Stonington Businesses Embracing Facebook; Less Sure About Twitter

For many Stonington, Mystic and Pawcatuck businesses, social networking has become a unique way for them to connect with customers, support other local businesses and share information with the community.

More and more of the area’s businesses are creating Facebook pages and to a smaller degree Twitter accounts, seeing social networking sites as vital both for the success of their shops and restaurants and the local economy.

“I think that it important for our guests to have as many channels as possible to contact us and learn more about our business,” said Front Desk Manager Amy Munoz. “I also think that it a great avenue to work with other business to promote Mystic as a whole.”

The Whaler’s Inn has both a Facebook business page and a Twitter account. Munoz said the Mystic inn uses the pages to post monthly specials, ask questions and even post candid pictures of the staff.

“As a small business we strive to make personal connections with our guests,” Munoz said. “I think that using social media is a great way to become part of their everyday lives, not just a place that they think of when they want to get away.”

“We absolutely, encourage businesses to use social media,” said Greater Mystic Chamber of Commerce President Tricia Cunningham. “It’s a great opportunity for businesses to stay in touch with their customers. We use it as an opportunity to promote events and our members.”

The Mystic Chamber has held past workshops on Facebook, and the SBMA announced last December that will be holding an informational session on SMBA’s Facebook page, strategies and ideas for starting a Facebook page and a question and answer session on the subject.

“Today, Facebook is a literal no-brainer for businesses of all sizes. It is an additional layer of marketing and advertising,” SMBA said. “It is extremely easy to use, free, can be done in-house, allows businesses to maintain a presence in consumers' and customers' minds, and provides valuable information in a very reliable and timely manner. Photos, news, updates and general information is perfect for Facebook.”

Wendy Fox van Breems of Foxbook Marketing Solutions runs several borough businesses' Facebook pages and says one of the most important things is to create a personality behind your page and be consistent.

“If someone is not on Facebook now they should be,” Fox van Breems said.

Bonnie Clark of  Get Your Ears On agrees, saying that while she is not sure how many people actually book trips from her social marketing efforts at least she has a presence where people are seeing her business name and logo frequently.

While Clark uses Facebook to update her nearly 1200 fans she said she has a Twitter account but doesn’t use that as much.

Facebook not Twitter seems to be the trend in the area. The Stonington Borough Merchants Association says they haven’t seen much of an interest in Twitter.

But whether it's in person, on Facebook or through tweets local businesses are trying to find more creative ways to keep in touch with clients.

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