Please join me next week in Walkerton as I present Social Media 101: 101 Basic Trends and Tips of Social Media. Details below. 

Walkerton Area Chamber of Commerce Meeting

DATE: Thursday April 26, 2012

PLACE: American Legion (302 Kentucky Street, Walkerton, IN 46574)

TIME: 11:30 am Lunch begins, 11:45 am – 1:00 pm Speaker Presentation 

TOPIC: Social Media 101: 101 Tips on Social Media, Ways to promote your business

SPEAKER: Andrea Cook, The Midas Center 

COST: $5.00 Member/$10.00 Non-Member

RSVP: Walkerton Area Chamber of Commerce

PHONE: 574-586-3100

What is working? What is not? And what we can do together as a unified cowork-industry? All seemed to be a running theme throughout the various conference sessions during the day-long conference. While many attendees left the central meeting room sporadically throughout the day, others joined the unconference track for sub meetings and informal discussions on a varieity of topics.

Some of the main takeaways throughout the main session included tips on technology, best practices surrounding security and community growth, floor plan design and inspiration on how to engage with municipalities and other community partnerships. 

Located at the AT&T Convention Center, the space offered the best BBQ lunch and cookies bigger than my head. Near the close of the event, the leaders who participated in the unconference tracks presented on a few of the juiciest of the 15 -  20 topics presented on throughout the day. 

Attendees volunteered to present on the most popular items that included: 

1. Regional Alliances

As one member joins a cowork space and trust is established, that member is then approved to travel and partake in other collaborative work spaces that are in alliance with one another. Examples include a special alliance of Seattle cowork spaces, LEXC (League of Extraordinary Cowork Spaces) and global efforts such as Jellyweek. Some cowork spaces see one another as competitors, others are open to the idea and welcome the partnerships. 

2. Childcare

A Seattle cowork space owner wants to open childcare. Although she thinks “it is the best idea ever” she asked the group at large. Iris Kavanagh, founder of NextSpace and curator of the unconference track responded to the question, “We’re launching a pilot program in one of our California spaces and we will share our results with the community later this year.”

3. Tech Tool

Technology can manage community growth but it cannot be soley responsible to growing community.

This is a truism I personally see in media and marketing today too.  

4. Event Trends

Events are a great tool for a fertile cowork community. Some of the events cowork owners are using include lunch and learns where local professionals are invited to present to the community. Of course, food is a great incentive to bring local people into the events. Some are evolving the lunch and learns into actual workshops and education, changing the model as a classroom model. 

5. Icky Comments

Like any healthy family, there will be conflicts. One of the less attractive tasks of the cowork owners and community managers is conflict resolution within the community. Some suggestions to the occasional challenges? Be clear from the get go. Set and manage expectations. 

6. Ebb and Flow 

The rise and fall of members ares challenging to manage from a financial and moral position. Member retention strategies like good events, clear policies, marketing and recruitment programs are strongly recommended. Some cowork spaces offer celebrations when members leave, remembering that one of the reasons cowork members leave is because they’ve outgrown the space and are growing into the next level of business success. 

7. Expansion Plans

Think you are ready to grow? Be sure and have a contingency plan. Growing too fast can be difficult to your pocket book and your community.

Dave Walker, owner of Conjuctured in Austin talks to room (Dave’s roommate, Justin Timberlake twin sitting in crowd)

Liz Elam closed the conference giving the state of the cowork movement address. She shared the genesis of the cowork conference that started as a series of annual meetups in 2008 through 2010 in Berlin at Loosecubes. At this 2012 conference, there were 280 attendees who traveled as far as Australia, Hawaii and Europe. 

What does the future of cowork look like? Liz shared she’d like to see the hyphen dropped from the term co-working in every city and eventually she’d like to not have to explain what coworking is each time she talked about it. She encourage the crowd to stick with the core values and invited them all to the Texas Tailgate Tent party sponsored by Turnstone. 

The conference and unconference members gave Liz and the volunteers a standing ovation and filling the room with a spirit renewal and gratitude. Coworking is the place to be in 2012 and it is only going to get better in the next several months. As I ventured away from the enlightenment of this vibrant cowork community, I rolled into the South By Southwest conference and found myself talking up the cowork trend to anyone who would listen. 

