The movie in development will bring the candy dispensers to the world of animation.

Marketers regularly borrow catchy tunes from popular musicians to help sell their products, but musicians are typically less interested in working marketers' jingles into their own compositions. Therefore, it's perhaps surprising that the jingle for French rail company SNCF was chosen by celebrated Pink Floyd guitarist, David Gilmour, to form the basis of his new single "Rattle That Lock." Art imitates life after all, it seems.

Before Jon Stewart leaves "The Daily Show" Thursday, take a look back at his late-night predecessors and how their viewership has changed over the years, using this interactive based on Nielsen data.

The announcement marks the resolution of a legal dispute over the property, and a script is already in place.

The squeeze is on. Consumer spending has been slow to recover with the economy, and, as a result, the size of the retail pie isn’t getting any bigger. To stay competitive, retailers are increasingly finding that they need to focus more on gaining and maintaining customer loyalty as an imperative to business success. Not only is it cheaper to keep current customers than to acquire news ones, but happy customers can be an amazing recruitment tool, if they are incentivized to advocate for their favorite brands. As a result, social loyalty is becoming the newest trend in retail marketing’s tool belt. Social loyalty, according to Forrester Research, is "brand affinity built on the connection of consumers to the brand as well as to each other." It provides an opportunity for brands to engage with members beyond the transaction — encouraging awareness, advocacy and emotional loyalty. Here’s how front-line retailers are using social loyalty to obtain these benefits — and how you can, too: Word-of-Mouth Marketing Turning loyal customers into advocates on social media gives brands a powerful way to increase awareness and reach among connected consumers. Moreover, research by Sociable Labs has found that 62% of online shoppers read product-related comments from friends on Facebook, 75% of whom click through to visit retailer websites and 53% of whom go on to make a purchase. Clearly, word-of-mouth marketing works to drive awareness and even sales. In fact, the iterative effect of delighting customers for doing what they already do — interact with their friends and family via social - has helped brands acquire 45% more customers. Immediate Response Opportunity Social loyalty programs combine listening with immediate response mechanisms to provide instant gratification, surprises, or other replies designed to thank or delight customers. Not only does a simple recognition and thank you go along way, but customers are more likely to make a subsequent purchase, which enhances their lifetime value and reinforces loyalty. Brands that successfully tie social to their loyalty programs correlate rewards to pre-defined social actions. Rewards can be anything from a promo code for a discount online to points if the brand has an existing points-based program. For example, one restaurant automatically replies to all Instagram photos of its food with a thank you and free drink offer. And, a large retailer replies to digital check-ins with a percent-off coupon for the customer while they are in the store. To keep the program from feeling stale, these retailers mix up the rewards over time, layer in special promotions and include seasonal events. Close the Data Loop & Personalization A very important aspect of social loyalty programs is that they can provide a 360-degree view of customers. Retailers who are killing it at social loyalty link their loyalty program members’ online and offline data, understanding, for example, that Jennifer Holland is the same person as @Jennlovesshoes. With this data, brands are able to close the loop within their databases and different data silos within their organization giving them more data and tools with which to personalize future offers and rewards for Jennifer. This is critically important. According to an IBM-eConsultancy study, nearly 90% of marketers agree that personalizing the customer experience is critical to success, but 78% of consumers said the average brand doesn’t understand them as an individual. The result is that 49% of consumers switched providers over the past year. Brands that are able to bridge this divide and provide tailored offers and rewards are kicking off a virtuous cycle where customers return because they feel understood, know their needs will be met, and will, in turn, be willing to share even more personal information with the retailer and share their great experience with their social networks. In fact, retailers that have turned their focus to social loyalty have increased brand engagement by up to eight times. Brands connect advertising of out-of-home to mobile and social to encourage participation. Competitive Advantage Immediate thanks, surprise and delight, personalization. Social loyalty components all work together to create competitive advantage by creating a virtuous cycle where brands are able to personalize their offers, as well as personalize how they communicate (e.g. does this customer prefer Facebook, e-mail or Twitter), and then deliver experiences that surprise and delight. Experiences that show the customer that you know them work on two levels: First, the customer knows that you care because you took the time to deliver an offer that is relevant; second, the consumer can draw comparisons between your tailored communication and the competition, whose communication may be far afield. All these elements leave the customer feeling positive about the brand, further reinforcing a positive view, emotional loyalty and lifetime value. Much has been