The wife's family dining room
I don't use social media but it's going well, so I'm jealous.
Although it was a closed day, there were a few customers in front of the store.
With spring approaching, I imagine there will be many newcomers to the area.
Now then…
We've been talking a bit about the Internet lately, but now I'd like to talk about something related to that.
I'm sometimes asked, "Do I have to use social media as a store?"
For Usagi and me, not using social media was not an option.
When I was working at a welfare facility, the facility used blogs and Twitter, and I knew how good they were, so it was a natural progression to plan to use social media in the store as well.
It would be fine if it was like the restaurant at my wife's parents' house, where they don't do anything but it's still going strong, but that's probably not possible in our case.
In particular, we had many handicaps, such as no experience in the food and beverage industry, almost no personal relationships, and the owner's poor customer service skills, so it was clear that if we opened without any experience, the business would quickly become unsustainable.
Also, we didn't want just anyone to come, but only people who had a similar vibe and who understood us.
It's quite a selfish store.
With this kind of stance, the store could not meet the required number of customers from the local area, so the store had no choice but to use social media, which allows it to interact with people from far away.
There are many benefits to using social media, such as "you can start even if you don't have a store," "people with similar interests will gather," "you can communicate every day even if they don't come to your store," and "it costs almost nothing."
Thanks to this, we were able to get interviews before we even opened, and many customers came to visit us on the first day, so we can really see the benefits.
I think it's very convenient for customers to be able to access information about the store right away.
Do I have to use social media in my store?
When I talk to people who are about to open a store or who have just opened one, I hear a few of them say, "I don't want to use the Internet."
As someone who has experienced the effects, I feel like it's a shame, but when asked if it's something that absolutely has to be done, I personally wouldn't strongly recommend it.
If you don't want to do it, you don't have to do it, and I think it's up to you to decide for yourself whether it's necessary or not.
If someone asks me, "Do I have to use the internet?", the answer is, "I don't know about that..."
It takes time to see a response, and patience is required. If you force yourself, you probably won't see results. I think it's okay to start when you feel it's necessary.
That's what I think.
However, it takes time for the effects to appear, so by the time you start to feel a sense of crisis, it will already be too late.
So if you decide to do it, it's best to do it as soon as possible.
There are many things you can do before starting SNS
This is something that can be said for our store as well, but there are quite a lot of things that can be done in the store rather than over the internet.
For example, there is a lack of information in the store.
If you want people to come into your store, put up some text at the entrance that will make it easier for them to come in.
If you want people to leave reviews, put easy-to-understand words on the tables to encourage them to leave reviews.
We can devise menus and POP displays, which are quicker to implement and produce results.
Looking around the store, it seems like there are still many areas that have not been touched.
They notice the store, become interested, visit, spread the word, and return.
I think it's more important to grasp this overall trend.
For in-store POP and social media, we first understand the overall flow and framework and put it all together as a store, then discuss how to use them.
The way you interact with customers and their behavior are basically the same whether you're online or in real life. The internet isn't a completely different thing.
If you are actually using social media but are not having success, the problem may be that you are not able to see the trends.
That's pretty much what I think when asked about the need for social media in stores.
See you soon.
