August 20th, 2010 by typhonvision

So you’ve obviously heard of Social Media.  And are probably wondering is it time for you to jump on the Social Media bandwagon to accelerate your business.  As you’ve been hearing all the great things it’s doing for business today.

So is social media REALLY revolutionizing the way we do business?

The answer is yes, as social media makes it easier to connect with people and your network.  Giving a virtual presence, even when those contacts are not involved in your daily routine.  BUT there is a great deal of hype and overblowing on the practical results one can expect.  Especially those whom are slow to adopt technology in their organization and are limited in time.   As not everyone has all the time in the world to be tweeting, twooting and tagging, as well as getting on with managing their daily business.  And in most things in life, you get what you put in.  So here we’ve put together some simple, down to earth and practical benefits on uses of Social Media.

While, there are many social media platforms out there, in this article we’ll be focusing on the big 3 : Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn.

Using LinkedIn to keep in touch with networking contacts

Business is often about Networking.  As the saying goes “Its not what you know, but who you know”.   However the problem with traditional networking is it often takes a great deal of time and effort to keep in touch.  As if you went to a network meeting, you may have exchanged cards with a contact, because you have complimentary businesses which you pass referrals.  Or they could be a potential prospect in the future.  The traditional means of maintaining contact would be making that awkward phone call every once in awhile.  Or  taking the time out to go out for lunch or coffee.  Or  writing an email which doesn’t get responded to.  LinkedIn helps to ease those gaps of keeping in touch.  And one of those key aspects of LinkedIn is the status updates (Which was copied from Facebook).  Which allows your personal network to know what’s new in your professional life.  Your status updates may include interesting projects you’re working or posting enticing links to web material your reading.  And what’s best about these status updates is your personal network can respond to them with short comments and responses.  While some of these status updates may seem mundane, often it facilitates real discussion that is not forced, spontaneous, time efficient and to the point.  Because it’s all the about the little things which help us bond, form connections and strengthen relationships.

Aside from the use of status updates, LinkedIn allows direct private messages to be sent to your network.  Which is similar to how email is used.  And often these private messages have a copy sent to the receivers direct email address.  Additionally your contacts can be organised into different categories such as Suppliers, Referral Partners or Prospects.  This is much easier than maintaing a roladex of new prospects and network partners you meet.  Which you may need their contact once in a blue moon.

LinkedIn also allows you to network with people offline that you wouldn’t otherwise meet in person.  As you are permitted a certain number of anonymous request.  And after your reaching your ceiling, you can be co-introduced through a shared network contact.  Therefore if you are looking to make new contacts which can potentially increase your business;  LinkedIn can allow you to make that connection that you wouldn’t easily be able to make in person.  Which may eventually lead to a face to face relationship or business opportunity.

Finally, Linkedin also allows you to join group forums which you may engage in public discussions with like minded people.  What better way for people to familiarize and get a taste of your professional opinions through a informal group discussion.  However, it’s important to always keep these discussions clean and professional since these forums are public.  And you never want to say something which you may regret later.

Keeping in touch of what people say about your Business with Twitter?

Twitter is becoming a social stratosphere which people write about there most mundane thoughts.  Some of those published thoughts are useless for business purposes, such as  “Bob is eating cornflakes”.  But some of those thoughts might be important to your business.  Since they might include someone mentioning your company name in a positive or negative reference.  With millions of users tweeting on their mobile phones and computers, there is a good chance someone maybe talking about you or your brand.  Good or bad news, it’s better to be aware of that dialogue.  Which you can choose further to engage in that dialogue or passively observe it.  As Twitter can be setup to monitor and notify you anytime someone mentions your name “XYZ company”.  This process can be made even easier using common alert tools like TweetDeck, which give a pop up alert on your PR managers computer everytime “XYZ company” is mentioned on the social melting pot of Twitter.  With the millions of users currently on Twitter(and growing), it’s becoming even more important to be aware of the real time conversation that’s happening on the Internet which may involve you.

