Social Media: the Rules of Engagement for Small Businesses

November 22nd, 2009

Many marketers forget that they should not be marketing to themselves, particularly when it comes to social media. The key to social media marketing is that if you are going to engage in it, you need to do so because it makes sense to your business. Online marketing can be a terrific thing when done correctly, but one size does not necessarily fit all.

Social media rock star Chris Brogan says that there are five things every small business owner should do online immediately:

  • Start a blog. Yes, blogs are cheap and easy. Should every business blog? Probably not.
  • Start listening. In other words, find out what others are saying about you. Fair enough – recon is always a good idea.
  • Try Twitter OR Facebook. These are both great ways to find potential business, but choosing one of these vehicles must be strategic – go where your customers are.
  • Get the word out. If you’re going to blog or have a social media presence, you need to let people know you’re out there, whether you’re putting your blog’s URL in your email’s signature line or your Twitter ID on your business card. I’m very fond of referencing the line about the proverbial tree in the forest – if no one knows how to find your blog, does it really matter how brilliantly it’s written?
  • Try moving the needle. Invite social media-types into your world by enticing them with promotions and let them promote you through good word-of-mouth.

Tags: promotion
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How to Prioritize Your Social Media Time

November 15th, 2009

Let’s be honest – time is precious and we can’t spend as much time on social media as we’d like to, especially if we want these marketing tools to work. The key, like anything, is organization and setting priorities so you optimize your time spent. How should you prioritize? Here is a list of factors to consider.

Periodically review your RSS feeds. It’s so easy with all the tools out there to subscribe to something you think might have value long term, but suddenly realize that you can get the same information somewhere else, plus some of the original article/topics that got you to subscribe in the first place come infrequently. Purge some of these that are not as relevant as I once thought.

Focus on your niche. There is so much info on the Internet that it could easily overwhelm you. Instead, focus on your core markets/interests and spend more time on those trusted sites.

Monitor your time. While your time is limited, it seems as though everyone is asking you to do more and more. The Internet can easily suck you in and, despite your intentions, you’ve wasted hours instead of minutes. Be aware of your time and use it wisely.

Skimming is Essential. As much as you would love to be all things to all people, truthfully, you cannot. There simply is not enough time in the day to read everything, so you need to master the art of skimming articles quickly to see if they are really what you’re looking for. Yin 30 seconds, you should be able to skim an article and determine whether or not it’s of interest to you.

Who’s watching/reading you? If you blog, there are metrics in place that allow you to monitor views. Look at these periodically and focus your efforts on those topics where you’re getting the most action.

Tags: social media
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The Cardinal Rule of Twitter

November 8th, 2009

As you use social media, your immediate goal is to grow your network as you promote your product. At the same time, you should seek out others to follow, ideally based upon a common interest, industry, profession, location, etc. You will also be sending out tweets that relate to what you do and those like interests of your prospective followers and clients – those messages should also have keywords included so that potential followers will find you in their searches.

However, the way in which many people and companies attract followers is their downfall. Many people set up their account and then start following as many people as possible indiscriminately in hopes that those people will in turn follow them back. They’re easy to spot – they’re the people who are following 5,000 people and only have 1 follower. Another equally easy to spot user is the one with insanely high follower and follow numbers. For example, if the Acme Widget Corporation has 5,145 followers, but also follows 4,989, then Acme may have a largely artificial following. Do 5,100 people really care what Acme has to say? Does Acme really spend his hours and days tracking the tweets of 5,000 followers? Not likely. Acme is just one of 5,000 users trapped – everyone seems to be talking, but no one is listening.

Instead, you should cultivate a natural following – Follow someone on Twitter because you care about what they have to say, and they have a genuine interest in you. If someone tweets a question describing a problem or need to which you may have the solution, you have an opportunity to help someone else. The more questions you answer, the more people you serve and the stronger your reputation and your following will become.

