Following Google’s I/O conference last week, the multi-billion dollar company released a brand new design for its so-called ‘social layer,’ Google plus. The layout features larger images, a revamped webchat and video function, and an oddly Pinterest-esque feed. Really, the new Google plus benefits anyone looking for an all-inclusive gig. It’s fancy, it’s exciting, but the question remains: How can it help your business?

The best yet just got better

From Pinterest comes the multi-column feed, optimized with the live GIF displays found on Tumblr. The profile follows Facebook’s Timeline organization and (now extremely large) cover photo. All images are accessible in the left pop-out toolbar and can be organized in a variety of different viewing options. Hangouts take video conferences to the next level with the ability to open the video to the public, invite people outside your circle, and look back on the conversation months later.

The new Google plus seems to take some of the most-loved features of different social media sites and integrate them into a comprehensive user experience. The result is an all-in-one center for your followers to connect with your company, and an opportunity to put your best foot forward.

And maybe a little worse

There’s a lot to love in the new Google plus, but also quite a bit to watch out for. Like the huge cover photo. It’s responsive, meaning it will resize to whatever screen it’s viewed on, from a cute little smartphone to a huge Mac desktop. That iPhone photo of your building might not make the cut.

Also, the profile pictures are now circles. It fits in with Google’s whole circle thing, but it means your lovely square logo might look a little awkward. Make sure your image is accurately sized and centered.

How to get the most out of the new Google plus

1. Take the time to create a really attractive cover photo. The benefit of the new Google plus is that your company can develop its personality with one huge, vibrant click. On the other hand, a lot is banked on that one image. Choose wisely.
2. Post lots of eye-catching images, and maybe even animations. The multi-column feed style means that your followers will be taking in more content on the screen at one time than before. Post images often to keep your brand at the front of their minds, but spread the posts out so that your followers don’t feel like your company is dominating their feeds (Tip: Schedule your Google plus posts using the Chrome extension Do Share. You have to leave Chrome open for it to work, but until Google opens up to developers, it’s your best option).
3. Utilize hangouts. The new video hangouts function is, simply, cool. The ability to live stream to both your followers and to the greater Google plus community provides practically limitless opportunities to build rapport with your audience. Is your company doing a service project? Bring along a laptop and show what’s happening on-location. Announcing a new product? Open a hangout to drum up interest. The feature can be great in the office as well with the invitation-only option, which effectively makes your conversation private. Talk with a remote employee over the weekend and replay the highlights at your next meeting. Video hangouts could easily be a go-to tool for small businesses.

The verdict

The new Google plus has provided a collection of improved features that your followers just might fall in love with and that you should really consider falling in love with as well. It’s still not a perfect tool, but it’s projected to be the most popular social network next year. That alone should catch your attention. Start now and take advantage of the new benefits of Google plus and reach an untapped (and quickly growing) audience.

Instagram + Nike = Upgraded Shoe Collection

What was the last picture you uploaded to Instagram? A scrumptious dessert? A view from your last hike? Maybe it was your kid jumping into the pool. Whatever it was, Nike is betting that it was an event that meant a lot to you. So much in fact, that you’ll want to immortalize it.

How? As part of your shoe collection. Seriously. Nike has released an application that designs a pair of shoes from their Air Max collection using the color schemes in your photo. All you have to do is go to the Photo ID Nike Generator, sign into your Instagram account, choose a picture, then pick your favorite Air Max shoe, and ta-da! You get a customized shoe!

I wanted to see what a shoe inspired by my adorably photogenic dog, Bear, would look like. Sure enough, the colors matched. So I tried it again with another photo. And then another. And another. And another. Okay, so maybe I dind’t purchase any of the shoes, but Nike had my attention. Plus they got me to write a blog. Pretty shrewd, actually.

Becoming Part of the Conversation

Okay, so maybe you don’t have Nike’s marketing budget. Or maybe you do, but you don’t see the value in something like a customized shoe. But Instagram’s popularity is on the rise.

Consider this… each Friday Instagram announces a Weekend Hashtag Project (#WHP) that challenges users to go out and take a picture that they think best represents the challenge or project. On Monday, Instagram features several of the photos and tag the photographers. Some of the more recent ones have been #WHPpetportraits, #WHPflowerpower and #WHPportraitofahome as shown in the picture below.

The idea is to be creative and make it your own. For the #WHPportraitofahome project, a programmer could show his home screen or a designer could have taken a picture of his dog holding a paintbrush for the #WHPpetportraits project.

Even if Instagram doesn’t showcase your picture, your fans will be able to relate better to it and, in turn, your company. Making your page more human will help make your company seem more human too.

How Are Other Companies Using Instagram?

Companies are using Instagram to highlight culture more than product. Facebook, for example, has pictures of a tee-peed office for April Fools Day, a fox who frequently visits headquarters, and other pictures that represent their daily lives of the people who work there.

Hubspot has a similar feel and tries to put the focus of their page on the culture of the office space rather than their business. They’ve made everyone jealous with a picture of their newly installed candy dispenser wall and stayed relevant by highlighting their support for charitywater.org on World Water Day.  You can see more of Facebook and HubSpot’s Instagram feeds on their pages: http://instagram.com/facebook and http://instagram.com/hubspot.

Whether it’s installing an application or showing the fun side to your business, the possibilities of Instagram are endless. Finding a way to relate your product back to the consumer may be difficult to accomplish, but it is possible. Nike could only post pictures of their shoes in different areas and at different angles, but they were able to integrate their end product with something that relates directly to the consumer. I couldn’t tell if you if it increased their ROI, but I’m sure it didn’t hurt it too much either.  So play around with it, have fun, and show your clients or consumers what makes you want to come to work everyday.

Pinterest has rolled out a slew of new features and the most recent is a custom widget that allows you to highlight your entire Pinterest profile, board or a specific pin on your own website or blog.

What does it mean?  Added value.

Now your Pinterest activity can be anywhere you want it to be.

Brands and users alike can show off their profiles, boards and specific pins, driving more traffic to Pinterest without having to actually be at Pinterest.com.

The results: Pinning, pinning and more pinning

Pinterest will be on blogs, personal websites, brand pages, etc., and that means people are going to get the urge to pin a lot more. Someone will see a pin—maybe she’ll like it, re-pin it, and even get inspired to start a new board.  The next thing she knows, it’s midnight and she’s pinning funny cat memes and tons of Thanksgiving recipes … in May!

Pinning activity is going to increase and pinners are going to cherish their profiles more than ever, and that’s exactly what Pinterest is hoping for. They want your time. Are you ready to commit?

Another cool feature: Web Application

If you haven’t already done so, install the web browser application for Pinterest.  The app allows for you to pin from virtually any site, meaning that content for Pinterest is infinite. Did I mention it’s also available on mobile?

Plus, with this new application, you’re creating a working link that can be accessed at a later date; a bug that Pinterest has been trying to fix for a while.

How does it work for brands?

I’m shoe shopping on Nordstrom.com and see shoes that I want to pin to my “fall fashion” board.

I click the “Pin it” button that now lives in my browser and up pop images from the site for me to select for my pin.

I choose an image, select my board and then Pinterest does the rest. It’s that simple and awesome.

How to add the Pin it button:

1. Install the “Pin it” button from Pinterest’s “Goodies Page”
2. Drag it to your bookmark bar

These new features are highly beneficial to both the user and to Pinterest.  I find it hard to imagine what updates will be next, but they are on the right track for being the resource to collect, store and organize the Internet based on user preference.

Pinterest is still maturing as a platform, and that’s exciting. Quite literally…the ‘pinsibilites’ are endless.