By the same principal, you may also be made aware when people mention a certain ASPECT of your business which may require your expertise.  For instance, if you are a plumber in Toronto, you might want to be aware anytime a statement is tweeted which include 3 key words “Looking, Plumber, Toronto”.  As often people may be asking for referals for reputatable professionals via Twitter.  Which you can be alerted and notified of instantly when those given keywords are mentioned.  And then engage with the person requiring your expertise through Twitter or privately off-line through email.  Using Twitter in this method allows you to find prospects you wouldn’t otherwise have, with minimal effort.

Using Facebook as a Content Management System and Entertainment Businesses

Facebook is similar to LinkedIn.  Or rather LinkedIn is similar to Facebook, considering Facebook is the more popular social network.  As well, many features from LinkedIn have been modelled after Facebook.   However, LinkedIn is more popular for professional use since it seperates business from personal contacts.  As LinkedIn is best thought of “Facebook with a suit and tie“.  However, in some cases Facebook is appropriate for business.  Particularly if you are in a more informal business such as Entertainment.

Facebook has all the benefits mentioned before with LinkedIn such as keeping in touch with network contacts, being introduced to anonymous contacts, status updates and group discussions.  However, with Facebook there is additional benefits such as being able to upload an unlimited amount of pictures.  Whereas LinkedIn only allows one picture per profile to conserve server space.  So some businesses use Facebook as the Content Managed System by placing a Facebook link from their main website.  Allowing them to upload photos of their latest projects and providing news updates on their latest developments

Most importantly, out of all the social networking sites, people tend to visit Facebook more than any other social network.  So there is a greater chance they would actually see the latest updates on your business, by virtue of being more active.

And lets not forget the benefits of Facebook Advertising, which is bringing a new dimension to Internet Advertising by its targetted demographics.  As Facebook advertising is the greatest potential threat to the Google Ads system as it continues to develop in the years to come.  You can read more about the benefits of Facebook Advertising at our previous article archived here.

So are you jumping on this bandwagon or not?

So while it may not be necessary to spend all your invested time, money and effort on Social Networks, it’s important to be aware.  As some of the key benefits offered by Social Networks can’t be found anywhere else.  And it’s best to take baby steps in implementing a plan to action in integrating Social media into your business model.  Social Media helps to connect those microlayers which made traditional communication and networking is a challenge.  As once upon a time, Email was also a foreign practice in most businesses.  But has proven to be effective tool which helps businesses communicate better.  While Social Media does still have a long way to go, it’s here to stay and only will increase in importance as time goes on.

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April 14th, 2010 by typhonvision

One of the greatest challenges in today’s business world is maintaining the attention of prospective consumers. With the variety of companies to choose from, it’s easy for the consumer to be enticed by your competitor. The age of the Internet has not helped with our decreasing attention span. Bringing about a new level of laziness. Whereas TV has made us lazy, the Internet has made us even worse. Since the Internet brings the world at our fingertips. Making it accessible to move onto the next site if your website visitor is not finding what they are looking for.

With all the time and effort put into driving stronger traffic numbers to your website, it’s fruitless if website visitors don’t take the “next step”. Often that “next step” is defined as your rate of conversion. Which can include purchasing the product for an E-commerce website. Or making a phone call inquiry or email for a local business website. While for some it may be to subscribe to your newsletter so they can be aware of your product/service offering at a later time.

It’s difficult to track in an exacting science as to what percentage of website visitors convert into customers. Although, there are some good indications and metrics to suggest things are in the right direction. And often these metrics can be found by installing good web analytics software on your website such a Google Analytics or Sitemeter.

One measurement is the average time your website viewers have stayed on your website.  A healthy number all depends on the type of website you have. For a local business website, a timeframe of 2 minutes would be considered long. Keeping in my mind that is longer than the length of an average 30-second TV commercial. Whereas for an educational website, 10-20 minutes would be considered an acceptable timeframe.

