by christine | Nov 22, 2012 | Branding, Business Success, Interactive, Social Media
The Social Media skills now required to maintain a good social media reputation has evolved. Most of us (businesses and brands) have our social listening strategy in place, writing content and posting on our social media accounts. So…how is it going? Are you monitoring your accounts, interacting with your followers on each account? If you are, good. We all know that it’s imperative to listen to what your customers have to say… as this will keep your brand honest and transparent.
Does your social media strategy include the necessary social media skills?
Being proactive in your social media accounts has never been more important. With the daily launches of new social media blogs and sites, keeping on top of your brand’s social calendar takes time and resources. Don’t lose faith! These efforts can and will be reap Brand rewards in the end. Engagement with your customers is imperative to keep the “stickiness” on your sites and also loyalty and trust with your brand. More importantly understanding and knowing how to handling both positive and negative feedback properly can be indeed a powerful tool to gain loyalty from your target audience and enhancing their experience with your brand. Keep in mind these steps below to become socially proactive:
1. Proactive and engagement on your social accounts should be your primary measurement of how your brand is doing. Keep an active conversation with your customers, so when and if a problem arises you can respond quickly with a solution
2. Respond Quickly to all Social Media Feedback, especially negative.
3. Don’t script your response. Be human and sensitive… an actual “real” live sensitive caring person (customized responses will go a long way to creating a supportive community online).
4. Support your response with detailed information; again give qualified information to help turn the negative experience into a resolved, positive experience. (We all remember being on the other end of those endless customer automated phone messages…that keep telling us to press the next sequence of number’s to get help, but in the end, it feels like we are on a never ending carousel spinning round and round, and in the end we hang up out of frustration or just get lost in a loop of unhelpful automated annoying computer generated voices.) We want our customers to feel that someone is actually listening and with a positive timely response your customers will probably post a very sincere thank you back and become a loyal customer in the end.
5. Dedicated customer service email and resources are a must. In support to #3, you have to specifically set up for your social media accounts. This will help garner a great customer support service within your social media communities. You should allow for a dedicated resource for these platforms to monitor what’s being talked about online and also join in on the conversation to build strong relationships and provide positive customer experiences.
6. Be Honest and Transparent…this will go a long way for validating that yes we all make mistakes, but lets work together to fix it and make it better by actually listening to what your customers are saying.
7. Be Empathic, stay objective. Look at it from the consumers point of view, have all your facts and as said earlier try to resolve as quickly as possible.
Now to make it all work! Now that you have your social listening strategy, resources, and your social customer service in place you need to add some tools to help you get the edge on your competition by taking charge of your social media and your online presence. You can start with some free resources and or customized packages. No tools work the same, so do your research. This is just a small sampling of links below to get you started:
RSS Feeds, Google Alerts, Track Tweets, Comments and Discussions on fan boards, etc, and Netvibes
Want to know more about social media? Download Social Media Understood here.
Please feel free to add comments, tips, and suggestions; I always like to hear how other people adapt new strategies to their social accounts. And remember be Proactive!
by christine | Nov 19, 2012 | Business Success, Interactive, Social Media
Great, you now have your Facebook, linkedin, Twitter, Pinterest accounts in place. Fingers on the keyboard and ready to write and hit that submit button. Stop! So now what? Well, you may want to hold off on populating all those accounts. Why, you ask? Well, did you prepare a social brief? How do you know if your audience participates on all the accounts you have signed up for? Have you been monitoring their social media activity on different social communities? If you’re not sure, let’s step back a bit …You develop briefs for print, TV, web, and mobile, so don’t forget to write one for social. I know it can be overwhelming, but if you can create a social strategy that will keep you on point, and you have the talent to help you implement your social accounts, you will become a great social listener and your audience will appreciate it too!
We’ve all heard the phrase, “Content is King”, well before content we need to focus on developing that strategy. This will give you the means and ability to make sense of what you are trying to do, what is the purpose of your social media marketing. By creating a social listening strategy you will understand the importance of “really listening”. In social media, listening is your guide through the continuous online conversations taking place on many social media platforms, being alert and one step ahead, will keep your brand strategy fresh and competitive. Focus on these key steps for success:
1. Who is Your Target Audience(s) and which social platforms to use: Once you have determined who your audience is, it’s imperative to focus on where to engage your audience online. As said earlier, don’t just start opening accounts to social platforms that don’t reflect your brand or your target audience. This could have a negative impact on your marketing campaign and diminish your brand. Research where your audience is already active, capture this data and customize your social media accounts to adapt to your audiences’ socializing habits.
