Over the past several months, QR codes have inserted themselves squarely into a digital media conversation (even appearing on late-night TV). In this article, I’ll unpack how to get your QR codes to go viral on Facebook.

I’ll start by walking you through the [...]]]> Are you looking to leverage the popularity of QR (Quick Response) codes with the wide-spread adoption of Facebook?

Over the past several months, QR codes have inserted themselves squarely into a digital media conversation (even appearing on late-night TV). In this article, I’ll unpack how to get your QR codes to go viral on Facebook.

I’ll start by walking you through the process and an example campaign, and conclude with an analytical discussion examining five need-to-know success factors.

Setting Up a Viral QR Code Campaign

Step #1: Generating the QR code

For the uninitiated, QR codes provide a means to open a URL on a mobile phone.

However, a closer look reveals that most QR code generators provide functionality for executing a host of mobile phone actions, including creating a calendar event, sending an SMS or providing contact information.

Like all things viral, choose a QR code type based on what you think people will want to share.

For the purposes of our example campaign, we used scan-to-SMS. Once generated, keep in mind that saving the QR code in a user-friendly format (e.g., jpeg or png) will be useful when integrating with other applications.

QR codes can execute various phone actions.
Scanning the above QR code sends an SMS with message "smexaminer" to phone number 44144.

Step #2: Customizing your Facebook post

The next step is to upload your QR code to a server that can communicate with the Facebook Share API.

Something you share on Facebook contains four components (see graphic below). All of these components are fully customizable for a viral QR code campaign.

A Facebook share has four customizable components:
image (1), title (2), source (3) and description (4).

Some important points to keep in mind when customizing these elements:

• Image: This is where you will put your QR code. It should be sufficiently large for people to scan easily.
• Title: This is your headline. Crucial for grabbing attention in crowded Facebook feeds.
• Source: A brand running a campaign should host the QR code on a URL that provides context for the campaign (for those scanning our example campaign, you’ll see a URL connecting to a generic “wmclientservices.com”).
• Description: A great place to provide valuable and pertinent information about your campaign.

Step #3: Taking your campaign live

Once integrated, Facebook provides you with a campaign-specific Facebook share URL.

Use a URL shortener to make it more viral-friendly (trackable and easy to share). To ensure maximum uptake, test your code with multiple QR code readersbefore deploying into the wild.

Speaking of uptake, here’s the flow for our example campaign:

1. Users will see an ad for socialmediaexaminer.com with a QR code.
2. Users then scan the QR code and send the SMS.
3. They will receive two links, one to socialmediaexaminer.com and the second to share on Facebook.
4. When the second link is clicked, Facebook’s share prompt automatically opens.
5. Users can personalize the message and share.
6. The QR code is automatically posted to users’ Facebook wall and news feed.
7. Friends can scan the QR code within Facebook to share with their friends.

The benefit of taking this viral approach to QR codes is easy to imagine: 10,000 people scanning and sharing the original ad equates to (from Facebook stats: 10K x 130 friends) 1.3 million additional pairs of eyes—and that’s before those Facebook users start sharing with their friends, and those friends with their friends, and on and on.

Five Need-to-Know Success Factors

Alas, if only it were that easy. Like everything in social media marketing, the process (sending a tweet, creating a Facebook page) is much easier than the actual execution (doing it well). Viral QR codes are no different.

Here are five factors that bridge the gap between success and failure:

#1: QR code reach

A commonly cited figure is that smartphone market share will reach 50% by the end of 2011. In a different light, that’s a minimum of 150 million people who won’t be able to scan a QR code through the end of 2011.

Maybe you’ve noticed, but our example campaign snuck in an alternative call to action that achieves the same result as someone scanning the QR code.

Alternative call to action included in the Facebook share.

As you can guess, this was intentional. Include an alternative call to action (SMS, for example, is accessible by 99% of phones) to considerably increases the potential of your viral QR code campaign without much additional effort.

#2: Incentives

Let’s say we were to take the above campaign live. At heart, its value proposition is, “Check out our website. It has great content we want you to share with your Facebook friends.”

Now let’s add a couple of phrases. “Check out our website for the chance to win a million dollars. It has great content we will reward you to share with your Facebook friends.”

I’d be willing to bet my winnings that more people will participate in the second campaign than the first due to better incentives. Though often overlooked in technology marketing, incentives shouldn’t be a surprise given that they turn up all the time.

What I think happens is that marketers mistake engagement resulting from “Wow, this is cool technology,” with engagement from people genuinely moved to action by a campaign. Social media marketing, like marketing in general (and maybe even more so), is a two-way street.

#3: QR code design

QR codes grab people’s attention due to their curious design. But assuming QR codes continue turning up in more and more places, the design’s intrigue may start losing its ability to captivate people amidst everything else bombarding them.

That’s why it’s important to make your QR codes unique. By customizing various features of your QR code, you can bring a sense of personality that will increase brand identity and engagement.

#4: Customer lifetime value

Customer lifetime value is simple to understand. Every marketer in the world would rather have a customer who spends $50 every day for the next two weeks than a customer who spends $100 today.

