A simple card reminds customers to tag Central Square Florist when they share photos of their flowers on social media.
In late August, Jackie Levine, manager of Central Square Florist in Cambridge, Massachusetts, posted on Twitter a photo of the shop sandwich board advertising a free rose to anyone with the name “Chris.” It caught the attention of a man who runs a local news site (@OnlyinBOS), who asked if he could tweet the name game daily to his 104,000 followers. (Her answer: yes, please!!!)
The following month, Central Square Florist gained dozens of new customers and 253 new followers.
“The Twitter analytics for September went through the roof,” Levine said. The shop had 664 mentions, 18,500 profile views and 141,000 impressions. By comparison, in August, the shop had 58 new followers, 159 mentions, 7, 262 profile views and 55,300 impressions.
Eager to keep that momentum going, Levine created social media business cards. The card features a photo of ranunculus, hydrangea and alstroemeria overlaid with a white circle printed with the shop’s Twitter and Instagram handles and Facebook address, along with the hashtag #centralsquareflorist.
Levine made the cards online with Vista Print (“They were very inexpensive,” she said.) Employees place them inside the card message envelope with every arrangement. They also staple them to flower food packets and hand them to people who come into the shop.
“I know people are posting photos of our flowers but not always tagging us,” she said. “I made these to make them aware of our social media handles and to include us in their posts.”
She also added the Facebook, Twitter and Instagram logos to the shop’s front door and the sandwich board “for just another reminder,” she said.
Levine’s efforts have not been in vain. Though September remains a month for the record books, “we’re still seeing more interaction on Twitter than usual,” Levine said. October netted the shop 205 new followers, 475 mentions, 10,400 profile views and 128,000 impressions.
All that activity caught the eye of a reporter at Boston University, who interviewed Levine and her father, David, the shop’s owner, and wrote an engaging 1,400-word slice of life story for the school paper. The article captured Central Square Florist’s history, expertise in design, commitment to customer service and community, and dedication to staying abreast of technological developments.
Levine couldn’t quantify how much business resulted from the article (which, at press time, had only been out a week), but said she and her father received many compliments.
