tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30108635219526147292024-03-06T06:06:07.862+00:00CommsInSightA place to share marketing and communications strategies, tactics, and ideas.
All views are my own.Unknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger42125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3010863521952614729.post-16114428842491253552016-07-27T12:50:00.000+01:002016-07-27T21:15:42.024+01:00Marketing lessons from the #IceBucketChallenge<div class="story-body__introduction" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #404040; font-family: Helmet, Freesans, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 1rem; font-stretch: inherit; font-weight: bold; line-height: 1.375; margin-top: 28px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
Have you heard the great news today about the #IceBucketChallenge that went viral in 2014?</div>
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The campaign raised $115m (£87.7m) from people pouring cold water over themselves and posting the video on social media. This has <span style="font-size: 1rem; line-height: 1.375;">funded <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-36901867" target="_blank">an important scientific gene discovery</a> in the progressive neurodegenerative disease ALS.</span></div>
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Here's a quick look at the lessons marketers can learn from the success of this viral campaign...<br />
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<div class="blogger-post-footer">Claire is a CIM Chartered Marketer with over 10 years experience of working in health and public sector communications. You can contact her at clairelane2008@gmail.com.</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3010863521952614729.post-86487838578534255892015-08-22T21:47:00.001+01:002015-09-11T09:53:48.785+01:00Why making your readers cry will improve your content marketing<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.6666666666667px; line-height: 1.38; white-space: pre-wrap;">The role of content marketing is to elicit a response from the reader - we want them to behave differently - to switch brands; to try a new service; to talk about us with their family and friends.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The first step in encouraging people to behave differently is to challenge them to start thinking differently - to re-educate; view things in a new way; understand a different perspective - and this in itself can be challenging.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">This is where understanding the relationship between emotions and behaviour really comes into play.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Emotion drives action</span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">You share a video with your friends because it makes you laugh; scares you; makes you cry; reminds you of a personal experience. Emotions provide us with </span><a href="http://psr.sagepub.com/content/11/2/167.full.pdf+html" style="text-decoration: none;" target="_blank"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">feedback that tells us how to react in the present, based on our past experiences</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">. </span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">So whether it’s in personal or professional communication, eliciting an emotional response from people will </span><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">encourage them to share your content.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Just as importantly, it is also proven to help them </span><a href="http://psychcentral.com/news/2012/08/21/emotion-can-heighten-memories/43437.html" style="text-decoration: none;" target="_blank"><span style="background-color: white; color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">remember its key messages</span></a><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> more vividly - in the same way that listening to a particular song can instantly transport you to a place and time significant in your past.</span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">This approach, of using emotion to drive action, is illustrated well in the recent shift of approach used by </span><a href="http://www.thensmc.com/content/what-social-marketing-1" style="text-decoration: none;" target="_blank"><span style="background-color: white; color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">social marketers</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">. Success for a social marketer comes not from selling a product or service, but in proving that they have been able to change people’s behaviour by challenging the way they think.</span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Out is the content instructing people to stop smoking; drink less; and exercise more - in is the content which encourages people to change by eliciting a ‘what’s in it for me’ emotional response. This advert by </span><a href="http://www.sussexsaferroads.gov.uk/" style="text-decoration: none;" target="_blank"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Sussex Safer Roads</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> being a powerful example:<br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/h-8PBx7isoM" style="font-size: 14.6666666666667px; line-height: 1.38;" width="560"></iframe></div>
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Eliciting the right emotional response</span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Psychologist Robert Plutchik identified </span><a href="http://study.com/academy/lesson/robert-plutchiks-wheel-of-emotions-lesson-quiz.html" style="text-decoration: none;" target="_blank"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">eight primary emotions</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> which content marketing professionals can use as a guide when considering the appropriate emotion to elicit from the reader: Joy, Trust, Fear, Surprise, Sadness, Anticipation, Anger, and Disgust.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><img height="475px;" src="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/ucIGaT1XXfuVEP2GsLt1xskzr_Fr1N6FBTAS4kh3Y2jK3BL0Zvy74N2XRCiCXmnVoBxABkwU9IYaYPcVCHr9-hhm0Nh7l-uikbJvMOjCMp3jpm_zH-k1y5KxwBLAOn0O7GA_g-E" style="border: none; transform: rotate(0rad);" width="481px;" /></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Image source: www.</span><a href="http://synchronicitymarketing.com/10-emotionally-provocative-email-subject-lines/" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">synchronicitymarketing.com</span></a></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The appropriate emotion to target will depend heavily on the product or service being promoted, and the demographics of the target audience. Look at this example from our social marketing friends, encouraging smokers to quit, not by tapping into the </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">fear </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">emotion, but the </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">trust </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">a child places in adults to care for their physical and emotional wellbeing:<br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/CO0qwl5k9R4" style="font-size: 14.6666666666667px; line-height: 1.38;" width="420"></iframe></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.6666666666667px; line-height: 1.38; white-space: pre-wrap;">Emotional responses can be tapped at different points within your content, and to varying degrees, for example in:</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">an emotive email subject line</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">unexpected video content</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">social media conversation starters.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">So, at the start of your next marketing campaign, remember to ask yourself how your reader should feel before, during, and after accessing your content.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.6667px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b>About the author</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><a href="http://lnkd.in/YMFzk4" target="_blank">Claire Cresswell-Lane</a> is a UK based, CIM Chartered Marketer </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">specialising in digital marketing strategy and communications. You can contact her via <a href="http://lnkd.in/YMFzk4" target="_blank">LinkedIn</a> or <a href="https://twitter.com/ccresswelllane?lang=en" target="_blank">Twitter</a>.</span></div>