Kyle Coolbroth, owner of CoCo Minneapolis I’m hoping to stay connected with the cowork leaders. I am fortunate to have met so many genuine professional thinkers, community developers and independent leaders through the cowork movement. It can only get better. 

With cowork spaces popping up all over the world, certainly there is a cowork space close to where you need to work, meet, collaborate during your next meeting, event or work day. Since no two spaces are alike, and since coworking is a relatively new industry, it can be difficult to find “coworking” in that big smelly yellow book called the Yellow Pages. You could Google your way, but since you are looking for the best cowork space and not necessarily the best SEO service hired by a cowork space, here are some great tools to search for that perfect space.  

Coworking WIKI (led by Rock Star Jacob Sayles)

Liquidspace

Loosecubes

Deskwanted

Desktime

Although I will be at the conference covering the event live as an event correspondent, I can’t help but review the speaker list and share some tidbits on some of the people and places that have sparked an special interest to me. As you may have read from our Cowork Collection posts, you know I am fascinated about the emerging trend of coworking. Since becoming an independent professional in 1999 and starting my own cowork space in Indiana in 2010, I am on a mission to meet professional pioneers who are not only upping the ante but who are creating the game. 

One of the stars lined up to speak at the GCUC this year is Benjamin Dyett. He’s slated to speak on a panel titled, How to Design, Build and Grow your Space for Collaboration on Friday morning. Dyett will represent his New York City cowork space, GRIND. Other companies represented during this panel discussion include Blankspaces (see NOV feature in our Cowork Collection >), Gensler and Cambridge Co-working Center. 

You may wonder why this speaker fascinates me and here’s why: Dyett puts the new into innovation. Dyette writes his own blueprint for his destiny. He once was a corporate attorney until he experienced a revelation that led to a revolution. In the 90s, Dyett officially dropped out of the confinements of corporate cubicles. As he embarked his journey as an independent, he worked from home from time to time, he sat in the corner at a friend’s office. He then realized that the time he was using to find the right space for his daily grind was getting in the way of a successful outcome from his grind. He became a change agent for the future of the work place. 

With the help of some friends, he created GRIND, a platform for working in a whole new way, outside the traditional system and floorplan. Speaking of floorplans, Dyett is not an architect, by trade. Though the other companies represented during this discussion are all cutting edge architects including Gensler who designed the workspace for NextSpace and the founder-slash-architect Jerome Chang who owns Blankspaces, Dyett is less like a traditional brick and mortar designer and more like an innovative solutions architect. 

2012 #GCUC, March 9, Austin, TXAlthough I have not had the privilege to visit GRIND in person, yet, I did take a glance of GRIND’s “kick-aes-thetics (that is my clean version of sounding hip, though some would disagree that is sounds very hip) web site” and I strongly believe that Dyett’s work space design deserves the right to speak on the subject. GRIND’s overall floorplan is much like the spirit in the room: wide open and brightly lit. Clean, easy, simple, no-nonsense professionalism. Resourcefully designed, down to the furnishings and flooring with special products selected for their earth-friendly materials. Pure design for collaboration and community. That, and it is sweet! Whatever this guy has to say, I’m confident it will be delicious and juicy for #GCUC attendees who thirst for tips on coworking success.   

Stay tuned as I share more tidbits and fun facts on Dyett and the juicy cowork conference. You can sign up to get live updates of my coverage from Austin’s Global Coworking Unconference Conference - and SXSW by the way, or follow me on Twitter @andreacook . 

Do you have a subject matter or topic you would like covered live? Learn more >

In just 60 days with less than $60, I reached over 60,000 highly targetted users. Now, that is Facebook Uncomplicated Advertising. And this is my case study… 

With all of the tech tools and the business advice out there, it can be difficult to filter the noise and find simple techniques to meet your goals. 

If you are tired of tossing your advertising dollars out the door and would like to learn more about the benefits of social media marketing and advertising, then I’d like to share a case study with you. 

Less than two months ago, I launched a Facebook page for my cowork business. Search for “Cowork Space” on Facebook and click like if you want to see this experiment grow.  

60K Reach with $60 in 60 Days.

The 60 day experiment has provided a lot of great results in brand awareness and lead generation as well as an easy and clean communication channel for me to inform my members and prospects or leads. With my free Facebook page, I’ve been able to create an online presence that has allowed my search results to grow and provide a one-stop shop to direct parties to visit from all of my printed communication materials. This online page is simple to add content like links, photos, videos and event details. I’ve also created an ad campaign in less than four hours that ran for four days and it generated traffic beyond my expectations. The experience has been great and the best part? I’m able to monitor the results and share the data with you today! 

