During those hot summer months, I also listened to Tony Hsieh’s Delivering Happiness as I drove from location to location, Walmart to Target along with many detours.  Within the experiences of the author lie the reason for the recent hiatus from this blog.

In the book, Mr. Hsieh discusses his experience as first an investor and then the CEO of Zappos.  I bought the audiobook because I prefer to hear nonfiction as if the writer were in the room with me telling his or her story, and every year I choose a recently published business book as a starting point for a number of lessons in my eCommerce class.  This book was perfect!   Mr. Hsieh and the founders of Zappos experienced so many aspects of entrepreneurship I still refer to different quotes as I guide my students through preparation of their own business plans this month.

However, it was the section on poker that really got me thinking.

I don’t gamble.  In fact, my own mother was very angry with my father’s mother when she taught myself, my sister, and my cousins how to play blackjack one cold winter Sunday afternoon.  (I’m named after that grandmother which explains a lot.)  I come from a home where if you worked hard, did the right thing, treated everyone with respect and kindness, you would be rewarded in many ways including financially.

That hasn’t worked out that well for me at least so far.

Just like my mother who’s known as the “Energizer Bunny” to friends and family alike, I just kept on going, doing the best I can.  Then I heard Mr. Hsieh talking about the benefits of “changing tables” and even leaving the table for awhile.  I think I already knew what he was saying but needed to hear it said out loud (again, a benefit of audiobooks).  It’s been almost a year since AsburyPop, and I’ve met many wonderful, talented people and become involved in too many deserving activities as a result.

At the end of August, I decided it was time to step away from the table.  Could be, I’ll return to the table I was at this past year, but I may just try my luck at a new table.  Might have the same dealer and some of the same players, but it’s still a new table!

Before the teachers and students I’ve worked with for eight years think I’m abandoning them, think again!  You may just be the “new” table: a different outlook, a new set of challenges for the school year, and some new players I’ve met over the past year.

Maybe  doing my best to work hard, do the right thing, and treat everyone with respect and kindness might just prove to be the right way to live after all!  …and even if it isn’t, taking the time to reflect on where I’ve been and where I’m going is a valuable endeavor over the next few months.  Stay Tuned, and thanks Tony Hsieh!

UPDATE: I’ve been asked if I’m “quitting” anything that I do.  NOPE!  I’m just reassessing where I put my time and efforts.  I’ve stepped away from the “table” to get some perspective, that’s all.

This past weekend, my daughter and I decided to try the new Chipotle that opened near us in Sea Girt.  Happy to have a location much closer than the franchise in Eatontown, and being pressed for time as usual, we headed down Route 35 looking forward to a generous takeout food experience.  Sadly, this didn’t happen.

Back when the Eatontown Chipotle opened, I didn’t make it to their pre-opening giveaway because I was too busy and live 20 minutes away.  Many of my students (starving and poor) took advantage, however, and raved at the massive amounts of food they received for free.  I thought this was a marketing ploy – after all, I was teaching Free by Chris Anderson to my ecommerce students at the time – and cautioned them not to expect this to continue.

Chipotle proved me wrong.  Not only did their generosity continue, but their vegetarian burrito option without cheese or sour cream is vegan!  As @StephanDavis02 tweeted, “[Chipotles] is a vegan safehaven in foreign cities.”  I’d say at home too!  When my daughter started working at the Eatontown mall, Chipotles was one of her go to quick, cheap, nutritious restaurants.  Made this Mom very happy when she passed on the fast food options at the food court!

So back to Sea Girt.  We arrived around 4:30, not a peak time, but there were a few customers there.  We placed our order for two burrito bowls and began discussing our plans for the coming week especially when our schedules were both open to visit the Apple store for her college computer.  We replied to the servers’ questions regarding toppings, and I did ask for more peppers and onions when (I swear this is true) I got 1 onion and 2 peppers the first time.  I figured the server got the message so continued talking to my daughter, paid for our food, and left.

What a surprise when we got home.  I do wish I took a picture, but we were hungry.  Sarah’s bowl was 2/3rds full.  She asked, “What did they leave all this empty space for?”  My bowl was no better, mostly rice, a few beans, some tomatoes and corn salsa.  We’d both had these bowls in Eatontown so our expectations were high.  My daughter didn’t say it, but I knew what she was thinking: When we’re done, you’re going to tweet about this, aren’t you?

Of course!  I haven’t followed @EatontownBB for over a year without learning something from his customer service approach!  I tweeted about the miserly portions we received including @chipotle in the tweet.  A few tweets later, I discovered that this is not the restaurant’s Twitter account; very unfortunate.  A few students who eat in Eatontown regularly asked what was up and @rob_sports pointed out that their new Twitter name was @ChipotleTweets.