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<div class="blogger-post-footer">Claire is a CIM Chartered Marketer with over 10 years experience of working in health and public sector communications. You can contact her at clairelane2008@gmail.com.</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3010863521952614729.post-21138659991634319762015-08-20T21:13:00.000+01:002015-09-11T09:54:26.337+01:00Catering for a range of learning styles with your content marketing <div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.6666666666667px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Buyers conduct extensive online research before making large or important purchases, and this is especially true of </span><a href="http://www.mckinsey.com/insights/marketing_sales/digitizing_the_consumer_decision_journey" style="line-height: 1.38; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank"><span style="color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.6666666666667px; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">financial products and services</span></a><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.6666666666667px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">. </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.6666666666667px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">But understanding financial products and services can be difficult for the lay person.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.6666666666667px; line-height: 1.38; white-space: pre-wrap;">Financial organisations have role in educating visitors about the range of products and services on offer, and a responsibility to educate as to which is the most likely to suit their personal circumstances.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.6666666666667px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">This post illustrates how </span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.6666666666667px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">financial organisations are starting to present information in formats that cater for a range of </span><a href="http://www.open.edu/openlearn/education/educational-technology-and-practice/educational-practice/whats-your-learning-style" style="line-height: 22.0799999237061px; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank"><span style="background-color: white; color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.6666666666667px; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">learning styles</span></a><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.6666666666667px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> - something that other sectors should sit up and take notice of.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial; font-size: 18.6666666666667px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #999999;">“Don’t create another monotonous, bland and (worst of all) overwhelming financial services product page. Take the time to bring the relevant content above the fold in an innovative way….like videos and iconography.”</span></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #4a86e8; font-family: Arial; font-size: 18.666666666666664px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span><a href="https://resources.maxymiser.com/h/i/57669208-three-ways-to-educate-your-users-drive-revenue" style="text-decoration: none;" target="_blank"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Maxymiser</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, 2014</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><a href="http://ctt.ec/06ceU" target="_new">Content marketing that caters for a range of learning styles [Share on Twitter]</a></span></h3>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Auditory learners</span><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> enjoy accessing information through listening and<a href="http://www.open.edu/openlearn/education/educational-technology-and-practice/educational-practice/whats-your-learning-style" target="_blank"> like content presented in formats such as checklists</a>. Podcasts are frequently used by reputable publishers such as </span><a href="http://podcast.ft.com/" style="text-decoration: none;" target="_blank"><span style="background-color: white; color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The Financial Times</span></a><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> to cater for this style of learner:</span></div>
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Video for visual, auditory and reading learners. <a href="http://t.co/OycmXlEpJu">http://t.co/OycmXlEpJu</a></div>
— onvedeo (@Onvedeo) <a href="https://twitter.com/Onvedeo/status/633404702252756992">August 17, 2015</a></blockquote>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Visual learners, </span><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">as the name suggests, benefit most from pictures and video. They are likely to want to learn about all the options available before deciding which is right for them. Many financial organisations, such as </span><a href="http://www.skipton.co.uk/" style="text-decoration: none;" target="_blank"><span style="background-color: white; color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Skipton Building Society</span></a><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> have YouTube channels which they use to educate visitors about </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">a range of topics including help to manage finances; product demonstrations and guides; Corporate Social Responsibility activities, and so on:</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><img height="285px;" src="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/ecCm1BTDObfVUl-52uOaZDyeCramDn2bB9QM07gFDXTPwhGxLzmnBHd5r5qNTvz6V_IHxovj9h-dxvWl87M7qa-yJNEYTL12hUluxpI2xt3WLTda-IAfJA4AXpHZicQALPUx6NQ" style="-webkit-transform: rotate(0.00rad); border: 3px solid #000000; transform: rotate(0.00rad);" width="594px;" /></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Kinaesthetic learners</span><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> gain understanding by doing, and will prefer interactive online tools such as comparison charts and calculators to help them make purchasing decisions - as seen on the </span><a href="http://www.coventrybuildingsociety.co.uk/mortgages/calculators/home.aspx#" style="text-decoration: none;" target="_blank"><span style="background-color: white; color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Coventry Building Society</span></a><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> website:</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><img height="112px;" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/QIK2KpeyTvYM8gPUE7UB2kN95xO9MWy9M0TFrGyNqlK13k6ei7HzPYoltVOH8Cnt_jSY34yLaw_nY-HT8SZK9tyFXKv4tx1NRZJC7iNl7N0ztNSE1uvz-8_v9YJ6Ed7MOstu1zg" style="-webkit-transform: rotate(0.00rad); border: 3px solid #000000; transform: rotate(0.00rad);" width="509px;" /></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Social / emotional learners</span><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> like to make decisions following discussion with their peers. They will respond well to online communities or live chat facilities. </span><a href="http://www.rbs.co.uk/" style="text-decoration: none;" target="_blank"><span style="background-color: white; color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Royal Bank of Scotland</span></a><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> have provided a forum where users can share tips and insights with each other regarding the management of finances and investments:</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.333333333333332px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><img height="234px;" src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/IuHtDerj3LddevueRgW8-aPVs8UzM2QRnSQWrYvyeilqLAt320hEBaG-t8cll_PgNAhDMtctn8WZqcjQj0fCwmf66K4M7sHVcAhOFWGN7MQ1NY2z8b4vPCAXTknOAzYtlMmtr5k" style="-webkit-transform: rotate(0.00rad); border: 3px solid #000000; transform: rotate(0.00rad);" width="516px;" /></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Metacognitive</span><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">learners</span><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> like to reflect on a range of information and will seek out knowledge from a range of thought leaders in order to make decisions. These customers are likely to access a number of blogs offering deeper insight into specific issues (for example through </span><a href="http://www.komarketingassociates.com/files/b2b-web-usability-report-2015.pdf" style="text-decoration: none;" target="_blank"><span style="background-color: white; color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">white papers and eGuides</span></a><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">) before making purchasing decisions. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Remember:</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Consumers conduct extensive research before making important buying decisions.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Content marketing has an important role in educating your audience.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">People learn in a range of different ways.</span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.6667px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b>About the author</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://lnkd.in/YMFzk4" target="_blank">Claire Cresswell-Lane</a> is a UK based, CIM Chartered Marketer specialising in digital marketing strategy and communications. You can contact her via <a href="http://lnkd.in/YMFzk4" target="_blank">LinkedIn</a> or <a href="https://twitter.com/ccresswelllane?lang=en" target="_blank">Twitter</a>.</span></div>
