If efforts with social media are going to pay off for a business, they each need to contribute value to the bottom line. What value do 250,000 fans on Facebook give a business? While having that man fans may increase the business’ reach, what does that do for the company’s bottom line? How many of those fans are customers? Obviously it would be better for the company to have 250,000 customers on Facebook, so how should the company make sure that all efforts are contributing value to the company? [Read more…] about Avoiding Zero Value Efforts in Social Media
News & Notes
Digging in the Cache – Rick Rolling
Digging in the Cache is a series where we go back in time to look at fun tidbits of Internet and computer history. What could be more fun than luring your friends to go to a website that’s completely different than what they expect to find? With the rise of URL shorteners which can easily hide the address of the linked page, sending people to a site that they don’t expect is fairly easy. In 2007-2008, it was a fad to trick people into visiting a page with a music video of Rick Astley singing his 1987 song “Never Gonna Give You Up”. The person who was tricked into viewing the video was “rickrolled“. Since the video of Astley was safe for work, it was more appropriate than many Internet pranks to spread throughout the workplace. [Read more…] about Digging in the Cache – Rick Rolling
Creating an Engaging Brand Story
We’ve already discussed how brands with stories tend to be more engaging for customers (Apple, Nike, etc.), but it may be helpful to discuss how to communicate your brand’s story. Especially since you have to think in terms of your customers’ wants and needs (always) and you don’t want to sound too promotional or preachy. Telling your brand story isn’t that much different than figuring out a marketing plan, but it does require a very human voice. Stories are engaging for people because they put a human face to a company (which can often seem like a large, faceless, uncaring glass building). [Read more…] about Creating an Engaging Brand Story