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Common Facebook Myths related to Social Media Marketing

November 1st, 2011

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Facebook is a wildly popular social media marketing platform, and yet in many ways, can be termed the wild-wild west of digital marketing. Just as the final frontier of email marketing was conquered in the times gone by, the Facebook social networking platform is being civilized by up-and-coming best practices, upgrading user experience, and Facebook’s own tightening norms for governing social media marketing and promotional campaigns.

In this post, we’ll put examine common misconceptions about social media marketing on Facebook. Read on.

Myth #1: A newly started Social Media Marketing campaign will go ‘viral’ on its own through user and fan communities

If the objective of your social media marketing effort is to “go viral”, Facebook’s objective is to stop that. Before you ask why, just consider what’s so special about going viral. The answer is: as opposed to purchased ad-space campaigns, a viral campaign relies on a variation of the most popular (and free) force in advertising: word of mouth. Essentially, a Facebook page or contest being ‘liked’ and shared on user walls is nothing else but spreading word of mouth. That’s just as may be, the fine folks at Facebook are as mindful of revenue enhancement as you are, and that’s why they WANT you to pay them to drive impressions and engagement through Facebook’s advertising platform. Apart from that, Facebook’s core promise of delivering an uncluttered user experience means that the virality you seek is unlikely to start organically (as it should, ideally). In the initial stages, the ‘viral’ campaigns would have to be artificially driven in order to gather a critical mass of Facebook buzz. Then you can let nature and social media marketing take their course.

Myth #2: A Consumer ‘liking’ my company’s Facebook page is engaging with my brand

Engagement via social media marketing will not happen unless you give your consumers an incentive for showing interest. A single click of the mouse to ‘like’ your page doesn’t get you there, nor does a filled out contact form. Think from a consumer perspective: what’s so exciting about you filling out a form that you’ll tell even your family about it with any degree of enthusiasm? So no, them liking your page can only be the beginning of their exposure to exclusive ‘fan only’ content that can include contests, sweepstakes, or even just fun-facts; things that are ultimately going to earn you some social media marketing brownie points, and actually get the users engaged.

Myth #3: Trolls will overwhelm my social media marketing campaign page

Remember, your users are not truly engaging with your brand if you’re not giving them a voice; the whole beauty of social media marketing is that user feedback cuts through all the layers and filters that exist in conventional marketing feedback methods. Understandably, this also gives some room to the crackpots (or genuinely disgruntled consumers), a reason why many organizations are genuinely scared of allowing consumers an online voice. Understand that people will behave as they do: they’ll share negative opinions, perhaps even call you names, and create a general ruckus. Prepare in advance by having a comprehensive moderation policy framed. Also, if you have a fair degree of standing among consumers (without which trolls are unlikely to waste time over you), for every troll that trashes you, you’ll have loyal consumers springing to you defense. It can be a good idea for your own consumers talk you up in a public forum (such as your Facebook page) that neutral readers may also read: you couldn’t plan a better ad!

We’re not yet done with common Facebook misconceptions. We’ll be back with more on Facebook and its optimal use for social media marketing.

Reasons to Social Proof your Social Media Marketing Strategy

October 25th, 2011

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The reason why social media marketing fits various market sensibilities, and invariably clicks if done right, is because while it is doubtlessly powered by modern technology, it works on very fundamental psychological levels. This post will discuss one such psychological concept that you as a social media marketing professional can exploit for greater success. It is called ‘social-proof’.

The Psychology behind Social-Proofing

We’ll explain by way of an example. Let us say you have two hypothetical nightclubs, in close proximity (for the convenience of this particular hypothesis). For further simplification, let us also imagine that they both are similarly sized structures, with similar flashing neon signs. But, where they differ (again imagine) is that one of them has just a bored looking doorman standing out front, allowing entry to all visitors; the other nightclub, contrastingly, has a long line of enthusiastic party-goers queued up outside. Which of them would you go to, if you’re out looking for a great time? Everything suggests that the place with the long queue is already crowded, while the other place may not be as lively. And therein lies the rub; nightclubs often slow down their entrance rates to keep the lines longer.

That is “social proof” at work. It’s a powerful psychological phenomenon that extends well beyond nightclub lines. It shapes how standing ovations form at live events. It makes restaurants seat you at the window table first. It’s the motivation behind laugh tracks in sitcoms; while it may not fool many, shows with canned laughter have been shown to have a higher “perceived funnyness” as compared to the same show without the canned laughter. This psychological factor is also how that ‘like’ button is going to help your social media marketing campaign.

The psychological theory behind this whole way of doing things is simple: an action is considered more appropriate when we see others doing it.

