Design and branding tips to help grow your business.

Posts Tagged ‘social media’

Turn Your Static Website into a Social Media Powerhouse

Tuesday, April 6th, 2010

Imagine you’re just arriving at a party. You reach the front door, ring the doorbell and…no one answers. You let yourself in and try to find your friend, the hostess. She is no where to be found. Instead, you find a small group of people huddled around a sad excuse for a party spread. You throw your coat on the pile in the corner. Your hostess has been tied up in conversation with one guest for a while now, and you find it hard to mingle with the other party-goers. You decide showing your face is enough, and awkwardly slip out of the party without saying goodbye.

Now imagine another party. As you approach the front steps, you find the hostess is already at the door to greet you. Taking your coat, she warmly welcomes you into her home. She introduces you to some fellow party attendees so that she can tend to the refreshment table, which needs to be restocked. The hostess effortlessly works the room, asking if her guests need anything, ensuring that they are having the best time possible. She engages her guests with lively discussion and even leads some fun party games. At the end of the night, she presents you with a party favor, a permanent reminder of your wonderful evening.

Which party would you rather attend?

Pretty obvious, right? The same applies to your business’s website. A static website filled with basic information is a good start, but if you’d like your visitors to linger longer, interactivity is the key. In his article, Powering Your Website with Social Media, Stu Green recommends utilizing the following social media applications:

  1. Build Community
  2. Get Feedback
  3. Offer Interaction
  4. Offer the Best Customer Service
  5. Let Your Users Create the Buzz

These are some great techniques to bring a vibrancy to your website by using social media. Allowing comments and adding forums to your website makes it seem more “alive” and current, while you collect useful demographic data for further marketing efforts.

Implementing website feedback forms shows your visitors that you truly care about their experience at your website, and beyond that — you care about their experience with your product or service. This leads to stronger brand loyalty, which you can help visitors express with buttons and widgets.

Remember, your visitors are like guests to the party that is your website. What kind of host do you want to be?

Tags: , ,
Posted in Branding, Branding Tips, Internet Marketing, Marketing, Marketing Tips, Social Media for Marketing, Social Networking | No Comments »

5 Sure Fire Tactics to Promote a Business Blog

Thursday, April 1st, 2010

For many businesses, company blogs are like that proverbial tree in the forest — if a business writes one, and no one is there to read it, does it really matter? Here are some social media marketing tools that will easily help get more eyeballs on your material!

1) LinkedIn

Providing your blog link to the LinkedIn network is a quick and painless way to drive traffic from your profile to your blog. In addition, you can also join groups related to your industry and promote recent blog entries in their forums. LinkedIn groups are a great way to meet industry peers and potential clients, but remember to use them for conversation as well as promotion to avoid coming off as “spammy.” Another approach is to spend some time browsing the “Q&A” area. You might see a question that can be answered with a blog post you’ve already written. Answer the question fully and provide the link for support.

2) Twitter

While not everyone is sold on Twitter’s effectiveness in the business landscape, there have been some great examples of how this social media giant can be utilized as a great blog promotion tool. Got a new post that just went live? It takes seconds to create a short tweet with a link back to the post.

Keep in mind that your followers are going to want a little more from you than just blog updates. When a potential follower looks at your status updates as a whole, it’s beneficial that he or she sees a mixture of feed activity. In addition to blog promotion, include replies back to your followers and news articles related to your niche. Thank a follower via a re-tweet for his or her re-tweet of your blog link, and you’ve effectively promoted that link again in your status update.

3) Blog Comments

Just read a great blog entry by someone in your field? Let ‘em know! Leaving blog comments are one of the easiest ways to drive people to your business blog by including a hyperlink in your signature. This will not only drive traffic, but give you a little “link juice” with the search engines. Still, don’t get too crazy. Remember to write a thoughtful statement that indicates you’ve read what the blogger had to say, and don’t directly “sell” your own blog in the comment. The idea is to attract a like-minded audience from that blog to yours – so try to limit those comments to entries appropriate for your niche. I’ll go into more detail about why in a future blog entry.

