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We’re going to be adding links to social media related articles every week. These are articles that we’ve found interesting and informative, and hope that you will be able to find something useful in as well. Here’s our picks for this week:
Usually when a company launches a new product or makes a big announcement – their competition will be supportive. They want to support the advancement of the industry and remain relevant to the consumers. It makes for good PR. So naturally, it’s unusual to hear something from the other end of the spectrum – which is exactly what has happened with Google Buzz (a new social networking tool that is similar to an RSS feed for all your social networks).
Microsoft and Yahoo! have made their thoughts known on the new service with claims that they’ve been offering the same services for years. It wasn’t even an hour after the launch of Buzz when Microsoft came forward with the statement, “Busy people don’t want another social network, what they want is the convenience of aggregation. We’ve done that. Hotmail customers have benefited from Microsoft working with Flickr, Facebook, Twitter and 75 other partners since 2008.”
Yahoo! made a comparable statement saying that they’ve been offering similar social features for a year and half through Yahoo! Updates. They also claim that Google ripped of the name “Buzz” from their Digg-like article recommendation service.
With all the attacks being launched at Google over this new product, you may be wondering what the implications of Google Buzz actually are. It does sound a lot like other social media products such as FriendFeed which Facebook acquired last summer. There are certainly no shortage of social media services out there – and some web design companies are even selling social media software to let you create your own MySpace or Facebook network – something we advise highly against. (You already have the platform with Facebook, and it has over 300 million users. You’re not going to be able to build a network with those resources – use what is out there to help your business grow. You’ll reach more people and be more successful at doing it.)
Could Google Buzz make sense of the social media landscape that is completely unorganized? In theory, perhaps… but in practice?
The ability to combine together the Google Buzz location feature with other social networking tools – it definitely comes on strong. However, is the integration with Gmail something that provides security concerns for potential users? And do you want someone knowing your location all of the time? These are important questions. It’s important that if you decide to use Google Buzz – you make sure the settings are what you want them to be.
Check out the official Google Buzz video below:
Have questions about social media marketing? Give us a call at 404.228.5167 or email our social media expert Emma Loggins.
Article By: Emma Loggins
Social media and blogging have completely changed how we interact with one another. It all started when the casual internet user discovered that freeing feeling of blogging about their day-to-day experiences – being able to vent about bad restaurant experiences or how much they loved their new digital camera. Now everyone takes part in these social activities – tweeting and blogging their recommendations away.
The average rule of thumb is that for every person that has a bad experience – that person will tell between 6 and 10 people. The average person on Twitter follows 100 people. Negative comments can have a much farther reach in the digital space than in a one-on-one environment.
We’ve all been influenced by our peers when it comes to decisions we make – even something as simple as where we choose to go for dinner. Someone suggests a place, but instantly it pops into your head that your friend blogged about her experience saying that place had horrible service. You automatically rule this restaurant out – even though you haven’t been there.
What could this restaurant have done to have rectified this situation? Simple, they could have addressed the issue straight on. Replied to the blog post saying how sorry they were – asked for a second chance and offered a 10% discount or free appetizer for their next visit. If you saw the restaurant’s reply on your friend’s blog – wouldn’t you be impressed that they cared enough about their experience to reply and try to make things right?
Do you know what people are saying about your company online? Do you like what they’re saying? 34% of bloggers post opinions about products and brands, and 78% of consumers trust peer recommendations. Only 14% have said they trust advertisements.
There are over 200,000,000 blogs online, and 54% of bloggers post content or tweet daily. In fact, 25% of search results for the world’s top 20 brands are links to user-generated content. Even though you might not like it, it’s very possible that these bad reviews can show up when someone is searching for your company. Address these reviews head-on. Show that you care about your customer’s experience.
Don’t feel like you should only comment on the negative reviews as well. Comment on the positive reviews as well. Thank your customers for coming by or for letting you assist them with your services. One-on-one attention in a world that is fast paced and cluttered with fancy advertisements stands out. If you feel important to a company – and feel that they listen to you – you’re going to be a repeat customer.
LNP Studios offers online reputation monitoring services that will keep you informed about what people are blogging, tweeting, and facebooking about your company. We’ll let you know the good and the bad, so that you can see what’s working and what isn’t. And if there is something negative being said, it will be brought to your attention so that you can do something in a timely manner.
Call us (404.228.5167) or email us (at Emma@lnpstudios.com) today for more information!
Article By: Emma Loggins
Flash can create an interactive world on your website, but just how interactive is it from a usability standpoint? More over, does it hurt your site’s chances at being found online?
