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Building a Better Presence: Simple Tips for SMBs

October 11, 2010 by Leave a Comment
presence

For those of you too busy to watch the hour segment, here is a summary of what we discussed.

Make Your Presence Felt

For starters — What do we mean by web presence?

Your web presence consists of ALL branded properties on the web including your website, blog, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, etc…

For this discussion, we won’t be delving into off-brand communities. For one, these communities don’t really count as part of your main “presence”. Also, this topic was covered in detail by Justin Levy in recent NMLTV episode, I highly suggest you check it out.

So, now that we are clear on what your “presence” consists of, here’s a few ideas to get you thinking about how to improve it:

Keep It Consistent

You’d be surprised how many people fail at the most basic of rules: use consistent branding. Many companies create style guides to help employees adhere to branding guidelines, and — speaking from personal experience — it really does help.

A style guide doesn’t have to complex, provide a few versions of the logo (web/print/etc…), choose a font and some colors, and you have already provided a great starting place for any new branded design.

Once you have these guideline, apply them EVERYWHERE. Visit your website homepage. Now your Twitter page. Do the link colors match? If not, you have some work to do with your branding efforts.

Keep It Simple

Another basic principle that seems to elude many companies is a strong call-to-action. For any website to be effective, it needs 2 things:

  1. Clear Goals – This defines what you want your website visitors to do: purchase an item, sign up for a newsletter, read an article, etc… These are the driving factors behind your website. If your website doesn’t have any goals, what do you expect it to do for you?
  2. Calls-to-action – Once you have clearly defined the goals internally, you should work the same language into the site itself. Create big buttons that guide the user toward the intended action: “Contact Us”, “Download File”, etc… This is where design and functionality meet, there is a fine line between distracting the user and drawing their attention.

Humanize Your Website

One of the main reasons behind the rise of social media is a simple principle: people want to talk to other people.

Gone are the days of when corporations would shout down from their ivory towers, it just doesn’t cut it anymore. Stop thinking about your website as a marketing tool, and start thinking about it as a way to engage in the conversation that is already taking place on the web.

A simple way to humanize your website is to get feedback from your audience, whether via blog comments, twitter, or another similar collaboration tool. This allows you to engage with those who matter most — your audience.

Another way to humanize your website it to give a personal touch to otherwise corporate page. Take the contact page for instance.

How you would YOU prefer to communicate: “Chat with Jim” (who you can follow on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, etc…), or “Use the form below”?

Optimize for People, SEO Will Follow

The final topic deals with the content your website. Here’s a simple test to determine your website effectiveness.

  1. Print out your homepage
  2. Give it to someone outside of your business
  3. Ask them to describe your business back to you using your homepage

The description they give you is exactly what your audience sees when they visit your homepage.

If this clearly and succinctly describes your business (including your industry, objectives, location, contact info), then your homepage content is doing its job. If not, it’s time for a redesign.

Regardless of the application, you should always be focused on including the terms that make the most sense for your business. If the terms help people understand what you do and how to find you, it will help your organic SEO as well.

These tips are NOT a comprehensive web strategy, but should give you some ideas on to improve the overall experience for your users.

How else do you build a better presence for your users?

Photo Credit: LA Cinnamon

Filed Under: Business, Featured, Social Media Tagged With: , , , , , , ,

Facebook Goes Down

August 31, 2010 by Leave a Comment
FB


rose
Starting last night (and ongoing today), Facebook has been unstable and/or stopped working completely in some cases. This is the first major Facebook outage we have seen since earlier this year when it went down for a few hours on a Friday night.

Overall, Facebook is far more stable than other services such as Twitter, whose infamous “fail whale” is seen on a somewhat regular basis. However, with 500 million users worldwide — many of which rely on Facebook as their sole online service for email, photo sharing, and instant messaging –  the negative response from users is immediate and overwhelming. (My favorite tweet comes from @BestWorstAdvice: “Facebook down, productivity levels around the world increase 80% “)

Whenever there is downtime with a site like this, we are reminded that most web-based services are transitory at best. This is not to say that Facebook is going away anytime soon  — but things change, and the services of today will not necessarily be the services of tomorrow (remember AOL?).  In the short term, a more likely scenario is that Facebook changes its business model, privacy settings, or some other facet of the application and makes it less appealing to businesses.

