What started as a hunt for a larger office space to house Blue Skies Marketing and CodeGeek.net has evolved into a unique co-working arrangement for eight Fort Collins Internet-related businesses: The Hive. Located downstairs in the historic National Guard Armory building at 314 E. Mountain Avenue in Fort Collins, The Hive provides an efficient way for small businesses that otherwise might operate out of a home or temporary office to come together collectively to share office space in a collaborative setting.

Earlier this month, I had the opportunity to talk with Blue Skies Marketing’s Laurie Macomber and CodeGeek.net’s Ron Zasadzinski—the minds behind The Hive—to find out more about it.

Please share the story of how The Hive came about.

LM: The Hive is a housing venture for Ron and me, rather than a business venture. We had shared an office at The Executive Center [123 N. College Avenue, Suite 200], and we just outgrew it. We started to look for a larger space that would accommodate us, and after touring numerous possibilities, our agent showed us the Armory building. We instantly loved the layout and the funkiness of the space—and the price was right—but it was way bigger than what we needed for just our two companies.

RZ: Blue Skies Marketing and CodeGeek work with a lot of the same customers on different aspects of their Web projects, and we collaborate with a lot of other Web-focused service providers as well. We thought it would be more efficient—and more fun—if we were all located in the same place. This way, we can provide resources and support to each other and pass along referrals. But that wasn’t our objective when we started out—it’s really just happenstance how it all came about.

You say that The Hive isn’t a business venture for you. Will you expand on that a bit?

RZ: At this point, The Hive is an experiment for us. We have a lease on the Armory space through December 31, 2009, but we’re not exactly sure what will happen in 2010. We hope we’ll be able to stay here or find a similar space elsewhere, but we’ll have to see what happens.

LM: Also, we aren’t competing at all with organizations that offer office space and support services as a business, such as The Executive Center or Front Range Business Centers. We’re not out to make a business from The Hive—we just loved the space and wanted to find a way that we could use it. We more or less hand-picked the companies we approached to share this space with us. They’re like-minded companies in the Internet field that share our belief in the value of collaboration—the TEAM concept—you know, “together each accomplishes more.” So it’s nice to see it play out.

What eight businesses make up The Hive?

LM: In addition to Blue Skies Marketing and CodeGeek.net, Midnight Oil Graphics, Acorn Creative Studio, Final Draft Communications, Floating Point Media, Joe’s Media and InfoProductSpecialist share the space.

What do businesses “get” from being part of The Hive?

LM: Because the rent is very affordable, The Hive provides the opportunity for small-business owners who might be isolated in a home office to have an office outside their home in a collaborative setting. The Hive members rent a small workspace with a desk and Internet service from us, and they have access to a terrific conference room for meetings with their clients or other collaborators. We provide a microwave and refrigerator (which we got through Craigslist, by the way!), but we don’t offer phone service or a receptionist—everyone just uses their cell phone and takes care of their own administrative needs.

RZ: There are a lot of benefits for The Hive members. For one, the office is right downtown, so we’re within walking distance to a lot of restaurants and other businesses, which is convenient. And the collaborators are people we would work with anyway—now we just don’t have to drive somewhere else when we need to meet. Another benefit is having experts right at hand for answering questions. The community is extremely positive, supportive and energetic. It’s fun to be together.

What makes The Hive unique from other office-space arrangements in Northern Colorado?

RZ: One factor is that all the companies here provide some type of Web-related service, so even though we’re independent businesses, there’s a strong sense of unity. And a second factor is the belief we share in the importance of collaboration over competition. We’ve found there’s plenty of work out there for everyone, and collaborating vs. competing is much more productive and fun for all of us.

It’s been more than a month since The Hive’s open house and almost two months since you moved in. How are things going? Have there been any surprises?

LM: We’re extremely pleased with the support we’ve had so far for this venture. We’ve filled the space at this point, and we’ve also started a waiting list for interested businesses. One very pleasant surprise has been to find out how quiet the building is! The way the building is constructed, we find that even though it’s an open floor plan, each workspace is remarkably quiet—we don’t hear each other on the phone, for example.

RZ: The Hive is also a great space for social gatherings. Besides the open house we held in August, which was very well attended, we’re planning another community get-together on October 15, 2009, from 5–7 p.m. We invite everyone to stop by and see what we’re all about.

The capability to host social gatherings was something Laurie and I were excited about when we first saw the space. So much business today is about building community through networking, and face-to-face social gatherings play an important role in that effort. In addition to hosting events at The Hive, Laurie and I curate Ignite Fort Collins, and we’re very active in the Fort Collins Internet Pros [FCIP] Meetup group that Debbie Campbell [Red Kite Creative] started.

LM: We definitely encourage everyone who’s interested in any of these activities to get involved and check them out.

In your opinion, what long-term role will The Hive play in promoting and enabling new marketing tactics throughout Northern Colorado?

LM: Well, that’s hard to say at this point. When you get a group of creative people together, it’s hard to predict what synergies will come out. One idea leads to another and another, and who knows in the future what kind of sandbox we’ll be playing in? But this is the age of cooperation and collaboration, and there’s so much excitement and energy—it’s all around us. Fort Collins is such a great city for business—#2 in the Forbes list this year.

Before we conclude, please tell me a little bit about each of your companies.

LM: Blue Skies Marketing is an SEO [search engine optimization] company that specializes in keyword research, site planning and content creation. We collaborate with CodeGeek on Ignite, FCIP and our new Social Media Jockey venture.

