Cash Mobs: Social Networking's New Craze
Recently in the news the new craze has been cash mobs. Many have been comparing cash mobs to flash mobs, when a group of people spontaneously bursts into dance in a public place, but cash mobs work to help small businesses rather than simply for entertainment purposes. Cash mobs come from social networking, a business of supporter will tweet out with a place to meet and patrons come to a small business with the understanding and promise to spend at least twenty dollars in cash. These efforts to help small local businesses thrive wouldn't be possible on this large scale without the use of social media. With a simple tweet or a Facebook post a hundred people can show up to support a local business that they might never have heard of before.
Cash Mobs have hit large cities across the nation including Richmond and now Downtown Blacksburg too. So head down to Mish Mish on March 8th as this is the first cash mob location, with a new storefront location being released once a month! Support Downtown Blacksburg, buy, eat and live local!
Full Website Links:
It's impressive a social network can generate enthusiasm, somewhat organically, for a good cause like local retail. I like the idea of a social mob being used to draw citizens to a business or community attraction they might not patron, or even be aware of. In this way, the social mob may be an innovative way to grow the merchant/customer relationship and expose potential customers to businesses they've not heard of. But I look at the cash aspect as little more than a clever gimmick that will quickly wear thin. All businesses would like to get a surge of customers pledging to spend money. Ultimately, a store should be able to draw customers by the quality of their product. The pledge to spend money rings hollow to me.
ReplyDelete