My Date, Outback Steakhouse, and a Word to the Wise for Small Businesses

I'm going to tell you a story about last night. It involves my date... Social Networking... and Outback Steakhouse Corporate. ATTENTION SMALL BUSINESS OWNERS! Take note... because if you're not doing things like this, you're missing the whole point of Social Networking!

Last night I took my fiancée out to dinner. We chose "Outback Steakhouse" as it had been way too long since I'd enjoyed a "Bloomin' Onion".

So... as usual... I did my "Check-in" via "foursquare". Please allow me to take a moment to thank my fiancée for the patience she regularly shows as I whip out my BlackBerry and "check-in" to just about every place we go!

Quick side note regarding connecting social networking accounts: I'm a firm believer that you can "over-connect". I see it all the time. I prefer to use Twitter as my primary communication source. With that said, I've connected my Twitter account directly to my Facebook business page... and my "foursquare" account is connected only to Twitter. Yes... you can connect "foursquare" to both Facebook and Twitter, but there's no reason for me to do that. Once I "check-in" via foursquare, it'll post to Twitter and Twitter will do the rest of the work for me. In no way am I suggesting this is the correct method for everyone. You need to evaluate how you're doing business and connect your tools accordingly.

Now... back to the story.

I performed my "check-in" via "foursquare"... included "@Outback" in my "Shout" and resumed our date. Below is how my "check-in" posted to Twitter.

To my surprise... a few minutes later I received this Twitter response from "@Outback":

So naturally, I responded:

But it wasn't over yet. "@Outback" replied back:

Dinner resumed and I must say that our server was one of the best we've had in a long time. Friendly, fun, laughing it up with us... really appeared as though she loved her job! During the course of conversation with our server I learned she had her own Twitter account. After dinner, I replied one more time to "@Outback" taking the opportunity to respond to their last Tweet to me... and... knowing that servers seldom get the recognition they sometimes deserve... I threw in a good word for ours:

All in all... over the course of the evening... it took less than five minutes for this entire exchange to take place. Less than five minutes of... here it comes... the magic words... "Customer Service"! And you know what? I'm going back soon. I'll spend more money there. Why? Because the person behind their Twitter account made me feel like somebody. I wasn't just another number adding to their bottom line. And, I'll admit... I'm greedy. I want to see what they're going to give me once I become "Mayor".

Also... thanks to "@Outback" for becoming one of my "Followers" on Twitter after this exchange.  They have more than 7000 followers at the moment... and less than 1000 that they actually follow.  I consider it an honor that they've chosen to follow me.

You know... it frustrates and saddens me when I hear small business owners say "Oh... I'm too small. That only works for the big companies. It won't work with me."

Here's what I say to that. Today's Social Networking tools have helped level the playing field in a way that no other form of marketing and advertising has EVER been able to do! It's about communication with your customers and clients. It's about showing them appreciation. It's about giving them a reason to come back for more.

Funny thing is... your customers and clients are using these tools all the time... for their own personal reasons. Your audience is out there. If you're not using these tools... or if you are... and they don't seem to be working for you... it's time to start looking for help. The longer you wait the further behind you're going to get.

Feel free to contact me:

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/businesssocialmedia
Twitter: http://twitter.com/WilliamWellsIII
LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/williamhwellsiii
foursquare: https://foursquare.com/williamwellsiii
Blog: http://williamwellsiii.blogspot.com/
Web: http://www.wellswebgroup.com/socialmedia/

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