social media marketing Archives | waveSpawn Marketing

July 24, 2012

Internet marketing starts with effective website design

Internet marketing optimization starts from the design of a website. Developing an intuitive and content-rich website takes planning. Focus on organizing your information in a clear and logical manner. The areas of importance should stand out and be readily accessible. Too often home pages are cluttered with non-essential information. This is generally the case when a variety of people voice their opinions or product managers are jockeying for prime real estate to promote their product lines. It’s like the old adage “too many cooks spoil the broth”.

Here are five tips for effective web design and Internet marketing:

Know your customers
You really need to understand your audience and the keywords they are likely to search for. Internet marketing is about better positioning your content to rank higher than your competitors when keywords are searched. This is often referred to as your organic search results. These are natural keyword searches without paying per click for traffic. For most small businesses this is the preferred method of increasing awareness. It’s a low cost and highly effective strategy to get your products and services in front of potential customers. Successful Internet marketing will drive highly targeted traffic to your website.

Keyword optimization
You could have an award winning website design and still not see the performance you seek. A sleek design that truly represents your brand is important, but generating meaningful traffic should be your top priority. Marketing your website is arguably more important than designing your website. For any business to be successful, they need to be visible. Prospects need to be able to conveniently find the information. This is why optimizing your site or SEO (search engine optimization) with the most relevant keywords is essential. You want people to find you based on phrases and buzz words that accurately represent your business.

Ongoing marketing effort
The most effective websites are those that are updated frequently with timely and relevant information. Ensure that your pages are optimized for search engines, primarily by focusing on keywords and topics your customers are likely to search for. Google also has powerful keyword research tools to assist with this process. Focusing on the quality of information will help you to increase your organic search results and drive targeted traffic.

Integrated social media
As social media feeds and posts are increasingly being indexed and returned in search results, good web design will include your social media and digital marketing initiatives. News, articles, blogs, and social media accounts are excellent methods of keeping current customers informed while reaching new potential customers. Internet marketing efforts can be strengthened with effective use of social media.

Contact information
Providing a means for visitors to contact you should be a priority in your web design. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve had to scour a website to find a phone number or method to reach someone. It can be frustrating for visitors and a quick way for them to lose interest. Have easy to access contact information and provide a few methods for people to reach you – phone, email, social media, etc.

The KISS principle (or keep is stupid simple) is generally good to keep in mind when designing a website. It can be easy to get carried away and lose focus of your business objectives. Technology like Flash and bells and whistles can supplement your site, but they shouldn’t be included without a purpose. You’ll also need to understand any optimization limitations that accompany plugins and third party software.

January 13, 2012

The importance of online customer reviews

Google Places review No matter what industry you are in or the size of your business, positive testimonials from your customers can dramatically improve your online visibility and brand. Let’s face it, people are conditioned to search for information on the Internet. It’s the norm to open a browser, pull up Google and begin researching for your desired product or service. This could be anything – a local restaurant, the latest electronic gadget, a plumber, marketing firm, etc.

If the searcher is lucky enough to find your company, do you have enough information available to influence their decision? This is where reviews could provide the determining factor. All things being equal, if you have more favorable reviews in which customers are raving about your product or service, this may be enough for you to gain a new client. Moreover, several positive reviews will likely improve your search ranking. For example businesses on Google Places which have five star reviews are much more likely to be returned at the top of the list. It’s a double bonus!

Think about traveling to a new destination. If you do a search for hotels and find very negative reviews of a particular place, would you stay there? Probably not; common sense would say if 8 people have posted noise issues and unsanitary conditions, you’ll probably look for another place. Now let’s say you’re searching for “landscaping in Clarence, NY”. The same logic applies – you want confirmation that the service is reliable and trustworthy. That’s why these positive online reviews are so important. As the thumbnail above illustrates, the top ranked search result has 11 positive reviews.

There are several sites which have user reviews and ratings to help consumers find local products and services: Google Places, Yelp, Angie’s List, foursquare, etc. All of these sites have different benefits and perks. Small businesses in particular should be focused on understanding these review services and determining which could provide the most benefit to their business. It will take some initiative, but being proactive and encouraging good customers to post reviews can really pay off. You’ll need to continually monitor your Google Places and other accounts to check for new reviews.

If you have any questions or thoughts on customer reviews, we’d love to hear from you.

October 25, 2011

Marketing to mobile phones

Small businesses these days have a lot of marketing options. Staying focused and under budget can be challenging. Here’s a quick tip for targeted search advertising:

Marketing to mobile phones
If you already use pay per click (PPC) advertising models such as Google AdWords, you may be familiar with ways to reach your target audience. This could include defining the geographical location, specific keywords or phrases, time of day, etc. What you may not be aware of is the ability to create and deliver custom ads for mobile devices. This can be a convenient and effective way to reach new prospects. Since you know they are connected via a mobile device, you can integrate direct calling features to make it easier for them to contact you. You can also modify the text and message so that it’s optimized for mobile display. Consumers are increasingly using their handheld devices as mini laptops and business owners can certainly increase sales by keeping up with mobile technology. Being able to search and contact businesses on a handheld is essential.

