Add multimedia to your blog!

This great article on mashable.com will give you the scoop: “A website without multimedia is like a cupcake without icing: Functional but lacking. These days, all manner of web pages from huge company sites to small business blogs are expected to add audio, photo, or video to their posts and homepages.” Read full article here: http://mashable.com/2010/07/28/add-multimedia-to-blog/

How we Use the Internet

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Social Media Challenge

The Social Media trend encourages people to have a voice everywhere, takes it beyond just the early days of blogging where it seemed like an indulgence to stumble across a personal blog on the web and read about a day in the life of John Doe. I believe Social Media’s influence is so powerful because it boils down to the basic study of human interaction. Social Media is a network built on the principals of sociology and the natural curiosity we have about other people, even if it is just hearing about what John Doe ate for breakfast.
Become influential through Social Media

If you are ready to get involved, or become more popular among the masses of Social Media for business growth, you have to make sure your voice is heard. You have to position yourself as a facilitator of groups, and within these groups, follow these steps, repeatedly:

1. Provide Information – research, opinion, fact etc. stay on point with discussing your business as much as you discuss other topics.

TIP: Do not get too sidetracked from your goal for driving people to your business, but don’t oversell either. If you approach someone’s personal social media space with the sole intention to advertise your services, you will quickly turn into a social media billboard for yourself, no one likes those on their front lawn.

2. Interact with your social networking group as a whole and on a one-on-one basis with those more engaged with your current topic.

TIP: This step is critical for building referrals and leads, people do business with people they like. Stay engaged, and connected with your Social Media network. The word “SOCIAL” is there for a reason.

3. Survey your actions – If you are getting the response you’re looking for and bringing attention to your business through referrals and leads, GO YOU! If you aren’t getting the response you need as the facilitator, maybe it’s time to mix it up, try another topic or even another forum altogether.

TIP: There are hundreds of social media outlets on the internet – your task is to find the one that produces the result you are looking for.

HELP! I Can’t Reach My Favorite Web Service!

This morning I was trying to log onto Facebook, the site was just not loading – although I usually assume they are having techy issues and I would go back to it later, my curiosity got the best of me. I Googled – ‘Facebook is down’ to see if it was a bigger issue than I thought.

Although I did not find any permanent errors or huge news stories about Facebook being offline – thank goodness – I DID find this site: downrightnow.com. It shows the status of some of the most popular sites on the web and their current on-line or off-line status.

With Facebook in this case it said ‘ Likely Service Disruption’ it left me feeling like I still didn’t know what was going on, but at least I was comforted by the fact that it was not just my computer unable to connect to Facebook!

They even have a blog that discussed their ‘down’ findings and puts some words of wisdom out there for concerned web surfers.

I guess Unitz LLC – the company who developed this is thinking outside of the box – its almost like an app for web, something helpful in the case that you are feeling stranded on the web. I do feel better knowing that is is a known issue, but I still can not get on facebook – so it is not a problem fixer, just nosey informer. (which I love!)

How to build your online exposure on Twitter, Facebook, Linked In and Blogs

June 29, 2009 · by Chris Brogan

Chris Brogan is President of New Marketing Labs, a social media agency that helps businesses understand business strategy around online communication tools like blogs, social networks, listening tools, and community platforms. He builds “strategy into action” plans and executes these with a team of social media practitioners for companies seeking to build their own presence in the online communications world, be that for marketing, public relations, or business communication in general. The process is simple to communicate, and Chris serves several large and mid-sized companies in this capacity. Click here for more information.

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If you’re looking to establish your online presence, and build relationships, it’s not the kind of project where you show up, build your profiles, friend a few people, and call it good. It’s a lot like tending the farm. Here are seven particular “chores” you could do every day that should prove beneficial to your online interests.

Twitter

1. Find seven things worth retweeting in your general feed and share.
2. Reply to at least five things with full responses (not just “thanks”).
3. Point out a few people that you admire. It shows your mindset, too.
4. Follow back at least 10 folks. (I use an automated tool, but this is a personal preference. If you want such, I use SocialToo.)
5. 10 minutes of just polite two-way chit chat goes far.

Facebook

1. Check in on birthdays on the home page. (Want a secret? Send the birthday wish via Twitter or email. Feels even more deliberate.)
2. Respond to any comments on your wall.
3. Post a status message daily, something engaging or interesting.
4. Comment on at least seven people’s status messages or updates.
5. Share at least 3 interesting updates that you find.
6. If you belong to groups or fan pages, leave a new comment or two.

LinkedIn

1. Accept any invitations that make sense for you to accept.
2. Enter any recent business cards to invite them to LinkedIn (if you’re growing your network).
3. Drop into Q&A and see if you can volunteer 2-3 answers.
4. Provide 1 recommendation every few days for people you can honestly and fully recommend.
5. Add any relevant slide decks to the Slideshare app there, or books to the Amazon bookshelf.

Blogs

1. Visit your blog’s comments section and comment back on at least 5 replies.
2. If you have a few extra minutes, click through to the blogs of the commenters, and read a post or two and comment back.
3. While on those sites, use a tool like StumbleUpon and promote their good work.
4. Write the occasional post promoting the good work of a blog in your community.

It’s Not Easy

Maintaining your online presence takes time. If you look at all I’ve listed above, that’s easily more than an hour of work. But it depends what the value of that presence is to you, if you’re doing this as an individual, or to your organization, if you’re doing this on behalf of a brand or product.

