Yes it's true.  Adrian and I have been talking about getting together with a couple of you once a month for lunch to discuss life, biz, the web, social media...you name it.  It's time to get off our wallets and out from behind our computers more and have a great face to face conversation with you!

So we've decided to host a few lunch dates in Saint John and the surrounding area over the coming few months to explore this concept.  We are looking forward to sharing some of what we've learned over the years, as well as to learn a thing or two from you.  

Picture a few passionate individuals talking over a great meal (and maybe a glass of wine or two :-) ). Lunch is on us, of course.

Interested in joining us? Leave a comment below and add what you would like to discuss (first-come, first-served; We are thinking 4 of us at each lunch).  The first lunch will be at Opera Bistro in Saint John on Friday July 9th at 12:30. http://www.operabistro.com

Are you up for some great food and conversation?

New Opera Bistro Lunch Menu

The other day I wrote a post about 5 ways to deepen your relationships in a tough economy.  Heck, doesn't matter if it's a good or bad economy, you should always think about ways to deepen your relationships.  Today I am going to put a bit of a social media spin on why it is important to deepen your relationships via social media, which will in turn build and nurture your social currency.

What is Social Currency?  You can click the link to see the definition on Wikipedia, or you can read my take on it.  To me social currency is when people share information about a product, service or company as part of their everyday lives.  As a business owner in today's world, I think building your social currency should definitely be on your radar.  Think about companies like JetBlue, BMW and Apple they all have social currency that creates value and loyalty amongst their fans.  Building social currency is probably the most important investment companies can make to create value for themselves. Customers will benefit as well as they increasingly participate in social platforms, and use social technologies.  Businesses can stimulate the creation of social currency through means that cultivate a sense of community, strengthen consumer interaction and provide value to the community. When done right, you will earn their trust.

So how do you build social currency for your business?  Here are four ways I think will help get you started:

1. Create a sense of community - The value of your brand is closely related to the affiliation and sense of community it creates among other like minded people. You can create value by promoting the community and building exchange opportunities.  Soon, some businesses will be creating social businesses where customers come for community and not just to buy your product.
2. Engage in the conversations - Some of your customers proactively talk about your products and services with others. By engaging in these conversations, you can stimulate further conversations and discussions by providing additional talking points, perspectives and points of view.  Social media conversations are dialogues and even “multi-logues” where others listen to your 1-on-1 conversations.
3. Create ambassadors for your brand - Customers are willing to tell others about your product/service or recommend it further. Creating ambassadors is one of the key value drivers.  By reaching out to those who know you best, giving them the mechanisms and motivations to share in ownership of your brand, you set in motion a series of events that can take a group of people who use your product or service and transform them into a passionate army of brand ambassadors who essentially market your brand for you.
4. Identity - Customers develop a strong sense of identity and an ability to express themselves to others by using your product/service.  What elements of your business can help reinforce your identity with your customers.  The best social media programs take the online world and move it to the offline world.

Businesses who adopt the new processes and tools in building social currency will prosper in today’s age of digital and social revolution and have a chance of creating new levels of business performance.

What are you doing to increase your social currency?

Here is a little case study a tried while visiting Fredericton, NB today.  Can you see the value if you are a business owner?

I have two perfect examples of what the Internet can do for you.  What I am calling the Internet, some people may refer to it as social media or web 2.0.  It really doesn't matter, I just want to show to examples of some "stuff" that happened to me the other day that would of never happened without the Internet.

Number 1

On Wednesday I decided to show my appreciation for my wife and cook supper for the family.  It was late in the afternoon and I needed a quick and simple recipe.  Cooking is not one of my forte so that is why it needed to be simple. :-)  So I figured, why not ask for a recipe on twitter?  So I did.

Here are some instant responses I received from some of the great folks I follow.

All the responses I received were great, but I decided to go with the one from Tyler.  The recipe was very simple and the family loved it.  The kids even had seconds.  Thanks Tyler.  I also got another tip for the recipe aftewards from Justin at The Hockey Card Show.  The same recipe works in a crockpot!

Number 2

This next example is how the Internet can empower collaboration.  As you know, my bro Adrian and I have our own hockey tv show over at The Hockey Zen.  We recently finished our 2nd mashup video with Keith Korneluk and Chris Kaliszewski from Kingscast the other day and it was a great experience to collaborate on a project with two other passionate hockey fans.  The crazy thing here is Keith and Chris do not live in Saint John, NB, but they live in LA!  I know they would probably like to move to Saint John, since our winters are much warmer. :-)

Now if you had of asked me a year ago that we would be working on a mashup video show with two dudes from LA, I would of said you were crazy.  But we did and it all happened because of the Internet.  How cool is that?  We are planning to do many more mashups and I must say they are a blast to do.  Check out our latest one below and let me know what you think.  And yes, I am losing "The Bet"

Don't be afraid to step out of your local network and see who else you can meet via the Internet.  They may even help you out some day.

Thank you to everyone who attended the Emerging Entrepreneurs Social Media Workshop at Happinez Wine Bar.  I hope you enjoyed my DJ'ing.  :-)  Here is an overview of what we covered during the presentation.  Thank you for participating and  I really enjoyed the Q & A.

Who is Chris Nadeau?  Please feel free to connect with me:

http://facebook.com/evolvingsolutions

http://facebook.com/thehockeyzen  - If you like hockey check out our page and videos :-) 

http://twitter.com/cnadeau

http://facebook.com/chris.nadeau

http://cnadeau.evolvingsolutions.ca/

http://chrisnadeau.posterous.com/

What the F**K is Social Media? Presentation and video provided by Marta Kagan Twitter - @mzkagan

Case Study - Wine Library TV -  Check out Gary Vaynerchuk's personal  blog and follow him on Twitter @garyvee

Check out Gary's first ever episode.  It took Gary a long time to build his audience.  You can see the difference in his presentation from his first ever episode to todays episodes.

Episode 1 – Verite

Wine and Hockey – Episode #690

Thanks again for attending and feel free to contact me with any questions.

PS:  URL Shortener - Bit.ly

Update: I just watched this video by Gary Vaynerchuk and I thought you might find it interesting after our discussion on Monday night.