In short, our thoughts and behavior patterns are shaped by the opinions and actions of others—and that force is even stronger when those opinions and actions are of people we know and respect.

The important lesson for social media marketing professionals is that the same behavioral laws can be applied to your organization’s social-media marketing campaign. The motivation of following the majority becomes even stronger when you apply it to social media marketing: the way social media networks puts a high premium on grabbing attention through certain act, and thus, you have people looking to confirm to one group or clan indulging in similar behavior.

When social proof works with your social media marketing campaign, it helps keep visitors on your Web page and improves conversion rates on your landing page (encouraging clicks, likes, and subscriptions).

After all, no matter what you sell or promote, social media marketing is all about persuasion. And social proof is one of the most persuasive tools around. We’ll talk about social proofing your social media marketing campaign in greater detail in future posts, so keep an eye out!

The Aesthetics of Web Design

October 11th, 2011

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The fundamentals applicable to the visual elements of website designing are those that apply to all types of design. It is important to know the most effective way to combine the various design elements to turn out a web design impact that makes a mark. Web design professionals understand the fact that web design is not simply about patching together some HTML tags and random images on a page; it is a scientific application of the principles of aesthetic design to web design schema to create a website that’s visually appealing, even soothing for the site visitor.

Web Design Balance

Web design balance stands for the optimal allocation of the heavy and light elements on a given page. This balance, or lack it it is evident in your page layout. You must achieve visual balance in your web design, and that should be consistently visible throughout the website, not just on the landing page. A viable trick to help you create a balance is to align your page on an invisible grid. There are three types of balance that can be achieved when designing a page.

1. Symmetrical: This design method follows the simple philosophy of symmetry: a heavy or light element on the right is matched by another on the left. Symmetrical balances can make your web design look bland, so be careful.

2. Asymmetrical: Play around with textures, colors, image positions and dimensions to arrive at a pleasant looking page that has a healthy level of contrast.

3. Discordant. Web sites that use an off-kilter web design scheme are suggestive of action or entropy, but tend to make viewers restless or uneasy if overdone, so they are suitable for sites that are meant to be thought provoking.

Contrast for Web Design: It Cuts both Way

Contrast in web design goes beyond just balancing colors or shades of black or white, but basically an all encompassing theme of contrasting shapes, sizes and even textures. You can harness the power of contrast by changing font size, weight and family to provide textual contrast and varying sizes of images and elements. Contrast is a two-edged sword, though; overdo it and you end up with a web design that’s too loud and uncomfortable.

Web Design Emphasis

One of the basic needs for design is to avoid homogeneity, stressing the points or features you want to; the higher the skill in design emphasis, the easier it is to do this without it being blatantly obvious. One of the mistakes that web design professionals often make is to emphasize everything. Keep in mind that if everything in the design has equal emphasis, the entire page will tend to appear too busy for comfort and may end up unappealing. What you should focus on instead is to create a visual hierarchy in the web design – to put emphasis only on the right elements. You can use semantic markup to provide emphasis even without the use of styles; change the font size of image size in order to emphasis or lessen emphasis on them; or you can use contrast in colors for added emphasis.

Web design rhythm, also known as repetition, brings the much needed internal consistency into your web site designs. Almost all elements in your design can be repeated in order to create pleasing rhythm into your design. For instance, you can repeat your headline a few times for more emphasis, repeat the same image across the page, create a background that is tiled and patterned with repetitive elements, or repeat a particular style to provide site design consistency. It is also a good idea to repeat the navigation elements in your site design across the pages of your web site.

Web design unity, also regarded as a site’s proximity, is the what keeps all the similar elements in the site alike and those diverse further apart, and pulls everything together into one integrated whole. Unity when it comes to web site design is mainly achieved through the proper placement in your layout. You can implement this in many ways. You can, for example, adjust the layout of your elements to put them close or far away from each other. In the body of your page, you can change the spacing around the text in your page contents. You can further achieve unity by playing around the box properties and change the margins and paddings.

A good web design company keeps in mind all the basic design elements with each and every page they design and collaborate with. This way, you and your web design company will come up with web sites that are pleasant looking, effective and attractive. As the website designer, it is important that you keep these elements in mind and apply them appropriately to your web design plans.