written about the value of customer loyalty and the benefits of keeping happy customers happy, versus the cost of being in constant customer acquisition mode. Leading retailers are embracing social media as not just a way to interact with consumers for customer service needs, or to chat with them about trending memes, but as a means to meet new customer expectations for immediacy, personalization and social mobile brand interaction. The competitive advantage it brings is paying business dividends for those on the retail front lines. Jessica Williams is senior marketing manager at Chirpify, where she is responsible for driving social strategy, engagement, and conversion in concert with SEO, analytics and digital marketing initiatives. She received her degree in journalism from the University of Oregon and can be reached at Jessica@Chirpify.com or @Jessica_J. Related Posts: Leading a new era of customer engagement with customer loyalty 3.0 6 steps to getting more of the right people paying attention to you How to create a WOW customer experience A step-by-step guide to social direct response What you’re getting wrong about customer referrals Social loyalty programs pay off for retailers originally published by SmartBlogs

Carrick The economy has been slowing down, and isn’t growing as quickly as expected, said Alex Carrick, chief economist at CMD, formerly Reed Construction Data, during Thursday’s construction outlook webinar hosted by CMD. That statement was underscored when the stock market closed down, cutting the year’s gains to a measly 0.10%. And the wobbly economy was a concern to the other top economists in the industry, Ken Simonson of the Associated General Contractors of America and Kermit Baker of the American Institute of Architects. The construction-building picture now, going forward Total nonresidential construction last year was more than $606 billion, up 7.1% from a year earlier, according to the Census Bureau. Leading the charge were lodging, office, and manufacturing construction projects. Total residential construction last year was $354 billion, up about 3.5% from a year earlier, led in large part by growth in multifamily construction. And this year is off to a reasonable start as well, the economists report, citing continuing strength in multifamily housing starts, as well as power and manufacturing projects. Lodging, too, has been a strength, but Baker sees this as late in the cycle, saying most of the "growth is behind us." However, all three see construction growth as "spotty" and "uneven," and note there are challenges. Challenges For instance, the number of civil engineering projects in 2104 was up more than 9% from a year earlier, according to Carrick, but he sees that increase declining to 4.2% this year and yet another declining increase to only between 2.2% and 3.3% over the next several years. Then, there’s MAP-21, the bill that funds transportation infrastructure projects in the country, is due to expire at the end of this month, Ken Simonson and legislators still have no agreement about how to fund it. Because of that, Simonson sees a no growth this year or even a 5% decline in spending on highway and roadwork projects this year, and even a cancellation of contracts if the current bill lapses with nothing in its place. He also forecasts a spending on health care facilities to remain steady or even decline 5%, although Carrick sees potential for a double-digit spending increase, saying "this [sector] has got to start taking off because as a society as a whole we’ve become health conscious and there’s the aging baby boomers." Both note that it’s strange not to have seen this particular segment tick up yet as the population ages and is starting to live longer. The availability of construction workers is also an increasing concern. So many were let go during the Great Recession that the available workforce has shrunk. And, it’s getting older as fewer young people and immigrants enter the field. Baker says the industry "needs to attract more immigrants, younger workers, and make it more attractive to women if we want to see workforce numbers worthy of a growing industry." In addition, Simonson notes three trends that are holding back the need for building: "Government spends less on schools, infrastructure; consumers switch from stores to online buying; and employers shrink office space per employee." Bright spots Kermit Baker Remember, all three see the industry growing. Simonson and Carrick note the increase in construction activity at tidewater ports in preparation for the large Panamax ships expects once the Panama Canal expansion is complete. There’s more dredging, building of terminals and rail links, roadways and tunnels leading to the ports. In addition, all three see the trend of the young and old migrating to cities so they can live near work and play and learn as something that isn’t going away soon. This means continued construction of mixed-use projects be they residential towers with retail and restaurants on the ground floor or even more mixed uses.   Related Posts: 3 economists give construction outlook for rest of 2013, and ahead AGC outlook: 2013 is a "tentative recovery" year in the construction sector Construction industry now, 2013 and beyond: 3 economists look into their crystal balls 3 economists sum up state of construction industry, share predictions 3 economists offer construction outlook for 2014, beyond 2015 Construction outlook appears good — sort of originally published by SmartBlogs