In a nutshell, the benefits from my Facebook page for my business are:

- Ease and convenience

- No cost for an online web presence

- Low cost for high traffic advertising

- Hyper-focused targeting capabilities 

- Detailed tracking and analytics

Just a Facebook Page.

The main purpose of my Facebook page is to share information, photos, event invitations and deals/discounts. This costs me nothing but time and discpline. I aimed to add a post once every 2 - 5 days. My marketing goal for TMC Cowork Space is to educate others on the benefits of coworking and to attract new members to purchase passes. 

What is a Waste of Time and Money?

Has the Facebook page brought in any revenue to justify my investment? Two of the most recent local advertising efforts I can compare to the Facebook activites include:

- Billboard advertising ($2400 for one image/message in one location for one year, no tracking)

- Newspaper advertising (costs as low as $200 a day for a paper that can only provide the number of papers printed, it cannot measure if the 5000 papers were opened, or the time spent looking at the printed page, or if the reader reacted with an eyebrow raise or told his friends… in other words, costs are high, difficult to target, no tracking)

The only measurement I can use to analyze my billboard and newspaper advertising would be my checking account. Costs and time are very high. Results? ZERO. 

The Numbers Make Sense.

Here are some of the results I have received from launching my Facebook page less than two months ago:

- One Facebook page, photos and content updates weekly, free.

- 56 fans, free.

- Weekly posts on my business have received 3,590 views, or 7,178 eyeballs, free. 

- 86 people have checked-in using Facebook on their mobile devices. This doesn’t include the number of check-ins and exposure from other mobile tools. Cost? Just free passes that get new members to walk in the door. And free coffee mugs that further spread the Cowork Space name in the local community. Cost for this added exposure? Pretty free. 

- 4 Day Ad Campaign that reached over 50,000 people a day within a 20 mile radius of my business cost $52 and was created in less than two hours. See the graph below.

Want to Learn More About Facebook Uncomplicated Advertising?

Contact Andrea Cook to learn more about educational opportunities like coaching and training programs or see if full service media and advertising management is a good fit for you. 

   

If you want to find “some of the coolest startups in Atlanta,” you will find them at Strongbox West, a shared workspace located in Atlanta West Midland area at 1736 Defoor Place.

This cowork space, owned by Amy Hoover and Rick Myers has a thriving membership of about 70 professionals. Working independently together in a stellar office setting of exposed brick walls and modern furnishings, people on fire with an entrepreneuerial passion are drawn to join and end up thriving to succeed. Hear the Strongbox West mantra:

Part office, part inspiration, part hub, we’re your jumping off point. This isn’t another office. Strongbox West is your place. You can work privately, you can work with others, you can drink free coffee, you can meet, and meet again. You can move your business forward.

Check out the membership directory to see who the the movers and shakers are proving they are moving their own businesses forward Strongbox West Membership Directory >

It is an honor to peek into the world of Strongbox West. They have a lot to offer their community and the world at large. There is a lot that other cowork spaces could learn from them! 

Power to the Strongbox West friends! 

The Midas Center Cowork Space strives to learn more about the emergence of the cowork culture.

The more we connect with other coworking professionals, the more fascinated we become over the endless styles, stories, benefits and people coworking throughout the world. We would like to share the stories with you as we discover more about how this emerging activity is changing the workplace. 

We hope to showcase one tidbit of cowork spaces throughout the globe and will be sharing them with you in our Cowork Collection. If you would like to see more of the Cowork Collection on cowork spaces, click here >

If you would like to be part of the Cowork Collection, share your story >

Hire a Live Media Correspondent to be your feet on the floor and create a more thriving brand presence. Live coverage for this event is available as hourly fees to cover specific presenters as well as half day coverage that include a series of sessions or networking functions. Specific services vary by client preference are based on client goals.  

Examples of deliverables can include:

+ Live event updates via branded Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Pintrest and any other media channel throughout the event.

+ Rich content like quotes, talent rollout, photos and more can be captured and repurposed for future marketing activities.

+ Broadcast live updates to promote your brand prior to the event, then event recaps as blog posts following your event.

