Volume 76 Number 8, August 2010
Volume 76 Number 8, August 2010

Market your business with social media

Kent Lewis, Formic Media
Kent Lewis, Formic Media
No matter your age or business, if you’re in business, social media is what Kent Lewis calls “unavoidably important today.”
 
The founder of Formic Media, president of Anvil Media Inc., and head of more consulting firms focused on search engine marketing, Kent helps clients put social media to their advantage.
 
Facebook, Linked in, Yelp, Wordpress, Blogger, flickr, YouTube, Picasa, del.icio.us, yahoo answers, twitter, widi, digg. They can drive traffic to your website, generate online orders and increase walk ins to your storefront, Kent told Boosters at the July membership meeting.
 
The benefits of the social media are much larger than marketing, he added. You can use it to:

  • Provide better customer service more affordably.
  • Create or extend brand awareness.
  • Generate measurable top line revenue.
  • Increase the hits potential customers get from search engines.
  • Gain insights into your industry and your constituents. “It’s the world’s biggest focus group,” he explained. Leatherman Tools has actually reworked at least two of its tools due to input from customers’ online reviews and suggestions.
  • Pick up information and perceptions about your competitors from their own social media participation, especially on LinkedIn.
  • Get more information to potential customers about your business.
 
The social media won’t help you unless you use it. And your customers and potential customers won’t find you on it unless you tell them where to look. “List your social media on your business cards, flyers and your e-mail’s electronic signature,” Kent advised.
 
Formic Media offers free seminars for small businesses the second Wednesday evening each month on these tactics and more. For details, visit www.formicmedia.com and click on the “Free Monthly SEM Seminars.”

Welcome to Hollywood

Case Study Coffee, 5347 N.E. Sandy Blvd., 503-477-8221.

Columbia River Brewing Company, 1728 N.E. 40th Ave., 503-943-6157, Rick Burkhardt, owner.

Hollywood Burger Bar, 4211 N.E. Sandy Blvd., 503-288-8965, Dana Rosemus, new owner.

Hollywood Village (coffee and wine bar), 1914 N.E. 42nd Ave., 503-219-8601, Ron Stendahl, owner.

Shoe Repair, 1805 N.E. 42nd Ave., 503-388-1408, Val Glukov, owner.

Kim's turn

Kim Cottrell, guest columnist
Kim Cottrell, guest columnist
It’s true what they say that change is the only sure thing. And the Hollywood District and specifically the Boosters are affected by the same changes currently sweeping the world.
 
When I was a child, my lexicon did not include Internet, Web (unless it was about spiders), Skype, text, or Facebook. We did not IM one another. We did not send photos of ourselves to relatives across the country except after printing them on paper and mailing them.
 
Sigh. Those were good days and, amazingly enough, so are these.
 
The Hollywood Boosters wants to help local businesses get onboard with some of the ways folks are communicating these days, of which Facebook is a significant one. It’s what young people are doing. By that I mean anyone under 35. In fact, most young people under 25 don’t even e-mail anymore, unless it’s within the context of a social media site, like Facebook. We’re not suggesting you give up your e-mail, only that you expand your sights to include those who don’t use the medium.
 
Come on over to Facebook at “Hollywood Boosters” and give us your comments and feedback, tell us about your latest sale, offer a job to a local high school student, or advertise a yard sale.
 
This site is about Hollywood for residents, businesses and anyone who wants to be “in the know” around Hollywood.
 
Some exciting things are happening in our community, quickly. That’s the cool thing about Facebook. It’s breathing, moving, wiggling, exclaiming and shouting about some super cool things that are happening in our neighborhood right now!
 
Or it CAN be. Don’t miss out on getting your event listed.
 
I never said this as a teen or young adult either . . .see you on FB!

— Kim Cottrell,
Hollywood Boosters Communications Committee member,
Feldenkrais practitioner/speech pathologist

Kudos

Albina Community Bank, represented in the Boosters by Jeff Hurder, was recognized recently by the Small Business Association as 2009 Community Bank of Year 2009.
 