(Photo: WSWA) Wine and Spirits Wholesalers of America is releasing this spring its first-ever report on just how involved wholesalers get in their communities titled Investing in Communities. Through various philanthropic efforts across the country, wholesalers large and small are giving back - an effort that goes largely undocumented. "Because the work of wholesalers is so widespread in every community where they operate, and it has long been behind the scenes, we felt it is an essential story to tell because philanthropy and engagement are an essential part of who wholesalers are and how they operate," says Jeff Solsby of WSWA. The wholesale industry is widespread with over 63,000 workers earning a total of approximately $5 billion in wages each year working at 4,400 locations, the report says. Produced on a biennial basis going forward, every winter and spring in odd-numbered years, the report’s release will coincide with the seating of new congresses and legislatures, and will be updated and refreshed on an ongoing basis, according to Solsby. From organizations such as the American Cancer Society, Autism Speaks, Make-A-Wish Foundation, American Red Cross and Meals on Wheels, to name just a few, wine and spirits wholesalers are showing dedication to community health, social responsibility, children, people in need, veterans and cultural resources. "WSWA is an association that doesn’t push this activity - our members do it on their own for a variety of reasons," Solsby tells us. "One of those reasons is that wholesalers are all family-owned businesses, and family involvement and community engagement go hand-in-hand. Employees often report feeling like they are a member of the family and that is one of the key distinctions for wholesaler employees." Wholesalers are local marketing experts and build brands for suppliers in each local market they serve. This means that their staff and professionals are deeply engaged in a host of activities and philanthropic endeavors in their communities. Horizon Beverage Group is one of the many wholesalers highlighted in the report. It has donated $80,000 to the Massachusetts Restaurant Association Educational Foundation to help develop future culinary leaders. "We live in the community, we’re a part of the community so it’s important to give back to the community," says Horizon’s Senior Vice President Doug Epstein. "Where we work is where we live." Much of Horizon’s customer base is small local businesses so it wants to support that, Epstein tells us. "Some of our customers are from the supermarket or club stores, but a majority are local operations — it’s about the ownership of living here," he adds. While giving back has always been something that wine and spirits wholesalers have been regularly involved in, Epstein agrees that the industry’s philanthropic efforts have largely gone unnoticed and undocumented. "It’s nothing unusual, we’ve always done it, but we never had a way to codify it and say to the public, ‘Hey, look at this, this is the value that the three-tier system provides to the marketplace,’" he elaborates. "We’re regulated locally, we’re operated locally and we give back locally." He describes the first-of-its-kind report as "an important vehicle for [wholesalers] to measure [themselves] and see what direction [they’re] going." As an association, WSWA feels that the story of philanthropy and community engagement is powerful and important, Solsby says. "And it’s one of our goals to do a better job of telling this story to a wide array of audiences." Because of the nature of industry, wholesalers directly engage with clients, often having real relationships, which spurs a level of philanthropy unmatched by other industries, such as the automobile or software industries, Epstein points out. "I think that if people stepped back and thought about it, every charity event that they go to, and what part a beverage alcohol wholesaler takes part in that, particularly the legislatures and the public, I think they’d really be amazed if they added it all up," he says. "It gets taken for granted, even by our own industry, but it’s a wonderful thing we do, and it’s really one of the high points of what we do, I think, compared to other industries." Download the report. __________________________________________________ If you enjoyed this article, join SmartBrief’s email list for more stories about the food and beverage industry. We offer 14 newsletters covering the industry from restaurants to food manufacturing. Related Posts: Brown booze, red wine raise winter spirits The art of marketing wine to millennials Culinary incubators: Where food businesses go to grow How the food industry is making sense of big data How Newk’s Eatery sees fast-casual 2.0 WSWA’s first-ever philanthropy report spotlights wholesalers’ community involvement originally published by SmartBlogs

Without question, what happens at the top — priorities established, strategies set or changed — cascades throughout the entire organization. How can it be true, then, that anyone at any level can be a leader? The answer is by "leading up" (or "managing up"), a key part of values-based leadership that allows people to positively influence their boss or even the boss’ boss. Leading up is especially important when companies are undergoing periods of dramatic or rapid change. During these times, feedback from across the team is crucial. Let’s look at a couple of examples from the headlines. Animation studio DreamWorks has put in place a restructuring after spreading itself too thin over multiple platforms. Before the restructuring, CEO Jeffrey Katzenberg reportedly told investors, DreamWorks endured a "painful" period. Based on interviews with current and former employees, The Wall Street Journal reported that "workers of all ranks grew to have little faith in creative decisions, watching as fast changes forced expensive rewrites and schedule changes kept production budgets fluctuating."1 You have to wonder: could that painful period have been shortened or made less excruciating if more people