With so many different marketing options on the Internet, it’s easy to be cynical about their potential benefits for your business.  But rest assured, there are numerous benefits to using eBooks to market your business.  Read on and learn what these benefits are!

            Low Cost: Remember all the costs of making a printed catalog of all your products?  The cost of ink, paper, printing, distribution, etc.?  That is all gone now thanks to eBooks!  Now all you have to do is design your eBook, write your content and use the right software to get it online.  If you don’t know how to do all this, then it is easy to hire someone to do it for you- such as Social Compass!

            Easy Access: Instead of looking through a bunch of catalogs or searching through a bookstore, your customers can download an eBook and read it instantly.  No waiting, no searching, it is right there for them to get.  Doesn’t get any easier than that!

            Easy to Correct: What if you made a change to your business plan and now your eBook is out of date?  No problem!  Instead of having to reprint it and spend more money, instead you just recode your original eBook and you are all done.

            Address the Needs of Your Audience: Every company or business is questioned by its consumers, who wonder what makes your product superior or why they need your product or service.  An eBook is a great way to address these concerns and give your customers all the answers they need to choose your product.

            Clearly eBooks are becoming an important part of Internet marketing.  They are cost efficient, easy to update, and can address the most important needs and questions of your customers.  So what are you waiting for?  Start working on your eBook now, or hire the experts here at SocialCompass to make your eBook for you!

Marketing on social media, including Twitter, can be complicated.  When you are running a small business, you do not have the time to learn how to navigate these sites.  Luckily for you, we compiled a list of five tips to improve your marketing strategies on Twitter.

1. Create Visual Content.  Twitter users who are more likely to Retweet your posts like visual content, whether it is a picture or a video.  Try to include pictures of your products or videos that let users know what your business is about, and watch people Retweet your posts and broaden your Twitter presence.
2. Offer Exclusive Discounts or Deals.  A survey of Twitter users found that the biggest reason that people follow businesses on Twitter is to receive discounts and promotions.  So give the people what they want!  If users realize that they are not going to get anything out of following your account, they won’t waste their time.  So to keep your current followers and customers and get new ones, offer exclusive discounts or 2-for-1 deals to get more people in the door of your business.
3. Be Funny.  The main purpose of social media is entertainment.  Use your Twitter account to show the world how clever your business is.  If you keep your users entertained, they are much more likely to share your posts with their followers and to keep giving you more business.
4. Keep It Personal.  People don’t want to feel like they are talking to a corporation on Twitter; they want to talk to people.  So be sure to avoid using marketing terms in your tweets and instead tweet the way you would talk to your friend and create a connection between your customer and your business.
5. Keep Your Hashtags Short.  If you flood each of your tweets with five or six hashtags, it will annoy your followers.  Instead, use one or two hashtags that are short and express the main theme of your tweet.

Follow these five instructions and watch your interactions with your followers grow and become more beneficial for you business!

Social media is a newer platform for businesses and companies to market their products and services.  The goal is to raise attention and website traffic for your business.  Since social media is such a new marketing avenue, there are many pitfalls for you and your business to avoid.  Read on to learn how to make sure your social media campaign does not fail.

Visual Engagement: What most people forget when starting a social media campaign is that social media is extremely visual.  If your advertisement does not jump out at your audience, they will move on to the next post before they even give you a chance.  So be sure to include an image in your advertisement or post that will grab the attention of your audience and keep them engaged.

            Respond to Users: If someone replies to your social media post, do you think you should just ignore it?  Of course not!  Many social media campaigns fail because they do not keep their audience engaged after they respond to posts and advertisements.  If you personally interact with users who reply to your posts, you make those users more loyal to your brand because they have a personal connection with you.

            Cookie-Cutter Campaigns: Another failure of many social media campaigns is the belief that each social media network is the same.  This simply is not true; the way you interact with people on Facebook differs drastically from Twitter or Pinterest.  To make sure your campaign does not fall into this trap, remember to tailor your posts to each different platform and engage each audience in their own unique ways.

            Overwhelming Advertising: While social media may seem like the best (and cheapest) way to advertise your products, remember that people don’t want to have advertisements dominate their newsfeed.  The reason people will follow a company on social media is to get exclusive deals, not to learn everything there is to know about your product.  So keep advertisements to a minimum and you won’t lose followers!

These are just a few of the many reasons that social media marketing campaigns can fail.  Be sure to do lots of research just like before any other campaign to make sure your next social media campaign is successful! To learn more about creating a successful social media campaign, contact SocialCompass.

The entire HipLogiq team was saddened to hear about Monday’s devastation that hit our neighbors to the north, but it hit especially close to home for our co-founders, Adam Root and Lindsey Madison, who are both from Oklahoma. When tragedy like this comes into our lives, it seems many of us are struck with the overwhelming desire to help those in need, but how do we go about it?

Our HipLogiq team has decided to help the victims in Moore, Oklahoma by selling our SocialCentiv t-shirts and donating 100% of the proceeds to those who need it.

“Growing up in Oklahoma taught me to be resilient and compassionate in times like these. We use social media every day and see the power it holds for our clients’ businesses, so we decided to harness that power to do some ‘social good’. We, as a company, are just trying to do what we can to help; I only wish we could do more.”

-Adam Root, HipLogiq CTO and co-founder

Click here to purchase your SocialCentiv shirt today. Help us help Oklahoma by buying one today for $5! Your donations will go towards helping the people of Moore, Oklahoma recover from this devastating storm and start rebuilding their city.

When it comes to creating a landing page for your business, there are many important factors to consider, but content and design are at the top of the list. The content (text on the page) should convey the message you are trying to get across and the design (colors, fonts, images, etc.) should act as a visual aid to help reinforce that message. So, you can see why it’s crucial that these two go hand-in-hand. Check out the tips below for more info:

Make your message is clear. Make sure your message is clear and concise in the way that it is written. If your call-to-action is lengthy, think about ways you can simplify it. You want someone to be able to take a look at the page and quickly understand the point you are trying to get across. As such, your design should revolve around this as well. You may have a great call-to-action, but if the font is tiny and/or the wrong color, no one will be able to read it.

Keep it cohesive. You can have a great design and great content, but if they aren’t cohesive it’s not going to work in your favor. For example, if you own a spa and your wording conveys a serene, relaxing environment, then your design should also give off that feeling. The colors, images and layout you choose can completely make-or-break the content and vice-versa.

Don’t overdo it. It’s important to edit, edit, edit - both in content and design. Remember the goal of your page and make sure every element you include helps achieve it.  Spend time working on your landing page, and then take a break so you can come back to it with fresh eyes. It’s also a good idea to have a few people review the page and give you feedback. You don’t have to use all of it, but it may help give you a new perspective.

Have questions? Want to learn more about landing pages? Contact us!

The average Twitter feed is usually overwhelmed with of pictures from last weekend, lyrics, and Internet facts that are questionable. How do you make your tweets stand out in this sea of information? Consider using what you already know and building from there.

Have a brand personality. This personality should connect back to your brand’s marketing strategy. If your company is more laid-back and likes to have fun, show that in your tweets. If you’re more of a professional-styled company, you should go about your tweeting in a different way than the more relaxed company. This will help to solidify your brand image in the reader’s minds. Keeping your tweets on track with your marketing strategy will also build a stronger brand image that extends past the computer screen into relationships.

Personalize your responses. Make sure to personalize your responses by using names or referring to content that was in the user’s tweet. This not only shows that you’re not just sending the same generic form to everyone, but also is less likely to be seen as spam by Twitter. Show your brand’s personality in these tweets, too. This helps to come across in a way that’s less robotic and spam-like and is much more likely to catch your reader’s eye.

Share content that’s useful. Twitter is about engagement, so consider sharing links that relate to your business or industry, asking your users to weigh in on a topic, or posting pictures that are appropriate (when it comes to sharing links and pictures, make sure they are supported with commentary so that your readers don’t assume they’re spam). It’s important to make sure that this content is relevant and useful to your customer base as well as presented in a way that is consistent with your marketing strategy.

If you make an effort to connect with and engage your audience, you can greatly impact your image not only in the eyes of your current customers, but also in the eyes of potential new customers. Keep your marketing strategy in mind, be personable, share content that’s pertinent to your business and you’ll see that you’re getting your consumer’s attention in no time.

Social marketing has become quite the buzzword over the past few years, and for a good reason. It has proven to be more successful than traditional methods of marketing such as print advertising and direct mail campaigns. As a business owner or manager, you may know social media is currently the most popular arena for engaging with current and potential customers; however, you may not be taking the right steps to reach out to them properly or realize how much of a commitment social marketing is. Here’s why I think letting someone else manage your social marketing is a good idea.

It’s the new word of mouth. Word-of-mouth is probably one of the most common ways information spreads about businesses, and since we aren’t going to malt shops or sitting in beauty parlors anymore, social media is the place where talk of products, services, and businesses takes place. Activity on social media happens at a rapid speed, that’s why it’s best to have someone watching it at all times, taking me to my next point…

Social marketing is time consuming. It takes time to develop your online community and once you do, maintaining that community is just as time consuming. For someone other than a social media marketing pro, effectively keeping up with social media is like having another 40-hour-a-week job. Not even someone who is amazing at time management could find the time to run their social marketing campaign at peak performance if it is deemed as one of their “responsibilities” within their current full-time job.

It’s complicated. Mastering social media marketing is not as easy and pretty as it looks. You think, “Oh, I’ll just make a Facebook post once a week and tweet every now and again,” but it’s more than that. Instead of passively posting via social media sites you should be out their actively listening to what customers are saying and trying to meet their defined needs. Not only that, social media sites are constantly changing and updating, so it’s a lot to have to know about, learn about, and keep up with when you have another important job to do – like run your business.

Letting someone else manage your social marketing is a good idea because it takes the work load off your plate and puts it in the hands of someone who is trained in social marketing and will dedicate their time to completely learning your brand. That’s what we do here at Social Compass. Interested in learning more about Social Compass and how we can help you manage your social marketing? Contact me at clara@hiplogiq.com for more information. 

Successfully running a business means staying current on the best and latest marketing and sales strategies. Consumers are going to the Internet to find out what others are saying about a product or company, look for deals and make purchases. Social media has become a strong platform for driving sales, but doing this effectively can be tricky.

Direct Contact

It’s hard to sway someone towards purchasing your business’ product or service through indirect advertising, but with social media you can contact consumers directly, whether it’s through a “Reply” on Twitter or a comment on Facebook. You don’t have to hope they will come across your business, you can know by speaking directly to them on various social networks.

Accessibility

Often consumers won’t pull the trigger on a purchase because they have questions, or don’t feel certain about a specific aspect of the transaction. By being active on social networks you provide your customers with an accessibility that makes them feel more secure about your business, resulting in more sales.

Word of Mouth/Status/Tweet/Photo

WOM has always been a strong driving factor for consumer’s to purchase a product or service. People trust the friends of their friends and acquaintances more than advertisers or marketing strategies. This is where social media is HUGE for driving sales. People can make a Facebook status or compose a tweet about their new favorite restaurant or a product they love, and hundreds of people will be able to view this.

Keyword Monitoring

By monitoring the right keywords on social media, you can find out what people are saying about things that relate to your business’ product or service. You can also use keyword monitoring to find exactly what potential customers are saying and their other interests, and use that information to turn them into actual customers! For example, if you’re business is a sporting goods store then keywords such as “new running shoes” or “Nike shorts” would be effective in helping you find and learn about how to drive sales through social media.

