Magnolia Salon and Spa Ribbon Cutting

Here we go again with another North Brunswick Chamber of Commerce ribbon cutting, this time for Magnolia Salon and Spa on Grandiflora Drive in front of Magnolia Greens in Leland, North Carolina.

New owner Shannon Lane took over the business earlier this year.


Andrea Smith (in yellow) does pedicures and manicures and Tina Jones, seated, is the receptionist.

Stylists Sarah Curry and Autumn Strickland.

Stylists Deeanne Henson, Courtney Caudle, and Mindy Inman.

A wash station.

Styling stations.

Chamber members, staff and volunteers gathered for the ceremony. The fully visible faces of the folks below include Pastor Jay Merritt, Dana Fisher, Jamie Shoemaker, Tony Vlach, and Gina Schiess.

Tony Vlach talks with David Merrill of Hertz Rentals while NBCC Executive Director Terry Grillo and Shannon talk with Tina at the reception desk.

Mindy, Stylist Heather Williams, Sarah and Autumn.

Terry gives Shannan the low down on how our ribbon cuttings go.
OK, so front row only: Jamie Shoemaker, Terry Grillo, Tina Jones, Shannon Lane, Sarah Curry George Murray, and Donna Cameron.

The same crew with Frank Bullara now on the right end.

It's a cut!

And Shannon gets to keep the cut portion of the ribbon while NBCC President George Murray looks on.

That's Stylist Heather Williams in the center of the photo, with Autumn Strickland and Sarah Curry to her right (actually her left, our right).

Massage therapist Lori Petco and Andrea Smith.

Bob Baer, Mike Leggett, and Franklin Rouse.

Chamber stalwarts Alice Razzano, SunTrust Bank Manager Denise Harris, and NBCC Ambassador Jeannie Reilly.

Frank Bullara and Jeff Harvell.

Once again the ribbon was cut, the donuts were eaten, and we all had a fine time. Welcome to the Chamber, Shannon and all your crew.

Ever Hear of an Ab Circle?

I'd never heard of an Ab Circle before today, but when I stopped by the on-site sales office at Cove Landing in Winnabow this afternoon there was a strange contraption on the floor.

I asked what it was and Charlotte Palmer and Wendy Melville, the two on-site agents suggested I try it out. I did, they took this picture and 'nuff said about that experience.


I imagine the Ab Circle can do wonders for one's abs - assuming one could get the thing to start moving in the first place!

Papa John's Pizza Comes to Leland - Ribbon-Cutting

Today we had the North Brunswick Chamber of Commerce ribbon-cutting for the new Papa John's Pizza in Leland.

Julie Fertig of News 14 Carolina was on hand to capture the event for television.

Here's Julie with Chamber photographer Bob Baer and Coldwell Banker Sea Coast Realty broker Craig Spafford.

Justin Williams, publisher of NBM and SBM magazines came with his daughter Ava Grace. Diane Merritt and Alice Razzano said hello to the ever-ebullient Ava.

Comfort Suites Magnolia Greens Sales Manager Lee Ann Mitchell, Financial Advisor Jim Tuzzeo, Chamber Ambassador Bob Pine, Developer, Publisher, and NBCC Board member Jeff Harvell, and Asset Storage manager Carolyn Pirnat observed the gathering.

Diane, Alice, and Chamber Ambassador Mary Anne Fagerquist (the woman in red facing away from the camera).

NBCC President George Murray (holding the scissors), Executive Director Terry Grillo (with the ribbon), and Papa John's co-owner Bill Yates. That's Bill's wife Dawn in the background holding their daughter Caroline and son Jacob mostly out of the picture.

Town Planner calendar publisher Mary Bennies was picking up proofs of the 2010 North Brunswick Town Planner and stopped by to attend the ribbon-cutting. I got a quick peek at the proofs - wow, it looks awesome!

Lined up and ready to cut. Front row only are Lee Ann Mitchell, Connie Reeves, Terry Grillo, George Murray, Bill Yates, Papa John's co-owner Chris Lawley, Dawn Lawley with Caroline in her arms and Jacob standing in front, and Cheryl Lawley and her daughter Ashton.

Same crew, with the ribbon cut! Good job, Bill.

After the ribbon-cutting Terry Grillo had such a great smile I couldn't resist.

BB&T's Gina Marshburn, Bonnie Wallace, and Drew Roper were also on hand to welcome yet another new business to Leland.