had "led up" to influence strategic direction? Boeing, which for years emphasized new technologies for faster and farther-flying jets, is now focusing on "incremental improvements that it can deliver more quickly to airlines with greater reliability and at a lower price," said Ray Conner, chief executive of Boeing’s commercial airplane unit, to the Journal. As Boeing shifts its strategy, particularly around R&D, will senior management seek feedback from across the organization?2 As changes in strategy and creative vision are unveiled by senior leaders, input must be welcomed from across the organization — whether it’s what works best on the production line or what customers are saying. When I began my career as a junior analyst, my colleagues and I would sometimes scratch our heads over the directives that came down from the top. I made a vow that, if I ever became a boss (one of "those guys" making the decisions), I’d always listen to the people doing the work because they had a valuable perspective. Fast forward many years and I was one "those guys" (a gender-neutral term), eventually becoming CFO and then CEO and chairman of Baxter International, a $12 billion health care company. Because I always invited feedback, people knew they could tell me exactly what they thought. Although I based my final decisions on the best information I had at the time, I sometimes received feedback after a memo went out on a change in procedure or strategy from people who weren’t afraid to "lead up" and tell me, "Harry, if this is what you want us to do, we’ll do it. However, are you are aware of the following …?" And, when a change was implemented that made sense, people were quick to provide positive feedback, as well. Information flowed in both directions, which is the sign of a healthy, values-based organization. Leading up requires clarity and confidence. The key here is self-reflection, which is a fundamental principle of values-based leadership. Self-reflection is the gateway to self-awareness, to understand yourself and your values as you relate to and influence others. Personally, I engage in self-reflection at the end of the day when I ask myself questions such as: Did I do what I said I was going to do — and if not, why not? Did I fall short of expectations? How did I treat people? If I could live the day over again, what would I do differently? For leading up, self-reflection can act as an early warning detection system when something feels uncomfortable or "off." Through self-reflection, you become more honest with yourself: "Am I being resistant to change, or am I truly concerned?" As you decide to voice your opinion, such as about a new strategy or policy, self-reflection will keep you aware of your motivation. Am I acting in my own interest (wanting to "look good" or make someone else "look bad") or am I really acting in the interest of the organization?" With the insights gained from self-reflection, you can go to your boss with more clarity and confidence. Perhaps your boss didn’t see things as you did and is open to feedback. As you present your argument logically — why something doesn’t make sense, is not in the best interest of the organization, or is not grounded in values — your boss may very well come on board. If your boss doesn’t get it, and perhaps doesn’t want to get it, you will be faced with another challenge. Your only chance here is to go to your boss’s boss. Before taking that step, self-reflection keeps you grounded: "Has anything my boss said changed my mind? Am I ego-invested at all?" If you remain convinced about speaking up, it’s time to take the step of asking for a meeting with your boss’s boss—and inviting your boss to come along so there is no question about what is said or decided. As organizations respond more quickly to changes in the competitive landscape, getting feedback from across the ranks is imperative. Those who have the clarity and confidence to "lead up" by speaking up are demonstrating their values-based leadership. They are committed to doing the right things for the right reasons — and acting in the best interest of the organization. Erich Schwartzel, "How Jeffrey Katzenberg Is Rewriting Dreamworks’ Script," The Wall Street Journal, March 29, 29015. Jon Ostrower, "At Boeing, Innovation Means Small Steps, Not Giant Laps," The Wall Street Journal, April 2, 2015. Harry M. Jansen Kraemer Jr. is the author of "Becoming the Best: Build a World-Class Organization through Values-Based Leadership" (Wiley, 2015), and the best-selling "From Values to Action: The Four Principles of Values-Based Leadership." Kraemer is the former chairman and CEO of Baxter International. If you enjoyed this article, join SmartBrief’s e-mail list for our daily newsletter on being a better, smarter leader. Related Posts: Will your company change or die? The truth about people and change — and what to do about it How to involve yourself in change Subtle sabotage: The invisible impediment to change Exude confidence when speaking to your CEO, part 2 "Leading Up": Being a values-based leader at any level originally published by SmartBlogs

