Tastecasting Helps Local Business Owners Capitalize On Social Media To Increase Business

PRLog (Press Release) – Jun 23, 2009 – (Columbus, OH) TasteCasting, a member-based club that started in Columbus,OH, is announcing the formation of twenty-two Tastecasting groups, including the cities of Aspen, Cincinnati, Columbus, Pittsburgh, Tucson, and Tampa that have active tasting events. TasteCasting combines socially networked people and the social media platforms and applications they use to help local establishments build awareness and encourage people to visit. Local establishments such as coffee shops, restaurants, bakeries and other food services businesses host a complimentary tasting with the Tastecasting organization.  Tastecasters then use Twitter, Facebook, Flickr, Youtube and many other social network tools to broadcast their experiences to their vast networks.  Local establishments can help promote a grand opening, the introduction of new menu items or to distribute special offers.
“After hosting the TasteCasting group at Crimson Cup, we’ve seen remarkable results, said Anna Harper-Hess.  "In one afternoon we picked up several dozen new influential followers, and our followers have been steadily growing ever since.  We also have had numerous blogs written about us, and have been approached by various businesses requesting partnerships with Crimson Cup.  For our 2.5 hour investment, we’ve received a huge return. In this economic climate, the TasteCasting group is proving that consumers still care about local businesses. ”
Each Tastecasting group consists of socially connected members that can broadcast to thousands of people. The Tastecasting group uses a group productivity site called Qlubb to arrange the Tastecasting event, post background information about the restaurant, send out RSVP's, schedule volunteers, send reminders and share photos.  During the event, the Tastecasting team blog, tweet, podcast, videocast, instant message, their experiences to their social network, sometimes reaching over 20,000 people during a single event.
Said Herb Jones, co-owner of the Suisse Shop Bakery, a high end bakery based in Columbus OH specializing in European tortes, cupcakes and wedding cakes, "we've seen fantastic returns from social media. Events like Tastecasting coupled with our Twitter and Website presence, has helped us increase sales on some products by over 50%. As a result, we plan to spend less on radio and TV commercials which are expensive.  We have another Tastecasting event planned to explore other high quality baked goods in our product line."
Diane Warren, owner of Katzinger's Deli  agrees, adding, "Our specialty products ranging from deli meats to sandwiches to olive oil are extremely high quality. The Tastecasting event we hosted focused on cheeses and wines.  Tastecasting enabled us to create a very personal experience so that they could not just sample our products but also give us an opportunity to explain how the food was made and how it can be paired to gain the optimal experience.  In turn, through social media, the Tastecasters were able to educate their audience using blogs, multimedia and other tools to provide an immersive experience.  We noticed a significant uptick in March after we held the event."
Adds Dan Harris, the founder of Tastecasting organization.  "People trust the recommendations from their social networks more than an advertisement or an unknown third party review.  Participating in social media is also free. We're really excited about the interest level we've received from local food establishments.  It's great fun and really helps the local business effectively leverage social media technologies to grow their businesses. It's a win-win for everybody."
The initial group of Tastecasters was 10 but quickly grew to more than 40 members.  The Qlubb service has helped them scale seamlessly as membership has quadrupled.  Dan Harris added, "By using Qlubb to automatically organize our tastings and schedule, we are able to focus more on the experience than the management and coordination of people and dates."  Given the success in Columbus OH, Dan is working with people in other cities and hopes to expand nation-wide.
To learn more about Tastecasting, please go to http://www.tastecasting.com.
About Tastecasting:
At TasteCasting, we view this social media effort and our purpose as a way to help restaurants, coffee shops, bakeries and other food service businesses grow their business. We have a growing team of socially connected networkers in several cities, and invite socially networked and social media savvy people in other cities to start teams as well. For more information on TasteCasting or to request a tasting, visit our site at www.tastecasting.com
About Qlubb
Qlubb is a Burlingame, CA-based provider of Web-based social collaboration solutions for real-life groups. Whether it is a playgroup, classroom parent group, sports team, family, club or hobby group, Qlubb helps most any group of people connect, share and get things done. Qlubb strengthens ties within the group while also helping groups increase participation, be better organized and be more efficient.
Qlubb is very easy-to-use and takes just a few seconds to start a fully-functioning site that includes a fully integrated private collaboration site, group email, shared calendar, signup sheets, automated reminders, photo sharing, public Web page and much more. Users are not required to register, requiring just their email address and a password set by the Qlubb creator. Qlubb is available for free at http://www.qlubb.com.

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Qlubb is a provider of Web solutions for real-life groups to get online. Whether it is a playgroup, classroom parent group, sports team, family, club or hobby group, Qlubb helps most any group of people connect, share and get things done.