The Good
One thing that is especially nice about Flash is that you don’t have to worry about your site looking the same across multiple operating systems and browsers. This is one of the problems with using conventional HTML and CSS. Certain browsers don’t support the standards set forth by the W3C (World Wide Web Consortium). IE 6 anyone? This can cause nightmares for the web designers that are aware of the issue – and nightmares for you if your designer doesn’t happen to test your site in all of the popular browsers – and their previous versions. While there are easy fixes to this solution – it’s not even a concern when using Flash – unless you’re on a mobile device. Flash isn’t available on a lot of smartphone browsers which is an increasingly common way of browsing.
Fonts are also an issue. If you want to use certain font that is not available on all systems – you can’t with HTML. Your text will simply render as that not-so-attractive Times New Roman on computers that do not have your font installed. However, with Flash, you can simply embed that font right into the Flash file – thus ensuring that it will display properly across all of your visitors’ computers, even if they don’t have that font installed on their own system.
Animation and movement are usually the reasons most companies want to use Flash on their sites. They want it to be interactive and to grab the visitor’s attention. Flash does provide a wonderful set of features for being able to create interactive and dynamic applications that can incorporate animation.
The Bad
Unfortunately, there’s a lot more bad to talk about than good. There is a significant loss of functionality for your site when it comes to Flash.
Here’s a brief list of things you can’t do with a site made entirely in Flash.
Now there are tips and tricks around some of these things we’ve listed above. However, it’s simply not as effective.
The Ugly
The way a lot of sites use Flash can just really turn visitors off – and make designers cringe. Just because you can make something 3D doesn’t mean that you should. Flash needs to serve a distinct purpose that helps in the overall experience of your site, or it shouldn’t be used. This goes for everything on your site – all elements of your site need to work together to promote your company and your company’s products/services – otherwise you’re wasting space that could be used more effectively.
The Final Conclusion
The final conclusion is what we tell all of our business clients. Flash isn’t all bad – but you shouldn’t create an entire site in it. Consider your clients on slower connections or those that aren’t as internet savvy. They’re not going to wait around for your site to load, and they will become aggravated if they can’t use that back button.
Flash is wonderful for animated headers – or certain portions of your site that you want to be interactive or have some degree of movement to it. Take for example our homepage, we have our client list in Flash – but that is the only element of that page that is in Flash.
There are exceptions for this – movie websites are a great example. Movie sites need to have a great deal of multimedia and interactivity. With that being said – most of us have been to movie sites that we couldn’t exactly figure out how to navigate. Experimental designs are groundbreaking and inspirational for the world of design – but we still have to make sure we provide a high level of usability for the visitors.
Bottom line – when you want to use Flash, ask yourself are you really trying to accomplish things that plan HTML can’t? If you are – then you need Flash. Just be careful with how much Flash you use.
Have questions about web design? Use Flash currently on your site and want to make sure you’re still search engine friendly? Contact us for a free report on how optimized your site is.
Article Written By: Emma Loggins
I have some interesting social media bits that we’ve pulled from articles recently. Definitely check these out and if you have any other recent articles on social media – feel free to leave links to them in the comments section!
Are Your Friends Making You Fat?
At Nuffield, Christakis tells the story of a friend of his, Brian Uzzi, who has used the impact of social networks to analyse the success or otherwise of Broadway musicals. “He finds that if the key players – the director, costume designer, sound person, producer, etc – all worked together before, and everyone knows everyone else, then the show is a flop. He also finds that if you put together a group of people, who have never worked together before, the show is also a flop. But if you put together a group of people some of whom have worked together and some who haven’t, then the show is a runaway critical success with enormous financial rewards.”
Guardian.co.uk
66% of Government Agencies Use Social Networking
66% of all government agencies currently use some form of social networking – from blogs and wikis to instant messaging and discussion boards, according to the study. 31% of those surveyed have embraced social media as a means of providing a more efficient customer feedback channel.
WebProNews
Social Media & Haiti
CNN is the poster child of this blending of social media and traditional news gathering. While they reportedly have at least seven reporters on the ground in Haiti, they’ve filed highly compelling stories constructed from social media sources. Check out “What we’re hearing via social media.” 80% of this story is shaped by attributed quotes from Twitter users and bloggers in Haiti. CNN’s citizen-filmed iReports spread the word in a personal way.
Sys-Con
Facebook CEO Zuckerberg Causes Stir Over Privacy
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s contention last week that privacy is becoming less important to online users caused a stir across the Internet and among privacy advocates.
Zuckerberg told an audience at the 2009 Crunchies Awards ceremonies in San Francisco on Friday that social norms are changing and people don’t expect or want nearly as much privacy as they have in the past.
Computer World
MovieTickets.com surveyed hundreds of Twitter-using ticket buyers on the site over the past two months and had them weigh in on Twitter’s effect on their desire to see a handful of 2009 releases, offering the first really quantifiable data on Twitter’s effect on movie-goers. We qualified each person that took the survey as an active Twitter user, then asked them the following:
Did Twitter affect your desire to see any of the following films in the past year (check any and all that apply)?