+ Editorial content or factual information presented in a review or wrap up can be published on your own media site. 

Get it covered with expert Live Event Correspondent services by Andrea Cook.

The Midas Center is pleased to participate as a global host for the Worldwide Jellyweek 2012. 

Throughout the world, there will be folks joining together in honor of Jellyweek and the spirit of community, collaboration and coworking. People are participating by meeting at one another’s homes, coffee shops or public space and working together. 

The Midas Center Cowork Space will have its doors wide open and will welcome YOU to come in any day next week and work in our collaborative cowork-workspace. Free daily passes will be available to use throughout the entire week!

Bring a laptop (or whatever you need to get your work done) and watch how your productivity will increase when you join a community in a cowork environment.

To fully celebrate this global movement of coworking, The Midas Center Cowork Space welcomes YOU to participate in any of the following events throughout the week:

Monday - JAN 16 - FREE DAILY PASSES FOR ALL 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. 2:00 - 3:00 p.m. EST #Cowork+Chat All are welcome to join the LIVE chat via Google Hangout and Twitter. First 10 people to join G+ Hangout will get a link for a free eBook titled: 65 Reasons to Cowork by Andrea Cook. This LIVE chat is open to the public and will be co-hosted with Joel Bennett from Veel Hoeden, a cowork space in Iowa

Monday - JAN 16 - FREE DAILY PASSES FOR ALL 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. 6:00 - 8:00 p.m. EST Tweet-Up We will be hosting our first Tweet-up and welcome you, and you and your friend and her friend and well, everyone to join in on the tweet up. Pizza and door prizes will be provided. BYOD (d=drink and duh).

Tuesday - JAN 17 - FREE DAILY PASSES FOR ALL 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Laptops to Lap Dogs: Bring your Dog to Work Day Talk about a Bow-Wow-Wow-Yippie-Yo-Yippie-Yow Meet up! Meet Clio Cook, the pug-a-riffic pal and treat your dog to some good wholesome community while you cowork. Dog treats will be available. Potty-trained dogs - and people only please. Wednesday - JAN 18 - FREE DAILY PASSES FOR ALL 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. All Day - Jelly and Jam Drive Drop off jellies, jams, gelatin or any pantry item that is sweet and jelly-like. All donated items will be given to help support the Marshall County Neighborhood Center’s food pantry. Stop in and work for the day or just drop it off by the front office door. Please note: This specialty food drive will take place all week in fact.

Thursday - JAN 19 - FREE DAILY PASSES FOR ALL 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. LUNCHtime 12:00 - 2:00 p.m. EST Melting Pot of Chili Come on in, warm up and chill out and join us for lunch. You may bring a chili topping to share if you like but it is not required. We will provide the chili, spoon and bowl.

Friday 6 - 8 p.m. Family Potluck and Movie Night Bring the spouse and the kids if you’ve got em and some food and beverage to share. A kid-friendly flick will be on the big screen in the conference room loft and the adults can enjoy cocktails, conversation and competition fun over cards or board games. RSVP by email to acook [at] themidascenter [dotcom].

The Midas Center is pleased to participate as a global host for the Worldwide Jellyweek 2012. 

Throughout the world, there will be folks joining together in honor of Jellyweek and the spirit of community, collaboration and coworking. People are participating by meeting at one another’s homes, coffee shops or public space and working together for the day. 

The Midas Center Cowork Space will have its doors wide open and will welcome YOU to come in any day next week and work in our collaborative cowork-workspace. 

Bring a laptop (or whatever you need to get your work done) and watch how your productivity will increase when you join a community of coworkers. 

To fully celebrate this global movement of coworking, The Midas Center Cowork Space welcomes YOU to participate in any of the following events:

Jellyweek Events at The Midas Center Cowork Space

January 16 - 20, Jellyweek 2012 

Monday - JAN 16 - FREE DAILY PASSES FOR ALL 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.

2:00 - 3:00 EST 

#Cowork+Chat

All are welcome to join the LIVE chat via Google Hangout and Twitter. First 10 people to join G+ Hangout will get a link for a free eBook titled: 65 Reasons to Cowork by Andrea Cook. This LIVE chat is open to the public and will be co-hosted with Joel Bennett from Veel Hoeden, a cowork space in Iowa. 

