Easy Street Records

Easy Street Records in 140 characters or less:

“Seattle’s record store, the original, the best.”

Easy Street Records maintains a strong social media presence thanks, in large part, to Nandrin Louis. In addition to handling the store's eBay and Amazon transactions., Nandrin maintains the company’s Facebook and Twitter sites - a position he partially created for himself. After mentioning the importance of these mediums to his coworkers on several occasions, he decided to take the initiative and create a Facebook account. With help from the West Seattle Blog picking up on it, this local favorite gained over 100 followers in its first day!

With a social media internship and a few internet marketing classes under his belt, Nandrin is well aware of how to maximize the tools available to get results. He follows lists on Twitter that give him up-to-date information on Seattle music news (great for retweeting). He also changes settings on specific Facebook posts to distribute them to an appropriate audience so that music fans in California aren’t bombarded by notices about a vinyl sale at the West Seattle street fair.

While Nandrin is responsible for about ninety percent of the content on these sites, there is occasional input from fellow employees - always closely monitored by Nandrin. He also pays attention and adjusts to feedback. In response to input from friends, that too many updates can clutter their homepage, he limits Facebook posts to about once a day. His hunch was reassured when he used diagnostic tools to investigate days when fans were most likely to unsubscribe and discovered that they were all days with multiple postings.

Not only do businesses without an online presence miss a chance to connect with their audience, they run the risk of someone else doing it for them. Easy Street’s official Facebook fan page has over 5,000 fans but an unofficial Facebook Group also exists with only 13 members. If Easy Street weren’t online themselves, their audience could easily turn to the unofficial page for information, which could result in a completely different persona being portrayed than the store provides itself. Who knows what the response could be. Fortunately, Easy Street has this covered with social media pages, a blog, in-store performances and a strong community presence. We can all take some lessons from Easy Street on branding and staking a claim for themselves in their neighborhood and online communities. Their sweatshirt is, afterall, one of the most widely seen piece of logo apparel in West Seattle, and beyond.

Easy Street Records (West Seattle Store)
4559 California Ave SW # 200,
Seattle, WA 98116
206-938-EASY (3279)
http://easystreetonline.com/
Blog: http://easystreetonline.com/blog
Facebook: Easy Street Records
Twitter: @EasyStRecords

Clementine Shoes

Clementine in 140 Characters or Less:

"Women’s shoe and accessory boutique offering fun and unique products at a range of price points."

Clementine shoes has found success on social media by sticking to one important strategy – update daily. Owner Linda Walsh admits that this advice from a local professional PR company sounded intimidating when starting the blog two years ago, but proved to be both easier and more effective than expected. She was surprised to witness an increase in both online and in-store sales.

Linda has experienced similar success, on a smaller scale, since adding a Facebook and Twitter account to the repertoire. She can attribute three sales directly to customers who mentioned Facebook, which she considers significant in a boutique setting.

Although daily posting may not be ideal for every business, Linda does have a few strategies that translate into success in any social media plan. First, she makes a point of tackling this task first thing in the morning, having discovered that the longer she waited the less likely she was to make time for it. The amount of time she spends can vary from quickly retweeting something interesting to half an hour putting together a detailed blog post.

Second, she shares the workload with her staff. Clementine is lucky to be blessed with enthusiastic part-time employees interested in fashion and photography. Designated days of the week are devoted to photos of new products or a weekly “look book” showing how to pull some of the pieces together, maintained by an aspiring fashion student compiling a portfolio. Linda considers herself a “conductor” overseeing the various contributors to Clemetine’s social media symphony.

Finally, Linda admits to battling with self-criticism in the beginning. “Who wants to read this,” she worried, "and what if I sound lame?!" Lucky for her fans, she chose to try to put her best foot forward. With persistence and a positive response she moved past these early concerns to create an avid fan base of followers who engage in both online conversations and in-person sales, a true social media community.

