Converting Fans into Customers Simple as Buying Groceries

We’ve all heard – and experience first-hand on a daily basis – that Facebook is the standard in social networking. With more than half a billion users, Facebook is a common household name and in the top echelon of internet destinations every day. One common misconception, though is, “if you build it, they will come.” After all, don’t we all create fan pages, then immediately begin asking all of our friends to “like” them? We soon learn, it’s not so easy to attract and entice people to click that elusive “like” button, and all too often, we become frustrated in the process. But, converting Facebook fans into customers is really as simple as buying groceries.

In many cases, many business owners do not actually use Facebook as a means to increase SEO, and ultimately their brand awareness. Most commonly, small businesses believe that they need to create fan pages in order to attain large fan bases, and ultimately sales without actually understanding their fan bases or their behavior. It’s not just about fan count, and it’s important to understand the actual value of a fan. More importantly, it’s vitally important to understand the social network, its interconnections and the interactions amongst fans and the people they influence. Key questions to be keenly aware of are: How many people does your business influence? How many of those people will take action on your content? How many people can these people reach? Summed, the key question is, are you a mover and a shaker? Does your content, and ultimately your business, wield power and influence in a sphere of activity amongst your fans?

A true fan base is grown organically – this doesn’t necessarily mean “slowly”, but in many cases, growing a fan base is a lot like using a crock pot.

Converting fans into customers requires a consistent effort focused on developing an engaging relationship with fans. Creating campaigns that attract customers, rather than fans, offering a special discount or coupon to convert fans or attract new fans, and creating a thank-you campaign to start conversations with new fans or followers are a few techniques mobile food vendors use to convert fans to customers.

Read Christopher’s comprehensive article (here), explaining why a blog is central to the social network, and how Facebook plays a role in improving SEO and search engine placement. “It reads like a roadmap,” said Gabe De Armond, an independent Marketing and Advertising Consultant in Charlottesville, NC. “Chris explains that fan count isn’t as important as turning fans into loyal customers, and he points out the number one mistake most mobile food vendors make. He really hit the nail on the head with this one.”

About Stitches ‘n Dishes:

Stitches ‘n Dishes, the creation of Christopher Ford and Andrew Nicora, and inspired by “Stitch”, an American Staff. Terrier mix / Bichon Frise, provides marketing, advertising and PR services to the mobile foods industry and it provides consumers with a single source for original articles, reviews, food photography, California fairs and events, discounts, contests and giveaways.

Stitches ‘n Dishes is California’s first provider of a platform that stitches a link between food lovers, entertainment venues and mobile food operators, and the first fully dedicated marketing, advertising and development resource available to food vendors in California.

Contact
Christopher Ford, Co-Founder
Stitches ‘n Dishes
chris@stitchesndishes.com
916-612-9954

Rodney Washington
Stitches ‘n Dishes
rodney@stitchesndishes.com
858-413-7526