Resources:

 Pinning Tip: Button and Widget Builder- Kent Brewster at Top Bar Bees

Pinterest: Why it’s Worth Your Time & Tips fo Optmization- by Matt Siltala of Avalaunch Media

4 Ways to Use Pinterest for Market Research by Kaila Strong on Search Engine Watch

LinkedIn announced a new contacts app for mobile and web that will:

1) allow people to see their connections in a more personal light

2) track interactions

3) sync calendars and email with mobile contacts

It sounds good. After all, who wouldn’t want a digital personal assistant? But my question is, will this finally help LinkedIn compete in the mobile market?

LinkedIn is yet to make a successful jump to mobile and statistics show according to Pew Research Center, 60 percent of U.S. smart phone users access social networking sites on mobile devices and 54 percent get job related information.

Despite those facts, only 5 percent of LinkedIn’s page views happen on a mobile device.  Smart phone usage is most popular among the 18-29-year-olds with 76 percent of them owning cell phones.  LinkedIn’s demographic is affluent, graduate school educated men, ages 25 to 54.

LinkedIn is trying to rectify their lack of mobile presence with this highly integrated app. The contacts app, in particular, will hone in on the recent college graduates. According to LinkedIn, “as of the school year ending May 2012, there are over 20 million students and recent college graduates on LinkedIn.” It may be LinkedIn’s fastest growing demographic, but it’s only 10 percent of LinkedIn’s total users.

LinkedIn needs to entice recent college graduates in order for the mobile contacts app to get traction. The social platform needs to tout that there is an executive from every Fortune 500 company on LinkedIn and that 50 percent of Fortune 100 companies hire through LinkedIn. If that’s not enough, 61 percent of users use LinkedIn as their primary professional network.

The transition to the Contacts App should be easy for the recent grads. It’s a more real user experience that the younger demographic is accustomed to. The design is simple and uncluttered. It should be seamless to add the app into every day rotation like Twitter and Facebook.

The next step will be for the app to interface with Facebook and Twitter.

For many start-ups, the most pressing problem they face is financing. The issue is compounded for those early start-ups that lack a record of profits. President Obama signed the Jumpstart Our Business Start Ups (JOBS) Act in April of last year, which offered a new avenue for entrepreneurs to raise the required funds. The JOBS Act allowed certain qualifying entrepreneurs to offer an equity investment to the general public using crowd sourcing without requiring the costly registration which the SEC that had impeded them from doing so in the past.

This gave way to a flood of activity online, and social communities cropping up around Start Up Business funding and Cause funding using a technique called ‘crowd sourcing’. In this context, crowd sourcing for funds (a.k.a. crowdfunding), equity crowdfunding or hyper funding, allows an entrepreneur to offer an investment in the new business to the public through an online listing. Investors can then act on the opportunity seamlessly through the crowdfunding network or website, and in some cases are donating their money to the cause or business venture with no promise of financial return.

The top 3 most popular crowd funding sites:

1.)  Kickstarter – Since its launch in 2009, it has reportedly raised $568 million in crowd-sourced funding. Currently only open to US based projects, It has been highly successful in jumpstarting numerous projects. It’s restricted to creative projects and not causes or charities, and the start-up only receives the funding if they reach their pre-determined funding goal. Users are charged a 5% fee for every successful project.

2.)  Indiegogo - Operates on a ‘Fixed Funding’ and ‘Flexible Funding model’. Fixed Funding, essentially a carbon copy of the Kickstarter model, operates on an “all or nothing” system, wherein, if the project doesn’t meet its goal, no fees will be assessed and the funds are sent back to contributors. Flexible Funding chargers a 4% fee on successful campaigns, or 9% for campaigns in which goals are not met.

3.)  Rockethub – This site has an easy three-step process to get your project uploaded and you can easily track the progress. A 4% service charge is accessed for projects that reach their goal, and 8% for ones that do not. Rockethub also charges a 4% transaction fee for contributions made through their site.

When it comes to getting their dreams and business ideas off the ground, entrepreneurs are finding that these crowd-funding networks are a key catalyst in accomplishing those goals.

Like most things, these sites aren’t without their pitfalls; the services fees, rewards set-up, and sometimes-controversial funding policies are things to watch out for. In fact, last year, Kickstarter was criticized for allowing would-be entrepreneurs the ability to be a little fuzzy about their plans – and for providing little to no recourse to contributors who become unsatisfied with the project/product they’ve backed. They promptly addressed the issues and made revisions to their site policy.

Crowdfunding has seen a steady rise in recent years, and has become the go-to platform for creators and entrepreneurs worldwide. It’s only a matter of time before it becomes the primary catalyst for all future creative and charitable endeavors.

Entrepeneur Kate Milliken used Indiegogo to raise funds for her online community concept geared towards the chronically ill (called Mycounterpane.com, it’s launching this summer). “I had read an article saying it takes 3 people 11 full days of prep work to run a successful campaign, and the moment we launched, it became clear how important the prep work was.  Even with friends, you need to be continuous and it’s a full time job. There’s also psychology of how much to ask for.  You don’t want to be too low, and I realized, through the math, that I only lost 2% more with flex funding if I didn’t make my goal, so I went big”.  Kate made it to $61,000 out of her $75,000 ask.

Mind you, the merit of the project, invention or cause must still stand on it’s own and entrepreneurs shouldn’t make the mistake of thinking the crowdfunding site will do all of the marketing for the up and coming start-up. They don’t alleviate the need to pound the pavement, but instead give another powerful channel to do that in.

 Resources:

Crowd Source Funding the New Money Stream by Jody Glynn Patrick

Crowdfunding is More Than a New Source of Capital by Shaun Abrahamson

10 Tips for Crowdfunding Your Business by Rieva Lesonsky

Last week Twitter announced the expansion of “Twitter Cards” which is the technology that allows rich content from a specific page/post to be added inside a tweet. Originally, they were called “expanded tweets” in 2012, when it was first released.  I like to think of them as rich snippets for tweets. It’s the perfect combination of SEO and Social Media. By simply adding a few lines of HTML to your webpage, your “card”, or rich snippet, your rich content will be added once someone tweet’s it.

There are now 5 different types of Twitter Cards

• Summary Card: Default card, including a title, description, thumbnail, and Twitter account attribution.
• Photo Card: A Tweet sized photo card.
• Gallery Card: A Tweet card geared toward highlighting a collection of photos.
• App Card: A Tweet card for providing a profile of an application.
• Player Card: A Tweet sized video/audio/media player card.
• Product Card: A Tweet card to better represent product content, showcasing product photo, price and description.

Changing the Game

Essentially, this expansion allows twitter to move away from it’s text based default and compete with the more alluring and current visual feeds like Facebook, Intagram, Path, Foursquare, Tumblr, and Google +. This could be a big step in the right direction for Twitter in order for them to fully realize their potential.

Just imagine if the summary card ends up being the default and developers add these snippets or cards into their best practices it could drastically change the way our twitter stream looks and would likely drive users to trim back the number of others they follow in order to more quickly scroll through the feed.

As Easy as 1, 2, 3

To begin implementing twitter cards, it’s a pretty straightforward process.

1.)   Determine which card would be optimal for your content by considering the context.
2.)   Add the required meta tags to your webpage.  This is done in two parts:

a.) First the addition of one line of code to your <header></header> section of your website.
b.) Second, add the required Twitter Card meta tag details into the HTML <body></body> of your page/blog with all the required details filled out.

3.)   Test the code. Once the page is published use the Validator.

Check out these helpful resources to get more information.  Hopefully as an early adopter your twitter card will help your content stand out and be visible in the stream.

