Keystone Click - The Key to Your Web Foundation

1. Have it be comprehensible.  Shrtning vrythng is cnfsng. 140 characters is vital for Twitter, but people need to easily understand your message.

2. Encourage participation. Whether that’s tweeting at someone or calling your audience to action, it’s important to get your followers motivated.

3. With everything you write, make sure it’s worth everyone’s time. Sure it’s only 140 characters, but there are just some things that people do  not need  or want to know.

4. Respond to tweets often. Whether it’s just a simple “thanks for the follow” or answering others’ questions, it shows that you/your organization values relationship forms of communication rather than the out-dated 1-way communication model.

5. Tweet about different things. Keep your Twitter account interesting. Just because you focus career-wise in one field doesn’t mean you can’t tweet about other things that interest you. And chances are, you can relate most things back to what you’re “known” for.

Tweet On.

We at Keystone Click are proud to announce that our own Mike McGarry was one of the first ten people to complete “The Power of E-mail Marketing” from Constant Contact’s Expert Program.

By completing this program, Keystone Click is now available to give presentations and tutorials about Constant Contact and teach e-mail marketing strategies and techniques. This will help our clients by giving them the tools they need to successfully use e-mail marketing. The program also instructed how to build a quality contact list and strong e-mail content that will be read with increased click-through and response rates. Knowing this information will help us better utilize an organization’s time and investment by creating e-mails that catch attention, pique interest and get desired results ultimately ending with higher ROI.

Keystone Click has been using Constant Contact for 9 months now to help outline and distribute e-mails as well as manage the publics of a variety of clients. Now a partner with Constant Contact and an advocate for the company, Keystone Click is looking forward to the advantages that this training will have for our organization. Clients now will be able to create professional looking e-mails quickly and simply as well as manage contact lists and measure e-mail campaign results.

With this new competitive advantage to our name, we feel confident that as a company, we are in a better place to offer the best services to our clients in not only the web design and programming realm, but also the internet marketing realm.

Congrats Mike!

It seems like everybody has a blog these days, even pets are blogging about what mischief they’ve recently cause. So how do you get your organization’s blog to stand out? First off, use your resources.

WordPress 3.0 has come out with some new features, Mashable has highlighted the important ones:

-Custom Post Types: You can add different content types rather than just “Posts” and “Pages”.  This allows you to feature more areas of your organization such as a section for “Members”, “Testimonials” or pictures and videos.

-Custom header/backgrounds: WordPress 3.0 offers clean and bold designs coupled with functionality not typically found in themes. If you don’t have coding skills to customize your theme (not many of us do) WordPress lets you customize your background and header to give it a less “Clip-Art” feeling. You can use your own images to give your blog a more personal style without going through the hassle of programming it yourself.

-Multi-site compatibility: For organizations with different branches, this feature is key. This lets you manage different websites with the same WordPress installation.

Other ways to enhance your blog:

The Facebook “Like” Button: it’s everywhere, so why not on your blog? Install a plug-in for this feature and let your followers promote your page with a simple click of a thumbs-up.

Security. Readers don’t want to weed through spam under your contents section. Secure your blog, install the automatic updates to help protect against spamming.

Silence is Golden: We all have guilty pleasures in music, but that doesn’t mean they need to be shared. If a reader wants background noise while reading your blog, that’s what iTunes and Pandora are for.

SIZE. For goodness sake, please use a readable font.  If readers have to squint, there is a high likelihood that they will just skip onto the next blog.

Spell Chec: Because once you post, you’ll never forgive yourself for forgetting that “K”. So spell check, and go through for other edits as well. It boosts your credibility and won’t end up with people giggling at the fact that you still cannot tell which is the right form of their/there/they’re.

Focus on content: Backgrounds are nice, especially with the ability to make them more custom. However, people should be remembering what you have to say, not what colors are flashing at them in different patterns.

Happy Blogging!

So your Non-Profit wants to maximize its presence in Social Media?

There are a few things that need to be done. First off, choose which social media site you want to use and focus on. Having too many sites to manage will eventually lead to a few of those sites lying dormant in the World Wide Web. Inactivity on these sites will convey a message to viewers that your company isn’t fully paying attention to the details.  When looking at your social media site, viewers want to see it bustling with life because in their minds, it is a representation of the charitable work that you do as well. By the same token, do not overwhelm you followers with constant updates about every small little thing; leave that to Lindsay Lohan and the other obsessive Tweeters. (No, actually we don’t care that you just brushed your teeth, but thanks for sharing).

