Social Geek

Our guest this week is Michele Price, aka @ProsperityGal. Since 1982 Michele has looked for creative and innovative answers giving her businesses the edge over competitors. Having gone toe to toe in multiple male oriented industries in 2008, she started an online-internet radio show Breakthrough Business Strategies radio which grew into the media company Breakthrough Business Strategies...

Join us as we discuss how to prepare for what is to come in social media! Social networks, blogs, email, portals, instant messaging, crowd sourcing...oh my! Follow along by opening AK's slideshare presentation via this link as we discuss social media developments in the real-time economy. Call us and share how you manage all the platforms and what you believe is next!  

We are thrilled to have special guest, Kate Groom, Partner at Smart Franchise and Owner of Starfish Consulting, joining us this week all the way from Australia! Kate is an experienced and insightful business consultant, faciliator, and speaker with over 20 years of leadership, business and coaching experience. Her experience includes benchmarking, franchise operations, marketing and...

Nicole Plescher, Digital Catalyst for 919 Marketing will join AK and Deb this week to discuss building a socal strategy that's right for your franchise. How to manage and encourage franchisee adoption, control/influence, franchisee engagement and how to measure success/return on the social engagement. Twitter:  https://twitter.com/nicoleanne

The IFA (International Franchise Association) convention was a huge success  in Orlando FL. Deb was joined by 3k other franchise industry attendees and returned home with a renewed passion for the use of social media in franchising.  Join AK as she speaks with Deb and guests Al Lautenslager and Lorri Wyndham.  Find out what they enjoyed most from Guy Kawasaki, who was the closing sp...

We are excited to have a self-described "Gagetista", Bonnie Sharon as the guest of Social Geek Radio this week! Bonnie also known as "Cellular Chloe" provides straightforward reviews of wireless devices and "how to" videos which have made her a favorite on the Web. Her popularity is simple to understand: she knows her stuff, respects the audience, listens to them and tells the truth. Bonnie is the...

  Joining us this week is Brent Alvord, President of Lenny’s Sub Shop Brent will share how social media continues to be such an integral part of their company strategy for 2012. If fact, Lenny’s constantly hosts unique contests and giveaways via its social media channels, which is why they have grown to more than 62,000 fans on Facebook.   Lenny’s continually reaches out to their network...

We have the pleasure speaking with Liberty Harper, Director of Business Development at Aviatech. Aviatech is an interactive and digital marketing agency to direct new business development in the franchise industry. Liberty is experienced as both a franchisee as well as a franchisor, and understands all aspects of the franchise industry. Previous to founding and managing the 65 unit Liberty Fitness...

Our guest this week is Anita Wehnert from ReadyTalk. ReadyTalk provides audio and web conferencing services that are highly reliable. affordable and best of all, easy to use!  As Director of Product Marketing, Anita is focused on talking to customers about their needs and translating these into priorities for the ReadyTalk product roadmap. Before joining ReadyTalk, she gained first-hand exper...

This week we welcome Allison Shaw, Social Media Specialist for Qdoba Restaurants. Qdoba offers fresh, made-to-order Mexican food. The company operates Qdoba Mexican Grill, the #2 quick-casual Mexican chain behind market leader Chipotle Mexican Grill, with about 500 locations in 40 states. The eateries offer a selection of signature burritos, along with tacos, salads, nachos, and breakfast ite...

Part 2!

Our first guest for 2012 comes from Australia! Diane Leonard is an online marketer and social media enthusiast. She has 15 years experience in marketing having worked in a wide variety of industries including franchising. In late 2010, she started Social Franchising, a networking group to encourage people in franchising to get started and get better at using social media. The group meets monthly a...

  Join AK and Deb as they recap what happened in social media in 2011. What will the trends be for 2012? What conference should you be aware of? What platforms are still active and where should you be connected? What tools should be in your toolkit. This will be the last show of the year and the last time AK can “Geek It Out”, She has some really cool sites to share! The World of Social Media...