The bounce rate also has some co-relation to the rate of conversion. The bounce rate indicates the percentage in which visitors move to another site. It is similar to the average time spent on the website. However it is much more page specific. Whereas the average time spent is a summary metric.

Unrelated to the topic of conversion, the bounce rate also important since to a certain degree search engines like Google, Yahoo and MSN consider your bounce rate when determining your SEO rankings. Since it helps search engines weed out websites using black hat SEO (Taboo SEO) techniques. Where websites are not delivering relevant content to the search, so the user is quickly “bouncing” to another website. However, the bounce rate is one factor out of many in SEO. With keyword density and link building still being the predominant factors.

There are many aspects which contribute to effective website conversion. In this article we will talk about 3 of them which include : attractive website design, website video and live website chat.

Attractive website design is one of the most obvious aspects of retaining the attention of your visitor. If your website is graphically pleasing, it conveys a strong image of Brand Quality and a high standard. This is particularly important in e-commerce websites. Since the website represents the storefront and builds trust with the consumer demonstrating attention to details are heeded. Such as making sure items are delivered on time and credit card information is held in confidence.

Although the website should be aesthetic, navigation and ease of use should not be compromised. It should be obvious for your website visitor to be able to derive from the broad categories where to find the specific information they are looking for.

Also important is the actual text itself. Font sizes and colors should be legible. The text layout should have action-oriented keywords highlighted. Making it easy for the website visitor to “speed read” the text and identify it has the given contents they are looking for.

The next aspect is the use of effective Web Video. Before the days of YouTube, it was difficult to utilize video on websites. However, technology has increased in efficiency, making it easy for the average website owner to stream video. Often those whom are reluctant to read, will be more likely to see and hear material if presented with Video.

The best placement of Web Video is often in the opening page of your website. Allowing the key benefits of your business to be relayed upon first entry and for them to not be missed. Furthermore, Web Video helps to bring a “soul” to your website. As ultimately people do business with people. Establishing your style and approach to your business for your website visitor. Typically an effective Web Video should be no more than a minute long. Web Video is becoming one of the most prominent techniques for increasing conversion.

Live Website chat has been increasing in popularity as a technique for increasing conversion. The way Live website chat works is when a visitor is at your website, an area of the website is allocated to engage in a chat session with a “agent”. The live chat can be set engage automatically after a given time interval which your visitor has remained on your site (i.e. after 3 minutes, since that may indicate a timeframe which demonstrates some interest in your website).

The “agent” would be most likely a representative from your company. Who is able to answer basic questions about your product or services. Often this is most intelligently assigned to the receptionist. On their end, the agent would be logged into the software and would be notified when inquiries are made. The live chat may also be setup that they receive and can respond to inquiries on their mobile phone(Iphone or Blackberry) if the agent is away from their desk.

Used correctly, a live website chat feature can improve conversion numbers. If done in a manner which is genuinely helpful and not pushy. Similar to when consumer walks into a store. It can be an annoyance when one is bombarded by sales reps asking if you need help. But a worse situation when help is authentically needed and there is no representative to assist.

Live website chat also works since it easier than making a phone call or sending an email. As often a website visitor may not want to wait for an answer to their email which may take anywhere from a few hours to a few days. Or does not have the time to pick up the phone with the fear of being kept on hold.

Live website chat is also relatively inexpensive, considering what it may save you in lost website traffic. With the cost depending on the number of agents managing the system. For most businesses, a 2 person agent license would suffice, which may range from $1000-$1500 depending on installation complexity.

In summary, there are many techniques to help captivate attention on your website. And the right techniques need to be carefully chosen for your business model.  Attention spans are only decreasing and it’s become more important to communicate effectively in a short period of time. With the time, energy and cost brought into bringing visitors to your website, retention of your visitor is an equally important factor. However, with a properly mapped out strategy, effective use of your hard earned marketing dollars can be maximized.

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