4) Industry-Specific Social Networks

Does your industry have a social network where your peers connect? If so, it can be a hotbed of opportunity for blog promotion. Having an active presence on such networks can put your name in front of many like-minded people who are actively seeking opinions and ideas as they relate to your business.

Again, a good rule of thumb is to truly use this network as just that — a network — and not as another place to absent-mindedly stick your blog link. Like most of the social media efforts I’ve mentioned here, you need to find a balance between driving traffic to your blog and actively working the network to show your credibility and expertise on a given subject.

5) Search Engine Optimization for Your Website

It’s not a bad idea to brush up on website SEO basics when it comes to blog promotion. Do your posts contain the important keywords for your search efforts? How about your headings? Are your links tagged with your keywords so they can be crawled easily? Keep these in mind, but write the text without losing the overall effectiveness of your copy.

Tags: , , , ,
Posted in Blogging, Internet Marketing, Micro-Blogging, Search Engine Optimization, Social Media for Marketing, Social Networking, Twitter | No Comments »

Creating a custom landing page for Facebook

Monday, March 8th, 2010

So you’ve just created a Facebook fan page for your business, brand, or idea. (You haven’t? Check out our article on creating a Facebook fan page.) Are you looking to take your page to the next level? Try creating a custom landing page next.

A Facebook custom landing page is a built-in first impression of sorts, and the kind of thing that takes your social media marketing to the next level. It will act as the first page that non-fans will land on, rather than initially seeing your Facebook wall. You don’t have to be a web genius to create a landing page, as Facebook has already created an application to do the dirty work for you! Just follow these steps:

Step One: Add the Application

  1. Log into your Facebook account.
  2. Click on the Applications link. (This will be on the bottom left of your browser, or in the left-hand margin on the new Facebook layout.)
  3. Click on Browse More Applications. (On the new Facebook layout, skip to the next step.)
  4. Type “FBML” into the search box and click on the result, Static FBML. (FBML stands for “Facebook Markup Language.”)
  5. Click Add to My Page

Step Two: Create the Landing Page

  • Go back to your fan page and click Edit Page (under the user pic).
  • Scroll to the FBML application and click Edit.
  • Customize the FBML tab. This is where you can create the magic. Type in your page title and HTML codes for whatever you wish. Here are some ideas:
  • Ensure this application will be added to your fan page’s tabs by going back to the “edit applications” screen and changing the status of FBML from “Available” to “Added.”

    • Step Three: Make the Landing Page the Default for Non-Fans

  • Click on the Wall tab and click Settings.
  • In the drop-down menu for “Default Landing Tab for Everyone Else,” select the tab you just created.
  • Check the functionality of the landing page by logging out of Facebook and then entering the URL for your fan page. You should arrive at the landing page you just made.

    • With just a little bit of time and know-how, you can have a great welcome page for new fans that will showcase what your business is all about.

    Tags: , ,
    Posted in Branding Tips, Internet Marketing, Marketing Tips, Social Media for Marketing, Web Marketing | 1 Comment »

    Small Business Leaders Prefer ‘Passive’ Social Media, But Are Looking to Future

    Wednesday, March 3rd, 2010

    Once “Social Media” became the phrase-du-jour, small business owners have been quick to incorporate it as a daily source for information-gathering. However, many immediately realized that navigating the social media landscape often requires two things the average small business owner simply does not have: ample time and extra resources.

    As a result, says a recent Business.com study, owners are leaning more towards “passive” methods of using social media. Last month, Ben Hanna of MediaPost delved a little deeper to explore which strategies were favored. Of over 1,700 small business owners currently applying social media efforts on a daily basis, here were the top five resources:

    1) Webinars/Podcasts

    Webinars and podcasts can inform small business leaders of industry trends, new products and services. They can also act as a source of continuing education by providing additional training — all without incurring the cost of time and travel to do so.