Our guest this week is Kelly McNeer, Social/ New Media Specialist/Strategy and Planning Independent Consultant in Chicago, IL. Kelly has seven years of online advertising and social media marketing experience. Kelly will join AK and Deb and discuss what social media tools can be used for job seekers and employers. www.twitter.com/kellykelmc www.linkedin.com/in/kellymcneer

  Our guest Joe Libava is the author of "Become a Franchise Owner!" He informs would-be franchise owners of the joys and perils of purchasing a franchise providing a straightforward, step-by-step tips and advice on how to properly ("and carefully") research and select a franchise business. Joel will share how to locate information about franchises, current industry trends, and hot franchise o...

Happy Thanksgiving! Rerun of a popular show! FranCamp Nashville was just the first stop! It followed the PodCamp format with a fast paced aggressive agenda filled with rich content on the use of social media. Dynamic speakers from the industry shared their expertise and each session was streamed LIVE using UStream. What happened? What was shared?   

Our guest this week is Esther Steinfeld Freedman. Esther founded NotAllCEOsAreJerks.com a site dedicated to highlighting C level executives who give back to their communitities and participate in interesting or extraordinary activities. Esther is the Public Releations Manager for Blinds.com, the largest provider of window treatments on the Internet. Esther's love of Interior Design and "Do-It-Your...

Does attening a conference ignite the passion and enthusiasm you have for social media? Do you wonder what the digital space looks like for kids today? Are you amazed by those that consider themselves "social media experts" but lack a social presence? Have you posted your Google+ business page yet? What type of tools should be in your geek toolbox? How important are analytics? Join AK and Deb as t...

Last week was a record of 7 guests discussing FranCamp! The conversation will continue with Jack Monson who will share upcoming plans for the next FranCamp. Deb and AK will also be joined by BJ Emerson to discuss The #FlatLorri Project,a community case study in customer engagement. A laminated cut-out image of @LorriW travels the world and publicly shares her exciting adventure...

FranCamp Nashville was just the first stop! It followed the PodCamp format with a fast paced aggressive agenda filled with rich content on the use of social media. Dynamic speakers from the industry shared their expertise and each session was streamed LIVE using UStream. What happened? What was shared? What's the new #FlatLorri Project? Join AK and Deb as they speak to a few attendees that either...

Please note the time for the show this week (6:30 PT/8:30 CT/9:30 ET). This week AK and Deb will host Social Geek Radio from Nashville, TN as they are setting up for FranCamp! If technology is their friend they will also broadcast live via UStream  http://www.ustream.tv/channel/francamp Their guest is Ashley Betzendal, Social Web Communications Manager for The Goddard School. Goddard is repor...

The most frequently asked question AK Stout receives from Franchisors is whether or not their individual Franchise locations should have their own Facebook Business Page or whether content from the national Facebook Page can suffice for the entire system. Depending upon your role, you may have an immediate, gut feeling about that idea. AK is not only a firm believer that individual Franchise locat...

In three short weeks FranCamp,  the first social media un-conference for the franchise industry will take place in Nashville, TN. Anyone who works in franchising should attend. Franchisors, CEOs, COOs, VPs of Marketing and VPs of Franchise Development.  We will continue our sneak peak of the sessions as we talk with our guest this week,  Paul Litterer of HubSpot! Paul will moderate...

Jennifer MacDonald, Online Community Manager for WIN Home Inspection says using video for business should not be frightening! She will share what you need to know in order to get started with online video as part of your marketing strategies. Jennifer is one of the presenters at the first social media unconference for the franchise industry, FranCamp, to be held in Nashville October 22nd. She will...

Richard Brasser, CEO, The Targeted Group will be our guest this week. Since founding the company in 1999, Richard has helped some of the nation’s leading brands create their social networking strategies and successful interactive media initiatives. Aiding in strategic marketing programs for companies such as Siemens, Citibank Smith Barney, Pepsi and RSM McGladrey, Richard has honed his u...