Spencer May, Key Bank, was elected secretary of the Hollywood Boosters Board of Directors.
 
Sterling Savings Bank, represented in the Boosters by Kim McCulloch, received the J.D. Powers & Associates 2010 award for Highest Customer Satisfaction with Retail Banking in the Northwest Region.

Elliotts entrust Burger Bar to new owner

Inka and Craig Elliott joined the Hollywood business community 21 years ago and have no plans to be strangers now that they have sold the Burger Bar.
Inka and Craig Elliott joined the Hollywood business community 21 years ago and have no plans to be strangers now that they have sold the Burger Bar.
It says a lot about a business when a customer buys it. The Burger Bar —in business since 1954 at 4211 N.E. Sandy Blvd. — just sold to a customer for the second time in 21 years when Dana Rosemus bought it from Inka Elliott.
 
It was in August 1989 when Inka’s husband, Craig Elliott, visited the Burger Bar — his regular breakfast place — learned it was for sale and went home that night to ask, “Hey honey, you want to buy a restaurant?”
 
They had discussed buying one but never seriously, according to Craig. Inka had restaurant experience and he didn’t. So she became the owner and operator, running the grill like an air traffic controller and cooking four eggs to perfection simultaneously, each one a different style.
 
Her no-longer secret pancake batter ingredient — 7UP — won many hearts.
 
The Elliotts enjoyed serving customers — some who came with the restaurant and are still there. One regular always asked for a small cup of coffee. “One Christmas we bought her a small cup and engraved her name on it. We had the most spoiled customers in the city,” Inka said.
 
They liked Hollywood in 1989, have seen many changes and like it even more today, with small, owner-operated businesses throughout.
 
“I spent the first two years chasing the hookers off the bench outside” Inka said. And the homeless population has moved on. “They used to camp out overnight in the [Harold Kelley) plaza.”
 
And she likes the neighborliness of the other restaurants. “If I run out of hamburger patties, I go over to Sam’s Billiards to borrow five — and return the next day with six.”
 
It’s a friendly competition among restaurants in Hollywood, according to Inka, since each has their own specialty.
 
“And they aren’t competing to drive others out,” Craig added.

(Please) Adopt your own stretch of Hollywood

The Hollywood Clean Up — in its third year to spruce up the district — is transitioning from monthly team efforts to an adoption program. Biennial group efforts are still planned for sweeping through the district as a team prior to the Junior Rose Festival and Veterans Day parades.
 
A group of residents has already adopted the south end of the Hollywood Transit Center overpass on Northeast 42nd Avenue, according to Clean Up Chair Kim Cottrell, Feldenkrais practitioner/speech pathologist. And the Hollywood Senior Center has adopted its storefront and
surrounding area.
 
More groups or families are needed to take responsibility for:
  • The north end of the overpass
  • The north side of the 4600 block of Northeast Sandy Boulevard
  • Harold Kelley Plaza
 
Check for details on www.hollywoodboosters.com, the Boosters Facebook page or contact Kim at 503-890-6865 or kim@kimcottrell.com.

Cool off at senior center

The Hollywood Senior Center, 1820 N.E. 40th Ave., is committed to serving as a “cooling center” this summer.
 
If the forecast is for 100 degrees or more, the center will extend its hours to 8 p.m. to offer a cool haven, movies, water and treats.
 
Even if the temperature isn’t expected to break 100, you’re welcome to cool off there between normal hours, 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.

Farewell to printed Boosters newsletter

This is the last printed issue of BoosterNews. From now on, keep up on news of the Hollywood Boosters electronically. If you didn’t receive notification about this issue of the newsletter via e-mail, the Boosters needs your e-mail address.
 
Go to www.hollywoodboosters .com, type your e-mail address in the “Newsletter Signup” field near the top right of the home page and click the “Submit” button.
 
While you’re on the Internet, visit the Hollywood Boosters Facebook page. It’s even more immediate than the Boosters’ website.