However, whether it’s due to the idea of purchasing television spots or just the word “campaign” itself, marketers have a tendency to adopt a one-off mentality when it comes to tools like QR codes.

The problem is that QR codes at heart are an interactive medium. Failing to develop lifelong, instead of one-time, customers is a missed opportunity.

Luckily, there are a number of ways to achieve this end, the most important being opting someone in to a subscription list. Two viral QR code examples:

• Using a mobile application service provider, you can enhance your scan-to-SMS campaign with an opt-in that captures the mobile phone number.
• For scan-to-URL QR codes, you can use a mobile landing page to add subscribers to a database.

#5: CRM

QR codes are made up of three different types of data. The first—scans—accounts for the number of times a person successfully uses a QR code reader.

The second—phone operations—describes what a user does after scanning (e.g., clicks, downloads, page views). The third—user data—describes the people actually doing the scanning and phone operations (e.g., phone type used, age, gender).

I’ve seen far too many QR code campaigns that solely focus on scans. That’s great for predicting the future of your QR code campaigns, but you miss a key opportunity to gather knowledge of how and what type of people interact with your brand.

Viral QR codes, given their ability to get in front of more people, make it even more mandatory to learn as much as you can about your customers in order to inform your future marketing decisions.

To quote Henry Luce, “Business, more than any other occupation, is a continual dealing with the future.” A QR code campaign that fails to address the entirety of data available misses this point entirely.

More than anything, viral QR codes demonstrate a simple truth. Success in mobile and social marketing requires a database strategy. Not a channel strategy. The reason being that a database strategy is customer-centric, which affords significantly more value creation opportunities. Developing this mindset and working with people who share this mentality will ensure that you see maximum value from your QR code campaigns.

By Kane Russell
Published August 18, 2011

via: Combine QR Codes With the Power of Facebook

While Facebook has become an increasingly significant communication medium, for many businesses and organizations, their website remains the primary consumer touch point.

So what do you do if you want to get [...]]]> Are your Facebook fans frequenting your website?

Do you want them to?

Keep reading for five ways to drive traffic from Facebook to your company website.

Thoughts on Facebook

While Facebook has become an increasingly significant communication medium, for many businesses and organizations, their website remains the primary consumer touch point.

So what do you do if you want to get your Facebook audience to engage more on your brand site?

You could of course have everything on your Facebook page point back to your brand site, but you run the risk of alienating those people who want to consume content on Facebook.

Savvy marketers are using traditional and social channels to support one another.

So here are five suggestions from Social Media Examiner for ways to drive traffic back to your brand website without undermining your presence on Facebook.

#1: Take advantage of tabs

There are many different ways to use tabs for the dual purposes of engaging fans in the Facebook channel and providing relevant links back to your website.

A good example of this is Honda. When users first land on their page, they’re encouraged to Like the brand but can also easily click to the Honda site for more information about any of their vehicles.

As you create tabs for your page, think about how you can offer users utility on Facebook but without hosting all of your content on your Facebook page, especially when the content already exists on your website. Where appropriate, include links that drive users back to your site.

Remember that you can set any tab as the default landing tab for people who have not previously Liked your page. This way you can shape their initial interaction on your page to support your objectives both on and off of Facebook.

#2: Share articles or blog posts

If your company produces content that is hosted on your own website, be sure to post it to your wall.

Even if there is a high level of overlap between visitors to your website and your Facebook page, don’t assume that people are seeing every new piece of content on your website. Promoting articles and blog posts is an effective strategy because the content will be consumed on your site but can gain additional visibility through sharing, commenting and Liking on Facebook.

Media companies are major practitioners of this because they have produced a wealth of content, but you don’t have to be The New York Times to take advantage of this strategy.

Amnesty International USA does a good job on their page of posting updates from their website and blog. Many of these items have generated significant feedback on the page. At the same time, interested readers are driven back to the source, where they are encouraged to subscribe to a newsletter and donate to the organization.

It’s worth noting that in addition to posting stories to their wall, Amnesty International also features a separate tab dedicated to its blog. Posts are summarized on the tab, but full post content can be found only on the blog site.

#3: Use teaser content

When you post an article, you provide your fans with a clear picture of the content being shared. The post will contain a headline, photo and intro text. But in this case, I am suggesting you provide only a teaser to pique the user’s interest. Some might find this a bit sneaky, and it’s not something you want to do all the time, but it can be an effective way to entice a click.

Target does a good job of this on their page. As you can see in the example below, they have posed a question that is likely to generate interest and they have included a short URL so it’s not immediately clear where the link will take you. However, you have to be careful when using shortened URLs because some users may be apprehensive. In this case, Target has their own short URL so it can be a trusted source.

#4: Run a contest on your brand site

Many companies are using contests to engage their fans on Facebook, but don’t forget that contests can also be a great tool to cross over to your brand site. Especially when your contest is more than a simple giveaway, you may find it easier to integrate your overall brand identity when the promotion lives outside of the confines of Facebook.

With the right platform you can run the contest on your brand site and still benefit from integration with Facebook and other social channels.

