I had the pleasure of being interviewed via email over the last few weeks by a young up-and-comer in the social media realm, Cole Watts.
I previously worked with Cole when he served as an intern at 919 Marketing. Now he spends his time putting together great blog content while looking to land that great social media job that I know is out there for him.
Below is a brief excerpt from our conversation, and feel free to travel over to his blog IDreamInTech to read the entire interview.
Most of us know you as the Social Media presence behind 919 Marketing, but you recently left to start your own company. What can we expect from your new company “Final Piece Consulting”?
First of all, I’m excited to hear that “most” people may know anything about me since I’m just a guy that loves working online. At 919 Marketing, I did my best to integrate social media marketing into as many client accounts as possible while still handling day-to-day PR tasks and account management. After spending the last 3 ½ years working at Triangle firms, keeping up with emerging trends and working them into my everyday tasks, I finally had a “Eureka” moment and thought – maybe there is something MORE I could be doing with all this great knowledge I’ve been able to soak up.
That moment was when I decided to start Final Piece Consulting. I view the company as place small businesses that can’t afford large retainers can turn to for help in social media marketing with a splash of traditional marketing, public relations, event planning and copywriting. Small Businesses are the lifeblood of our local economy and many of them flounder because they can’t afford high quality marketing help. With the emergence and effectiveness of social media marketing I firmly believe you can propel your small business to success with the right guidance and expertise.
I also realize that cash flow and the bottom line is even more important to a small business than a larger entity able to take financial risks. That is why I will come in to your organization and make sure I fully understand it before I will even create a plan or offer up any inclination as to what you can expect if you work with me. Once I understand your goals on a holistic level I’ll head back to the Final Piece “cave” and create a full-scale 3, 6 or 12 month strategic plan. The plan will include everything you need to achieve those goals, from what tools we should use and how we should use them, to what complementary PR and traditional marketing we need to elevate the campaign. Most importantly it will involve metrics of measurement (financial and non financial) that can be tracked so at the end of our (hopefully) long partnership you can see how your investment in Final Piece Consulting has paid off.
You’ll also be able to expect an honest guy who can sometimes be a little too sarcastic and is passionate about what he believes in. That belief can range from his approach to social media marketing to why the 1999 Virginia Tech Hokies were the greatest team to not win a National Championship.