Want to learn more? Check out SocialCompass for all your social media marketing needs and feel free to Contact Us today!

Twitter has emerged as a powerful tool for marketing in all industries. Clients who previously couldn’t be reached can now be impacted by your brand. Read more for a few keys to using Twitter to market and grow your business.

Twitter is about conversation. It’s important that businesses don’t just use Twitter to “talk at” people, but instead use it to converse with them. Ask questions, share links, and reply to those who reply to you. This helps to make your brand appear more personal and helps to build a relationship with your fans and followers. It also assists in reputation management, customer service and allows you to collect feedback from users of your product or service that can help you to improve upon it.

Go to your customer base. Use the advanced search feature to find people who are talking about your industry or brand by searching keywords and join in on the conversation. Twitter is a time-sensitive media, so important to respond in a timely fashion. The Social Compass software has taken this process to the next level by filtering all of these keywords into one place and allowing us to respond to conversations in real time with offers, useful tips, or pertinent information.

Make your tweets useful. Share information that is relevant to your target audience such as blog posts, eBooks, and offers. These pieces of information will engage your followers who will then be more likely to interact with you in return. By sharing offers with your followers, you’re rewarding those who already use your product or service and reaching out to those who have yet to try your brand out. The Social Compass software has streamlined this process by allowing us to attach a link to an offer or an eBook with one click.

Social media marketing is the latest trend in reaching customers, and Twitter has many advantages when it comes to influencing prospective clients. Using these basic tips, your company can begin to experience the two-way communication that can help to grow your business. 

So you’ve heard it before, your business needs a blog in order to establish and reinforce your Web presence and online reputation. But why should you even bother with writing a blog? You need customers now!

There are many benefits of having a blog for your business. On the Web content is king. Consider your target audience and the things that may evoke a reaction from them.

It’s important to define key points about your company’s vision, such as why your products excel over the competition, and what set’s your business and brand apart from all the others. For many customers, knowing the values of your company can be enough to guide them in the right direction.

Does your business need a blog?

Do your customers surf the Web? Do you have a website? Is your business active on social media? Then yes, your business does need a blog!

Some benefits of blogs for your business include:

• Easy to update and maintain. You know your business better than anyone else, and you probably have a good idea of their wants and needs allowing you to focus the writing in a way that meets those demands.
• Blogs are the link between you and your customers. Put yourself in your customer’s shoes. Think about what would you, as a customer, like to know about the company and the product. What would help you in your decision making process.
• Establish a trustworthy reputation. Customers favor companies that they can trust, and companies that successfully relate to the customer’s needs. Since you can only reach so many customers in person, a blog is the perfect medium to spread out the word about your company.
• Boost your web presence. Take into account that your blog is a keyword-laden treasure trove of information that the search engines are hungry for. You want your blog to be seen as a top choice among competing businesses and their blogs. The more related keywords you can cleverly fit into any given blog post the greater the likelihood to be seen by a potential client or investor. Simply put, blogs are a great way to drive people to your site in an indirect way.
• Like I said: it’s your blog. There is no editor (unless you want to hire one). That means you call the shots. You decide what goes into each piece. You decide the tone of your blog. Will it be humorous? Will it be serious? Will it be customer service-oriented, or will it be designed to mainly provide product information? Or will it do both? Your blog can be customized to fit your unique business model. No matter what tone or content you want your blog to have, nothing is published without your approval. After all, it is your business we’re talking about. Who knows it better than you do?

At SocialCompass, we can help you with blog creation and management. Let us help you increase your business’ web presence.

Just because you write it doesn’t mean they will read it.

Blogging is more than just typing words onto a computer screen. Blog posts should entice readers with something that makes them want to read it– other than your carefully crafted blog copy! ;-) Before writing your next blog post, consider adding a little bit of formatting to your copy.

Take a good look at your blog and if it looks a little bit bland, review the following formatting tips to make your blog more attractive for readers.

Stay true to a formatting structure

Be sure to use consistent formatting to create a visual structure for your blog. This will help readers easily organize the information in a post.

Make it scannable

Let’s face it. Today’s readers are more likely to scan the post rather than carefully reading each word. Make your subheadings interesting and visually attractive so the reader will want to read the entire post. Another way to make your blog post scannable is to use lists to organize information.

Use lists to organize information

Using a list in a blog post is a great way to organize information. Many readers enjoy blog posts with lists because they can quickly get an idea of what the post is about. It also helps readers to organize and process the information.

Emphasize with blockquotes

Blockquotes are great for calling attention to the (most) important parts of your post. Blockquotes break up the copy on a page and display your message in a way that’s visually attractive.

Summarize with subheadings

Publish content that is easy to read by using attention-grabbing subheadings and separating your post into shorter sections. Headers like H1, H2, H3, and so on are great formatting elements you can use to boost your blog’s search engine optimization (SEO). These headers enhance the scannability of a post, making it much easier for Google and the readers to organize the information.

Use short paragraphs for simplicity

Keeping paragraphs short will help retain your audience’s attention and get your message across more clearly. Also, the attractiveness and cleanliness of white space in your post is favored much more than bulky paragraphs of text. Short paragraphs help the reader understand the message of your post without having to dig through cluttered copy.

Back up with hyperlinks

Support statements in your post with hyperlinks to other posts on your blog or other credible resources. Hyperlinks are also a great way to provide your readers with more information about what’s in your posts.

Don’t go overboard

Be wary of over-formatting your blog posts. As they say, too much of a good thing is never a good thing. Keep your blog post formatting simple so the reader doesn’t have to do more work than necessary.

Want to learn more? Check out SocialCompass for all your social media marketing needs and feel free to Contact Us today!

Do you have a landing page for your business, but aren’t quite seeing the conversion rate success you hoped for? We can help! Take a look at these simple landing page improvements and, as always, let us know if you have any questions.

Keep it simple, sorta.

No, this doesn’t mean your design has to be boring or your copy has to be short and sweet, but it does mean you want your message to be clear. What do you want visitors to do when they visit your landing page? Fill out a form? Call a number? Whatever it is, make sure it is front and center (theoretically speaking). It also doesn’t hurt to repeat the call-to-action more than once.

Understand your audience.

Is your customer base full of penny-pinchers? Or big-spenders?  Make sure you know your audience so you can grab their attention with your landing page. For example, penny-pinchers are always looking for a “steal”, so it’s great to highlight discounts and savings. On the other hand, a spender isn’t as concerned with budget, but is more focused on luxury and exclusivity.

Create a sense of urgency.

If someone thinks the offer on your landing page will be around for a while, they are less likely to convert. Create a sense of urgency with wording such as “Don’t miss out!” or “Get it while it lasts!”. Clearly stating the expiration date of the offer on your page (if applicable) also helps motivate people to take action.

Make it responsive.

Ok, so this may not be super simple, unless you have a rock star designer and front end developer, but it really can make a huge impact on your landing page conversion rate. With all the different devices out there, you want to be sure that your landing page looks good and functions well everywhere, not just on a computer.

More and more social media is being integrated into every area of life. Most people have personal accounts on just about all the big social media outlets, but businesses aren’t the same way. Why is that bad you ask?

If you’re customers are unhappy with the service they receive it is easy for them to voice opinions on multiple platforms in a matter of minutes. Focusing mainly on twitter, customers’ opinions can affect greatly potential customers idea of your brand. You can protect the positive views and change the negative views just by watching what people are saying. Essentially using twitter for your business is a form of reputation management.

Not having a Twitter account leaves your business in the dark. You miss out on many things by not signing up.

• Brand Loyalty- Being active on twitter shows customers that you care about they have to say and that you are truly listening. This will bring them to trust your business. You can use this loyalty to find out what they like and dislike as well.
• Customer Appreciation- You can use twitter to give special offers and discounts to customers talking about how much they enjoy your product or service.
• Sharing News- You can use Twitter to quickly get out news you want your followers to know immediately.
• Competitors Customers- Twitter can be great to use when you check out competitors customers that are unhappy and offer them a discount to check out your products instead.

Take advantage of the free Twitter profile to get multiple benefits for your business. Don’t overlook the small details of customer satisfaction. Make that real connection with customers to make sure your business is ever growing. Do not let your company be one that slips off the map because they had no social media presence.  

The Internet has drastically changed the ways businesses market to their consumers. Online marketing, social media marketing, and content marketing are all paving the way for a new way to reach potential customers. Consumers are using the web to research companies and products, and one of the most successful ways to reach them is through SEO.

What is SEO? Search engine optimization is a way of increasing a business’ website visibility in a search engine, such as Google or Yahoo, through un-paid search results.

Keywords. Search engines categorize web pages based on keywords. Keywords are terms that are important and relevant to the content of your web page, or your business. For example, a coffee shop would need words like “morning coffee”, “need coffee”, “need caffeine”, “tea”,  “best coffee in (business location)”, “cappuccino”, and “chai latte”.

Google Bots/Spiders/Crawlers. Whatever you want to call them, these are the computer programs that search engines use to search the Internet and analyze individual Web pages. The “spiders” read the pages and index them based on the terms, or keywords, that show up the most and in in important parts of the Web page or blog. The Google bots won’t know to index a Web page or blog about coffee unless important keywords are used in the right places!

Keyword Placement. While having the correct keywords is important for SEO, where you put those terms in your Web page is just as important. You should include a keyword in the title of your Web page, such as “Cup of Joe’s: Houston Coffee Shop Blog”.  Try to place keywords in Web page headers, blog titles, and section titles.

Avoid keyword stuffing! If you use a keyword too many times many search engine “crawlers” will tag your page or blog as spam, and they won’t show up at all on search engines.

The MOST important way to create SEO is to have strong, credible content. Create Web pages and blogs that people will want to read and are genuinely relevant to your business. With strong content, SEO tips and tricks will help to provide an even better boost to your search engine ranking.

Many big brands have started to use Twitter in order to communicate with their customers and fans. This social media platform is ideal for interacting with and understanding the views of your customer base. While it has opened the door to a new way of personalizing brands, it also leaves room for mistakes to be made that can cause major consequences. 

Don’t Automate. It may be easier and more cost-effective to automate tweets and responses, but by doing this you run the risk of delivering the wrong message to the wrong audience or appearing to be insensitive. Apps such as Hootsuite and Tweetdeck are often used to update both Twitter and Facebook at the same time, but fail to adapt the message to each platform. Ideally, it’s best to just say no to automated content in order to get your message across effectively and in a personal manner.

Respond in a timely manner. Another thing many big businesses do that irks fellow tweeters is having a major lag in response time. Twitter is about interacting with your customer base and acting in real time. Each response on Twitter makes an impression on that person, who will then tell ten of their friends – or even better, all of their Twitter followers through a retweet. When a company fails to respond, that can leave a negative image in the consumer’s eyes and the company has lost that change to build a relationship with their supporter.

Follow back. Many brands have the tendency to be “too cool” to follow back, when in reality, clicking that follow button can be one of the biggest impressions a company can make. By following a user, the brand is telling them that they’re interested in what that person has to say, and we all know we enjoy that kind of attention.

When it comes to building your brand on social networks, it may not be as easy as you think. You can’t simply set up a page and then call it a day. Your brand’s social network profiles need to be treated with the same importance (if not more) as any other marketing effort you participate in. Here are a few simple tips to help get you started:

It’s all in the name

This one is pretty straightforward. When it comes to your Twitter handle, Facebook page, or Pinterest name, don’t overthink it- use your brand’s name. For example, Coca Cola uses its own name for both Facebook and Twitter. It not only provides brand recognition, but it also gives instant credibility to your page.

