Copyright © 2010 I-COM International 2010-07-30T07:37:49+0100 2010-07-30T07:37:49+0100 http://www.i-com.net/blog/ Leading Manchester SEO, SEM and web design agency blog. http://www.i-com.net/blog/ http://i-com.net/images/icom-net.gif http://www.i-com.net/blog/ Leading Manchester SEO, SEM and web design agency blog. I-COM International blogmaster at i-com dot net I-COM International I-COM International en SEO, SEM, Web Design, Web Development 1440 http://www.i-com.net/blog/do-screaming-bus-stops-sales-367/ From time to time, an annoying advert or jingle can be beneficial for a brand, but it's an extremely fine line between an endearingly irritating, yet catchy song ('we buy any car, we buy any car...') and something so bad it makes everyone hate your product. If anyone's seen the advertisement currently festooned across a certain Cross Street bus stop, just outside Boots, they know what I'm talking about. The advert that seems to periodically scream its brand name; or perhaps it senses when people are looking at it? Either way it's a horrendous idea.Imagine - for this advert to have been approved, several things must (perhaps in some parallel universe where logic is inverted) have happened: An employee of the firm responsible for this monstrosity has come up with the idea, and been sufficiently impressed with their advertising nouse to forward it to their manager. The manager has said to their employee, "You know what, you might be on to something there." The manager and the employee have pitched their idea to the client, who shall remain nameless, and the client has said, "Good idea guys, let's do it!" The whole motley crew has paid ridiculous sums of money to have the advert installed in bus stops. They've all sat back and felt satisfied. And what have they achieved? Everyone (surely) hates the advert, hates the product and will probably avoid it in shops for the rest of their life. Whilst this obnoxious advertisement does make people take notice, it doesn't make them take notice in anything like a good way. Both the brand name and the actual nature of the product have come second to the 'concept', and are subsequently difficult to make out - I am still unsure exactly what the advert is for.This kind of advertising, believe it or not, is actually founded on a sensible idea. Make your advertising slightly annoying, slightly obnoxious, and people will take notice. They may not like it at first, but it will quickly become a talking point (see: this blog post, although I haven't mentioned the brand itself) - it's the adage: "any publicity is good publicity."The problem is, when a company produces a small-minded interpretation of the aforementioned idea, all they achieve is mass annoyance and subsequent brand-death. And if anyone thinks these bus stop adverts are a good idea, please, please explain to me why using the comments box, and I'll try and get my head round it. Internet Marketing 2010-06-29 08:39:18 http://www.i-com.net/blog/do-screaming-bus-stops-sales-367/ http://www.i-com.net/blog/optimising-your-facebook-fan-pages-353/ Before we talk about Facebook fan pages I think its important to establish the difference between a group and a fan page. Groups on Facebook are perfect for planning an event or letting people know about a cause on a personal level such as charity sponsorship or a party event. Pages are suited to companies, brands, bands, businesses, games, films or celebrities who want to interact with their customers or fan base without connecting them to a personal account which would exceed Facebooks 5,000 friend limit. The Picture One of the first things a potential fan sees when visiting your page will be your page 200px picture. If you have a recognisable brand or logo then by all means create a picture of it. Branding and personalisation are key to a page that has a standard format and can look identical to the next. Making your page memorable and individual can create brand awareness even if your logo or company isnt already well known. There are options to choose which application box your visitors land on so that you can have some sort of promotional image or poster as the landing page instead of your fan page profile.  Share Options If you are encouraging visitors to your site to share links via Facebook then make sure you have optimised your share options so that when the visitor shares a link to your page there is a suitable thumbnail preview which reflects your brand and the meta description on those pages. This simply promotes your brand to those receiving the shared links (potential fans). Separating Your Content Public profiles now let you have different landing pages for users who are fans and the non-fans. Keep the content on these pages separate and distinctive. Bear in mind that users on your main Facebook page could be neutral or angered by something your product or service has or hasn't done. They are looking to see what others are saying about you and possibly comment about an issue, expecting a swift apologetic reply. The visitors to your fan page, however, are looking for mutual appreciation and other positive people who share a similar interest in your brand or your products. These two groups should therefore see different layouts and information. Clearly you will want to incentivise and motivate the potential fans to become fans. You should be appreciative of the