An Idea for Promoting the Group's Stores

@princessgifts7 started doing a wonderful thing for her fellow Presto users by tweeting listings for them daily. Now the old posse (forget what the name of it is now) has joined in to help tweet for them, too. Prior to finding out about that, I thought it would be a great idea if we started our own posse of sorts, but involve more than just tweeting and doing this for all members who wish to participate, no matter where they sell.

I've been thinking on it and had the idea that we could use Twitter, Pinterest, Facebook, LinkedIn, Google+, and whatever other medium you personally use. Of course, you don't have to use them all, but at least two of the first three would be acceptable. However, if you choose not to use Twitter to tweet others' listings as well as your own, then there's no guarantee that your listings will be included in the weekly list of tweets.

I'm also thinking of ways we could use our blogs, as well. For example, I have a Featured tab on my blog's menu where I have created pages for stores I've shopped at and a page for other shops. Of course, those pages on my blog need to be tweaked now that many have either moved or started new stores elsewhere. I just have to figure out how to more easily create widgets from stand alone stores since I'd want them to automatically update when something sells or otherwise becomes unavailable.

I've also been thinking of a way to use Pinterest -- like creating a group board for eSellers Cafe where we could all pin stuff to and include on our own boards. Of course, there's also the eSellers Sales Events Pinterest account, but the purpose of that has always been for pinning things that are currently on sale at discounted prices, so I haven't decided whether or not I want to keep it solely for sales events.

For the eSellers Sales Events group, I have a preset schedule for sales events when peeps can participate using the group's Pinterest boards. However, if I decide to broaden the scope of that group, I could change it up a bit by allowing peeps to create their own boards where they can pin products from their store(s) whether or not they're on sale. Then I could have separate category boards for things that are actually being discounted during a scheduled sales event.

If everything in the store is being discounted, then the seller can simply move the pins from their own boards to the appropriate categories. If you have a ton of products, it would be up to you whether you want to move them all or just feature certain products within a category, including a blurb about the sale you're having. Once your sale is over, then you'd just move them back to your own store's board.

I really need to think more on that idea and how to best implement it as everyone would need to manage their own boards and pins. Either way, I could also use the group blog to feature participating stores. For example, I could feature a single store every week or two, whether or not we're having an event. Of course, sales events would be blogged about prior to and during the scheduled time. The articles could be shared via the other social mediums.

If we're not having a scheduled event and you'd like to have a sale, a blog post could be done to announce it, introducing your store, what you sell, an item you'd like to feature for a category, and what you're offering (the discount and/or coupon code). The introduction part can include whatever you like -- a blurb about yourself, how you started your business, how you enjoy serving your customers, how your business has grown, what you know about what you sell, or anything of the sort.

Of course, any blog post would have to be posted by me. However, you would be providing the info you want to include and I'll write it up as an interview type article with the announcement. Articles about featured stores would be much the same, but focus more on the interview aspect since it's more about you and your business rather than announcing any sales event.

Then there's Facebook where we could post links to articles, products (yours and others), or your own little blurb, whether about your own store, another participating member's store, the group, a sales event, or what have you. Of course, the same can be done on LinkedIn and Google+.

As for tweeting, we would need to keep it to a certain number of listings per store each week and each seller would have to specify which listings, keeping the group informed when something sells or otherwise becomes unavailable to prevent any dead links being tweeted. The number of listings depends on how many stores are participating, but I would say at least ten listings weekly. We would also need to tweet the articles from the group blog, particularly during a sales event you've chosen to participate in.

The frequency of the tweets would be weekly at the minimum, but more often during a sales event you're participating in. If you're not participating in a scheduled sales event, then it's entirely up to you how often you tweet beyond the weeklies. The reason for the limit on the listings and the weekly schedule is simply to reduce the workload on me since I don't have the same amount of time as the organizer of the original posse to devote to developing the lists and organizing the weekly tweets of several hundred products.

Anywho, that's the gist of it. Nothing is set in stone, yet, as I'd first like to see if there's enough of an interest in such a group effort. If so, we can work out the details and I'm certainly open to suggestions. Just keep in mind the level of commitment it would require to organize and implement -- for me as well as for yourself and the other participants. My only concern is keeping it easily manageable so it can be organized and implemented in a timely manner for all of us.

So, please do share your thoughts. Would you be interested and, if so, do you have any suggestions, preferences, or other comments? To make things easier for us all to keep up with, I just now decided to go ahead and add a poll, asking for a simple YEA or NAY (or wish I knew how) vote to determine the level of interest.

So, let's hear it peeps! This would certainly be a great way for us to help each other out and get our stores noticed. We could call it something like the Cafe Coalition, or simply eSellers Sales, or...? So, I sure hope we can get enough peeps involved. Of course, if you have any questions, please feel free to ask away.