Resources:

Mobile App Deep-linking and New Cards — by Jason Costa

Twitter Cards are Rich Snippets for Tweets – by AJ Kohn

Twitter Announces 3 New Twitter Cards At Developer Event –Matt McGee

Twitter’s Mobile App Now Includes Support For Twitter’s New “App Cards” – by Sarah Perez

Twitter Cards Create Your Own Rich Media– by Adam Barell

Do you have any interesting ideas or ways to use Twitter Cards to garner more traffic to your site? Comment below!

March Madness is not only exciting for fans to watch, but a popular, trendy topic to discuss on social media channels throughout the tournament. Through the first two rounds this year, conversation reached a staggering 2.46 million comments on Facebook & Twitter.What a great way to bring your fan base together and grow your community … that is, if you’re on Social Media and actually participate in the discussion. Several schools that qualified for the big dance this year do not have Facebook or Twitter accounts specifically for their Men’s Basketball programs. Say what?

According to Mashable, only a whopping 29 out of 64 teams in the field have both team-specific Twitter & Facebook accounts. That means only 45% of teams in this year’s NCAA Tournament are connecting with their fan bases socially. To dissect this information even more, 13 out of the 64 teams  (20%) don’t have a team-specific Twitter or Facebook account. Of those schools, two have advanced to the Sweet 16 (University of Arizona and Syracuse University).

Fans of the 13 schools that do not have team-specific Twitter or Facebook accounts may be missing out on key updates before, during or after games. In some cases, instead of seeing updates about March Madness they’re seeing updates about a recent Water Polo matchup the school participated in. This is what those feeds may look like to those fans.

Via Mashable.com:

I don’t know about you, but during arguably one of the biggest sporting events of the year, if I’m not able to watch it on TV I definitely want to be kept up to date on Twitter or Facebook. Seeing the latest information on how my Alma-Mater did in a recent equestrian matchup is, at best, irritating.

To the 29 programs that are doing Social the right way and creating specific team pages, I say good job. You’re keeping your fans engaged and informed and that’s what it’s all about. To those that only do one of the platforms and not both, you’re missing the mark for obtaining complete engagement from your fans.  For a program like the University of Florida to not have a basketball Facebook page is very surprising, considering the program is a two time National Champion in the sport.

Missing the mark on Social can hurt your school in more ways than just having a presence. It can hurt in growing your community and it can even hurt in driving revenue through ticket sales and merchandise. Bottom line, if you aren’t on Facebook and Twitter at a minimum, the time to join is now. You’ll see the benefit of having your own community, no matter what the sport. So, what are you waiting for? Join the social Madness!

Pinterest analytics have officially arrived, taking much of the guesswork out of how successful your Pinterest page is for your business.

Now verified businesses can dive deeper into their pages and begin to make conclusive, statistically-backed decisions that could potentially drive more traffic to their page and, ultimately, more business.

While the analytics are not as in-depth as Facebook Insights, they do provide valuable information to help companies make informative decisions on how to proceed in this growing platform.

What insights do businesses have now that I didn’t before?

What makes Pinterest analytics so attractive is that the information will come from their own algorithm and information rather than a third party.  Websites such as PinReach and Pinpuff currently provide analytics for Pinterest pages, but can’t offer the same in-depth information as Pinterest can. Pinterest analytics now show:

• How many people have pinned from your site
• How many people have seen these pins
• How many people have visited your sites from Pinterest
• Most repinned pins
• Most clicked on pins
• Most recent pins

How businesses can use the new Pinterest Analytics

Many of these numbers will help define the tools they have already released, including Pin It buttons that now almost come standard with every article and Tumblr post, right next to the Facebook and Twitter buttons.

Businesses can now track how well that button performs on their page and if adding it in the future increases the numbers of pins they receive from their website. It will also shed some light on which pins are driving traffic to your website.

Maybe it’s as simple as beach pins in the summer drive more traffic to your travel agency website than pins showing a pair of skis on a mountain. It could be a good opportunity for a company that doesn’t have a tangible product to sell to try creating different infographics highlighting a study they just conducted or information they have from a previous campaign.

These analytics allow companies to run trial and error pins to see the what pictures, copy, hashtags, etc. are best now for their website and how they can capitalize on them in the future.

How can my business get access to Pinterest analytics?

If you haven’t already, change your profile to the New Look by clicking on the drop down in the upper right corner and clicking on ‘Switch to New Look.’ The Analytics option should be present in the same drop down. If it isn’t, make sure the business page is verified through Pinterest, which can be done through their business page.

Happy Pinning!

It had been rumored that Google was working on a new cloud based note-taking product that would rival Evernote and Simplenote, but nobody expected it to happen so fast. Or did it?

It appears that Google went live with the service, calling it Keep, which was designed for content capture and integration with Google’s cloud storage service, Drive, on March 17^th.  The elusive app disappeared shortly, and now the release seems to have been a misstep by the tech giant. Carolos Jeurissen, a software developer in the Netherlands posted about its appearance on his Google+ page and the Android Police were able to capture a few screenshots of the app before it disappeared, which they shared on their blog.

Google+ user 1E100 also revealed that ‘Keep’ had been discovered in multiple locations where the search giant typically hides products it’s currently working on. It’s also rumored that they might be developing an Android app as an accompaniment to the web service.

This turn of events has caused quite a stir, with many commenters already dissecting the service, which may or may not have been anything more than a work-in progress that was accidentally launched.

Services like Microsoft’s OneNote, Evernote, Springpad and Simplenote have continued to grow in popularity due to the ease of text capture, photos, audio and video and cross-platform integration, but now it appears Google is making an attempt to bite into a chunk of that market, a move that will probably rattle a few feathers.

But, the question of WHEN Google will officially release this new service is still up in the air. The company still remains tight-lipped on any plans for such a service, and the company is well-noted for its long testing period before any official launch, however with this leak, we all know it’s coming, eventually. It’s just a matter of how long we’ll have to wait.

Instagram has made the jump from mobile to the desktop. And even though the home feed looks the same and the personal profile hasn’t changed, the website does not have the Explore or News Feed tabs available.

Instagram and the web

With over 90 million active monthly users, the application has been a huge success. But why did it take so long to hit the web? Co-founder, Kevin Systrom, wrote on the Instagram blog on February 5 that the goal for Instagram was to be a mobile-only experience in order to keep their founding value of taking pictures in real time in tact.

True to this value, the site does not allow you to upload photos from the web. The optimization was made to more conveniently access the website through many different devices and make it available at any given moment.

Is advertising in Instagram’s future?

After the slight hiccup with their changed privacy policies last fall, Instagram has made it clear that the application exists purely as a social platform and does not have any interest in making money directly from the photos that members upload. And unlike Facebook and Twitter, Instagram does not currently run promoted posts, pictures, sponsored stories, Tweet, ads, etc. on any part of their application. But, they have not closed the door on the idea.

Under their business section, it states, “At this time, we’re focused mainly on product development and are not pursuing marketing or advertising opportunities. This may change as Instagram grows and we expand our team, and we look forward to working with you then.”

That same phrasing was also used when talking about partnership opportunities. With more businesses turning to Instagram as a way to showcase their brand through pictures—not to mention that they were purchased by Facebook for a cool billion dollars—selling ad space or running sponsored pictures through the news feed is clearly on the way.

What’s next for Instagram?

The more likely scenario for Instagram would be to roll out their Explore and News Feed tabs on the web. Websites like gramfeed.com and statigr.am already offer similar tools to users who sign in through their Instagram account. With less than a percent of Instagram users using these sites, they don’t necessarily pose a giant threat, but could become more relevant for companies looking for a web friendly way to look and track their account. The best situation would be for Instagram to offer these features themselves, but still stay true to their founding goals of no web based uploading and no advertisements.

Recently, LinkedIn sent emails congratulating users for making the top 10%, 5% or 1% of the most viewed LinkedIn profiles for 2012. This induction of sorts was to commemorate LinkedIn reaching the 200 million-member milestone and it looks something like this….

