Young Grand Rapids professionals launch social media management company

Deborah Johnson WoodThree young professionals have launched a social media management company in Grand Rapids and they say word about their services is spreading fast. Jordan Sipperley, 22, Patrick Szabo, 20 and Joelle Workman, 21, launched Social Net Mgmt in December after striking up a conversation with Betsy Borden, owner of Peninsula Trading Travel Gear, 972 Cherry SE. “Patrick made a connection because he was a customer in her shop,” Sipperley says. “They chatted about ways to get people into the store. Patrick said I can help you with that, are you on Facebook and Twitter?”Social Net Mgmt built Peninsula Trading a Facebook page, created a Twitter identity and is rebuilding the store’s web site. They gather information from Borden about store specials, new products and things going on with travel and backpacking, and then update the store’s social networking sites with the information. Borden says she was so pleased with the results she spread the word. “Since December we’ve landed clients like Wealthy at Charles and Gaia Cafe,” Sipperley says, “and we’re negotiating with six other clients who plan to launch web sites, and Facebook and Twitter accounts by mid-February.”The three owners work from their homes or coffee shops until they can set up offices in a space together, an event Sipperley hopes will happen by early summer. All three live in or near the East Hills business district. “We know how we feel when social networking is targeted at us; we don’t like feeling tricked into things,” Sipperley says. “More people are on Facebook and Twitter, so we’re meeting people where they already are, sharing info they might want and giving them ideas.”Szabo and Workman do much of the graphic design that’s needed. The company partnered with Drew Melton of justlucky for expertise with client branding campaigns. Source: Jordan Sipperley, Social Net Mgmt; Betsy Borden, Peninsula Trading Travel GearRelated ArticlesNew East Hills store is a traveler’s paradiseDeborah Johnson Wood is development news editor for Rapid Growth Media. She can be contacted at deborah@rapidgrowthmedia.com.