    2) Ratings & Reviews

    When it comes to the buying process, small business owners often read what others recommend, and factor those reviews into their purchasing decisions. This is why social media marketing has become such a big deal in the last few years.

    3) Company/Brand Pages on Social Networking Websites

    Vendors are flooding social networking sites like Facebook to give updated, timely information about their products, and small business owners are taking notice.

    4) Company Blogs

    Small business leaders love blogs to gain relevant insight into a company, assuming the entries are well-written, topical, and offer a glimpse into the character of the business.

    5) Social Media Search

    Because not all information can be found on typical search engines, small business owners are searching directly through Facebook, LinkedIn, etc. As the owner of a Houston Internet marketing company, I see this quite a bit among my friends and partners around town.

    As you can see, these methods are performed through “passive” social media outlets — the company puts the information onto the web for others to discover. At the end of the day, I think it’s pretty evident that small business leaders aren’t all about the “social” aspect of social media, and rightfully so. They want information, and they want it fast. The number of Twitter followers a company has means nothing if they can’t find the exact piece of information they are seeking.

    However, it must be noted that the more “active” methods of using social media were not far behind the preferences above, according to MediaPost. Online forums and Q&A sites fell right after the top five. As instantly gratifying as the internet can be, it can’t provide everything to everyone. Small business owners may find it more time-effective to go the “active” route, submitting questions to a company or forum and getting a personalized response in return. If companies begin to devote more social marketing resources toward actual interaction with their customer base, we may see the small business owner shift to a more “active” stance on social media.

    Tags: , , , ,
    Posted in Blogging, Branding Tips, Internet Marketing, Marketing, Micro-Blogging, Social Media for Marketing, Social Networking, Twitter, Web Marketing | No Comments »

    So You Want to Make a Facebook Fan Page. . .

    Monday, March 1st, 2010

    In today’s social media landscape, Facebook goes beyond reconnecting individuals — it can act as a great promotional tool for any brand. Creating a Facebook fan page for your business is truly one of the easiest ways to establish a social media marketing presence. And best yet? It’s absolutely free.

    Here’s a quick how-to guide:

    Step 1: Create Your Page

    1. Log into Facebook. Scroll to the bottom of the homepage and click on the small link labeled Advertising on the right-hand side.
    2. In the left-hand margin, click Pages, and then Create Page.
    3. Choose the most relevant category for your business and type in your desired page name.
    4. Confirm you have authority to create the fan page, then click Create Page. This will take you to the next phase, which will give you options to edit individual sections of your Facebook page.

    Now that your fan page has been created, the next step is to develop its design to maximize its appeal to potential fans. The more information you add, the better — not only for your users, but for your Google search results, because Facebook fan pages are searchable through Google.

    Step 2: Design Your Page

    1. Hover over the user picture and click Change Picture to upload your logo or any other image that best represents your brand. Does this image also look good as a thumbnail? Keep this in mind, as your main mode of contact with fans will be through their newsfeeds.
    2. Under the user picture, click Edit Page. Here, you can change any settings for user restrictions, wall posts, and mobile options.
    3. From here on out, update your fan page like you would any Facebook profile. Add information about your business by clicking on the Info tab, including website, company overview, mission, and products. Share photos that best show what your brand is all about.
    4. Make your fan page more dynamic by adding applications. Click on the “+” plus sign tab to add discussions, links, events, notes, videos — all viable options to reach out to your fans and encourage them to interact.
    5. Remember to click the Publish Your Page link, which will officially take your page “live.”

    While your Facebook fan page takes mere minutes to establish, it won’t work for you, unless you work for it. It is not enough to simply create a page — you must maintain it. Take the time to update and promote your page, as well as engage with users, and you will begin to see why many businesses turn to Facebook as part of their online marketing efforts.

    Tags: , ,
    Posted in Internet Marketing, Marketing Tips, Social Media for Marketing, Social Networking | 1 Comment »