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<div class="blogger-post-footer">Claire is a CIM Chartered Marketer with over 10 years experience of working in health and public sector communications. You can contact her at clairelane2008@gmail.com.</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3010863521952614729.post-77935151494359241902015-08-18T22:24:00.000+01:002015-09-11T09:55:03.538+01:00Establishing trust and credibility in your marketing campaigns [speed read]<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<a href="http://www.komarketingassociates.com/files/b2b-web-usability-report-2015.pdf" style="line-height: 1.38; text-decoration: none;" target="new"><span style="color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.6666666666667px; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">‘Credibility and trust’ are the two most important attributes</span></a><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.6666666666667px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> that online marketers must establish in order to gain the confidence of visitors, according to a 2015 study by KO Marketing Associates.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">If the credibility of website content is called into question, it has the potential to affect the reputation of not just the online channel, but also that of the wider organisation.</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.6666666666667px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span id="docs-internal-guid-418a6e16-4c9e-20ef-91d0-b9b5a871e3c9"><br /></span></span>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Content that is credible will result in higher levels of visitor engagement. For example, users will stay on your website for longer, interact with a wider range of features, make repeat visits; and are more likely to convert from visitors into customers. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span id="docs-internal-guid-418a6e16-4c9e-703e-34a2-c2838574c4ed"><span style="font-size: 14.6666666666667px; vertical-align: baseline;">The more visitors engage with your online content, the higher the '</span><a href="https://support.google.com/adwords/answer/140351?hl=en-GB" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="color: #1155cc; font-size: 14.6666666666667px; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline;">quality score</span></a><span style="font-size: 14.6666666666667px; vertical-align: baseline;">' attributed to it by Google. This will have a direct impact on reducing the cost of any pay per click (PPC) advertising campaigns you are running.</span></span></span></div>
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</b> <br />
<span id="docs-internal-guid-418a6e16-4c9f-e69c-f9bc-9079ae6eb24d"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.6666666666667px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Finally, and perhaps most importantly, a good online experience for visitors to your website matters in the same way that a good face-to-face experience does. It is a touch point that contributes to achieving the strategic goal of achieving and maintaining high customer satisfaction levels.</span></span><br />
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
<br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">However, only 33% of people trust online reviews, and just 8% trust online advertisements - so digital marketers have a lot of work to do to establish levels of trust within their content.</span></div>
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</b> <br />
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><a href="http://ctt.ec/HhcX5" target="_new">5 steps to establishing trust and credibility in your next marketing campaign.[Share on Twitter]</a></span></div>
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</b> <br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Step 1: Know who you want to establish credibility with</span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br />
</b> <br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><a href="http://ctt.ec/cLd7k">Segment your audience. Understand who the decision making units and influencers of decisions are. [click to Tweet]</a></span><b style="font-weight: normal;"><br />
</b> <br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">This can be achieved in a number of ways, for example by analysing your current customers and stakeholders to understand what brought them to you; what their likes and dislikes are; their demographic profiles; and so on. </span></div>
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<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en">
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3 Ways to Segment Your Email Marketing Audience for Better Engagement - (A) <a href="http://t.co/zDWgqeqS79">http://t.co/zDWgqeqS79</a></div>
— State of Digital (@stateofdigital) <a href="https://twitter.com/stateofdigital/status/632741073031401473">August 16, 2015</a></blockquote>
<script async="" charset="utf-8" src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js"></script><br />
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<br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Step 2: Understand what your audience(s) needs to know</span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br />
</b> <br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Now you know who your target audience is, understand the content they are actively seeking out; the challenges they are trying to overcome; and the places where they are active online. You could get this information through:</span></div>
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</b> <br />
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<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">social listening exercises (including sentiment analysis)</span></div>
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<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">primary research, such as telephone interviews</span></div>
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<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">secondary desk-based research.</span></div>
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</ul>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br />
</b> <br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Step 3: Mirror your audience’s interests with your content</span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br />
</b> <br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">It sounds obvious to make sure that your content is of interest to your audience. The key to establishing credibility with them however, is to do this without trying to sell them anything!</span></div>
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</b> <br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><a href="http://ctt.ec/b9URf" target="_new">Trust can be gained by offering genuinely useful information that helps your target audience on their decision making journey. [click to Tweet]</a> This may involve talking about products and services that you don’t offer! Remember, each interaction you have with them is a touch-point with your brand.</span></div>
<br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Step 4: Nurture your relationship</span></div>
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</b> <br />
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en">
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B-to-B marketers continue to benefit from lead nurturing campaigns. <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/B2BMarketing?src=hash">#B2BMarketing</a> via <a href="https://twitter.com/KoMarketing">@KoMarketing</a> <a href="http://t.co/1io1zYURe8">http://t.co/1io1zYURe8</a></div>
— BMA National (@BMANational) <a href="https://twitter.com/BMANational/status/633680493200982016">August 18, 2015</a></blockquote>
<script async="" charset="utf-8" src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js"></script><br />
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<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-cards="hidden" lang="en">
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6 Practical <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Tips?src=hash">#Tips</a> For Building Relationships & Establishing Trust With Social Media - ModernLifeBlogs <a href="http://t.co/rx2Loi8yiC">http://t.co/rx2Loi8yiC</a>
<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/SocialMedia?src=hash">#SocialMedia</a></div>
— ModernLifeBlogs (@ModernLifeBlogs) <a href="https://twitter.com/ModernLifeBlogs/status/633723656494018560">August 18, 2015</a></blockquote>
<script async="" charset="utf-8" src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js"></script><br />
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br />
</b> <br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">All relationships need to be nurtured if they are to mature - and this is true of online relationships. The more genuinely useful and transparent your content, the more likely your reader is to regard you as the go-to source of information on their topic of interest. </span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br />
</b> <br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">In order to nurture relations, it is important that your content speaks the language of your target personas - which is often different to the terminology used by internal stakeholders. The right language to use can be identified through techniques such as:</span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br />
</b> <br />
<ul style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">analysing the interviews you carried out in step 2</span></div>
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<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">studying correspondence into your call centre</span></div>
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<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">assessing the terminology in online forums and social networks used by your target audiences.</span></div>
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</ul>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br />
</b> <br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Step 5: Listen, learn, and react</span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br />
</b> <br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Creating your marketing materials is the start of your process, not the end. Test content with members of your target audience to:</span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br />
</b> <br />
