Russell Chisholm, owner of The Easy Chair Coffee Shop and author of Staying Connected to the Local and Global Coffee Culture Using Twitter for Handshake 2.0, was featured in the January 2010 issue of Valley Business FRONT.

Here's a screenshot of the article. You can read the full story by "turning" to page 36 in the January issue of VBF.

You're invited to follow The Easy Chair Coffee Shop on Twitter @baristanomics and to read more about the Easy Chair Coffee Shop on Handshake 2.0.

Handshake 2.0 asked Russell Chisholm, owner of The Easy Chair Coffee Shop, "What have been the business results, if any, of your one-month use of Twitter?"

From Russell Chisholm:

One month in the Twitterverse - as @baristanomics - has impacted The Easy Chair Coffee Shop in ten critical ways:

1. Immediate sales.  Within one day of posting about a new Ethiopia Sidamo coffee we were roasting, we sold out of that day’s production.
2. A new program.  After Tweeting about a used book exchange we were offering during the Independence Day holiday, we received hundreds of books, all traded for cups of coffee and specialty beverages.  This was a great way to launch our new used book section.
3. Increased website traffic.  Direct referrals from Twitter to our websites have resulted in a 37 percent increase in traffic to NovaRoast.com.
4. Increased brand awareness.  One of the most common responses to our coffee-related Tweets has been, “I didn’t know you guys roast your own coffee.”
5. Competitiveness.  A Tweet alerted us that a national coffee chain is now purchasing coffee from a small farm with whom we deal.  We will re-examine how we market those beans.
6. Education.  Learning from industry leaders like @IndieBoundMeg, @CoffeeGeek and @SherriJohns has compelled us to stay focused on improving our skills.
7. New networks.  Staying connected with local entrepreneurs like @RecycleNRV and @BRCmagazine has enabled us to gain more followers.
8. New markets.  Following media and public service users like @Bburgevents led to opportunities to sell our coffee outside of the shop.
9. Growing existing networks.  Employees, customers, friends and family stay in touch and retweet relevant posts.
10. Supporting our customers.  Spreading good will by retweeting posts from our wholesale customers has kept the experience fun and helped promote our coffee through those businesses.

I hope to see more customer feedback, new product requests, and referrals so that @baristanomics continues to be a fun and effective way to stay connected to the local and global coffee culture.

***

The Easy Chair Coffee Shop and Nova Roast Craft Roasters are located at the University Mall, Blacksburg, Virginia.

Nick Ross and Ben Rowan, baristas at The Easy Chair Coffee Shop, shake hands in front of Easy Chair's coffee roaster inside their University Mall location in Blacksburg, Virginia.

The Easy Chair Coffee Shop is online at Nova Roast,  This is Coffee - Nova Roast Coffee Blog, Blacksburg Reads, and on Twitter, @baristanomics.