TRI-CITIES, WA – Social media is a tool that many people use to connect different people with different things.
Many businesses from the big to the small use it to promote their brand and help interact with their customers. Two Tri-City natives Tina Phillips and Amy Stroud are trying to use their social media platforms to help Tri-City businesses. They are doing this through their social media service called The Connection Concierge.
“I came to a place where I am like wow I would love to connect my friends and people that follow me with these incredible businesses in our local community,” said Stroud.
The Connection Concierge is similar to a business review or a Yelp review except it happens in real-time through the Instagram stories and feeds of both Stroud and Phillips. The two pay for the experiences that each business offers and then they share their experiences on their platforms which have thousands of local followers, who then reach out to them asking about the business. According to Phillips, this method is quicker and more widespread than word of mouth.
“They see the experience, they see the name of the business and then we will get DMs (direct messages) weeks, months later saying where was that place you were at, it’s everlasting and it compounds,” said Phillips.
The service also expands to helping businesses who may not have a social media platform or are lacking social media engagement. The two help teach businesses about utilizing social media to help reach clients they may not have reached in the past.
“You could be a pillar (in the community) but it is also important to get that visibility out there, to say to consumers and the audience oh yeah, I haven’t been there in a little while we should go,” said Stroud.
The two encourage businesses to reach out to them because at the very least they can help them with their platforms. They want to help small businesses in the area they love grow and build local loyal customers especially during the pandemic.
“When you start to talk about influencers and social media, people just don’t know how to feel about that,” said Phillips. “We are just trying to help people see the positive in social media because it just feels really negative right now.”