2. Identify the influencers: These are the people who follow, share or friend you. They are more important than the actual volume of traffic. Determining who your influencers are will make all the difference in your listening strategy and ultimately how affectively you have captured the information and affectively communicated with your target audience.
3. What are the keywords and trends in your social world: You want to validate the topics and conversations that matter most to your brand and document them as potential keywords. You then need to determine through social listening if these keywords reflect or resemble the “social speak” that your audience is interested in. Keywords should reflect what’s important to your brand. However, you need to compare your word selection to that of what is being used by your audience. Don’t think traditional marketing here, or specific naming conventions used throughout the industry. Look for real words, used by real people. This approach will help you communicate more successfully with your target audience.
So now that you have your social strategy in place and the talent in place. You can now start selecting your accounts and write content. Make sure you keep it up-to-date and current with specific topics that tie into your brand and relate to your social users…use your customer’s speak, not marketing lingo and always keep it fresh. This will keep your brand on target with your audience…You also need to take a pulse on your brand as it stands today, consistently monitoring social sites that talk about your brand, making sure that your online reputation is strong, active and fresh.
Also, keep in mind that socializing on the Internet is not limited to the traditional social media platforms. Don’t forget about the community blogs, forums and posts, these areas all require your focus and interaction keeping up with conversations across the web to maintain a strong brand presence online and off. Keeping up with what your customers are saying about your product or service will keep you informed and honest about your brand. Yes, this is time consuming, but in the end, the best investment for you to apply, and to keep your brand honest and on target.
Now you are ready to get back to your keyboard and write, and make your Brand a “Social” listener.
Let me know how your social listening strategy has worked for you (do’s / don’ts) and links you might want to share with us pertaining to this topic. Thanks for listening.
by Miriam Hara | Nov 17, 2012 | Business Success, Social Media
The Social Media channel is very misunderstood. Businesses and brands alike are all jumping on the social media bandwagon – with little understanding of how it works and how to really leverage their efforts. Couple this with the fact that Social Media is increasingly becoming the most important qualifier for back links and search engine optimization efforts. It’s important for businesses and brands to understand this channel.
So what do marketers and entrepreneurs need to know and do to effectively use this dynamic social media channel? Here are a few dos and don’ts to remember when get you started:
1) Do make a commitment: There’s a difference between just dabbling in Social Media and seriously engaging with it. This isn’t a channel where you can opt-in or opt-out as you go. Think about Social Media like going to the gym: It isn’t just about showing up… you won’t get any results that way. Not only do you have to do it with intention, you must do it consistently and plan to do it routinely. Decide if you are ready for that commitment. (I hope you are!)
Social Media
2) Don’t just do it: Establish your definition of success before you start. I wouldn’t classify Social Media as a new channel anymore, it is now an emerging channel. And regardless of how you perceive it, it’s still a marketing channel. Like all things in marketing, in order for an initiative to be successful, you need to define what success means. Setting goals, articulating what’s important and why it’s necessary is key. Is it followers? Subscribers? Ranking? Engagement? Retweets? Entrants in a contest? Whatever it is – define it or you may be misplacing your energy and effort.
3) Do have a plan… please!: With so many Social Media outlets making their mark in the channel, it’s a real challenge to keep up with the latest and greatest. Even with the proven, tried and tested sites like YouTube, Facebook, Pinterest, LinkedIn, Instagram (the list goes on and on!), it’s hard to keep up. A handy piece of marketing advise that I always adhere to: If you can’t afford to do everything, pick one thing that will garner your brand or business the most return and do that initiative very well.
