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Designing for Social Engagement

03/21/2013 by

Businesses invested in social media are aware of the benefits it can deliver. While social media is a long-term investment focused on increasing brand visibility and recognition through consumer engagement and relationship building, it can pay out enormous dividends over time. A social presence is particularly useful when your website is publishing original content with value to your consumer base.

By creating content designed for social sharing, you can essentially turn a normal blog post into productive inroads with prospective customers, using a shared link to bring new traffic to your website. From there, you have the opportunity to produce a conversion — but only if you have a well-developed website waiting on the other end of the link. I repeat, if there’s no ill web design waiting for users who click through, they’ll bounce faster than the king of the four square courts. Whether you do it yourself or hire some professional Web designers, make sure it looks good!

Ultimately, social media can become another conversion and revenue stream if you use smart development strategy at every point. Read on for tips to make sure your online strategy is aligned to maximize social opportunities.

Creating content worth sharing

Developing a social brand should be the first focus of any company. In the early stages, you don’t need to worry about creating phenomenal, mind-blowing content as long as you keep the quality high and consistent. Instead, start cultivating followings on major social networks, such as Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram and Pinterest, to create a broad base of followers.

Once that base is established, work on increasing the uniqueness and quality of your content. Whether you offer whitepapers, blogs or static Web pages, the things you produce need to be relevant and useful to your consumers in ways that point to the value of your business. These aren’t explicit marketing materials, but they all need to relate to your company’s mission and your value to prospective customers.

As you develop your following and people consume your content, you’ll see more people sharing your content with others. Not only is social sharing a high-exposure, low-cost form of marketing, but it’s a great way to gauge what content is most valuable to your followers.

From content consumer to product consumer

By sharing your website’s content online, you’ll draw followers to your website. When that happens, they become social referrals and potential sales or lead conversions. That’s where your website comes in. As your content is making a case for your company’s value to the consumer, your website should make it easy for them to identify and enter the conversion process.

To do this, you need a simplified Web design that makes your marketing mission clear. Your site’s various links and images need to be simplified so they aren’t distracting — you want consumers to immediately recognize where and how to begin the conversion process. If you can get online referrals this far down the funnel, you’ve got a good chance at securing a conversion.

Efficiency in the conversion process

Once in the conversion process, the trick is in seeing consumers through to the conversion’s completion. This is an efficiency game you have to play well to maximize your opportunities. Online consumers are deterred by seemingly insignificant obstacles. Every line of data you request — address, phone number or email — decreases the odds of potential customers completing the process.

Similarly, every step in the process — every time they have to click “next” or wait for processing to take place — gives them a chance to reconsider their purchase. The more you condense steps and minimize workload, the better. The proof is in the numbers: the easier you make the process, the more conversions you’ll accrue.

By optimizing every point in the consumer process, you can increase the efficiency of your website. From there, focus on creating worthwhile content that engages your consumers. The more useful and worthwhile your content, the more social shares — and, ultimately, referred traffic — you’ll generate from this rich resource.

Filed Under: Social Media, Strategy & Business Tagged With: , , , , ,

Three Examples of How to Succeed in Social Media Marketing

11/08/2012 by

Social media has made tremendous gains in recent years with both individuals and corporate users. While people use the popular sites as a means to stay in touch with friends and share important life events, companies have used Facebook and Twitter as a means to connect with their customers and fans.

Some companies use their social media as a way to deal with customer feedback while others use the unique channels as a way to market their products and services. Regardless of how they interface with customers online, the most successful companies have found the proper balance between the “what” (product) and the “why” (story and branding) of their marketing campaigns.

Oreo

We’re all familiar with the slogan that Oreo is “milk’s favorite cookie.” The iconic snack’s advertising has always had fun with the simplicity of the treat while incorporating an absurd sense of humor in its celebrity endorsements, such as the DoubleStuf Racing League. This sense of humor extends to their Twitter feed, which frequently retweets fans, drives discussion as to how their cookies are best eaten and shares contests and other opportunities for fans to compete for prizes. The strong unity of their central theme keeps the company’s voice from differing on its different media channels and keeps fans involved.

Try to develop a strong narrative voice for your company and incorporate it into all of your media efforts.  Keeping the tone fun and self-aware can encourage more interaction and personal relationships with fans.