Importance of the Home Page in Web Design

October 5th, 2011

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The conventions that shape website designing trends put a lot of emphasis on proper calibration of your website’s home page, and not without good reason. The homepage, aka the landing page, of your website is where you and your brand get to make a first impression; well, don’t we all know the importance of first impressions. Your home page web design can make or break the website: it is the first place new visitors come to and where old visitors return. Both types of customers must be taken care of. There are a few things that are fundamentally necessary to your homepage:

Proper Web Design: Navigating from Your Home Page

Navigation is the most important factor that determines how good or bad the web design of your homepage is. It doesn’t matter what great content is on your site, if the visitors can’t get there. Your homepage acts as a veritable index of sorts which guides visitors to the various sections and pages on the site. Your navigation bar at the top of the page cannot be page-specific; the links must be the same on all pages. the links on this navigation bar ought to be also be brief but self-explanatory. Use text for navigation instead of buttons; they look dandy, but in the time they take to fully load, many an impatient user with a slow connection would have moved on to another site.

The fact of the matter is that you have a very short time-window to give your new visitors the impression of being a neatly made and efficiently organized site that can help him get the required information in a jiffy. The internet with its immense range of choices has led to ever-shortening attention spans; the user will move to another site if yours doesn’t seem to make sense. To even begin to make sense, you need a cohorent an neatly laid out web design scheme.

Use Your Home Page for Brand Communication through smarter Web Design

Think of a bill-board all your own, bang in the middle of the information super-highway: that’s what your website’s home page can do for your brand. It is an important brand communication tool that allows you, with the help of graphics and succinct, to-the-point messages to your audience. Your business logo, it goes without saying, should have a place of prominence on your website’s homepage even though its also splashed all over the other pages on the site. Incorporate that into your website design in order to have a better recall value.

Why Content is Important to Web Design

As is the case with web design in general, content is very essential to homepage. Try to keep the tone conversational, although you may want to assume an authoritative tone in certain cases to establish yourself as an authority on the topic being discussed: that has to be fine tuned in accordance with the specific nature of your website’s subject; another part of it is . Your homepage content must be fresh and hold their interest to make them want to read more of your site. Tell your visitors, without beating about the bush, what is it exactly that you are offering and how being a buyer or a business partner would be to their benefit. Don’t make them search for that information; that won’t happen. Anchoring relevant links into the text that point to internal pages is always a good idea.

There are no hard and fast rules to homepage web design, but all the above should act as a guideline. Keeping it short and succinct is about the only web design rule that you should follow like a guiding star.

For web design tips and guidance, keep watching this space.

Web Design Strategies for Small Businesses

September 27th, 2011

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A proper approach to website designing can mean the difference between thriving or not surviving for a small business. There are some fundamental differences, of course, between the way you build a website for a small business and what is needed for larger concerns and it is vital to be aware of these nuances.

Web Design: Temper Your Brand Communication

Let’s start with the place of content and copy in your web design scheme and and how to align these with your brand communication.

Do Not Bluff

Your web design must not try to imitate the biggies. Having fancy tag-lines won’t mean anything to a customer who knows that you and your brand new business have no way of substantiating tall claims such as ‘bringing you the best’. It is unlikely that a client would see your ‘…since 1642′ tagline and blame himself for not having discovered your business concern sooner; clients tend to see right through a bluff like that. Any attempt on your part to pass yourself off as something you’re not insults their intelligence. So what you do do?

Web Design to Suit Your Site’s Age

First of all don’t try to look and act like the big boys. Your website must

provide information minus the rhetoric,
build common grounds usingassociative imagery without the unnecessary glitz,
and convey the value proposition message sans the gimmicks.

Bigger brands can not only get away with having merely pretty sites that have more jargon and useless bluster than actual information but in some cases it is also ideal for them.

Using Your Web Design Scheme as a Communication Tool

Here’s why… they’re already established brands with a known value proposition and their need now is simply ensuring brand engagement and brand recall through innovative (rather than informative) web design: in short, entertaining and interactive content. A small business website needs to cut straight to the chase with some eye-catching but no-nonsense headlines and copy-writing and get to the point of conveying just what they can do for the consumer, who’s perhaps never visited them before. Your web design scheme has to be aligned with these points.

About 8 seconds is all the time you’ve got in the world to hook a new visitor into your sales copy; from the moment a visitor lands on the homepage to the time they leave. The primary distinct feature here is the copy; in this case, web content. A small business website needs to be basic and bare bones, conveying the unique selling proposition succinctly and without much ado, and not to look like its competing in a web design fashion pageant.

Your Web Design should Win Customers not Awards

Go easy on all the sensory overload that some sites aim for through a combination of images, video and music. A small business needs to be lean, mean and to-the-point. Research suggests that the visitors don’t even properly notice the images until they’ve already assimilated the website content design. A small business that is aware of this fact, and uses it to proper effect in the way they plan their web design, has a huge advantage over the rest of the bunch. So bear that in mind about how your small business website can be so much more if only you tweak your website design so that it positively influences visitors to turn into customers.