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The Nanny Nine & Perfect Fit By Clinton Kelly

November 8, 2011 By 7 Comments

I had the honor and pleasure of sitting down with Clinton Kelly recently to discuss the Grand Opening of his new tailoring shop The Perfect Fit By Clinton Kelly at the Mall of America.  I also took this opportunity to do a new version of The Nanny Nine – a video interview with questions created just for Clinton.

First off…the Clinton you see on television is the same Clinton in person.  He is charming, sincere, stylish and has a great sense of humor!  I have been a fan of his for years, watching him as a Co-Host Style Consultant on TLC’s What Not To Wear and also now enjoying his new show The Chew on ABC daytime, where he is a Co-Host and Entertainment Expert.  This was the perfect opportunity to meet him, and find out more about his latest business venture, and discuss his Social Networking habits.

Part 1: Perfect Fit By Clinton Kelly

We devoted the first portion of our interview to the Perfect Fit By Clinton Kelly.  Perfect fit is a combination of style consultants and tailoring, all to fit your busy lifestyle.  Tailoring can be done on new clothes or used, and ready to be picked up within 24 hours, often same day service.  They are located at the Mall of America in Bloomington, MN and Orland Square in Chicago, IL.

I was invited back to ‘Perfect Fit By Clinton Kelly’ to meet with Stylist Sasha Westin for a 15 minute Consultation.  This was my first style consult so I was a bit nervous, but ended up loving it!  First I filled out a brief information sheet, & answered a few questions including “Why was I there”, and “What do I want my clothes to say about me?”

Sasha then discussed what I was wearing, gave suggestions of clothing styles that are good for my body type.  A couple of these I was aware of, but others were new ideas I will use.  She also showed me an example alteration they would do on the jeans I was wearing.  She said their goal is to help you “look and feel better.”

Consults are done by appointment, in 15 minute intervals, for just $15!  In this time frame 2-3 items can be evaluated.

Sasha gave some great examples of why fashion consults are done:

  • Interview outfit – helping you decide what looks/fits best
  • Bridal parties – Bride & Bridesmaids make an event for fittings
  • Special events – bring in 2-3 dresses to choose for event

To give you an example of the pricing…Jeans shortened (with a variety of hemming options available – samples shown to you) range from just $8.99 – $16.98!   Trust me, if you ever tried to hem your own jeans, it is not easy…especially trying to get the seam and stitching to look like you didn’t hem them yourself ;-)   I’ll be bringing my jeans back soon.

Part 2: The Nanny Nine

The Nanny Nine for this week is in a new format – video and Live!  The questions were tweaked a little, but the overall message is the same.  As you can tell from the video, Clinton really enjoys the community that has been created on his Facebook page!

Store: ‘Perfect Fit By Clinton Kelly’ @ Mall of America

1st floor by East entrance

952-854-5723

Website: Clinton Kelly

Facebook: Clinton Kelly Official

Twitter: @perfectfitbyck

The Nanny Nine brought to you by the Social Networking Nanny

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The Nanny Nine: CaringBridge

October 27, 2011 By Leave a Comment

Chances are high that you have used CaringBridge, either as a way to keep current with a relative or friend’s medical condition, or had your own page at one time.  My first use was when a neighbor’s very young son was diagnosed with cancer.  I was amazed at the technology – a great way to keep everyone up to date without the need for all of the phone calls or emails back and forth.  The outcome was twofold: the young boy became cancer free, and I became an instant fan of CaringBridge!

Sona Mehring is the Founder and CEO of CaringBridge, a Minnesota based organization.  CaringBridge provides free websites that connect people experiencing a significant health challenge to family and friends, making each health journey easier.  Sona created CaringBridge in 1997, as a website, to keep family and friends informed about the critical situation of a close friend who suffered a life-threatening pregnancy. CaringBridge is named after Brighid, the baby who lost her battle after a nine–day struggle against tremendous odds.  Through tragedy came the positive realization of the communication and support the new website had offered, to both the family and those reading.  In 14 years it has gone from one family to a user base of millions!