Use a selfie (of your brand that is…)

The picture you use as your profile image should be your brand logo or something easily identified with your brand (think red soda can for Coca Cola).  Facebook gives you a little more creative freedom with their timeline photo, but again, this image should represent your brand.

Share your content

Not sure what to post on your brand’s profiles? One great thing to share is custom content. This can come in the form of your brand’s blog posts, eBooks, pictures and even videos.

Choose your voice

No, not every post needs to sound the same, but you should define a clear “voice” for your brand on the social networks you participate in.

Get engaged

As in the real world, your social network relationships shouldn’t be one-sided. Get engaged with followers by asking them questions and responding to their comments. Also, we live in an era of instant gratification, so be sure to respond in a timely manner!

Want to learn more? Check out SocialCompass for all your social media marketing needs and contact us today!

Do you know what “going viral” means? And no, I’m not talking about the onset of another bubonic plague. You’ve probably heard this phrase many times in reference to various online activities. This phrase and concept was a hot topic at SXSW ’13, as many individuals questioned if there was a specific formula to something “going viral.” Before we dive into that, let’s better define exactly what “going viral” means.

What does it mean?

It’s not a coincidence that this social phenomenon contains the word, “viral.” Think about what happens when a virus makes its way into the human body. Likewise, a computer virus can spread with dreaded rapidity. The word “viral” is used to indicate that same type of rapid spread in terms of content. However, in this case, it’s a positive thing, rather than something unfortunate, like the flu.

Additionally, going viral means the online content is getting tons of traffic without much or any effort.  Go back to a time when you were scrolling through your newsfeed and you kept seeing the same funny image or hilarious video multiple times. Finally, you decided to click on the link to see what it’s all about. After witnessing the hilarity of the content you say, “Hey, I’m going to share this, too.” You, my friend, have then become a participant in something “going viral.”

Is there a formula?

Naturally, individuals have tried to determine if there is a specific formula or approach in order to make something go viral. In reality, there isn’t a secret recipe to concocting viral content even though a dash of humor never hurts, but that’s sort of the beauty of the online world. Most things go viral by accident or because people, animals, or your crazy grandma (I guess she’s in the people category, then again maybe not) are just caught being themselves.

While I’ve talked a lot about viral images and videos, truthfully, anything can go viral on the Internet. Whether it’s a photo, a quote, a tweet, an idea, or an argument, it has the power to go viral if it appeals enough to the masses and is shareable. Viral content keeps us somewhat distracted, but it also allows us a special and unique way to be entertained.

What’s your favorite viral content?

Image source: http://i.imgur.com/tN1VO5s.jpg

In a day when customers can express their disappointment with a brand in the same minute that something happens, protecting your reputation is very important. In the same aspect, customers also expect an almost immediate response. While their comments may seem unnecessary and make you want to ignore or delete them, don’t.

It’s important to respond to negative comments. It starts with an unhappy customer or client reviewing your company or product. Their comment might seem like something that doesn’t need to be responded to, but be careful with ignoring them.

A company that responds shows they care and they are actively listening to what people want from them. This is a positive view of the company by both the commenter and the people reading the comments. Besides showing them you’ve heard them, you continue improving when you show them you’ve taken the criticism and grown from it.  As well, you have the chance to show your customer service and change the commenter’s opinion just by taking the time to respond.

When you are responding there are a few things to take note of. Be sure that you are not trying to deny or hide any kind of issue so to avoid making the problem bigger with your response.  Your comments need to be sincere and human. They need to be focused and accurate.  You need to follow-up later and add value when you can. Lastly don’t censor your comments and avoid fights.

By following simple guidelines you can turn a negative comment into a positive outcome. When you can’t change or remove a negative review you don’t have much control. What you can control is the amount of reputation management you do. In the end, that’s what the entire issue comes down to and why you should respond to negative comments.

There is no doubt that filling forms is one of the most frequent activities we perform on the web. If you think about it, you interact with forms every time you logging into your email account, when you shop, when you access your social networks like FaceBook, Twitter, etc.

As designers and developers, creating forms is sometimes associated with monotony, especially when it comes down to writing validation scripts for them. Forms are also a key part of your design, and paying close attention to their design and content has a direct effect on your completion rate and ROI.

How many times have you come in contact with a website that presents you a long, boring, and sometimes invasive form, just so you can move forward?

Many forms have the tendency to feel aggressive about the process in which they try to collect information. Sometimes they are too personal and require more information than needed from the user.

There is a psychological principle to building forms, a fine balance between the must have information and the optional information. If you push the user too hard in order to collect as much data as possible, chances are your completion rate or conversion rate will still be below your expectations.

And what about designing and developing accessible web forms for users with physical limitations such as low vision or color-blindness, or those who are accessing the site with a screen reader? Forms are tricky business!

With the introduction of HTML5 form attributes, making forms more accessible is getting easier for developers. There are 14 new form attributes in HTML5.

1. placeholder
2. autofocus
3. autocomplete
4. required
5. pattern
6. list
7. multiple
8. novalidate
9. formnovalidate

10. form

11. formaction

12. formenctype

13. formmethod

14. formtarget

But there are other improvements you can make in order to create more effective forms and increase your completion rate.

1. Break longer forms down into manageable chunks or sections
2. Clearly show progress through longer forms.
3. Design fluid, well-aligned forms. Poorly aligned forms can be perceived as more complex and harder to fill in than neater better aligned forms.
4. Minimize eye movement needed to complete form. Closely associate labels with fields, preferably with the label directly above the form element and left aligned. If this is not possible, right align the label to the left of the element.
5. Be consistent in terms of layout, as well as tone of voice.
6. Provide examples of what is expected, e.g. email@domain.com for an email address.
7. Keep it simple! Try to collect only what you need.
8. As with all online content, avoid abbreviations and acronyms.
9. Use white space to help ‘chunk’ forms while avoiding to use too many unnecessary visual elements.
10. Remove unnecessary distractions and page elements that will temp the user to leave mid-form.
11. Clearly mark all mandatory fields.
12. Provide clear error messages; make sure users don’t have to start from scratch just because they made a mistake.

Is your blog looking a bit more drab than totally fab? Would you like to increase the visitor traffic to your blog? Are you confused about the differences between HTML and CSS? Have no worries though because you’ve already completed the first step- admitting you- er, your blog- needs a makeover! So, where do you even begin?

Look for inspiration

Browse the web looking at other blogs and create a list of features that you would like to implement into your own blog. However, respect others creativity by not stealing or “borrowing” their property. If you need assistance with the design of your blog, consider hiring a professional.

Select an appropriate layout for your content

If you are more of the micro-blogger type, consider selecting a two-column layout that features your posts on one side and a navigation pane on the other. And if you are more of the photographer blogger, consider selecting a simple one-column layout and staying with a neutral theme. You want your photographs to take center stage, don’t you?

Create an enticement

When your blog is under construction, make visitors aware of this with a brief note on your blog. Create a simple post that states your blog is under construction and remind them to come back to get a fresh, new look once it’s complete!

Make it mobile-friendly

With how much our generation is addicted to our smartphones, it’s likely that there is a large portion of your blog’s visitors who are viewing your blog on their mobile devices. Make your blog visually appealing for visitors who are using their smartphones by selecting a mobile-friendly blog template.

Whatever you choose to update, enhance, nix, or fix on your blog, remember it is always best to play it safe and keep it simple. Trust me, your readers will thank you for it!

A century ago, customer relationships took place face to face.  People paid in cash or ran a tab and sometimes even bartered for their goods.  At the local grocer, most customers were greeted by name.  Things have certainly changed!  According to Forrester Research, Internet retail sales in the U.S. will grow 10 % a year through 2015, totaling close to $280 billion.  So it’s more important than ever to maintain a relationship with your online customer.  How do you do that successfully?

Get personal.  Even though customers like to shop online, it gives them a good feeling to know there are real people that will stand behind their product or service.  Use your website or Facebook page to give your business a personal touch.  Have email contacts readily available for people to go to in case of a problem or question.  You can even post some pictures of a “day at the office” or warehouse pictures of your products to give your customers assurance that you are the real deal.

Be relevant.  In order to attract and maintain customers, you want to provide them with material they are interested in.  Your company blog should contain relevant information that isn’t too spammy.  Your website should be updated on a regular basis.

Offer rewards.  People love incentives, and they will be tempted to share them with their friends.  Offering a contest or reward for liking your Facebook page or sharing information is a great way to build a customer base.  You may also want to consider a loyalty program or offering incentives for repeat customers.

Deliver on promises.  Most importantly, don’t offer something you cannot deliver.  People appreciate honesty.  It’s better to be honest and lose one sale than promise something you cannot provide and lose a customer forever.

The goal of every business is to create leads.  If you are participating in social media – and you should be – Facebook is one way to generate leads.  It’s one thing to be liked, but how can you turn that into sales for your business?  Read on for some tips on turning a “like” into a lead.

Offer incentives.  Incentives work great for people who are interested enough to visit your website or Facebook page and give you a “like.”  You can offer them an eBook on a relevant topic or encourage them with an offer to share your Facebook page with their online friends.

Create relevant content.  If you are touting your blogs on your Facebook page, make sure they are relevant and informative and give the reader information they want.  You don’t want them to be too spammy or sound like a sales pitch.  They should be written for search engine optimization (SEO) but sound interesting.  Make it something people will want to share or come back to read.

Consider a give-away.  People love to win stuff, whether they need it or not.  Contests and give-aways have been shown to be popular with people and may help you get a like and turn a casual visitor into a customer.

Call to Action. To effectively do lead generation from your website or Facebook page, you should provide your target audience with valuable offers and information in exchange for providing their basic contact information and a like.  You don’t need to ask for a lot of information.  You don’t want to burden your potential customer or scare them off.  Sharing their name and email is easy and gets you a potential lead. 

If you have a new business and are looking for ways to grow, you should be participating in the social media marketplace.  But there are right ways and wrong ways to go about it.  You may have heard of companies that will sell you “likes” on your Facebook page to (falsely) boost your fan base.  Should you do it?  We think not, and here is why.

Buying “likes” isn’t shown to generate business.  First of all, the “likes” you are buying are not people that are interested or like your product.  They are letting you use a name to promote a business that they may not even know about.  A much better way to spend your time and energy is by getting real people to like your product or service.

It’s expensive.  There are companies out there willing to sell you likes for your Facebook page.  They will gladly take your money, and then what?  You’ve paid for something that will probably not generate any revenue for you.  You’re better off taking that money and using it toward a contest or offer promotion on your site.  This will not only entice the people visiting your website or Facebook page but will likely get them to recommend your product to their social networking friends.

Do it right.  By creating false likes on your Facebook page, you may be flagged by Facebook, which could get your page flagged.  You don’t want that.  Instead, invite people to like your page that you think are interested in your service or product.  You can also work on promoting your page off-line when you are networking, meeting new people or any time you make a sale.

Twitter has changed the way stars communicate with their fans.  Not long ago, if a celebrity wanted to get attention, they had to hire a public relations firm or act outrageous to land in the tabloids.  Sometimes even bad press is good.  The celebs have taken to Twitter like a bee to honey.  They know how important tweeting is to stay connected with their fans, although some have yet to learn that the first thought in your head isn’t always the one you should share with the world.  Are you curious who the top celebrities are that are followed on Twitter? 

1.     Lady Gaga.  With over 31 million followers, it’s no wonder that Lady Gaga is ranked the Queen of Twitter.  She joined Twitter in March of 2008 and has had a growing following.  She even thanked her “little monsters” for following her with a video message.

