Tip #1: Book a username
Direct your customers and prospects by setting up a username for your Facebook page. All you have to do is, go to www.facebook.com/username, choose your company page from the drop down menu, type username (most probably your company name) that you would like to have for the page (without any spaces) and confirm it. Done! This will make your page look professional. Remember, after booking the username, you can change it only once.

Tip #2: Upload a relevant cover photo
Your Facebook page timeline cover photo is where your startup branding begins. Here are my suggestions for Startup cover photos:
- Upload a lively photo of your team members (tells your company’s work culture)
- Showcase your product/service in an innovative way (Adhere to 20% text rule)
- Your success stories like awards, recognitions etc
- A inside picture of your office (if you want to showcase your company is a fun place to work)
Important: Do not upload low quality pictures. If you can’t design one, hire a designer and get a good job done. If you can’t hire a designer, check out your LinkedIn connections for a friend who is a designer and ask them for help. Don’t hesitate.
P.S. Cover photo size is 851px X 315px

Tip #3: Update  milestones
Milestones are the key moments that you want to share with your company stakeholders. By adding them properly with pictures, you can tell a beautiful story about your startup journey.

Tip #4: Update public information
This is one section where majority of the startups don’t use to its full potential. Just go to ‘Edit Page’ tab on your admin panel and click on ‘Update Public Info’. My suggestion is put as much information (relevant) as you can on this section. Update about your startup vision, mission, products, services, your company timings, address, information about other social networking sites like your Twitter page, LinkedIn page, Google+ Page etc.

Tip #5 Profile Picture
When you post something on your page, it will appear on your fans news feed and the first thing they look at is your profile picture icon and your startup name. And when they come to your page, the first thing they will interact ‘visually’ is with your cover photo and profile picture. So having a relevant and clear profile picture is a must. Did you know that over 90% of the brands and businesses use logo or favicon as their Facebook page profile picture. So, go ahead and make one.
P.S. Profile Picture size is 180px X 180 px.

Conclusion:

In the end, a startup Facebook page is about three things: branding, visual appeal and interesting content. Spend considerable amount of time to get these three things in place. Never ever comprise on design aspect and branding because good design and relevant information about your brand will make your product/service more attractive to its stakeholders.

If you would like to add your thoughts, please let me know in the comments box below.

The post 5 Essential Facebook Page Makeover Tips For Startups appeared first on 84ideas.

Really? Think again! Always do your research before you say those words. There is always a way to do things in a startup. May be it will take a little more time or few extra bucks. That’s ok. Define the problem and look out for practical solutions but never say those words.

That’s Is Not My Job

It’s a startup and it is your one golden opportunity to learn all aspects of business. When given a chance to do a job, just do it and be a part of something bigger than just your job.

The post 2 Phrases That Should Never Pop-Up In a Startup appeared first on 84ideas.

Just follow these six steps and I am sure you will make the best out of your Twitter page.

Step 1: Twitter (Re)Search

Do some basic research before sending your little bird to chirp about your brand.

Use http://search.twitter.com to find people who are making conversations about your brand, competitors and industry.

After that, just follow them (Don’t hesitate).

Step 2: Make Relevant Conversations

Post following them, you will see their tweets on your twitter feed. Watch for those tweets where you can pitch in and make conversations. It could be answering a query, giving a praise or just saying a simple thank you; just do it whole heatedly. Do this on a regular and need-to-need basis and you’d be surprised with the outcomes.

Golden Rule: Follow step 1 on a daily basis.

Step 3: Respond To Every Tweet

Got a query from prospective customer? Answer it.

Received negative feedback? Respond to it.

Got appreciation for your service? Say thank you from the bottom of your heart.

Golden Rule: Respect their interest and treat them well, when they are in your brand’s social arena.

Step 4: Use Short Links

Would you like to direct your followers to your website? Use bit.ly links to quantify the impact. Also, this will help you to identify when and from where your followers are viewing your tweets.

Step 5: Use Relevant Hashtags (#) 

Tweeters find stuff they want to by using hashtags. Make sure you include relevant hashtags while sending important tweets. For e.g. You are a restaurant brand located in Hyderabad and you are posting a tweet about Biryani. So, your tweet could be “It’s lunch time. Is #biryani on your mind? #Hyderabad #hungry #hyderabadi”

Step 6: Promote

Once you gain decent amount of followers, run a contest or a campaign on your page. Make sure it should be relevant to your brand.

IMP Rule: Hashtags plays a crucial role in creating a successful contests. They should be contextual and also should connect  with your followers. For e.g. Your brand is in real estate category and you want to connect with your followers emotionally. So you launched a contest where you asked them to tweet about their childhood memories with their homes. Hashtags like #GoodOldDays, #LastingMemories or #MemoriesCannotBeShifted would work better than #<YourBrandNameContest> or #BrandName

Last but not the least, deck up your Twitter page with attractive background picture, profile picture and with a brief description about your brand with useful links.

Happy Tweeting!

