Reading marketing articles is always great, but sometimes it’s hard to figure out how the tips apply to a real small business. Terms like “engage your clients” or “start a blog” don’t really inspire specifics in the minds of many small business owners in Doylestown or anywhere else. So, what I want to do is take a type of small business that is located in the Doylestown area and point out how they could differentiate themselves and take advantage of social media tools to grow their business.

Let’s talk about florists and flower shops today. We have quite a few floral shops in Doylestown including An Enchanted Florist, Doylestown Floribunda, Carousel Flowers Online and Doylestown Flowers and Gifts. If you take a look at their websites, you’ll notice they are all essentially the same. So, how could a Doylestown florist use social media to separate themselves from the competition?

Blogging

Setting up a Wordpress blog isn’t that difficult to do, finding something to write about can be daunting, but there are endless subjects once you start thinking about how you can help your clients further. For instance, here are 3 topics you could cover:

How to create floral arrangements – A new article for each holiday with photos and step by step directions

Attend Philadelphia flower show – Take pictures and then show how to recreate the look at home

How to make your flowers last longer – Everyone wants their arrangements to last as long as possible, so tell them how

Twitter

Twitter is a tool that allows you to interact with anyone around the world. The real power of Twitter is the interactions between people you follow and those that are following you. Here are a few things a florist could tweet about to gain clients and generally be helpful:

New flowers have arrived – Especially exotic plants or traditional flowers people are typically waiting for like roses around Valentine’s day or Mums in fall

Holiday specials – Create specials just for Twitter followers to encourage them to place an order

Flower meanings – Tweet about the meanings behind flowers such as yellow roses meaning friendship

Facebook

Facebook fan pages don’t work for every business, but a florist can take advantage of a fan page in numerous ways:

Pictures – Have clients submit photos of themselves with flowers they’ve received or sent

Videos – Include videos of arrangements being created in the shop

DIY Arrangements – Have fans submit photos of arrangements they’ve created from flowers bought in the shop

Flickr

Flickr is a photo sharing site, often used for personal photos, but can absolutely be used for commercial purposes. The great thing about Flickr is that others can use your photos, giving you credit and more exposure. When you upload a photo you can link back to your website so whoever sees your photos will be exposed to your business.

Upload photos if individual flowers and plants – Great for people that need a specific flower photo

Upload Photos of Your Arrangements – A great way to show what your shop can do

Find arrangement photos – Find photos of arrangements you love and show your visitors how to recreate the arrangement

Creating a blog and formulating a social media plan can help a floral shop grow new business by creating content and providing help to potential and repeat customers. Customers want to know that you are going to be there for them before and after the purchase, and they want to connect with you online.