This information wasn’t on the website.  Neither was a link to their Facebook page.  Once I sent the tweet regarding our disappointment and the lack of social media information on the website to the right account, I got this response:

@lgesin It’s not on our website YET. I just submitted the request on Friday, this account is only 3 weeks old for us. -Colin

Wow.  Only on Twitter for 3 weeks?  That really surprised me, but I give them credit, they’re on Twitter now.  I resorted to sending an email Sunday night describing our experience and assumed I’d hear something during the day on Monday.  I realize their customer service staff probably works Monday through Friday, but I also assumed they’d schedule their people accordingly.  If you aren’t available to answer customer emails all weekend, shouldn’t you schedule more people on Monday to deal with the high volume?

I received this on Tuesday early afternoon when I tweeted about the slow response time:

@lgesin Just shot the Customer Service team a note. They get a little back logged on weekends and will pull your comment. -Colin

After that, a few more of my followers chimed in wanting to know what was going on and commenting on Chipotle’s less than stellar use of Social Media.  @yuricon tweeted, “A company has to be where their customers are.”  I would add, they need to respond to their customers, not make the customer keep reaching out to them.

Here’s where Chipotle did the right thing.  Shannon from Customer Service emailed me not long after Colin’s tweet above.  Unfortunately, she got the location wrong:

“Thanks for writing to us. I’m so sorry for the skimpy portions you received at our Eatontown location.”

As I typed an email correcting her assumption – after all, we still LOVE the Eatontown store – Mike from Morristown called me on my cell phone.  He too was very apologetic, and I appreciated the personal phone call.  Now that’s good customer service!  However, if Colin had responded through Twitter on Sunday night in the same person to person manner, all of this could’ve been avoided.  That’s what Twitter and Social Media are all about for brands like Chipotle, direct conversations with their customers.  It promotes brand loyalty as well as prevents small incidents like mine from getting blown all out of proportion.  After all, I had almost 48 hours to simmer while waiting for some sort of response.

Customers who use social media expect an almost immediate response.  It’s good for the company and for the customer.  Shannon did offer to mail me a coupon for a free burrito bowl which I appreciate.  I think Chipotle is on the right path, and I look forward to visiting their Sea Girt location again and sending positive tweets about the experience!

One final note, I did express interest in what @ChipotleTweets intended to do with Foursquare.  Colin responded:

@lgesin We’ve definitely checked out foursquare, had a few conversation with Tristan. Their office eats Chipotle all the time. -Colin

I’m glad you’ve spoken to their Director of Business Development.  Have you spoken with the users of Foursquare?  Some of them eat Chipotle all the time too.

I met Bonnie (@mswas) years ago, about the same time Jeff Bezos started Amazon and Tony Hsieh was still growing Link Exchange (read his new book – wonderful resource for entrepreneurs).  We weren’t nearly as successful at the internet game as those two guys, but we’ve been close friends and sometime coworkers and collaborators ever since.  Bonnie now works for Rutgers (our alma mater), and as we all know, I’m a teacher, sometime entrepreneur, and now local film producer who’s near obsession with social media is no secret.  Add our children and the distance between where we live to the mix and you have a friendship that’s short on face time.

We try to get together for lunch when our schedules permit, a much easier accomplishment in the summertime when mine time is so flexible.  Today, we decided to meet at the Chili’s on Route 18 in East Brunswick.  This morning, I noticed an article posted on Twitter about Chili’s experiment with Foursquare users.  According to SocialFresh, Chili’s would give free chips and salsa to any patron who checked in on Foursquare and showed the checkin to their server.  They were even kind enough to provide the coupon code to readers in case servers were unsure what to do when faced with this new offer.

The word “free” to me is like WMDs to George W. Bush: I will hunt them down no matter what the cost and feel justified even if I find out the free offer was just a rumor.  (Did I mention I live on a teacher’s salary & have two teenagers?)  That, combined with my new curiosity about how business people could harness the use of Foursquare by all of these people checking into venues across the country, clinched the lunch date’s location.  Bonnie commented that she’d be more motivated if they were giving away free Coronas, but she’s not that serious about her social media (or maybe she just has her priorities).

Of course, I was late.  Assuming all the traffic would be going south on a Friday in July, Bonnie waited at a table for me and put her order in before I sat down (she’s very time efficient).  After the waiter took my drink order (don’t judge), I remembered the Foursquare promotion.  My iphone was out, on, and logging into Foursquare before you could say, “I just unlocked the ‘Super Mayor’ badge on @foursquare!”  Chili’s was right at the top of my choice of nearby places, I quickly checked in just as the waiter put my cold, much needed chardonnay down on the table (I said don’t judge).  Flashing my iphone in triumph, I showed him my checkin confirmation, told him about the promotion and even provided coupon code 23 to help him put in our free chips and salsa order!