SmartBlog on Education is shining a light on education technology innovations during May, exploring the latest products and tools and the hottest trends in ed-tech. In this blog post, we learn how education leader Fred Ende uses Voxer. I’m sorry. I just can’t stop talking about how much I love Voxer. Seriously, have I mentioned Voxer and how much I love using it? I was first introduced to Voxer last spring, and at first, I thought of it as a handy Walkie-Talkie tool. It was easy to use, and it fit a need I had with my current phone (plus it was free), so I figured, why not? But, it wasn’t until late summer, when a number of my colleagues and I found ourselves in a large Voxer group that the tool’s incredible worth became clear to me. For those who haven’t yet had the opportunity to experience Voxer : Check it out. It can be downloaded at no cost from the Apple, Google and Windows stores. Imagine a tool that takes the best of text messaging and photo sharing and add in the emotion and inflection of voicemail messages. In effect, Voxer allows for asynchronous verbal communication with the added bonus of being able to incorporate text, photos and file sharing. The premise of using Voxer is simple. Touch the orange button to talk. But though the premise might be simple, the impact is complex, and, in all honesty, life-altering. Let me explain. Since Voxer allows for the creation of closed groups (up to 15 people in the free version), you immediately know that your thoughts are safe. You can have difficult conversations and explore challenging ideas with others whose thoughts help to shape you as a learner, a leader and a person. You can delve deeply into exploring an idea, with conversations that last for days, without having the conversations seem to last for days (if that makes sense). While truly, all this is great, for me, the life-altering aspect is tied to the reflection that Voxer almost forces you to engage in. I love to talk. And, truth be told, there are times when I probably talk a little bit more than I should. While I’ve been told that I’m a great listener, I know that I’m a great talker (and by the way, lest you think my ego needs some checking, "great" here doesn’t necessarily have to do with the quality of what I say; the quantity of words that come out of my mouth tends to be substantial). I’m proud to say that Voxer has helped me grow tremendously in this area through two different means. First, when you push the "talk" button, you’re on the clock. Literally. The minute that orange button goes to green, a timer starts running. I never really thought about my talk time before (aside from in a very general way, like saying to myself, "I can’t talk for too long at the start of this meeting" or "I only have 10 minutes in this agenda; how am I going to make the use of that time?"), so seeing the seconds and minutes fly by was eye-opening. I’ve begun to use five minutes as my marker, thinking ahead to what I want to say so I can get it across in the clearest and most concise manner possible. Sometimes it works. Sometimes it doesn’t. But I’m getting better. Second, unlike with an in-person conversation, there is never an opportunity for "uncomfortable" silence. All the silence on Voxer is, by nature, comfortable. I often provide the most helpful responses to queries and requests for feedback when I’ve had time to think. The fact that, with Voxer, a question can be asked, and the asker doesn’t have any preconceived notions on when (or necessarily who) will answer it is incredibly liberating. This extended wait time is exactly what we all need if we are going to best process the information we’re buffeted with daily. I can clearly state that I’ve become a more consistent reflector of my own thinking, and the thinking of others, because of Voxer’s design. I can speak to the wonders of this tool not just from its impact on me, but also on others that I work with. I recently facilitated a workshop on incorporating various "newer" technology tools into professional development work. When it came time to explore Voxer, we engaged in an asynchronous article reflection, from five different areas of our campus, enjoying the great weather, eachother’s "virtual" company and the reflection time we had in between comments (or voxes). Voxer has the potential to make protocol work even more powerful, by helping participants to give thought the time it needs to grow well. No tool is perfect, but for me, Voxer is pretty darn close. What I want from any tool (new technology or old) is an ability to put it down or turn it off feeling like I’ve built my own capacity to become a better learner and leader in using it. Voxer might be "push to talk," but it has required no push to get me to see how I’ve become better from its existence. Fred Ende (@fredende) is the director of SCIENCE 21 and currently serves as assistant director of Curriculum and Instructional Services for Putnam/Northern Westchester BOCES. Fred is an ASCD Emerging Leader and along with writing here, he also blogs at ASCD EDge. If you enjoyed this article, join SmartBrief’s email list for more stories about education. We offer newsletters covering EdTech, Higher Education and more. Related Posts: SmartBrief honors innovative bloggers: Meet this month’s winners The serious business of classroom fun Evolution of the "good" teacher Whole child? Whole learner Cyberschools: Tips for launching a local program Leading inside the Vox originally published by SmartBlogs

Customer loyalty is very hard to gain in an era where countless businesses are offering the same products and services to the same audience. Customers have lots of choices, and as soon as they find the "supposedly" next best thing, they take their money, family and friends with them. Instead of just building a customer loyalty program, focus on building WOW customer experience and the loyalty will follow. A WOW customer experience is when a business is really great at providing their customers with amazing products and also genuinely provides excellent service. When a customer experiences both components simultaneously and consistently, it activates an emotion that creates loyalty and trust, which turns that customer into a walking word-of-mouth marketer for your business. Now imagine having 100 or 500 customers just like that. You now start to build a tribe of supporters for your business. In reality, not all businesses are built like that. Some businesses have awesome products but