Andy Ciordia

"Hi Stephen, these brownie bites are the ones we've always had. A semi-sweet interior with a dark-semi coating. Hope that helps!" - Andy Ciordia

"I really enjoyed this. The adage is 'always be testing' but we get complacent after a while due to the time requirements. A great reminder of it and some nice practical advice." - Andy Ciordia

"What I can learn from Taco Bell is they have a budget for a team of social media managers. When you're a SMB and wear 40 hats each day it's really hard to be everything to everyone. It would be nice if the tools that are out there would better allow uniqueness than clone message stamping but they all echo the same abilities with very little innovation between them. All we can do is keep slugging it out against those with means. Doesn't mean we don't care. Just means we're trying to do what we can in the little slices of availability we have to deal with it all." - Andy Ciordia

"Also good to think about how some of these companies are alternative marketing. Costco has a huuuge presence in the business community. They are at every Chamber event soliciting. They use their spaces weekly for speed-networking. If they get your businesses business then they have a high likelihood of getting your families business and that in itself is infectious. Krispy Kreme is also a very big nonprofit sponsor giving away a lot of product at differing events. It's like my families chocolate shop, we can't afford good deep marketing campaigns so we try and figure out where we can be a part of events, donations, etc all in an effort to work the brand without working the dollars. Alternative marketing methods help just as well as some direct approaches." - Andy Ciordia

"Our local community college has a full chocolate lab. Pretty swift. I couldn't imagine doing competitions though. Too much pressure and a huge waste. We run a chocolate shop and enjoy going for taste. When you make a competition piece you waste so much chocolate it makes us feel bad." - Andy Ciordia

"They should just scrap links as a measure of authority all together. Then we won't have to worry about this. It's like folding a piece of paper, you can only fold it so many times before you just can't fold it anymore. Are we there yet with link restrictions?" - Andy Ciordia

"The city is incredibly expensive as a tourist since every bit of the local economy is water taxi'd in. The locals don't live there because the cost is too high. If you want to see Venice sink faster than it is, add more costs on to going there. Maybe it should sink then become a great marine exploratorium. I'll scuba around the old sites." - Andy Ciordia

"Why does everyone want me to move.. Wands, wrist bands, big gestures.. It makes me tired just thinking about the era of Moving.. sometimes a track pad or joystick just keeps it simple. If they can refine the ideas down to small, simple, little input, little gestures and still retainly the low latency high response rate you might have me.. otherwise I'm exhausted just by the demo." - Andy Ciordia

"In the past few years we've seen a serious decline in our retail foursquare usage and that's not to say we don't use the platform or promote it. I'd look at how Yelp regional community managers work to keep their platform moving forward at a lightening pace. Somehow there needs to be a better support network and reason for using it otherwise becoming a Zagat or Yelp isn't going to help find traction in an already diluted market." - Andy Ciordia

"Looks like good marketing materials to me. I'm going to use it more often since it has no date specific information on it." - Andy Ciordia

"Always fun to participate. The Secret Chocolatier is going to discount any of our 4oz chocolate bark for $4.16 (reg $6.5). http://thesecretchocolatier.co... Hope to see some locals stop out! We need more 4Sq support in Charlotte." - Andy Ciordia

"I don't know if this is a disclaimer or just me doing business but as an owner of The Secret Chocolatier we get all of our media framed here. We're currently up to 7 pieces and I hope it doesn't slow…" - Andy Ciordia

"Biggs has been a landmark in Charlotte photography for years. I'm glad they exist, I'm glad they have staff that knows what they are doing, and I'm glad they support my photog needs. Need a long lens…" - Andy Ciordia