In either case, we as businesses should learn to keep our options open. We should diversify our social presence the same way we do our portfolio, and for the same reason (to minimize risk). If you spread your presence across the web, using through several different networks, the impact of one network going down is less detrimental to your business.

How has the Facebook outage affected your business?

Original photo: meddygarnet

Filed Under: Business, Featured, Social Media Tagged With: , , ,

The Burden of Information

August 24, 2010 by Leave a Comment
CHART


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“Information is a source of learning. But unless it is organized, processed, and available to the right people in a format for decision making, it is a burden, not a benefit.”

- William Pollard

Every day, we make decisions based on information. What we often fail to realize is that HOW this information is gathered and presented is equally as important as the information itself.

Let’s take a closer look at information gathering to see how we can eliminate burden and maximize benefit with social media analytics.

Know What You Can Track
This is the most essential step in the entire process of analytics. With all the different social APIs out there, some information can be tracked more easily than others.

For instance, Twitter Search doesn’t include the total number of hits in its results. Even within Google, Blog Search returns the total results in its Feed for the results, and the standard Google Search doesn’t. The record count is accessible through the AJAX API, but that requires some programming to access the data.

Knowing what information is available is a great first step.

Know What You CAN’T Track
Knowing the ins and outs of the various social APIs is extremely helpful in information gathering, but even more useful is knowing what you can’t track. Some of the most important metrics are often the most difficult: number of actual leads generated, number of visits to brick-and-mortar store, etc…

In social campaigns, hard metrics like ROI are often overlooked, even though they are the true measure of success. No amount of Twitter followers is going to help your business if you aren’t making money.

Don’t just throw your hands up and give up on these hard metrics — sometimes it is simpler than you think. Talk to the people in your organization who manage your databases, and see if there is a way to integrate that information into your social analytics.

See the Forest For The Trees
Some of the most important insights are gleaned from combining information from various sources. For instance: Google Analytics says you had a 900% increase in traffic this month, with a majority of the new traffic coming from Twitter.

Awesome, right? Well, not necessarily. What if most of that traffic was driven to your blog to make negative comments? Traffic does not necessarily denote success — and this is where aggregating metrics becomes a powerful tool. The more information you have, the easier it will be to step back and see the big picture.

Show Me The Data
Through visual charts and reports, it is easy to make it look like a campaign is succeeding, even if it is not. There are a few things to watch out for here.

First, make sure you know exactly what the numbers mean. Sure, your fancy new “Buzz” score sounds cool, but how is it being calculated? Some metrics include generic search terms that don’t include anything specific to your brand, and this should be made clear in the reports.

If lots of people are buzzing about “cars” in general, that doesn’t mean much to a local dealership, and it probably won’t impact sales. These types of metrics are important of track overall trends, but unless they are targeted to your brand, they don’t represent success of the campaign. Knowing exactly where these numbers come from allow better insight into their significance.

From Strategy to Action
In the end, having the right information will make the business decisions much easier. It will allow you to monitor the trends, build an informed strategy, and execute that strategy with confidence.

Do you use analytics to make better decisions? How has it worked (or not worked) for you?

Photo Credit: Ben Weiner

Filed Under: Analytics, Business, Featured, Social Media Tagged With: , , , ,

Think Like a Five-Year Old

July 21, 2010 by Leave a Comment
think


rose
Most children go through a phase in which everything in their surrounding environment is met with simple question: “Why?” I would contend that those of us in the social space could better help our clients if we all thought a little more like a five-year old.

Build with Purpose

This philosophy extends beyond social marketing, and into web design, user interface development, etc… As a developer, when someone came to me with a piece of code, I would always ask them: Why did you build it this way?

If their response is a blank stare, I know they won’t last very long on my team. Good developers always have a reason why they build something in a particular way, even if it isn’t the best reason (sometime it is just “easier that way”). Great developers have generally thought about several different possible scenarios, weighed the benefits of each, and made the appropriate choice for the circumstances.

With that said…let’s talk social.


Social Icons Everywhere…But not a Drop to Drink.

Everywhere I look, I am being bombarded with social media icons: Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, LinkedIn, etc…
As a social media marketer, this is a great. It shows that traditional media and large corporations are listening to what we have been shouting from the rooftops for the last several years. To use the old cliché, they are starting to “get it.”
As a consumer, nothing is more disappointing then taking precious time out of my day to check out a company’s Twitter account, only to see a single tweet: “Trying to figure out this Twitter thing”.
For anyone considering a social presence, ask yourself a simple question…why do you tweet?

