This is part 4 of a 6 part series.

Social Media. You may have heard of the term or not. You may be an avid user of one of more of these web sites providing social media services or not. If you are congratulations. If you are not, you need to get networked.

How do Social Media web sites work?

Networks. There are many types of networks we all deal with.

• Road Networks
  Gets you from one place to another
• Computer Networks
  Get information from one place to another
• People Networks
  Open up opportunities from one person to another

Social Media makes use of people networks. When you participate in Social Media web sites you make connections to people you already know in the “real world” and you also make connections to people you meet online.

The power in these connections lies in not so much who you know, but who knows who you know. The people that are a second and third degree of separation from you. In this scenario if you are looking for something specific, or an opportunity you can put it out to your “social media network.” It is likely that someone you know knows someone who can help you out.

It is really a simple concept and a very powerful one yet I think many people dismiss the power of this type of communication. Some people think that using Facebook, LinkedIn, or Twitter is a complete waste of time. I have to disagree. I have found help and answers to questions from tapping into my networks.

You Can’t Be Everywhere and Everything to Everyone.

You have to pick your networks. Some people chose to use one network exclusively where other people use multiple. I use three:

• LinkedIn
• Twitter
• and Facebook

These are just my preferences at the moment and I use each one for different networks and purposes. I have experimented with others but these are the tools I find myself using almost exclusively. The key is to try one and get started. One note: You should not feel compelled to be on every site.

Chris Brogan said it well in a post called Do You Have To Touch Every Conversation. Chris says: “There are gazillions of other conversations that I’m not touching, that Seth isn’t touching, that Scoble or Kawasaki or whoever the heck you want to put in the *.person.who.should.join.the.conversation should be touching. But is that really the goal? Or is the goal to fish where your fish are, to do what you plan to do, and to do it well?”

As always, let me know if you have any questions or comments please share below.

This is part 3 of a 6 part series.

Blogging or, what I am going to focus on here, business blogging has been written about a countless number of times and does not need to be entirely re-hashed here. So, this may be brief but that is best. I will distill the core essentials of all that I have read and reviewed.

1. Ask yourself the question, “Why Blog?”
   What is its purpose? What is the objective? Here are a few examples
   1. Sell. Sell. Sell.
      You can directly promote products and services to people who may want and need them
   2. Customer Relations
      Build more and better relationships with customers. Foster open and honest communication with customers and prospects
   3. Research and Development
      Promote ideas and solicit feedback from clients and customers
   4. Educate and Inform
      Share information with customers on how to use a product or service. Share content that customers don’t know they don’t know
   5. Internal Communications
      A password protected blog can be used for staff training, communication, resource sharing, etc.
   6. Community Development
      Build a community blog around a product, idea, or service
   7. Public Relations
      Manage crisis situations, promote company vision, communicate company news, etc. From these examples it should be simple to find a way to use a blog for your business. Many times a single blog can serve more that one objective listed above and some companies will create more than one blog to keep the objectives separate
2. Propaganda
   Watch out for the propaganda trap. Be wary of using the business’ blog as a space to spin a one-dimensional PR message. The blogosphere can smell the spin from a mile away and the business can run the risk of having weaknesses exposed unless blogging is done in a transparent way. Businesses need to be able to highlight strengths but also failings where improvement can happen.
3. Blogs are Interactive Spaces
   Blogs are, like it or not, inherently interactive spaces for a give and take of ideas. Typically business websites allow simple interactivity with a “contact us” page, or a form to submit your questions. Blogs offer a comments section where readers have the freedom to share their ideas on what the blogger, or business, has to say. Some companies are scared or feel threatened by this idea and is a reason why many companies do not have a blog. Some businesses blog without allowing comments. But this, in my opinion, defeats the core purpose of a blog-interacting with opinions and ideas. Besides, other people with blogs may be talking about your business already and people could be commenting on what is being written. Instead of ignoring the space it is better to have a presence and get your business’ perspective published. Don’t be silent.
4. Helps Your Business Get Found
   A blog, and the frequency at which you publish, will help your business get found. This happens a couple of ways. First more content on your blog means more opportunities that you are going to be speaking to someones needs. When people search the Internet, they are looking to get their problems solved. Second, the frequency you publish will also help. Websites whose content does not change are seen as ‘dead’ by search engines. The more dynamic a website, the more active and in the eyes of search engines a place of ‘life.’ 
5. Leadership Through Blogging
   By blogging you and your company are speaking out and taking a position on topics that matter to people. You may receive compliments or criticism and that is the point. To engage people in discussing the topics you cover will help raise you and your companies profile.
   