BodyForm                                       

When a fan posted a mocking post on Bodyform’s Facebook page pointing out the misleading advertisements of feminine hygiene products, the company was given a golden opportunity: to better brand its company by being transparent on social media. In the popular viral video response, an actress portraying the company’s CEO breaks down the stereotypes of feminine hygiene commercials, all while breaking preconceived notions of accepted female behavior. The company has enjoyed more than 2.8 million views of its video and increased awareness and appreciation of its brand as a result.

Social media is full of jokesters and trolls. Sometimes when one serves up such a golden opportunity to better your brand, you must take it. Being honest with yourself and your public helps to drive brand transparency and build trust with consumers.

Southwest Airlines

Making travel plans in an increasingly expensive economy has become difficult as many different travels sites are available. How can you be sure you’re getting the best deal? Southwest Airlines, an affordable travel provider, has used its social media to share deals and perks for travelers, as well as direct complaints to a customer service page. While the methodology is simple, the classic approach to connecting with consumers puts the focus upon its customers and how to better serve them through special deals and offers.

Remember that your focus is on your customer. Put plain details in place to help direct them to proper channels to solve their issues and share offers to add value to their time on your site. Without the consumers that make up social media, you would have no business to run. Don’t forget that – most of the social media failures are big box companies focused more upon marketing than interfacing.

Social media represent a special opportunity for companies to interface with their consumers. Whether you tie your company’s voice, transparency or service to social media, be sure that the approach unifies your company and meets customers’ needs.

Filed Under: Contributors, Social Media, Strategy & Business Tagged With: , , , ,

Your Message is Inbound

09/13/2012 by

As social media changes the boundaries between personal and professional, personal and commercial relationships are merging. For marketers, this changes the traditional relationship between the company or the brand and the consumer. Now, consumers are likely to follow their favorite celebs on Twitter and become fans of their preferred brands on Facebook. If you can provide useful information to consumers, they’re more likely to stick around and are more likely to send business your way.

What today’s communication landscape means for marketers

At the same time this increased connectivity is happening, consumers are also becoming more self-reliant. Sounds like a contradiction, but it’s true. Consumers are more likely to do independent research on the Internet or through word of mouth before coming into a store or even reaching your website. A ZMOT survey found consumers needed 5.3 points of information before purchasing a good or service in 2010 and 10.4 points of information in 2011. They’re more likely to find this information themselves, using either a smartphone to look up information on the go or performing independent research online. Marketers are tasked with reaching out to people who may feel they don’t need to be marketed to because they can find the information themselves.

Connecting with consumers

Companies that do a good job with marketing tend to focus on useful information or action that turns existing customers into repeat business and generates buzz that can tempt new business. Being an information maven and sharing information before the point of need spells success in this environment.

Companies with a personal touch

  • Hyatt: This worldwide hotel chain generated a win for consumers and employees with its “Random Acts of Generosity” campaign. Each Hyatt location was given a sum of money to spend on guests by offering them a free meal, free drink or spa service. As a result, guests were more likely to prefer Hyatt when surveyed and employees enjoyed surprising guests. Consumers’ personal travel needs — food, shelter and comfort — were met with the Hyatt’s offerings.
  • Jet Blue and Southwest Airlines: Both of these airlines tweet flight information including flight delays and schedule changes. These airlines recognize consumers keep track of travel information from home and on the go and try to give customers timely information. Additionally, the companies also tweet flight deals. Might this increase the loyalty factor by making these airlines seem responsive? It would seem so.
  • Comcast: Internet providers like Comcast know customers complain when service is interrupted. The company personally monitors social media outlets like Twitter and responds directly to customer tweets, enhancing that sense of connection as well as problem solving.
  • Carnival Cruise Lines: Carnival tweets real-time information on ports and weather, updated information on programs and cruise features and fun photos of cruise destinations. Not only do they come across as a breath of fresh Caribbean air on Twitter, they also know how to lure in folks planning that fall vacation.

Companies like the above have a way of reaching out to their customers and making them feel their needs are being met, both in person and via social media. A company whose human resources department treats their employees as well as they do their customers all but guarantees success. Happy workers are happy to provide stellar customer service, no matter their industry.

