At The Bridge Restaurant tonight a local guitarist, James Harris, was playing. Before I dive in James is a damn good guitarist and the bartenders know what they’re doing. So, back to James Harris and his great acoustic covers. On the back of his music stand he taped/tied an 8×10 piece of paper that reads “James Harris Request Hotline Text! (860) 235-xxxx send your song requests or just happy comments!”. My marketing professor at Plymouth State, Peter Yunich, said that, “Marketing is an in depth study of the obvious”. Don’t over think your social media strategy too much. Go back to basics. Now is the time to embrace social media and for the small business owner this means utilizing text messaging. While enjoying my beverages James received several texts requesting a variety of music. I’ve seen James play at the Daniel Packer Inn (DPI) in Mystic, CT and he hasn’t displayed the sign. Maybe it’s a new idea, or he has recognized his audience varies from place to place. The crowd at DPI is definitely younger, ranging between the ages of 21 and 30. The Bridge is certainly a more upscale restaurant catering to an older crowd. At DPI the setting (a colonial NE Inn w/ pub in the basement) and crowd are more apt to shout requests, however, I would assume texting to be rampant too. At The Bridge 99% of the crowd has a phone and 75-85% probably owns a smartphone. James is doing a wonderful job using social media (text messaging) to connect with current and attract new fans.

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