<ul style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">ensure the message received is the one you think has been delivered</span></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">understand what key messages can be recalled</span></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">learn about how your content made the reader feel.</span></div>
</li>
</ul>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br />
</b> <br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Amend your content to reflect what you have learnt. Keep a record of the changes you have made, to inform future content production.</span></div>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en">
<div dir="ltr" lang="en">
How B2B companies can use customer feedback to boost their bottom line: <a href="http://t.co/cLtP84gorV">http://t.co/cLtP84gorV</a> [new ebook] <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/UX?src=hash">#UX</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/mktg?src=hash">#mktg</a> <a href="http://t.co/9QUoYWSFzr">pic.twitter.com/9QUoYWSFzr</a></div>
— UserTesting (@usertesting) <a href="https://twitter.com/usertesting/status/633731494653988864">August 18, 2015</a></blockquote>
<script async="" charset="utf-8" src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js"></script><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.6666666666667px; font-style: italic; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">"The greatest problem with communication is the illusion that it has taken place" - </span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.6666666666667px; font-style: italic; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">George Bernard Shaw</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.6666666666667px; font-style: italic; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span>
<div style="line-height: 22.08px;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.6667px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b>About the author</b></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 22.08px;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: normal;"><a href="http://lnkd.in/YMFzk4" target="_blank">Claire Cresswell-Lane</a> is a UK based, CIM Chartered Marketer </span><span style="line-height: normal;">specialising in digital marketing strategy and communications. You can contact her via <a href="http://lnkd.in/YMFzk4" target="_blank">LinkedIn</a> or <a href="https://twitter.com/ccresswelllane?lang=en" target="_blank">Twitter</a>.</span></span></div>
</div>
<div class="blogger-post-footer">Claire is a CIM Chartered Marketer with over 10 years experience of working in health and public sector communications. You can contact her at clairelane2008@gmail.com.</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3010863521952614729.post-72419424181609237422015-06-30T21:20:00.000+01:002015-08-19T21:00:29.313+01:0011 essential items to include in a content brief<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">When creating content it is often necessary to employing the skills of a third party writer, for example, to access specific technical expertise or gain specialist insight that you don't possess in-house.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
</span> <span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Providing a detailed and accurate writers brief is essential in ensuring the content returned is as close to the desired end result as possible.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
</span> <span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><a href="http://ctt.ec/sSV9f" target="_new">11 essential items to include in a content brief [Share on Twitter]</a></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
</span> <span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>1. Audience profile</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Provide details about the intended audience. Give information about their demographic make-up; likes and dislikes; level of existing knowledge regarding the subject areas to be covered, and so on. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
</span> <span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Understanding the profile of the target audience will give the writer the best possible insight <span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>into the appropriate use of historical and cultural references to use to illustrate their content. <span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>It will also affect the tone of voice selected for the piece.</span><br />
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</span><br />
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><div dir="ltr" lang="en"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Learning from Q&A--Build your audience profile and then develop your content around what it is your audience wants to see <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/briteassembly?src=hash">#briteassembly</a></span></div><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">— GA Melbourne (@MelbourneGA) <a href="https://twitter.com/MelbourneGA/status/606403322287824896">June 4, 2015</a></span></blockquote><script async="" charset="utf-8" src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js"></script><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
</span> <span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>2. Key messages to be delivered</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Consumers of digital content are time poor. <a href="http://ctt.ec/d3CaU" target="_new">If your audience reads one paragraph of your content, which key message needs to be delivered above all others? [click to Tweet]</a></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
</span> <span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Providing such guidance to writers will help to ensure accurate placement of content (above <span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>the scroll; in H1, H2 headers; meta descriptions, and so on).</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
</span> <span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>3. Narrative</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">It is likely that the content being created forms part of a wider narrative and is one of many touch points that the reader will have with your brand.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
</span> <span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Clearly explain to the writer which materials the target audience is likely to have accessed <span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>before, and content that will follow.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><div dir="ltr" lang="en"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">How to find the narrative in your content marketing, via <a href="https://twitter.com/Kimota">@Kimota</a>: <a href="http://t.co/DfBRqvYcTW">http://t.co/DfBRqvYcTW</a></span></div><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">— SlideShare (@SlideShare) <a href="https://twitter.com/SlideShare/status/615916484422946816">June 30, 2015</a></span></blockquote><script async="" charset="utf-8" src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js"></script><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
</span> <span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>4. Tone of voice</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">If your brand guidelines don't already contain guidance, consider providing the author with a tone of voice document which details where the content should be positioned along a number of continuum’s: </span><br />
<br />
<ul><li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">serious/fun</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">authoritative/insightful</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">contemporary/modern</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">formal/relaxed, and so on.</span></li>
</ul><blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><div dir="ltr" lang="en">Your Brand’s Tone of Voice and 5 Reasons Why You Should Care About It <a href="http://t.co/fqsLZwQfDK">http://t.co/fqsLZwQfDK</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/branding?src=hash">#branding</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/marketing?src=hash">#marketing</a></div>— Juntae DeLane (@JuntaeDeLane) <a href="https://twitter.com/JuntaeDeLane/status/615902645610512384">June 30, 2015</a></blockquote><script async="" charset="utf-8" src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js"></script><br />
<b style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">5. Takeaway messages</b><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Be explicit about what the takeaway messages of the content should be. <a href="http://ctt.ec/EAfb1" target="_new">Describe how the reader should feel after accessing the content, and the key points they should be able to recall. [click to Tweet]</a></span><br />
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</span> <span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>6. Word count / article length</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">It sounds obvious, but be clear on the required content length. Too many words may lead to heavy editing which affects the narrative. Too few words and the content may fall short of achieving its objectives.</span><br />
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</span> <span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">If you are asking writers to provide titles, meta descriptions, email subject lines, and so on, remember to be prescriptive with character limits, to help ensure your digital content is fully optimised for the platform used. </span><br />