2.     Justin Beiber.  Not only does Justin hold the number 2 spot for followers, he likes to Tweet – a lot.  To date he has over 19,000 Tweets.

3.     Katy Perry.  California girl Katie Perry comes in at No. 3.

4.     Rhianna.  She keeps her fans following with updates on her upcoming album and tours.

5.     Barack Obama.  The leader of the free world doesn’t have a lot of time to tweet, so his account is run by staffers.  He does post a few tweets and they are signed “Bo.”

6.     Britney Spears.  The X-factor judge loves to keep her fans informed by tweeting.

7.     Taylor Swift.  This talented singer/songwriter has over 20 millions Twitter followers.

8.     Shakira.  Check out her interesting tweets.

9.     Kim Kardashian.  Many people love to hear about Kim and her sisters by following @KimKardashian.

10. Nicki Minaj.  Whether she is promoting her album or talking about being a judge on American Idol, Nicki is always interesting.

If you haven’t jumped on the Twitter bandwagon, you need to check it out and see why everyone loves to hear about their favorite celebs in 140 characters or less.

Twitter has changed the way stars communicate with their fans.  Not long ago, if a celebrity wanted to get attention, they had to hire a public relations firm or act outrageous to land in the tabloids.  Sometimes even bad press is good.  The celebs have taken to Twitter like a bee to honey.  They know how important tweeting is to stay connected with their fans, although some have yet to learn that the first thought in your head isn’t always the one you should share with the world.  Are you curious who the top celebrities are that are followed on Twitter? 

1.     Lady Gaga.  With over 31 million followers, it’s no wonder that Lady Gaga is ranked the Queen of Twitter.  She joined Twitter in March of 2008 and has had a growing following.  She even thanked her “little monsters” for following her with a video message.

2.     Justin Beiber.  Not only does Justin hold the number 2 spot for followers, he likes to Tweet – a lot.  To date he has over 19,000 Tweets.

3.     Katy Perry.  California girl Katie Perry comes in at No. 3.

4.     Rhianna.  She keeps her fans following with updates on her upcoming album and tours.

5.     Barack Obama.  The leader of the free world doesn’t have a lot of time to tweet, so his account is run by staffers.  He does post a few tweets and they are signed “Bo.”

6.     Britney Spears.  The X-factor judge loves to keep her fans informed by tweeting.

7.     Taylor Swift.  This talented singer/songwriter has over 20 millions Twitter followers.

8.     Shakira.  Check out her interesting tweets.

9.     Kim Kardashian.  Many people love to hear about Kim and her sisters by following @KimKardashian.

10. Nicki Minaj.  Whether she is promoting her album or talking about being a judge on American Idol, Nicki is always interesting.

If you haven’t jumped on the Twitter bandwagon, you need to check it out and see why everyone loves to hear about their favorite celebs in 140 characters or less.

Are you using social media to generate sales? A new infographic reveals social commerce sales are expected to bring in approximately $30 billion each year by 2015, with half of web sales to occur through social media.  That’s a pretty large number.  Customers are reaching out beyond a company’s website to read blogs, follow on Twitter and Like a company on Facebook.   What can you do to stay on top of the game?  Read on.

Social Media Savvy.  Make sure that your sales reps are familiar with and active on social media websites.  This includes having a polished profile on sites such as Facebook and LinkedIn, responding to Twitter feeds and being aware of the latest websites that draw people.

Coordinate efforts.  Your sales team and social media team should coordinate efforts to be most effective.  Since social media is constantly changing, there are many creative ways to generate success for both teams.

Don’t just tout your product.  Social media sales require a different approach that doesn’t just focus on buying your product or service. Many times customers visit your website for information or through a link.  Using a direct sales approach can turn them off.  The best pitches sell people a lifestyle.  Think outside the box and appeal to your customers with a broader idea.

Enlist a Social Media Expert.  Social Compass can help you reach customers who are interested in your product by utilizing marketing automation.  You can reach your target audience, reply to them with a coupon, and reward them for sharing the coupon with their friends.  97% of online people are more likely to try a product or service if it is recommended by a social network user, so it’s important to make a social networking platform part of your business plan.

Social networking is a great way to reach out to your customer base, but there is more to it than just creating a Facebook page for your product or service.  There are do’s and don’ts for succeeding in this space, and we’ve listed our top 5 unwritten rules to help make your social media experience more successful.

1.     Be active.  When you set up a Facebook page or a Twitter account, you want to make sure you are actively monitoring it.  Have a plan before you begin as to who will monitor your social networking sites and how often.  You don’t want your customers posting questions or comments that do not get a response.

2.     Be interesting.  When you are blogging or providing information through a social network site, you want your content to be engaging.  Stay away from spammy sales pushes.  You should be interesting and give your readers something to talk about and share.

3.     Be grateful.  Don’t forget to thank your customers in some way.  According to Cone Research, 97 % of people are more likely to try a product or service if it is recommended by a friend.  Reaching out to your customers with incentives is a great way to get them to spread word of your business to their friends through their social networking sites.

4.     Be consistent.  Having a plan before you delve into social media marketing is important.  You want your message to be concise and consistent. It will help you build a loyal customer base.

5.     Be appropriate.  While posting pictures of your kitties fighting over a ball of yarn may be hilarious to your friends and family, this is something you should not share on your business’ website.  While you want to seem approachable, you don’t want your customers to view you as unprofessional.  What is appropriate to share?  Photos of team building events, new office space, posting a picture of a new salesperson are all great ways to seem real yet responsible.

A great way to increase sales and drive customers to your business is by visually attracting people to your site.  What better way to do that than through pictures.  The whole world is becoming more connected through photos, and you don’t want to miss the boat on this.  We’ll highlight three websites that allow you to download photos and start your clients talking.  Now you can drive customers to your business in a fun and interesting way!

Instagram.  Instagram is a quirky way to share mobile photos.  You can snap a photo on your phone and choose a filter to transform the image into a memory to keep forever.  The images you portray with Instagram look professional, and you can share them instantly on multiple services such as Flickr, Facebook and Twitter.  It’s fast and efficient and allows you to share instantly with whomever you want to reach.

Pinterest.  Pinterest is a virtual Pinboard and is one of the fastest growing websites in history.  People use Pinterest to organize and collect things they like and find interesting on the Web.  You can use Pinterest to increase your business by pinning one of your products on the Pinboard.  When people find it interesting, they follow your pin.  Their friends see it and repin to their boards and so on and so on.  It’s a great visual sharing tool.

Tumblr.  Tumblr was founded in February of 2007 and to date boasts over 60 million posts.  With Tumblr you can post text, photos, quotes, links and even music to reach your targeted audience. 

In the ultra-competitive marketplace, it’s good to reach out to your customers in different ways through different media.  The visual boom is here, and you can help your business grow by participating in this exciting, new space.

As companies become increasingly social, communication is no longer strictly a PR or marketing job.  Along with the many opportunities social media provides, there are also challenges.  Anyone promoting their brand via social media can use it as a tool to help build their brand, but it can just as easily crush it if they’re not careful.  Here are some tips on Social Media and control of your brand.

-Be consistent.  No matter how you use social media in your business – and you should be – you need to stay consistent to present a unified brand across all vehicles.  Integrate your traditional media resources with your participation in social media.

-Be informative.  While using social media to tout your brand, you also want to provide other information.  People sometimes stumble upon your site not knowing what they are looking for.  Providing a variety of good information will allow you to reach potential customers beyond those people who “like” you on Facebook.

-Establish trust.  Similar to the way you deposit money into a bank account and can write checks, if you keep establishing trust, you can eventually turn that into brand control and sales.  Without trust, your social media “checks” will eventually bounce.

-Be quirky.  Don’t be afraid to look real.  You don’t need a high-gloss professional image coming across at all times. 

-A channel to an end.  Think of social media as a way to eventually get people to visit your landing page.  It’s a great way to promote yourself.

Social Media can do wonders for your brand when it’s used the right way.  With over a billion people searching the web, you want to be sure you make a good first impression by maintaining brand control.   

Content marketing is an important tool in generating sales for your business, but many companies are unsure just what content marketing is and what it can do for their product or service.  We’ve broken down the basics of content marketing and how to make it work for you.

What it is.  Consumers are looking to be informed.  No one wants to search the internet looking for a sales pitch.    By giving your reader valuable information (or content), you engage them in what your website or blog has to offer.  By offering valuable content that readers want to seek out and is ranked well with Google, your content will work its way to the top of search engine results.  You want people to get to know, like and trust your brand without directly selling to them.

The best approach.  The businesses that have the most success online tend to take an approach that has a high amount of valuable content without an obvious sales agenda.  Give your readers what they think they want, and they will keep coming back to you.  Whether it’s problem solving or keeping them up to date on the latest information or products, once your customers trust you, they will want to frequent your site.  Your customers also want someone they can rely on.  Verifying the information in your content is important, and remember to keep it relevant and current.

Social Media and Content Marketing.  Social media is all about connecting.  People love to share their finds with their online friends.  They also like to recommend sites to visit and blogs they find interesting.  By providing content marketing that incentivizes people to share, you can reach a much broader audience.  If you create content that’s worthy of attention, it will be talked about and shared.

As social media continues to take over in the world of communication, a shift from text posts to visual media has begun to take place. We’ve even started applying visual media to our lives on a daily basis through the use of emojis in our text messages. With the rise of apps and networks such as Instagram, Vine, Pinterest, and YouTube, people are using visuals to communicate more than ever before.

Part of this is due to the fact that a picture can convey an idea more quickly in our fast-paced world, but also can share more than words on a screen. They also allow us to express the emotion behind our words, making the receiver more likely to interpret the information in the way that it was meant. Another asset that is helping this movement along is that pictures are more eye-catching and beg to be looked at more so than blocks of text.

This doesn’t mean that text posts are dead, but instead offers an opportunity to create a message that is stronger because of its support from multiple forms of media. By tying additional types of media into your message, you’ve helped to increase your audience as well as your sharability. After all, visual media is much more likely to be shared than text posts.

One way to include information with imagery that is gaining popularity is through infographics. These are visual representations of information and data that not only grab the viewer’s attention, but also share material in a concise and creative manner. They break up the information in a way that allows the reader to scan over the image but still take in the facts in a quicker way than reading a long text post.

We tend to opt for the quickest and most effective way to absorb material, and visual media offers just that. So why not take a lesson from our childhood days of picture books and allow ourselves to take in the same information in a faster and more efficient way?

Chances are you’ve heard the term cloud computing or “The Cloud.” Cloud computing in its simplest terms means instead of all the hardware and software you’re using sitting on your desktop or in your company’s network, it’s provided as a service over the Internet.  If your IT department is still running pre-cloud, it’s like driving a 1980 Camero instead of a late-model Ferrari. Catch up on your social speak and learn what The Cloud is all about.

Software as a Service.  SaaS delivers a single application through the browser to thousands of customers.  For customers, this means no upfront investment in servers or software licensing.  On the provider side, since there is just one app to maintain, costs are low compared to conventional hosting.

Web Services.  Similar to SaaS, Web service providers allow developers to exploit functionality over the Internet without delivering full-blown apps.  Some examples of web services may be a map website, credit card processing or the U.S. Postal Service.

Platform as a Service.  At its core, PaaS, eliminates the expense and complexity of evaluating, buying, configuring, and managing all the hardware and software needed for custom-built applications.  It delivers development environments. These services are somewhat constrained by the vendor's design and capabilities, so while it doesn’t allow you complete freedom, you do get predictability and pre-integration. 