confirmed fans and help them interact with your brand and each other. Vanity URL These personalised URLs are now available to anyone whose fan page has over 100 fans. They simply remind visitors of your brand and make it easier for them to type in your fan page URL when wanting to return. Define a Post Schedule By creating a set calendar schedule for your page interaction you will be able to keep a constant yet unobtrusive discourse with your fans. If you post updates too often then fans will begin to hide your updates from their feeds or potentially unlink from your fan page altogether. By mixing up the types of updates you post you keep things fresh and save your brand being forgotten by your fans. A mixture of photos, video, links, notes, and status updates keeps the fans interacting and visiting your page. Participation Use your fan page to encourage participation and interaction amongst your fans, rather than it simply being some sort of petition that fans simply join and then forget. Use competitions, quizzes etc to give your fans the incentive to keep posting about your fan page and increasing the number of fans. For example, a company who sells tea & coffee makers encouraging their fans to post their own tea & coffee recipes on the fan page with the potential for some to be added to the recipe section on the live site. This is a very easy and free way to promote interaction between your fans, the fan page and your main website. Monitoring Your Facebook Page Changes Now that you have optimised your fan page you will want to find ouot how the changes you made affected your page. There are a number of tools out there for monitoring your Facebook fan page and evaluating how successful it has been and currently is. V itrue recently rolled out a new social media observation tool they call Social Page Evaluator which tries to aid companies in finding out the revenue and marketing potential of their fan page. By looking into the number of fans, number of posts, amount of interaction, and other factors, the tool attempts to give an accurate annual monitory value to the page owner. Whether or not the Vitrue tool is accurate is unknown but they recently valued Starbucks' fan page at $20 million/year. Yet this is nothing compared to the $75 million amount that Vitrue claims Starbucks could achieve if they optimised their fan page to include audio and video interactivity. Here are some examples of successful Facebook fan pages to inspire you: Pringles Red Bull Adidas Starbucks Coca-Cola Now go forth and amass devoted Facebook fans. If you have any Facebook fan pages you particularly like then leave a link below. Social Media Marketing 2010-05-24 09:33:41 http://www.i-com.net/blog/optimising-your-facebook-fan-pages-353/ http://www.i-com.net/blog/first-impressions-what-is-your-website-saying-about-your-business-318/ I get to speak with a lot of people that are less than happy with their websites. Most people's stories go something like we've had a new website developed but it's still not working properly. It's not generating any more sales or enquiries than it was before. Can you tell us why?" At the risk of sounding flippant, the simple answer is that something has either not been done or has been done incorrectly. But what is it exactly? What could be causing so many websites to underperform? To understand this we first need to identify what it is that a website needs to achieve in order to perform and generate results.Essentially, a site needs to: receive good levels of relevant traffic engage visitors convert visitors into customers Addressing these elements effectively is critical for a website to be successful. Failure in any one of these areas and the sites performance will suffer - which in turn will hit the company's bottom line. Points i) and iii) I shall be looking at in later posts but today I'm going to concentrate on engaging visitors - and in particular first impressions. Converting Visitors into CustomersIf, when assessing your analytics, you see results showing high bounce rates, or low site page visits, or low time on site, then there is an issue around visitors leaving the site far too quickly. They are not engaging with the site for some reason. Identifying what the issue is can be pretty straightforward. But identifying why this is the case is what we're after. In our experience, there can be a whole number of reasons why visitors are leaving websites quickly - they might feel they are in the wrong place, they might not be sure about how to use the website - in many cases it can be simply that they do not like the look of the site. On this last point, we are all told we shouldnt judge a book by its cover and that first impressions often lie, etc., but I'm afraid I do it and I would guess that you might do it too. Many of us tend to make judgements very quickly based on the feeling we get from the overall look-and-feel of a website. Some call it the 3 second rule, others the 2 second rule, or even the 1 second rule. However many seconds it actually takes, one thing's for sure - it's not very long. In times when internet users are becoming increasingly demanding and impatient, a website has precious little time to communicate to the user. And rightly or wrongly, we all make up our minds almost immediately based upon how well the site communicates to us. Am I in the right place? Does this feel like a company I can trust to do business with? These questions are being asked by visitors landing on your site and as visual communication is the most immediate, the site's look-and-feel, it's visual message needs to be absolutely spot on.  