4) Don’t underestimate what’s involved: You can’t just fit Social Media in! It isn’t a part-time proposition or an additional task for an existing employee – chances are that role is already maxed out. This is a marketing channel that takes a dedicated, consistent approach. You need to add value, contribute, comment and engage. It doesn’t just happen. It takes research, understanding of messaging and proper brand tone and voice. It’s not just about knowing the platforms, it’s about integrating them and working them. If you want to build a community, you need to be social. It isn’t good enough to just say follow me!… you need to build a solid foundation.
5) Do your homework: Niche is where it’s at! Marketing has always been about segmenting and carving out marketing profiles of targets. Until recently, segmenting (or nicheing as I term it) was cumbersome and sometimes expensive. The beauty of Social Media and it’s digital channels is that it allows you to segment down to a minutia difference in characteristics. It can be as local or as global as you need it to be. And if there’s a defining characteristic of a target, believe me, there’s a group, a page, or a forum out there that is a perfect fit. And it there isn’t… well, isn’t that a wonderful opportunity!
All this to say, businesses and brands alike should get out there and get social with mindfulness and intention.
I’d be interested to hear your comments on the dos and don’ts of Social Media. Please share!
Want to know more about social media? Download Social Media Understood here.
by Miriam Hara | Nov 11, 2012 | Branding, Business Success, Creative
Christmas, Hanukkah and the New Year’s… unbelievable but true, the 2013 Holiday season is upon us and with it comes the annual dilemma: should we send a card via mail or should we send out a digital card?
Maybe it’s because 3H Communications lives in the “creative” world that we feel more angst about this question then most businesses.
If we send a classic paper card via mail… yes with an envelop and stamp… are we going to be perceived as old, traditional or outdated?
Well I have to say, there are 2 schools of thoughts and despite my love to integrate the new, to jump in and be an early adopter of all things in the digital communications playground, I would side with the classic…. an actual mailed card.
If your inbox is anything like mine, you’re being inundated with approximately hundred daily emails. I think I can safely assume that the last thing you and I want is another 30, 40, 100 emails from business partners, friends and suppliers adding to the already crazy inbox we have. Most of the digital cards I receive are amusing, although some are annoying with the imbedded music – but I hardly take note of them, or even view them properly. I just click and then quickly delete. I don’t keep them as they add more clutter to my day. Essentially my inbox at work is… well work – I don’t surf youtube or my personal Facebook page during my work day. When I do get the digital cards, I see from who it’s from and very often, I delete, even before the complete holiday wish is revealed.
Maybe it’s because I work in the creative field… but I believe that receiving a card in the mail still means something. For me it’s always a little moment of anticipation before you actual card is revealed. What’s the design like? What’s the message? Will the use of typeface and design wow me? And I always look at the signature, and if done with the right intent, a little special message that’s just for me! Makes me smile and it actually forces me to take a moment out of the day and “be”. Yes it’s traditional, but I feel it’s more personal. Someone actually took the time to sign it…. maybe write a personal comment… and yes give it to the support team to place it in an envelop and to stamp it. The little number of cards that I received last year were decoratively added to our office tree or added a colourful accent in my office. Granted, you can throw cards out immediately too, just like you can delete an email card, but cards, in my experience tend to stay around for the duration of the holiday season!
I can hear the opposing view saying that if a digital card is done well it will get shared… and I do agree… but still, as a marketer I do believe with so many businesses have going the route of digital cards, printed cards do stand out more and as a result, and in terms of marketing speak, your business will receive more share of “holiday card” mind!
Should businesses spend their energy and money in developing a branded holiday card or go the digital ? I would like to hear your thoughts.
by christine | Nov 9, 2012 | Advertising, Branding, Business Success, Creative, Design
As a creative person, passionate about digital media, graphic design and the visual arts, colour has always been an important factor in my work.
How colours interact with each other or to a specific object can be significant especially in design. The same can be said about how colour relates to your brand and its impact on the consumer and what emotive feeling will be identified with your brand. Will the perception of your brand be a positive or negative behavioural reaction?
Pairing the wrong colour palette with your brand can kill your identity. It’s important to know your target audience, culturally, geographically, gender, age, and also the purpose for your campaign so that you launch your business in the right direction.
Just by viewing a colour in a design, and how it interacts with your brand can completely change or send out a false representation of your brand to the viewer. Colour is such a powerful and important communication tool that it should not be neglected; it is part of our daily actions in life represented in religious, cultural, political and social influences.