Trust that a good campaign will generate buzz that reaches beyond its scope, attracting good PR and new customers. Being responsive in person and through social media can help you monitor the success of existing campaigns and connect with your customers and staff.

Filed Under: Guest Bloggers, Strategy & Business Tagged With: , , , ,

Small Business Going Mobile

06/21/2012 by

You probably have a website for your business. It’s a great, low-cost way to market your products and services. You’ve probably also considered the need for a mobile application, too. Look around; it seems like everyone is getting a smartphone. Should you jump in and build an app for your small business? Do you need a mobile presence? Mobile applications can be developed for very little money and users can download them in under a minute so the answer to both questions seems to be affirmative. But what can these little software applications really do for you? Well, that depends.

Why You Should Bother

According to Pew Research, about 35 percent of American adults owned a smartphone as of July 2011. That figure is certainly growing. It represents an opportunity for small-business owners to use technology to their advantage. Gartner Research reports that mobile applications are expected to earn providers $58 billion by 2014. That’s a pretty staggering figure, right? Can you make interacting with your customers a little easier, more convenient or even playful? Consider it if:

  1. Your business offers a service that could be ordered or used by customers on the go.
  2. New customers might be enticed to buy from your business when they interact with your mobile application.
  3. Your customers currently interact with you and each other using social media technology such as wikis, blogs and forums.
  4. You’re willing to try creating a mobile application and dedicate some staff and budget to the effort.
  5. You can envision new ways to make money for your business using a mobile application. For example, if you offer a global product or service, you might be able to find new customers in Asia, where mobile application use has been rapidly adopted.

Getting Started
To get started, check out websites such as Infinite Monkeys or BudgetAppDev. You can create a basic business application with display advertisements with the Infinite Monkeys drag and drop interface for free. It’s easy (and fun) to create your application. Video help provides guidance along the way. By specifying some basic information and uploading a background graphic, you can create an application that reinforces your brand and helps you connect. You get to choose which features and functions you want added, including photo sharing, blog feeds and videos. You can download your custom QR code and put it on your brochures, signs and marketing collateral. Users will be linked your application or the HTML5 version in the event that your customer doesn’t have an Android or iPhone. You can also view usage statistics.

If You Need Inspiration
Check out the BudgetAppDev portfolio for some excellent examples to trigger your creative flair. People love to use their mobile phone to pass the time. Can you develop a dynamite quiz related to your small business that people will play while waiting in an airport or train station? Want to package up training and support tips, tools and resources for your company that your customers can access from any location? How about a restaurant guide for the area surrounding your business as a benefit to visitors?

If any of these ideas appeal to you, you’ve already taken the first step in designing and developing a mobile application to support your small business. Now, take your idea and consult with your customers to find out what they might need.

Filed Under: Contributors, Guest Bloggers, Social Media, Strategy & Business, Technology Tagged With: , , , , , , , ,

The Success of Indie Developers

05/03/2012 by

The arcade and console gaming industry was established and spurred on by creativity and true genius in its early years. The late 70s and early 80s saw an explosion of games based on the abilities of individual developers or small talented teams skilled in graphics optimization and backed by conscientious investors. Everyone remembers and loves the likes of Brick Breaker, Pac Man and Donkey Kong. Unfortunately, the industry is in the grip of a decades-long cycle of repeats in concepts and name upgrades. Year after year the “top” gaming prospects are determined by the companies that win by having loudest voices and the brightest colors.

The beginning of the 21st century, however, has seen a rise in more of the buck-the-system styles of independent–or indie–developers. As a result variety is seeping back into the market and there seems to be more of a place for those looking to express creativity.

But why now, when everyone is being driven toward big money? A few possibilities beg for our acknowledgement. Mass platforms like Facebook have become convenient outlets for gamers. No more jostling for a quick demo in an elusive limelight. Developers can now play all the cards. This is the story of smaller squads run by guys like Jonathan Blow, creator of the Braid game. Another reason for the growth of indie game development is the influx of developers from the mainstream sector. This exodus, while not exactly pilfering the mainstream markets of its talent, gives indie game developers a tint of viability.

So, you’re an aspiring developer; and you have enough business sense to understand that skill with coding and stand-out creativity will not be enough to keep you afloat. We have a few tips that may be helpful to you.