Utility computing.  This is a more revived form of cloud computing that has been around for a while.  Many companies will offer storage or virtual servers that IT can access on demand.

Managed Service Providers (MSP).  Virus scanning of e-mails or application monitoring are prime examples of MSPs.  It’s an application that works with IT rather than the end-user and has been around for quite some time.

Cloud Computing is constantly evolving.  Many cloud applications can be right for your business.  In order to keep up with the growing technology you should find the fit that is right for you.

In what ways has The Cloud helped your business?

With some web content getting thousands or millions of hits per day, it’s easy to see how fast something can spread on the Internet.  Here are a few ways that can occur.

Memes.  You may have heard this term  (pronounced like “team”) for a symbol, picture or idea that’s propagated on the web.  In theory, memes have been around for a while.  Before they were spread on the web, they were spread by word of mouth.  Think of a story you heard several times in slightly different versions about a friend of a friend.  Many memes are pictures with a humorous caption added.  Some memes are meant to offer a deep message or a social statement.  An example of one popular meme was “Rickroll” where people were sending emails that seemed to have a link related to business content but actually linked to a Rick Astley music video from the ‘80s. 

GIFs.  GIF is an acronym for Graphics Interchange Format.  Now, how to pronounce it?  Many people say “Jif,” like the peanut butter – while others pronounce it with a hard G.  Either way, GIFs are most commonly used for graphics presented on websites.  They can contain a maximum of 256 colors, so are best for images that contain simple shapes.  Think of a short scene in a move repeating over and over.  And if you’ve ever seen a banner with a hand that waves or letters that keep getting larger, that is an animated GIF. 

Videos.  Viral videos are shared via the Internet usually through video-sharing websites, email or social media sites.  They are usually humorous or contain outrageous acts that people love to watch over and over again.  Some viral videos are meant to be social statements.  Many videos, once viral, are viewed millions and millions of times, and some have even spawned Internet celebrities. 

Are you wondering how to create viral content?  Positive content seems to get more views than negative content.  Emotionally evoking content also seems to get many hits.  And if you have any useful, practical tips, they do tend to get shared.  If you’re trying to get noticed, some types of viral content may be useful in a business application. 

Couch potatoes, the term given to those individuals that spend their days or evenings in front of the television, are now becoming more active. No, I don’t mean there has been a sudden surge of couch potatoes to the gym; however, I do mean more active via social media sites. While many of us may not proudly boast the nickname “couch potato” we have all at one point been in that tricky technological conundrum: feet propped, laptop in place, phone nearby, and our tablet charging on the coffee table, you know, just in case. We may be watching our favorite shows, but we are simultaneously connected to Facebook, Twitter, and other social sites, scrolling through updates and opinions, many concerning what’s playing on the tube.

Social media is changing the way we watch television because it allows viewers to knock down the constraints of living room walls. Discussions concerning the programs we watch not only can take place within our home, they can also be held among all the individuals we are connected with online. Taking this into consideration, marketers will need to continually differentiate how they approach not only social media advertising but also how television ads can be enhanced with a developed online approach. You may have already noticed this transition taking place.

Look for it the next time your favorite show goes to a commercial break. Most commercials will flash a “hashtag” associated with the product or service, as to start a trending topic on Twitter. This allows viewers to talk or give their opinion online about the commercial itself or the product or service, giving marketers something that traditional television advertising can’t do: provide immediate feedback. You may also see the call to action, “Find us on Facebook” in hopes that you are on Facebook and will venture over and “like” their page, allowing them to post brand updates in your newsfeed.

While this may only be a small example of how social media is affecting television advertising, marketers need to understand that a connected approach will increase their bottom line. Actively listening online to see what individuals are saying about your brand can enhance a television ad campaign while passive advertising with no follow-up on social media sites, can be detrimental to your brand.

Ironically, the couch potato is gaining more control as what they say and share online concerning certain brands can instantly have an effect on a company’s public reception. Marketers, it’s time to pay these loungers some attention! Don’t be blinded by their bathrobes and slippers because their voices are growing in power as more and more people pay attention to what their friends are saying about companies online.  

Responsive Web Design (RWD) is quickly becoming more popular among designers and developers. The technique implements the HTML & CSS code of your website in such a way that allows the same functionality to Desktop, Tablet and Mobile browsers, all using the same URL.

Several large corporations have already gone responsive, including Time Magazine, Starbucks, BBC News, Disney, among many others. It can be easy to underestimate the value of RWD since the technique is mainly for designers and developers, but the impact on your web strategy should not be overlooked.

As a Front-End developer, I am continuously researching and evaluating new techniques that can improve the user experience and bring value to our clients. RWD is one of those techniques that can be relatively easy to implement and can have a great impact not only on the user experience, but on your ROI.

These are some of the top reasons why you should embrace RWD and why it can be best suited to do the job:

It force developers to write better code

RWD forces your developers to focus on the details, which in turn provides a better product in the end. As a side effect your code is better structured, more concise; thus faster and can have a positive SEO impact.

Improves your ROI

Investing in Desktop, Tablet, and Mobile sites can quickly become expensive and in some cases unattainable. With RWD you can reach all of those audiences with a single website. RWD allows the developer to focus on a single codebase that reaches multiple platforms and decreases the amount of time your developer spends coding your application.

Future-Proofs against new devices

We are all aware of the speed at which new devices show up on the market. New screen sizes, functionalities and more; all for you to take advantage of. But all of this magic can quickly become obscured by mediocre user experience. Research shows that twice as many people use their mobile device to access the web compared to desktop users. Granted, many mobile devices do a pretty decent job at resizing the web page to provide a good experience, but this is not a typical experience for all websites. If RWD is properly implemented, users with new devices will be able to get a better experience from your site.

Google recommends sites that are implemented with RWD

RWD techniques solve several issues related to duplicate content when the search engine crawls your site. This reduces the potential for mistakes when listing your site in the search engines and can help improve your rankings.

RWD + Site Usability = Happy Users

We all want users to return to our site. When users experience a site built with RWD, their reaction is not one of frustration because your site doesn’t support mobile devices. Even if your analytics show little traffic from mobile or tablet users, implementing RWD most likely will increase the number of visitors to your site using one of these devices.

In summary, Responsive Web Design isn’t just about checking the box for mobile visitors; this constitutes an entire new strategy for taking your project to the next level.

Improving Usability, SEO, and creating an overall better product is one of the main reasons why RWD could be the very best thing that can happen to your website. 

Recently Twitter released its newest mobile service they have named Vine. The app can be downloaded for free on your iPhone, iPad or iPod touch. It works by creating short videos of six seconds or less.

The video can be stopped and started as many times as you would like during the allotted six seconds. Many people have been using this feature to create stop-motion videos. After recording the video is saved to the camera roll and can be shared on the app itself, Twitter or Facebook. However, you can only share the video upon upload.

Many are arguing that the app is a knock off of another app, Cinegram. Both apps have similar purposes but the newness and buzz around it have caught tech journalist by storm.

The first news video appeared on the app about a dolphin trapped in the New York Harbor. News organizations are not the only ones using the software for their business. Many brands have begun experimenting with the app as well. Clothing brands such as Urban Outfitters and Gap have used it for fun videos and advertising looks respectively.  Sports teams have used it to post snippets of interviews.  While the Brooklyn Nets used the service to show off how their players warm up. The candy brand Red Vines used it to show off their product line.

So why should businesses and brands take advantage of the new Twitter companion? It is great for making more of a connection with customers and potential customers. It can definitely be taken advantage of by every business, but especially by those that use promoted tweets. Ideas for other vine videos would be contests, special offers, or even just short updates in six seconds. So if Paul McCartney and Tyra are using it, along with Malibu Rum, Glamour Denmark, and other big names, What is stopping you?

People want what they want, when they want it.

This single fact has changed the course of how we consume our news and information.

DVR’s are nothing new to the TV industry, but with the latest introduction from DISH of the Hopper, they’ve now made it even easier for consumers to completely skip all commercials during Primetime HD TV. DISH recognized a market desire and simply responded to what consumers wanted. The Hopper’s leading slogan is “Watch TV, Not Commercials”. This is precisely in response to consumers saying, “I want my shows. I don’t want those annoying commercials.”

TV commercials would be considered by most companies as “Must Have” and “Traditional” in their advertising mix. “We’ve always done it and it’s always worked… but it doesn’t work as well as it once did”. I hear it all the time. And believe me, I understand. As advertisers, you want to get the most for your money and you want to engage as many people as possible so that you can grow your brand and your business. As long as you have had the budget, TV has been that main medium for decades.

But things have change.

And they’re continuing to change.

The industry is upside down from where it once was. Companies now have to respond to the consumer’s request: This is what I want and I want it now.

Social Media. It’s not a fad. Yes, some networks come and go…. (ahem, MySpace). But in the here and now, we can observe how consumers are behaving online and then we can capitalize on that. My marketing research classes taught me one thing: Observe how the market behaves, learn from it, and then make your educated move. We’re not throwing darts against a wall and hoping it sticks. These are educated trends that we can learn from and utilize to grow our business.

But you better hurry. Time is money. And in the Social Media space, days are years and months are decades. It’s time to learn from what consumers say they want.

I leave you with this thought. What if I told you I could “listen” to what consumers publicly say on Social Media? That’s right, tweets and status updates. What keywords would you look for? “I’m hungry.” “I need a vacation.” “I want to see the Rockies win the World Series.” You fill in the blank.

I have good news: the technology to do what I just described is available and we have the power to use it for your brand. We can reply to those needs/wants/desires with your brand’s offer. In real time. It’s what I like to call a perishable sales opportunity. More on that in my next blog.

I leave you with this: If someone said they needed what your business sells, what would you say to them if you could reply in real time? 

Having spent several years working with a marketing company that sells use of software with multiple graphical user interfaces (“GUI’s”)[those ubiquitous display screen user interfaces (on computers, smartphones, tablets, household appliances, office equipment, industrial equipment, and the like)], I have uncovered two steps that people who sell a product with a GUI (e.g., a platform, like a smartphone; or software, like for marketing) can take to make a fortune:

1.              Engage an outside, experienced art director to make an improved GUI for the product.  An outside, experienced art director [or, possibly, a UI or User Experience (UX) designer] is generally better than an in-house person for this type of work because, when properly selected, he or she has special expertise, can do unbiased work, and doesn’t (allegedly) “have better things to do.”  Here are four ways an art director can improve a GUI:

a.       Make a GUI that is easier to interact with than existing GUI’s.  It should be easy to enter information to and extract useful data from a GUI.  If not, the art director can see - and fix - that.

b.      Make a GUI that is easier to understand than existing GUI’s.  No one should be confused by what is on a GUI.  If something about a GUI is confusing, the art director can make it operate better, for more people.

c.      Make a GUI with which it is easier to navigate than existing GUI’s.  People hate having to consult a user’s manual or some “expert” because a desired function is buried and can’t seem to be accessed.

d.     Make a GUI that accommodates a desired, not aggravating, advertisement better than existing GUI’s.  Having a desired, not aggravating, advertisement appear on the GUI of a smartphone, for instance, can be a powerful way for companies to monetize their efforts.