When they notified me that I had made the top 10% most viewed profiles, I did what most people would do—I boasted about it on Twitter and Instagram (in a non-egotistical way, of course).

But my ego was brought back to earth when I got a few texts from my friends. They had been on LinkedIn for a much shorter period of time than I had and they made the top 10% too. When I stopped to think about it, I realized that being a part of the top 10% means that I’m one of the 20 million most viewed pages on all of LinkedIn, which at the end of the day isn’t all that impressive.

LinkedIn had 160 million active users in November, 2012

According to LinkedIn’s latest figures, about 160 million active users logged into the website at least once in November, meaning only about 40 million of the 200 million total users are inactive. If I look at it that way, my ranking in November was probably a bit higher, but not much.

Why not create a scoreboard?

Here’s the thing, I’d prefer to see exactly where I stand in the rankings based on total views so I know if I’m getting more traffic than my friends. I also want to know where I stand the peers in my industry. Nothing boosts an ego more than knowing that you’re ahead of your friends or even your boss.

Imagine if LinkedIn would show how each user ranks in terms of most viewed profiles amongst her current connections, or the city/state where she lives, others in her industry and even within her own company. By doing that, I honestly believe that LinkedIn would see a huge uptick from the current 17 minutes each user was said to average on the site in an infographic from November 2012.

Credit: Mashable.com

You can argue whether or not metrics like having the most fans on Facebook or followers on Twitter matters, but what you can’t argue is that we all have egos, and knowing where you stand amongst you peers when it comes to LinkedIn views would at the very least make for some fun (and interesting) bragging rights.

Last night, we helped kick off Tempe’s Geek Night Out by hosting an ASU Venture Catalyst Rapid Pitch event. Tempe is a haven of great innovative ideas that just need a little help getting showcased. We partnered up with Launchspot Technology Incubator and ASU Venture Catalyst to provide a platform for inventors and researchers to present their ideas to some of the top entrepreneurs in the world.

Six presenters competed by pitching their business idea for 5 minutes in front of a panel of 5 judges and a packed audience.

The panel included:

1.) Patrick Armstrong from Canal Partners

2.) Geoffrey Ossias – Partner at Quarles & Brady

3.) Dan O’Neill – GM, Sustainability Solutions

4.) Jon Coury – Partner at Hool Law Group

5.) Scott McAndrew – Terralever

After a great round of pitches, and a brief intermission, Scott McAndrew announced the 3 winners of the event.

Winners were: 

1.) Late Living

2.) Force Impact Technologies

3.) Bust’DD

The winning pitches went home with more than $12,000 in prizes donated by sponsors of the event such as Quarles & Brady, Hool Law Group, Terralever, and the Microsoft Store.

Following the announcement, Mayor of Tempe, Mark Mitchell then delivered an official proclamation declaring the third week in February “Geek Week” in Tempe, Arizona.

The crowd was then ushered down to join the “Geeks’ Night Out” festivities in the Tempe City Hall courtyard which was just getting started. The event was packed with various fun activities such as video games, comic book signings, as well as live music, to name a few. Approximately 3,000 – 3,500 people were in attendance, a number that would have been greater if not for the brisk weather conditions, however the event was still a massive success.

The event was also well documented, with coverage from various media publications such as The New Times, East Valley Tribune, The State Press, a handful of TV stations, and countless blogs, flickr streams and news sources.

No need to fret if you were unable to attend last night’s events, there is still lots more happening throughout the weekend to celebrate all things geeky, such as events during the Arizona Sci-Tech Festival, a statewide celebration of science, technology and innovation. Take a look, and find out what’s happening near you.

Many online experts claim that 2013 is the year that is going to bring the quality Search Engine Optimization and Content Marketing professionals to the forefront, while leaving everyone else to clean up after the party.  Author Rank is being cited as the biggest game changer to influence the search landscape this year. Will you be prepared?

I’ve collected a list of my top 13+ resources to help you prepare:

1.) How to Prepare for Author Rank and Get the Jump on Google Discussion of what was previously called “Agent Rank” and how it has evolved plus tips to get started.

2.) Author Rank, SEO and Google Plus: What you need to know  by +Dave Ashworth -Nice explanation of the basics, and how the Author Markup effects SERPs.

3.) Google’s Schmidt: ‘Twitter Can No More Produce Analysis Than a Monkey Can Type Out A Work of Shakespeare’ by +Gregory Ferenstein quotes the Google Chairman on the topic of Google Author Rank among other things.

4.) How to Implement Rel=Author- +AJ Kohn provides a good breakdown on how to apply the Rel=Author tag.

5.) Google Confirms Hidden Benefit of Authorship: Bonus Links After A Back Button Click-  Interesting post from +Matt McGee on some hidden benefits to Author Rank

6.) Critical 4 Local- Author Rank, Publisher & Author Markup- What you need to know- Some good perspective on applying the markup and concepts specifically to local search by +Linda Buquet

7.) 3 Steps to Improving Your Google Author Rank by +Nathaniel Broughton – some easily digestible how to tips from Pubcon.

8.) How Will Author Rank Affect SEO Agencies- +Chris Smith discusses how these changes will affect agencies and how they’ll need to prepare their clients.

9.) Author Rank: A Step by Step Guide to Dominating Search with Content Marketing by +Neil Patel breaks down both and how and why to implement it.

10.) Boosting Content and Fighting Spam Using Google Author Rank by +Sean McGinnis is a good post discussing how Author Rank will help the user find appropriate and most trustworthy content.

11.) Why Journalists Should Care About Google Author Rank a Lot More Than Amazon Author Rank by Denis Pinsky

12.) No Author Rank list would be complete without including the information straight from the horse’s mouth. Here is what Google is providing to help you gear up.

Google Sites Resource List:

a. Google’s Patent for Author Rank

b. Google Plus: Verify Authorship via email

c. Author Information in Search

d. Rich Snippet Verification Tool.

e. Your Authorship Statistics.

13.) Some Videos/ Webinars for your viewing pleasure:

a. What is Author Rank? EXPLAINED By +Mark Traphagen

b. Authorship markup By +Matt Cutts

e. Beyond Optimization: Elevating Your Content with Google Authorship by +David Gould

d. Google Authorship Tutorial by +Ryan Smith

Still not convinced? Weigh in with your thoughts in our comments below or share your favorite Author Rank preparation resources too!

SEO stands for Search Engine Optimization. I say this because I get asked often.

SEO is used as a verb, a noun and even an adjective. But it’s not an add-on product. A shopping cart is an add-on. An email newsletter that automates your client communications could be an add-on. An app for mobile that gets your fans interacting with your brand is an add-on. SEO, however, is not an add-on.

SEO strategy

When SEO is part of the engagement from the beginning, from goal setting through goal achievement, you have the ability to make appropriate strategic decisions based on the traceable actions of your audience within your site, cross referencing the behavior and engagement through every online channel for success. Examples of traceable actions could include clicks on your local listing for driving directions or purchases made.

Consistency is critical

If you have one company in charge of your local listings, another building your website, your administrative assistant writing the site’s content, and a third company managing the company reputation on social channels, it’s possible that you may be missing out on creating the kind of trust a singular message across all channels can bring. The brands we value most tend to be models of consistency.

Why SEO should determine site architecture

SEO can help capitalize on that information by building recognition and trust with your online identity. It goes hand in hand with the basic development of your site and needs to happen before you build out your first page. SEO determines the architecture of your site based on your goals and the needs of your audience. It takes into consideration the life cycle and online habits of your customers in determining your content and how to present it best to meet your ongoing goals and those of your users.

