Social Media Strategy Portland

Company: Mio Gelato
Social Media Marketing Team: Lisa Peyton/Ryan Lewis, Bonfire Social Media
Campaign Length: 3 months
Result: Up to a 44% increase in sales at various locations
SoMe Award ‘Peoples Choice’ Winner 2010

The Challenge

Mio Gelato is a locally-owned cafe with 4 locations around the Portland metro area. Best known for it’s  frozen gelato, Mio’s owner wanted to combat slower  sales during the winter months. He hoped to utilize the power of social media along with great promotions to keep patrons coming back; not just for gelato, but for soups, Italian hot cocoa and/or a quick lunch.
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As many Gmail users might have noticed, Google launched a program called Buzz last week. I wanted to suspending appraisal until I had the opportunity to test it out and get a good sense for it’s purpose. Much like anything new that is socially related, it must make it easier to decipher information from connections in order to be successful and valuable. continue

A very stripped down ‘how-to’ about length, frequency and medium of social media channels. Nothing set in stone, but a good starting point.

When entering into the complicated world of social media marketing, a business must have clear goals and realistic expectations of their efforts.  There are several examples out there of companies that have seen huge results from a simple YouTube video or a photo that went “viral” and changed the whole company’s quarterly performance. Business is a tall-tale factory when it comes to these stories and it is important to dig deep to uncover the methods, tools and preparation that makes for a successful social media marketing campaign. continue

It may sound crazy, but I love chaos. I love having drastic change effect business and life. I even love tornadoes, snow storms, floods and earthquakes. Maybe I should have been a Fireman, but that is besides the point. I love chaos because it means opportunity and to me, there’s not a more opportune time to be in marketing than right now. continue

Relevance is something I have been talking about for about a month on various panels, client training and internally at Bonfire. What the idea truly comes down to is making sure you are recognizing people exist. Now I know this seems like a no brain-er and, well, it should be. But it is something that’s often forgotten in the hustle of running a business. continue

According to a recent study by LightSpeed Research and the Internet Advertising Bureau, the best time to reach people online is after 6pm. The study was conducted in the UK only, so US numbers could prove to be different. continue

We ran across this slideshow from a HubSpot posting (those guys post the best stuff). The end promotes the purpose of VCs, but the real value is in the premise of earning your media. Some of the assumptions are purely speculative, but do show great examples and trending. continue

I usually try to keep the tone positive and not deconstruct the failings of lessor strategies, but I could not help myself with this one.

Now, if you visit my website from time to time, you have probably realized I focus a lot on online marketing. It’s not because I’m some sort of web “fanboy,” it’s because it is making us look at the importance of the message more than anytime in history. I feel there is a time and very valuable place in a marketing strategy for traditional media. Traditional media is an outstanding tool for awareness and when used well, can grow sales exponentially. continue

Now the fun part; identifying all the free listing services out there and tracking them back to your website. With all of these free listing services, it is crucial to automate uploading listings as much as possible and include where to find more information about you, your company or the listing. I have compiled a list of the ones I know of, but if anyone can add to it, please chime in. continue