6:00 - 8:00 p.m. EST 

Tweet-Up

We will be hosting our first Tweet-up and welcome you, and you and your friend and her friend and well, everyone to join in on the tweet up. Pizza and door prizes will be provided. BYOD (d=drink and duh).  

Tuesday - JAN 17 - FREE DAILY PASSES FOR ALL 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Laptops to Lap Dogs: Bring your Dog to Work Day

Talk about a Bow-Wow-Wow-Yippie-Yo-Yippie-Yow Meet up! Meet Clio Cook, the pug-a-riffic pal and treat your dog to some good wholesome community while you cowork. Dog treats will be available. Potty-trained dogs - and people only please.  

Wednesday -  JAN 18 - FREE DAILY PASSES FOR ALL 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.

All Day - Jelly and Jam Drive 

Drop off jellies, jams, gelatin or any pantry item that is sweet and jelly-like. All donated items will be given to help support the Marshall County Neightborhood Center’s food pantry. Stop in and work for the day or just drop it off by the front office door.  

Please note: This specialty food drive will take place all week in fact. 

Thursday -  JAN 19 - FREE DAILY PASSES FOR ALL 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. 

LUNCHtime   12:00 - 2:00 p.m. EST 

Melting Pot of Chili

Come on in, warm up and chill out and join us for lunch. You may bring a chili topping to share if you like but it is not required. We will provide the chili, spoon and bowl.

Friday - JAN 20 - FREE DAILY PASSES FOR ALL 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. 

5:00 - 8:00 EST 

Family Potluck and Movie Night

Bring the kids and spouse and some food and beverage to share. A kid-friendly flick will be on the big screen in the conference room loft and the adults can enjoy cocktails, conversation and competition fun over cards or board games. RSVP by email to acook at themidascenter dot com. 

The Midas Center is no stranger to downtown locations. Owner Andrea Cook started the creative communications consultancy in 1999 in Chicago and appreciates the hustle bustle the 9 to 5 daily grind brings to the center of a city. Whether your office location is in the Loop or a rural downtown, the traffic made by foot and car makes for a prime advertising opportunity to attract and promote business.

Aside from creative window displays and designs, businesses can optimize their outreach by using social and mobile media.

Here are some of the campaigns that The Midas Center is currently running through Foursquare and Facebook. Perhaps you too can implement them for your office location and capture that downtown buzz and foot traffic.  

1. Foursquare Tips, Campaigns and Specials

In addition to consulting services, The Midas Center provides shared cowork space for professionals. To reach more local professionals, some simple campaigns and specials have been created through Foursquare. If you have not created a venue for your business on Foursquare, you are missing an opportunity to engage.

Want to get some more free real estate on Foursquare? Add a simple tip about your business. Include basic information as a tip, such as:   

“The first cowork space to offer professionals a meeting place. Great coffee and golden synergy, just two of the many benefits. Daily and monthly passes are available.”

The next recommendations require you to add a little more skin into the game. And by skin, I simply mean some swag  to give away. Then, once you’ve decided what swag or giveaways you are comfortable with investing, there are a variety of campaigns and specials that can be created in simple steps using Foursquare.  

Consider two levels of giveaways for each level of participation. A user checking in to your venue for the first time, may get a lighter valued giveaway, versus a loyal user to checks into your venue frequently. Fortunately, Foursquare has built a system based on this principle that is simple to set up. For example, when someone checks-in to The Midas Center Cowork Space for the first time, the user “unlocks” the Newbie level and then gets one free daily pass to use at the cowork space. One free daily pass is valued at $20. A day pass would not be a worthy giveaway for a mayor however. At The Midas Center, when a user becomes our mayor, then this message shows:

How can someone become the mayor? A Foursquare mayor is the user who has checked-in the most in the past 60 days. That is the playful and addicting side of this social game. You’d be surprised the number of adults who earn bragging rights by becoming mayor at leading venues. Some places will offer free cheese burgers, drinks, etc.

There are a lot of venues who want users to check-in to their venues on Foursquare but try tempting them with lame specials. This is not recommended. If businesses are investing the time to give social and mobile marketing tactics a try, then they need to make sure that their reward is attractive enough. The perfect mix will depend on each venue’s budget, audience -type and -interests. 

Newbies get a free daily pass for checking in the first time at The Midas Center. Mayors get an entire monthly pass for free, valued at $200! 