Search robots

SEO can inform the diagrammatic organization of your site so that the search robots can most efficiently do what they are designed to do and your site works effectively. Keyword research is crucial for creation of correct URLs that will best convey to the search engines the message of each page. Page headlines should back that up through descriptive wording that hooks the reader and notifies the search bots of your intent.

The integration of SEO and content

SEO done well directs the placement of content in the site in conjunction with UX (user experience) to guide the user to complete goals (form submission, calls, purchases, etc.). Additionally, SEO determines the headlines and quotes which speak to your audience by utilization of analytic data. Analytics reveals data about the visitors to your website. Correct analysis can uncover user needs bringing them to your site and staying for quality content and experiences. An example is to analyze research around what links your visitors click on, what pages do or don’t get visited and make content changes accordingly.

Calls to action

SEO has a role in creating useful calls to action in keyword rich language that appropriately speaks to users and search engines on each site page, outlining what is expected of the user. Is the page educational, informational, or targeting behavior?

The importance of integration

In best practices, SEO includes such basics as integration of your message across all online media channels – mobile, paid search, local listings, and your website.

Don’t leave leads on the table

You can build a site, maybe create or accept that there is a map listing for your brand or even post updates to a Facebook page but if you are not integrating SEO with your site development, creation of your local pages and directional goals for the social media outlets then you are likely leaving leads on the table by not gathering the right data to inform these actions. Unless you are using an evidence-based approach, you are guessing. If you are guessing, it’s hard to repeat or explain success.

An integrated SEO approach is critical

Our goal is to drive the audience looking for your products and services to your online spokes/sales people (i.e. website, Facebook pages, twitter conversations, maps listings, etc.) and have those online voices maintain consistency as the voice of your company. To do the aforementioned, an integrated, research-based model is critical. SEO is not an add-on.

Facebook didn’t roll out Graph Search to be a Google killer. They created the social search product to bolster the value of a Like.

What is Graph Search?

Let’s back up a minute … Graph Search is a new product that will let you search the massive amount of data that Facebook has collected from anyone who has liked a movie, restaurant or band, or has uploaded and tagged a picture. And Facebook promises that the results from Graph Search will provide a customized experience that is unique to you.

How Graph Search Works

Imagine two people looking for a place to eat while on vacation in the Northwest. They both search Google for “the best seafood restaurant in Seattle” and each result ends up yielding the same links to Yelp, Urbanspoon and Top 10 lists from local magazines and bloggers.

Facebook claims that if those same two people use Facebook to search for “seafood restaurants in Seattle that my friends like,” each of them will end up with customized search results based on seafood restaurants that their friends have actually “Liked.”

Devaluing Likes

In September 2012, Facebook made an adjustment to EdgeRank, the algorithm that controls the percentage of people who see each post. Prior to that adjustment most experts believed that an initial post reached 16% of a fan base. After the adjustment, that number likely dropped to something in the range of 6-10%.

There were rumors that Facebook was desperate for new revenue streams after going public, so they adjusted EdgeRank to force brands into advertising simply to reach the same number of fans they once had reached organically. Needless to say, advertisers weren’t happy and many started questioning whether or not Facebook was a viable advertising platform. Apparently Facebook was listening.

How Their Plan Comes Together

The prevailing thought is that Open Graph search is a way for Facebook to bring value back to the Like. How? When someone searches for a restaurant, movie or vacation destination inside Facebook, the brands with the most Likes are going to show up at the top of those search results. And since organic page growth is all but dead, Facebook created a critical reason for brands to spend big money to acquire more Likes. If you want to show up in those results you’re going to have to pay to play.

Can Brands Target Advertising Based on Graph Search Requests?

No. Not yet anyway. But don’t worry, it’s coming.

How Brands Should Prepare for Graph Search

• Update the information on your Facebook Brand Page
• Acquire a stockpile of Likes, Comments, Clicks and Shares through compelling content
• Post anywhere from 1-5X/day depending on the size and makeup of your Facebook community
• Apply a percentage of your advertising budget to both acquire new Facebook fans and drive engagement with your posts

Need Help?

That’s why we’re here. Terralever is a full-service digital agency and we were one of the first Facebook developers in the world. We developed apps for keystone brands like Apple, BMW and more. And we continue to manage social media ecosystems for some of the world’s leading brands. We can help you too.

There’s this site I go to all the time. You know the kind. You probably have one of them too.

You come back every day, sometimes more than once, to get your fill of whatever that site is all about. For me, it’s a hilarious satire site that always guarantees a few chortles. Oh, but did I mention it’s hideous? Ten years ago the site would have been considered a design abomination, and yet I keep going back. Why? The content.

A Content Delivery System

The purpose of a website when it’s boiled down to its essence is that it’s a content delivery system. As such, its design should be tailored to its purpose: serving up video, blog posts, and photos or perhaps simply communicating a brand’s message or describing what a company is all about.

The better grasp a UX designer and ultimately a web designer has on the content, the better suited he or she is to the task of making a streamlined, more efficient content delivery system. One that makes its users happy (they easily get what they came for), and makes your clients happy (their users are more engaged).

Telling A Story

Trying to decide what this content should be can be a challenge. At Terralever the word “story” is used a lot when it comes to defining a site’s content. What story is a client trying to tell? Is it a story that the client can best describe or is it something that we need to help them come up with? Zeroing in on this simple idea will help put a focusing lens on the content creation process and help prevent tangential ideas that stray from the site’s main purpose.

The Four W’s

To help define a site’s story Alex Morris talks about something he calls the Four W’s in his article on 24ways.org. He uses these to define what a project’s main purpose is to begin with. Here is a brief synopsis of his Four W’s.

1. Who: As in “who” is the intended audience? Find out the basics about your site’s intended users. How informed are they? What’s their level of comprehension? What is the context of their visit? Keep the intended audience in mind when defining the site’s story.
2. What: Now that the user is defined, think in their terms. Keep jargon out. Clients often find it difficult to describe their companies or products in a simple way. They are simply too close to it and the vernacular is too ingrained into their minds. Unfortunately this tends to drive away the users they’re trying to attract. Use this quote from Scott Berkun as a good gut-check, “…never use a fancy word when a simpler one will do.”
3. Why: Define value propositions. These are the “why you should use us” of a company or service. Telling a convincing story about that company or service is immensely easier when there are differentiating factors that set it apart from the competition or if it’s something completely new value props explain how someone’s life can be improved with this product.
4. Where: In relation to other sites out there in similar markets, where should this one sit? Which sites are similar to where you want ours to be? What ways do they communicate to their customers? What ways do they come up short? Use this competitive analysis to your advantage when defining the story you’re trying to tell.

Design Without Content Is Hollow

Better understanding the importance of your site’s content is the first step to creating websites that are more engaging and result in better experiences for your users. Defining the story and knowing the content before the UX and design phases begin will help you create that lean content delivery system your users want (even if they don’t really know it).

Instagram as a social media platform

A picture may be worth a thousand words, but an Instagram photo is worth much more. How much more, you ask? Well, it ultimately depends on what you’re trying to get out of it. If done right, Instagram can easily become another great platform for engaging with your customers on a social level.

There are a lot of companies that currently are not active on Instagram, possibly for a number of reasons. It’s possible that they don’t see how it differs from Facebook (after all, it is owned by them), or it could be they are not sure how to properly go about maintaining one. For starters, the social rules of Instagram parallel many of the rules of other social media platforms – sharing interesting content, using shorter captions and including a call to action have the potential to generate a larger response from followers than longer, wordier captions. Creativity is also praised – while photo filters serve as an interesting way to spruce up a photo, some out of the box thinking is needed as well. Take Starbucks for example, while they do advertise their products, they also use it to bring awareness of National Coffee Day or relate to other current events. With 1,029,120 followers, their account does very well by itself, however most Starbucks related content on Instagram is generated primarily through photos shared by other users on the platform. Currently, the word ‘starbucks’ is diffused into 49 different hashtags, with derivatives ranging from “starbuckscoffee” to “starbucksthailand”. The “starbucks” hashtag is mentioned in 4,174,595 photos while “starbuckscoffee” is in 30,6933 – both, as of January 2^nd 2013 – and they continue to grow everyday. They have taken something as simple as coffee and turned it into an experience worthy of sharing.