P.S. We are having a Meet Up at 84ideas on Feb 9th, 2013. The topic of this Meet Up is “Social Media Metrics – Beyond Likes”. It is going to be awesome. If you are interested, RSVP here: http://www.meetup.com/Social-Media-Hyderabad/

The post Six Steps to Promote Your Brand on Twitter appeared first on 84ideas.

We moved into this beautiful office a few months back. It is 4000 Sq Ft office spread over 3 levels. At this point we only need about 2000 Sq.Ft.  This means that we have a lot of free space we can share with.

We have 2 rooms available to share with you. If you are a small team who would like to work in central Hyderabad ( Jubilee Hills) and don’t want to go through the pain of looking for an affordable office space, set up the internet, A.C and power backup, then this space would be perfect. We also have a meeting room, dining area and a fully functional kitchen that we can share.

Each room can accommodate 4-5 people.

Facilities Offered :

• High-speed wireless connection with backup internet connection.
• Conference room.
• Kitchen – Fully functional with all utilities.
• Oven & Refrigerator - To hold your late night drinks and detox caffeine.
• Power Back up ( Much needed in this summer )

The post Sharing 84ideas Office Space. Interested? appeared first on 84ideas.

Tip 2:  Upload a cover photo that reveals a story about your business and its offerings. Do not try to promote your business by placing offers on the cover photo.

Tip 3: Always use your company logo as profile picture, so that your fans and customers can recognize your company when they see your posts in their news feed. If you are a celebrity, make your photo as your page profile picture.

Tip 4: Make sure you create a ‘Social Media Content-Weekly Calendar’ for your Facebook page. Based on my experience 2-3 posts per day is good enough, if you have a relevant and interesting content to share with the fans.

Tip 5: Research and identify various touch points for your brand that fits into your content calendar. For example, the touch points for an apparel brand could be a. Introducing new collection b. Dressing tips c. Fashion updates d. Customer compliments e. Occasions f. Industry facts g. offers and promotions h. Brand’s Social Activities etc.

Tip 6: Never ever try to sell products and services on your Facebook page. Tell a story about your product like how it can help your customers to choose the right one that fits their need.

Tip 7: It’s a social platform. Listen to them and respond if there are any queries. Never leave any query unattended. If there is any criticism, say sorry and please do not delete negative feedback. Make sure you satisfy them by solving the problem.

Tip 8: If you receive any compliments, do reply with a ‘Thank You’ and a ‘Big Smile’.

Tip 9: It’s always good for your brand to make use of Facebook tabs. You can use tabs to showcase your other social networks like Twitter, YouTube, Pinterest, instagram or to promote campaigns and contests.

Tip 10: Once in a while, sharing a good joke is not a bad idea. Make sure it is relevant to the situation or to the brand.

Tip 11: Run Brand-Relevant campaigns and contests once or twice a month. If you are giving any prizes to the winners, keep them relevant to your brand. For e.g. If you are running a contest, which requires your restaurant customers to share pictures of the food they ordered, your prize could be a gift voucher which can be redeemed at your restaurant, but not an iPad or a teddy bear.

Tip 12: Facebook Insights: Check your Facebook insights twice-a-week and analyse which posts are doing better and why. This will help you to create engaging content for your brand that goes viral.

Tip 13: According to Facebook edge rank, posts with pictures gets more engagement than text posts. True, but an interesting text post can evoke a good amount of engagement too. For better results, ask questions, create a discussion, get feedback. Make your fans a part of your business and create a feeling that you are listening to what they are saying.

Tip 14: Last but not the least, check Facebook page notifications every morning and see if you haven’t responded to any feedback, comment or an inquiry.

Do you have any tips that helps to create a great Facebook community?

I would love to hear them. Please feel free to share them in the comments section below.

The post 14 Tips to Build a Great Facebook Community appeared first on 84ideas.

We at 84ideas had sent in our nominations for ’Websites’ and ‘Social media engagement’. It was just a normal day for us at work with all of us putting in our creative best. Little did we know that the 24th August, 2012 would be a big day for us, our very first nomination fetched us awards.

And so we won…

Category: Websites 

We were positive that we would win one award from this category, with ‘Panjaa‘ and ‘Agniinteractive‘  sweeping all the prizes from this category, that came in as a grand surprise, both of these projects had intensive detail and were much appreciated by our clients and their customers.

Category : Social Media Engagement

Leveraging Integrated Social Media Approach, Panjaa Movie created strong digital communities, which made the film to reach over 1.2 Million People across the globe in the span of just 3 months! There was nothing stopping this juggernaut from winning awards.

Our mascot Rahul who orchestrated these victorious projects received the prize on all our behalf.  It was a glorious moment, celebration was on the cards, praises and congratulations were flying from all around the globe. Pictures taken posted onto walls, tweets updated, messages, emails & calls were on the fly. None were left behind and nothing was left to chance. Each and every one in our team was ecstatic about our victory.

