Anthology Creative Feeds By: Category: Social Media

3 Tips On How To Use QR Codes Effectively

Mon, 12 Dec 2011 00:00:00 -0600

Last spring, my wife, Rachael, and I were at the local home improvement store shopping for some flowers. As we were browsing, a particular set of flowers caught my eye because of what was printed on the label - each one contained a QR Code. I thought this was brilliant. Most flower labels normally contain information about the care of the plant - the amount of sunlight is required, how often to water it, etc. This is the information that I had expected to see when I scanned the QR Code on the label… perhaps supplemented with a nice photo of the flower. However, I was disappointed to only be directed to the company's homepage. This company missed the opportunity to utilize the QR Code in a creative and useful way. This was a classic case of use before understanding. Consider these guidelines when using QR Codes for marketing purposes: 1. Always extend context. If the QR Code is printed on a flower label, give the user information about that flower. If it is printed along with a product in a catalog, link to the actual product page so the user can learn more about the product or make a purchase. Do not simply link to your homepage. 2. Consider providing a mobile site. It can be assumed that users will be scanning your QR Codes on mobile devices. Nothing can kill a mobile user experience more than to serve up a site that is not optimized for mobile devices. Do not take the user to a page that was created using Flash. 3. Understand your market. QR Codes are new and they are still considered on the fringe of interactive media. The people that will recognize a QR Code and understand how to use it are more tech savvy than your ordinary John Doe. Thus, the QR Code should serve as an auxiliary feature, and not the main content. Do not create a marketing piece that only contains a title and a QR Code (unless it is intended for use at a conference for New Media professionals). QR Codes are trendy, but do not make a mistake of integrating a trendy interactive technology without some strategy to drive it. Always understand how to use a technology before you put it into practice.

Active vs. Passive Business Sites

Wed, 07 Sep 2011 00:00:00 -0500

So you’ve got a company, and you’ve got a website. Unless you’re a web-based company you probably hope that people will find your site either by advertising or search engines directing them to your site and that the site visit will lead to business for your company. This describes the standard passive web site. It sits there and waits for someone to visit it, hoping to help in the process if it can. An active site offers something to visitors. It doesn’t stay the same all the time and is updated to encourage regular visits. It supplies information that may be helpful to visitors. These updates don’t have to be drastic or even design changes. Blogging, social media integration, photo galleries of projects that your company is involved in, or even links to stories from your industry create change and can help drive users back to your site for return visits. Updating your site (if you even have the ability) in simple ways to provide tools, information or updates to your current or potential clients is a great way to turn your web site from a passive tool in your marketing, into an active one. Having a site that is a destination as opposed to a stop-through can give your business a leg up in becoming the expert that your clients are looking for and the name that they will remember.

The Rise of the Recommendation Web

Tue, 16 Aug 2011 00:00:00 -0500

The web is an organism. It is constantly evolving. It is constantly morphing and changing its shape. It is continually adapting to current trends, new information, and progressive innovation. In it’s infantry, it was the static web. Then, it became the dynamic web and we began to interact. About ten years ago, it morphed again - this time into the social web. In this era, we have seen the rise and fall of sites like Friendster and MySpace, we have seen services like Facebook and Twitter grow from experiments into online empires. And, we started to see the first glimpses of the recommendation web with sites like Digg and Reddit. We are now fully entering into the era of the recommendation web - where virtually everything can be viewed, consumed, or purchased can also have a recommendation attached. This begins to shift how we find new information, how we search on the web, and how our decisions are influenced - decisions that we previously were forced to make alone. So, where does this take us? Facebook and Google each have launched their own “recommendation networks.” Facebook has the now-iconic “Like” button, and Google recently launched +1.These giants will begin to take a stronghold onto the recommendation web. Facebook will utilize it to connect people further and increase revenue by serving up increasingly targeted ads. Google will utilize it to organize and catalog information on the web and respond to requests accordingly. Both will leverage our existing social networks and what those people recommend to gain insight into our potential likes, dislikes, and behavior. With the recommendation web, search engine optimization (SEO) as we know it today will be flipped on its head. It will become more important for companies and products to receive recommendations online than it will be to write strategic copy containing certain buzzwords. Search results will be heavily influenced by our social recommendations, and thus, will be catered to fit each individual. It makes sense that this is the next logical step in the evolution of the web. Companies and organizations should recognize this early and adapt accordingly so they are not left behind in the new era of the web.

Twitter Observation: Local News Stations - WKRN vs. WSMV

Wed, 29 Oct 2008 00:00:00 -0500

I am seeing more and more media outlets jump on the Twitter bandwagon in an attempt to utilize the latest web trend. However, while many see the obvious opportunity, few actually use it effectively. Two local news stations here in Nashville are on Twitter: WSMV (an NBC affiliate) and WKRN (an ABC affiliate). Even though both stations utilize Twitter, the differentiation between the two is huge.

Station 01: WSMV

This station has 5,770 tweets at the time of this post. However, despite the high frequency, EVERY SINGLE tweet is a link back to an article on their website. No replies. No personality. No face to this station. WSMV is using Twitter for the sole purpose of pushing people to their website. Lame. This strategy misses the sweet spot of Twitter: to participate in the conversation. For WSMV, it is merely a one-way conversation with self-centered objectives.

Station 02: WKRN

WKRN, on the other hand, gets what Twitter is all about. Despite less activity on the account (only 26 updates), each tweet is engaging the users. In addition, they have experimented with using reply tweets in their nightly broadcasts - brilliant. Instead of taking advantage of Twitter like their counterpart, they are utilizing it to connect to the audience. They are joining in the conversation and engaging users, which is what social media is all about. Additionally, they actively follow 90 other Twitter users (compared to the 0 users that WSMV follows). Unfortunately, for whatever reason, the most recent tweet from WKRN was over three weeks ago. I hope they have not dismissed Twitter as a viable communication outlet. If they stick with it, they will find it to be rewarding to their station and their audience. Come on, WKRN - keep it up. Follow WSMV on Twitter Follow WKRN on Twitter Any readers see other news organizations that utilize Twitter effectively?

Facebook: Personal Life vs. Business Life

Wed, 13 Aug 2008 00:00:00 -0500

Video Link

Now that more and more people are jumping on Facebook these days, it is becoming increasingly difficult for professionals to separate their online business life from their online personal life. As the video clip above proves, the convergence of these segments in social media are starting to cause problems for professionals.

Which brings up a good question: Should your business life and personal life really be segregated?

Whatever you do in your free time is a reflection on you, right? You are you. Your actions on the weekend reflect on your 9-to-5 life and vis versa.

If you like to go out and party on the weekends, be ready to take responsibility for images that may be posted of you on Facebook. Be ready to have friends write things like "you were totally wasted last night" on your wall. These are reflections of you. You should not feel that you need to hide that, and if you do try to hide that, you are not being true to yourself.

Facebook has allowed anyone that you befriend to journey with you in your personal life. They are able to see where you go, follow what you do, and monitor who you hang out with. You are not able to separate these and exist effectively in the social media world.

The only way to keep embarrassing content from showing up on Facebook is to realize that your business life and your personal life is one. And people will respect you if you act accordingly. If you do not place yourself in potentially embarassing situtations, you have nothing to worry about. A little integrity can go a long way.

Itegrity in your personal life = interity in your business life.