Find a Niche

Knowing where you are and what you have offer will give you sure footing in the development game. The strength of indie game production is in niches. The best and brightest produce a game that helps them stand out. Most game devs who go indie are attracted to it because of unique concepts that aren’t available except in the developer’s chosen outlet.

Don’t Go for it Alone

Build a solid team around yourself. Although it could be rewarding to hock out an award winner all on your own, it’s not likely. The best indie games are produced by teams built of passionate experts in their field, and use already-established graphics optimization companies. You may not be the best at what you do and you may not be able to get the best sound developer or designer, but you can put together a solid and dedicated team.

Capital, Capital, and more Capital

Yes “capital” is a dirty word in the world of indie gaming, but you must come up with creative ways to fund your projects. You and your team have to eat. Keep your day job. Try and raise capital investors from interests groups that line up with your concept interests or avid gamers that you know.

Consider Seeking Out and Joining an Already Established Team or Start-Up

If you are confident in your skill level, you may be able to go the route of some of the professionals who got their start in the mainstream. Although you won’t have as much of an appeal there are probably more than a few budding teams that share you drive and determination but lack that necessary ingredient: a team member like you.

Above All, Stay Positive

As the indie industry grows so will the competition. But staying positive will allow you to continue to develop in your skill area, suffer setbacks and move forward until you see daylight. Don’t be discouraged at this, but you may have to go through a few teams and projects before anything chalks up to a worthy gaming experience on the other end. Keep the faith and go forward.

Filed Under: Blogging, Contributors Tagged With: , , , , , , , , ,

Relationship is Everything

04/19/2012 by

Social media did not start with the invention of Facebook and Twitter. In fact, social media was around prior to the invention of the Internet. The terms emotional connection, engagement and relationships are pillars of success, providing brand value. In order to be a major player in the world of social media, you must realize a strong social media campaign management strategy is not only smart business sense; it is a necessity to maintain your overall Internet relevance. The 5 percent growth of social media spending over the past year seems a very real endorsement.

The trick is to capitalize on your strategies and eventually create your own social media voice—something your customers will hear load and clear. Incorporating a strong social media campaign into your already successful business is not a task to be taken lightly. If you do, you are not true to your brand. So with that said, how do you accomplish an effective social media strategy?

Multiple-channel Integration

Businesses do not just use Facebook and Twitter to embrace social media and interact with your client base. In order to fully enhance a customer experience and promote your brand, companies need to utilize traditional marketing strategies such as mobile technologies and email communication. With multiple-channel integration, you have the ability to track customer trends in one easy format.

Relation-based integration

When you think of relation-based integration, thoughts of growth should cross your mind. Since businesses can’t predict the future of the customer-base, you need to incorporate a strategy that acts as a so-called “roadmap” for success. Learn and manage the communication of your customer. Listen to what they tell you. They’re the ones driving your overall profitability.

Customer-focused Marketing

How do you market your brand? If your business strategy is based upon profitability alone, you are going to undoubtedly fail. The key social media strategy needed is one that solely focuses on your customer. What are your customers likes and dislike? What is the demographic? Moreover, what is your target audience? Knowing and understanding your customer leads, not only to a happy customer, but also to a business that continues to grow.

Automated Services

Social media is a 24 hour a day, 7 day a week machine. When you leave for the day, your social media presence should not clock out. As an online brand, you must pay close attention to trends, habits and communication of your customer. Create a strategy that is not only focused on the needs of your customers, but also to the particular lifestyles they keep. An automated service, similar to cloud computing, allows you to leave the office setting and still promote the brand when you are not in the office.

Real-time Metrics

There isn’t a time throughout the day customers don’t have the ability to check on their favorite brands. If you’re the business in question, how do your check on the satisfaction level of your customer base? You have to rely on real-time metrics. This strategy allows companies to track results of customer/business communication to better serve the customer as well as increase brand value.

When the lights are turned off for the day, your business continues to run, similar to a well-oiled machine. An effective social media strategy involves Multiple-channel Integration, Relation-based Integration, Customer-focused Marketing, Automated Services and Real-time Metrics. Utilizing these pillars of success will ensure success. So at the end of the day, where does your success lie?