Of the users that said Twitter did have an effect, here’s a look at the Top-15 films in order of Twitter influence:
One question we get asked constantly is how do people see anything on Twitter if they’re following thousands of people. How will that person hear you over all the others? The answer is – it depends on you and your tweets.
We’ve got a few tips for you on how to break through the noise of all those tweets and make sure that you are heard.
Get Listed!
The list feature on Twitter has allowed many users to disperse the people they’re following into lists. This way they can group together users who tweet related information. Other Twitter users can also follow these lists.
You want to be included on as many lists as you possibly can – especially those that are influential. Do some research to find these lists, follow the list creator, and retweet information that they post that may be relevant to your followers. This will increase the likelihood of the user following you – and noticing that your content is relevant to their list.
Share Content
Everyone likes to hit the @username button and see how many users have found their information worth sharing. Ask others to retweet your content if they feel it’s relevant to their followers, and also do the same courtesy for the users you follow. If it’s unique and informative – let your followers know about it too.
Less Tweets
This might sound crazy- but hear us out. It’s about quality not quantity with your tweets. Your goal is to get as many clicks as you can on your links. Do you know that users who tweet less links actually have higher click-through-rates than those who tweet more links?
Also if you’re tweeting information that isn’t necessary unique or important, you take the chance of turning off your followers. No one wants to follow someone who fills up their feeds with tweets (even if they are informative). Limit your tweets to a certain amount per day and be engaging with that content.
Article By: Emma Loggins
It’s important to know what your consumers are saying about your business and your services/products. While people voice their opinions pretty openly on social media sites such as Twitter and Facebook, they save the details for their blogs.
Why are bloggers and what they have to say so important? Simple, we trust “real people”. Critics may say a restuarant is fabulous, but what does the general public think? Say you have a well-trafficked personal blog and you go out to a restuarant with horrible customer service. More than likely you’ll come home, and write about how no one should ever go there again. Other potential consumers may find that post when searching for information about that restuarant. So naturally, it’s important to keep an eye on your online reputation. Addressing potential issues before they harm your business.
It is estimated by Technorati that over 120,000 blogs are created each day – with no signs of stopping. As of last year, there were over 112.8 million blogs, a stat which doesn’t even include the 72.82 million Chinese blogs as counted by The China Internet Network Information Center.
A few useful blog outreach tips:
Article By: Emma Loggins
The common myth with social media marketing is that it’s free. While much of social media is “free”, your time is not. To truly maximize your social media presence, you need to be spending between 10 -15 hours a week making sure you keep information updated, keeping followers engaged, and activity prosuing new clientale. If you can’t make that time commitment, it’s best to outsource it to a company that can.
It is no longer effective web marketing to just have a website. You need to have a social media presence as well. This presence won’t only help to keep loyal customers informed, but also to bring in new clients. It also helps to increase your ranking on major search engines. Just this year, Google has started indexing Facebook – meaning links to your site and mentions of your business on Facebook can help you rank higher.
LNP Studios has several social media packages that will not only create, optimize, and maintain your social media presence, but also monitor your online reputation. We can help you find out about what people are saying about you on online communities and also help you connect with these individuals. Blogger outreach can be a powerful way to market.
Need help managing your social identity? Call us today for a free consultation at 404.228.5167.
The New York Times has called it one of the “most effective” online marketing techinques. However, a lot of people still aren’t familiar with what SEO actually is and how it can benefit their business.
SEO stands for Search Engine Optimization – and what it can do is naturally put you at top of search results on sites like Google, Yahoo, and MSN – without expensive ad buys. Even the most beautiful sites might not be structured to rank highly on the search engines. It may be due to inadequate keyword use, messy code, or poorly constructed content. SEO is a true art form – and if done properly – it can be a powerful tool.
SEO done incorrectly can serve as a powerful blow to your search engine rankings and as result – your web traffic. Sometimes sites have keyword densities that are too thick – and may suggest to Google that they’re not offering quality content and instead spamming the keyword. Making Google look twice at your site to determine if it’s quality is definitely something you want to avoid.
Businesses should also try to get as many sites linking to their site (with their desired keywords) as possible. But also be alert and make sure these links are coming from “good sites.” What type of pages should you avoid being linked on?
At the end of the day – just because you receive traffic from search engines – doesn’t mean that traffic will always be there. Visitors to your site need to be persuaded to return. Make sure you keep your content fresh and simple and also give visitors a way to connect with your business via Facebook or Twitter.
Have more questions? Let us know and we’ll be glad to help you determine if your website is optimized in a free consultation. Give us a call at 404.228.5167.
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Written By LNP CEO/Head Designer Emma Loggins
