by Jenna Elberson | Dec 6, 2012 | Business Success, Interactive, Social Media
I find these days that smartphones and iPads are attached to our hips. It’s as if we can’t live with out them… we breathe, we use our mobile devices.
It’s shocking to hear how many big named companies still don’t have a functional mobile site. Whether you’re in the restaurant business or running a small business, mobile is where it’s at and it’s a great way to push out weekly/monthly notifications to promote specials or the services and products your business offers.
So how can we tap into that? What are the brand benefits to a mobile device? Before answering the question, take a look at these facts…
- Nearly 4 billion people have a mobile phone. Whether it’s a smart phone, flip phone or Blackberry.
- Within 3 minutes of delivery 90% of text messages are read.
- 70% of mobile searches lead to action within one hour. It takes one month for the same percentage of desktop users to take action.
- 79% of smartphone users use their phone to help with shopping, with 74% ultimately making purchases.
- Mobile ads perform 4 to 5 times better than online ads in key metrics.
So what does this all mean? Well a very important part of any brand or business web initiative is to make sure it’s accessible. Does your company/brand have a mobile site? If yes, then your business is closer to grabbing consumer’s attention more than most of your competitors.
Let’s be honest. This can be a big win for your business and your brand just by implementing this one initiative. Here are some benefits of mobile website optimization…
- There are faster downloading speeds like 3G, 4G and now even LTE.
- You can use push notifications. These are great for promotions or news updates. In my opinion Michael’s (the craft store) take advantage of this technology extremely well.
- You can engage with users quicker with mapping functions or click and call.
- The accessibility. A mobile site can be accessed anywhere and provides a higher level of connectivity with you and your customer.
Having a mobile site is just the beginning… like any marketing initiative you will need to “work it”. You know those funky looking squares with the black zigzag design? They’re called QR codes and they’re a very popular tactic for getting users to go to a specific landing page. Placing them on pamphlets, business cards, banner ads, in store ads and more will help you garner more reach to your mobile site. Most, if not all QR code scanners are free and very easy to get. The possibilities are endless when it comes to designing, promoting and using a mobile webpage.
You will quickly come to realize that having a mobile website is very beneficial for your brand. It increases the opportunity for SEO, web advertising and provides the added bonus of cross-platform campaigning.
Brand, product or business service… remember that as businesses continue with the growth of technology, more and more people reach for a phone more often than their toothbrush.
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 | Oct 23, 2012 | Business Success, Social Media
The social media channel:
It’s the new channel, the new trend and everyone and every brand that doesn’t want to be left behind is jumping right on. Needless to say the hype is gaining momentum and believe it or not, has still not peaked. Like everything that is new, exciting and quickly evolving, there are many misconceptions and myths about the Social Media channel. Here are just 5 myths that I would like to dispel. Forgive my tone (I tend to get passionate!).
Social Media Experts: What does it take to be Social Media savvy? Is it a matter of having a Twitter account and tweeting or just pushing out content? I interviewed many candidates that say that they are experts only to find out they know how to post on Facebook and Twitter but have no knowledge of insights and measurement tools. Knowing Facebook and Twitter, oh and let’s not forget LinkedIn, doesn’t make you an expert. Social media is so much more than those three platforms (!). It’s relating to trends, it’s content creation (blogging) and it’s understanding SEO! It’s integrating landing pages, it’s about engagement and mobile and hey… it’s also understanding website analytics (can you say Google Analytics?)! but mostly it’s about how to maximize return on you’re content.
Social Media is Inexpensive: You can achieve success in less than 15 minutes a day? Really? I’m a firm believer on you “get back” what you put in. So if you only spend 15 minutes a day on your Social Media initiatives, you’ll only get that back in return… or less. Social Media takes time and effort. It’s about social engagement. That means you have to be in tuned to your market’s interests and take advantage of opportunities that daily trends provide. You need to make sure that you contribute value to your audience and your community. To be part of your audience’s inner circle, you must invest the time. So ask yourself: “How much is your time really worth?”
Anyone Can Do It: This is really part B to the first myth listed above about Social Media Experts. It irks me that people really believe anyone can do it. If you are going to embrace the Social Media Channel, one thing you should assess is how to maximize return on you’re initiative (content). Just like speaking English doesn’t make you a writer and knowing design and Photoshop software doesn’t make you a graphic designer; knowing how to tweet or post to Facebook, doesn’t make you a marketing professional.
Social Media is a Fad: News flash: Social Media is here to stay. It’s a good vehicle to engage your audience and be present during the customer decision making journey. As a business and as a brand, you really need to get your head around that or get left behind. It’s a strong awareness building tool, and if you want to be considered when customers are ready to buy… then you need to be present. Social Media is part of the marketing channels and is here to stay! As such, there needs to be an intended result, a building of strategy and a consistent, constant approach.
Social Media is All You Need: Right now, Social Media is top of mind, constantly on topic, on trend. Does anyone remember when web sites first made their debut into the business world, and hence, the marketing world. How about online digital advertising? None of these were fads and none of these have disappeared. They have their place in any solid marketing and advertising campaign. I believe that Social Media too, will take it’s rightful place in the Marketing Channel Mix – keyword being mix, melody, part of a recipe, etc…
Social Media does not take the place of Marketing. The way I see it, Marketing has always been evolving. It has always had to develop and grow. I know this is a leap, but Marketing had to evolve when television first arrived. Social Media is the new Marketing Evolution.