6. Blogging Takes Time
   You need time to write, time to read what is happening in the blogosphere within your industry, time to comment on other blogs, time to reply to comments on your blog, etc. However, this should not deter you. You do need to put aside some time to get your blog going and it does get easier over time. Treat a blog as you would any other company communication, with thought and care.
   Additionally it will take time for your blog to gain traction. At first you may be the only person reading it. You need to let people know that you have a blog by putting it in your email signature or just telling them about it.
7. Don’t Wait.
   Thinking about it will not make it happen. Get started.

There is great potential for a company willing to blog. You need to see it as another tool in your marketing arsenal and make it fit within your entire marketing mix. Opening up, allowing interaction with customers, fans, and potential customers can provide untold benefits.

A Good Visual Explanation

To help understand blogs a bit more, here is a video from the great folks at CommonCraft, Blogs in Plain English.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NN2I1pWXjXI[/youtube]

I would love to know what you think. Leave your thoughts in the comments below.

This is part 2 of a 6 part series.

Something we all do in the modern business world is email. It is a staple to getting things done. Are you using email marketing as a tool in your marketing mix? If not you are missing a high-return opportunity. Email is something you already do every day and, if done correctly, can be one of the most effective forms of marketing you undertake.

So, why get into email marketing?

1. You already know how to do it
   You email clients and prospects constantly. Being able to create email content should be relatively simple.
2. It compliments other marketing initiatives
   For those people who may not visit your web site regularly,  see your printed advertising, or be in constant contact, email is the most cost efficient and effective way to stay in touch.
3. It’s a new and recurring revenue stream
   Your email marketing will be organic and change over time. You can offer different content, a new offer, or have a design tweak to make the email more effective. It will improve your relationship with customers and prospects and inject new and recurring sales.
4. It does work
   Based on data from EmailStatCenter email is proven to return your investment.
   1. Cost Effective
      Once the initial cost of setting up an email publishing system is done (design and programming) the cost of publishing is much cheaper than anything printed.
   2. Feedback Is Immediate
      Once you publish you will begin to see feedback data with most data coming back in 24-48 hours.
   3. It’s Relevant and Personable
      Not only can you segment your market and target specific groups of people, you can personalize the message with a “Dear Joe” greeting AND deliver different content to “Joe” than everyone else on the list.
   4. It’s Measurable
      You can review actionable data from every email you send. You can see how many people opened the email and what links were popular by seeing what links are being clicked.
5. Email Marketing can take different forms
   1. Quick Announcements
      For when you have something quick to share. Think of it as a postcard email. A simple note or piece of information works well in this format.
   2. Email Newsletters
      These should build upon relationships you have with existing clients and other business relationships. The focus should be on providing relevant content to your readers. Often the content doesn’t necessarily relate to your products or services, but rather highlights information, knowledge, or expertise you have. For example a grocer may send out an email newsletter that shares recipes and the benefits of organic produce. See my DesignDetails email newsletter as an example.
   3. Catalog Emails
      As the name implies this is an email highlighting content from a catalog of offerings that are typically in print or online. The purpose of this type of email is to encourage readers to purchase.
   4. Press Releases
      If you have a list of media contacts you can certainly share the latest company information in an email press release format and can be a great way to attract coverage.

Conclusions

Know that one email marketing solution may not do everything you need. You may need more than one type of email solution to get the job done. The one item I cannot stress enough is that email newsletters are measurable. You get concrete data on:

• successful deliveries
• unsuccessful deliveries (email addresses that are not working)
• number of people who opened your email
• number of people who clicked on any links in your email

…and many other parameters. For the cost, email marketing cannot be beat as a form of marketing communication.

Let us know if you have any questions, or want to get started with your own email newsletter.

This is part 1 of a 6 part series.

In a previously published article in our monthly email newsletter DesignDetails, I talked about the “multi-headed monster” of using the Internet as a communication medium for you or your business. I think it’s time to revisit the “monster” and talk a bit more about each component.

The components we mentioned in that article include:

• Websites
• E-mail Marketing Campaigns
• Blogs
• E-Newsletters
• Social Networks ( Linked In, Facebook, MySpace, etc.)
• Video ( YouTube, Revver )
• Forums (Yahoo Answers, Wikipedia, Hosting your own, etc.)