bad customer service, and other businesses have not-so great products but amazing customer service. Here are 3 ways to build an effective WOW Customer Experience: 1) Experiment Most times it might not be a direct competitor that your customers are cheating on you with. It’s new fads or new business concepts that enter the marketplace instead. This doesn’t mean you need to change your entire menu, product line, or service to compete, but it’s good to experiment with other offerings without comprising your existing business. For example, if you’re an Italian restaurant and a new Mexican restaurant is attracting your customers, do not start selling Mexican food. However, if your customers are continuously asking about gluten-free options, you can highlight the gluten-free items on your menu or consider adding more gluten-free options for them to choose from. You should do these things not because they are the "hot thing" to do, but because you really care about making your customers happy and providing them with an enjoyable experience. 2) Tools It is very important to have the right tools in order to build a great customer-service experience. They will help you to conveniently and efficiently manage your relationships with your customers. Consider these three tools to use: FiveStars FiveStars helps small businesses create custom rewards, where any customer can sign up with just his or her phone number. It takes care of your customer engagement needs with automated campaigns, including incentives to bring back lapsed customers and special rewards on birthdays. In a head-to-head comparison, FiveStars gets nine times more members than other rewards programs. Something that I really love about Fivestars is that business owners control their own rewards and promotion content and own all of the data, including contact information and notes. A great example of a business that is seeing great results by creating a WOW customer experience and utilizing FiveStars loyalty program is Hwy 55 Burgers, Shakes & Fries. According to a recent feature by Loyalty360, the restaurant’s same-store sales shot up 18% thanks in part to their customer-experience program. They take customer service very serious and this is built in their business’ philosophy of each and every employee, including the founder. When you really care about creating a five-star experience for your customers, it will show. Sociallybuzz App The SociallyBuzz app is the easiest, simplest and most affordable way for business owners to manage their social media channels and online reputation on one mobile dashboard. This is important because it helps small business owners manage their relationships with their customers on multiple social media channels. The relationship is what drives a customer to build trust with a business, which in turn repeats business and encourages true word-of-mouth promotions from customers. This social media manager app also helps small business owners manage their online reputations. A business’ reputation is probably the most important aspect of anything previously listed here because any negative reviews may prevent a customer from visiting a business, or worse, if those reviews receive no responses. Business owners who respond to negative reviews show other customers that they are eager to own up to faults or explain the situation if not. And, more importantly, they show that they care about customers’ feedback and experiences. With great reviews and an engaged business owner, more customers will come to a business. SocialToaster SocialToaster helps you engage your fans and makes sharing your content over their social networks easy. I like the context of SocialToaster because it uses gamification to amplify word-of-mouth recommendations from the most trusted source, your customers. Once your social community connects their social media accounts, SocialToaster will activate them to help your business have a larger reach, more influence and higher visibility. Rewarding your tribe and providing them with the tools and resources to help them share your message is a sure way to create a WOW customer experience. 3) Conversation Think about this for a second: how do you communicate with your customers? Is it one-way, where you’re always talking about what you offer and what your customers must do for you? Or is it a two-way conversation in which you listen, engage and create meaningful conversations with your customers? Conversations with your customers must feel natural and not forced. Creating a WOW customer experience is not a marketing strategy or tactic. This should be part of your culture and your business’ DNA. Taking this approach will ensure that all your employees will treat your customers the same way as if you, the owner, were talking with them. Having all your employees on the same page creates less confusion and a genuine expectation to create a five-star experience for your customers. Doing any or all of the above will show your customers that you’re listening and care about their needs. Andre Kay is CEO and founder of Sociallybuzz, which exists to help businesses grow using social media. By helping them reach relevant customers, build customer loyalty, mange reputation and increase revenue. We protect relationship with their customer, create effective campaigns, manage their social channels and online reputation 24/7. Read the company’s blog and follow it on Twitter and Instagram. Related Posts: Andy's Answers: How to create your word of mouth marketing plan Social loyalty programs pay off for retailers 3 signs your small business is ready for Snapchat Social marketing success begins with a strategy A look inside Wells Fargo’s new social media "command center" How to create a WOW customer experience originally published by SmartBlogs