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<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><div dir="ltr" lang="en"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Research shows 1500 word blog posts get more links, shares and views. But be careful not to pad content for length. <a href="https://t.co/eHpifZI2K0">https://t.co/eHpifZI2K0</a></span></div><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">— samanthastone (@samanthastone) <a href="https://twitter.com/samanthastone/status/615893484948492288">June 30, 2015</a></span></blockquote><script async="" charset="utf-8" src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js"></script><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
</span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>7. Content format </b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Be clear about the format the content being produced will take (blog post, slideshare, infographic, email, eGuide and so on). This will have a significant impact on the writing <span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>style used. Where possible, provide examples of existing content in the same format.</span><br />
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</span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>8. Keywords</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Provide the writer with details of the keywords and phrases that the content needs to include. State where these keywords should to be place within the copy, and the density of use. </span><br />
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</span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>9. Trusted sources of background information</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Provide links to any sources of information you have that will help them understand the </span><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; white-space: pre;"> </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">subject area in greater detail.</span><br />
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</span> <span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">This should not be a replacement for the desk research that they conduct themselves, but simply provides examples of trusted sources of credible information.</span><br />
<p><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>10. Deadline!</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Provide clarity on the deadline for content to be completed. Where necessary, indicate the number of amends cycles that are likely to be required. This will help writers to plan their time effectively in order to deliver on time.</span><br />
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<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr"><a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/PR?src=hash">#PR</a> Tip: Be sure to always comply with a reporter’s deadline & communicate w/ clients in a timely fashion.</p>— IndraPublicRelations (@indraPRGroup) <a href="https://twitter.com/indraPRGroup/status/611847249199517696">June 19, 2015</a></blockquote><script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script><br />
</span> <span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>11. Publication date and place</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Many copywriters like to provide links to the content they have helped to create on their own websites and blogs. It's a great opportunity to get an all important back link or two!</span><br />
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</span> <span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>What are your must include items?</b></span><br />
<div><br />
</div><div class="blogger-post-footer">Claire is a CIM Chartered Marketer with over 10 years experience of working in health and public sector communications. You can contact her at clairelane2008@gmail.com.</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3010863521952614729.post-85134354964469935462015-03-31T21:15:00.002+01:002015-10-21T21:19:11.992+01:00Managing social media for business<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="color: #666666; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Managing social media channels on behalf of an organisation means balancing the interests and reputation of the business and individuals alike.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #666666; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">As there is no specific social media law, existing laws must be applied in the social media context. This is further complicated by the global nature of social media – which inevitably crosses legal jurisdictions.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #666666; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Whilst having a robust social media policy in place is important, its scope and application may not be as black and white as first appears.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">How do you take that next step to set your employees on the right path? Here are three ideas to.. <a href="http://t.co/ELeD4NNWfL">http://t.co/ELeD4NNWfL</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/socialmedia?src=hash">#socialmedia</a></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">— Hicham Chraibi (@hichamchraibi) <a href="https://twitter.com/hichamchraibi/status/608273734693027841">June 9, 2015</a></span></blockquote>
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<b style="color: #666666; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Protecting confidential information on social media</b></div>
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<span style="color: #666666; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Control of confidential business information must be maintained by employees interacting via social media (both on their personal accounts, and when posting on behalf of a business). It is critical for people to understand which data belongs to the organisation, and which is in the public domain. The importance of this is illustrated in the case of a UK based, human resources executive who included company attrition figures on his personal LinkedIn profile. Disciplinary action was taken against Mr. Flexman by his employer who accused him of <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/social-media/8992541/Executive-forced-out-of-job-over-LinkedIn-CV.html">posting confidential information online</a>.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #666666; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Similarly, an ex-employee of Hays Specialist Recruitment was ordered to disclose <a href="http://uk.practicallaw.com/D-014-9399?service=employment">business contacts uploaded to LinkedIn</a>, because they constituted confidential information belonging to the organisation.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #666666; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">It is remarkably easy for employees to be unwittingly caught out. For example, when setting up social media profiles, many encourage the user to import contacts from other systems (such as email address lists):</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisWzJQXTu7ONm86l0EyzFBnTXFYd0LXB8bRevcDs286w-U5qyI-wpeF3AbcehwmPN7WH0UKWepar2GB8ePqXa6GB-5bNyeVh60G0VDdUrQkQpSZXk6UN10kMsmS1_3ufPtfuVdmlP4W24/s1600/LinkedInContacts.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="212" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisWzJQXTu7ONm86l0EyzFBnTXFYd0LXB8bRevcDs286w-U5qyI-wpeF3AbcehwmPN7WH0UKWepar2GB8ePqXa6GB-5bNyeVh60G0VDdUrQkQpSZXk6UN10kMsmS1_3ufPtfuVdmlP4W24/s1600/LinkedInContacts.gif" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="color: #666666; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Imagine the ethical issues in the scenario where a <a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=3010863521952614729#R18">medical professional imports a contact list</a> containing patients’ email addresses (who, unknown to the professional, are then invited to follow or friend them online.)</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="color: #666666;">"</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #575757; font-size: 16px; line-height: 30px;">All of this technology emerged fast, and employees at all levels of the organization might lack the skills and knowledge needed to leverage social media channels. The resulting digital skills gap can only be addressed through </span><a href="https://socialbusiness.hootsuite.com/custom-social-media-education.html" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #00aeef; font-size: 16px; line-height: 30px; text-decoration: none; transition: all 0.15s ease-out;" target="_blank">social media education</a><span style="background-color: white; color: #575757; font-size: 16px; line-height: 30px;">.</span><span style="color: #666666;">" Hootsuite.</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #666666; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Retaining control over how business contacts and other online information, controlled directly by employees, must be planned for: </span></div>
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<span style="color: #666666; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">If an individual is a LinkedIn Company Page administrator, and their personal account is compromised, the unauthorised party automatically has access to the Company Page(s) they manage. Ensuring administrator’s personal account passwords are ‘strong’ and changed frequently will go some way towards mitigating this risk. <a href="http://www.law360.com/articles/614173/stites-harbison-says-attys-hijacked-social-media-accounts">Social media accounts have also been intentionally compromised</a> by employees looking to establish rival firms.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #666666; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Organisations need to be clear about the process for transferring contacts and business related conversations stored within social media accounts administered by employees. For example, there have been a number of instances where <a href="http://personalweb.about.com/od/twitterrules/a/Twitter-Ownership-Disputes.htm">employees have taken a Twitter following with them</a> when changing employer.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #666666; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Social media profiles belonging to an organisation must also be protected as a valuable asset. Profiles with a large following may have a commercial value, and/or be part of brand valuation exercises.</span></div>
