strike up a conversation
I saw this article that may be of interest to you: it’s premise is that user like it when companies answer their questions on Twitter. This is also a great opportunity to demonstrate your expertise in your field and make the person who asked the question feel heard. Here’s the crux of their research:
“Eight in 10 Twitter users surveyed worldwide said they thought the answers businesses posted on Twitter were at least as trustworthy as those from regular people, and about six in 10 said they wanted businesses to respond to them on the microblogging service.
Yet just 21% of Twitter users with under 100 followers and 41% of users with over 100 followers said they had actually received a response from a business via Twitter.
Users indicated that more responsive brands would benefit from greater loyalty and purchasing. Almost 60% of respondents said they would be more likely to follow a brand that answered them, and 64% said they would be more likely to make a purchase from that brand.”
-Emarketer
The whole goal of social media is to have a conversation with your audience. It’s not enough to regularly blurt out what you’re doing, be prepared to share information and have people interact with your brand as the living, breathing entity it is. My advice to small businesses pursuing a social media strategy: make sure that you have the time and resources to monitor the chatter and engage in a dialog with your customers/prospects. If you do, you’ll enjoy greater customer loyalty. If you don’t, you will fade into the background noise.
How close is too close?
So here is a client relations issue that many of us small business-facing creatives have: Getting too close to your client. Generally, my small business clients are usually run by a single person. That person usually has the chops to run a business and sell him/herself to the general public. One of the reasons that… More
Brand Culture: Creating a community around your small business brand…a primer
Years ago, when the web was relatively young, I remember business owners asking me to build them a website with the rationale that “they just needed one.” There was no more discussion than that. Me, being young and hungry, built them a site that, for the time and my skill level, looked great. But then… More
The business case against Groupon
So, upon closer examination, Groupon is not the deal that I thought it was. I read an article about restaurants having bad experiences with Groupon and thought that it was bad business on their part; they gave away too much to the digital coupon clippers. Up until a few weeks ago, I thought Groupon would… More
Comcast Direct Response Television is here
Check out this article: It’s about Comcast Direct Response TV. Direct Response TV allows the viewer to use their remote control to interact with or take an action suggested by the content and I just saw a DRTV ad for the Ford Focus this evening. DRTV is in the Philly/Wilmington media market! I am familiar… More
be brief, be bright, be gone
Check out this article on the length of emails: (It’ll open in a new window) I check most of my emails to get information about the state of the medium. I have found that emails are getting longer and longer and LONGER. They present so much material that my eyes glaze by the first scroll.… More
Understanding culture
Part of my goings-on about the user experience include knowing your audience and understanding what makes them tick. A huge part of the behavioral information that you can glean about a particular audience segment is culture. I came across an article on Business Insider that represents visually how cultures around the world negotiate. Why should… More
Shock and aww
So I was engaged in a conversation earlier today about User Experience, UX for short. This, along with User Interface (UI) design, are the hot button topics of web design now. Suddenly, companies care about their users now that the web has evolved and flattened so that users have a say in how they interact… More
The mee goreng principle
A lot has been said about User Experience and how critical it is to the success of any web site. I couldn’t agree more. Here is an example of what I mean: I’m in an Asian restaurant for the first time today. I’ve been past it, looked at the menu in the window but never… More
First Contact
This one’s for my creative brothers and sisters, but the small business community can use this one too. I got a call out of the blue from a prospective client that found us on The Google. I love it when that happens. One of the most important conversations you will have with a client is… More
latest blog post: Some great message gamification. Well executed and extremely customer centric. Try the quiz! What kind of procrastinator are you? check it out.
a little something interesting I found: http://ift.tt/1spo1Oe from LinkedIn via IFTTT
I’m givin’ it all she’s got, Cap’n!
You remember when Scotty, the engineer on the Enterprise always came up with a solution to catastrophic damage to the ship in a third the time he told Kirk it would take? Or that he was “givin’ it all she’s got” when Kirk asked for more power and found just enough to save the day?… More
Facebook microtargeting
One of the goals of marketers is to create a message that the viewer believes is meant solely for him/her. Considerable time, money and effort is spent developing the right message for the right audience. The smaller the audience, the more specific and compelling the marketing message can be. The practice of delivering messages to… More
Branding Brilliance
Brilliant.
Another gem of an article. http://lnkd.in/dgHftfK
a little something interesting I found: http://lnkd.in/dgHftfK from LinkedIn via IFTTT
Welcome, Denver Post and Denver Business News
Just a quick shout out that an actual news agency is following yours truly at M19 MEDIA. We count @denverpost (The Denver Post) and @denverbusiness (Denver Business News) as our followers! My only question: where is the Delaware News Journal?
The most important conversation you’ll ever have
Sitting here late at night working on a name for a new product for a small business client, which got me to thinking about the meeting that led to this late night activity… I call it the kickoff and it is the most important meeting I have with a client. Just like in football, the… More
Book Review: About Face: The Secrets of Emotionally Effective Advertising by Dan Hill
I am an avid reader of design and advertising books. As geeky as it sounds, I read those types of books as my pleasure reading. I always want to know more about how to excel at my craft. Every so often there comes along a book that completely changes the way that I think about… More
