The Case of the Hotsy Totsy Club

For years I’d driven by the Hotsy Totsy Club and marveled at its retro neon sign. Was it a strip club? A dive bar? Either way, it looked kind of dark and I wasn’t much tempted to stop and check it out.

Then, a few months ago, appearing in my twitter feed, was: “the @hotsytotsyclub has to be the best bar ever.” Really? The author of the tweet was someone whose taste I respected. And hey  – @hotsytotsyclub has a *click* twitter page…. Twitter page has a link to the *click* website … WOW! they offer mixology classes once a month; the *click* menu is inspired. The website informs me of their *click* facebook page which I *click* “fan” (which announces my new affiliation to my 500 friends.)

I’m intrigued enough to get in my car and go to the bar. While there I check-in on foursquare, which announces to my 1000 twitter followers that I’m at the @hotsytotsyclub. I get “@” responses: “I’ve always wondered about that place!” “I used to go there! It’s still open?” I’ll bet each of these people clicked through to the Hotsy Totsy twitter page and clicked again to explore the web page. Maybe they’ll be drawn to make the visit and spend the money on a drink. Either way, they just told each of their 1000 twitter followers about the bar. It’s word of mouth on steroids.

The Hotsy Totsy Club does not rely on this media for hard sales. Instead, it engages with followers and fans (ie customers). When I tweeted that I was thinking about the cocktails I would order if I were at the bar they RESPONDED to me with

Just a few words. Took them maybe 10 seconds to type but it made me feel valued. And I went back with a different friend and ordered drinks. He loved the bar and proclaimed it a perfect second-date destination. (Don’t ask.)

Beyond their social media network, the Hotsy Totsy Club nurtures the “real life” community by cooperating with local vendors. Allowing a taco truck to park in their lot and partnering with  cupkates truck for monthly pub crawls feeds the bar’s customers, while sustaining local businesses. It’s a win for everyone.

The Hotsy Totsy Club is a great example of what new media – when used correctly – can do for a small business. Aside from the time required to type out a few daily tweets (5 minutes), respond to @ messages (5 mins) and updating facebook page statuses (5 minutes) the marketing is FREE. Is it worth your 15 minutes a day to get 50 unique customers walking through your door each week?

Is it?