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<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/podcast?src=hash">#podcast</a> : How companies can work with employees on social media to create trust and interest. <a href="http://t.co/JvZ834sy7v">http://t.co/JvZ834sy7v</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/socialbiz?src=hash">#socialbiz</a></div>
— Ted Coiné (@tedcoine) <a href="https://twitter.com/tedcoine/status/606839924260773889">June 5, 2015</a></blockquote>
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<span style="color: #666666; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Complying with the terms and conditions of social media platform is of paramount importance in protecting such assets. At the heart of Facebook’s governance, for example, is its <a href="https://en-gb.facebook.com/help/112146705538576">real name policy</a> (which goes as far as to prohibit practises such as the use of nicknames as middle names and the use of unusual capitalisation):</span></div>
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<span style="color: #666666; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">“We require people to provide the name they use in real life; that way, you always know who you're connecting with. This helps keep our community safe.” Facebook.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #666666; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Failure to comply with the real name policy by an administrator (within their personal profile) could result in its removal - along with any company Facebook Pages managed by that administrator.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #666666; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Well documented examples of Company Pages being closed down for violation of Facebook’s terms and conditions include:</span></div>
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<span style="color: #666666; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">HellPizza: <a href="http://mosh.co.nz/social-media/to-facebook-hell-back-or-how-to-lose-your-client-20000-fans/">http://mosh.co.nz/social-media/to-facebook-hell-back-or-how-to-lose-your-client-20000-fans/</a> </span></div>
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<span style="color: #666666; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Velvet Burger: <a href="http://www.ecommercereport.com.au/facebook-crackdown-shuts-down-nz-business-page-9000-fans-lost/">http://www.ecommercereport.com.au/facebook-crackdown-shuts-down-nz-business-page-9000-fans-lost/</a></span></div>
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<span style="color: #666666; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">As well as protecting their own assets, organisations must demonstrate respect for the intellectual property of others. For example, Twitter suspended the account of Bleacher Report in December 2014 on the grounds that it was displaying unauthorised video clips of football matches belonging to the UK Premier League.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #666666; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Twitter clearly outlines its stance on trade-marked brands and infringement of copyright or intellectual property in its <a href="https://support.twitter.com/articles/18367-trademark-policy">trademark policy</a>.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #666666; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>Protecting online reputation</b></span></h3>
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<span style="color: #666666; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Adherence to well established regulations governing traditional marketing and communications must be applied within the social media context.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #666666; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">For example, laws governing the sharing of personal information, or sending unsolicited communications must be considered. Tools such as <a href="http://www.socialmediaexaminer.com/how-to-use-facebook-graph-search/">Facebook graph search</a> have make it remarkably easy for organisations to send targeted, but unsolicited promotional messages. </span></div>
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<span style="color: #666666; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><a href="https://www.fca.org.uk/news/fg15-04-social-media-and-customer-communications">Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) guidance</a> outlines how such techniques must be controlled within industry they regulate. However, the guidance highlights some important issue relevant to a number of industries. The first is in relation to the re-publishing of social media posts which may result in the exposure of promotional materials to unintended recipients:</span></div>
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<span style="color: #666666; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">“Firms should ensure that their original communication would remain fair, clear and not misleading, even if it ends up in front of a non-intended recipient (through others re-tweeting on Twitter or sharing on Facebook). One way of managing this risk is the use of software that enables advertisers to target particular groups very precisely.” FCA.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #666666; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Think of exposure to promotion of alcohol, tobacco, or gambling related products to those under the legal age; via re-tweets, shares, and online reviews.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #666666; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Secondly, the FCA guidance outlines the need for “adequate system [to be] in place to sign off digital media communications. This sign-off should be by a person of appropriate competence and seniority within the organisation”. It is sensible for organisations to keep their own records of communications published via social media, and record authority to publish. Further, organisations using third party agencies to create and post content on their behalf should satisfy themselves as to the knowledge and processes of their chosen partner.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #666666; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">A four-eyes review and <a href="http://www.insidecounsel.com/2014/05/08/social-media-poses-grave-danger-to-companies-confi">sign-off process for social media posts</a> may have saved face for US Airways who attached a pornographic image in its response to a complainants tweet – which was seen by hundreds of thousands of its followers.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #666666; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>Balancing the rights of the organisation and the individual</b></span></h3>
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<span style="color: #666666; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">There are no shortage of examples of employees falling foul of social media policies, guidelines, and general etiquette:</span></div>
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<span style="color: #666666; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">A manager at JD Weatherspoons claim for unfair dismissal, after she was <a href="http://www.xperthr.co.uk/editors-choice/abusive-facebook-comments-led-to-pub-shift-managers-dismissal/108662/">fired for posting comments</a> about the pub chain’s customers on her personal Facebook wall, was unsuccessful. Although the defendants comments were only visible to her Facebook friends, the number of them (646) was an important consideration in the case as it was thought to large enough to constitute bring the organisation into ‘public’ disrepute.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #666666; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">A Texan teenager’s unsavoury <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/jobs/11402369/Rude-tweet-gets-teenager-fired-before-starting-new-job.html">tweet about starting a new job</a> at a pizzeria got her the sack before she had even started.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #666666;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">However, protecting the interests of business must be balanced with the rights of the individual to express their own opinions and have their own online voice - as highlighted in the case of </span><a href="http://www.bailii.org/ew/cases/EWHC/Ch/2012/3221.html" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Smith v Trafford Housing Trust</a><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> (2012).</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #666666; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Mr Smith posted a link to a BBC News article about gay marriage on his personal Facebook wall and commented “an equality too far”. This was visible to his 201 friends, and friends of friends – some of whom had responded to his comment. On his Facebook profile, Mr. Smith had identified himself as an employee of Trafford Housing Trust, who started disciplinary action against him for alleged gross misconduct (being in breach of their code of conduct and equal opportunities policy).</span></div>