How do people find you? Content is king – post over the course of each day, but don’t blast out a dozen tweets within a short time – it can be like being the loudest and most obnoxious person in the room. Focus on a handful of topics – in the morning, post about the latest good news impacting your local community; afternoon, focus on your industry or an aspect of your profession; evening tweets can be more laid back—with content that might be entertaining or thought-provoking. Plan out your strategy – but keep it simple and always deliver value at every opportunity.

Tags: twitter
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Plastics Recycling Company (www.Plastics-Recycling-Company.com): The World Wide Market

November 1st, 2009

Not all of our clients are just thinking of doing business in our local market.  Plastics Recycling Company is targeting the state of Ohio and the world beyond.  The domain name was a no brainer to convey the line of business: www.Plastics-Recycling-Company .

It is obvious that the Plastics Recycling Company recycles waste industrial plastics, but how do you get the word out, especially considering that this concept isn’t exactly new.  It was observed that there were not as many recyclers within the state of Ohio, so we are targeting this region for our new client.

When you are thinking globally, getting Google rankings becomes harder and harder, unless it is for a very unique service.  Plastics recycling wasn’t the case here, so it will take work, but mywebWOW! is up to the challenge.

Tags: plastics recycling
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New Website Design Client Press Release: www.NoahsToo.com

November 1st, 2009

Noah’s Too – known for their innovative Columbus Ohio dog boarding establishment, is more than just your run-of-the-mill kennel.  Pet pampering is their specialty and they we looking for a means to spread the word via internet.  Doggie Day Care and Doggie Day Camp and just a few of the terms they like to use to describe their service.  They came to mywebWOW! for a solution.

Now they are an established presence for the term “Columbus Ohio Kennel” and working their way up through the Google rankings for dog boarding.  Now their potential clients know that they exist!

You just can’t assume that just because you put a website online people will find your business.  Proper website design and SEO implementation can make all the difference in the world!

Tags: New Business
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Taking The Dentistry Website Design/SEO Challenge: www.EastonDentist.com

November 1st, 2009

Dentistry in the Columbus Ohio area is a competitive business from an online marketing perspective.  In a service oriented economy here in Columbus, there is surely no shortage of dentists and they are looking for any edge on getting marketing exposure.  Don’t believe it?  Go ahead and throw a website up there without a marketing plan and then sit there scratching your head as to why no one can find it?

Your Columbus Ohio small business website design company – mywebWOW! – was not afraid of the challenge.  After interviewing the client – www.EastonDentists.com (desiring to be your emergency dentist in the Columbus and New Albany area) -  a workable SEO marketing plan was developed and implemented.

We welcome our new clients and are eager to see how their new SEO marketing plan progresses.  Why not stop by their dental site and see if their marketing approach could also work for your business?

Tags: marketing, SEO, small business
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SEO Enhanced Website Designed For Marketing Improvement: www.PCHSlive.com

November 1st, 2009

Premier Health Choice Services was looking for a online marketing improvement and came to mywebWOW! for a solution.  The end result was the search engine optimized site: www.PCHSlive.com .

Not only does this site improve this educational service providers presence on the internet, but not have given them increased exposure on Google maps.

With a domain name not clearly identifying the business goals of this institution (provider of STNA classes in Ohio), we designed a marketing plan that has quickly raised their rankings within Google and now directing curious online searchers to their business.

Do you want us to do the same for you?

Tags: SEO
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Is Social Media Actually Free?

October 31st, 2009

One of the biggest untruths in social media, and attempting to use social media for marketing, is that it’s entirely free. Of course, this comes from the “free” price that goes along with signing up for accounts on sites like YouTube, Facebook and Twitter. It doesn’t cost you one cent from your bank account to open a basic account on these sites, but there are costs involved when you are considering entering into the social media space – since these costs are not immediate, the illusion that marketing efforts in social media cost less becomes even greater for companies looking for cheaper solutions to reaching their audiences.

Your Employees’ Time is Money. Many companies seem to forget to figure into the larger picture is how much it costs them in time and resources of employees, tools and equipment. While it may be free to sign up for the account, the real cost comes with your employees maintaining those accounts and keeping them active in the social communities. Just creating the profiles and leaving them there doesn’t mean you are automatically going to gain a foothold in a social media community.