Another successful ribbon-cutting - and to think, we don't even need to sharpen the shears because they get so much action. Welcome to Bill and Chris and all the staff at Papa John's.

Business Social Media Tip #31 - Anticipate Change

Social media use in business is increasing and changing in form and applications. These trends will continue. Don't deny or ignore change or, if you do so, ignore the transformations at least knowing that you will be missing out on opportunities - which may be just fine for some enterprises (I'm frankly at a loss to think of one, for even religions, art, and poetry have found great use of computer technologies, so I expect the same from social media).

The business healthy strategy is to expect change in technology including social media and make the best of it as soon as it's practical (please note, 'practical' does not mean the same as 'economical' or 'when we have time'). Practical in this sense means you should utilize relevant technologies as soon as they are stable and proved to be valuable in your business.

Even better than expecting and adopting technological change is anticipating change. If you can predict, for example, which way social media is heading, you can be among the first to enjoy the advantages of change. How does that sound? Pretty cool, huh? Well it is, but be aware that being an 'early adopter', while often exciting and sure to provide cocktail chatter, often comes with a price - newest technologies often sputter when they first hit the market and take a while to become stable. The cost to you can be money and time - two important resources indeed. If you can anticipate and get ready for social media change without over-committing time and money until the technology is stable and at least beginning to deliver, you'll be in the best position.

It's also important, when attempting to understand and predict change, to keep the subject in context. In the case of social media context includes personal computing and personal communications technologies, Internet access and speed, technology adoption and acceptance, and a growing world market.

Looking forward right now, left-brain trends to consider as you attempt to anticipate social media change include the increasing adoption of mobile communications devices (especially but not only phones), cloud computing (where applications and data reside on the Internet, not on physical devices one owns), the continued explosion of personal video, collaboration or collaborative utilities for various social and personal media sites, location technologies, and personal identification and tracking technologies. On the ever more influential right-brain side of development design, play, empathy, social reach, personal touch, and story-telling are all significant. So throw all those factors in a hat, pick any two or three and make your best attempt at anticipating the next big social media business application.

Business Social Media Tip #30 - Watch Your Numbers

So how do you know if your business social media marketing efforts are working? Are they worth the required time and focus? And how exactly do you measure social media effectiveness? If there is one number to watch to tell if you've made the right decisions regarding social media, what would it be?

I know what the answer is for me, but yours may differ.

Here are some possibilities of numbers to monitor:

-- Friends and Followers - If your goal is to build a massive following, sheer numbers of friends and followers could be the best measure of success. This is an easy number to track since social media sites routinely report how many connections you have - it's actually a device the social media companies use to keep us using their services, enticing us to be competitive and build larger followings so we'll feel somehow 'better'. But is a large following in the best interest of your business?

-- Grading or Influence Rating Services - There are third party companies that will track your influence. Two popular services for are HubSpot, Inc.'s Grader.com and Twinfluence.com. Grader.com for Twitter (there are other versions as well) tracks your updates, your followers, and those you follow and then gives you a grade on a 0-100 scale and will display your ranking in your location. Twinfluence.com provides a ranking and percentage rating based on "social influence" measures which are also detailed and explained by the site. Twinfluence provides more data than Grader, but the actual value for your business isn't proved.

-- Internet and Web Site Metrics - This is the world of hits, and eyes, and Search Engine Optimization (SEO). There are plenty of tools that measure Internet metrics and you can be sure that more will emerge for social media, some within the services themselves, others provided by third parties. Don't assume that the same metrics that work for a web site that sells products will have relevance to social media, where the most successful participants are often those who are most socially adept. In this respect, social media success might not be best measured just by numbers.

-- Your Bottom Line -- With all respect, the best number to watch to measure your business's marketing success with social media might be outside the purvey of the Internet, but rather with your accountant. Realtors know that the best advertisements are those that bring people who end up with a successful closing, not just people who want a tour of the area. If you have a way to track the source of your sales or contracts, that's the strongest tool at your disposal. Track where you first met people who brought your business revenue. If you connected in multiple ways, in person, through traditional ads, and through social media, you may have to be a bit subjective here to decide which made the strongest connection - (Why not use this as an opportunity to connect with customers by asking which contact mode was most important).

In the end, your financial bottom line is the most important way to measure effectiveness of anything you do in your business.