First we will tackle web sites and in subsequent posts we will talk about each of the other components.

Your Web Site

It’s no secret that in today’s business world the first place someone will most likely interact with you, your company, product, or service is through your web site. Therefore it is imperative that your web site is in line with your marketing strategy and message. What impression does your web site make on the first time visitor?

I have written a list of guidelines below that I use to assess the effectiveness of any web site.

1. Purpose
   1. What purpose does your web site serve? If you cannot answer this simple question you are wasting both time and money.
      1. Is the purpose for lead generation, consumer information, business-to-business (B2B) information, e-commerce, service, sales, etc.?
   2. Who is your web site targeted at? Who is your audience?
2. Design
   1. Is the overall appearance of the web site attractive?
      1. This is subjective, but basic.  Widely recognized design design principles apply:
         1. alignment
         2. balance
         3. consistency
         4. contrast
         5. proximity
         6. use of white space
   2. Does the overall design reflect the right mood? Professionalism? Playfulness?
   3. Is there a simple hierarchy to the visual elements? Some things bigger, some smaller, rather than everything the same size?
   4. Is there contrast in color? Dark type on a light background. Light type on a dark background.
   5. Using images effectively? Are the images being used related to the written content?
3. Organization
   1. Is information on the website organized in a way that is most effective to its purpose?
      1. Can people easily find what they want and need?
      2. Can anyone get back to the home page easily?
   2. Is contact information easily accessible?
4. Content.
   1. Content is king. Well written, focused content can do more for your website than you can imagine.
   2. Stuffy “corporate speak” copy does not work on the web. Brevity is important.
   3. Does the web site clearly communicate to who or what your are dealing with?
   4. Is the value proposition, or mission statement clearly presented?
   5. Is there a call to action? What are you asking people to do; buy, communicate, engage?
   6. Ask yourself the question “What’s in it for me to be at this web site?” If the content cannot answer that question you need to address the value proposition or the mission statement.
5. Maintenance
   1. Does your website say “last updated in September 2001″ anywhere? Do you have “under construction,” or “coming soon” pages? You need to “feed-the-beast,” meaning you need to continually update and refresh the content on your web site.
   2. Your business changes. Your website content should update to reflect your business.
   3. Do you have tools to easily update and maintain content. How long does it take to make a change on your web site? Should not take more that 24 hours for simple changes.

I could make this list much longer. However, I do need to honor the tenet of “brevity” here. However, the points made above should help clarify some important considerations for your website. There are a wide variety of ways to market and promote your business online and your website should be the hub of those efforts.

Take a few minutes  to review your website and look through the questions above. If you find you can answer many of the questions in a positive sense then you are in good standing and are on your way to getting the most out of your web site investment. However, if you cannot answer some of these questions positively than it might be time to revisit your web site so that it is working for you.

Let me know if you have any questions, or what you think about this post in the comments below.

In this post, part 3 of 3, we will pick up where we left off with Doing Web-Based Communications Right.  As you may recall, in part one we talked about:

• Purpose
• Guiding Principles
• and Desired Outcome

In part two we talked about:

• Brainstorming
• and Orgranizing Tasks

At this point your purpose, principles, and outcomes are well defined and brainstorming has identified large parts of the project that have been broken down into smaller tasks. Most likely you have not uncovered every task for this project as more will “pop-up” when you actually begin the process.

So what now? Schedule and Budget.

Now you determine two other key components. The first is schedule.

• How quickly does this project need to become a reality?
• Is the timeline open-ended? Meaning done when its done.

The shorter the time-frame the more likely you will need more people to accomplish your goals. If your project is large and your timeframe tight, you will need more people to meet your deadline. Expect that to affect the other item we will mention, budget.

Your budget will impact the ability to make your project a reality. Timeline and scope will determine if your budget is adequate. Be sure to have a budget and be prepared to scale down your expectations if you find that you cannot afford what you want.

Getting to it.

So now you are ready to roll. You have your project scoped, a timeline expetation and a budget. What now?

You may attempt to complete the project in-house if you have the requisite skillset to complete the project. Otherwise you will be looking for an outside specialist, or professional to assist you in making your project a reality.

It is always wise to consult with someone about your project when you have a lack of knowledge or expertise. Even though the Internet is full of content and information, the time you spend searching, reading and distilling could be spent doing something profitable. Be sure to weigh the investment of time if you are thinking about the “do-it-yourself” approach.

Hope you find this 3 part series helpful and as always, let us know if you have any questions.