The Results Company » Social Networking

Coworking spaces in NC

amy — Thu, 02 Sep 2010 17:34:18 +0000

I came across this blog post about coworking spaces in New York City recently. Co-working spaces are exactly what they sound like, shared work spaces. They are occupied by multiple companies so they can share resources. People can pay by the day or by the month and get internet access, office supplies, desks, chairs and access to conference rooms. Some offer mailing services as well. It’s ideal for start-ups and individuals working on their own. It saves money, encourages camaraderie and enables people with different professional backgrounds to solve problems. I was curious if there were any coworking spaces in NC and found several:

Carrboro Creative Coworking

Buena Space (located in Wilmington)

Lightbulb Coworking (located in Charlotte)

Surprisingly, there doesn’t appear to be a coworking space in Raleigh yet. This seems like a great idea for a local entrepreneur!

Social Media Users Are More Likely to Purchase and Promote

amy — Tue, 31 Aug 2010 18:33:45 +0000

A recent study by Chadwick Martin Bail and iModerate Research Technologies has found that consumers engaged in social media are more likely to purchase and promote products. Even more interesting is the fact that more and more people are expecting business to have some kind of digital presence whether it be Facebook or Twitter. With over 400 million users on Facebook, if your marketing department still hasn’t gotten into the social media game, now is the time.

One participant stated “It’s EXPECTED that a company have some digital face – whether it’s on FB or Twitter I don’t know – but they need a strong electronic presence or you doubt their relevance in today’s marketplace.”

Other participants echoed this sentiment, stating that companies without “digital faces” are seen as behind the times and not interested in their demographic. You can read more about the study here.

New Business Card Trend: Quick Response Codes

amy — Thu, 29 Jul 2010 17:46:05 +0000

I recently read another article about how business cards are changing due to technology and found that people have started using Quick Response Codes (QR Codes) on their business cards. QR Codes are 2 dimensional codes that can be scanned using smartphone cameras to upload contact info, photos, MP3s and more. If you have a QR Code on your business card, someone with a smartphone can snap a picture of the code and scan it using a free QR Code scanning application such as QR by Grip’d. The QR Code will automatically put your info into their contacts, then you won’t have to worry about your business card getting lost or tossed aside. Your info is already in their phone.

You can see examples of business card with QR Codes as well as other new ideas on updating your business card in this article from Mashable.

Another Social Media Milestone for Starbucks

amy — Thu, 15 Jul 2010 17:13:18 +0000

On this blog, we have been following Starbucks astounding success with social media platforms, the most recent one being with Foursquare. Starbucks has recently reached another milestone in social media success by being the first consumer brand to acquire over 10 million Facebook fans. As of today, Starbucks has 10,030,184 Facebook fans and 955,181 Twitter followers according to Famecount.

According to this blog post from SocialFresh, Starbucks started its social media campaign by working with existing unofficial fan pages to consolidate them into one official page at Facebook’s urging.

In the social media space, there are many claiming to be rock stars, but Starbucks is by far the biggest social media success thus far. Companies should look to them as a leader in the space.

Providing Good Customer Service Should Be Easy

amy — Thu, 01 Jul 2010 17:19:46 +0000

We have all experienced poor customer service. Not every company is as customer-centric as Zappos, but perhaps they should strive to be so. No one expects companies to be 100% perfect all the time, but it IS reasonable to expect wrongs to be righted in a professional manner. In theory, customer service should be easy. A customer comes to you with a complaint, you figure out what caused the problem, fix it, apologize and it’s done.

One of the biggest issues people face with customer service is that it’s not easy to reach someone. Sometimes it seems like companies go out of their way to avoid facing a customer. If you call, you usually have to go through an automated system and then wait for 20 minutes to talk to an actual person. If you email, you usually get an automated response. This isn’t always a bad thing, because sometimes they provide answers to frequent problems in these emails. If you are lucky, you can find your answer and be done with it, but if that’s not the case, there is more waiting, with no way of knowing if your problem will be solved.

People like to talk to another person to solve their problems. Even the most tech-savvy of us like to know that another person hears and cares about our problem. I think this is why many companies like Dell are using social media to resolve customer issues. It makes the customer feel like they have been helped by a friend, not a faceless corporation. Also, if a problem is solved publicly and a previously unhappy person is now happy, it creates general good will towards the company. You can’t buy that kind of PR.

This blog post offers great advice on providing good customer service. The piece of advice that stood out to me was about occasionally surprising your customers. Wheat Thins recently surprised a loyal customer who tweeted about their product with an unusually large amount of crackers. You can see the hilarious video here.

Location-Based Marketing and Starbucks

amy — Tue, 22 Jun 2010 15:40:27 +0000

A few months ago, we wrote a blog post on Starbuck’s digital media success. They are continuing to embrace new media by latching onto location-based marketing.

Location-based marketing is used via Smart Phone applications. Examples of Location-based applications are GoWalla, Tri-Out and Foursquare. Since Starbucks is using Foursquare as its location-based marketing platform, we will go into some detail about how it works.