Engaging Users

Another great example of a successful “Instagram – user” engagement is Sharpie. Unlike most brands that simply showcase their products, Sharpie uses Instagram to demonstrate what can be created with theirs. Of course, the possibilities are endless. They have 48,098 followers, but close to 300,000 photos hashtagged with ‘sharpie’ or ‘sharpies’ of artists globally sharing photos of what they can do with a pack of permanent markers.  The Sharpie photos range from milk cartoons to holiday greetings with statements such as “Keep Calm and Sharpie On”. It allows Sharpie to think outside the box and potentially spark creativity in others, while promoting their brand.

Instagram As A Growing Social Media Platform

Instagram has recently received some negative publicity over their new Privacy Policy and Terms of Service which outlined that they company could begin selling users’ photos without prior consent or permission. They’ve since revised those amendments to make them clearer and issued a statement saying they have no intention of selling user’s photos. They wanted to make their users aware that they do not claim any ownerships of the photos posted on the platform and want people to feel comfortable about sharing their photos. With this issue being resolved, it should potentially put any prior reservations to rest.

For companies still considering Instagram as a new social platform, now is a good time to have that discussion. Instagram continues to grow and allows companies to participate in the conversation. People want to know there’s a person behind a brand. Instagram is great for this because it allows users to see how the company interacts socially and can help set the tone for the brand. Images have been proven to generate a higher response on Facebook and Twitter and being able to tell the story of your brand through pictures resonates much more than words alone.  It’s a way for a company to show rather than tell what’s going on inside and outside their walls.

If you’re just starting a profile or want to expand on your current one, here are some good tips to follow by:

• Short and engaging captions
• Intriguing pictures that can spark conversation
• Think outside the box
• Don’t only show your product, but rather show how it contributes to or creates an experience
• Don’t be afraid to have fun with it! It is social media, after all.

Google Places for business is a free local platform that collects detailed information about your business, allowing people to find, rate, recommend and share your business with others. According to Google, 97% of consumers search for local businesses online. You want to be there when your potential customers are searching for local businesses like your own; however, just having a presence is not enough. You want to ensure your business information is accurate and you are monitoring the reviews customers are leaving. To effectively manage your page and make updates to your listing, you must claim the listing as the owner. There are a few steps to go through once you click on “Manage this page” to verify you are the true owner or individual/company working on behalf of the business. Your Google Places business listing comprises of the following information:

• Business Name

• Business Location (one physical address per Google Places listing allowed)

• Website Address & Phone Number

• Categories (describing what your business is, what it does, or products it sells)

• Hours of Business

• Description /Owner’s Message

• Photos

• Directions

• Public Reviews

The more information your business provides on the listing page (optimizing the page), the more likely your business will rank higher in local searches. Google Places gives users the ability to rate and review your business on the platform; this feature can either prove to be beneficial or damaging to your business. It’s important to understand how to effectively use Google Places as a tool as part of your online marketing plan for your business’ success.

Google Places – Now on Google+ Local

Your local business listing can now be found in Google+ making it easier for people to share your business. It has also integrated with Zagat creating a 30-point scoring system giving consumers and potential consumers further insight into your business. With the transition into Google+, consumers can get place/local recommendations based on their circles, past reviews and location. It gives consumers an easier way to publish reviews, post photos, and find reviews highlighted in their search results from people they know and trust. Currently, a user may see two types of pages on Google for your business: either a Place page with scores and reviews, or a Google+ Local page with scores, reviews and social features. As a business owner, you can still use Google Places to manage your local listing, see statistical data and respond to reviews. As a user, you can now rate, review and upload photos through the new Google local search experience, Google+ Local.

Responding & Removing Reviews:

As a verified Google Places business owner, you can publicly respond to reviews posted directly within the “Reviews” section on your Places page. There is no way as a business owner to directly remove a review. You can Flag as inappropriate (link next to a review) to report the review if you feel it violates Google’s quality guidelines. Policy criteria for removing reviews include: inappropriate content (click here for full User Content and Conduct Policy), advertising and spam, off-topic reviews and reviews that are deemed a conflict of interest.

Steps on responding to a review:

1. Sign into your Google account. Be sure it is the account that you claimed your business listing under.

2. Visit your listing’s Google+ Local page.

3. Scroll to the reviews section.

4. Click Respond and write a response. Google has great tips and guidelines for responding to reviews. Make sure to check those out before responding; that will give you a quick gut check as to whether or not your response is in line with online reputation management best practices. If you don’t see the “Respond publicly as owner” link, your listing may not be claimed or you may be using an account that isn’t tied to the Places page.

5. Click Publish. The review will show publicly as a Response from the owner.

Sometimes Google algorithms may flag and remove legitimate reviews in their effort to combat abuse. Google states these measures are helping everyone by ensuring that the reviews appearing on Google Places are authentic, relevant, and useful.

Handling reviews correctly is critical to how a business is viewed publicly. It’s important to understand how to deal with both positive and negative reviews without garnering any mistrust from potential customers. Google Places/Google+ Local is an open, and continuously growing platform that is more or less, curated by customers, so it’s continuous management is essential to your business.

If you’ve spent time doing digital marketing or web design you have had your client or boss tell you how your call-to-action (CTA) must NOT be below the fold because users just don’t scroll.

This is usually when I think back to that unicorn magically sprinkling dust on your landing pages making them a conversion wonderland.  I’m sorry but it’s just not true anymore.  Users do scroll.  You just have to give them a reason.

I blame Jakob Nielsen for making me have this conversation on every project I touch. 

Jakob Nielsen is a website usability forefather and often presents some compelling studies, but for some reason his website usability study from the 1990’s has become the Holy Grail on the subject.  Ok, he is not solely to blame but he did plant the seed for many poorly planned A/B tests that report record success.

Since then he has taken a new stance on the subject and I encourage anyone concerned about this issue to read Scrolling and Attention.  The gist of the article is that “Web users spend 80% of their time looking at information above the page fold. Although users do scroll, they allocate only 20% of their attention below the fold.”

Ok, I’ll buy that.

So now you’re probably thinking to yourself, that proves it.  In order to have the best chance to convert your traffic your primary CTA should be above the fold.

Wrong.

What he’s really saying is you must have your most engaging content above the fold.  Once you have engaged your users, they’ll scroll to read more. I promise.

As for the CTA, sure. It can be above the fold but you don’t need a massive form.  Try motivating your prospects by giving them information they need to keep reading.

How do we motivate our prospects and increase conversion?

It all comes down to asking. How much copy do you need in order to motivate them into taking action?  Here are three simple rules of thumb:

1. Prospects who know what they want before they arrive. These prospects most likely have done their research and have made up their minds about your offering.  Your goal is to keep the momentum going.
2. Prospects who are uncertain but just need a nudge.  These users are sometime the hardest to write for, but you need to grab them right away!  They’re looking for small amounts of clear copy that convince them to click a CTA.
3. Prospects who are uncertain and need details.  These prospects need a little more handholding.  They might be in their research phase and are on the fence about committing.  When trying to understand their content needs consider where they learned about your offering and help them understand the complexity of what you have to offer.  This would be a clear example of when a primary CTA would fall far below the fold, and you know what? It’s okay! Don’t believe me? Try testing your CTA placement.

Thank you for scrolling.