Here is an example from the airline WestJet. They’re strongly promoting the contest on their Facebook page, but all of the interaction takes place on a

branded site where they have full control over the user experience.

#5: Special offers on your website

Whether you are an ecommerce site promoting a sale, a publisher providing access to exclusive content or a small business offering a coupon, you can selectively determine how you present offers on your website and through social channels.

It may seem obvious for a shopping site such as Gilt Groupe to promote special offers to its Facebook fans. But what Gilt does really well is balance the content that it shares on its wall so that it isn’t all about their sales. They include conversational wall posts, photos and polls to keep their audience engaged and keep their page from being simply one big advertisement.

Another option to consider is providing your fans on Facebook with access to offers on your website before promoting to other channels. This will encourage people to stay engaged with your brand on Facebook, but ultimately you are able to drive them back to your site.

Managing multiple consumer touch points can certainly be a daunting task. As long as you have a clear sense of which channels best serve specific objectives, you can derive benefit from Facebook marketing without sacrificing the investment you’ve likely made in your website.

By Ben Pickering
Published August 17, 2011

Via: 5 Tips for Driving Facebook Fans to Your Website | Social Media Examiner.

The following list of six daily habits will keep you focused on what really matters when it comes to Facebook [...]]]> Facebook marketing, when done right, is an extremely powerful tool. It can increase your leads, attract highly targeted prospects and position you as a sought-after industry leader.

To reap these business-building benefits, the key is to develop daily habits.

The following list of six daily habits will keep you focused on what really matters when it comes to Facebook marketing: real fan engagement.

Refer back to these habits often to keep yourself on track as you work to create a vibrant community of raving fans who’ll happily spread the word about you and your products and services.

#1: Become addicted to solving problems

When you regularly solve problems and answer questions for your fans, you not only foster trust, but you also set yourself up as the go-to expert in your niche.

A surefire way to create engagement on your Facebook page is to regularly offer your expertise and insight. One great example of a master problem-solver is Facebook expert Mari Smith. Mari encourages her fans to ask questions on her Facebook page. Because she is quick to respond with valuable responses, she’s turned many Facebook fans into loyal followers and customers.

But she doesn’t stop there. Mari takes her support a step further by providing a resource center directly on her Facebook page. She continually keeps this resource link up to date and full of valuable information. As you can see in the image below, Mari has set up multiple info tabs including Changes, How To and Rules & Safety, all related to Facebook marketing.

Take Action: Make it your mission to be the go-to source for your Facebook fans. What information related to your niche do your fans, prospects and clients want to know? To set yourself apart from your competition and keep your fans coming back for more, create a resource page as a custom link on your Facebook page. By doing so, you can provide updated, useful content to your growing audience on an ongoing basis.

#2: Talk to individual fans daily

I make it a habit to comment on other people’s posts 3–5 times each day. I do this because these comments are the real conversations that build relationships.

Taking a minute to comment on a fan’s vacation photos or adding my two cents to a peer’s recently posted video is my way of letting my fans and peers know that I genuinely am interested in what they are talking about online.

To check out what your fans are posting on their own pages or profiles, first check out which fans are posting on your page. When fans post on your page, you can click on their avatars and you will be taken to either their pages or profiles, depending on how your fans have posted on your page. You can then post on their pages (or if you are also a friend via their profiles, you can post on their profiles as well).

Here are a few tips when commenting on fans’ posts:

• • Use first names. When your fans know you are paying attention to them, they are much more likely to speak up and tell you what’s on their mind. Knowing what your fans are thinking is invaluable!
  • Be yourself. Talk to others in the same style you would talk to a friend over dinner. Before you click send, read your post and make sure it really sounds like you.
  • Be brief. If your post is too long, it will be overlooked easily. To get more people reading your post, get to the point faster.

Take Action: Make it a habit to spend at least 10 minutes a day reading posts from your fans and peers and leaving insightful comments on their profiles and pages. By stepping outside of your own Facebook page, and spending time on other pages and profiles, you let your fans and peers know that you truly do care about them.

#3: Track your Facebook activity

Although it may not be the most exciting task of your day, taking the time to check your Facebook activity is essential to growing your fan base and keeping your momentum going.

If you’re just starting out with tracking your activity and looking for a quick list of key metrics to track, consider tracking the following metrics on a weekly basis:

• # of total fans
• # of new Fans
• Fan growth from prior week
• # of unlikes
• # of weekly Actives
• Actives growth from prior week

You can find these metrics by checking out your Facebook Insights on your page. To get to your Insights, just go to your Facebook page and click “Edit Page” in the upper-right corner. From there you will see a list of links in the left column. You can click on “Insights” to get your page metrics.

One other tracking tool that is extremely useful is EdgeRankChecker. This is an online tool that scores your overall page engagement activity. I use this tool to help me identify what score Facebook is likely giving my page in terms of EdgeRank. (Note: No-one knows the exact formula Facebook uses to assign an EdgeRank score; however, this tool is useful.)

As seen in the screenshot below (for Outside the Cubicle), the tool also identifies the days of the week when you get the most engagement and the days when you have the least activity on your page. This is valuable information as you decide when to launch new promotions and post valuable content.