Studies have shown when users are shown a bright red hue; it will create a physical feeling of anxiousness and an increase in heart rate. This would not be a good use of colour if used on the interior walls of an emergency room, but if the colour red were associated with food, it would be a positive action to a reaction. You want the consumer to feel hungry and in a response really need to go out and purchase your product.
There is so much more complexity to colour and colour theory and I could go on, but maybe I will save that for another blog.
*Just a note you may want to check out a few of my favourite artist’s that were really the pioneers with colour theory– Wassily Kandinsky and Franz Marc to name a couple.
Marc
http://www.franzmarc.org/The-Red-Horses.jsp
http://artsconnected.org/collection/111185/franz-marc
Kandinsky
http://www.wassilykandinsky.net/
by Lindsay Sleightholm | Nov 8, 2012 | Business Success, Creative, Design
There are many questions in life that we are faced with that have yet to be answered. Some of those are: What came first, the chicken or the egg? Is the sky blue? And, is graphic design art? Most people have an opinion on all of these, but there remains no definitive answer. Ignoring the first two, let’s just dive into: Is graphic design art? This question has been debated for a long time. The following is a little food for thought.
What is art?
Art – specifically visual art – is difficult to define. Not simply because of its artistic nature, but also because what is deemed as art is constantly changing. And we as a society have never quite been able to make our minds up about what art really is.
In fact it wasn’t until just before the 20th century that anything other than fine art (that is, painting, sculpture and architecture) was actually considered to be art. Then came the Arts and Crafts movement, resulting in the shift to include the applied arts, decorative arts and crafts into the mix – meaning that everything from painting to interior design was termed as art.
So what is visual art today? Well Encyclopedia Britannica describes it as “a visual object or experience consciously created through an expression of skill or imagination.” But that’s a little broad, isn’t it? So let’s add the intention behind the process. Then we could include the artist’s motivation to create for the purpose of communicating a message.
What is graphic design?
Similar to art, graphic design lacks a satisfactory definition. Graphic design is also visual, has a process and a purpose. Design involves the use of various forms of visuals – illustration, photography and even “art” – combined with text to communicate a message to a specific audience. It speaks through a visual language. The purpose of graphic design is to solve visual problems. When successful, it communicates a very clear message.
Now that’s not to say that it lacks expression of skill or imagination. It is the role of the graphic designer to bring a unique visual aesthetic to any problem they solve. However, their end goal is for effective communication. The message is paramount and trumps individual creative expression.
So what’s the difference?
Both art and design have rich histories that illuminate many transformations to their standings within society. Historians have written volumes on it. And like any history, it involves a great deal of flux. Art has played a crucial role into the development of graphic design – there is no question about that. Without the leaps of great artists and art movements of the past, there would be no such thing as graphic design.
Although, it is the here and now that is the concern. Before entering into their creative careers, most graphic designers start out as artists of a sort. Through their earlier education (or individual endeavours) they’re first introduced to exploring creativity through art. That’s where it stems from and it’s a fundamental seed to what graphic designers do.
So yes, both artists and graphic designers are inspired to create, have creative processes that allow them to produce compelling visuals, and are intent on communicating a message. Although, it is the purpose behind their contributions that distinguish one from the other.
Art is subjective, while design is objective. In other words, art can be open to interpretation, whereas design requires complete clarity in order to be effective. What’s more, art involves a degree of self expression. Graphic design expresses in order to aid communication – if not, it fails to do its job. Consequently, art and design can no longer be considered the same thing.
What’s in a name?
So if graphic design and art are different, then what’s all the confusion about? Well it all boils down to a name game. And graphic design needs to be better defined. Many simply don’t understand what it is. The general public, clients, as well as the industry need more clarity.
A lack of clarity breeds a lack of respect. Graphic design – like art – has been through its ups and downs as a profession. And though it may not be art, it’s an incredible medium that takes a great deal of talent, passion and creativity to execute successfully. Now more than ever, graphic design needs to stand apart and keep hold of its status by having little room for misinterpretation on what is stands for and where it’s going.
So, where do you draw the line between art and graphic design? Or… this there one?