RZ: CodeGeek.net is a full-service Web design and development company. We specialize in elegant design and standards-based coding, and what sets us apart is our team. For years, we’ve networked with professionals across the country, so when clients come in with special requirements, we can bring in exactly the right expert. As Laurie mentioned, CodeGeek and Blue Skies Marketing collaborate on numerous projects, and we share a number of clients.

Social Media Jockey sounds interesting. What’s that about?

LM: Social Media Jockey is a joint venture that Ron and I recently started. In essence, we “ride the social media horse” for our clients on Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn. We help clients construct their profiles, build their tribes and write posts. We’re excited to see where this type of service leads.

Do you have any final thoughts for readers?

LM: I’d just like to encourage people who have a wild idea to pursue it—say yes to your instincts! The reward is certainly worth the risk—there’s just so much to gain.

Contact The Hive

The Hive
314 E. Mountain Avenue (downstairs)
Fort Collins, CO 80521

Mark your calendars for the next social gathering:
Thursday, October 15, 2009
5–7 p.m.

Ron Zasadzinski
Web Developer
CodeGeek.net
970.227.0489
ronz@codegeek.net
Twitter: @ron_z

Laurie Macomber
President
Blue Skies Marketing
970.631.6496
laurie@blueskiesmktg.com
Twitter: @lauriemacomber

So, you’ve committed to participating in social media. How’s that working out so far for your business? Are you measuring what you do? Do you know whether you’re succeeding? And just how do you stack up against your competition? If you need help answering these questions, ENGAGEMENTdb might be just the tool for you.

ENGAGEMENTdb

In late July 2009, Altimeter Group (headed by Charlene Li, formerly of Forrester Research) and Wetpaint released the results of a study ranking the social media engagement of the world’s top 100 brands (as identified by BusinessWeek/Interbrand in 2008). The study measured the number of social media channels the top brands participated in, as well as their degree of engagement within each channel, then ranked the companies based on their cumulative score (1–127).

Brands scoring 100 or more include

1. Starbucks (127)
2. Dell (123)
3. eBay (115)
4. Google (105)
5. Microsoft (103)
6. Thomson Reuters (101)
7. Nike (100)

By quartile, the scores break out like this: top quartile—50 or higher, second-highest quartile—27 to 49, third-highest quartile—14 to 24 and lowest quartile—1 to 12.

In addition to publishing a report of the findings, Altimeter Group and Wetpaint also launched the ENGAGEMENTdb website. There you can download a pdf of the report, use the search tool to find detailed information about the social media channels each company uses and read expert commentary about the findings. But most intriguing is the tool that lets you evaluate your (or your competitors’) social media efforts and compare them with the most valuable brands. Are you game to give this tool a try?

How the Tool Works

ENGAGEMENTdb asks you to complete a quick, five-question survey to determine your company’s level of engagement and how your score compares with the top 100 companies. After taking the survey, you receive a customized report via email (a great idea for collecting leads, BTW).

Here’s a summary of the data the survey collects:

• All the social media tools that your company uses to engage customers (blog, Facebook, LinkedIn, Scribd, YouTube, calendar/events, Flickr, MySpace, Twitter, Delicious, forums, ratings, wiki)
• On a scale of 1 to 5, where 1 is Not Active at All and 5 is Very Active, the activity level of your customers on the social media channels your company participates in (Active means visiting the site, posting comments and questions, uploading content, etc.)
• On a scale of 1 to 5, where 1 is Not Responsive at All and 5 is Very Responsive, the level of your company’s responsiveness to customer activity on your social media channels
• Your company’s level of involvement in its social media efforts, as indicated by the following four descriptors:

Very—lots of people, lots of investment, broad corporate interest
Involved—several people, reasonable investment, select corporate interest
Somewhat—few people, some investment, debatable corporate interest
Minimally—sole individual responsible, minimal investment, little corporate interest

• The type of industry that best fits your company

Your ENGAGEMENTdb Analysis

Once you complete the survey, you receive a report via email that reveals your overall ENGAGEMENTdb assessment: your score, a summary of the number of social media channels you engage in and an indication of whether your score falls above or below the best-fit line for the top brands. The overall assessment also identifies the engagement profile that you fit:

• Maven: Presence in a high number of social media channels; high engagement within those channels (High presence; High engagement)
• Selective: Low presence; High engagement
• Butterfly: High presence; Low engagement
• Wallflower: Low presence; Low engagement

Last, the report also discloses how you compare with others in your industry and offers implications of your social media strategy.

How Significant Info Stacks Up

When I took the survey for my marketing research/content marketing business, Significant Info, I found the process to be very straightforward and the results useful. I’d love to report that Significant Info scored right up there with the leading brands, but the company has some work to do yet to get there. I’ll use this evaluation as a baseline to compare efforts going forward. Here are the key points in the report:

• ENGAGEMENTdb score: 39.5
• Compared with the top 100 brands, Significant Info falls above the best-fit line
• Significant Info is engaged in fewer channels (4—blog, Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter) than the overall average (6)
• Significant Info fits the Selective engagement profile
• Business Services brands typically engage more in fewer channels; Significant Info falls above the best-fit line for Business Services and engages in fewer channels than the Business Services average (6)

How Does Your Company Stack Up?

Go ahead—give the tool a whirl! Use ENGAGEMENTdb to find out how your company scores in its social media efforts. Even if you’re just starting out, the results can provide a valuable incentive to commit time, energy and investment in social media. What do you have to lose?