2.              Engage a patent professional to patent the improved GUI.   An outside patent professional can offer you the expertise, independence, and attention you deserve.  Improved GUI’s increases sales.  Being able to provide users with good advertising increases conversions.  Design patents can be obtained fairly quickly, fairly inexpensively, and have potentially large damages (total profit of an infringer under 35 U.S.C. § 289) and they cover GUI’s well (Apple’s design patent for a smartphone GUI in its case against Samsung – that the jury “Reasonably Found . . . to be Valid and Infringed” per Judge Koh’s January 29, 2013 ruling - is one of many examples).  Competitors copy good GUI’s (because they know that good GUI’s make a product successful), copying is easy to detect, and with a design patent covering it, significant damages may be obtained.

Taking those two steps, the owner of a product with a GUI can collect a fortune comprising:  (1) money for selling the product with an improved GUI ($); (2) money for advertising with the GUI ($$)(assuming you get part d of step 1 done); and (3) money for licensing the design patent covering the GUI ($$$). 

If you’re anything like the ladies in our office, you know all the juicy details about this season’s The Bachelor with Sean Lowe and his 26 hopefuls. This dapper bachelor pulls on my heartstrings a little more than others in season’s past simply because he was born and raised within the streets surrounding our office. Coincidentally, I found myself connecting the dots between how some of my job duties relate to my Monday evening obsession. Here are a few similarities between the two things I enjoy doing for business and for pleasure!

You must keep your target entertained and engaged.

Whether you’re searching for the love of your life or brainstorming for new blog topics, be sure to consider the interests of your target (audience). If they aren’t interested in what you’re putting out there, it may be time to review your performance and create a new strategy.

For best chances of survival, you’ll need to come with a bag of tricks.

There are plenty of other fish in the sea; so, what are you going to do to guarantee you stand out from the crowd? For many, this includes confidently leaving your target audience, or future spouse, with a good impression of yourself. Entice them with something that will make them keep coming back for more. I think we can mostly all agree that Ashley would have had a better chance with Sean if she packed something besides a gray tie in her bag of tricks. Sure, she grabbed his attention for the moment, but this bachelor wasn’t too fond of the tie and chose to move on to more appealing bachelorettes.

Fresh content and attractive visuals never hurt anyone.

When in doubt, always seek to provide fresh information for your audience. People are far more likely to continue revisiting your blog (or keep asking you for more dates) if you always have something interesting to talk about. Note the emphasis on “interesting”. Remember, no one likes to spend time with someone (or something) dull and boring. Also, think about how you are presenting your information to the audience. A visually-appealing website tends to intrigue readers as they spend more time on your site and are likely to come back for more.

If you’re interested in learning more about blogging and how it can help your business, contact Social Compass. Also, be sure to ask about our patent pending software as a service (SaaS) platform that utilizes marketing automation to help businesses reach their target audience through social media.

Healthcare social media isn’t a buzzword, and it’s not a trend. It’s a global shift in how patients and the healthcare industry connect.

For many looking for healthcare information, the Internet has become a critical stop in the research process. More than one out of five Internet users named the Internet as their most trusted source of medical information, according to a September survey conducted by RxAlly.

The data clearly reflects the practices by which Internet users seeking healthcare info use the web—to educate themselves and find online communities to address health-related concerns (our software can help you tap into these).  It's worth pointing out that 86% of web searchers trust SEO listings more than sponsored PPC listings.  This data also validates the value in being able to use Social Compass’s listening and location targeting software, which enables you to find a patient that has a specific and immediate need and respond to it accordingly. 

The healthcare industry is changing with incredible speed, and one of the major contributors to this change is the dramatic upsurge in healthcare communication brought on by social media and content marketing.  This behavior can be contributed to two simple reasons.

First, social media is all about relationships. Facebook, Twitter, online support groups -- they are all about sharing and interaction. And those are the building blocks for relationships.  These support groups have moved from the local community center and hospital meeting rooms to chat rooms, group forums and discussions.

Second, social media is all about communication. We need more ongoing, real-time communication in health care. Not just the communication that happens in support groups (although that's important), but also communication that allows us to give information back and forth.  Cone research conducted a study that found 97% of Americans are more likely to try a product or service if a social network friend recommended it.

The evolution of social media amongst healthcare professionals has been driven by a greater need for transparency, and a 2012 consumer poll revealed that 54 percent of patients are comfortable with their medical providers seeking advice from online communities to help better treat their conditions. Less than one in ten stated that they were “very uncomfortable” with the idea. 

Engagement is one of the many things that social media does really well.  Opening up the communication fields between physician and patient is something that should be done in both offline and online settings.  Allowing patients to engage with their caregivers via social media is helping to erase barriers and engage people. 

If you would have told me five years ago that I would be working as a Front-End Developer in one of what I believe is the most dynamic fields in human history, I would have said you were totally out of your mind.

After practicing Optometry for six years, and later being involved in other areas of the optical field for another ten, it was practically inconceivable to make a career change at that point.

The fact that the two disciplines could not be further apart from each other, plus the increasing complexity of the web industry as a whole, made the switch between the two even more unthinkable.

But for me, the most unthinkable part was to wake up one day, five or ten years from now and still have the same question playing in my mind over and over again: What if?

This question was eating me up...”What if I had make the switch and decided to pursue my dream? How would my life be by now?”

We are creatures of habit, and anything new is always scary.

We are the only creatures in nature who worry about our own future. But it is also what allows us to be creative and push ourselves to great extents.

To me, the whole idea of going back to school was actually exciting and I was eager to start my new adventure.

Although I had many interrogatives and self-doubt, plenty of research and deep soul searching was the best solution in my case.

As a Front-End developer, the amount of skills needed is overwhelming at first. The dynamic nature of this field means that new techniques are being created and developed within a matter of weeks.

The incredible popularity of mobile devices and people browsing the web on their phones has double that of desktop users. If we keep in mind that this trend will only increase with time, then we can foresee a bright future for mobile devices and the ensuing challenges for Front-End Developers. If you add to that the constant creation of new and improved devices like iPhones and tablets, very quickly you'll have a myriad of possibilities in the ways we use/surf the web and access to various applications.

But this dynamic nature of the field was exactly what attracted me the most. The thought of developing something that could potentially be used by hundreds or thousands of people was incredibly exciting to me.

Fast forward four years and after countless hours of reading and many sleepless nights, I had finally accomplished my goal, my dream of becoming a Web Designer and Developer.

The road ahead is long and you can't ever really say that you have learned everything that there is to it. In fact, I don't think you should ever be satisfied with what you know.  This hunger for knowledge is what keeps me going, and it was in many forms the catalyst of my career change.

Confucius said: "Choose a job you love, and you will never have to work a day in your life."

This has never been more truthful for me, as it is now.

If you are in “the same boat” I was in before, you owe it to yourself to make a change and pursue your dreams.

Don't allow the ego to convince you that you are too old, too young, not smart enough, or any other negative thought influence you in the pursuit of your happiness.

As an early employee at Social Compass, my job was one that was basically a catchall for all things tech in which I spent over a year as the company's Interactive Director. This meant not only was I in charge of overseeing (myself, and eventually others) the creation of new landing pages and email campaigns as well as all other web and design based needs for our clients, but I was the IT guy for our company (and Google was often my "IT guy"). I found myself doing many jobs, but none of them really were what I wanted to do. That is until I was presented with an opportunity to essentially start over.

Let me take a step back and say that I enjoyed what I did, but I often felt like I was in over my head. I never really had a management level position before and continually relied on myself to get things done rather than entrusting others (e.g. independent contractors) to help me get my various tasks done. This led to frustration and not really enjoying my job. Honestly, all I really knew (albeit I knew it well) coming in to this job was HTML and CSS, I was in no way prepared to manage (much less be in charge of) anything. But then last spring Social Compass connected with a crew of three guys out of Austin, TX that would be my saving grace. I was given the opportunity to change my career path. The decision, while initially difficult was actually pretty simple, study under this crew and become a Ruby on Rails developer.

I started with an online class and a week long course on Ruby and Rails respectively before joining the Austin team in August. Having not done much else other than Front End coding (I dabbled in Javascript and jQuery, but I was barely at an intermediate skill level in either), this appeared to be an make or break decision on my part. If I turned out to be not very good at engineering applications, I could find myself stuck as an HTML/CSS guy for a long time. And while being awesome at that type of coding is great, it's not really the best place to find yourself in for a permanent career path.

Fast forward to the end of the year and I've now been at this for about 4 months. While I still find myself overwhelmed at times as I don't always understand how the code is structured or what syntax to use where, I feel like not only have a come a long way, but I'm excited to be doing this and truly enjoy coming in to the office each day to tackle whatever problems are thrown at me.

So here I am, three and a half years with Social Compass and I'm really just getting started. But what's exciting is that we've got so many things planned and so many ideas, that by the time another three and a half years have passed, I'm hoping to have come full circle; as a Director level (or higher!) employee. But by then, not only will I be better prepared, I'll have been through the trenches and really know what it takes to tackle projects of all sizes and difficulties.

(?<=^|>)[^><]+?(?=<|$)

If you are like I used to be, you're probably thinking, "what in the world is that?"  Regular expressions can be very scary, especially if you have no idea how they work and what the symbols mean.  The good thing about regular expressions, also referred to as RegEx, is that once you memorize even the basic symbols they get much easier to understand and write.

The Basics

There are a ton of different combinations that can be used to create regular expressions, but there are really only a hand full of individual symbols that you need to worry about.  The first thing to learn is that all regular expressions are surrounded by a pair of forward slashes, /  /, and the expression is everything in between them.  So, what goes in the middle?

Note: Ignore the dashes after the symbols, they are not part of the expression.

      •     . - A period matches any character, except for line breaks if dotall (which I will go over later) is false.

      •     * - Matches 0 or more of the preceding character.

      •     + - Matches 1 or more of the preceding character.

      •     ? - Preceding character is optional, matching 0 or 1 occurrence.  One ? is 'greedy', which means it will always try to match 1; insert two question marks (??) for a lazy match which will matches few characters as possible.  This goes for all 'preceding matching symbols' such as *? which makes the * lazy.

      •     \d - Matches any single digit.

      •     \w - Matches any word character (alphanumeric & underscore)

      •     [XYZ] - Matches any single character from the class, i.e. X, or Y, or Z.

      •     [XYZ]+ - Matches one or more of any characters in the class, i.e. XX, XYZ, XZZ.

Options

There are also a few options you can include in your regular expression, but they go after the last forward slash. For example,

/(?<=^|>)[^><]+?(?=<|$)/gi

      •     g - Global.  Without this option, the expression will only match the first occurrence.

      •     i - ignoreCase.  Pretty self-explanatory; this will return a valid match ignoring the case.

      •     m - Multiline code, where ^ and & match the beginning and end of each line (instead of the beginning and end of the input string).

      •     s - Dotall or single line, where the period matches every character, including \n.

There are a few more, but these are probably the most commonly used options.

Like I mentioned before, there are many more to list.  It is recommended to make flash cards to help memorize them, or even try writing your own expressions.  A great place to try your regular expressions is the online tool for editing and testing, RegExr by gskinner.  The tool has most or all symbols with descriptions, as well as descriptions when you hover over any part of the regular expression.

Uses

You might find yourself not needing regular expressions very often, but they can be very useful and powerful when you do.

      •     Form validation

      •     Grabbing HTML tags or grabbing everything except HTML tags, stripping them.

      •     Trimming whitespace

      •     Matching IP addresses

Learn More

      •     http://gskinner.com/RegExr/

      •     http://net.tutsplus.com/tutorials/javascript-ajax/you-dont-know-anything-about-regular-expressions/ - A great introduction that lists a few methods to use with regular expressions.

      •     http://net.tutsplus.com/tutorials/php/regular-expressions-for-dummies-screencast-series/ - A free screencast series for using regular expressions with JavaScript and PHP.

