It's none of their business, IT'S YOUR BUSINESS!!

Facebook and Twitter are the most popular, and at the same time most mis-understood social media platforms. One great source of frustration that I often experience is a conversation that goes something like this.

Dealer- "Business sure is tough"

Me- "are you trying anything different in your approach to buying and selling? Website, Facebook, Twitter??"

Dealer- "I've thought about Facebook, but I really don't want people knowing my business"

Let me get this straight you are in business, but you don't want people to know it? There is a lot of confusion about Facebook among people who feel that somehow participating in a social media site forces you to divulge your most personal secrets. Any social networking site divulges what you tell it to divulge. You don't have to have give any personal information away. You can have a presence on Facebook simply as your business. Talk about your inventory, what shows you are doing. Talk about what you love collecting or simply reminding folks that you exist.

I get tired easily of people complaining that things have changed and not willing to do anything to adapt to those changes. I'd love to see a few more people take a half an hour a week to reach out and connect with current, past and potential customers through social networking sites. Anyone up for the challenge?

Bloggers Block

One of the things I run into after a large show is a healthy dose of bloggers block. So many pre-show blog posts have left me with nothing much to say. I will say that this February's Tailgate and Music Valley were judged to be a success by most criteria that we have available. By no mean does this mean every dealer and customer were thrilled, but most seemed happy, enthused and encouraged. The scheduling with Heart of Country was one factor that led to increased gates, but we also made significant progress with attracting local customers (our biggest challenge) through the use of Groupon, Style Blueprint, Facebook, Yelp and this blog along significant local grass roots marketing. The nice thing about this is we are just scratching the surface of these methods, which bodes well for October and future shows. Back to resting and talk to you soon.

Fresh Ground Coffee For All!!

Hello-
Just back from our Farmington show. Good weather, good crowd and good reports of sales. An interesting photo of 3 great coffee grinders at the show. Moving on to our June Springfield show next week. Just formed a Fans of Springfield Antique Show on Facebook. Click hear to join the group.