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<span style="color: #666666; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The decision went in favour of Mr. Smith on the grounds that (among other factors) his post could not be considered work-related because it was not specifically targeted at his work [Facebook] contacts. The Court also stressed that the views expressed reflected those widely held by other members of society, which were frequently reflected in mainstream media.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #666666; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Individuals have the right to post information about their personal interests and beliefs online, and employers must be cautious about using this for purposes for which they were not intended. For example, personal social media profiles will often contain information about an individual’s ethnicity, religion, age, marital status and sexual orientation – which, in the UK, is protected under the Equality Act. </span></div>
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Brands have a responsibility to educate their employees on what's acceptable on online: <a href="http://t.co/SDUgwGgAGg">http://t.co/SDUgwGgAGg</a> <a href="http://t.co/ANnAxxyuUg">pic.twitter.com/ANnAxxyuUg</a></div>
— Digital Royalty (@DigitalRoyalty) <a href="https://twitter.com/DigitalRoyalty/status/605031228803305473">May 31, 2015</a></blockquote>
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<span style="color: #666666; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">According to UK employment and HR specialists <a href="http://www.acas.org.uk/index.aspx?articleid=3883">ACAS</a>, “digging up sensitive 'protected' information that is not usually sought during the application process could leave employers open to discrimination claims. Rejected applicants could maintain that the real reason they didn't get the job was because of knowledge of the protected characteristic...</span></div>
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<span style="color: #666666; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">...On the other side of the discrimination coin, research suggests that vetting through social media may also encourage 'recruitment bias' according to age, gender or ethnicity. Some recruiters said they drew inferences about candidates from Facebook profile pictures”.</span><br />
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<b style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="color: #666666;">Protecting social media managers</span></b></h3>
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<span style="color: #666666; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Employees often take on responsibility for administering company social media accounts without having the pitfalls, risks, and legal implications of doing so explained to them.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #666666; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The personal liability of individuals’ who publish on behalf of an organisation, should be clearly explained to them (including any re-posts or re-tweets of content originated by others) - the Crown Prosecution Service has made clear that such publications could <a href="http://www.cnet.com/uk/news/watch-what-you-retweet-we-could-prosecute-you-says-cps/">constitute an offence</a>. Where necessary, personal liability insurance should be in place to cover employees acting as administrators (the emotional and reputational costs of a court case being brought against an individual will of course, not be covered by this insurance).</span><br />
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<span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.6667px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b>About the author</b></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 22.08px;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://lnkd.in/YMFzk4" target="_blank">Claire Cresswell-Lane</a> is a UK based, CIM Chartered Marketer specialising in digital marketing strategy and communications. You can contact her via <a href="http://lnkd.in/YMFzk4" target="_blank">LinkedIn</a> or <a href="https://twitter.com/ccresswelllane?lang=en" target="_blank">Twitter</a>.</span></div>
</div>
<div class="blogger-post-footer">Claire is a CIM Chartered Marketer with over 10 years experience of working in health and public sector communications. You can contact her at clairelane2008@gmail.com.</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3010863521952614729.post-76597768247725668942015-02-17T20:03:00.001+00:002015-09-11T09:55:52.928+01:00How to keep your digital estate on-track<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhHwWNiuzV4s8vn0N14R8TBgPI-Xr2fnsCzEDeYPxn2-a5GbYVKeiq-XLb2ICo1Cjz00vm5z7zwCKghKKgOfXlIk3W32f-2Zh9CbHzwws3ZmQzMH0uqXshS0vRfPOexdlddCNgAWhs4cP0/s1600/Underground.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhHwWNiuzV4s8vn0N14R8TBgPI-Xr2fnsCzEDeYPxn2-a5GbYVKeiq-XLb2ICo1Cjz00vm5z7zwCKghKKgOfXlIk3W32f-2Zh9CbHzwws3ZmQzMH0uqXshS0vRfPOexdlddCNgAWhs4cP0/s1600/Underground.gif" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Digital Marketing Managers are tasked with looking after an ever increasing number of online assets. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Here are my tips for the key functions to monitor - keeping performance on track and ensuring a seamless online journey for customers.</span></div>
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<b><span style="color: #3d85c6; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Website Content</span></b></h3>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Content is still king, and runs through the centre of digital marketing planning. Make sure you monitor:</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>Titles</b> - optimise titles for the keywords or phrases your target audience is searching for. Remember to carry out <a href="http://commsinsight.blogspot.co.uk/2014/07/travel-republic-key-to-advertising.html" target="_blank">competitor analysis</a> as part of your keyword strategy.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>H1, H2, H3</b> - tags should be used for <a href="http://commsinsight.blogspot.co.uk/2014/07/content-marketing-tips-3-keyword.html" target="_blank">page headings and sub-headings</a> to increase on-page Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) efforts. It's a simple rule that is often overlooked. This rule should also be applied to any PDFs that will end up published to your website. Check out these tips for <a href="http://commsinsight.blogspot.co.uk/2014/09/tips-for-structuring-website-content.html" target="_blank">structuring website content</a> before you start to write.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>Font size</b> - should be large enough to comply with accessibility guidance, and avoid the need for pinch and zoom on mobile devices. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>Credibility</b> - frequently updated content will prove to external search engines that your site is actively managed. It will also demonstrate to visitors that content is current and therefore more likely to be credible.</span></div>
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Your credibility on Google grows improves SEO faster if you constantly update your website with fresh content <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/fact?src=hash">#fact</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/SEO?src=hash">#SEO</a></div>
— Francois Karstel (@SoundIdeaDMA) <a href="https://twitter.com/SoundIdeaDMA/status/588659155583500289">April 16, 2015</a></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>Blogs</b> - what better way is there to maintain a stream of current content that will prove a long-term source of incoming traffic than through blogging? The more engagement your blog posts receive, the better your SEO results!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>Lead capture</b> - embedded into your content should be both micro- and macro- conversion opportunities (link follows, form completion, call-to-click, newsletter subscription, purchases, and so on).</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>Analytics</b> - ensure you establish a baseline for your content before you implement changes, so you can see how effective they have genuinely been.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>PDFs</b> - content that doesn't need to be in PDF shouldn't be as it can disadvantage your SEO efforts in a number of ways. I talk more about this in an article I <a href="http://commsinsight.blogspot.com/2014/06/should-you-pdf-website-content.html" target="_blank">published in June 2014</a>.</span></div>
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<b><span style="color: #bf9000; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">User Experience</span></b></h3>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Conducting both qualitative and quantitative analysis of how users interact with your online estate will provide you with a wealth of insight that can be used to inform continuous improvements to your digital assets. Make sure your plans include some or all of the following (depending on your size and capacity):</span></div>
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<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">user experience testing workshops</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">content rating and review software</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">online surveys</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">mouse tracking studies.</span></li>