The tools are free, but they could end up costing you in the end. As every marketer knows, you still have to measure efficacy. While tools such as Google Analytics and Google Alerts, there still is a cost of your employees’ time. Also, the free tools do have a limit of scope, and you may have to upgrade to more expensive tools.

When you hear all the hype about Twitter, Facebook and YouTube and how these wonderful “free” tools are helping companies reach new people every day, step back away from the hype and ask yourself how many man hours it took for that team to attain that success with the social media site. How much time really went into research and planning? How are they measuring success?

Tags: ROI
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How to Get More Bang for Your Social Media Buck

October 23rd, 2009

Everyone seems to want to do social media marketing, but very few people actually understand how to measure its efficacy. While you’re deciding how effective your social media strategy is, there are critical issues you need to examine.

Size really does matter. When it comes to social media for a company, one size does not fit all. A smaller company has to focus limited resources on a few resources. For example, once you examine time required and costs, you may have to decide between twitter and a blog and decide which will deliver a better return on your investment.

Decide who you’re selling to. B2B and B2C companies require different skill sets to sell their wares. Things that might work for B2C global brands may fail miserably for a mid-size firm in the B2B domain

Social media has a “If you build it, they will come” mentality. There is no such thing as overnight success in social media – success is built in layers over a period of time. Finding your voice and generating feedback or conversation takes time, so perseverance and quality content are essential.

Begin with the basics. Focusing on a corporate blog should be the core activity of any social media strategy to begin with. This is where here you can build a responsive audience over large distances for building your firm’s social network. Afterward, you may have the knowledge and resources required to join and succeed with other social media channels.

Tags: social media
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How to Use Facebook to Generate Leads

October 16th, 2009

Social media specialists advise businesses to be selective in what social platforms they use to promote their brands, especially since each business is unique. Many brands are turning to Facebook to generate brand loyalty, but the problem is that most B2B companies don’t really know what Facebook is capable of doing for them. With proper use of Facebook, you can engage fans and provide value, while also driving business.

How can put Facebook to work for you?

Generate Leads through E-mail subscriptions. By including an e-mail subscription form in the sidebar of your Facebook page, you have another tool at your disposal to build your e-mail newsletter list and leverage that newsletter to generate sales.

Provide a Special Offer or Link to Customer Support. Typically, users won’t go to your fan page unless they’re specifically looking for a product or they are unusually brand-loyal, so why not give them a reason to come to your page with a special offer or a free trial? Start a live chat with users or let them know how they can call a customer service representative with their questions. Contact with an actual human being can help generate quality leads that could translate into sales.

Mix Paid Content and Free Content. Don’t give it all away upfront, instead, tease with some free content, which then encourages users to take that first step to make a purchase. While those purchases and event registrations generate income, they have even more value as leads to develop new client business by encouraging people to upgrade. Remember: a lead is not just a name or an email address. It is a person who is actively seeking information about your product.

Tags: facebook
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The Social Media-Customer Service Connection

October 9th, 2009

Customer service? What’s that? Sadly, this is a question many companies are hearing from their customers. Ironically, a March, 2009 Forrester report says that the number of services offered by “service” companies is increasing, while the amount of money they are able to spend on customer service is decreasing. While the web offers several lower-cost options, many of them are poorly designed and often result in even more frustration than sitting on hold for an extended period of time.

You’ve heard of social media, right? Can it save customer service?

Of course, since so many products and services have become commoditized, customer service is one of the last things left that differentiates one company from another. Do it poorly, and your customers will leave. However, great customer service can actually increase loyalty and help your organization grow at a higher rate than most in your industry.

How should you use social media to improve your customer service? A few pointers:

Listen first. You probably already know why your customers aren’t as loyal as they might be. If you don’t, you need to start listening to what they are saying.

Engage. Unless you are one of the lucky few brands that instill a cult-like loyalty, think about giving your customers a reason to engage with you. Start by offering compelling content that is not about your company’s products, but is relevant to the customers’ lifestyle. Disseminating this content in social tools makes it more relatable and shareable.