Evidence of great content, CTA placement and pages that require scrolling:

Google Fiber
Apple iPad Mini
USA Today

Additional Resources

UX Myths #3: People do not scroll
Utilizing the Cut-off Look to Encourage Users To Scroll

Cookies From Strangers

Have you ever been given a plate of home baked cookies from a complete stranger? Well, that happened to me about a month ago as I was grabbing a cup of coffee with friends at Tempe Marketplace. A little girl, about 7 or 8 years old, ran up to us and asked us to hold a plate of cookies for her, she giggled and then ran off with her friends. On the plate was a note saying, “In the spirit of the season we are doing random acts of kindness. Enjoy the cookies and be sure to pay it forward”. The marketer in me was impressed by the little girl’s use of a call to action. While another part of me wondered how I was going to pay it forward.

About a week later I spoke with a few co-workers and friends who were all looking for a way to give back this holiday season. Since none of us are known for our baking we decided to go with something that we know, social media. What resulted was the inaugural Operation: Social Santa Tempe toy drive.

So What is Operation: Social Santa?

What exactly is Operation: Social Santa? To put it simply, it is an organization that was founded on the principle of “using social media for good”. The idea is to host a toy drive & happy hour to benefit a local children’s charity. A few students at Temple University started the organization back in 2010. To date they have held events in 38 different cities across the United States. In total they collecting 4,200 toys last year. The events have been featured on Klout and Mashable amongst many other publications. With the blessing of the founder we decided to bring Social Santa to Tempe.

Tempe toy drive a success

We were able to rally members of the social media community here in the valley and get this event off the ground. In total we were able to raise more than $5,000 and collect 140 toys so far. Thanks in large part to the overwhelming support we received from a few local companies, most notably Vertical Measures, who’s post about the event on Facebook received nearly 56,000 shares.

How can I get involved?

While the main event has already passed, we will be accepting donations at our office on Mill Avenue until 5pm on Tuesday December 18th. If you aren’t in Arizona check out Operation: Social Santa’s website for ways to get involved. Who knows? Maybe you can organize your own Social Santa next year.

Can you believe that 40% of the top 100 brands (Interbrand, 2011) still have not made the switch to Twitter’s brand-friendly layout? Granted it’s still fairly new, having been released only at 2 ½ months ago, but given the benefits of the revised structure I can’t help but to think, “Why”?

Sure, there are the stodgy late adopter brands that won’t necessarily benefit from the new layout; however, I was quite surprised at brands such as Audi, Corona, Sony, Microsoft, Heineken and Hyundai.  I thought brands like these would have surely jumped on the bandwagon by now.

Adopting for the sake of adopting, or is there a real benefit?

It all depends on what you’re using Twitter for, I suppose.  If it’s primarily for customer service (L.L. Bean, Overtock.com, Zappos), maybe making the switch isn’t a necessity for now.  However if you’re utilizing Twitter as a component of your social media marketing strategy, and as a promotional and marketing tool, you may be missing out.

Most notable benefits of the new design revolve around a greater emphasis on imagery and branding.  The new layout allows users to add a header image (like Facebook and Google+), as well as transplanting the old profile image to the front and center and has increased the size of the user’s photo stream.  This visual shift is on the heels of Instagram and Pinterest , both of whom are changing the way we consume information online.

These changes aren’t just limited to the desktop.  Twitter’s mobile layout also utilizes the header image, allowing for an enhanced brand experience on a smartphone or tablet. It’s nice to know since 60% of all Twitter users consume their information on a mobile device*.  The caveat here is that your twitter page must be updated to the new design, if not, your page is left with a rather large black box where your header image should be.So in conclusion, is it really worth the time and effort to update your companies twitter page?  The facts point to yes.  In today’s hyper-competitive online advertising landscape it pays to spend a little extra time polishing your brand’s image and taking advantage of the latest social tools available.

*Twitter Advertising (@twitterads), 2012

At Terralever we have worked with many not-for-profit organizations throughout the years that all have similar goals: reaching the correct audience interested in volunteering their time or money. As social media becomes more-and-more the norm within marketing it is imperative that non-profits understand how to utilize the proper platforms to reach, connect and engage with their target market.

Cutting through the clutter is vital for each distinct organization. It isn’t about number of social media platforms they employ that is important, it is about picking the right platform that will engage with their target audience in the most meaningful way.

This blog post provides a few thoughts on Pinterest. As a loyal user of the virtual pin board Pinterest, I’ve noticed several pins floating up in my feed promoting non-profits and other charitable organizations. Some of the groups hit the pin on the head, giving the user the proper image, call-to-action, description and link, landing them in the right place to take action to volunteer or donate. The beautiful thing about Pinterest is each pin has legs. According to a recent article brought to us by Repinly the average activity of a popular pinner is 2673 Pins, 34 boards following 331 people. Which means pins easily get seen by thousands of eyes and get thoughts and actions out of their journey.

As I was watching the American Music Awards the other night it dawned on me that non-profit organizations are missing the boat with Pinterest. As Randy Jackson gave a shout out for The American Red Cross promoting their efforts to help the devastated parts of the East Coast after Hurricane Sandy by flashing www.redcross.org/abc across the screen. A little light went off in my Pinterest obsessed mind. Why aren’t charities using this platform more? For example, the Official American Red Cross Pinterest account has only 18 people following them on Pinterest. I think that placing the right “pinable” content on the American Red Cross website or on the “thank you page” after a donation is made would allow people to help spread the word quickly and conveniently amongst a demographic of both women and men, willing to share pins with relevant, engaging and call-to-action driven content.

For instance,when landing on www.redcross.org/abc you are directed to a pretty standard America Red Cross Disaster Relief landing page with an image of a family from Seaside Heights, NY displaced from Hurricane Sandy. This image with the text shown in the upper right corner would have been a perfect “pinable” image. However, it is unpinable.

After donating I was able to share my experience on Facebook:

The share on Facebook felt “bla” and impersonal with no detail regarding what  kind of relief my donated money would go toward:

A Sample “Pin” could have looked like this:

It seems apparent that in the age of social media platforms popping up daily too many companies, brands, celebrities and charities are using social media plugins just to plug into social media.

However, the real emphasis of social media and why social media can make an impact on your goals is if your company/brand speaks to users in an engaging, relevant and call-to-action way.

The American Red Cross has missed a huge opportunity to gain more awareness and more donations with their lack luster social media efforts.

Charities could “get it right” just by applying a few elements of “ease of sharing” to their websites and marketing campaigns:

1.  Ease of Sharing: Ensure that images and messages can be shared easily and with relevant information. First if Pinterest is a site you want people to share your messages ensure images are pinable from your site. Secondly make sure the description under that Pin is relevant  links to allow ease of use to your audience and future audiences.
2.  Pick Your Platforms: Understand the demographic within each social media platform. Don’t be on “all” platforms doing a mediocre job. Be on the right platforms providing value to that consumer to help meet your charities goals.
3. Set Social Media Goals: Set goals for each of your social media platforms. Perhaps you would like a certain percentage of web traffic for a specific campaign to come from Pinterest. Commit to that goal and hard number, track it and refine as necessary.

Hopefully you find this helpful and inspirational to not only spread the word (verbally and socially) for local and national non-profits but it also inspires you to give back this holiday season.

