I’m not going to try and talk myself out of a job here, but actually writing user review responses FROM THE OWNER themselves is a huge boon to success in this new web 2.0 (who says that anymore?) social media world for small business.  Authenticiy, humility, eagerness to please and connect, occasionally setting the record straight and having a good time with conviction and passion are the keys to success.  Easy to say, hard to do.  At some point during the day you need to carve out some time, create a business account on Trip Advisor, Yelp, Citysearch, etc and reply to user reviews – engage with 1 star reviews, 5 star reviews and everything else in between.

Hi there – I am now experimenting with video posts.  No, I don’t look too classy in this video but I promise to dress up in the future.  This is more of a test, an experiment than anything else.  But I would like to note that the message is still very sincere:  sending letters via ’snail’ postal mail, the old fashioned way, rules.

It amazes me how many restaurant and retail business owners don’t actively engage with responding to user reviews online.  “Don’t have time” or are otherwise not engaged.  This is one of the single most effective ways to not only reach out to the “online community” but to make an impression about your business, one that says you care, you’re engaged and that you’re passionate about what you do, your business, your product and your service. Stick up for yourself, say thank you and make it personal: from you! It makes a huge impression online.

Unbelievable how many people miss the boat on this!

Starbucks announced today another round of huge layoffs:  the closing of 400 additional stores in 2009 culminating in a loss of 6000 store jobs and 345 corporate / Seattle jobs. 

A friend of mine who owns a prominent and multi unit restaurant in Seattle.Tacoma mentioned over a beer tonight:  “Why did Starbucks have to concentrate on such massive expansion?  Why couldn’t they have concentrated more on just becoming better – on improving what they already had?”

Good question.  I don’t think it’s hindsight 20/20 either.  I think this was a very real question when they were announcing ridiculously high store opening goal #’s that were, in hindsight, embarrasing.  And now they are left with a product that is ok but hasn’t quite evolved with the velocity requisite with Starbucks track record.

Hopefully they can get back on track but they will have to weather this economic storm first.  They will.  But in what fashion and with how much strength they ascend is the real question.  Maybe then they can conectrate more on quality vs. quanity.

People trust user reviews.  In a recent study people ranked user reviews second only to suggestions from friends in terms of a source of information they trusted most about businesses.

Ranked lowest:  Company blogs.

http://blogs.forrester.com/groundswell/2008/12/people-dont-tru.html

Flickr is a photo sharing site.  A social site.  It has recently banned certain accounts for “commercial use”, primarily retailers posting pictures of their products as an additional extension of their marketing and awareness online.

http://www.clickz.com/3632015

Last night I was at Bartell Drug’s looking for bleach to clean my deck.  There was a lot of grunge and grind out there and I needed something strong.  As I walked in I noticed “Seventh Generation:  free & clear” Chlorine Free Bleach.  This particular bottle of bleach read “non-toxic * hypo-allergenic * degradable” – furthermore it pronounced, ever so humbly in the top right hand corner:  “In our every deliberation, we must consider the impact of our decisions on the next seven generations. – From the Great Law of the Iroquois Confederacy”

I’m going to be honest:  I’m not entirely sure what “hypo-allergenic” means.  I could look it up on Wikipedia, but that would disingenuous- I didn’t know what it meant when I chose to buy the Seventh Generation brand.  More importantly, I’m not entirely positive the gradation of difference the level of “non-hypo-allergenic-nous” the Seventh Generation brand “has” over the pure run of the mill bleach brand either.  I know I could incline myself to say “well, bleach is bad…and of course this stuff is clean…it comes in a white bottle and it says so” but that would miss the point.  I’m not sure what “non-toxic” means and even though I know they are a Native American Indian tribe, I’m not quite sure the whole story behind the Iroquois either.

So why did I end up paying double for “Seventh Generation”?  Because I like the story!  I’m not sure to what extent I helped to save the environment this morning as I cleaned my deck and brushed the run off down the pipes, but it was sure worth the extra $3.00 I spent to know:  “At least I did my best to do right by myself and environment”.  It ‘felt’ clean.  It’s a good story.

I admit whole heartedly:  I’m not a scientist and to be totally honest, I’m not sure what all the green verbiage means.  And if pressed, neither do most.  The point is not how much we know about it – the point is the story!  People are buying a story when they walk into Whole Foods and when they buy a Prius.  Sure you can try and coordinate rational differences between a Prius and  Hummer:  miles per gallon, fuel efficiency, etc.  But really – tell me the difference?  What is the REAL difference to you – the atoms that compose the structure that is your body – in eating organic v. conventional?

Lewis Black said it best: “And for all we study about health, we know nothing!  Is milk good or bad?”  Not a hand amongst sold out, silent hall went raised.  “I rest my case” as everyone burst into laughter.

We love the story.  We buy the story.  And I’m happy to do it.  I feel better:  physically, mentally, and spiritually.

As a small business, take heed:  define your story.  The story about you and your business is already there – it’s not a question of that – it’s a question of how much you want to participate in the active formation of what that story is.

What is the story you’re telling every day?

I love this post by Seth Godin: The takeaway?  Small is a weapon, not an excuse.

The web is a great equalizer.  Use it to your advantage!

Photos are a great way to show your business off at various angles:  the business, the people, the food, the product, the location, and again, the people!  Very few local and small businesses focus on getting photos up in as many places as possible.  Here is why you should:

1.  Tagging – searchability

2.  Access – people get a look and ‘feel’ for your product and business

3.  Personality – viewers get a sense of what you are about

4.  Interaction – there are plenty of sites where people can post comments regarding your photos.

5.  People want to see your products.  Pictures are worth a thousand words, and if done right, a lot more than that in marketing dollars if done right.

Where to post?

1.  Flickr

2.  Facebook

3.  Picasa

4.  Yahoo, Google and MSN local profiles

5.  Your own blog (Posterous, Tumblr, Word Press, Blogger)

If you don’t have photos, spend a few hundred (suggestion:  up to $500) for a professional to take a hundred + shots, or / and have your ‘crew’ and yourself bring in personal digital cameras and take as many photos as possible.

It’s very much worth it and very much under utilized in the small, local business space.

On Tuesday, July 8 a prominent blogger and web 2.0 “valley insider” – relative to most – by the name of Cyndy Aleo-Carreira posted an interesting article / blog post regarding her amazement and shock as to how much feedback, commentary and “coverage” she received for posting a blog post on how she put her 3 year old daughter to bed using a popular online video distribution system called Seesmic.

Carreira has distinguished herself in a variety of capacities online: “Cyndy Aleo-Carreira is a former web developer turned technology writer. In addition to contributing to The Industry Standard, she is also Editor at the Web 2.0 blog Profy, and discusses tech and start-up issues at Wife 2.0.”

You can read the two links posted above regarding the “story”, but she deemed the incident one of the most surreal days she has had online in over 15 years.

Why?  I’m betting human…

Among other things this was very human story in a fray of online media and information – “the fire hose” – fraught with an over abundance of technical and business information, making this post stand out from the norm. This was a very human story behind a piece of “technology” that has a very real world and human application: in this case, putting babies to bed! Talking to people, explaining stories, showing the ‘behind the scenes’ aspects of life…or, I daresay…business.

She let us into her life with this story and it paid off huge dividends.