What are some myths that you have encountered in your initiation to Social Media? I’d love to hear about them.
by Christine Marr | Jun 6, 2012 | Branding, Social Media
It used to be that the purpose of a blog was to state your opinion or viewpoint to those people who connected and linked with you…. so that like-minded people could join in a conversation and contribute to the dynamics of the discussion. This is still true and very relevant today, however as a brand enabler I believe that blogging has taken its rightful place as a viable channel for brand voice. The emergence of the brand blog is very real. In today’s world, brand is no longer only a product… it can be, well, you! We are in the age of personal brand and, like everything else in Marketing, your “brand blog” needs to have very precise and articulated goals for you, the brand, to prosper! The objectives you set should be around increasing your SEO rank so more people can find you. In order to do this, make your objective to increase your page views as this will help you in achieving a stronger position in the internet world of ranking. Once you see your ranking go up, this will motivate you to continue pushing out great content. Be patient while you build momentum. Try to get over 100 daily views and continue to set goals from there.
Boost the power of your brand blog: 12 hours/week to build your brand online presence:
1) 5 hours/week: Your goal is to release one relevant and topical article every week that will generate conversation. Be selective in what you write about, don’t just write about just anything.The subject is important. Follow trends, provide how to techniques on a subject matter, or check a common pain everyone has and offer a solution. Provide resources and offer up list of those for others that have been valuable to you.
2) 2.5 hours/week: It’s not all about you (no!). Network and build relationships, share with like-minded people, comment on other posts and sites and chime in other blogger’s discussion. Social media is about community and blogs are the cornerstone of that community. Keep in mind that this social communities exists because we all help each other. By doing so, you get the added benefit of building your online brand presence.
3) 2 hours/week: Blogging is definitely about speaking up… but you also need to speak out! Spread the word, or rather post! Promote your blog posts to your network, tweet about it and don’t forget to post to social bookmarking sites. Post your article where it is appropriate: Facebook, Twitter, Delicious, StumbleUpon, LinkedIn, Google Bookmarks, Reddit. Before you publish make sure that your post is keyword-enriched ,that the headline in Google friendly and that you’ve added tags and appropriate descriptions in the back-end of your blog to optimize your views. Once you set up your brand persona and a reputation, you can guest blog on like-minded sites, and return the favour by having them write on yours.
4) 2.5 hours/week: One article a week does not build momentum. To increase the odds of traction, posting 3x a week is ideal. If you feel that this is too big of a hurdle, you could post a link to another blog that you comment on with an intro discussion to the post. You’ll find once you get started and realize the benefits of blogging you will quickly pick up the momentum and writing many posts won’t be an issue. The strategy here is to keep your readers engaged and show them that you are a subject matter expert by researching your content and providing helpful information.
Building a relevant and results-achieving blog isn’t something that can be fit in or done on the side, especially when creating a brand voice (product, service or person!). This is a viable marketing channel that when strategized and measured can reap monumental results. If you can’t achieve this on your own (or if you don’t know where to find those precious 12 hours a week!) there’s no harm in asking for help and outsourcing. Outsourcing doesn’t mean loss of control, just greater sustainability and more precise actions. After all , it’s the least that your brand deserves.
by Madi Secareanu | May 24, 2012 | Advertising, Branding, Business Success, Interactive
Website copywriting is an art of its own. Although it contains some traditional elements, it’s very different than blog writing, editorial writing, ad copywriting….you get the idea. However, more often than not, some brands/companies and even self-proclaimed professional writers don’t see this distinction. Here are the most common web copywriting mistakes:
1. Too much copy
This mistake often steers visitors towards the Close button. Too much copy can be overwhelming. The lead should be up front, important information such as who you are and what you do should be easy to find. Now, I know some of you might be thinking that you need a lot of copy for SEO purposes, but that’s not all true. Yes you need to have more than a sentence or two, but even that one sentence, if it contains the right SEO-friendly keywords, can be very effective. Copy should be clear, concise and to the point and SEO optimized.
2. Unorganized copy
Closely related to the “too much copy” issue, this again can cause visitors to steer clear of your site. If your copy isn’t organized and just plopped in without a method to the madness, your site will not perform the way it should. The site-map and navigation should fall under the copywriter’s responsibility – web copy needs to not only read well, but it needs to flow and navigate well too.
3. Not SEO optimized
I touched on this in first mistake but let me expand. SEO is important for website performance and it should not be ignored when writing web copy. Utilize search engine key word tools and look for terms that you should be using in your web copy. Don’t forget the meta tag titles and descriptions – they provide the hook in search results that could turn a search into a visit.
4. No benefits
Similar to advertising, web copy should reflect the benefits of your brand or service. What’s in it for your customers? Why should they choose your brand/service? What do you have that your competitors don’t? Your website can often be your first selling feature, and if you don’t have the benefits outlined you could end up losing out.
5. Not focusing on a target market
Whom are you speaking to? Web copy should speak to your clients and what they need – tailor the message. It’s not enough to simply introduce your brand/service – you have to also talk about what you can do for your clients. There’s a difference between “we offer this” and “we offer YOU this”. If you’re talking to your brand/services more than you’re talking to your clients, your copy needs a refresh.
These 5 mistakes seem like common sense but just take a look around the web, and I guarantee that there’s no shortage of websites that fall victim to at least one of the afore mentioned web copy no-no’s.
Do you have any examples of poorly written sites that we could all learn from?