Do it Small….but Right

Earlier this week we spoke with a client about a website redesign, specifically the integration of social into the website. After a brief discussion, we decided they would better off with Facebook and YouTube, but without Twitter.

I can almost guarantee this campaign will be successful, because the client has a clear sense of its audience, and we found the right platforms to reach that audience.

Next time you are planning updates to your website or social presence, be sure to ask yourself, “Why?”

————–

Photo Credit: hmk

Filed Under: Business, Content Management, Featured, Social Media, Web 2.0 Tagged With: , , ,

Live Phish App: Give the People What They Want

June 23, 2010 by Leave a Comment
phish


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Phish is one of those bands who has always supported digital distribution as a way to get their music to fans. The recent release of the Live Phish App for the iPhone shows they continue to be one step ahead of the game.

Grateful to the Dead

For the uninitiated, Phish is essentially this generation’s answer to the Grateful Dead: a jam band that pulls from a diverse blend of musical genres, emphasizes improvisation, and plays a different set list at every show. Much like their psychedelic predecessor, they encourage open recording and trading of their live shows. This business model (now taught at many universities), is ultimately responsible for their widespread popularity and continued success.

Embracing Digital Downloads

After years of financial success through ticket sales alone, Phish decided to branch out into the digital realm. In 2002, Phish began making all of their live shows available for purchase on their newly created Live Phish website. Ever since its inception, every performance is made available on the website within 24 hours of the show.
The most important thing to note here is that the audience-recorded bootlegs of the same shows are still made legally available for free.

Shows Are Priced to Sell

In terms of pricing, their pricing model is extremely competitive. Each show costs a $10 for basic MP3 and $15 for high-quality FLAC. While this pricing is similar to an album on iTunes, remember that Phish shows are generally 2.5+ hours of music, where most iTunes albums are less than an hour.
In addition, they offer bulk discounts for anyone ordering multiple shows. The more you buy, the less you pay — another important factor in their success.

Live Phish App: Free Downloadable Content


roseEver since the release of the iPhone, iTunes has been flooded with cheesy band/artist applications that offer little more than some photos, and maybe a free song or two. Live Phish blows these applications out of the water.
Initially, I was surprised to see that the app was paid ($3.99 on iTunes), not free. It seemed a bit expensive, especially based on my expectations for the content. However, along with the app purchase, I received a $10 coupon for the Live Phish store, which allowed me to purchase an entire show.
Again — they are giving away music, for free.

Live Phish App: Free Streaming Content

Once logged into the application, I have the ability to stream every show I have ever purchased from LivePhish.com directly to my iPhone. This essentially serves as a free cloud hosting service for the hundreds of songs I have downloaded over the years.
In addition to my purchased shows, there is a constantly revolving list of shows that you can stream –in their entirety — for free. This is a great feature, but it also serves to preview shows that can then be purchased from the site.
Finally – the app has a 24/7 streaming radio station that plays shows from the vault.

Take a Lesson

This app could have easily been built as a CD store, with the ability to browse the albums, preview tracks, and purchase.
It could also have been built as another generic band app, with some photos or other useless content aimed at generating sales.
Instead, they thought about what the average fan would want…and gave it to them (along with more free stuff).
This demonstrates something the recording industry has failed to recognize: people are willing to pay for content, you just need to make it worth it.
In other words — give the people what they want.

What other bands are doing this as well?

Filed Under: Business, Featured, Mobile Tagged With: , , , , , , ,

Getting Value from Analytics

June 4, 2010 by Leave a Comment
value-analytics

Though many of us use analytics to track how well a particular website or blog is doing, this data rarely gets the attention it deserves. Here are some tips on how to get the most out of your analytics:

Educate Yourself
Most analytics reports use their own terminology to get across the same idea. The first step is to understand exactly what these terms means – so you can truly understand the data.

Check Frequently
Checking your analytics often will allow you to see when something has changed drastically, and allow you to adapt more quickly. Even if you don’t understand the “why”, you will begin to see when something is going well (or poorly). If you don’t like the idea of having to check the site everyday, send a report to your email instead.

Recognize Patterns
The most important factor in reading analytics is to look for patterns in the data. Once you have figured out the patterns you can begin to decipher meaning. For example, you have an album review blog that sees a huge influx of traffic on Tuesdays – because major labels always release new albums on Tuesday. This is a simple example, but demonstrates the power of recognizing patterns.