Take Action: Create a Google Doc and track your Facebook activity on a weekly basis. By tracking your weekly metrics, you will soon see what’s working and what you might need to tweak, depending on the high and low metrics in your tracking document.

#4: Change what’s not working and move on

When it comes to tracking your social media marketing activity, there’s a fine line between having patience and making changes when you’re not getting the results you’re after.

The key is to set a realistic goal and clearly identify its benchmarks and the length of time you are going to allow to get the desired results. If the time comes that you don’t reach your desired outcome, tweak your activity right away. The longer you wait, the more damage you’ll do.

For example, let’s say that for the past 30 days you’ve been asking questions a few times a week on your Facebook page and only two or three fans are leaving responses each time you post a new question. There could be a few different reasons for your low response rate. You might be asking questions that are not of interest to your fans. To fix this, you really want to pay attention to what grabs their attention and what topics your fans talk about the most.

Or perhaps your questions are too difficult or too time-consuming to answer. People move fast on Facebook and tend not to spend too much time in one place. There’s actually an art to asking questions on Facebook. The key is to ask questions that require little effort to answer. Questions that require just one-word responses tend to get the most engagement. 

Overall, the important thing to remember is that when something isn’t working, don’t dwell on it. Change it and move on!

Take Action: Have you been procrastinating on making some necessary changes to your Facebook marketing strategy? Take the time to make the changes to ensure your page continues to grow and increase its engagement activity.

#5: Post fresh content

To get the most reach from your content, make sure that your content educates, entertains and empowers your fans. This will pique their interest and keep them coming back for more.

Also, publish everything you have in as many places as possible. What this means is that you want to get your content online, and you want it to be seen by as many potential prospects as possible. While Facebook is extremely powerful, don’t forget to spread your content out and use Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube, and of course, your blog.

You can also monitor what others are publishing. If you see something that would be valuable to your audience, publish that content (and make sure to give them credit for it!). Third-party publishing is a great way to continue to add value for your fans without having to create all the content.

To help you consistently publish content, I suggest that you create an editorial calendar. It might sound daunting, but it’s actually very simple. Here’s how you do it:

1. Create a six-month digital calendar. You can do this in Word or you can find digital calendars online. One of my favorite digital calendar sites is http://www.calendarsthatwork.com.
2. Decide how often you want to create content and in what form. Consider creating blog posts, video posts, articles, reports, podcasts or any other form of media you know your audience will like. Mix it up and deliver your content in many different formats to attract a wider reach of ideal clients.
3. Brainstorm content ideas related to your brand or niche. Again, think of what interests your clients the most. (Hint: Check out your competition’s content. This will help you decide what might be best for your audience.)
4. Create a calendar of content. Choose the specific dates you plan to post and list the topic of the content and the type of delivery. For example, in my own content calendar months ago, I added the following for a day in July: Blog post and Facebook update on “6 Daily Habits for Facebook Marketing Success.” It’s as easy as that!

Take Action: Stay diligent with your content calendar. After you create it, stick with it. The more disciplined you are in sticking to your content calendar, the more traction you will see with your audience.

Social Media Examiner is well-known for spreading the love on their Facebook page. Here they promote a great blog post from the popular site, Social Media Explorer.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Amy Porterfield

Amy Porterfield is co-author of Facebook Marketing All-in-One For Dummies and a social media strategy consultant.

Her passion is helping companies, authors and speakers create raving fans using social media and online marketing

via: 6 Daily Habits for Facebook Marketing Success | Social Media Examiner.

Your Mission: ENGAGE  YOUR  FANS!

But how?

Here are [...]]]> Yes, I can build you the perfect fanpage on Facebook.  But if you don’t use it correctly, it could end up being near worthless — to you, your potential fans, and to me.  Once your fanpage is up and operating properly, the rest is up to you.

Your Mission: ENGAGE  YOUR  FANS!

But how?

Here are 20 tips from others to get you started:

1. Ask Questions

“It’s not enough to be broadcasting promotional messages — brands should make an effort at engaging with their audiences. Asking questions is a great way to kick off that two-way dialogue.” - Erica Swallow, Mashable

2. Don’t Over-Automate

“Don’t automatically feed your blog posts or your Twitter updates into your Page. Often, automated content doesn’t make it into users’ News Feeds.” - Ekaterina Walter, social media strategist, Intel

3. Don’t Make it All About You

“As a rough rule of thumb, post four status updates on items about outside news items or discoveries for every post promoting a product. And when you do mention a product or service, try to do so in a helpful way.”  - JD Lasica, Socialmedia.biz

4. Leverage Testimonials & Feedback

“Use Facebook to engage directly with your customers and make them part of your marketing efforts… Ask customers to share their successes on your wall and get feedback on new product features.” - Leyl Master Black, managing director, Sparkpr

5. Be Human and Personable

“The most successful B2B pages often combine demonstrations of expertise with humor and personality, sounding more like a real conversation than stilted marketing and sales speak.” - Karlie Justus, Social Media B2B