Measure. Yes, you need to know if your social media plan is working, but you may also need this information to help you get more funding to fuel it, particularly during tough economic times like we’re living through now.

Tags: customer service, operations, social media
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How to Use Twitter for Your Business

October 2nd, 2009

Remember how twitter used to be merely a toy for techies and nerds? In the past year, the microblogging site has evolved into a mainstream tool, embraced by businesses and celebrities to communicate with their fans and customers. Of course, like every other marketing tool, twitter has to be used strategically.

Identify your objectives for using twitter. Will you use it for branding, customer service, or marketing? These are the three most common ways businesses use twitter, and may use a hybrid of all three.

Put some thought into your content. Twitter is a great place to ask questions, ask for feedback, give news about your company, or share links with your readers.

Define guidelines for tweeting. For example, will you have one corporate account, or multiple personal accounts? Many companies use both a corporate account and then individual ones. Regardless, you will want to establish brand standards for tweeting so that all involved are putting out a consistent message.

Use twitter to monitor brand impressions. Twilert is a great tool for this because it allows you to set keywords you wish to be alerted to and will then send you an email listing of who has used the keyword in their tweets. Twitter Search can also be used to do real time searches for keywords or you can set up an RSS feed to manage the process.

Follow users carefully. Identify and follow the users that you would like to target. Make sure to maintain a balance between the number of people you are following and the number of followers you have, so that you are not accused of spamming users.

Shorten URL’s whenever possible. Remember, you’re limited to just 140 characters, so URL shortening tools like tinyurl are essential.

Guard your brand at all costs. If you have unique brand, be sure to set up a Twitter account in that name to protect your brand, even if you never use it.

Tags: twitter
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Protecting Your Brand Online

September 25th, 2009

We’ve all seen stories on the news about companies whose reputations have been smeared online due to a disgruntled employee, bored hacker, or angry consumer. Despite these things happening even to the best-intentioned company, the key lies in your response to these events.

First, you need to decide if this is a situation over which you have any control. For example, when a company is faced with content released by bitter former employees, making a public statement could potentially draw attention to content over which the company has no control. However, if it is a quality control issue raised by a consumer, a public statement is absolutely warranted.

What is being said and by whom? How many people saw the questionable content and how likely they are to be customers? These are key questions to ask as you plan your strategy.

You don’t have to have all of the answers all at one time. If you honestly don’t know, say so. “We’re aware of the situation. We don’t know how it happened, but we’re dealing with it.” shows a brand’s human side, provided that a tone of genuine remorse is also conveyed.

Don’t allow a problem to escalate into a crisis and target your response toward the platform utilized at the time, especially if the attack is being conducted via social media. Direct traffic to your company website where you can address the problem in greater detail.

Focus on the future and what your company will do to prevent the situation from happening again. Once you convey this information to your customers, learn from your mistakes and move on.

Tags: brand, protect, social media
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SEO Website To Market Your Business – Insurance Quotes

September 19th, 2009

As a marketing tool for you line of business, maybe you should look at an example such as : http://www.affordable-ohio-health-insurance-quote.com

This is an example of an Ohio health insurance agent expanding his business to the online arena.

You are looking at an website referred to as an SEO site.  This indicates that the site was designed with Search engine Optimization in mind.  This means to make it easier to be found by internet search engines such as Google, Yahoo, Bing and so out.

This is just one of many different options in providing you small business marketing at an affordable level.

If you like the idea, please give us a call and we can walk you through the benefits of such a website!

Tags: Ohio small business
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Press Release! The NEW mywebWOW! Is Alive!

August 28th, 2009

As we had promised, our website has been through a major over-haul.  Please see our press release to see what this redesign was all about!

We are serious about landing your website design / seo (search engine optimization) / marketing account and we want to make your informational research project as easy as possible.  We hope the NEW website layout satisfies this mission!  Give us a call and let us know!  Thanks!