Evolve Constantly
This is the step that most people fail to achieve with analytics. How do you take data and convert it into strategy? Let’s take the example above one step further. If you figure out that everyone is coming to the site on Tuesday – you should probably try to release content on Tuesdays. It may sound like a simple solution, but that one small change can drastically improve your traffic. Any successful website will continue to evolve long after it has been created.

How else do YOU use analytics?

Photo Credit: CLUC

Filed Under: Analytics, Business, Featured Tagged With: ,

Explaining Social Media to Non-Natives

May 12, 2010 by Leave a Comment
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While speaking at the ITEC conferences, I talk to lots of folks about social media. Interestingly enough, some STILL don’t see the value.

Here’s my advice for how to respond to the common argument against social media:

  1. “We block Facebook at our company”
    Yes, I understand your company blocks Facebook.  They block it because employees would spend a lot of time there, yes?  Well, if your employees (and other workers) are active on Facebook, then your customers are likely active on Facebook as well. They may even be having conversations about your products or services. Isn’t that worth investigating?
  2. “Twitter is for my kids”
    Actually, your kids are probably on Facebook or MySpace, not Twitter. The average age for Twitter users is around 30 years old, making Twitter the “oldest” platform other than LinkedIn.  Also, for all the “noise” on Twitter, it has consistently been the first source of information for organizations ranging from Boston Police to the NFL Draft.
  3. “We have a website, we have no need for a blog”
    Well…not exactly. Your website probably serves as a good source of information about your products, company, etc…, but, chances are, it isn’t very engaging. Take a look at your homepage. What has changed this week? This month? If your website isn’t changing, there isn’t any reason to come back. Using a blog to provide frequently updated content keeps users engaged, brings them back to your site and builds you up as a trusted industry resource.

Interestingly enough, these are the people I enjoy speaking to the most. There’s something really great about seeing someone’s eyes light up when they finally “get it”.

So, the next time you encounter someone who isn’t convinced about social media, take a minute to explain it to them. You may be surprised.

Photo Credit: Webtreats

Filed Under: Business, Featured, Social Media, Web 2.0 Tagged With: , , ,

How HTML5 is Changing the Game

April 28, 2010 by Leave a Comment
html5

04_28_10 box html.jpgWith the recent release of the iPad, there has been a lot of conversation about HTML5 and what it means for the future of video. This post will serve as a brief introduction to HTML, and discuss how it is changing video delivery.

What is HTML5?
HTML5 is the next major revision of the HTML markup language that aims to reduce our reliance on third-party plug-ins (Flash, Silverlight, etc…) by enhancing the core features with rich-internet application capabilities such as: vector graphics and embedded video. For now, let’s focus on the video.

HTML5 Video
Traditionally, websites have delivered video through a third-party technology such as Quicktime, Windows Media Player, or Adobe Flash. The widespread availability and adoption of these tools made this a viable solution for many years, but there is now a better option. HTML5 includes built-in support for video through the use of a <video> tag. This will allow users to add video to their site just as easily as they add text or links.

So…what’s the catch?

The Codec Problem
HTML5 is designed to be the new standard in online video, but there is a heated debate between the major browsers over which format(s) should be supported. Take a look at the following chart (which is an abbreviated version of this chart:

htm5chart.png
As you can see, Chrome is the only one that supports both formats, with Firefox and Safari on opposing sides of the coin, and Internet Explorer providing little support for either.  I won’t get into the driving factors behind the debate (mainly patent issues), but you can see that this is no way for a “standard” to move forward.

iPad Launches Using H.264, Internet Follows Suit
With the release of the iPad this month, several high-profile websites created HTML5-ready version of their content to ensure their video could be delivered to the estimated 1 million units already in use. Since iPad uses Safari, these sites are all encoding their video in H.264 format.

Looking Ahead
HTML5 is still in development, and the debate on video codecs will need to be resolved for it to become an “official” standard. The success of H.264 on the iPad may help that conversation along, since so many sites are already serving video in this format.

Regardless of what codes is chosen, the advent of HTML5 will likely bring about a major decline in use of Flash / Silverlight for both embedded video players and rich-internet applications, along with an increase in standards-based sites that use the new built-in features of HTML5.

Stay tuned for the next few posts, as I will be expanding on the topic of video delivery on the web.

