Social Media « Showcasing your Company's Expertise

3 ways to better utilize your website

April 1st, 2013

Your website can be more than a reference document or a search destination. Take the next step and integrate it into your customer touch process.

• Add an action link to your email signature. Rather than www.e-conversation.com; how about: “Check out some videos from Our Portfolio” Try to update it at least once a quarter, since most of your emails go to people you regularly communicate with.

• Use actionable links in your emails. Inviting someone to visit your facility? Make sure you include a link that talks about parking and directions. Click here for an example of an information based page we did for one of our clients. On average, a website visitor clicks on about 2.5 pages per visit. So, give your email recipient a chance to learn more about what you do, when learning about how to get to your location.

• Every page should tell a stand alone story and have a call to action. For information websites (not e-commerce), only a third to a half of the visitors start on the home page. In Google searches and direct links, visitors go directly to the page recommended for them. Check out this page, as an example. Click here for another example. Also, post up the link to a relevant page or video on Linkedin, Facebook or Twitter. These tools will grab your content and offer it up to your community.

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4 Reasons why your business should consider being on Facebook

January 15th, 2013

1. Facebook is about relationships. When you are working with your customers and prospects, while solving their problems is critical; creating and maintaining a relationship is important.
2. It’s easy to use, and nearly everyone knows how to access and post information.
3. For many businesses, Facebook has already created a page for you. Better that you are in control, rather than have Facebook populate it, or just leave it blank.
4. Just look at the numbers – From the Facebook website

* One billion monthly active users as of October 2012.* Approximately 81% of our monthly active users are outside the U.S. and Canada.
* 584 million daily active users on average in September 2012.
* 604 million monthly active users who used Facebook mobile products as of September 30, 2012.
* There are now a total of 13 million local business Pages. (The number of active local business Pages has increased by more than 40 percent since January.)

To begin, don’t worry about getting tons of “likes” Look at your Facebook page as a living snapshot into things that are happening in your business. Create content that answers the question “why are the people in this company folks that I would like to do business with?”

P.S. Aside from the numbers, this could also apply to LInkedin and other social media tools.

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Does Mr. Info or Ms. Contact Us work at your company?

May 30th, 2012

In the last few months, I have been developing websites for companies. Upon looking at past websites, there seems to be predisposition to ask customers or prospects to send an email to info@mycompany.com or if you really want information, you can call us at Contact Us or maybe to be more precise will give you a phone number for “Sales”

Now who really wants to send an email to info? Ever want to call Sales. How about social media? You get a request to send your personal information to FacebookAdmin@mycompany . This really makes a person feel an intimacy with that company. Or, how about filling out a request for quote, and get a reply back from receipt@mycompany.com

My suggestion? Put a name on a response. Instead of info… ask people to contact BSmith@mycompany.com When it comes to phone numbers, list a name. You can change the name easily with content management systems. Even if Bob Smith is not available, instruct the person answering the phone to say, Bob is not here, I am Judy, how can I help you. Look at your responses to forms. Have someone assigned to respond. It will look much more personal. Plus, you are likely to avoid your acknowledgement going into SPAM.

If you would like to see how we have done it, check out these site. http://www.scienceparkillinois.net/contact_illinois_science_technology_park or http://www.midwestmoving.com/contact-us/

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Upgrading your smartphone? Think carefully when choosing a supplier!

November 9th, 2011

As smartphones get smarter, you as the user need to think about everything that you rely on. Why? Because if you change systems, those features may not be available.

Thinking about moving from an iPhone to Android? You will have reload your APP’s. Also, how are you going to handle your music.

You can do this, but it will take some time.

But what about the iPhone feature called Siri. This feature will let you ask questions and learn about what you like. You’ll get used to that capability. Want to move systems then? Unlikely you can take Siri with you.

Increasingly, capabilities will be created that extend from your laptop, to your tablet, to your smartphone, to your house. Those capabilities will be optimized to work across one system. So, you will have to choose. Apple, Microsoft, or Google?

So, when you upgrade this time, think about who you are choosing. You may be with them for quite some time.

