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Improving Your Business With Social Media

According to Edison Research, more then half of America’s population 12 and older now have a Facebook page and those numbers keep on growing daily. With statistics like that how can your business not afford to have a Facebook page?

Creating a Facebook or Twitter page for a business is easy, a ten-year old can do it now a-days but it's how you use it to improve your business and keep your customers attracted to your business, which is a completely different story.

If used correctly, you can improve your customer following dramatically with social media. One such success story is a young, multi-million dollar entrepreneur John Earl, also known as Johnny Cupcakes. Johnny Cupcakes is a clothing line based out of Boston with a very successful online store and four (4) retail outlets in Boston, Los Angeles and London. John Earl founded the brand in 2001 as a joke. “I make shirts with cupcakes on them”, as Earl would say is the simplest way to explain his multi million dollar business. Johnny Cupcakes offers an interactive website and entertaining stores (Johnny Cupcakes Finds Sweet Success in T-Shirts, 2006). But Johnny didn’t do all of this without the help of social media. Johnny mainly uses two (2) of the most popular social media channels out there to engage and entertain his customers; namely Facebook and Twitter.

Depending on your business, post a sneak peek of an upcoming product. This way you can get feedback from your customer base even before the product is officially launched. Johnny always posts a sneak peek from his new line before it comes out. By doing this; Johnny excites his customer base and gets them talking about the product online which will then spread to their friends who might not have been a Johnny Cupcakes fan till now.

It’s important not to bore your customers with your content. Of course some posts will include what’s happening with your company but it could get old really fast and that might lead to the loss of a follower. Your posts should also include interesting or funny articles/videos you’ve discovered. This will lead to people also finding your social media page entertaining and informative. Johnny makes a point of it to post at least one ‘random’ post on both his Facebook page and Twitter.

Engage your customers with random give-a-ways and competitions via social media. Depending on your business, ask your customers to take a picture of your product in the most random place they can think of. The picture with the most ‘likes’ will win a prize. Contestants will ask their friends to vote for their picture. This way, you the business owner will win too because to vote you have to ‘like’ the page in the first place so not only will you engage your customers in a fun and entertaining way but your page will also get more likes. Johnny is a prime example of this. If Johnny is struggling to sell a certain product he will post a competition similar to the example explained to help improve sales.

For more ways on how to use social media effectively for your business, read the article by Inc. Magazine and take a look at Johnny Cupcakes Facebook page to see a master at work.

Reference

Smith, T. (2006). Johnny Cupcakes finds sweet success in t-shirts. Retrieved June 29^th, 2011, from Weekend Edition. Website: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5618417

Inc. Magazine: http://www.inc.com/articles/2010/01/30-tips-for-using-social-media.html

Huffington Post: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/03/25/facebook-user-statistics-america_n_840524.html

How Johnny Cupcakes Got Big Without The Help Of Traditional Marketing

The fashion industry is as old as the idea of wearing clothes. There was always someone in the village, town or city that made clothes, perhaps fabric too. They offered different sizes, colors and styles. Not much has changed (or has it?). Fashion has always been subject to shifts in "style", and not always been restricted by the necessity of function, unlike other industries. Fashion, as many see it, is an art, a form of expression, and a declaration of self. Over the centuries, fashion has been used to distinguish between cultures, religious beliefs, moral standards, and, sadly, socio-economic status.

One of the most unique fashion industry leaders is a brand called Johnny Cupcakes, and the gag that inspired it all is in the name - given to John Earle (owner) while he was working at a Newbury Comics store in Boston. But before becoming Mr. Cupcake, he was better known as Johnny the Jokester.

Breaking into the fashion industry is not easy. How do you create a name for yourself without billboards or print ads? Most people in the industry will say it’s not possible, but Johnny proved everyone wrong and created a multi-million dollar brand by paying attention to detail and the wonderful word of mouth.

What separates his product from everyone else’s and what makes him a leader in the market is the exclusivity of his products. According to Johnny “People want what no one else has”. His products are limited, exclusive and one of a kind. He made a wise business decision early in his career to stay away from major clothing stores. (Johnny Cupcakes finds sweet success in t-shirts, 2006, paragraph 6-9)

Customers like and appreciate the story behind the brand. Johnny chose quality over quantity. He believed to rather have a strong brand filled with knowledgeable customers who truly enjoy what he created instead of making a quick buck by trying to get his shirts in chain stores.

Johnny Cupcakes builds memorable experiences for his customers through an in-store event, or the packaging and details he puts into everything. Most companies try to cut as many corners as they can, to turn a better profit. He does the exact opposite and pays close attention to all the little things. (What a dude named Johnny Cupcakes can teach you about business, 2009, paragraph 13)

Most of his customers are repeat customers. Every type of person collects, understands, and appreciates the brand: Fashionable people, college kids, artsy kids, thugs, indie rockers, skaters, young adults, sneaker heads, and more.