Everything a company says or does communicates something about the quality or the values of that business, right from how the phone is answered through to the quality of company documents. All these go into making up the public image of the company. Potential customers are influenced either positively or negatively every time they come into contact with a company and will make their decisions based upon these experiences. A company's website is a crucial part of this and considering its importance in generating revenues, why then do so many companies put such little effort in getting it right? Yes, generating high levels of traffic to your site is very important, but if, on arrival, visitors are presented with a website that looks tired and out-of-date then they might well feel that, like the site, the company too is tired and out-of-date. They might question whether or not they want to do business with this the type of company. You may well have the best range of products on the web at the very best prices but present your visitors with a poorly designed site and you might put them off before they even get through the front door.  Time and effort needs to be put into making your online image communicate exactly what your company is about. Simply throwing up a website with little or no thought to the message that is being communicated can often be the difference between online success or failure.First impressions may often lie - make sure yours doesn't. Web Design 2010-03-02 09:34:33 http://www.i-com.net/blog/first-impressions-what-is-your-website-saying-about-your-business-318/ http://www.i-com.net/blog/why-is-brand-important-299/ We all experience brands every day. This article will attempt to explain why lucid, well realised brands are so essential to success. Firstly what is a brand?A Brand is = Collectively, what people say, feel and think about your product, service or company.A Strong Brand is = A collection of coherent ideas and experiences with a product or service over time.A great brand is a great storydefined by Paul Isakson Take a look at this video for Volkswagen.View hereOriginally created for T.V. this video has been posted online and now exists as a viral. The ad, generally missed on television, has since received millions of hits online and lots of positive attention in the press. The colour palette is rich, and the music is modern and electronic. The story is unique, showcasing Volkswagens commitment to building their cars with care, attention and technical expertise. Lars Axelsson, Volkswagen, describes the rationale behind the concept, As traditional advertising is becoming less effective, and the competition is becoming more aggressive, we believed we needed a more innovative approach to draw attention to the website  In contrast the print advert below, whilst being instantly recognisable as Volkswagen, is completely different in style. The colour palette and design is clean and minimal, especially when contrasted with the viral.  The concept tells viewers how owning a Volkswagen will never go out of fashion. The four icons on the key ring depict four differing styles and cultures, demonstrating Volkswagens unilateral appeal.The final example of a great piece of advertising is a specific microsite showcasing the new Polo. View hereThe microsite expertly balances creativity and the user journey. The videos are cinematic and aspirational. The user experience is well thought out, allowing users to customise their car and build their own tool kit. It gets close to recreating an on-screen experience online.However, does using these disparate forms of advertising render the brand disjointed and incoherent? Do people get different experiences when touching the brand?Throughout all these disparate pieces of advertising material, the brand values come through strongly. All three are innovative, technically excellent, clever and fun. The concept which defines Volkswagen is Volkswagen Thinking, the idea of creating a product which is seen as a democratic people car, but also as a desirable object. So the answer is no, Volkswagen is a strong brand. I personally think this shines through in their advertising, but the proof is in a steady increase in growth and products over a fifty year period; a period in which hundreds of similar companies have ended up on the scrapheap.For a brand to stand the tests of time, it has to have roots that help it stay true over time. Why? Because lasting relationships are built on a foundation of trust. If you are constantly changing who you are and/or what you stand for, how can anyone come to trust you?Paul IsaksonSo in conclusion everything you produce as a company must reflect this brand. A brand identity represents your company's values, services, ideas and personality. A consistent and well-positioned brand can make your company; it can generate loyalty in your customers, and make you the envy of your competitors. By understanding branding we'll be able to help our clients find their values and tell stories that set them apart from the crowd.To end controversially, here is the latest viral video from Diesel. 
