While there are many important people responsible for Forkfly’s success, Deanna Uutela has been an instrumental member of the team since she joined early this year. Many people may know her as the voice of Forkfly through her tweets and witty comments, but she’s also a key part of Forkfly’s day to day operations as our executive coordinator. Earlier this week, Rob Macy (one of our interns form Portland State University) spoke with Deanna about her experiences working for Forkfly and to discuss her thoughts on social media and helping out merchants.
So, Deanna, can you tell us a little about yourself and your background experience? Well, I got my bachelors in journalism and multimedia at University of Oregon. From there I worked at a couple different newspapers and Alternative Weekly. As most people know, newspapers are not doing very well. Which means I had to switch my goals regarding where I wanted to work. I kind of stumbled upon marketing and media oriented work, and for awhile I worked for a few different small businesses. Then I moved to Portland and I found Forkfly! I was really interested in this position because I felt like this is a company that is going to be around for a long while. It’s innovative mobile-social marketing, that not a lot of companies are currently using.
And can you explain what you do for Forkfly? I’m the executive coordinator for Forkfly. When I was hired we talked about how I was actually gonna be the Jack, or Jill, of all trades in the office. I handle much of the social media, office managerial work, and I’m a personal assistant in many ways. Pretty much anything that needs to be done, I handle it.
What would you describe as Forkfly’s competitive advantage over other media services? A lot of marketing companies that I have worked for were sticking with print media. That was their main focus, print media, television, radio, and all that. Now everything is converting towards viewing ads online – whether it be on a smartphone or PC. Forkfly is completely focused on the mobile internet – all our attention is on being mobile. People are surfing the web more on their phones than their home computers and so I think the fact that we are one of the few companies who have jumped on this trend early will allow us to be successful in competing.
What is the importance, or value-ad, that personalization adds to Forkfly’s platform and service? I think that it is very important. Since I started working here I have been thinking about what I value as a consumer. Specifically, what I value out of a merchant that I’m shopping. The fact that everything is automated online means that you know they haven’t spent any time actually communicating with you. I hate that, and I end up not wanting anything to do with them. I feel like everything needs to be personalized, and you can’t treat all of your users the same. You need to make sure everyone feels special. With Forkfly 2.0 and beyond, we have planned in features that are powered by personal preferences.
How would you describe the relationship between merchants and Forkfly? Well I think going in with the 2.0 version in particular, we realize that connecting consumers with merchants is the lifeblood of our business. So beyond training on using Forkfly, we are offering them social media classes so they are able to take advantage of the entire conversational marketing spectrum. We are even going to the extent to make sure that their websites are optimized for mobile viewing. Just because you have a website does not mean it’s transferable to a phone. Merchants are getting a lot of personal attention and training. We’re always here and I will call merchants if they have issues or if they experience a problem and post a question. I will always answer them immediately, and there is never a wait time. I think this is something that has kept our merchants from Forkfly 1.0 with us today.
What is your favorite part of working here? I really enjoy the atmosphere, I love that we are more of a little family and that we joke with and support each other. If something needs to be done, we will work together to accomplish it. We play music everyday and so that’s really fun. I love coming in to work everyday, and not many people can say that.
I think that also shows up in the work wouldn’t you say? Exactly, of course we are working non-stop, but the fun that we do have I think we put into product. It is easy to get people to want to be involved or attract merchants because it’s something that we really believe in.
Lastly, are there any places in Portland that you particularly enjoy or like to hang out at? So I haven’t been in Portland that long, only since September, but I have this bar/restaurant a block from my house called Bar Carlo. I go there at least 4 times per week and I just love it. It’s just one of those place where I can go and read a book. Of course I also really enjoy Hawthorne for shopping. The Red Light in particular is my favorite place for shopping in Portland. Actually I haven’t found one place in Portland that I haven’t liked. Just everywhere I go is great!