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Integrated WordPress Blog Design

August 15th, 2009

Do you want something that very few other website design companies in Columbus Ohio are offering?  Something that not only only drives people to your website, something that adds SEO (Search Engine Optimization), something that is not only stylish, but also function?  How about a WordPress blog that also matches the styling template of the rest of your website?

What am I talking about?  This blog at Columbus Ohio DUI Lawyer website answers that question!  Not only do you have the full function of a WordPress blog, but also you can maintain your company branding throughout your site, add in company logos, but also additional advertising?  Slick, huh?

AS blogging becomes more and more popular, our client’s have expressed their desire to add this kind of functionality to theirsmall business website.  No longer is it just a means for a “hobbiest” to ramble on about their personal life, interests, political views and si on; but now is a means for small businesses to announce specials, organizational moves, or introduction of new services to their present and potential clientele base.  Go visit the link listed about as a functioning example of the capability, and let us know what you think!

This is just another aspect of mywebWOW! giving you more bang for the buck, setting us apart for other small business website design companies in Columbus, OH, and striving to give our clients what they need!  Call today to discuss your new website design ideas!

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mywebWOW! is proud to launch Columbus-Ohio-DUI-Lawyer.com!

July 15th, 2009

Are you in need of a Columbus Ohio DUI lawyer?  One of our newest clients is now offering their services online known as:  Columbus-Ohio-DUI-Lawyer.com!

These attorneys are not new at offering great legal representation to those of you that my require the use of their services, they are just new at advertising their great service on the world wide web.  This allows them to spend their time at performing their vital service and let the Internet market their services in a powerful, but non-intrusive, manner.

Go ahead and check them out!  It’s free and you are under no obligation to contact them, but of course, they would prefer that you did so, should you have a the misfortune of having a legal entanglement.

Tags: affordable small business web design
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mywebWOW! Announces a New Makeover!

July 8th, 2009

In our never ending march in becoming the #1 website design company in Columbus Ohio, it has been determined that our website (www.mywebwow.com) was due for a re-design.  We  are offering new services and further expanding our current services in order to better serve our current clientele, along with attracting new customers, that were unaware of all the affordable small business services that we offer.

The plan is to better organize the site, make it more graphically appealing along with introducing are ever increasing staff.  You have to remember, not only does our Columbus Ohio website desing company offer affordable small business web desing solutions, we also have a full repertoire of services that will make you small business more competitive in these trying economic times.

It is also good, for SEO reasons, to “stir” things up a bit, to give Google and other search engines a reason to take another look and re-index your site.  New and fresh content is just one of many things we suggest in bringing your ranking up.

Please stop by soon, checkout the updates, and tell up what you think!

Posted in Columbus Ohio Website Design, Company Info | Comments Off

Columbus Ohio Website Design News: Social Networking

June 2nd, 2009

mywebWOW! – a Columbus Ohio Website design company is announcing an expansion of services:  Social Networking.

What is “social networking”?  Basically it is defined as building online communities of like minded people sharing common interests and activities.  Also, it may include people that are interested in exploring the same things of others. Online social network services can provide a variety of ways for people to interact, such as IM (instant messaging), forums, and email.

Some of the most popular current applications include Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube.  Let our Columbus Ohio website design social networking department assist you in your social networking needs!

Tags: affordable small business web design
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mywebWOW! Is Your Affordable Small Business Web Design Solution

April 25th, 2009

mywebWOW!, is the affordable small business web design solution that you have been waiting for. Our Columbus Ohio website design company will provide you an affordable, customized, friendly means of turning your dream into a business reality. Services we offer:  web design and web site development, logo design, and personalized full-service print marketing/branding. Also available to you is expert assistance with incorporating your small to medium businesses.  We can also help companies in optimizing their current online presence.

Call (614)307-9131 or visit www.mywebwow.com for more details or to request a FREE QUOTE!

Web-Basic Package – $499

Web-Pro Package – $795

Web-Premium Package – $1295

Web-Ultimate Package – $1695

Tags: affordable small business web design, Columbus Ohio website design company
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