1. How long have you been using Social Networking for your business?

CaringBridge was the pioneer of Social Networking. The first CaringBridge site was created in 1997 – years before the word ‘social networking’ was even used – even a year before Google was founded. CaringBridge, as a social network, focuses on connecting patients and caregivers to their friends and family during a health event.

As social networking has exploded in the past 3-5 years, CaringBridge continues to stay true to its mission to amplify the love, hope and compassion in the world, making each health journey easier.  CaringBridge offers an unique ‘sharing’ space for connecting to friends and family without the invasion of advertising or the fear and annoyance of their data being sold/shared with other parties.

2. Is your business using Facebook &/or Twitter?

Yes – the CaringBridge organization has a Facebook page and a Twitter account.

Each CaringBridge site also has the capability to interact with other social networks –by posting notifications to their wall or sending a tweet that updates friends and family of their CaringBridge site and activity.

3. Facebook vs Twitter – do you like one better? If yes, why?

They each are fairly different environments.  We use them to talk with different groups of people.

On Facebook, our authors and visitors can connect with each other and share their very personal experiences. Our fans leave incredibly touching and inspiring messages.

Twitter is a place to connect with other industry leaders, with our healthcare and nonprofit partners, and keep up to date on trends and the latest news.

4. Do you post daily?

The CaringBridge organization posts on Facebook 2 – 3 times a week, but we have a very active fan base who are posting messages daily, and we always take the time to read and respond to our fans.

On Twitter, our frequency varies, but again, we’re reading and responding to our users and partners every day.

Our families that use CaringBridge do post notifications on both Facebook and Twitter – resulting in a high volume of posts to Facebook and Twitter.

5. What is your favorite thing about Social Networking?

The underlying human interaction of social networking is not new —  People connect with each other, share their experiences, engage with each other.

What the 21st century has added to social networking is the technology to be able to make those connections almost anywhere, anytime, with almost anybody.

My favorite thing about social networking is the underlying ‘goodness’ of having people connected to each other.

6. What do you think is the biggest benefit of Social Networking?

The more people are connected, the more understanding and knowledge is shared.  For someone going through a tough emotional/mental/physical time,  having your loved ones there to support you is vital.   Social networking can bring that to people like never before.

7. How do you measure Social Networking, and explain.

ROI – Return on Investment
ROR – Return on Relationship
ROE – Return on Engagement
ROL – Return on Loyalty
ROK – Return on Knowledge

Technology provides a pretty amazing way to connect and share. Personal relationships are foundational to the mission of CaringBridge to amplify love, hope and compassion in the world. We use Facebook and Twitter to reach more families. Return on knowledge to me means spreading awareness about our service and our mission, so no one ever has to say, “We wish we would’ve known CaringBridge existed when we needed it.”

CaringBridge sites show that social networking provides an ROI on Love!

8. What is the best moment you’ve had on a Social Networking site?

All my best moments have been on CaringBridge sites – being able to harness the love, hope and compassion from one’s circle of friends and family – to make someone’s health journey be more positive and help them get better!

9. What is your best piece of advice to other businesses about Social Networking?

Social networking, for an organization or business, provides a great opportunity to have an interactive relationship with people – not just a ‘push’ relationship.  The immediacy, phenomenal reach and ease in which to actually engage with people has never been better.

That engagement, however, must be authentic and consistent.

 

CaringBridge

Facebook: CaringBridge

Twitter: @CaringBridge

The Nanny Nine brought to you by the Social Networking Nanny

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The Nanny Nine: Great Clips

October 5, 2011 By 2 Comments

In business since 1982, founded right here in Minneapolis, Great Clips has over 3,000 locations in the U.S. and Canada and continues to grow, including it’s Social Media presence. Their Facebook fan page has over 43,000 Fans, with significant dialogue from those fans…which as we know, isn’t always easy to get. While some topics are company-wide, they also do dedicated posts related to Great Clips managers, stylists and salon owners.