When Johnny launches a new line of shirts there are normally up to 600 people in line waiting for the store to open, this is when Johnny personally walks down the line talking to customers, asking questions and handing out free cupcakes to everyone. He also has a personal blog on his website (johnnycupcakes.com) that he updates everyday with personal experiences, interesting stories and information on upcoming and current products. (What a dude named Johnny Cupcakes can teach you about business, 2009, paragraph 18-20)

Johnny also makes fun of popular culture and replacing popular icons with cupcakes. For example: Statue of Liberty, instead of holding a torch it holds a cupcake. On the website Johnny gives out his e-mail address where customers can e-mail him directly with questions, ideas or to say thank you for his brand.

(What a dude named Johnny Cupcakes can teach you about business, 2009, paragraph 11)

It's all of these small things put together that made the brand what it is today. By doing his own thing, breaking away from the norm, Johnny gained the attention from a new market that will support him no matter what. And all of this without the help of traditional marketing.

Reference:

Johnny Cupcakes Website: http://www.johnnycupcakes.com/blog/

Davenport, J. (2009). What a dude named Johnny Cupcakes can teach you about business. Retrieved June 29^th, 2011 from News Updates for Syracuse and CNY. Website:http://www.syracuse.com/news/index.ssf/2009/03/what_a_dude_named_johnny_cupca.html

Smith, T. (2006). Johnny Cupcakes finds sweet success in t-shirts. Retrieved June 29^th, 2011, from Weekend Edition. Website: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5618417

Apple Introduces iCloud - What It Means For Media Distribution

I'm sure you are all familiar with a small company known as Apple. In case you didn't know, they are a computer company knwon for their sleek, modern, user-friendly devices like the Apple computer, iPhone, iPod, iPad and the world's largest music seller, iTunes.

From June 6^th till June 10^th, the Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) was held. Thousands of Apple engineers demonstrate and explain the incredible power of the world’s most advanced operating systems and how our apps are integrated. They even offer workshops where you can learn to create your own apps and games so you can be an iTunes success story one day.

At this specific conference, Apple introduced to the world their latest innovation, iCloud. And of course it’s another word with an ‘i’ in front of it. Very original. But what is it?

To break it down, it’s basically a hard drive in the sky, therefore iCloud. iCloud stores your content so it’s accessible from your iPad, iPhone, iPod, Mac or PC.

It keeps your music, apps, photos, e-mail, notes etc up to date across all of your devices. No syncing required, iCloud does it for you. For example, if you buy a song from your iPhone, iCloud will automatically spread it across all of your devices. Same thing goes if you buy a book, app or any other product from iTunes.

Once you sign-up for iCloud, you will get 5GB of storage. With the launch of iCloud, MobileMe & iTools will be replaced. Since MobileMe will be discontinued, iWeb will no longer be in service as well. No word from Apple yet what will happen to current iWeb users but I’m sure their websites will still run, you just won’t be able to create a new one.

iCloud will launch in the fall of 2011 and will include the new IOS 5 update, created for iCloud.

Reference

http://www.apple.com/icloud/what-is.html

http://developer.apple.com/wwdc/about/

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Inside Fashion Law

Guidelines to what is accepted in society. That is a debatable phrase to what the law means to us. Without law there would chaos, conflict and even devastation in our communities. As times change, so does the law if we agree with it or not, that's just how society works.

The fashion industry is no different from any other industry, there are laws and regulations in place that companies need to obey so they can be protected and of course to avoid all sorts of chaos. But as in any other industry, there are all kinds of lawbreakers. I want to focus on three (3) examples that have impacted the fashion industry recently and the outcome of these examples.

With over 400 stores, 12 000 employees and billions in revenue, Forever 21 became a global empire focusing on cheap girl fashion. But all this success didn't come without a price. Between 2006 and 2007 the company faced 15 lawsuits alone. Not only are companies and designers suing Forever 21, their own workers are too. In 2001, all the factory workers attempted to alert management on the unsanitary working conditions and owed wages. Forever 21 refused to negotiate with the workers and the Asian Pacific American Legal Center filed a lawsuit against them. Forever 21 finally decided to settle and with Sweatshop Watch on their backs they didn't really have a choice.

My second example comes from an unique shoe company. Blake Mycoskie is the owner and chief shoe giver (CEO) of Toms Shoes, a shoe company based out of Santa Monica. California. But it’s this company’s message that makes it so unique. For every pair of shoes purchased, Toms gives a pair to a child in need, that’s where the companies slogan comes in play; One For One. Toms was started in 2006 and to date has given back more then 1 million pair of shoes to children in need.

In late 2010 the very popular shoe company Skechers, launched a new line called "BOBS" and looks exactly like the Toms shoe model. Not only did they copy the shoe design but they even copied Toms main mission, One For One. For every pair of Bobs purchased, Skechers will give a pair to a child in need. It became a global controversy, even so that Skechers had to take down their Bobs promotion. But I think you need to take a deeper look at this situation. Blake Mycoskie, the founder of Toms Shoes, has always motivated other people and companies to copy his business model, so you have to be careful what you say. I doubt Blake thought someone would copy his business model so blatantly but in the end this proved Skechers lack of creativity and originality. If Skechers copied the idea in a different way it could have worked but doing something like this purely for marketing and promotion purposes is unethical and the consumer and see right through it.