Overall reputation (online and offline) can influence purchase decisions and ultimately impact your bottom line. When it comes to online reputation management, local businesses do not have much control (if any) over their customers’ reviews. However, you can in fact influence the conversation and potentially turn a negative review into a positive experience. Search Engine Land published an article on March 12, 2012 listing the Local Consumer Review Survey results (survey conduced between January 15 – March 1, 2012) of which included the following key statistics:

• 65% of consumers read between 2-10 reviews
•  7% of consumers read more than 20 reviews
• 58% of consumers trust a business that has positive online reviews
• 52% of consumers are more likely to try out a business if they have positive reviews
• 28% of consumers cite location and/or price as main factors in their decision-making process to use a business

Online reviews reach more people and can convert more customers, if done correctly. Most online reviews are found within local search directory pages and local community sites. The local search market is a rapidly evolving area of search marketing. Local consumers are both more elusive and more connected to their local market than ever before; therefore, necessitating local business owners align their local search marketing strategy to their customers’ online behavior to remain top of mind in their specific market.

As a business owner, it’s important to claim the most popular and most widely used citation profiles on the local search directory sites. This ensures your business information (address, phone number, hours, etc.) is correct and also allows you to manage that information moving forward. Once you’ve completed the claiming process (or partnered with an agency who’s done this for you), the most important thing you can do to boost your online visibility is to get reviews (simply put). Having a positive review can help with overall brand awareness, driving new customers and new business via positive word of mouth.  Some sites allow users to sort by positive ratings, which can increase your business’s visibility within the search results and even some local search listings will use customer reviews as a factor for how prominently the business appears on the results page. The volume of reviews and the sentiment of those reviews affect how visible a business is displayed within that local directory listing. Businesses that can successfully encourage customers to post positive and authentic reviews will benefit with a wider reach.

6 Tips to Generate Reviews: 

1.)    Add icons of review sites (as applicable) to your website, microsites, social media channels, etc. Include stickers/decals of review sites in a visible area in your store, such as on windows, doors, etc. (e.g. Yelp stickers).

2.)    Encourage reviews in-store

• Mention or link to review sites on receipts (takeaway)
• Business card/postcards asking for reviews (takeaway)

3.)    Encourage Reviews via Social Media

4.)    Encourage Reviews via Email

• Include the buttons/links to the review sites on “post-purchase” emails asking customers to rate their experience on the review site of their choice (one they use most frequently).

5.)    Simply Ask

•  Leverage your true brand advocates (most loyal members) and ask them to write a review for you if they are active on certain local review sites. Explain the process as needed.

6) Respond Online & Follow-Up Offline

Showing customers that you care about their review is important (whether negative or positive). Leaving bad reviews unanswered does not make them go away. It just makes visitors to your profile wonder what, if any, resolution your unsatisfied customer received. By responding to bad reviews, you show potential new customers that your goal is to make sure everyone is happy no matter what. Oftentimes after mitigating a negative experience, consumers will either remove their negative review or follow-up and write a positive review on your excellent customer service and how quickly and effectively you took care of them.

Various review sites (even social media channels) have become powerful platforms for brands to engage with customers on a personal level, but that engagement isn’t always positive. Mistakes are going to happen and frustrated customers will not only verbally complain about a bad experience with their networks, more and more they are turning to social media & local directories to voice their displeasure. At first blush it can be a frightening proposition. After all, these platforms can be a powerful soapbox for frustrated customers who have a large following creating the potential for a serious PR nightmare that can also hit your bottom line.

However, these review sites and social media channels also allow you to proactively find complaints, reach out to those frustrated customers, mend fences, and then potentially create more brand advocates. Generating online reviews from current customers will inform prospects of the great product or service you have to offer and ultimately lead to more sales and new customers. Good or bad, online reviews will also give you valuable insight into your business model, employees, customer service practices, etc., which will hopefully lead you to improve certain business practices that need to be addressed. So start asking for those reviews and start monitoring the feedback!

My wife and I are not creative cooks. It’s not that the food we make tastes bad, we just haven’t spent enough time in the kitchen to know what ingredient combinations play well together. So we stick close to the recipes and measure out exact ingredient quantities according to the directions. It’s not super creative, but it works.

As an interactive designer, however, there is no box of recipe cards that gives step-by-step instructions on creating meaningful experiences for your clients and your client’s clients. Coupled with the occasional overly ambitious timeline and we can end up with what’s best described as writer’s block for designers. I call it designer anxiety–an amalgamation of creative block, high expectations and, of course, looming deadlines. Let’s go through some ways to clear away the anxiousness and get back to making cool stuff.

It’s natural for designers to have lots of ideas jockeying for position inside their heads. Good even. But it becomes a problem when those ideas are competing with outside distractions. Now I’m not advocating working in a bubble—having a team you can rely on to collaborate with is a wonderful thing but depending on your work environs, you may have a lot of things vying for your valuable attention. So push those Kidrobots out of view, turn off the Twitter notifications and (dare I say it) don’t check your emails for a while. Take a deep breath; make sure that hideous deadline is in the back of your mind rather than front-n-center, aaaaaand focus.

Take a gander at my workspace when I’m knee deep in a project and you’ll probably find two items: a giant bank of design reference bookmarks in Chrome and a few CommArts lying around with dog-eared pages. I’m not going to use one of the many corny adages about designers stealing ideas because that’s not what I’m suggesting. Rather, use what’s been done and what’s out there as a sort of secondary brainstorm. Cobble design cues together from all over to either spark an initial idea or to augment one you’re already stewing on. Once you’ve got that initial idea you’re one major step closer to breaking free of designer anxiety.

Good prep time in the kitchen is an important part of taking the anxiety out of cooking a great meal. Investing the time to sketch out your budding creative early in your project can help relieve a lot of uncertainties and prevent all out catastrophes later on. Much like Festivus in the Seinfeld episode “The Strike” is a time for “Airing of Grievances,” breaking out the sketchpad (or Wacom or white board or iPad sketching app or…) is a chance for the “Airing of Ideas.” Try them out now and you’ll quickly discover what works and what doesn’t in a low commitment way rather than later on when you’ve been banging your head against Photoshop for half a day.

Those of us lucky enough to work at Terralever have a lot of the “why” questions answered before it’s time to start designing. Learning to trust the strategy and UX experts on the team and the loads of thought and research they’ve put into answering those “why” questions was a critical part of my designer anxiety breakthrough. That’s not to say I never run into issues or don’t have thoughts of my own, but it’s nice to know that I have legitimate reasons behind the things I put into my comps beyond, “I thought it would be neat.”

So now you have the tools to create a more zen-like design environment and mindset for your next project. Remember to clear your mind, research ideas, sketch to sift good ideas from bad ones and trust in the strategy. In fact I suppose you could write these things down on little cards … maybe even put them in a recipe box for the next time you feel designer anxiety creeping up on you.

Another season closed for the IZOD IndyCar Series, and what a successful one it was. An innovative new car was debuted, a new champion crowned, and a revitalized web presence, which all culminated in bringing the power and action of IndyCar to life.

Terralever’s commitment to excellence in developing IndyCar’s new website not only increased fan engagement as well as doubling the amount of likes on their site, but it’s with great humility that we’re happy to announce that it has also been recognized for 2 major industry awards; The Web Marketing Association handed out its 2012 web award to us for our outstanding web development on the site, and the International Academy of the Visual Arts honored IndyCar.com with a Silver W3.

There is no better feeling than being honored by your peers for a job well done. The recognition makes us feel additionally motivated to keep innovating in the growing digital landscape. It is a great experience to be able to work with an organization such as IndyCar, whose passion for motorsport rivals the team here at Terralever, it’s even better when all the hard work and long hours pay off with recognition by top industry peers and executives.

Terralever IndyCar Team
Lead Strategist: Chris Johnson
Creative Director: Craig Budwitz
Project manager: Rikki Mirza
User Experience Architect: Eric Doolan
Lead Designer: Jordan Ball
Development: Matt Jorgenson & Jeff Kuchta

If you’re interested in learning more about this exciting project and it’s results join us on November 8^th, at 11:00am (MST)  for a free webinar, “Get Your Engagement Racing with Sitecore & Social Media Integration”. Registration is limited.