Kasey Skala, Great Clips Communications Specialist, is attuned to the appropriate venue when posting other key topics, focusing on retaining customers’ attention. Topics can range from the company’s interest in charitable giving, new salon openings, customer service, to NASCAR. Just as important, he realizes the brands who understand social (connecting with their customers) and do it “right” are benefiting greatly.

1. How long have you been using Social Networking for your business?

Great Clips began its involvement with social networking in late 2008, about a year before I started.

My involvement with social networking from a business standpoint started in 2005 when I began blogging for a financial company I worked for at the time. While blogging was still somewhat new, it became apparent very quickly that people were seeking information, especially about topics they were unfamiliar with such as finance.

2. Is your business using Facebook &/or Twitter?

We’re using both Facebook (www.facebook.com/GreatClips) and Twitter (www.twitter.com/GreatClips) from a corporate standpoint. We’re a 100% franchise-based company (we don’t own any of our salons – they are all our locally owned), so there are some salons that have their own Facebook and Twitter accounts as well, but we strongly recommend that they don’t create their own salon-level accounts.

3. Facebook vs Twitter – do you like one better? If yes, why?

It depends. I like both better than the other for different reasons.

The beauty of Facebook is it allows me to tell a story and truly engage with my audience. It allows me to find what they’re interested in and what’s important to them. Facebook is a true connection point, in my opinion.

Twitter, on the other hand, is great to gauge real-time opinion and generate immediate feedback. With Twitter, I can have a true dialogue with a customer in an atmosphere that feels a lot more intimate. To me, Twitter feels more 1:1 where Facebook is 1:50,000. I can interact with a wider variety of information to a larger audience. Facebook doesn’t allow me to post about NASCAR, charitable giving, new salon openings, customer service, etc. all in 1 day without turning people away. Twitter does.

4. Do you post daily?

Yes and no. On the surface, I post daily on Facebook. But I use a lot of targeted posts, so it might not come off as daily to some users. I tend to post, on average, 3-4 times a week to the entire following. However, I do respond to questions and address service issues multiple times throughout the day, 7 days a week.

On Twitter, I post daily (see my response above in regards to variety of topics to a variety of people). It’s easier to post daily on Twitter and a lot of our customer service is done via Twitter.

5. What is your favorite thing about Social Networking?

The connection it provides. Social networking allows Great Clips to truly connect with our customers. Our entire business is based off forming relationships and providing a relaxing and enjoyable experience to every customer who steps foot into one of our salons. Social networking takes that one step further and allows us to truly connect with our customers, get to know what they like/dislike, how we can make their experience more enjoyable; and most importantly, it allows us to allow our customers to feel like we truly care about them. Human beings are an interesting creature – it’s fascinating to get to know people and witness their actions and behaviors.

6. What do you think is the biggest benefit of Social Networking?

It allows us to be a better business and allows me to be a better person. There’s no more excuses, there’s no more hiding. Never before has the consumer had as much power and influence as they do now. Consumers are dictating business. The brands who understand social and do it “right” are benefiting greatly.

7. How do you measure Social Networking, and explain.

Anything that has a call-to-action, I can measure. My number one goal is to get “more butts in more seats” and our social efforts need to be driving that mindset. So to that extent, it’s simple ROI – are my activities increasing sales?

There are also metrics that are equally as valuable, and sometimes more valuable, that aren’t sales-driven. Reducing organizational expenses is one example. Social has allowed us to streamline our customer service efforts and has allowed us to make our customer service efforts more personal – I’d say that’s just as valuable as increasing sales.

Then there’s activities that aren’t quite as easy to measure – though we do as best as we can. A lot of our efforts aren’t directly related to getting a haircut. One of our biggest investments is NASCAR. It’s a huge driver of conversation for us, but can we tie our involvement in NASCAR directly to an increase in sales? Again, we can in a way (we have measured certain campaigns/promotions/efforts), but it’s a lot harder to measure. And to be honest, it doesn’t take a piece of data for me to know that our NASCAR involvement is a major reason some of our customers choose us over the competition.

