Against the Grain: Social Media

Turning your “online brochure” into a true marketing tool.

Websites. Everybody has one these days. Your company, church, lawn guy, corner barbershop… heck, even your four-year-old… they’ve all staked a claim to their own little corner of cyberspace. And you know what, most of the sites look pretty darn sharp. Especially the one your four-year-old knocked out between episodes of Dora The Explorer.

The problem? Nowadays, having a sharp-looking web presence and being Googleable isn’t enough to make you stand out. Adding a photo gallery? Nice, but you’re not even close yet. Video? How very 2006 of you.

It’s time to leave behind the “online brochure” approach to building a website. That’s a term we often use for a site that is little more than a collection of words and pictures with a simple navigation. Not inherently bad, just not something that is going to move the marketing needle. On the other hand, creating a site that is interactive, measureable, updatable in real time… now that’s the sort of thing that can move a brand (and a company) forward.

What follows are a few strategic and tactical additions you can make to your site that will turn that online brochure into a true marketing tool.

First Things First

Lead Collection
Does your site allow you to collect the email addresses and/or other contact information of interested prospects? Can they email or call for immediate assistance?

Registration
Your website should be your organization’s hub for customer contact. Can a customer use your site to set an appointment? Register for an event? Reserve tickets or other such things?

Regular Updates
When was the last time your website was updated? Was it this week? This month? This year? Use recent news, press releases, and other regular updates to keep your site fresh and encourage return visits.

A Bit More Advanced

Start a Conversation
Blogs, message boards and other such features encourage customer interactivity and provide a way for you to stay in touch with your audience’s ever-changing desires.

RSS Feeds
Use this powerful tool to make customers and prospects aware when your site is updated. RSS feeds play especially nice with blogs and message boards.

Now We’re Talking … er… Marketing!

Google Analytics
Learn more about where your visitors come from and how they’re interacting with your site. Write better ads, strengthen your marketing initiatives, and create higher-converting websites.

User-Specific Tracking
By giving each user a username and password, it becomes possible to track when, where and how they use your site. Spend a lot of time checking out a demo of your latest product? Maybe it’s time to give them a call and try to close the deal. You did remember to gather their phone number, didn’t you?

Using these tools and others like them will ensure that your site doesn’t get lumped in with the other also-ran site floating around out there in cyberspace. Then perhaps you’ll begin to reap the rewards that Web pundits have been talking up all these years.

Blogging… We’ve all heard about it but few of us have actually done it. Most of us have probably even visited a few of them, but publishing one is an entirely different story. What follows is a crash course on blogging… What is it? Why bother? The Basics of Blogging. And a few Do’s and Don’ts.

Blogging: What Is It? A blog (short for weblog) is a personal online journal that is frequently updated and intended for general public consumption. Blogs are defined by their format: a series of entries posted to a single page in reverse-chronological order.

Blogging: Why Bother? So question #1 is, “Should my company be blogging?” And it’s a fair question. A few things to ask yourself…

• • Is there a need for regular communication with your audience?
• • How tech savvy is your audience?
• • Is there value or room to be seen as an “industry expert?”
• • Do you have the resources to blog knowledgably and regularly?

Blogging: Making It Happen

Topic — One of the hallmarks of successful blogging is finding a niche. Do that, and you’re much more likely to attract an audience. So if blogging is something you’re thinking about for your company, consider making it more specific than that. Maybe each department or product line gets their own blog.

Tools — As with anything “web” you can always build your own custom blogging tool that is tailored to your specific blogging needs. But there are a number of ready-made tools available online for free. Check out Blogger, LiveJournal or WordPress to get started, or contact Trilix Technology Director Yancy de Lathouder and he’ll be happy to help you out.

Time — Blogging is a commitment. If you can’t stay current and keep new posts coming at least a couple times a month, then there are probably better ways to push your ideas out to the world.

RSS — Speaking of pushing your ideas out, RSS (formally "RDF Site Summary", known colloquially as "Really Simple Syndication") allows you to push out blog entries to subscribers and others who are looking for information on your topic of choice.

Blogging: Do’s and Don’ts

Keep It Short — Reading a blog is primarily about browsing a long list of entries for something that looks interesting. So, provide a brief, compelling introduction and then link to a new page for further reading.

Your Voice Matters — Blogs are a personal medium and you should make efforts to ensure that your personal voice (or the voice of your brand) comes through loud and clear.

Link To Third-Party Content — Many blogs are little more than links out to other content on the internet. Bloggers accumulate that content and provide commentary on why you might be interested. In this way, they’re bringing their version of the best the internet has to offer and putting it in a single location.

Incorporate Photos and Multimedia — It goes without saying… people like pictures and movies. And as these options are now readily available online, including them in your blog is one more step toward building a lasting readership.

Encourage Feedback — Most bloggers allow readers to post comments on each entry. This is a powerful way to engage in a discussion with your audience as well as an informal way to track customer opinions and trends.

It’s been said that most blogs have one reader — their author. But don’t let that dissuade you from giving it a shot. When done right, it’s a powerful, personal way to connect with customers, prospects and employees. If it makes sense for you, give it a go. And if you do, give us a shout-out in your first entry.