Archive for February, 2010

Skype Session: Nedda Ahmed, Art Librarian at Georgia State University

This Skype Session is a bit different than my typical interviews.  Nedda Ahmed is not a technology entrepreneur.  In fact, she’s not really an entrepreneur at all.  Nedda’s in the business of helping students and collegiate faculty find and utilize various types of information.  She is a Librarian at Georgia State University, and she’s bending the rules to help serve her users. Nedda’s leading by making the choice to use her personal social media presence, specifically her profile on Facebook, to help connect with her base of library users and deliver customer service that goes above and beyond expectations.  The medium is allowing her to monitor the conversations and needs of her students and faculty, and helping her to connect them with information and resources, developing deeper human relationships in the process. Her choice is making a difference.  Here’s Nedda’s story: What’s your take on how Nedda is using Facebook?  Could you use your personal social media profiles to connect with your customers or users?  How? nateriggsLike what you just read and want to get my posts delivered to your inbox? SUBSCRIBE HEREMore Posts Follow Me:

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HOW TO Leverage a Relationship With Your Foursquare Mayor

There’s a flurry of activity around Foursquare everywhere you look.  It seems a certain sect in Columbus has instead decided to adopt Gowalla and is pushing hard.  Yet, each week, I see new names on the top of the list for Foursquare.  You might have even heard of PleaseRobMe.com, a website dedicated to raising awareness of the dangers behind location-based gaming.  I’ll have a few opinions on that next week. For now, my focus is going to stay on how you can use Foursquare to your advantage.  Make your own choice on the platform you adopt and how you keep you and yours safe from would-be robbers. Cool? Leveraging Your Mayor Columbus blogger and OSU student, Forrest Kobayashi, has some interesting perspectives on the aspect of Mayorship in Foursquare.  He sees the Mayor feature as a potential problem.  In one sense, I can see his point. Offering benefits to mayors could potentially create problems if people begin falsifying their check-ins. On the flip side of the debate, you at least have to be a regular patron at a business in order to be crowned the Mayor.  Cheating will only get you so far, and if you check in and never show up, you never really reap any rewards for your patronage. Businesses tend to like loyal customers, right?  Being the Mayor of any location simply means you are a regular.  By the way, it’s important to remember that MOST location Mayors live or work within close proximity to the location they rule.  Often times, they may even work there.  Aside from those two scenarios, I’ll argue that Mayors tend to be your most brand loyal customers.  It’s up to you to find ways to leverage them. Here are a few ideas to get you started: Learn who your Mayors are.  The [...]

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Skype Session: Mike Figliuolo, CEO of Columbus’s Newest Start-Up, TiXiT

I hope you’ve been enjoying the Skype Sessions.  The goal here is to help enlighten you with some of the good ideas that today’s technology entrepreneurs are working to execute, as well as the processes and strategies they are using.  Hopefully you can apply some of what you learn in your own efforts.  The reason for using Skype is pretty clear-cut.  It’s inexpensive software that allows me to connect and dialogue with thought leaders, even if they are states away. Today’s interview, however, totally cheats that objective in that Mike Figliuolo is a Columbus, Ohio native and one of our city’s true innovators.  His most recent venture involves Columbus’s newest technology start up, TiXiT.  This new platform offers event promoters an intelligent system for marketing tickets that would otherwise go unsold.  Users can find great ticket deals to shows, concerts and sporting events in their local area.  It’s a true two-sided marketplace and it seems to be quickly gaining traction among the Columbus audience. Here’s Mike with the details of how the idea started, how the concept developed and where TiXiT heading in 2010… What do you think of TiXiT’s approach?  Will you use it? nateriggsLike what you just read and want to get my posts delivered to your inbox? SUBSCRIBE HEREMore Posts Follow Me:

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