8. What is the best moment you’ve had on a Social Networking site?

It’s a moment that I’ve had in the past and continue to have on a daily basis – helping customers. Nothing is more gratifying to me, than simply saying thank you to a customer and letting him/her know that Great Clips appreciates their business. There isn’t a better and more rewarding story than that.

9. What is your best piece of advice to other businesses about Social Networking?

Find an approach that works for you and run with it. What works for one business might now work for your business. The only template to social networking is to be human. Find a way that you can add value to your customer base.

 

Great Clips

Everything Great

Facebook: Great Clips

Twitter: @GreatClips

The Nanny Nine brought to you by the Social Networking Nanny

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The Nanny Nine: Halo, Purely For Pets

September 28, 2011 By Leave a Comment

With over 20,000 Facebook Fans, and 25,000 followers on Twitter, I’d say Halo, Purely For Pets is doing Social Networking right!  They are informative as well as engaging.

Halo has a holistic pet care approach that drives them to develop all-natural products with ingredients chosen to give your pet a happier, healthier life.

David Yaskulka, Vice President, Marketing Communications points out the important connection they have with Free Kibble in distributing thousands of free meals for dogs and cats at shelters.  They put philanthropy over advertising, and in return get something even better than paid-ads…real customer kudos for their quality product.

Ellen DeGeneres believes in Halo so much, she became part owner after purchasing the brand for a dog with severe allergies.  If you know anything about Ellen, you know she loves animals, and says “if you’re going to have pets you should treat them like you’d treat yourself.”

1. How long have you been using Social Networking for your business?

HALO started using social media in 2008.

2. Is your business using Facebook &/or Twitter?

Yes, both.

3. Facebook vs Twitter – do you like one better? If yes, why?

We actually love both. They’re very different communications channels, but we get extraordinary engagement and word-of-mouth in both.

4. Do you post daily?

Yes, usually multiple times.

5. What is your favorite thing about Social Networking?

The chance to communicate with our customers — some of the most amazing, passionate pet parents and animal advocates you will ever find.

6. What do you think is the biggest benefit of Social Networking?

From a societal perspective, it’s a place where genuine dialog can occur with less financial influence than elsewhere. In advertising, the more you can pay, the more nice things are published about your brand.  Public relations (“earned media”) is less influenced by brand spending, but it still is.  Social media is truly consumers talking about their experiences. It’s real, and consumers trust it most for that reason.

So as a brand with an exemplary product, and one that donates most of its marketing budget, Halo needs to find communications channels not influenced by ad spend. So social media is great for us!

7. How do you measure Social Networking, and explain.

We really use all of these, however, at the end of the day, it’s ROI just like any other effort. The trick is measuring ROI well.

8. What is the best moment you’ve had on a Social Networking site?

My favorite moments — and they happen weekly for us — is when a nonprofit partner such as Freekibble.com posts about one of our donations, and people start singing the praises about our brand. I’m very proud that we value philanthropy over advertising, and that animal shelters (as well as consumers) place so much value on the quality of our ingredients.

9. What is your best piece of advice to other businesses about Social Networking?

The formula for social media success is very simple:
Be good.
Do good.
Listen.
Talk.
(in that order)
Folks like me can easily do the “talking” part well. The trick is the other three.
Also — I know that some of your readers are eBay sellers — they should know that eBay Giving Works makes the “Do Good” part exceedingly easy (and profitable, BTW).

 

Halo Pets

Facebook: Halo Pets

Twitter:  @HaloPets

The Nanny Nine brought to you by the Social Networking Nanny

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The Nanny Nine: Canadian Artist Julia Trops

September 21, 2011 By 1 Comment

Julia and I go way back, to our days of selling on eBay.  I could tell right from the beginning that she was a go-getter, and full of positive energy!  Her art portrays that, and her free-spirit of expressing ones self.  Her passion comes thru in her art work, no matter what the medium.  And this is also portrayed in her Social Networking used for her website Julia Trops.