For us this was a Milestone and also a big appreciation for the work done so far. We would like to take this oppurtunity to thank all those who have supported us all the way. Here is to a lot more awards, Cheers!

The post Winner of ADEX 2011 awards appeared first on 84ideas.

Location

Considering that most of our clients have their businesses running from in and around Banjara Hills, it was the top choice. Jubilee hills was an other great option for the fact that, this area seems more green and airy.

Requirements

As a digital agency, we are a bunch of people from various backgrounds and workstyle. We are thinkers, marketers, designers, developers and human. Considering the type of work we do, we wanted a few things from our workspace. Flexibility, Formal meeting space, Catchup table, a nice kitchen and a brainstorming area.

Flexibility 

Sitting in-front of the computer might not be the greatest place to think and might not stimulate everybody to solve problems. So, a casual seating area with a coffee table where you can sit and think clearly was very important to us.

 Formal Meeting Space

This is for the clients who walk in to our office for a concept presentation or signing a cheque. We want them to be comfortable and convenient when they visit us.

 Catchup Table

This is for those informal team gathering, to criticize a design or discuss the next marketing campaign or wireframe a concept. This could also double as a dining area.

 Brainstorming Area

The place should foster team work. A big wall with a whiteboard for team huddles and co creation. This place could also be used for training sessions.

 Kitchen

All of us at office have got some serious gastronomical issues. Some coffee lovers and some sambar lovers. And having friends like Cinnamon Sugar, one thing we all definitely needed was a good kitchen.

Type of Office

Initially, we were definitely inclined towards the idea of open office space. They look cool and promises to foster greater communication among the team members which will eventually make a happy workplace. There is a lot of debate and research going on this topic.

An open space mean that, we have to take up a bare shell and convert it to your liking. Bare shells are typically available on commercial complexes on the main road.  So, we are paying for the location rather than the space. For 10-15 member team, we needed a 2500 Sq.ft space to accommodate all our requirements. This was too heavy for our pockets as we were looking for a place in a prime-location. Despite the flexibility the bare shells would offer, the cost of setting up and cost of renting is too high. We are basically going to pay for things we don’t need, main road location and expensive floor cost.

Taking our requirements into consideration, what we needed was clear. We decided to look a duplex  house which could be rented out for a office space which would offer us the space we need and keep the environment very boutique in nature.  Here is a sneak preview. Watch this space for more.

The post Designing Workplace for a Digital Agency appeared first on 84ideas.

You should have a flair for communicating and social networking, be connected to the web at all times and should have a bent towards word-play, creative contexts and never-heard-before ideas.

The job would require you to take care of our clients’ networking profiles like facebook, twitter, LinkedIn etc. always keeping in mind the brand-guideline, as well as brainstorming and coming up with strategies to keep visitors engaged.

At 84ideas, we work hard, party harder, work from cafes and believe that we can use technology to revamp the way information travels effectively. Naturally, you’ll have to be willing to learn, switch roles or multi-task and be ready to roll up your sleeve to get the job done.

Inspite of this, winning the beer pong and passing out at 3 a.m. sounds familiar to all of us!

Join us for the next one!

Click here to apply

The post You believe networking works? Join us as our Social Media Manager/Executive. appeared first on 84ideas.

We’re looking for individuals who can add to our space with their talent and drive.

If you think that your stints of 3-5 years with graphics design (2-4 of which should be with webpage design) and a strong portfolio have made you equipped enough in addition to ample exposure to Photoshop, Illustrator and their integration with web programming, then we’re looking for you. And if you are a pro at Flash InDesign along with HTML, CSS and JavaScript, then you must call right away.

In case you choose to, then you should look forward to a fun-filled work atmosphere and like-minded people, an environment that will allow you to play with concepts and be in tandem with industry trends, to give a form to rough concepts and give them the shape of art.

You will be expected to come up with multiple creative solutions for web design, user interface for software applications interactive learning tools, presentation design, and information visualization with focus on user experience and branding. As well as designing, prototyping, and usability testing web applications across multiple platforms.

If the idea of adding creative input and support throughout various stages of the design process – as a key player in design team – excites you, then lets work together and create!

We’re waiting!

Click here to apply

The post For the Web/ UI Designers. The cool kinds. appeared first on 84ideas.

We’d love to have you as the face of 84ideas for our clients.

If in addition to this divinity, you also have an e-commerce or Internet technologies marketing work experience of more than a year and a marketing qualification to match, then you’re the person we’re looking for.

Do look forward to a fun-filled atmosphere here, benign smiles all around, and opportunities to create and build client relations within the country as well as overseas, and to develop a good sense of how to understand project scopes and communicate it to team 84ideas.

You will be expected to get business through different channels like online portals, web-based engines, social networking sites; to build a good Client Database and maintain project pipelines; communicate with the clients regularly on phone, chats and emails; make proposals, RFQ (request for quote) and a difference!

So, wear that smile and show up – we’re waiting to see you!

Or Click here to apply

The post So you think you can sell? – We’re looking for Business Developers. appeared first on 84ideas.