 View here
Is this video coherent in the Diesel marketing strategy. Does it reflect their  brand and, more importantly, is it good for their brand? Please comment?If you're interested in further reading there are a few great resources below.Excellent white papers covering all aspects, lots of social media info too.  View hereAuthor of 'brand tags' discusses all things brand
 View hereMore related to User experience a case study on McDonalds and how they utilise branding
 View hereLots of stats and viral videos here 
 View here Web Design 2010-01-21 10:15:47 http://www.i-com.net/blog/why-is-brand-important-299/ http://www.i-com.net/blog/how-your-offline-customer-service-issues-can-haunt-you-forever-online-277/ One problem with the internet is that when it falls into the wrong hands, things can get messy. Say you have an altercation with a customer over the phone (or in person), if that person is unhappy enough, they may go online and detail their experience. Take this exchange, for example. A web designer does some work for a former co-worker and is never paid for his efforts. Then he's asked to do some additional work under the premise "If deal goes ahead there will be some good money in it for you."Needless to say not only was the web designer unimpressed, he proceeded to explain why and detailed the exchange on his blog for the world to see - and for Google to index.Are you getting taken to task online by dissatisfied offline customers?Here's the thing - anybody with access to the internet could be saying anything at all about you or your business right now. You have no control over this fact. If what they're saying constitutes libel then maybe you have some legal means of getting it removed, but most of the time what gets put online in relation to businesses is opinion and one side of a bad experience.So how do you protect your reputation online? Always be polite - even offline. Try to put yourself in the customer's shoes and understand why they're upset. Google yourself occasionally so you know what's being said about you. If you find anything negative on review sites or social media sites go and try and solve the complaints. If you find anything positive, say thanks. Never get angry - sure, explain yourself, but don't rise to the bait if somebody's calling you names. If you respond with compassion to complaints about your business online and make an effort to resolve them, you'll be amazed at how much goodwill you'll generate. Social Media Marketing 2009-12-04 08:35:00 http://www.i-com.net/blog/how-your-offline-customer-service-issues-can-haunt-you-forever-online-277/ http://www.i-com.net/blog/greggs-the-baker-and-the-under-used-twitter-account-282/ During a recent conversation I was surprised to learn that Greggs the Bakers had a Twitter account. I was even more surprised to see that they had a massive number of followers yet seemed to be doing nothing with it. As you can see the account has remained dormant since July and they have tweeted a grand total of 14 times since joining. It seems to me that the business really is missing out on a huge opportunity. Greggs should use this account as a master account, and should then set up a separate account for each store; for example I-COM's local Greggs would be #GreggsLincolnSquareMCR. The benefit of this would be that each store could tweet directly to its local area, giving a large company a really personal touch. They could easily set up a directory of stock, automated tweets such as Sausage Rolls out of the oven in 5 Mins or all pies now half price which could be tweeted throughout the day. Both would drive sales and help build brand loyalty - we all know how annoying it is when you get a cold sausage roll, imagine if you could pop down to Greggs knowing that they'd just come out of the oven! This strategy would also give Greggs the opportunity to discover and respond to bad customer service through any #fail tags. Overall a win win situation for Greggs as a company and their customers, and also fantastic for branding and PR. Social Media Marketing 2009-12-03 16:22:10 http://www.i-com.net/blog/greggs-the-baker-and-the-under-used-twitter-account-282/ http://www.i-com.net/blog/will-free-content-boost-your-business-228/ Manchester City Football Club (MCFC) is currently attracting large amounts of interest due to its new-found wealth. As part of a new market strategy to make the club a global brand they have completely overhauled their website, the cost of which has amounted reportedly to a 2,000,000 investment. The biggest change to their site is the availability of free video content, such as interviews, match highlights and features for which they previously charged. Although it is possible to spend a lot of time discussing the clean design and minimal advertising that the website offers, what has impressed users most is this free video content. With the nature of the current recession, subscription-based services are on the decline as the demise of Irish TV sports broadcast Setanta indicates. Perhaps a large percentage people who previously subscribed to the MCFC video service would have cancelled their subscription due to the current economic downturn as well. This clearly provided MCFC with two options - either stop producing and maintaining their video site as it no long provided a viable revenue stream or provide content free of charge as a branding and customer relationship exercise. Giving something away for free is hardly a new marketing trick, but MCFCs web strategy does raise the question of whether other sites should follow suit?Give something away for free, turn a profit in return During a recession opportunity does still exist and often the businesses that emerge strongest on the other side are those who continued to invest in marketing. Many small business enterprises (SMEs) charge for content; of those companies many have done so in a bid to generate revenue streams other than on-site advertising. Is making content free of charge viable for SMEs? If your business is in the position where your paid content is no longer providing a viable revenue stream, can you afford to make it free? You must also consider if the availability of free content will support your main product offering or service and help build brand awareness, customer relationships or direct revenue generation. If, like MCFC, you are trying to reach a global or national audience and drive more traffic to your site, then free content could offer you a strong chance to capitalize on a whole host of benefits it provides, but only if you go about it the right way and your business