6. Offer Variety

“Mix it up a little between videos, photos, questions, information, etc. Don’t have your own videos? YouTube is a treasure trove of ‘em, and sharing sites like Reddit and Digg are great sources to discover stuff people like.” - Linda Bustos, GetElastic

7. Be Active

“Don’t take it for granted that you have a page available. No matter how great you’ve made it, if you aren’t active, it defeats the whole purpose of having one.” - Orli Yakuel, TechCrunch

8. Post Engaging, Thought-Provoking Content

“Unless they’re interesting enough to draw comments, simple status updates aren’t going to move you into Top News feeds. Publish content that naturally encourages click-throughs or creates discussion.” Jim Lodico, Social Media Examiner

9. Make Requests

“Want your fans to express their views on a topic? Ask them. Want your fans to share their favorite content with you? Ask them. Want your fans to share your content? Ask them. You get the point.” - Ekaterina Walter, social media strategist, Intel

10. Address Negativity With Tact

“Should there be a negative comment, which scares many B2B companies, address it with understanding and sincerity. In most cases, transparency and listening go a long way in stemming off negative feedback.” - Dave Folkens, TopRank Online Marketing Blog

11. Keep it Fresh

“Update your group or fan page on a regular basis with helpful information and answers to questions.” - Debbie Hemley, Social Media Examiner

12. Be Consistent

“Nothing makes for a bad Facebook Group or Page than stagnant content. Like a corporate blog or dynamic website, you need to engage people regularly. Even if it’s just posting a new message board topic each week, do something on a regular basis (the more frequent the better) to elicit a response from folks.” - Jason Falls, Social Media Explorer

13. But Don’t Go Overboard

“One or two strong Facebook updates per day is better than a half dozen scattershot updates that fly by and don’t have the staying power to attract people’s feedback.” - JD Lasica, Socialmedia.biz

14. Encourage Action

“Don’t be afraid to ask users to share objects or click on the Like button—especially if you’re new to Facebook. It can take a little while for a Facebook page to gain momentum. Anything you can do to help it along will only speed the process.” Jim Lodico, Social Media Examiner

15. Promote Your Page Offline

“If your business is run from physical premises, put a placard on the front desk letting your customers know you’re on Facebook.” - Mari Smith, Social Media Examiner

16. Offer Contests and Giveaways

“Contests and giveaways should not require much effort on the part of your fans but should offer something real and valuable to them.” - Candis Hidalgo, content and social media marketing director, FaceItPages.com

17. Provide Incentives & Motivation

“If you want to get people to Like your Facebook page, and become more familiar with your products and services, a strong incentive can help achieve this.” - Graham Charlton, Econsultancy

18. Think Strategically About Timing

“Because you have just a short window of opportunity to gain traction with a Share (time decay factor), think carefully when planning frequency and content, and timing. Consider time zones – if you always post at the same time of day, Fans across the pond may never see your updates. Spread the love!” - Linda Bustos, GetElastic

19. Understand How Facebook Works

“Write for the newsfeed, not for your wall…Though some people will be led straight to your wall through a link or ad for example, your existing fans are going to see your update in their newsfeed…Remember that saying something like ‘check out our tab on the side’ is completely out of context for people seeing this update in their newsfeed.” - Lauren Fisher, The Next Web

20. Analyze Engagement

“Monitor which posts attract the most Likes and comments (eyeball), and use Insights – Facebook’s own analytics tool – for data. (Integrating your Facebook Page provides much better data).” - Linda Bustos, GetElastic

via: 20 Expert Tips for Better Facebook Marketing.

Just finished updating the website for my mother-in-law, Carmen “Cuqui” Rives. She is an amazing artist, often making her own canvas by hand and using oils, Flemish-style, metallics, watercolors and other media for her exquisite paintings.

The site has the same overall feel as the previous version, but a much better flash interface using a single SWF [...]]]>

Just finished updating the website for my mother-in-law, Carmen “Cuqui” Rives. She is an amazing artist, often making her own canvas by hand and using oils, Flemish-style, metallics, watercolors and other media for her exquisite paintings.

The site has the same overall feel as the previous version, but a much better flash interface using a single SWF file — thanks to Adobe Flash Catalyst and Flash Pro CS5 — instead of multiple html pages.



Check it out, and most of the paintings shown are available to purchase!

Note: If you’re on an iPad and can’t see the site, its because Apple decided
you shouldn’t be seeing all of the content available on the web.
You may want to consider trading it in on the Samsung Galaxy Tablet!

The answer is to reward your customers.  Want to know how?

Keep reading…

It’s easy to see that social media and other digital technologies are making a huge difference in the way brands interact with customers and how customers perceive a brand’s image.

With so many [...]]]> Looking to build your customer base and keep people coming back for more?

The answer is to reward your customers.  Want to know how?

Keep reading…

Why Rewards?

It’s easy to see that social media and other digital technologies are making a huge difference in the way brands interact with customers and how customers perceive a brand’s image.

With so many new business owners testing the waters of social media, it can be easy to forget what our focus should be. Just like any business situation, the customer should be our first priority, always.