Once your mobile or WAP ad has been setup, monitor the activity over a reasonable amount of time and continually refine your message and demographic options to improve performance. These little adjustments can help you maximize your marketing budget!

August 10, 2011

Small businesses and social media

Marketing tools These days, small business owners have a lot of marketing options to consider. There are a number of traditional marketing platforms including newspaper ads, print ads, billboards, direct mail, and TV commercials. Then combine these with a slew of digital and social media marketing options such as Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube, blogging, a custom mobile application development, Groupon, Places, foursquare, Yelp, PPC advertising, and mobile marketing to smart phones. Now you’ve got an extremely large pool of potential marketing combinations and strategies for small businesses to exploit.

The number of options and evolving technologies can be overwhelming for small businesses. Staying current with various platforms can be a challenge in itself. The amount of time required to simply manage and maintain a handful of online accounts can be daunting. In fact, a recent survey by Hiscox revealed that many small businesses were not using social media channels to promote their products and services. Only 12% of businesses considered social media promotion a necessity, 14% indicated they don’t know enough about it, and nearly 50% of respondents weren’t using social media at all.

Over 40% surveyed said that word-of-mouth was the main way they got business. This is an interesting statistic – as social media is essentially a word-of-mouth advertising vehicle. While offline forms of word-of-mouth remain critical for all brands, and certainly for small, local businesses, social media also plays a valuable role by giving customers a louder voice for their recommendations and helping to amplify that voice beyond their immediate circle of friends, family and colleagues.

So how can a small business focus on what they do best while at the same time take advantage of social media marketing? Easy – you don’t have to go it alone. There are marketing specialists to help sift through all of the social media options and develop a custom marketing strategy that fits your business model and budget. For the same reason you wouldn’t attempt to fill a cavity in your child’s tooth, there’s no need to take on tasks which exceed your limits.

Small businesses need to open their minds and be creative. Innovation is paving new opportunities for businesses to market themselves and secure customers. Integrated marketing campaigns can yield meaningful results. Whatever your objectives are, social media can be a powerful communication tool to help spread your message.

waveSpawn provides a full range of customized marketing solutions for small businesses. Please contact us to discuss your specific goals.

May 18, 2011

Social Trends – Mobile Marketing and Deal Sites

As the social media landscape continues to form, new marketing opportunities and trends are becoming visible. Here are a couple of statistics and trends which are continuing to grow and may be helpful for your business.

Consumers are continuing to go mobile through the increase in smart phone users and tablet device sales (iPad, PlayBook, etc). A recent study showed that almost 50% of mobile subscribers are using smart phones. This means a growing number of consumers have access to browse the Internet, access mobile apps, downloaded content, or text messaging. If the growth rate continues at this pace, it would lead to about 142 million smart phone users by 2012. This is really opening up a whole new opportunity to reach prospects and customers in new ways. Since consumers are taking these smart phones and tablets in place of laptops, companies should make every effort to ensure – at minimum – they have mobile compliant websites.

Many businesses are developing mobile applications. They are leveraging some of the GPS technology that exists through services such as foursquare and Facebook places to implement loyalty programs. It’s a relatively low-cost way to identify and reward good customers – as well as exposing your business to new audiences. There are a number of ways to integrate mobile marketing with traditional and social media marketing to maximize the effectiveness.

Another current trend is with social deal sites. We are seeing an increasing number of daily discount offerings from Groupon, Living Social, Huge Daily Deals, etc. A lot of these present great opportunities to market, especially for small businesses with a regional focus. They can create a significant amount of targeted exposure, but you really need to do a cost analysis to make sure it’s effective for your business model. Even if it’s at a break-even point, you could open up yourself to new customers, new prospects, and more importantly – repeat business. The good news is the ROI, return on investment, is relatively easy to measure because the numbers speak for themselves.

February 16, 2011

waveSpawn selected as a Finalist for the Rookie of the Year BETA Award

waveSpawn was recently announced as a Finalist for the Rookie of the Year Award for the 2011 BETA Awards! BETA is an acronym for Buffalo/Niagara Emerging Technology Awards. The annual awards are hosted by infoTech Niagara – who recognize the “best and brightest in Western New York’s technology sector”. Since 1998 infoTech Niagara has worked hard in supporting the WNY IT Community through networking, professional development, training and more.

The 2011 BETA awards will be held on March 23rd at the Buffalo Convention Center. waveSpawn is honored to be among the selected finalists. We are looking forward to a fun-filled evening. Many thanks to our customers and the infoTech Niagara association. term paper buy online

September 27, 2010

Reinforcing your value proposition with social media marketing

Well thought out sales and marketing plans are critical for most small businesses. There are many strategies to leverage in order to meet specific revenue goals. However, decision-makers should not lose sight of establishing a unique value proposition which clearly differentiates the product or service from competitors.

