to put some small businesses up on the web through video.

Here’s the basic premise:

1. I lead a class or discussion on some hot social media site
2. I get small businesses in attendance to start thinking about ways they can use the service
3. I interview 3 or 4 businesses with my dinky little camera after the class
4. I have them sign a release.
5. I post them on this site, introducing you to a business in my local area and ways they plan to use the social media tool to which I’ve introduced them.

I’m hoping that several things come out of this:

1. Small businesses that we interview will get more recognition for their business.
2. Businesses who took the class but didn’t necessarily get interviewed benefit from some of the ideas shared in the raw video of their peers explaining how they plan to use Social Media.
3. We get a little more exposure, encouraging other businesses to share their stories with us.

I was inspired to do this through reading a blog by Edward Boches (@edwardboches), Chief Creative Officer at Mullen Advertising in the Boston, MA area.  He is a strong believer in the concept of “crowdsourcing,” which is essentially tapping the network of people you know with a problem and asking them for help with the solutions.  The theory is that the more people having a look at the problem, the more creative the solution will be and with a minimum amount of effort from all parties involved.

I plan on doing this semi-regularly, and if I really start to see interest I will do regular posts once a week, focusing on 2 or so businesses, in addition to our regular posts.  So please, send in your submissions, or be sure to ask me for an interview!

This week I’m recording interviews from our “Web and You” meetup (if you’re in NJ and aren’t a member yet, click here for more info on Meetup.com).  We had a nice turnout and great interaction among the group, and I’m planning on doing an overview on some Facebook features for our next meetup, so be sure to join and RSVP for a space!

For our last meeting, we had a Twitter Clinic, inviting small businesses to come in and find out about Twitter and how they could potentially use it for their business.  We focused on 3 main things:

1. Creating a Twitter User Name
2. Developing a Twitpitch (as opposed to using an Elevator pitch)
3. Figuring out 3 ways their business can use Twitter, and how other small businesses use Twitter in unique and interesting ways.

The first interview is with Julie Cohen of Mad Nutrition, which focuses on holistic health counseling.  She and I actually sat after the meeting and discussed Twitter in a little more detail, and we came up with a fabulous Twitpitch for her.  Check out her video below and be sure to visit her site when you get a chance!

The second interview is with Cliff Moore of the Keyport and Neptune IHOPs in New Jersey.   If I need to tell you what an IHOP is…well…you don’t know pancakes.  Cliff took over the Keyport IHOP a few years ago and really put the business back on the map after it had suffered from poor management for several years.  Cliff is always thinking of new ways he can promote his business and cater to the local community, and learning about Twitter is just another way for him to reach those people.  Check out his video and go try out his restaurant if you’re ever in the area!

I absolutely LOVED being able to meet and talk with these businesses, and I’m really happy I was able to help them start thinking about ways they could tap social media tools to promote themselves.  I’m hoping that by publishing some of this stuff, it helps other businesses out there to learn by example…the ultimate “crowdsourcing” experiment.

I am having other Twitter training sessions in the next few weeks where I’ll be sure to interview new businesses.  In addition, I’m going to be focusing on other social media tools in “The Web and You in Central Jersey,” so if you’re in our area be sure to check it out.

In the meantime, think of what you’d say in 140 characters if you had to describe your business with that constraint.  It’s not easy, but extremely useful in helping to hone your message and precisely define your vision.  Feel free to comment here with your Twitter ID and/or twitpitch so others can follow you!

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