Social media is another great way to drive traffic to your website, people into your stores, and ultimately, money into your bank account. One of the best ways to grow your customer base is to reward them.

Social media and online communities are the perfect playing fields for a customer rewards scheme, and can offer new possibilities to business owners in any field. Let’s take a look at six ways you can reward your customers online.

#1: All the world’s a game—stickers, badges and pins

Commonly seen on “check-in” applications like Foursquare, GetGlue and Gowalla, collectible stickers, badges, pins, medals, stamps, items or trophies add a game-like competition to the user experience.

Not only does this create an urge to collect all the items available, but also a competitive spirit is aroused, as users compete against friends (and “enemies”) to collect more items, more quickly.

As evidenced by Foursquare, users flocked to the location-based app because of the appeal it held by using a leaderboard and creating competition among its user base.

How can you use this strategy?

Depending on the size of your customer base, you may want to start your own collecting competition — stickers or digital stamps are cheap and easy to acquire, and if you take the time and effort to design rewards for specific user actions, the “game” becomes more challenging and more interesting.

This strategy is perfect for businesses that thrive on frequent repeat purchases. It could be used to reward repeat purchases, similar to the idea of “buy 5 coffees, get 1 free” you might see at your local café, or to reward customers for recommending friends to your business.

For smaller businesses, jumping on board with an established brand dealing in collectible rewards may be the best way to go. Many small– and medium-sized businesses have started promoting their physical stores as Foursquare check-in points, and many better-known brands now offer exclusive stickers to collect using GetGlue.

The more possible ways a customer can interact with your products, services or staff, the more opportunities you have for developing an engaging, collectible reward system using either of these methods.

#2: Digital discounts: Online-only offers

With discount sites like Groupon growing in popularity, consumers are not only hungry for discounts, but they’re beginning to expect them. Offering discounts, exclusive offers and coupons is nothing new, but focusing this effort on your online audience is a fairly recent idea.

How can you use this strategy?

Whether you’re looking to reward the online customers you already have, orincrease the size of your online customer base (or, more likely, both), discounts and special deals that are exclusively available online is a great approach.

You may want to offer coupon codes for a discount in your physical store, which users can print from your website, which will drive traffic to your site and sales to your store. Or you could offer regular discounts or special offers to your email subscriber list. This will encourage new customers to sign up, and give you a bigger and more receptive customer base to send news and information to.

To make this process simpler, you might like to sign up with Groupon or a similar service to offer a special deal to your customers. However, remember that you need to find out where your customers spend their time online before you start, so you can meet them on “their turf,” and reach more people.

#3: And the winner is… Content-creation competitions

Competitions are another tried-and-true way of engaging new customers and rewarding existing consumers. While giving away free prizes can be a great way to reward your customers, content-creation competitions have recently become a popular way for brands to use social media and digital technology to involve consumers, while achieving free publicity.

Any competition that requires a user to create content of some kind in order to enter is a ripe opportunity for brand publicity. A recent example is Microsoft’s Cannes 2011 competition, which required users to create “an entertaining and engaging 60– to 90-second film that shows how a Windows 7 PC is at the core of a student’s life.” This is an obvious example of a competition that led to user-created content promoting the brand and one of its main products.

How can you use this strategy?

A great prize will encourage people to enter a competition, but it’s also true that the majority of online customers are content consumers, not creators. Therefore, to have a content-creation competition be successful, the prize needs to be more impressive to encourage more effort from users. The Microsoft competition offered thousands of dollars in prize money, as well as a trip to the 2011 Cannes Film Festival and a meeting with Social Network star Jesse Eisenberg.

For smaller businesses that don’t have film stars and international flights handy, giving away free products or services may be enough to encourage consumers to make a short video or take a picture, and ask their friends to vote for them.

#4: Say cheese: Involving your customers in advertising and promotions

Another great way to get customers involved in promoting your brand is to directly involve them in your advertising.

Doritos has a great example of a successful campaign called Make an Ad, Make a Fortune, where users created a commercial for Doritos corn chips, with the most popular commercial (voted on by the public) broadcast on prime-time television.

Another great example is the Vauxhall Corsa billboard competition that ran through a Facebook application. The winning design was professionally painted onto a London billboard, advertising the car.

How can you use this strategy?

Whether it’s as a billboard designer, a spokesperson in a television or radio commercial or a model for your poster advertisement, offering customers their own “15 minutes of fame” is sure to be just reward for their efforts in promoting your brand.

Ensure that you make the requirements clear and simple and encourage customers to involve their friends to grow your customer base. Choosing a winner based on the most votes received online is a great way to encourage word to spread about your competition, and ultimately, your brand.

#5: Hand ‘em over: Collecting suggestions and ideas

Starbucks is a brand that immediately comes to mind when thinking about businesses that have succeeded in showing customers that their ideas are truly appreciated.

“My Starbucks Idea” is a platform designed to collect ideas and suggestions for improvement from Starbucks’ customer base, and allow other users to vote on suggestions they agree with. The most popular ideas are then implemented throughout the coffee chain.