By focusing your social media on one or two key sites, you allow your organization to connect with your followers. Since this opportunity is there, embrace it. You can respond with personalized Tweets or posts rather than sending out mass, generic e-mails and newsletters. Social media allows for relationships to be built. So build them and your organization will see the benefits of being real rather than a distant, impersonal organization asking for donations.

Connect with your volunteers, potential volunteers and those whose interest has been piqued by your cause. If you really want to put a face and personality into your relationships on social media, call for some opportunities to meet in public as a large group for you and your following.

Some resources that your NPO can use:

-Volunteermatch.org : A “dating” website of sorts for Non-Profits and those who want to make a difference in our world. This takes the stress out of looking for volunteers, the site will have them find you.

-Firstgiving.com : A way to raise money online for either your organization to use as a collective, or for your members to use to reach their more immediate base  of contacts. Check out more tips for raising money online.

-Google Analytics: Find out, for FREE, how many people are visiting your site to measure the results of your Social Media endeavor.

For more tips on NPO Social Media

For examples of successful NPO Social Media pages already in practice

An excellent, low cost way to keep your clients and prospects informed of your services, products, news, etc is to send out eNewsletters. This can be a simple text e-mail or a colorful HTML e-mail. Either way, you are getting your name in front of your target audience. Here are a few reasons why sending an eNewsletter rather than simple e-mails, or snail mail newsletters, is so much better.

Perk #1—People See Your Name. eNewsletters will reinforce your service or product continually with each e-mail that you send. These repeated messages cause greater and more effective brand awareness and recognition. With eNewsletters, the link to your site is right there on the e-mail, so the reader only needs to click and they are on your site, they are looking at your services and products, they are one step closer to making a purchase than before opening that eNewsletter.

Perk #2—Information Galore. With eNewsletters you can keep site visitors up to speed with upcoming events, promotions, product launches and industry news. By covering a wide range of topics within your industry, you convey an attitude of consciousness for the world around you. It shows that your company is informed and is a solid place for consumers to invest in. It’s also fast, if you’re excited about a new product or opportunity, send out an eNewsletter right away rather than waiting days for the postman to deliver a regular newsletter. You can also use them for discounts, specials or deals that your company is offering, and incentives for subscribing voluntarily to your organization’s newsletter and thus driving more traffic to your website.

Perk #3—Pleased To Make Your Acquaintance. Customers have the option of subscribing or not to your eNewsletters, this allows those who are truly interested in your product to receive the valuable information you have to disperse. You now have a targeted audience receiving what you say so you can have a more focused approach to your eNewsletter’s content. Customer research is also easily collected via surveys and responses. The people receiving your newsletter care about your organization and are more likely to participate in any research you send their way. You can also track your e-mails. Any “undeliverables” can be quickly identified and efforts can be made to correct and resend them. With this feature you’re not wasting paper or money on regular newsletters, but you’re also saving energy in the tech world. It’s saving those who don’t want your information time online, saving the energy that would be used  to delete your e-mail. And with the environment, every little bit helps.

Please just remember that when sending your eNewsletter to keep it interesting. You want to keep your subscribers, not bore them and push them away. So use this time and presence in an eNewsletter to toot your own horn and have some fun relating to your customers!

Yes! and NO.  In today’s social media driven world, it’s not surprising that a NEW social networking site has evolved and is growing in recognition daily.  www.foursquare.com is the name of this fun new site.

Details on their site state:

foursquare is a cross between a friend-finder, a social city-guide and a game that rewards you for doing interesting things.  We aim to build things to not only help you keep up with the places your friends go, but that encourage you to discover new places and challenge you to explore your neighborhood in new ways.

The best way to utilize this website is on your mobile phone.  That’s right.  The action and fun start by “checking in” at various locations by using your mobile phone.  A number of apps have been created for a variety of phones including the iPhone, Android, Blackberry, and Palm.  If you don’t have one of these smart phones, you can access the site by visiting http://m.foursquare.com from your mobile browser to “check in”.

How could this potentially help my business?

Checking into a location.

Approved businesses will have access to see who is checking into their location.  Businesses can now have the opportunity to send rewards and encourage the “checking-in”.  Here is a snapshot on FourSquares website regarding the privacy settings (which you can turn on and off)

FourSquare Check-In Privacy Setting

I crown you MAYOR OF ________.

