Twitter is the New #ShopLocal

Local merchants are real people with an authentic desire to provide sustainable quality goods and services to their communities.  Because I want to support these merchants, over the last year or so I have become a fan of shopping local.

In the Twitterverse there is a hash tag #ShopLocal. Attaching this tag to your 140 character message tells the world that you support patronization of locally owned businesses. This includes well run locally owned and operated franchises. Twitter shrinks the world and helps you find these places that used to require local knowledge to sniff out. Take a look at this example of a tweet I sent recently.

The above Tweet lets my Twitter follows know that; a. there is a Mexican restaurant named Seesters on Pewaukee Lake (in Pewaukee, WI), b. I think enough of the place to send a tweet that I am eating there and c) Seesters is owned by a local merchant (her name is Lynn and if you stop in encourage her to get on Twitter).

Recently I had the good fortune of having a one hour “bull session” with Chris Brogan and Joe Sorge. Much of the conversation revolved around Joe’s success using Twitter as a tool to promote his newest restaurant in Milwaukee, AJ Bombers. I sat back and listened as Joe told Chris his story. Chris had in fact ended up at locally owned and operated @AJBombers because of Joe’s shout outs to Chris that he knew a few places in town for some good eats.

Chris then shared with us the story of Roger Smith Hotel in NYC. I knew @RSHotel was a Twitter friendly place (I follow them on Twitter). I did not know Chris had been involved with an informal tweetup organized around Jeff Pulver’s #140 conference. The tweetup filled the bar, the lobby and spilled on to the NYC sidewalk outside the hotel. I remember following the tweets from this gathering and it sounded like a great time. Chris concluded by saying that he seeks out places like @RSHotel and @AJBombers that are friendly to us Twitters.

This reminded me of a recent experience in Naples, FL. While preparing for the trip my wife Cheryl and I decided to find two good local restaurants to enjoy our anniversary celebration dinners. I put a couple tweets out that we were searching for nice local fine and casual dining options in Naples, FL. @NaplesTomato responded almost immediately. Because we then had a back and forth conversation it was obvious to me someone who worked in the restaurant was manning the Twitter account. We made a reservation.

Upon arriving at the restaurant (a 20 minute drive from our hotel – we would have never found this place if not for Twitter) a couple weeks later the hostess greeted us and said, Oh, you are the Twitter people our Twitter person Tanya will be your server. We got a free appetizer for mentioning Twitter, we got a free desert because it was our anniversary. Tanya treated us like VIP’s (trust me I have eaten out enough to know the difference). She got a great tip and Naples Tomato is getting this publicity for the cost of an appetizer and a desert.

Another form or shopping local is what I do with my @ColorMetrix Twitter account. I use Twitter to connect with my ColorMetrix customers and offset the big money adverting of my competitors. I put a human face on ColorMetrix and make sure my customers know they can use Twitter as just one more way to reach out and contact us on a personal level.