A user downloads the Foursquare application to their Smart Phone and creates an account. When you go to a location (restaurant, bar, coffee shop, etc.), you “check in” using the application. You can link to your Twitter or Facebook account so you can let your friends/clients know where you are. The person that checks into the same location the most amount of times becomes the “Mayor” of that location.

Starbucks among a few other companies have started rewarding their “Mayors”. Starbucks Mayors receive a dollar off of their order. This creates incentive for Starbucks customers to show loyalty to a particular location and it’s also a competition.

Since location-based marketing is new, it has its share of problems. For one, you have to have a Smart Phone in order to participate. As Smart Phones get more popular, this will be less of an issue. Another problem is that Starbucks hasn’t been vigilant about letting their employees know about this promotion. As a result, it creates a negative Starbucks experience when it is supposed to be positive. Also, there is nothing to stop employees from checking in effectively blocking customers from taking advantage of the deal.

Once these issues are ironed out, I think location-based marketing will be the next big thing for retailer’s, restaurants, bars and pretty much anything with a storefront. You can read more about Starbucks’ use of location based marketing here.

Pitching to Bloggers

amy — Thu, 03 Jun 2010 17:46:02 +0000

Many companies are reaching out to bloggers to promote new products, company events, specials deals, coupons, etc. Bloggers are usually eager to help, especially if it will drive traffic to their blog, but you need to approach them a certain way in order to for a successful relationship.

First, do your research. Don’t approach a coffee blog with a new soda product. Be sure that the blog is relevant to your product and would be interested in writing about what you have to offer.

Second, when contacting them, make it personal. Bloggers do not hide their personal information and you should be able to find their name. Contact them by email or via their blog. Address them by their name and be sure to comment on their blog to show that you have read it. Keep your message casual, short and to the point. Offer them something in return, such as a link to their blog from your website. Include any pertinent info, like if the product can only be promoted after a certain date.

If the blogger delivers, and promotes your product or event in the time agreed upon, keep the relationship going. Be sure to link the post from your site, put it on your Twitter feed or any other online media outlets that you use.

For more information on pitching to bloggers, check out this post on Problogger.

On the Current State of Business Cards

amy — Thu, 27 May 2010 13:23:55 +0000

Chris Brogan, President of New Marketing Labs, wrote an insightful blog post on the state of business cards. Though business cards are a very important part of networking, with all of the new ways people can contact us (email, Facebook, Twitter, Skype, etc.) I have often gotten business cards where the contact info dwarfs the name of the individual and in some cases, the company! As Brogan points out, the most important part of the business card is your name. It should be as prominent as the name of your business. Also, instead of putting ALL of your contact info, put your preferred contact method and include a link to an online business card. You can see an example of an online business card here. Another important piece of advice Brogan gives regarding business cards is having space to write on them if needed. Seldom do I give my card without a note, so this is very important.

You can read Brogan’s blog post on business cards here.

When a Business Partnership Doesn’t Make Sense

amy — Tue, 18 May 2010 14:23:20 +0000

Many raised their eyebrows upon first seeing KFC’s “Pink Buckets” commercial, advertising their latest partnership with the Susan G. Komen Foundation, which is a big name in the fight against breast cancer. When one thinks about KFC, the first thing that comes to mind is fried chicken, and most recently, the infamous Double Down, a calorie-packed sandwich flanked by 2 chicken breasts. In other words, KFC is not associated with health and definitely not associated with women’s health, which should be the Komen Foundation’s first priority.

While this partnership will bring a lot of recognition and money to the Komen Foundation, this partnership is not faring well for their reputation. Many are calling for an end to the partnership, claiming that the Komen Foundation is selling out women’s health in the name of the bottom line. A Facebook Page has even been created, encouraging people to contact the foundation and voice their disapproval.

The controversy definitely ensures that people will be talking about KFC and The Komen Foundation, but the long term affects could ultimately cause a financial loss to both companies. Protecting your company means protecting its reputation. While you may see dollar signs on paper, you should also take the time to see how a partnership may be perceived by the public.

For more perspectives on this issue, check out these articles:

Cause Dissonance: KFC and Komen Buckets for the Cure
Pink Buckets: Big Win or Big Fail

A New Way to Use Twitter!

amy — Tue, 13 Apr 2010 15:08:53 +0000

It was the blog post heard throughout the internet this morning! The notoriously advertisement shy Twitter is introducing Promoted Tweets. They will start issuing corporate accounts in which businesses pay for their Tweets to show up at the top of search results. For example, if your business sells coffee, you can pay to have your tweets show up at the top of the page when a Twitter user searches for the term.

Promoted Tweets will be clearly marked as such and will have all of the functionality of a regular Tweet (reply, re-tweet, etc). There will only be one Promoted Tweet per results page. In order for this to work for your business, your Tweets will need to resonate with a broader audience. If you plan to take advantage of this new service, I recommend making the most of your 140 word limit and utilizing links to entice Twitter users to become followers, and more importantly, customers. For more on Promoted Tweets, check out this article on Hubspot.