Filed Under: Blogging, Contributors, Social Media Tagged With: , , , , , , ,

Future of Mobile Social Media

03/22/2012 by

When Apple released the iPhone and effectively changed the entire mobile communications game forever, the price of entry was so high that only super savvy tech fans and the 1 percent could really partake. Now, the landscape looks much different. Increasing numbers of viable competing devices and falling data prices have opened the market to a larger segment of society. Since the debut of the modern smartphone, they have grown into a piece of society in a real way. When a band takes the stage at a show, how many phones do you see come out? Does anyone even look at another person on the train anymore, or are they glued to their 5 inch screens? Smartphones (and tablets) have become an extension of the body, and one of that function’s most important assets is its ability to connect with social media.

Most smartphones are filled with a stable of social media applications. As the hardware that runs those applications change and evolve, so too must those applications. The release of the iPad 3 this past weekend gives a little indication of what’s next for mobile: high definition and faster speeds. Compared to other advancements, though, that’s not very exciting. What we will see in terms of information sharing, cloud storage and mobile interaction in the next few years – all with regard to social media on mobile devices – is set to blow some socks off.

The Future of Social Media

Researchers at Stanford University envision a world where users can share data between two smartphones, as well as between a smartphone and a computer, with a single action.  Still confused?  Watch this video: Inventing an open-source mobile social media future at Stanford .

From the Stanford website:

They have formed MobiSocial to ask the most fundamental questions about this rapidly burgeoning field, questions that seem obvious now that mobile and social media are firmly entrenched, but which weren’t so obvious as the technologies were entrenching themselves: Can social be done better? Can it be even more social and more fun? Can it be more open? Can it be more secure? And, if so, how?

The idea is to find a way to synthesize the best parts of mobile and social, then streamline them so that switching between apps and connecting with multifarious networks is seamless, whereas now it’s all just collected in a device.

Another example of this new technology is Sparsh, which allows social media users to transfer data from one medium, such as a smartphone, to another medium using only their touch. That means that each person effectively becomes an organic vessel for information.

These new software systems will have to be powered by robust mobile application development platforms. Mobile application development platforms, such as Brew, will also shape the future of social media. Development platforms continue to incorporate new options for creators of mobile applications, which translates into more sophisticated social media apps in the future.

The Issue of Privacy

Social media claimed its coveted position in popular culture so quickly that many social media platforms were unable to keep up. Along with the widespread use of social media platforms came a lack of privacy and increased vulnerability to identity theft and other social crimes. As mobile social media applications move into the future, it’s likely that they will address these concerns as effectively as possible. For example, since new mobile social media applications will allow users to quickly transfer data from one medium to another, the applications handling the transfer will use encryption to prevent third parties from intercepting the data.

Consolidation

One of the common aims of future applications will be consolidation. There are already apps available that consolidate social media profiles into one location, but it is likely that these apps will become more sophisticated in the future. In addition, new mobile apps will consolidate personal data into an “individual cloud” that a person can use to make purchases, share video and photos with other individuals, and swap valuable information. However, in response to privacy concerns, these new apps will protect your data using more sophisticated security measures.

 

Filed Under: Blogging, Contributors, Social Media, Strategy & Business, Technology Tagged With: , , , , , , , , ,

So Much for Real Time Insights

03/19/2012 by

A few weeks ago Facebook announced that they were going to upgrade Insights to be real time. However, not only have insights not been in real time they have been running behind. Normally insights runs 2 days behind, however since January they have been running behind by 4 days on average.

For most people a delay of 4 days is not that big of  a deal. However, if you are someone who is interested in your analytics, 4 days is frustrating. I’d like to say that the only problem with insights is that it is 4 days behind. Unfortunately it isn’t. There is a lot of data missing from insights. So not only is the data behind by nearly a work week but it is missing the information that you need to be able to get a good detailed picture of what is going on with your page.

4 days behind is something that we can deal with because that information will eventually be provided. However the missing analytics will not. So our real time insights are not only not real time but they are full of holes.