Dell’s Idea Storm works in a similar way, and both companies have taken ideas from their customers and implemented them. This not only rewards the customers who made suggestions or voted for those they liked, but offline customers win as well, as the company develops in a direction driven by its customers’ desires.

#6: Gracias, Merci, Danke: “Thank you” goes a long way

Perhaps one of the easiest, yet most often overlooked, ways of rewarding customers is to simply say thank you.

This may come in many forms—recognition of the competition winner who designed your poster or new slogan, a discount or freebie for repeat purchases or even a simple “thank you” in-store. A simple thanks makes for a more enjoyable visit, and a feeling of appreciation, which will leave your brand with a positive sheen in that customer’s mind.

How can you use this strategy?

Remember those customer feedback forms that were once so popular? Perhaps you still use them in your stores. If you don’t, you should. You can also implement this online—set up a simple feedback form on your website; monitor conversations on Twitter and Facebook about your brand, your industry and your product; and most importantly—listen.

Listening to your customers and implementing their ideas is where the real magic happens. If they’ve taken the time and effort to get in touch with you and tell you what they think, reward them by taking their suggestions onboard and find a way to execute them.

If you send out an email newsletter to subscribers, add a freebie, a discount coupon or an exclusive offer now and then to thank them for subscribing. Perhaps you could set up a discount or special deal for your customers on their birthdays, or even just an email to say “happy birthday.”

If your customers can collect tokens, stickers, points or add currency to their accounts on your website, encourage them to persuade their friends to sign up by giving them bonuses for recommendations.

Using Twitter, Facebook and other social media tools, you can thank your customers personally by reaching out to them, responding to their feedback, and following up on any suggestions they’ve made to you.

As social media and the digital world continue to grow, increasingly more opportunities are available to businesses, which enables interaction with customers at a level we’ve never seen before.

Posted by: Corina Mackay

Via: 6 Ways to Socially Reward Your Customers | Social Media Examiner.

No matter who you are or what business you’re in, you’re always going to run into naysayers, especially on the web. You could be the most saintly non-profit in the world, and you’ll still run into the occasional Negative Nancy.

How to Deal With Negative Nancy’s Comments in Social Media

No matter who you are or what business you’re in, you’re always going to run into naysayers, especially on the web. You could be the most saintly non-profit in the world, and you’ll still run into the occasional Negative Nancy.

While brand-bashing is nothing new, the tools of the web and social media make the comments from these meanies even more lasting and impressionable. And because some social networks like Yelp and Twitter make it easy for people to set up fake profiles, the anonymity that people can achieve on the internet makes some more comfortable to lose all sense of decency, respect, and good manners. So much for mom’s lesson, “If you can’t say something nice, don’t say anything at all,” huh?

So what’s the best way to deal with those Negative Nancys who crop up from time to time? The answer isn’t to give up participating in social media. People will still say mean things; you just won’t be around to defend yourself! Rather, the best way to react is by using a tactic that every PR professional and customer service representative learns right off the bat. Kill ‘em with kindness!

5 Ways to Kill Negative Nancy’s With Kindness in Social Media

1. Don’t delay. Don’t let negative comments linger. The more time you let them go unanswered, the more time others have to see that someone has complained and you haven’t responded. Address negative comments as quickly as you can to prevent them from bubbling up into something potentially more damaging. A negative post on your Facebook wall or a tweet at your company’s Twitter account, for example, is much less of an issue than a nasty blog post, which can have a much longer lasting effect. Responding quickly will show the naysayer you’re listening and you care. It will also alert others of your dedication to your community members.

2. Be apologetic. If someone is complaining about your products, services, or anything else for that matter, say you’re sorry. It doesn’t matter if their complaint is warranted or not; you’re better off taking the “customer is always right” approach. It doesn’t make sense to get in a public cage match over just one complaint, and others will respect you for apologize up front. Chances are, if the Negative Nancy you’re dealing with is complaining over something silly, others will realize that, too and won’t think anything of it.

3. React publicly first, then take it privately. If someone is being particularly difficult, take your communication with them to a private channel. First respond publicly, whether its via a tweet or a comment on their Facebook wall post, and then send them a private message so you can chat with them over email or the phone, explaining to them you’d like to discuss the matter in a way that offers them a more personal experience. This way, you give them the attention they’re vying for without making your interaction public for all to see.

4. Share your appreciation for their feedback. Treat complaints as constructive criticism or feedback. Sometimes that’s all they are. People want to be heard, and they want to know they’ve been heard. After you’ve apologized for their unsatisfactory experience, let them know their feedback is appreciated and that you’ll seriously consider their suggestion for improvement. Then actually follow through. Send their feedback to your product team or the appropriate person within your organization.

5. Ask them how you can help; then help. If the comment you’re dealing is just blatantly offensive and lacks context, tell the commenter you’re sorry they feel the way they do and ask them how you can help make the situation better. One of two things will happen. They’ll either reply with something you can actionably deal with, or they’ll be so taken aback that you replied and have nothing more to say. Either way, you’ll have responded tactfully.