My third and last example comes from a very unique entrepreneur who started his company as a complete joke, Johnny Cupcakes. Johnny first started selling his t-shirts back in 2001 while touring with his band. The brand grew so much that Johnny had to quit his band so he could focus on his new clothing brand. Today Johnny Cupcakes has three (3) boutique stores in the US and one (1) in London. But with such a successful and popular brand you can expect a few copycats out there.

Pastry is an all girl clothing line founded by the daughters of Run DMC legend, Rev Run. Angella and Vanessa Simmons didn't think (at the time) the small time clothing brand Johnny Cupcakes would hurt them as much as he did. A customer stating that he saw the new upcoming line by Pastry contacted Johnny. One of the shirts looked exactly like one of Johnny's shirts, the placement and font was basically the same. Johnny kept it quiet and decided to contact his Trademark attorney. Pastry was ordered not to release the shirts because of trademark infringement (Johnny did trademark the term: "Make Cupcakes Not War"). Johnny's customers were very disappointed in the idea of someone stealing his design and gave Pastry a bad reputation right off the bat.

Reference:

1. http://fashionlawyerblog.com/?p=371
2. http://www.fastcompany.com/1696887/toms-vs-bobs-how-skechers-shot-themselves-in-the-foot
3. http://www.cotygonzales.com/2009/01/15/pastry-tries-to-imitate-johnny-cupcakes/

Something Companies Tend To Forget About...Ethics

In the most basic terms, a definition for business ethics breaks down to knowing the difference between right and wrong, good and bad, and choosing to do what is ethical, in other words what is right. The term “business ethics” is used to define the agility of individuals within an organization, and an organization as a whole for that matter (Business Definition for: Business Ethics, n/d).

A lot of businesses today have earned a bad a reputation for just being a business. The bottom line for most companies is to make money and it should be but to some people that is all a business cares about. For the most part it could be called capitalism. To make money isn’t wrong but it comes down to the manner a business conduct themselves that brings up the question of ethical behavior.

Every business should have good business ethics. There are many factors to consider when a company does business with another company that is considered unethical. Is the first company part of the other company’s unethical behavior cause of their partnership? Did they know from the get go what they were getting themselves into? Some people would say yes, the first business has a responsibility and it is now a link in the chain of unethical businesses.

Major corporations, including most of the brands that the public use today, can be used as examples not to think too much of ethical business behavior. Major brands have been fined millions for breaking ethical business laws. The major deciding factor is still money in the end for them.

If a company doesn’t comply with business ethic laws they usually end up being fined. Many companies have broken anti-trust, ethical and environmental laws and received fines worth millions. The main problem with this is, is that these companies bank a lot more money then they’re fined. Billion dollars of profits blind these companies to their lack of business ethics, and in the end the dollar sign prevails (What is business ethics, 2009).

In the end it is up to the public to decide if a company is complying with ethical business behavior. If large amounts of money are in play for these companies, they might not be paying too close attention to business ethics. There are many companies that pride themselves in their business ethical principles and behavior, but in this competitive world they are becoming less and less.

Understanding the broad landscape of business ethics can take lots of understanding, time, discipline while being problematic. The field reaches very important topics that raise concerns such as corporate behavior, reputation management, accurate accounting and audits, fair labor policies etc. After business debacles such as Enron, Adelphia, and Worldcom and many others it may be easy to conclude that the world of business can be a cut-throat environment where ethics doesn’t matter or is neglected.

Ethics is a major contributor to a company’s success. It focuses on certain areas a company relies on namely: public image, investment and partnerships. Each corporation has it’s own public image in particular that reflects which way the public see’s it as a whole. These images are the results of a vast variety of different reasons but it primarily comes down to the way a company acts with respect towards different things in its environment. Business ethics plays a major role in determining a company’s public image since they (the public) determine behavior.

When a person, investor or company is considering a particular stock there are several different aspects that needs to be considered. This includes the future prospects of the company, public image, products their selling, service their delivering and in the end it comes down to ethics.

A company that encourages investment in itself needs to have a strong sense of business ethics. Companies fall apart or become extremely powerful with the partnership with a joint venture. To get a good partner you need to have a good overall track record and an excellent tradition of ethical business behavior. If you don’t, a partner will never consider to join your company and will be considered a bad investment (Business Ethics - Why They Are Important For a Company and Its Success, n/d).

References:

n/n. n/d. Business Definition for: Business Ethics. Retrieved April 12^th, 2011 from BNET. Website: http://dictionary.bnet.com/definition/Business+Ethics.html

Cuizon, G. Jan 2009. What is business ethics? Retrieved April ^12th, 2011 from Suite 101. Website: http://businessmanagement.suite101.com/article.cfm/what_is_business_ethics

Vasquez, M. n/d. Business Ethics - Why They Are Important For a Company and Its Success. Retrieved April 12^th, 2011 from Ezine Articles. Website: http://ezinearticles.com/?Business-Ethics---Why-They-Are-Important-For-a-Company-and-Its-Success&id=1315711