Tags: smartphones, upgrades
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It’s not where you post your content, it’s what you say

August 1st, 2011

Every day you get get emails about using various internet tools to enhance your business communications. 12 ways to better use Linkedin, 10 steps to making Facebook work for you.

These are good programs. If you have an interest in the tool, go for it.

But once you learn how to use the tool, what are you going to say?

Think about the questions that your customers and prospects are asking. Today, you can take out a sheet of paper and start writing them down. At the end of two weeks write down the answers.

Are these questions and answers on your website? Have you reviewed them with your sales and customer support team?

You can use them in any of your social media. Tweet a questions, link to an answer. Put a question and answer up on Linkedin or Facebook.

Tags: content for the internet
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Take your IT manager out to lunch

July 16th, 2011

I run across sales and marketing managers who comment on the inability to access and utilize the internet in their efforts to grow their business. Often they comment on the difficulty to get their IT people on board.

How many times have you run across a person who can’t get access to YouTube, Twitter, Facebook etc on their company system? For many employees, the solution is to just forward an email to their “gmail” account and read / view the content on their smartphone. I’ve even heard it be said, “if it’s really important, send it to me on my iPhone”.

Your IT manager is unlikely to be measured on your ability to connect with your customers and prospects. Most IT managers are measured on connectivity, costs, and confidentiality. But, if you invite them to lunch, ask them to attend a sales meeting, forward them links about your competition, you would be surprised.

Challenged to be part of the business, IT can be a resource, instead of an impediment.

Tags: IT management, social media
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Does limiting access to social media really protect your corporate data?

May 19th, 2011

Many corporations are limiting access to YouTube, Facebook, Twitter and other community sites. Some companies don’t allow employees to use text messaging. When asked about information security, the CIO can state, “we don’t allow access on our company provided devices!”

So, what actually happens. Employees text people on their own smartphones. They tell colleagues, customers, prospects, to just send them the links or the information to their home emails. How many times have you heard an employee say… “just send that to me on my gmail account”.

Instead of saying no, companies need to create a social media policy that says yes.

Tags: information security, Social Media Plolicy
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Empower your employees with a social media policy & e-Content tools

May 5th, 2011

When discussing social media, sometimes we hear “my company won’t allow me to access Twitter, YouTube, text messages etc” For many companies, their social media policy is just saying no. This harkens back to the mid-1990′s when companies would not allow access to the internet.

A few things a company should think about.

1. Just because you don’t allow access on the company devices, it does not mean people aren’t using the tools with company information. If you cut it off on the company Blackberry, employees just tell their collaborators to send it to them on their iPhones.

2. Employees want to do a good job. They generally don’t access information that they don’t need.

3. Employees know that you monitor their internet usage.

The solution is to create a social media policy and e-Content creation plan that empowers employees. Outline what kind of use is acceptable. Provide the content tools that will allow them to participate effectively.

Check out this video:

Tags: Social media policy
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Why should YouTube be part of your content distribution plan?

April 22nd, 2011

When working with prospective clients, we sometimes get asked about using YouTube as opposed to keeping videos on your website. If you don’t use YouTube, you are likely to miss out on two opportunities to reach searchers. First, you will not be getting traffic from people who start watching one video, then move to yours. On the channels, that we have created, the average user watches two videos per visit. While your video or channel may not be the first, effectively positioned, it can be the second.

Here is an example of a piece on 100% Bonus Depreciation.

Associated Equipment Distributors put up this video

They drove traffic to the site by creating an aggressive campaign with using a website http://www.depreciationbonus.org/

The good news is that this whole campaign is driving traffic to the video that we produced.

A good channel should get between a quarter and a third of all traffic from “Related Videos”.

Also, don’t forget YouTube Search. For some searchers, YouTube is the first place they go for content. If you are not there, you will not be found. A good channel should get between and 10% and 20% of traffic from YouTube Search.

There is a school of thought among webmasters that once you get someone to your website; you should not let them off. First, if you construct a channel effectively, you should be able to keep the searcher on your channel, and ultimately lead them to your site. Also, if you set up your video embed so that it opens to another page, as opposed to view in the same page, your website will still be available.

Lastly, if you are really concerned about traffic in your website, put the video in both YouTube and your website.

Tags: youtube, youtube for business
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