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continued from page 53 Laundry), but I am interested in seeing photos of the places people are visiting. In terms of coffee-related material, a nice photo of a new brewing device linked to a tweet driving people to your website (where they can read more about it and even purchase it) is a great strategy. Posting a photo of a new coffee offering—and requesting comments and feedback on it—is another way to use social media to engage. We have run numerous Twitter contests where the prize is a free bag of coffee or a free three months of our coffeesubscription service. At the end of the day, an engaged customer is one of the most valuable assets a roasting company can have. Leveraging that loyalty and excitement into promoting your brand is a simple, effective and important way to grow your business. When your company's fanbase starts promoting your brand, your credibility within their sphere of influence goes up and your reach begins to grow. TWI TTER .C OM/ TR AN SCE ND COF FE E ROASTERS REALM An important thing to remember with social media is that your followers have voluntarily chosen to receive posts from your company, whether they be photos, videos or written tweets. This gives you license to engage them with interesting information about what is current and exciting in your world. The key aspect of effective social-media marketing is engagement. Do your followers want or care to see what you are posting? Is the post interesting, and does it align itself with the core values your company has adopted and articulated? Remember, just as fast as someone chooses to follow you, they can opt to unfollow you if your feed becomes annoying or irrelevant. At the end of the day, an engaged customer is one can have. Leveraging that loyalty and excitement into promoting your brand is a simple, effective and important way to grow your business. From my vantage point, it appears that people are growing increasingly fond of photos, and I see many pictures of what people are eating or drinking. Personally, I am not too taken with food photos (unless perhaps you are eating at the French 54 Fresh Cup Magazine | freshcup.com T WI TT ER. CO M/TRANSCENDCO FF EE of the most valuable assets a roasting company I do have time for social media—not in a frivolous way, but with a thoughtful and strategic approach that I believe actually grows our business and demonstrates that we do care what our customers think and say about us.