And the phrase ‘what you see is what you get’ rings true as well.  We finally got the chance to meet in real life a few years ago.  Besides being a very gifted artist, Julia is a loving, caring wife & Mom….that was evident when I watched the dynamics of her with her family.  She has great people skills, and they are genuine and evident when you talk to her in person, as well as online.

1. How long have you been using Social Networking for your business?

I’ve been using social networking since about 2003 when I started posting on forums for artists. It wasn’t called Social Networking back then, but I consider any interaction online as social networking. LinkedIn is another way to interact and Google groups as well as blogs for comments and news articles. Facebook and Twitter, I’ve been using since they became accessible to the general public. I am an artist, and back then, web interaction was frowned upon as frivolous but now is regarded as a requirement. Just goes to show you to follow your own path, and mind.

2. Is your business using Facebook &/or Twitter?

Both. I have a Facebook page for myself Artist Julia Trops http://www.facebook.com/ArtistJuliaTrops, one for my art show that I organize and manage http://www.facebook.com/EroticArtShow. Twitter is http://www.twitter.com/juliatrops – I have one twitter account and feed all my actions through the one account. I am a big hashtag user – I consider them similar to webpage metatags.

3. Facebook vs Twitter – do you like one better? If yes, why?

Currently fb is more interesting to me because there is much more diversity. One thing that bugs me though about fb is that businesses who use fb for interaction and promotion are making personal profiles rather than pages – that shows me they don’t really know what they are doing.

Twitter is useful – as mentioned all my fb posts from my two pages are fed automatically to twitter with appropriate hashtags, as well as my webpage, which I have turned in to a blog format – plus if you set your twitter feeds to before 7 am, you are more likely to get picked up by those paper.ly feeds which pull hashtags, and get featured in them, and you get double exposure.

Find out which papers are running in your area or your area of expertise and use the tags that they pull. Connect with the paper owner and maybe talk strategy. The thing about SN is we are all in this together.

4. Do you post daily?

Most of the time. On fb, I try to post relative content on my business pages. I post every day on my personal one, and if I say or see something that relates to my business then I will carry that over to my business pages. The art show fb page is strictly art show. It takes me a year to do the art show, (Call to Artists to show completion) so when it is up, I feed one or two artists into the fb/twitter machine, so there is content every day the show is up.

My blog(s) are also fed in to twitter and fb – and if NetworkedBlogs does not pull the feed, then I post them manually.

5. What is your favorite thing about Social Networking?

Interacting with people. Testing ideas, and thoughts and perceptions. I get great feedback that teaches and informs me, which in turn I give back to others.

6. What do you think is the biggest benefit of Social Networking?

Understanding my fellow man and consequently, myself.

7. How do you measure Social Networking, and explain.

If I am still interested in doing it, then the interaction is successful. If it becomes a chore, there is a problem – and some days it becomes a chore. I use SN as a way of discovery in to myself. If it is a chore, I examine why, and change up my strategy so it becomes exciting for me again.

8. What is the best moment you’ve had on a Social Networking site?

Seeing reactions to my work by people I admire, and them loving it so much they want to purchase. I only do original artwork, and it is nice to see that a select few people out there really do value and understand the concept of original artwork. As an artist, the mass print market seems to have taken over the world and there are times when I think everyone is a neanderthal without the ability to understand original art…. then someone comes along and says hey I get it. They have my loyalty for life!

9. What is your best piece of advice to other businesses about Social Networking?

Be consistent with your name… dont have one name on Twitter and another on Facebook and another for the webpage.

And finally…Screw what anyone else says. Do what you want and feel comfortable with. If you are going to use a tool, take the time to learn the tools and their proper use. Don’t be afraid to do something new. If you are afraid, good, do it anyway. “Where you stumble, there your treasure is….” Joseph Campbell

 

Julia Trops

Facebook: JuliaTrops

Twitter:  @JuliaTrops

LinkedIn: Julia Trops

 

The Nanny Nine brought to you by the Social Networking Nanny

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