What differentiates you from your competitors? Why should prospects buy from you or utilize your services? These are the types of questions that you need to answer before generating your sales and marketing plan. Your value proposition should support your brand. As discussed in an earlier topic, your brand is the personality that identifies your product, service or company. Specifically, this image should represent the heart and soul of your organization as it relates to your customers, employees, partners, and investors.

If you don’t focus on your unique value proposition, you’re likely to get lost in the shuffle with your competitors. Understand what makes you better and use it to your advantage. This could be customer service, quality, cost, innovation, a niche market, core competency, or something else. Incorporate that same strategy into everything you do – including both internal and external communication. Consistency in your message will help establish a clear vision. More importantly it’ll define who you are.

Ultimately, you want customers and prospects to recognize you for something – best quality, lowest price, fastest delivery, most helpful, dependable, etc. That same competitive advantage should be leveraged in your marketing and communications strategy – including social media. Social media offers endless innovative and creative possibilities for businesses to exploit. Learn how to leverage these tools to your advantage. Know your target audience, share your value proposition, and consistent follow-through are all keys to your success.

March 26, 2010

Social media confirms that many companies have nothing to say

Social media confirms many companies have nothing to say Have you ever noticed how many business-related social media accounts have little, if any, postings or messages? You know the ones… they hastily ran out and setup a corporate Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and blog account without a plan or clue as to what they were doing. Somewhere along the way they strayed from logic. It’s as if they’re proclaiming “hey we’re not only slackers, but we’re cutting edge slackers.”

These companies should consider buying a full page ad in a magazine, forgetting about it, and then letting the publisher print the issue with just their logo on the page and maybe a line that says “too lazy for anything more”. That’ll be a consistent branding message that integrates well with their social media campaign. After all, a holistic approach is good. It’s actually taking a page out of the Seinfeld series “it’s a show about nothing”. Instead, it’s a company that is shouting “we have nothing to say”.

The simple point here is neglected social media accounts can be detrimental to a company’s brand. You wouldn’t create a website with no content, would you? Social media should not be treated any different. Many companies seem to underestimate the value and scope of social media – assigning minimal resources to manage them. Companies that engage in social media need to map out their long-term strategy and approach. Moreover, they need to delegate responsibilities of monitoring and maintaining social media account activity. This shouldn’t be dumped into the hands of an intern or temp. This should be taken serious by someone that understands the platforms and knows how to interact with customers and prospects.

The good news is that there are companies to help guide businesses through the process of engaging in social media. As a starting point, waveSpawn has assembled a comprehensive white paper entitled Understanding social media ROI.

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March 1, 2010

Maximizing Social Media ROI

There’s no denying the magnitude and increasing impact that social media is having upon the business world. Marketing professionals in every industry are reevaluating their business plans and strategies to incorporate this growing phenomenon – which is clearly here to stay. Sometimes this means including a Technorati claim token: G3J8CMQZPY79.

Social media ROI is arguably the hottest topics in the social media eco-system as it relates to marketing. Social networking is changing the way businesses and individuals connect. Online communities create an immediate forum for solicited and unsolicited customer feedback, commentary, suggestions, referrals, and yes even slander. These consumer messages can be powerful and detrimental at the same time. Organizations should give careful consideration to the variety of vehicles and response options available when implementing a social media program.

Each social media initiative takes time, planning, and attention. Perhaps the biggest mistake organizations make is thinking that these accounts can function on autopilot. A blog is created, a Facebook account is activated, Twitter is turned on… and then nobody adds content or monitors these sites. They fail to execute a plan or strategy. In my opinion, neglecting social media accounts is worse than not being involved at all. It’s a direct reflection of a business’s lack of follow-through.

What constitutes effective social media marketing? More importantly, how can marketers accurately measure the results of past social marketing campaigns and how can they predict future results? waveSpawn has compiled a white paper which presents a framework for businesses to better understand and measure the ROI of social media. It outlines the key dimensions of marketing metrics which are critical to determining the success of each social media campaign. It will also help marketers to learn from social media, react to what consumers are saying, and help influence future results.

Download the entire white paper here.

February 12, 2010

Can a Facebook group influence Brett Favre?

Brett Favre Billboard It’ll be interesting to see if social media mixed with traditional outdoor billboard advertising can influence the career of Brett Favre. There is a loyal and persistent group of fans on Facebook that are determined to bring Brett back to the Minnesota Vikings to play another year of football. The Facebook group has grown to about 128,000 fans… just a little shy of their goal of 4 million fans.

This group has also created their own website. They have raised enough funds to place a billboard in Brett’s hometown of Hattiesburg, MS. The sign reads “Hey No. 4, do Minnesota fans love you and want you back next year? You Brettcha!”

Let’s see how Brett reacts to this… if we’ve learned anything, it’s that Brett likes to change his mind. I can’t imagine he wants to retire on an interception throw to lose the playoff game to the New Orleans Saints. After all they were poised to win that game – and perhaps the Super Bowl?

Can social media play a small part in Brett’s decision to return to the NFL? Perhaps the more important question is should he return?