6. Pick your battles. There are some people out there who make noise just for the sake of making noise. They’re attention-seekers, and they just want to stir up some controversy. It’s important to decide what’s worth responding to. Does this person have a following? Are other people responding to what he/she has to say? It’s important to keep these types of people on your radar and monitor what they’re saying, but it might not always be worth engaging with them.

By Pamela Seiple

via - How to Deal With Negative Nancy’s Comments in Social Media.

Writing a headline that gets the right people to view your post immediately is more important than many of the other methods we use to cut through the clutter as marketers in social media these days, yet we often overlook this key factor.

Here is a great post, with a great title of course, regarding the headlines [...]]]>

Writing a headline that gets the right people to view your post immediately is more important than many of the other methods we use to cut through the clutter as marketers in social media these days, yet we often overlook this key factor.

Here is a great post, with a great title of course, regarding the headlines of the top 10 most-viewed blog posts on Hubspot, one of my favorite blogs and one every marketer should subscribe to (IMHO).

10 Helpful Title Tips From Top-Viewed Blog Posts

Posted by Pamela Seiple on Hubspot 7/8/11

To share some best practices for writing attention-grabbing, view-worthy blog titles, I decided to turn to the data. The HubSpot blog has published over 2,000 blog posts in the past 5 years. Some have performed awesomely well, and some have not. Using this data, our blogging team has been able to learn a thing or two about effective blog titles.

Here are several title examples of top-viewed blog posts we’ve written and the lessons you can learn from them:

Title Tips From Top-Performing Blog Posts

1. “12 Quick Tips to Search Google Like an Expert” (196,462 Views to Date)

Title Tip: Be descriptive, clear, and to-the point. To date, this is our top-performing blog post ever on the HubSpot blog. People reading this title for the first time know exactly what they’re going to get. There’s no question about it. Do they want to learn how to conduct better Google searches (and do they want to learn it quickly)? Then they’re going to read this post.

2. “12 Mind-Blowing Statistics Every Marketer Should Know” (23,997 Views to Date)

Title Tip: Create a sense of urgency or importance. If I’m a marketer (and I am!) and I see this title, you’re darn right I’m going to be enticed to read it. Apparently, it’s going to blow my mind, and I’m going to be out of the loop if I don’t read it. And I definitely don’t want that.

3. “How to Monitor Your Social Media Presence in 10 Minutes a Day” (31,369 Views to Date)

Title Tip: Use ‘How-To’s.’ People love how-to’s! Most people who read blogs are reading them because they want to learn how to solve a particular problem (or problems) they’re having. Indicating that your article will actually tell them how to do something they don’t know how to do is a great way to draw them into your post.

4. “The 9 Worst Ways to Use Twitter for Business” (22,333 Views to Date)

Title Tip: Use ‘How Not To’s.’ Just like people love to know how to do something, they also love knowing how not to do something. There are quite a few examples of titles like this among HubSpot’s top-viewed posts. People like reassurance that they’re not doing something wrong, and if they are, they want to know how to fix it.

5. “22 Educational Social Media Diagrams” (21,818 Views to Date)

Title Tip: Use numbers. What do you notice about many of the other titles on this list? They incorporate numbers. Numbers are a great way to set expectations for a post. It tells readers exactly what they’re going to get, and exactly how much of it. Readers don’t usually want to be kept guessing, so why not give it to them straight? This is also a great example of how successful curated content can be.

6. “7 Website Redesign Tips” (10,866 Views to Date)

Title Tip: Be simple. Try to keep your titles brief and concise. A long-winded title often sounds complicated and can lose a potential reader’s interest. As a general rule of thumb, aim to keep your blog titles 8–9 words or fewer.

7. “4 Reasons Your Website Sucks” (7,303 Views to Date)

Title Tip: Be over-the-top or sensational. This title smacks you right in the face. It’s dramatic. It challenges the reader. But doesn’t it make you want to click on the link? Like really badly?

8. “10 Essential Twitter Stats [Data]” (5,791 Views to Date)

Title Tip: Incorporate or hint at data. People are always seeking helpful statistics and data. Let them know right within the blog title that they’re going to get some awesome data if they read it. You can take this one step further and actually include a stat or data point right within the title.

9. “Google Launches a More Social Search” (5,420 Views to Date)

Title Tip: Indicate timeliness and newsworthiness. We’ve found that a lot of relevant breaking news-type posts are successful in attracting viewership. Specifically, blog posts with the word “launch” in their title perform particularly well. Use words that indicate the post’s timeliness or newsworthiness directly in your title.

10. “Why a Social Media Policy Is Stupid” (3,322 Views to Date)

Title Tip: Be controversial. Controversial posts tend to spark a lot of discussion and debate, which also makes them spread quickly. That said, don’t be controversial just for the sake of being controversial. Make sure you present some solid, well thought-out points within the post to back up your opinion, or this tactic will fail.

One final thought. Always make your blog titles actionable, not passive. One goal of maintaining a blog is to establish yourself as a thought leader and an expert on the topic you’re writing about. Position yourself as an authority on your topics and use the titles of your blog posts to reflect that.

via: 10 Helpful Title Tips From Top-Viewed Blog Posts on Hubspot.