Filed Under: Facebook, Featured Tagged With: , , , , , , ,

Facebook Insights #FAIL

02/24/2012 by

Facebook Insights Dilbert Cartoon

If you are like me you tend to spend a fair amount of time delving through analytics. Ok, so I don’t actually expect you to share my love of analytics. But a good habit for Facebook page owners to get into is to look at their Insights. Facebook Insights is the reporting system for all you Facebook data. It tells you how many page views you had, who is clicking, liking, sharing. You can get age and gender demographics. How many times your story appeared in the newsfeed. How viral your content is. And a lot more. There is so much information in the downloaded excel spreadsheet that you go well into the double alphabet column. You can also view a synopsis of your Insights right on Facebook from you page. The link is on the left side menu, under your profile pic.

Normally insights is behind real time by 2 days. This is not a big deal. 2 days still gives you an accurate picture of what is happening with your page. However, for the past 2 weeks insights has pretty much been down. It has provided some spotty information, but for the most part it is not actually reporting anything useful. For a data geek like me, this has been enormously frustrating.

Thankfully, despite being quiet about it for the past few weeks, Facebook has finally admitted that they are aware of the problem and are considering it high priority.

Out of this frustrating debacle has launched a website that is hard not to love: whyisfacebookinsightsnotworking.com …and they give you an option to share how far behind in data reporting they are with your Twitter followers! I love it!

Now, usually when their is a big FAIL on Facebook it is because they are making some changes to the site. Of course, they don’t let anyone know of any potential changes so when they drop and then the site is working again, we all get to have an “A-Ha” moment.

There is a marketing conference at the end of the month, so maybe they will be announcing some big new changes coming to the site.

Filed Under: Facebook, Featured Tagged With: , , , , , , ,

In-House Social Media Teams on the Rise

02/09/2012 by

I don’t need to tell anyone here about the rise of social media and how it has been injected into the DNA of doing business in the 21st century. Nevertheless, it can be an eye-opening experience to watch just how much social media is catching on.

It’s no secret that social media has real effects and results for businesses that do it right; more and more companies are seeing the light. The most recent trend in businesses of all sizes is hiring in-house social media teams to handle brand management, customer engagement and digital marketing.

Savvy marketers have long praised the growth and efficacy of social media on the whole. Facebook has ballooned to more than 800 million users in the wake of its OpenGraph platform – the behind-the-scenes protocol that allows integration with Spotify, news sites, and all that other cool stuff. Perhaps it is this continued success for Facebook that led to its recent and long-awaited IPO.

More companies across the board are following the lead and cultivating in-house teams dedicated to social media. They generally operate within the realm of a marketing department, though their tasks are more dedicated solely to social media.

The big question is how this will affect firms that have helped companies with social media strategy up to this point.

The importance of business-suited social media is also evident in the backlash Google+ received when users learned they could not create business pages – an innovation Facebook pioneered – that have since become standard procedure for any real social sharing network. YouTube’s announcement of brand channels was welcomed with ringing bells and banging drums by enterprise businesses.

More often than not, a business will enter into a social media campaign believing there are fans of their brand out there waiting to have a place to congregate and spill their guts about just how much they love a company. What we’ve seen is that, though that is sometimes the case, most people are waiting for a tweet offering free coffee or a grocery coupon. “Liking” a brand on Facebook is more indicative of an interest to receive something for nothing than it is a genuine curiosity about a brand.

Rather than be pulled into these campaigns by outside marketing firms or agencies, businesses have elected to develop their own in-house teams that will take a perspective that emphasizes the companies’ strengths instead of just diving into social media because they read 100 blogs on the internet telling them it was the right thing to do.

These in-house teams are culled from freelance social media professionals or marketing gurus who have the wherewithal to understand what social platforms work for the business by which they are employed. Whereas some shoddy agencies have put companies that sell plumbing services to the residents of Muncie, Indiana on Twitter and Vimeo without any real reason, these in-house teams are being assembled with the mindset of the company taken into account; hopefully, these in-house teams will understand which of the many, many social platforms actually present an opportunity – and which should be ignored.

If this trend continues, social media marketing companies like Back At You will have to start leveraging their expertise in order to stay relevant. And the case may become harder to make as more experienced social media professionals are snatched up to work exclusively for big brands.

Filed Under: Contributors, Social Media, Strategy & Business, Success, Uncategorized Tagged With: , , , , , , ,
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