Websites Redefined

July 25th, 2010 | Posted in Blog | Comments Off
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A single, static repository of information (a.k.a. website) might have gotten you by about 10 years ago, but in this day and age people seeking information digitally are looking for more – they are looking for an experience.  Websites that shine engage your audience by creating a social, mobile, and interactive experience that is tailored to them.

Six Tips for Creating a Great Interactive Experience with Your Website:

Know your audience
Who you are speaking to will influence what type of website you create or better yet, allow you to target the vehicle that your audience is most likely to use:

Baby Boomers – Boomers are used to going to a physical site to find the information they are looking for and they don’t mind digging for it.  Whether it’s a landing page, a content site, or a Flash-driven experience, as long as it contains the information that they’re looking for they’ll dig it.

Young Professionals–Young professionals in their 20s and 30s want quick and easy access to information. Enhance your brand experience on social sites like Facebook to reach these people.

Generation Y – These coming of age consumers are on the go and their mobile device is where it’s at.  Be sure to have your WAP page or mobile applications ready for this audience.

Get social
Regardless of your target audience; chances are good they are involved in some type of online community.  Simply provide them with the necessary tools and let them go to work for you – sharing the information they like. Site add-ons like “Add This” give developers quick access to the tools that make it easy to share any content on your website. Social sites are also coming out with their own set of sharing tools that allow you to easily integrate your content so you can see what your friends have “liked” – providing a great new way to quickly see what products are popular within a particular demographic.

Get the most bang for your buck
Utilizing multiple touch points through an integrated network – rather than a website alone – enables you to engage a much wider group of consumers through a more interesting, integrated, interactive experience – and get more out of your marketing dollars. Consumers rely on many different digital devices to search for information, so once you figure out where they are you need to keep them engaged. You can do this by making sure the various ways you communicate with your customers (blog, website, Facebook, Twitter, mobile application) are connected and lead to each other.

Keep them coming back for more
Rewarding the users who are influencing your brand will keep them engaged and active, and most importantly – talking.  Be sure your fans and followers are the first to know about new offers or company information. Creating exclusive content, offers, and promotions will help develop a sense of community and ensure they keep coming back.

Let your users drive the content
Fan suggestions, surveys, images, and videos will be the natural result of a growing social network and won’t require too much work on your part.  It is important that your fans are just as involved in creating content as your internal team. Make sure you are providing the means of gathering this type of content and in some cases reward those who participate in content generation and brand discussions.

Participate
It’s no secret that people like to talk and your brand is the topic du jour. Most comments will be neutral or positive but at some time or other there will be a negative comment to deal with.  More than delivering good feedback to improve your brand, the careful monitoring of the social sites you are involved with gives you the opportunity to guide conversations and potentially turn a negative comment into something positive.

We can help you create more than just a “website”. Let us help you deliver a great interactive experience that will keep your customers coming back for more.  Contact us today!

Make Social Media Work For You

July 17th, 2010 | Posted in Blog | Comments Off
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Social media provides the perfect opportunity for companies to engage with their customers – a big plus for companies who are quickly learning that their brand is being determined by the conversations that are being had about their company. So how do you effectively incorporate social media into your marketing mix to ensure the biggest bang for your buck?

Three Tips to Ensure Social Media Success:

  • Be an active participant: If you’ve decided to use social media then you need to roll up your sleeves and get in the ring! Assign someone to be an active and consistent participant in the communication.
  • Be yourself: Lose the marketing fluff – a real voice will build trust and allow you to connect with your followers and fans and make them feel that they are part of an exclusive group with special insight into your company.
  • Be aware: The most active users of social media are the people who will carry your brand message for you. These influencers often retweet or post your messages to their followers and friends, so it’s a good idea to be aware of who they are.


How to Integrate Social Media and Measure Its Worth

First things first… Start by connecting your Facebook fans and Twitter followers to the customers in your marketing database using the email address – accessible via the application programming interfaces (APIs). Now you are ready to build social media into your marketing mix. A great way to start is to direct message your followers and/or place exclusive offers on your Facebook page. To keep fans and followers coming back for more make sure that when you do send an email or direct mail message that they are the first to receive it. Also be sure to advertise your social media presence on your website and by using the “forward-to” social features in email. Finally, you can measure the success of your social media efforts by turning to the APIs from Facebook and Twitter which contain valuable information such as who has posted your message, who has retweeted, who has clicked on your link, and more. This information can then be brought into your marketing database and measured.

While only time will tell the true marketing value of social media, one thing is for sure – this is definitely an area you don’t want to ignore. We can help you bring social media into the mix and maximize its value while enhancing the value of all your other marketing communications. Contact us today!