Clementine Shoes
4447 California Ave SW
Seattle, WA 98116
206-935-9400
www.clementines.com
http://clementineswestseattle.blogspot.com
Facebook: Clementine Shoes
Twitter: @clementineshoes

Illusions Hair Design

When it comes to maintaining a social media presence consistency is an important element, one that Heather of Illusions Hair Design does well. Their website, Facebook page and Twitter account display the same recognizable color scheme, logo, contact information and links to other social media pages. On the web, visuals can be as important as content in catching a readers attention and leading them to read further.

Although Heather considers herself “technologically comfortable”, it certainly doesn’t require a degree in computer programming to follow in her footsteps. She turned to Google and searched “Twitter background template” to find instructions and is self-taught when it comes to maintaining the company website. She recognized the web early on as a tool to distribute information to her customers while saving the business time and money spent on traditional methods like newsletters and postcards.

One thing Heather is conscious of is not bombarding their fans with online updates every hour on the hour. She prefers the brevity of Twitter as a medium. “Most people don’t read past the first 140 characters anyway,” she insists. Posts are focused on the information most people ask about, from specials to new retail products available or available appointments.

Consistency is a value behind not only Illusions’ social media philosophy, but the business as a whole. They pride themselves on being a non-tipping salon with no “hidden costs” providing the same quality service every time. They work as a team keeping meticulous customer records so that any stylist can help a client at any time or day of the week. This consistency has solidified Illusions Hair Design as a fixture of the neighborhood since 1978 and is inspired by Heather’s final thought in the interview - “We love our community.”

Illusions Hair Design
5619 California Ave SW
Seattle, WA 98136
206-938-3675
www.illusionshairdesign.com
Facebook: Illusions Haird
Twitter: @IllusionsHairD

Capers

Capers in 140 Characters or less:

“Decorating, entertaining and gift ideas tailored towards people in Northwest, urban homes.”

Capers has taken many forms over the years, from coffee to cushions, and their social media approach is no exception. You can find this West Seattle business presence on Facebook, Twitter and Blogger.

Lisa Myers, the woman behind the business, sees social media as simply another platform to spread a message to the community. Although she calls herself “not technically savvy”, she has relied on numerous sources to guide her experience, including a marketing degree, reading books on social media, attending Social Media Breakfasts in Seattle, simple trial and error, and when in doubt, turning to a fifteen-year-old friend for advice. One of the messages she took to heart is the goal to showcase, not sell your product.

Lisa decided to focus her attention on one subject, a “Cute Chair of the Day” or “C2otD”. She wanted one thing that was visually interesting, maintained consistency, and something that she could talk about on a regular basis. This concept exists on their Twitter, Facebook and blog sites, along with regular updates about sales and in-store events, and has generated reader comments, feedback, and even sales. She also recognizes her strengths and limitations. Lisa maintains the Facebook and Twitter sites, but shares blogging responsibility with a coworker with a talent for writing.

Capers has had mixed reactions to their experiments on social media. They have had immediate responses to Twitter posts, to the point where cashiers were unaware that a message had even been distributed, counterbalanced with zero response to an announcement of discounted sales. Lisa recognizes the value of followers, but struggles with the inequity there seems to be between pages that have a lot of activity (like hers) and others that lack an active presence yet have acquired a large critical mass of fans. This is a conundrum that is being addressed more and more in social media; that the number of fans/followers does not equate to more effectiveness, rather, it is the quality that goes the distance.

Amidst these challenges, Capers stays committed to the real goal of social media- connecting the community. West Seattle on Social Media, Capers and a few others are partnering for a “Tweet-up” or a gathering of local businesses and consumers at Capers on Wednesday, February 17^th at 6:30pm. All are welcome, from businesses to community members looking to mingle and get to know their neighbors. We hope to see you there!

Capers
4525 California Ave SW
Seattle, WA 98116
206-932-0371
http://caperscapers.blogspot.com/
Facebook: Capers
Twitter: @CAPERS_home