Playing the game offers a reward system.  Individuals who “check-in” the most at a location are rewarded Mayor status.  A number of businesses (coffee shops, pizza joints, etc) are offering discounts to individuals with the “Mayor” status.  FourSquare’s website has a section dedicated to how you can utilize this app to promote your business. Also, they encourage businesses to promote the “Mayor” discounts on the FourSquare site.

Get your brownie sash out of the closet – its badge time.

Badges are still a “work-in-progress” for FourSquare, however it’s an opportunity for you as a business owner.  Since this is a WIP, FourSquare is asking for your recommendations on what additional badges to create and offer.  So, as an owner of a brick and mortar, create a badge that is earned if someone checks in 5 times within  a month.  If they earn your badge, offer then a discount or free item.

This is just a small taste of the potential FourSquare is about to bring.  It’s still in the early stages, jump on board, create a profile, and start “Checking-In”.

What are your thoughts on the current social media trends? Is this a fad? If so, how long will it last?

This video has been viral online for a couple of months, however its message is strong – SOCIAL MEDIA IS HERE TO STAY.  Business is changing, to remain competitive and alive in your industry, you need to change with it.

Enjoy the Social Media Revolution, created by Socialnomics09.  Currently over 1.2 million views.

CitiGal Magazine is a women’s empowerment online magazine devoted to educating, uniting and empowering their community. The goal of this project was to allow for growth in their community becoming the one-stop online resource.

Features of this site include:

• Article Directory with Archive
• Staff/Journalists Updater
• Calendar of Events updater
• Networking Resource Updater
• Online Advertisement Management
• Built with CSS to be search engine friendly

Beyond the features that we have built for Citigal Magazine, you can find them on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn among other online social media outlets.

“Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery” – Charles Caleb Colton (1780-1832)

When looking at some of the big hitters in the advertising world, its easy to see what is working and what isn’t working to relay a message.  Check out Coca-Cola’s website.  The first thing you see is a huge promotion to join them on Facebook.  The very first thing!  Now if this isn’t a message for the world about the power of social media, I don’t know what is.

A local radio station recently offered free tickets to a concert, but the only way a listener could get the answer to the station’s questions was to follow them on Twitter.  What an excellent advertising opportunity for the radio station to quickly increase their number of followers they have.  As radio station gains followers on Twitter, the promoting only becomes easier.  The radio station grabs attention on the airwaves and online.

Another example I saw earlier this morning is a commercial for Dentyne Gum that plays heavily on the social media concept.  Most social media sites allow you to accept, reject, or deny “friends or connections”.  This commercial ends with the tag line “60 connections in every bottle”.  What’s happening here is the online world is filtering through to the offline world.  Lingo and actions normally associated with website activities are being applied to other media.  Why is this happening?  Social media is so powerful that the transition into other media (radio, tv, print, etc) is the only logical next step in the world of advertising.  Good marketers know that relaying their message across different media is the best way to reach their audience.  Adding social media is another important piece of the puzzle.

Do you need any more proof that social media is an important aspect of your business?  It’s a powerful marketing tool that absolutely needs to be part of your marketing strategy and budget.

Social media is working.  The big guys and little mom and pops are doing it.  It emphasizes your brand and message, stimulates your target audience, and keeps your name top of mind in your consumers head.  Need more convincing than my examples?  Check out this recently published report:  Social Media Marketing Industry Report by Michael Stelzner.

In today’s tight economy, what is one to do with so much free time? BLOG! Well, I doubt everyone has more free time just because of the economy. Nonetheless, more and more people are starting blogs. Topics range from professional, to sports, music, to absolute randomness. Here are a list of a couple of new blogs I have recently ran across. I suggest checking them out, subscribe to the RSS or leave a comment.

Twenty-Set created by Monica O’Brien to share her experiences about social media, entrepreneurship, Gen Y and any random topics she decides to write about.

Steal Fashion created by Bridget MacWalters as a means to share with the world that awesome fashion does not have to be expensive. Her goal is to share the stories of various boutiques and designers across the country.

AthleticGals.com created by a team of ladies (I’m one of them) to share their stories, thoughts and perspective on various sports and athletic events.

Beerleague Benchwarmers created by Andy Highby to share his viewpoints on current hockey events, particularly in the WCHA – college hockey.

MySkyMom created by a pilot instructor who wants to help student pilots with the everyday questions that come up in the flying world.

Got a new blog to share? I want to hear about it. Want to start a blog, its easy, check out www.wordpress.com to set one up. Review the recent blog post on Search Before Blogging to get a couple of pointers on blogging.