Hey y’all! I’m Chelsey and I’m part of the fulfillment team as the interactive producer here at Social Compass. As an interactive producer my responsibilities include location based comments and reputation management.

What are location-based comments? That means I use twitter to find people that are commenting on and talking about activities, places, and products relating to our clients. With the launch of our software, finding and responding to those comments is more efficient and faster.  I reach out to potential customers to offer them discounts and coupons. This works because we are producing leads for the clients that will turn into customers and then referrals.

What is reputation management? For this part of my job, I check review sites for the clients and respond to reviews left by customers and patrons. On these sites, we find both positive and negative comments. We thank the positive commenters for their loyalty and suggest them referring our clients to all of their friends. For the negative commenters, we apologize for the less than stellar experience, offer a phone number for them to call, and try to rectify the situation as best we can.  This is an important step because more and more people are leaning on the reviews of other people before trying a new product, place, or activity. We want potential customers to see that we care about the opinions and reviews of customers.

When I first started at Social Compass I was a social media intern in the summer of 2011. I really enjoyed my summer as an intern and hoped that I would be able to come back to work here. In October, I returned as a full-time employee and could not be happier about it. My job, the office, and the people are more awesome than you can imagine. There’s no other job that could be anywhere near as fun.

Blog research is a huge aspect of the Content Producer’s job. Since we have degrees in journalism, English, or public relations, it comes as no shock that we aren’t experts in industrial lighting, laser eye surgery, or child proofing homes. However, we spend a majority of our days writing on these exact topics, which is where blog research sneaks in.

If you had told me six months ago that I would be knowledgeable on both Hooters chicken wings and how to child proof a home, I would have laughed. The luxury of my job is that with such a variety of accounts I am never bored. I can spend my morning researching what it takes to be a Hooters Girl, and my afternoon looking up ways to make a home safe for a newborn. While these things don’t exactly fit together, for a blogger they are all in a day’s work.  

As a Content Producer, it is my responsibility to create compelling content that will draw in readers. In order for this content to be credible it must be backed by research.  Research can come from a variety of different channels, such as a company’s website or online articles relating to their product or service. Research can even be done in non-traditional forms, such as enjoying an episode of Design Star while taking mental notes on the latest interior design trends for a furniture store’s blog.

We do everything from studying catalogs to watching “How-To” videos to learn more about the company’s we write for. Writing a blog is more than putting a certain number of words together; it’s putting the right words together. Compelling and credible words backed by thoughtful research. 

To learn more about blog research and creating credible content, contact Social Compass. We would love to talk to you about our software as a service (Saas) platform that utilizes marketing automation to help business reach their target audience through social media.  Reach. Reply. Reward.

Traditionally, art direction has been the concept of controlling the narrative. An art director’s goal is not only to create visually stimulating work, but also visually stimulating narratives. In traditional advertising, this is usually a fixed state.

However, in today’s digital world, the art director not only has to deal with the narrative, but also the digital media behavior. What does this mean? Well, when you look at a magazine advertisement, it is a fixed image, meaning the user has no control of how the advertisement appears. With digital media, the user can manipulate how they visualize the content.

Digital media allows for an abundance of behaviors. Text can be enlarged; typeface can be totally different (There are only a limited number of fonts that can be used safe in the knowledge that they were originally installed on most PCs and Mac’s); text can read aloud by reading software; and the user can possibly even edit the text. This increases the complexity of what an art director is faced with when creating an idea.

In the digital world, the art director has to keep in mind that the audience is now the ‘user’ and the digital platforms they use give the user more control.

Digital media follows a many-to-many paradigm much more akin to conversations. Most digital content is text-based and might suggest documentary qualities, but in fact they are forms of conversations such as emails, instant messages, blogs, and newsletters. These forms of content are much simpler for today’s audiences to digest, as they are comparable to the unpredictability of conversations.

Since traditional values of design play an important role in creating great digital experiences, today’s digital art directors are challenged to seamlessly incorporate the traditional narrative into modern behavioral experiences. This includes integrating the documentary approach into today’s digital platforms for conversation.

Well-crafted narratives give rise to substantive conversations.

The user relies on the art director to create online experiences that are guided and clear. The incorporation of traditional art direction practices such as typography, layout schemes, visual consistency, branding, photography, and illustration are an important role in conjuring an elegant, trustworthy environment. The creative environment is where users can interact with the data, content, and other users within this online community. However, this may be the bane of an art director’s career when it comes to keeping the balance between a traditional and digital platform. In some situations, such as creating email campaigns, the constraints of the propriety email software may not allow for layered artwork in the final design. Or, in the case of digital advertising units, the media server may only allow for so much image ‘weight’ for download or polite load, so the quality of images may not be as sharp as compared to the printed version of the advertisement.

As digital media continues to evolve, the limitations are lowering with how digital creative is designed. Contact Social Compass to learn more about the direction of digital art. Also, be sure to ask about our patent pending software as a service (SaaS) platform that utilizes marketing automation to help businesses reach their target audience through social media.

More times than not, when I meet with a prospect for Social Compass they usually have a blog created, but fail to post content regularly.  The leading cause tends to be a lack of resources.  For many companies, social media is something assigned to a young member of the staff that has expressed an interest in capturing additional responsibility within the organization.  This is an ideal pick for a couple reasons. 

First, the younger employees typically are the only ones who understand the concept behind facebook, pinterest, twitter, instagram, tumblr, etc.  Second, the seasoned/tenured within the organization typically fail to understand the value proposition of using these platforms for business, but begrudgingly yield to the idea that they must participate to be viewed as an organization that is progressive and in touch with consumer behavior and preferences.

Social Compass differentiates itself by providing cost- effective quality content ready for publication, from talented, credentialed writers. Social Compass has and will continue to effectively author content on a virtually any subject, from a variety of industries and segments.  We will compose (20) blogs per month for our clients.  This velocity will ensure numerous keywords listing on page one of the various search engines over a short period of time.

• Our 300 word daily blogs are sure to engage the consumer while enhancing your SEO efforts through the back links they create.

• Our 3000 word eBooks will share important aspects of your company and the products you offer.

• Our monthly newsletter will be emailed to keep your customer up to date on the latest information and products you want them to know about.

The content we create will always be imbedded with call-to-action buttons encouraging consumers to download the client’s e-book or latest discount offer.  The obvious advantage is driving consumers to our various landing pages to capture their information and begin building the customer database.  It also allows us to enter them into our marketing automation.  The goal is convert each prospect to into a customer and eventually a brand ambassador with our referral incentives. 

Content Marketing is based on the premise that developing informative, high-quality content can engage and educate users. It increases brand awareness while attracting potential customers and creating permanent users. The goal of content marketing is to improve brand loyalty and retain reader’s attention, while ultimately leading to profitable customer action. Comprehensive content marketing is achieved through the following actions:

• Blogging – Posting blogs daily creates new content for users to discover. At Social Compass, we have a team of highly trained writers to create content for your business. Rather than generating generic blogs, our Content Producers, like myself, learn your brand, listen to your feedback, and create content that is targeted toward consumers in your defined market.
• eBooks – eBooks are for users who are interested in learning more about a particular topic and want to dive deep into more information. By actively listening on social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter, we develop eBooks that are relevant to the user, leading to potential downloads and increased leads. eBooks are the perfect way to target scholastic searchers or consumers who are always asking, “Why?”
• Landing Pages – An effective landing page can increase conversions and create a successful campaign. The content on landing pages can make the difference between a “click” and a “submission.” Straightforward wording combined with sophisticated design is sure to lead to more prospects.
• Search Engine Optimization – How will new users find your content if is not optimized for search engines? They won’t.  By including search-optimized keywords in each blog post, consumers are more likely to find your business when searching online. This can turn a search for information into a permanent user.
• Social Media – Connecting your content to your social media accounts is often overlooked when it comes to content marketing. Promoting your blog posts via social media sites such as Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn broadens your audience, creating more chances to attain new customers.

Content marketing focuses on quality content in order to inform readers while creating regular users. A social media campaign without content creates an imbalanced approach leaving users with only an overview of the product or service, but not a full understanding of the business. A comprehensive approach combining these strategies can lead to greater customer awareness and a stronger brand. How can content marketing work for you? 

As V.P. of Development, some of my job is obviously technology-related. It involves evaluating and using new technologies, setting standards for the company, etc. But, by far, the most important aspect of my job isn’t about technology at all. It’s about working with the developers who deploy the technology that make Social Compass’ offerings world-class.

Developers (I speak as one myself) are an odd lot. An example: on Friday afternoons, the company often takes an extended lunch. We gather to play board games! Now, for most people, this is an opportunity for some social fun. While that’s true for developers, it’s a bit more complicated.

First, we have to understand the rules. Easy enough? Well, developers learn quite early to look for edge cases – those places where the rules don’t apply so easily. As it turns out, edge cases provide an entire class of possible software bugs.

The concern over what would happen once we arrived at the year 2000 was such a bug. Software written in the early days of programming had to be very careful about storing too much data: early memory capacity was very limited. That led to the abbreviation of year dates. Instead of 1972, for example, the programmers truncated the year to 72. This worked fine—until we arrived at the year 2000. Did the truncated 00 mean 1900 or 2000. Since those early days, we’ve learned a lot about possible sources of software errors—and edge cases are one such source.

Back to our programmers at Friday game days: rules for board games are usually quite succinct. While this allows people to quickly learn and play the game, it also means that those dreaded edge cases are ignored. For most players, this presents no problem. By nature, edge cases don’t come up that often; if and when they do, the players try to come up with an ad hoc solution. Not so, we developers!

The practical result of this is that, before we can get started with a game, we probe for all possible edge cases. What happens if two people land on the same square? If you run out of money, can you borrow from another player? What happens if the game runs out of money – can we “print” more?

Now, these might seem like silly questions. But when the subject at hand is not board games but software, the search for edge cases becomes very important. So, if you find yourself someday playing a game – and are frustrated by one of the players who insists on exploring all possible scenarios within the game, be patient with them: it’s an occupational hazard. 

Whenever you visit a web page, a number of processes are happening behind the scenes. Websites consist of a series of folders and files full of code, which is run on a server. When a website's server receives a request from a user, those files determine which code executes and returns the result to the user. Programmers have come up with several patterns that help to streamline this process. The most common pattern categorizes files under a controller folder, a model folder, and a view folder, and requires one stand-alone routes file. This pattern is known as a Model View Controller, or MVC, and it operates quite a bit like a restaurant.

The routes file.  The routes file lists all possible requests, like items on a menu that a user could make. It's that simple!

Note: Routes are not unique to the MVC pattern. Most other patterns have their own way of routing requests. This is why it is not called RMVC.

The controller files.  These files are like the waiters in the restaurant. Their job is to listen for users' requests from the routes file, tell models to process those requests, and finally, to render the right views in order to display the results on a web page. This is similar to a waiter taking your order, telling a chef to prepare the food, and then bringing you what you ordered.

The model files.  These guys are the chefs. They do all the request processing and contain the majority of the logical code. An example would be checking out on Amazon.com. Once the page request gets to the model, the code is responsible for making sure that your cart items are still in stock, that you have entered valid credit card information, and that your purchase information is stored in a database to track your purchase history. In the same way, a chef has to process the order that was given to him by the waiter. If customer orders mushrooms and the kitchen is out of mushrooms, the chef has to send an “error message” that there aren't any mushrooms. Whatever the request is, the model has to be prepared to handle it and make sure the appropriate response is sent back to the controller.

