Social media has potential downsides too

By Chris Law

Sure social media has an upside, the biggest of which it allows us to reach our potential customers and talk about our business for free.  But with all that flow of information it certainly has a downside as well.

We’ve probably all heard stories in which information contained on someone’s social media sight landed them in hot water.  The person whose significant other saw recent pictures of them out with the ex or the new college grad that lost out on a great job because of pictures posted on their Facebook page.  Those stories are so common that there are companies springing up that make money charging others to do social media research on individuals for them.  You can read about Social Intelligence here. 

It’s important that local business owners think about the impact of social media on their business as well.  Often times the owners of local business are the face and voice of their stores.  As the face of your business it’s important to remember that you remain so, even after the doors are locked for the night or weekend.  I’m not advocating that everyone who owns a business should be a teetotaler, but you might want to think twice before tweeting about that wild night, or worse putting pictures of that wild night on your Facebook page.

I recall a prospective client financial advisor client I met early in my career at the stations.  Prior to our meeting I conducted my typical meeting research which of course included Google.  One of the first things I came across was his Facebook page which featured an image of him dispatching a beer bong while at a tailgate party. 

While an image like that might not stop me from associating socially with that individual, it certainly might give me pause if I were about to let that person assist me in planning for retirement and ultimately be in charge of thousands (or hundreds of thousands) of my hard earned dollars.  Ultimately we never did business together but I’d like to believe I helped him by giving him some things to think about when I asked about those pictures in one of our meetings.

I’m aware that Facebook allows many different levels of permissions which in theory allow some folks have access to everything while others only see what we want them too, but is it worth taking a risk that something goes wrong?  I’m not sure it is.

Do you hear the dinner bell?

By Kellie J. Lala

 

Consumers are slowly returning to dining out for their evening meal.  Since the 2007 recession, consumers had cut their “dining out” budgets in efforts to add more dollars to their families’ bottom line.  More meals eaten at home mean leaner sales for restaurants.  Nation’s Restaurant News (6/27/11) reports that dinner visits increased 2% for the first 3 months of 2011.  That continues a 3% upwards trend from the last half of 2010.  This improvement may reflect some folks going back to work and an increase in consumer confidence.  We might also like to think it is the pent-up demand that is bubbling up.  The biggest jump is in fine dining (up 5%) compared to quick service restaurants(up 1%).  How has your family eating habits changed over the last 3-4 years? Have they changed in the last few months?  For me when I ate out, I was more careful of what I ordered and maybe didn’t add that glass of wine (but I’m not whining).  Why do you dine out?  Convenience, time to bond and have conversation, too busy to cook?  All of these are valid reasons to dine out.  For me, I just don’t cook.  The only reason there is a stove in my house is that it was there when I bought it!  However I love to get a deal.  With all the coupons, punch cards and deals available be sure to see if there is a way to save at your favorite haunt.  Right now there is the Red Lobster’s $15.00 seafood feast.  Panchero’s punch card to earn a free burrito.  Taco Bell’s daily taco deal.  Whatever your stomach is growling for-feed it in an effort to “feed” our economy.  It’s dinner time somewhere!