Photo credit: bioxid

Filed Under: Business, Featured, Web 2.0 Tagged With: , , , , , ,

The Importance of Delivery

April 21, 2010 by Leave a Comment

Macbook.jpgI’ve been thinking a lot about the phrase “Content is King”. I agree that one of the keys to a successful online strategy is creating content actually worth reading. However, isn’t it important that people actually SEE your content?

In other words: it’s all about delivery.

Print / Newspaper
Over the last decade, we have seen a decline in traditional newspaper sales and a spike in readership of online blog sites. Is this because of poor content? No. It is mainly a function of delivery and cost. Why would I trudge down to the newsstand when I can get all the news I need delivered to my laptop?  Or, why even open my laptop if I can just get it delivered directly to my iPhone? The same concept applies to the new e-book readers such as the Kindle, Nook, and the much anticipated iPad. These small devices make the concept of lugging around a bag full of heavy books seem absurd in comparison.

Television / Video
Over the next ten years, I think we will see a major decline in traditional cable/satellite devices, as the major networks move toward delivery via the internet and mobile devices. As of right now, I can watch most of the shows on-demand, or have them delivered to me via iTunes, essentially making my cable box useless. Soon we will begin to see proprietary set-top boxes replaced with small inexpensive computers running Boxee or a similar program.

On-Demand
Netflix understands the concept of multiple delivery platforms, and has embraced it fully. Netflix Watch-It-Now allows Netflix subscribers to view on-demand movies and TV shows, some of which are currently running in primetime (Netflix picks up the NBC show Heroes the day after it is broadcast). As of today, Netflix will deliver this on-demand content via a slew of devices, including web browser, game consoles (XBox, PS3, Wii), Roku (a proprietary streaming player), Blu-Ray players, and internet connected TVs.

Content is King? Sure.

But a king without subjects isn’t very powerful, don’t you agree?

Photo credit: Tom Raftery

Filed Under: Business, Featured, Mobile, Web 2.0 Tagged With: , , , ,

Companies Not Ready for IPv6

February 3, 2010 by Leave a Comment

In a recent article from IPv6 Now, they reveal that less than 10% of all IPv4 addresses remain unallocated, and predict it willethernetcords.jpg be less than 3 years before we run out for good. With the expiration date approaching, companies running their own network need to be prepared.

Exponential Growth

When the internet began, a system was created for identifying machines on a network, called the Internet Protocol. Similar to telephone numbers, this system provides a unique address for every computer connected to the internet.

The addresses are structured as a set of four numbers, each number can range from 0-255, e.g. 192.168.1.100. This 32-bit address creates approx 4 billion (4.3 x 109) unique combinations.

With the exponential growth of the internet, we are rapidly approaching the 4 billion user capacity.

Technology is Short Lived

With technology (and most concepts in general), it is often difficult for people to look past the immediate future to anticipate the long term need. My favorite example of this is a quote from Bill Gates:

“… I felt like I was providing enough freedom for 10 years. That is, a move from 64k to 640k felt like something that would last a great deal of time. Well, it didn’t – it took about only 6 years before people started to see that as a real problem.”

A similar example of this can be found in a 2003 ZDNet article in which Paul Wilson, director general of APNIC (Asia Pacific Network Information Centre), stated that the shortage of IP Addresses is “misinformation”, and that the current system would be enough for 20 years.

In both of these cases, they knew exactly what to anticipate, they just expected the changes to take longer to happen.

New Technology Already Exists

In 1998, a new protocol was developed called IPv6. This new protocol can handle up to 340 undecillion (3.4 x 1038) addresses. While it seems like this is the answer we have been looking for, there is still one problem: Internet Protocol is implemented in hardware, not software.

This means that is isn’t as simple as running the latest patch or upgrade to get everything fixed. In some cases, companies will have to replace their entire infrastructure to support these new standards.

Even consumers will likely need to replace their own networks, as many modern-day routers and modems do not support the new protocol.

Recent Developments

Comcast, one of the United States’ largest internet providers, is taking the lead in this space, stating “in order for 2011 to represent the start of widespread adoption, critical work such as our trials must be conducted in 2010″.

Google is attacking the switch from the other end, providing an IPv6 version of the Google website for users to test out their connection.

Once major players such as these get involved, it is only a matter of time before the industry as a whole takes a big step forward.

Are you ready for the switch?

Photo Credit: Bruno Girin

Filed Under: Business, Featured Tagged With: , ,
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