is tailored to support it. Many SMEs with a web presence do operate nationwide, or in some cases globally, but few have the free national and international advertising that has helped MCFC to drive visitors to their new site. If you are lucky enough to receive high volumes of traffic, you may find that free content will encourage repeat visitors. Even if this is not the case, the current economic climate may provide you with the right opportunity to strengthen your market position though your on-site content and help you develop a new unique selling point (USP). If you do not currently receive high volumes of site traffic you must decide if your business can support the investment which is needed to promote your new USP either via online marketing channels or traditional media. Whether the recession reaches a low point or we begin to see a return economic growth, there will be many opportunities to capitalize on the reduced marketing of your competitors. How many companies will choose to strengthen their positions by offering services free of charge in bid gain a bigger piece of the pie post-recession? Internet Marketing 2009-08-19 11:03:14 http://www.i-com.net/blog/will-free-content-boost-your-business-228/ http://www.i-com.net/blog/calvin-harris-you-should-think-before-you-tweet-mate-226/ This morning Calvin Harris, a UK musician, very effectively (and probably accidentally) demonstrated the dangers of tweeting without thinking.Having read a two-star review of his new album by Alexis Petridis in The Guardian, he proceeded to unleash a tirade of profanities via his Twitter account, referring to "******* rich people's kids" and "pathetic London scene-FACE" reviewers.In 13 tweets (see screenshot in another window - warning, the language is a bit rough) in quick succession, Harris complains that the only people in the music industry who get good reviews are the children of rich people who, ahem, bribe* the journalists (to be polite).The problem with this is that while it shows Harris is a human being, it also makes him look incredibly juvenile as he should understand that people will review his album and not every reviewer will like his album. It also makes him look extremely angry - which could put fans off.While he'll probably garner sympathy from some fans who would have bought the album anyway, he's also just condemned himself to mockery not just across Twitter but also by bloggers and a backlash which may bleed across other social media portals as people pass the link to his rant around the internet and, well, make fun of him. It's also likely to offend people who don't care for his language or the vehemence of his tweets.Harris may have felt frustrated over the review and needed to vent that frustration, and he may have hoped that fans would offer their support, but he's forgotten that Twitter isn't just a line of communication to his fans, it's also a window to the world. Once he's posted an extremely puerile (and obscenity-laden) rant and one person has seen it, he can't take it back - even if once he cools down he decides that it's not exactly the face he wants to display to the entire planet.This outburst is a prime example of why businesses who are concerned about their brand and their public profile should always think before they react online to any criticism. Reacting angrily to somebody who isn't happy with a product or service will just give them more cause for complaint, while taking the criticism on board and offering a calm explanation or apology and attempting to rectify any problems is always the best approach.*Not a direct quote Social Media Marketing 2009-08-14 12:25:11 http://www.i-com.net/blog/calvin-harris-you-should-think-before-you-tweet-mate-226/ http://www.i-com.net/blog/how-not-to-build-a-personal-brand-via-social-media-225/ Today, I'd like to talk about the self-aggrandising "experts" who preach their own virtues and not much else. When I see bios on Twitter like this one, my first reaction is generally laughter:   Here's a person unknown to me who's calling himself a "genius" and backing it up with gems like: Erm, ok. Offering me cheesy platitudes does not make you a genius; it does make you very funny. Except, I'm not laughing with you; I'm laughing at you. Why? Well, I don't want to follow a feed from somebody who calls himself a genius and floods me with greeting card philosophy. Straight away when I see a bio for somebody telling me how great they are, I know all I'm going to get from "befriending" them via social media is a bunch of self-promotion. If you work in internet marketing but you also tweet about cooking, foreign films and your dog then don't tell people in your bio that you are an "author, trainer, genius and consultant,"  tell people you're an "internet marketer, amateur chef, film buff and dog lover." The first makes you look arrogant, the second makes people want to find out more - especially if they share your interests. Then actually tweet about the stuff you like - both work-related and non-work-related. Another of my favourite gems? I love it when people refer to themselves as a "Social media evangelist" - what does this mean? Do you spend your days telling people how much you love social media? My 13 year old nephew keeps telling my husband how much he loves Facebook but that doesn't qualify him to offer advice to businesses on how to use social media as part of their marketing efforts. "Evangelist" is not the same as "expert." I'm certainly not going to get the two confused when that bio is backed up with: Ok, erm, an expert would know that if you have nothing to say then you should probably just say nothing. So what's my point?  How to Establish that Personal Brand My point is very simple. Don't bleat on about how great you are - show me. Social media is about personality, conversation and communication. It's not a one-way advertisement as to the size of your genius or the depth of your love for social media. If you really want people to listen to what you have to say you have to give them a reason in the first place - don't tell them you're a genius, tell them who you are, what you like; give them an idea of what to expect from you and show them that it'll be funny, engaging and informative. Finally, always remember that establishing a profile on social media is no different from capturing a sale from a visitor to your website - you have a split second to impress and a short space in which to summarise yourself. Don't waste it. Social Media Marketing 2009-08-13 09:49:11 http://www.i-com.net/blog/how-not-to-build-a-personal-brand-via-social-media-225/