We’ve traded dollars for time, in lots of these equations, as we see the return on our advertising spend diminish. It’s your choice whether you want to maintain an active online presence, or if you want to get away with a bit less.

The most common shortfall of a creative freelancer… is the left brain influence of organization.

I was talking with two potential clients this week, one was from Southern California – the other was in Florida, and they both brought up a very common issue.. They had hired freelance designers for their websites that did not follow through on calls, did not deliver what they wanted, and were consistently hard to get in touch with. Basically, these clients felt like they were a side thought to the person they hired for their website – and both said they wasted their time and money, and ended up with an unusable website! Unfortunately, with the creative time they paid for – they had to cut their losses, and move on, but they were both left feeling misled and scammed.

Although it may sound that way, these were not necessarily cases of these clients being scammed, they most likely fell into the creative hands of right brain individuals –– with right brain priorities! The most common shortfall of a creative freelancer… is the left brain influence of organization.

Working with an established design firm is usually a more solid option, they may cost a bit more than a freelancer, but you have less to worry about, as they not only have their own personal reputation on the line, but the reputation of the company they are representing, and their job security comes Right along with it!

Sometimes, a freelancer is a friend… a relative,… or just a more affordable option for your immediate needs, and they can do GREAT work! If you have decided to go this route, and it is your first time working with this person, or seeing this person work as a freelancer for anyone, you will need to keep a closer eye on their progress…

SO! Here’s my advice, Make sure you watch out for these KEY elements in your first few meetings with your new designer:

Make sure they are:

• Scheduling follow up calls with you

• Setting deadlines for your project

• Providing you with references from past clients

• Make sure that they Go Over your Project With You in Writing

Finally, If they slip up on follow through – Keep the lines of communication scheduled until the project is complete.

A Logo Will Help Jumpstart Your Business

How can I get people to remember my business even if I am just starting out?

If you want to create a business that is memorable, build this into your mission statement. Make sure that the brand you create for your business if focused towards making a strong and lasting impression on your customers. Develop a marketing plan early that reaches the first people that do business with you. Make sure they feel that they got what they were looking for and then some. Your customers will be impressed with your consistency in your brand and become fans and returning customers very quickly.

I have heard about getting a logo and brand, but I am just a small business, do I need one?

Logos build credibility to your business and using it consistently on every piece of your marketing will instill confidence in your business, this is very helpful for new businesses striving to achieve a strong following from day one. CONSISTENCY is key for your logo to be truly effective. Even a company as large as apple, which did start out small, had a logo from the start.

Step 2: So you know how to DEVELOP your brand, now what?

Having an effective brand will result is a request for your services more than a need for you to constantly explain to your potential clients why they should do business with you. A strong brand should make people believe in your product or service without further persuasion.

Recommended Success Tip for Branding

Effective branding will make your customers feel a sense of connection and importance just by doing business with you.  It should connect your customers with a common trait, they are all happy and wanting to do more business with you, and even tell their friends! You want them to keep coming back, right?

Your branding strategy will ultimately be determined by your answers to the 24 the questions posed in the last blog post – Designing Your Business for Success: Step 1

If you have developed your plan and branding goals but want to do more, conduct a customer survey – take their feedback and develop a plan of action to incorporate their needs into the way you do business, and what you offer.

The first rule of Branding is – BRAND EVERYTHING, the second rule of branding is… BRAND EVERYTHING.. finally, the third rule of branding is.. you guessed it  – BRAND EVERYTHING!

Once you have a logo and slogan (both part of your marketing, which I will be expanding on in future blog posts) Set competitive prices and find as many placed to advertise within your budget as possible.

Wherever you advertise, and on every piece of marketing your logo, style and theme needs to be strong and consistent. If you have a great product, excellent service and high impact marketing materials, your branding will create a positive experience for your clients. The longer you are consistent with your branding, the more people will associate it with your product or service, this is how you become the competition to beat.

Designing Your Business For Success: Step 1

Branding, Marketing and Advertising are three very different things. All important to the success of any business, but branding comes first.

Branding

Branding is creating a brand, a focus that your business, product or cause has dedicated itself towards. Your brand is the personality of your business, the character of your mission statement and is what your business is ultimately recognized for.

To develop your brand as yourself the following questions:

1. What products and services do you offer? Define the qualities of these services and/or products.
2. What are the values of your products and services? What are the values of your company?
3. What is the mission of your company?
4. What does your company specialize in?
5. Who is your target market? Who do your products and services attract?
6. Develop a the tag-line of your company? What message do you want to constantly reiterate to reinforce your company’s mission?
7. Looking at the last 6 answers, What is the personality of your company? Is it innovative, creative, energetic, or sophisticated?
8. How does that personality interact with your target audience? Which characteristics and qualities get the attention of your prospects?
9. Write a bio for the new character of your business, treat your brand like a person in the company that everyone looks up to and use the brand as your role model.
10. What are the objectives that you hope to achieve with your brand?
    

Study Your Market and Plan to Conquer it:

1. Who is your target audience?
2. Where is your target audience located?
3. What do they think about your current brand?
4. What would you like them to think about your brand?
5. How will you attract them to your products or services?
6. Who else is competing for their loyalty and devotion?
7. Are you targeting business or consumer sectors?
8. Do you have a niche market?
9. What problem does your product or service solve or need?
10. How should you determine the price of your product or service?
11. Who are your potential customers and where can you find them?
12. Who are your biggest competitors? What can you do better than them?
13. How should you advertise?
14. Will you use new media or traditional media?