He looked at my iphone, shook his head bewildered, and said, “I don’t know anything about that stuff, but hey, I’ll get you some free chips and salsa for trying.”

Yup, we got our free salsa.  However, I think Chili’s would do a better job if the server not only knew what the offer was but at least recognized Foursquare and his employer’s promotion.  They don’t have to use Fourssquare, just take 5 minutes to find out what it is and how his employer is using this new marketing tool.  We didn’t select a place for lunch until after I read that SocialFresh article, so the Foursquare offer definitely influenced our choice.  (The vegetarian fajitas also helped – quite a good choice for the meat and dairy challenged.)

It was disappointing to get such a lukewarm reaction to something this customer was excited about.

(It also didn’t help that the server spilled my 1/2 my wine while he removed our empty plates, but he did offer to bring another one.  I declined knowing that I was hitting the mall after lunch, and we all know the one thing worse than drinking and dialing is drinking and shopping! … and yes, I checked in on Foursquare at all the stops I made on the way home!)

What’s my final take on Chili’s promotion?  I think like most first adopters it’ll be rough going as their employees and customers learn how to use the service not only to drive business to their locations but for customers to maximize the benefit of their experience when they dine.  After all, there are a lot of restaurants vying for my patronage, and in this economy, harnessing a new yet simple way to interact with customers may make or break many a business.  Kudos to Chili’s for making the effort, now they need to take the next step and educate employees and customers alike!

STAY TUNED: My next Foursquare adventure will be a scavenger hunt!

I’m 46 and have the scars to prove it.  So when did I become the “go to” person for the 18-22 year old crowd entering the field of social media marketing?

My answer lies in an experience I had at the beginning of this year.  I love craigslist.  It’s layout warms my coder heart, it’s minimal set of rules appeals to my libertarian soul, and it’s job list helps me out when I need some extra cash.  In the middle of winter, I read an ad looking for someone to set up and run a social media marketing campaign for a nationally known company in Lakewood.   Never hurts to send a email, so I did.  A few days later, I got a response I would see and hear more and more over the months to come.

We’re looking for someone onsite in their early 20s with real experience in social media.

Teenagers immerse themselves so much in computers, cameras and smart phones that their use appears intuitive to their parents, teachers, and employers.  They’re are all over Facebook, it’s true.  Yet they have little if any experience “real” or otherwise in marketing and shy away from brand contact.  After all, they’ve been told all their short lives to be wary of strangers contacting them online.  Why then would they give access to their personal Facebook accounts to a faceless brand?

They’re response to Twitter is even more cautious.  This is the second year I’ve introduced students to Twitter, shown them how to create an account, find and disseminate information, and create a presence on that platform.   At most, 2 out of 10 continue using Twitter once the class requirement is fulfilled, and many of them have locked accounts again due to zealous training about privacy.

Why then to employers look to these younger users to promote their businesses? As someone who spends a lot of time with teenagers, the answer is that employers think because they’re young, they’re internet savvy.  Unfortunately, that doesn’t automatically translate into business know how.

For example, the average age of a Twitter user is 35.  The largest growing age group on Facebook is over 40.  In fact, when my 70 year old mother visited for my daughter’s graduation, the first thing she announced at dinner was that she wanted to “learn Facebook”.  When asked why, she said that as a recent retiree she’d heard that there were a lot of good bargains and coupons to be found on Facebook.  Oh, yes, she might want to look at pictures of her grandchildren, but she could get that through email.  What she wanted was brand contact!

All this made me wonder if these young men and women were the right choice for employers to market their brand on various social media platforms.  Is their experience online what’s needed to craft and implement a successful social media marketing plan without the help of their teachers and other experienced adults?  What employers don’t know is that their young employees are relying on those of us older and wiser in the ways of social media to help them succeed.  As a teacher, that’s as it should be, but I want employers to know whose expertise they’re actually paying for.

Employers, next time you interview that high school or college kid, you might want to ask who they know who really knows how to use Twitter, Facebook, Foursquare, and other social media!

…while thinking about this blog post, I kept coming back to a scene from one of my favorite movies, Friend Green Tomatoes. Of course it’s on YouTube, so watch it below if only for the big hair and Flashdance fashion.  Suffice to say, I feel like Kathy Bates’ character.  These youngsters have pulled into my social media parking space, but I’ll have the last word – Towanda!.  After all, I’m older and have more followers!