Posted on: September 9, 2011 by Jordan Hardy
With so many areas a company can focus, which is most important? This list, including SEO/SEM, Social Media, PR, and Email Marketing, is just a start. All of these are important, also including strategy, branding, design, Website technology, programming, content, client services, partnering, video sharing and hosting, image sharing and hosting, blogging, Wikis, CMS platform options, eCommerce platform selection, Website migration, forums, metrics analysis, goal setting, and Website hierarchy.
Essentially, I feel that it has been necessary for me to learn all of these areas in an expert capacity. I have done extensive work in each area by hand myself as well as managing teams and individuals in all of these areas.
To attain top results, holistic hard work based on current technology and creative strategy is essential. Terrific marketing doesn’t come from putting programs on autopilot. In my experience, constant brainstorming, innovation, implementation, and testing can contribute a great deal to a cutting edge, accountable marketing program.
In my opinion, it is very important to constantly test the latest technologies. New options should always be available to leverage as needed for a company to stay cutting edge and set an example.
Posted on: August 15, 2011 by Jordan Hardy
When Google launched the +1 button a number of months ago, it was not incredibly different than the Facebook “Like” button. Once signed in a Google account, a Google user can publicly give their stamp of approval with the Google +1 button. By clicking the +1 button, they are showing they are interested in recommending, sharing, and displaying a piece of content.
After clicking a Google +1 button, others will know the item is “cool” to check out. Google +1 adds items to search results. Google decides where it will be most relevant to display +1′s based on social connections (Gmail, Contacts, Google+ Circles, Google Reader).
The Google +1 button provides recommendations to friends logged in, as well as anonymously to others in the world. The Google +1 button can appear on Google near search results or ads, Websites around the Internet, or even next to articles on news Websites. It is also possible to keep Google +1′s private, using them to manage favorites around the Web. The Google +1′s created by a user are stored, and can be edited in a new tab within a Google profile.
So far, the Google +1 button is still catching on, here to stay, and gaining traction. With so much content on the Web, it will take some time to see how well adopted the button will be. For sure, it is being used more and more since Google is the #1 search engine and many individuals and organizations want better and better visibility on the Web.
Posted on: August 15, 2011 by Jordan Hardy
Although there is now some competition for Facebook between Google + (Google Plus) and tTitter, Facebook is still far ahead in the social networking space.
Here are the top reasons I see:
- Facebook has a large number of users. As many new people create accounts, they can find Facebook has the highest number of active friends and companies they can connect with online.
- Next to Google AdWords, I’ve found Facebook can be very successful or advertisers.
- Facebook makes it very easy for users and organizations to upload unlimited links to articles, photo galleries, videos, and information from mobile devices.
- Facebook is constantly innovating and reinventing itself, with recent rollouts involving chat, voice calls, and video calling.
- The “Wall” which Facebook provides is more active and interesting than that of any competitors.
It is possible Facebook will have a real competitor in coming years. It is unlikely if a competitor surfaces in coming months that they will equal the number of Facebook users, similar or better “Wall” interactivity, and/or the same number of partnerships and technology rollouts.
Posted on: August 15, 2011 by Jordan Hardy
Twitter is the perfect social networking, microblogging, and information network for quick updates through streams and conversations. Since it is meant to add posts from mobile devices, now including other embedded media (photos, videos, embedded media), Twitter is limited in depth. Twitter provides the perfect platform to follow and sort through updates from people and organizations. Twitter is one of the fastest ways to discover new information from people and organizations. Some conversations on twitter become viral.
“Tweets”, or updates, on Twitter are limited to 140 characters. The benefit of this limitation is that being concise within a story is key. Some people tweet often while others don’t tweet at all.
It would seem twitter should be very useful for businesses, but they haven’t yet perfected their advertising platform. Paid and unpaid advertiser analytics are very helpful through the Twitter dashboard (Promoted Tweets, Trends, Accounts). In the dashboard, mentions, impressions, replies, retweets, clicks, timeline activity, reach, and follows can be found.
I recommend a business that wants to advertise on Twitter do testing in the first weeks to have more metrics to analyze. Some businesses are perfect to market on twitter, while others may want to start with Google AdWords, Looksmart AdCenter, Yahoo! Advertising Solutions, Facebook, or another company.
Posted on: August 14, 2011 by Jordan Hardy
Foursquare, launched in 2009 and now more than 10 million users around the world, is a location based social networking Website. Foursquare allows users to share their location with a mobile device or SMS. Currently there are more than 3 million check ins by users per day through foursquare. Good examples of typical merchants and venues where people check in include restaurants, coffee shops, and stores. Users can see where their friends have checked in through foursquare and incentive is given for users to use foursquare as often as possible.
- By checking in and sharing their location, users collect points, virtual badges, and redeem deals (coupons, prizes, discounts).
- Users of foursquare can share tips as they check in.
- Foursquare allows users to bookmark businesses they want to visit and find suggestions for others.
- There is a foursquare API, allowing developers to to code new functionality, games, and data visualizations for the foursquare platform.
- Foursquare allows users to find friends to connect with through twitter, Facebook, Gmail, and Yahoo accounts.
- Users can link their Facebook and twitter accounts to foursquare.
With the Foursquare Merchant Platform, merchants and venues can work with free tools to help attract and retain more customers. The Venue Stats Dashboard in foursquare provides detailed, helpful customer detail overt time. A “Special” can be a unique discount for new customers, or reward during future visit for repeat customers. Acquisition retention to engage customers through foursquare works for brands with physical locations as well as brands not tied to a physical location, such as a movie release or TV channel. Foursquare “Pages” and “Custom Badges” are marketing tools designed to promote brands.
I have found that for individuals interested in deals, or seeing where friends are, foursquare can be useful. Foursquare doesn’t offer a full “wall” like Facebook or “stream” as in Google Plus to fully engage users. Foursquare is primarily focused to show who has checked in where, with tips.
In my experience, foursquare can help businesses that have enough traffic where users will interact over time. After all, once a business spends time on foursquare starting to build their brand, there needs to be enough time in the future to maintain those efforts. There also needs to be an audience owning mobile devices present which can frequent a business.
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