We also are running a special called a Loyalty level. Once users check-in on their third time, they unlock the Loyalty level and this appears:

Free passes and coffee mugs are the giveaways for our Foursquare campaigns. We’re able to track progress as well as manage the schedule with a start and end date. Foursquare also provides some handy dandy guides you can print to encourage people to check in. They look like this: 

To promote this campaign, we’ve placed these print-outs in our window. We also are highlighting this campaign through a variety of local social media communities. It’s too early to share information about the success. We can tell you that setting up these campaigns with Foursquare took less than 2 hours so right our the gate, our starting investment is low. If we get one person who checks in, we will be satisfied. How’s that for low expectations? 

The other area of new media marketing that we are implementing to our outreach is through the advertising offerings provided by Facebook. 

2. Facebook Ads, Recommendations and Deals

With over 800 million users on Facebook, we now have more friends to socialize online with than ever before. The average numer of friends each user has is 130. Over half of the total number of users log in to Facebook a day and 56% of Facebook users update their status on a weekly basis.  

The only people who are discounting Facebook’s value are people who don’t understand or are trying to compete with it. As a small business with chump-change pockets, we LOVE Facebook. Since the local newspaper won’t run any of our press releases without a commitment of big dollar advertising support, we rely on Facebook for our go-to channel to share information and reach our audience. Here are some of the ways we are putting our Facebook page to work for us. 

Ads.    The Midas Center routinely will recommend Facebook ad campaigns for clients. No other media allows you to reach and measure a targeted audience so effectively. It’s cost-effective too. One client of ours received a 4000% ROI on a 30 day run of a Facebook ad. We have some Facebook ads in place to encourage both impressions and clicks. One of the ads we are running offers users a free eBook on 65 Reasons to Cowork. Right now, the landing page for the eBook is embedded on our Facebook page, however, we plan to use our web site for this in the future. We run a lot of testing to see what type of image and message gets the most activity. With daily budgets as low as $2, we can play around and experiment a bit.

Recommendations.     Facebook also has an area along the right side of their site for recommendations. You may be surprised the brands your friends have recommended. Why not encourage users to recommend your business page? This is what the recommendations look like: 

When people add a recommendation on Facebook, it is displayed to all of their friends. This is great exposure and a solid dose of credibility for the business page! 

Printed Referral Program.      To encourage people to add recommendations, we are currently running a referral program that outlines the steps necessary to recommend The Midas Center on Facebook. When users refer The Midas Center Cowork Space to their Facebook friends, they receive $20 and their friend who signs up gets a significant discount off their first monthly pass. We recently sent a letter campaign that details this campaign. We also are sharing the referral program through online outreach like this blog post. Do you want to participate? Click here for details >>

Deals.      Lastly, we also are participating in Facebook’s Deals. This feature allows Facebook users to “check-in” with their mobile devices like smart phones or iPads. Although there are rumors that Facebook discontinued this feature shortly after they rolled it out last year, the Deal is still available for businesses near The Midas Center location in northern Indiana. The Deal appears on the right side bar of the page and looks like this:

Facebook recommends posting this offer to your own page no more than once per day. These Deals can be scheduled and once the deal is approved, you cannot alter the schedule or message. It is unclear at this time how effective Facebook deals are. So far, the campaign has been active for a couple of weeks and no one has checked-in. I tried to but can never seem to navigate the process successfully. 

Our Overarching Campaign: Check-in, Get Free Stuff

The Midas Center is just trying to encourage pedestrians and road warriors passing by the window space to “check in, get free stuff” via Facebook, Yelp, Foursquare. If the imprint is made on their minds that we are offering “free stuff,” then perhaps we can get some mindshare and added exposure when they do check-in via their mobile devices.  

Sometimes reaching beyond the specific message and -medium is the actual message of the medium. 

The Midas Center sees social and mobile marketing as a must. As a forward-thinking creative communications consultancy, The Midas Center is claiming the social and mobile media space as an expert. How can we recommend marketing solutions to clients if we aren’t practicing what we preach? 

Want to get free stuff? Come on over and “check-in.” If you travel more than 30 miles, I’ll even buy you lunch! Although, I’m not sure that level-type is on Foursquare so you’ll have to prompt me with a verbal, “Let’s do lunch” like they did in the old days when people met in person and talked. ;)