RBS Marketer » branding

5 New Faces of Facebook – An Effective Branding Opportunity

Esther — Wed, 23 Mar 2011 20:09:31 +0000

Now you have another opportunity to brand your company, offer key messages, and reinforce your expertise in your niche through the 5 pictures displayed on your Facebook wall or on the information page. It’s a place to convey your assets, reinforce the company’s promise, and display 5 key messages at once. It’s a great way to share key selling points with your customers. Whether through pictures or phrases, your target audience who lands on your wall or welcome page, will get a positive first impression of your company if you brand it correctly. In addition, they might be motivated to go to the information page to find out more about your company.

When a picture is clicked, like the one below, you have the opportunity to embed a live link to lead the reader where you want them to go. In this the link www.jwrp.org is leading the reader back to the website to register for the trip they are promoting.

It looks like lots of fun and a trip where good friendships are being formed. Since Facebook is just one of the tools you use for social media, the links mentioned above can be to your website, YouTube channel, blog, Flickr, slideshare account, etc. You can link to your site and other related resources to:

Engage content
Promote and offer updates on company events and seminars
Release announcements in the industry
Offer discount programs
Present contests
Inform your target market about your ‘company in the news’

The only challenge is that the pictures are uploaded in no specific order so it’s hard to create a banner, although, someone will figure out how to overcome that soon enough. The other test is to get the right pictures posted to reflect the brand that your customers have come to rely on. Any new uploaded pictures end up in the top 5 but if you click X it will disappear and the old one will reappear. However that new picture will remain on the Facebook page either in an album or in a post. Photos uploaded by fans or ones where you are tagged will not appear in the 5 above. Putting pictures up on your company Facebook page makes your brand human, relatable and accessible. It shows your consumer the ‘personna’ of your company. It’s the picture of your voice, it’s all about your ability to talk to people in a genuine way and show them that you are part of their community. By all means analyze the stats once the pictures go live. See if your audience is relating to it and be able to pinpoint what attribute moves your target most. In the very name Facebook is the essence of the brand. We now have a ‘face’ behind the ‘name’ and we insist on that as a given. Facebook is changing everyday so stay tuned for more and more sophisticated ways to deliver your message in this popular medium.

Can’t Beat the Maccebeats for This Year’s Chanukah Theme Song

Esther — Sun, 05 Dec 2010 08:37:22 +0000

Who are these Yeshiva University boys that are taking the world by storm? How did they create a video for Chanukah that has captured the attention of so many with 1.5 million views and counting on YouTube? Why are they so successful?

They are successful because they are creative, talented, and simple. You like them. No synthesized music in the background, flashing lights, or dance routines, just plain melody and love of music that goes straight to hearts of their audience. They represent the “boy next door” – your friend’s son. Actually one of the boys in the group is my friend’s son.

Ever since Adam Sandler’s Chanukah video, it’s been an eagerly awaited form of entertainment to see who’s got the most engaging themed video. The Maccebeats, because of their religious background, choose to sing about Chanukah. Maybe they will create videos around the whole Jewish calendar of holidays so stay tuned.

You and I made them stars by sending their video to all of our friends and colleagues on all the online social networks we engage in. We did this because we wanted to share something special to make others feel good, and reinforce the relationships we’ve created online. First rate content comes in all forms and being a part of a popular craze, being “in the know,” is also important for our profile. Everyone wins.

Important elements to make a video go viral.

High quality Content – Original, creative, compelling, quirky, fun, humorous, and informative.
Target audience – Create the video with the target audience in mind and ask them to be the first to spread the word and they ask others to do the same.
Tools of the internet – Use the power of YouTube, Facebook, Blogs, Forums, Email lists, Friends, and all the other online tools available
Be Relatable – Create something that people can relate to, hum, or give over the main idea quickly.
Create emotion – Some people use animals or kids because they are loved by all.
Use pictures – Use a compelling thumbnail picture to identify the link. In essence you’ve branded that video.

We can learn a lot from the Maccabeats as they just brought us this delightful video at the right time. May they stay simple, like the acapella sound they’ve popularized today, developing their talents in all aspects of their lives.

Truth and Consequences – Security Breach Posted on Social Media

Esther — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 10:22:10 +0000

Immediacy and the lasting impact of what we say online could be positive or negative. In this case it could have cost Israel the lives of its soldiers on a mission to apprehend suspected terrorists.

On March 4, ABC News reported that the IDF had to cancel an operation to arrest militants in the West Bank several weeks ago after a soldier posted details of the mission.

Here is the message that the unnamed soldier posted his Facebook page:

“On Wednesday we are cleaning out the village of Katana (nr Ramallah) – today an arrest operation, tomorrow an arrest operation and then please God, home by Thursday.”

Comrades in his elite unit saw the post and reported it to their commanding officer. The Commander aborted the mission for fears that operational security had been breached.

The result: The soldier was arrested and placed in custody for 10 days before being forced to leave his unit.

This is serious lack of judgment, but at the time the soldier was merely updating his friends using Facebook and making plans for his return home. He didn’t consider how this information would impact his colleagues, the IDF, and Israel’s security.

“Friendly fire” in this case came from the post and not the bullet but its impact could have been just as severe.

This phenomenon of “post now and think later” is rampant. Whether it is inappropriate pictures that follow you for life, negative comments that could cost you a future business opportunity, or being overly critical in a comment section, these very acts can affect your personal brand.

Using social media has become the vehicle for sharing information in an effective, quick, and inexpensive way. Everyday more and more people seem to be gravitating to it for good reason.

In the frenzied rush to be the first one to report news, we sometimes ignore the bigger picture: the consequences. Perhaps we should slow down, be mindful, be considerate and put ourselves in the other person’s place when participating on social media.

Social media is just that – building relationships to a positive end.

Your Dual Personality: Your Website and Your Web Presence

Esther — Fri, 07 Aug 2009 20:59:53 +0000

Most companies today use their websites as a centralized business card or brochure. Their never-ending task once the site is launched is to try to optimize the site for search engines and use various paid search schemes to drive traffic to the site. Without the sought after traffic, the site would never achieve the goals that any seasoned marketer would set.

Websites range from straightforward and informational to dynamic, interactive, and sticky. Some websites people need to check every day. A website is in one place. It is stationary like a house; a space to return to, where one can find all the necessary elements to function.

But one must leave the house and go out into the world. That’s where you start to develop your presence in the community where you interact, whether it’s physical or virtual. Here you have an opportunity to let the world get to know you on a personal and professional level. Whether you are commenting on a blog post, adding to a discussion in a forum, tweeting, speaking to a group, posting articles on your favorite subject, or helping a non-profit, just to name a few vehicles, you are creating a web presence for yourself and your company, which is separate from, but still referring back to your website.

Your web presence becomes like a soaring bird that can’t be caught. One is never sure where it will land but your audience can’t take their eyes off of it.

You are everywhere and people notice. While you are out there, you are adding value to your marketplace with your special talents, personality, expertise, and hard work, showing the world, “this is who I am and this is the company/entity I represent.” You evolve into an expert, sought after to be quoted. With every new endeavor you partake in, you raise awareness and people are forming an impression about you. All your efforts feed back to your website which continues to build the brand of the company.

Consider the neighborhood plumber, a real bricks-and-mortar business. Even the plumber can take advantage of an online presence which is dynamic. Our “Plumber 2.0″ blogs at night about water saving techniques, thereby establishing himself as an expert in both plumbing and in conserving water and the planet!

Both online and off, it pays to have a dynamic web presence because it is viral, it’s effective, and it builds on itself.

Do you have any great web presence success stories to share with us?