The view files.  Here come the entrees! View files create all of the pages that a user sees on a website. They take the data generated by the models, via the controller, and render view files by passing along the information that the file requires. For example, after you click the 'Purchase' button on Amazon.com, you expect the next page to be your order confirmation. This view file may require information such as a list of all items purchased and the expected arrival date of the order. These would be generated by the models and given to the view file via the controller. View files are the end results for user requests and are the only part of the MVC pattern that the user can actually see.

Understanding the MVC pattern can be tricky at first, but once you get it, everything becomes easier. Because computers process this information so quickly behind the scenes, this process appears to work like magic. If you take an in-depth look, however, it makes a little more sense.

Today’s entrepreneurs who use continuous innovation to create successful businesses (“lean startups”) should get patents to further their goals.

First reason: it’s easy to do. 

Entrepreneurs can simply, quickly and inexpensively file provisional patent applications covering their innovations during the design and development process.  Since the innovations are covered very early and prerelease, the entrepreneurs don’t need to worry about:

1.      Trying harder to win races to the Patent Office in a “’first-to-file’ wins” system;

2.      Dealing with U.S. “diligence” windows designed to speed people up; or

3.      Meeting any foreign requirements that a patent application be on file before a product is released. 

The provisional patent applications can be turned into regular patent applications under U.S. law and into regular foreign applications under international law if the entrepreneur decides when the provisional patent applications are six to nine months old that the innovations warrant such treatment (when they have more information so they can make better decisions!).    When the patents issue, the entrepreneur can decide whether to use them for defensive purposes (to hold competitors at bay) or for offensive purposes (to obtain licensing or sales revenue).

Second reason:  it will anger customers and potential customers if it doesn’t.

If it doesn’t file provisional patent applications to lock in its patent rights, the company will still 1) analyze requirements for the product (deciding what features it should have), 2) develop the product, and 3) test it.   For doing this the company will charge its customers a certain amount – say “x” – for its product.

If and when the product is successful in the marketplace, a thief will likely copy it as much as possible (duplicating the general structure, at least, and any easily duplicable portions, most likely) - significantly shortening or entirely bypassing the analysis, development, and testing steps– and offer it for sale for much less than “x.”

The results:

1.      The company’s customers will be mad.  People who paid x for the product will see something similar on the market for much less than what they paid for it.

2.      The company will not gain any new customers.  People will prefer to purchase the product from the thief because it is cheaper.

3.      The thief will be in an excellent position to make things even worse for the company.  The thief can (maybe even breaking laws in the process, but that is what thieves do) file for a patent covering the product in its own name.  The thief could use a pending – or issued – patent to accuse the company’s customers of patent infringement and try to either collect damages from them or force them to quit using the company’s product entirely.  Successfully doing either thing would reduce the value of the product to the customer significantly.  Furthermore, all prospective customers would need to go to the thief, rather than the company, to purchase an “authorized – official” version of the product until the thief’s patent(s) expire.

In sum, lean startups should – as a matter of course - file provisional patent applications.

The information in this blog was created by Roger Maxwell, PC. This blog and the materials provided herein have been prepared by Roger Maxwell, PC for informational purposes only and are not legal advice. No client or other reader should rely on or act or refrain from acting on the basis of any matter or information contained in this blog without seeking appropriate legal or other professional advice.

Five months ago my life changed.

I no longer work for a multi-billion dollar company. I work for a startup.

Was I scared? No. Nervous? No. Anxious? A little. Excited? Absolutely.

I never knew how much the culture of a company could change your attitude about work. If I had a dollar for every time I’ve said, “I. Love. My. Job.” in the past five months, I’d be a millionaire …. Well, let’s not push things, but you get the point.

Our team is lean… but we’re growing. It’s exciting to come on board and hear about all that has happened over the last year. Things are moving fast and we’re changing on a daily basis to meet the needs of the market.

I previously worked with Social Compass a few years ago, so I’m familiar with the product, but am still learning all the changes/updates that have happened since I was last involved. It’s a thrill to now work for them, rather than just with them.

Change. Chaos. Can you handle it?

In many ways my life has prepared me for this job. Change is normal to me and growing up in a large family means chaos was the daily routine. This industry is moving fast and every month new technologies are being released. We’re in the age of rapid growth and consumers are adapting to the changes faster than some can keep up.  That’s what makes this ride fast, furious, and more fun than you can imagine.

Have I enjoyed the ride?

I’m proud to say that I’ve been working with or for Social Compass from the beginning. It’s exciting to see the successes that have come thus far and where we’ll go this next year. 2013 is going to bring more change and more chaos… but the growth, excitement, and thrill of working for a startup will not go away. I could not be more thrilled to work for Social Compass and look forward to where we’ll be 365 days from right now. 

If you've ventured onto the world wide web in the past decade or so, you may have begun to notice the formation of a social ecosystem. Friends are sharing. Businesses are growing. Communities are forming. It's a post-like-tweet world out there, and everybody's playing a part. If we likened this virtual world to the physical one we inhabit, where would you fit in? Take the quiz below to find out.

1. Your friend Bernice posts this status on Facebook: "Such gr8 deals 2day at Borris's Bacon Boutique!" You:

  a. Head on over to Borris's to get yourself some great deals!

  b. Like Bernice's status, find Borris's Bacon Boutique on Facebook, and like that page as well. You've never been there. Does that matter? You notice that Bernice put up 289 new photos of her poodle. You like all of them leave comments about how cute Fluffster is.

  c. Can hardly believe your good fortune. You buy a Groupon for Borris's, buy a Beautiful Bacon Bundle on Borris's website, share a photo of your purchase, and invite your friends to also like Borris's Bacon Boutique. You return to Farmville to harvest your corn.

  d. What the? How am I supposed to answer this question if I can't even read it?

2. You check weather.com and see that a storm is a-brewin'! You:

  a. Go immediately to your basement and lock the door.

  b. Tweet the news to make sure everybody knows about this imminent danger. 

  c. Share this information on Twitter, Facebook, your weather blog, and Google+ (just in case). You're already in your basement. You hope and pray that this inclement weather doesn't affect your download speed. Netflix depends on it. 

  d. Run outside and hide in the storm cellar. Yes! Granny's peach preserves are still there!

3. On your birthday, your mom posts a naked baby picture of you on your Facebook wall. You:

  a. Sign into your mom's account and delete the photo. Seriously, Mom, is FurryPanda123 ever not your password?

  b. Roll your eyes and hope enough of your friends wish you a happy birthday to hide the picture in Scrollville.

  c. Add the photo to your album, "Baby Me, Volume 6: June 1987 - August 1987." How stinking cute were you?

  d. Probably wouldn't know. If somebody cares enough about you, they'll call on your big day.

4. Your cousin Mindie debuts her cover of "I Will Always Love You" on YouTube. You:

  a. Watch all 5 minutes and 22 second of it. Get a little jealous. Why does your talent have to be weaving?

  b. Give it a thumbs-up. Share it with your friends. Give her an encouraging little comment.

  c. Believe in her future. Post the link on all of your social networks. Sign in to alternate YouTube accounts to give the video numerous thumbs-up. Enter the video in online talent contests.

  d. Hope she performs at family Thanksgiving so you can see what everyone's been talking about!

5. You decide to start a tumblr blog. It features:

  a. Your personal poetry. It's set to private.

  b. Animated gifs of cats doing acrobatics.

  c. What doesn't it include? Your take on the news, information about your house plants, your iPhone snapshots of sunsets… Let's get started!

  d. Tumblr? Is that like a gymnast?

Mostly A's? You're a squirrel!

You're gathering lots of nuts for the winter, but you're sure not giving any to your next-tree neighbor.

Mostly B's? You're a kitty cat!

You're the internet's favorite creature. Everybody just wants to cuddle and love you, but they also have no problem posting that embarrassing photo of you dressed up as a hotdog last Halloween. You don't mind. You'll get your revenge.

Mostly C's? You're a narwhal!

You don't even live in this world. We can't compare you to something that actually exists. You've settled in the sea of social symbiosis, and you won't be emerging any time soon. Be kind to small fishies who know so much less than you.

Mostly D's? You're a bat!

You've been living in a cave. You should try getting out of your Paleolithic dwelling every once in a while. Or at least check in on Foursquare. 

Baffled by the differences between outbound and inbound marketing? Interested in revamping your marketing strategy? It’s time to toss out those outbound marketing tactics and adopt an inbound marketing strategy. But, what exactly is involved with an inbound marketing plan? Continue reading to learn about the ABCs of Inbound Marketing.

Analytics. A great way to monitor the success of your marketing campaign is by studying the reports of your marketing campaigns. Studying this material will help you gain a better understanding of which methods and tactics work best on a variety of marketing channels. Optimizing your marketing efforts will not only help in increasing the conversion of leads, but also in building your brand’s awareness.

Blogs. Just because you create a blog doesn’t mean you will instantly begin reaping the benefits of inbound marketing. To be successful with your blog, you must consistently update it with fresh, compelling content that your readers will want to keep coming back to. A successful blog also benefits from inbound links, which are references to your blog from other industry-related, well-known sites. Create a link building plan that involves using your own fresh content, and then share this content on relevant mediums.

Clickthrough rate (CTR). A click-through rate is one of the many tools used to measure the effectiveness of a marketing campaign. The CTR is the amount of clicks your advertisement or hyperlink receives divided by the amount of total impressions, or how many times your advertisement or hyperlink is displayed. CTRs are great tools to measure which advertisements and hyperlinks are most successful for a campaign. Focusing on high-ranking advertisements and keywords will help spread the virality of your campaign and contribute to increasing the conversion of leads.

Be sure to check back often to learn more about the ABCs of Inbound Marketing. Also, feel free to contact Social Compass to learn about our patent pending software as a service (SaaS) platform that utilizes marketing automation to help businesses reach their target audience through social media.

Baffled by the differences between outbound and inbound marketing? Interested in revamping your marketing strategy? It’s time to toss out those outbound marketing tactics and adopt an inbound marketing strategy. But, what exactly is involved with an inbound marketing plan? Continue reading to learn about the ABCs of Inbound Marketing, and be sure to share some of your best tips and tricks in the comments below.

Analytics. A great way to monitor the success of your marketing campaign is by studying the reports of your marketing campaigns. Studying this material will help you gain a better understanding of which methods and tactics work best on a variety of marketing channels. Optimizing your marketing efforts will not only help in increasing the conversion of leads, but also in building your brand’s awareness.

Blogs. Just because you create a blog doesn’t mean you will instantly begin reaping the benefits of inbound marketing. To be successful with your blog, you must consistently update it with fresh, compelling content that your readers will want to keep coming back to. A successful blog also benefits from inbound links, which are references to your blog from other industry-related, well-known sites. Create a link building plan that involves using your own fresh content, and then share this content on relevant mediums.

Clickthrough rate (CTR). A click-through rate is one of the many tools used to measure the effectiveness of a marketing campaign. The CTR is the amount of clicks your advertisement or hyperlink receives divided by the amount of total impressions, or how many times your advertisement or hyperlink is displayed. CTRs are great tools to measure which advertisements and hyperlinks are most successful for a campaign. Focusing on high-ranking advertisements and keywords will help spread the virality of your campaign and contribute to increasing the conversion of leads.

Be sure to check back often to learn more about the ABCs of Inbound Marketing. Also, feel free to contact Social Compass to learn about our patent pending software as a service (SaaS) platform that utilizes marketing automation to help businesses reach their target audience through social media.