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Tests and mouse tracking: the absolute weapons to optimize your <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/userexperience?src=hash">#userexperience</a> <a href="http://t.co/me5RdGvv1y">http://t.co/me5RdGvv1y</a></div>
— Content Square (@ContentSquare) <a href="https://twitter.com/ContentSquare/status/608280366634401792">June 9, 2015</a></blockquote>
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<strong style="color: #783f04; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Domain management</strong></h3>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Effective domain management still pulls a lot of punches with search engines. It is also an important part of your branding, so deserves special consideration:</span><br />
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</span> <span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><strong>Age</strong> - domain authority demonstrates to external search engines that your website belongs to a credible organisation with longevity. Secure domain names as soon as possible, and retain them after retirement as part of brand guardianship.</span><br />
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Ignoring <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/social?src=hash">#social</a> media means someone else can stake their claim on your behalf.Read more: <a href="http://t.co/3ZOCJNlbA4">http://t.co/3ZOCJNlbA4</a> <a href="http://t.co/u8CByVFf0j">pic.twitter.com/u8CByVFf0j</a></div>
— Social Media School (@TSMTSchool) <a href="https://twitter.com/TSMTSchool/status/471461374951178240">May 28, 2014</a></blockquote>
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</span> <span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><strong>Sub-domains</strong> - an effective way to maximise marketing efforts across a number of channels is via the use of sub-domains: http://subdomain.domain.com. This way, traffic generating activity benefits one central digital space, and both can benefit from the SEO advantages this brings.</span><br />
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</span> <span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><strong>File structure</strong> - remember that the file structure following your domain extension provides search engines with important information about your websites content. The closer your keywords are to the root of your domain name, the better - for example:</span><br />
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</span> <span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">...com/ladies-shoes.html</span><br />
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</span> <span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">is much stronger than </span><br />
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</span> <span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">...com/our products/shoes/ladies-shoes.html</span><br />
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</span> <span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">All too often file structures focus on generic functional keywords (about us, contact us) instead of product and service offering (ladies shoes, ladies sandals, and so on).</span><br />
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<span style="color: #38761d; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><strong>Social media</strong></span></h3>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Social signals are very important off-site search engine optimisation factors. The more engaging your content (that is, the more it is shared, bookmarked, liked, and commented upon), the more credibility it gains. Greater levels of engagement also contribute to a high landing-page quality score which will lower your Google pay-per-click costs!</span></div>
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</span> <span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>Brand guardianship</b> - not every social media platform will suit your requirements - this depends very much on your product, service, and industry. But even if you don't plan on using a particular social media you should claim the vanity URL (before somebody does it for you). If you do this, it is a good idea to populate at least the landing-page with basic information which points back to your website.</span><br />
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</span> <span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>Integration</b> - be sure to automate posts where it is sensible to do so. For example, you can configure Blogger to automatically post content to Google+, or post tweets to your Facebook Page. The important factor to monitor here is that you post content in a format appropriate to the platform - you will need to re-tweak your content in order to do this effectively.</span><br />
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</span> <span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>Cross-refer</b> - most people use more than one social media platform, so remember to provide clear links to other ways that people can follow you, such as <a href="https://twitter.com/CCresswellLane" style="background-color: white; color: #888888; font-size: 15px; line-height: 21.5599994659424px; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank"><span style="color: #2288bb;">Twitter</span></a><span style="background-color: white; color: #666666; font-size: 15px; line-height: 21.5599994659424px;"> and </span><a href="https://www.facebook.com/CommsInSight" style="background-color: white; color: #888888; font-size: 15px; line-height: 21.5599994659424px; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank"><span style="color: #2288bb;">Facebook</span></a><span style="background-color: white; color: #666666; font-size: 15px; line-height: 21.5599994659424px;">.</span></span><br />
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</span> <span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>Conversation calendar </b>- creating a conversation calendar will help to keep your content flowing and will ensure that you don't miss opportunities to capitalise on the buzz around planned events in your industry.</span><br />
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</span> <span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Remember, there are a host of free tools out there that allow you to schedule your posts in advance (such as <a href="http://www.dpbolvw.net/click-7762112-10975559-1401906241000" target="_blank">Hootsuite</a> and <a href="http://www.socialoomph.com/97852.html" target="_blank">SocialOomph</a>).</span><br />
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<a href="http://www.jdoqocy.com/click-7762112-11296387-1402697761000" target="_top"><br /></a>
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<a href="http://www.jdoqocy.com/click-7762112-11296387-1402697761000" target="_top"><img alt="Hootsuite - Social Relationship Platform" border="0" src="http://www.ftjcfx.com/image-7762112-11296387-1402697761000" height="60" width="468" /></a></div>
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<span style="color: purple; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>Compliance</b></span></h3>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Meeting statutory and best practice guidelines demonstrates to search engines, as well as your target audience that you mean business, and are safe to do business with!</span><br />
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</span> <span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Schedule in time to review your governance policies to make sure they remain up-to-date.</span><br />
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</span> <span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">In the UK and Europe, you may want to include compliance with:</span><br />
<ul>
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><a href="https://ico.org.uk/for-organisations/guide-to-pecr/cookies/" target="_blank">Cookie consent</a> (EU law)</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.rnib.org.uk/" target="_blank">Royal National Institute for Blind</a> guidelines on accessibility</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.asa.org.uk/" target="_blank">Advertising Standards Authority</a></span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.w3.org/" target="_blank">W3C</a> </span></li>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.6667px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b>About the author</b></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 22.08px;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><a href="http://lnkd.in/YMFzk4" target="_blank">Claire Cresswell-Lane</a> is a UK based, CIM Chartered Marketer </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">specialising in digital marketing strategy and communications. You can contact her via <a href="http://lnkd.in/YMFzk4" target="_blank">LinkedIn</a> or <a href="https://twitter.com/ccresswelllane?lang=en" target="_blank">Twitter</a>.</span></div>
</div>
<div class="blogger-post-footer">Claire is a CIM Chartered Marketer with over 10 years experience of working in health and public sector communications. You can contact her at clairelane2008@gmail.com.</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3010863521952614729.post-48199462819631442022014-12-29T21:23:00.000+00:002015-09-11T09:56:15.926+01:00Mobile optimisation - make it easy for visitors to do business with you<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Updates to </span><a href="http://googlewebmastercentral.blogspot.com/2015/02/finding-more-mobile-friendly-search.html" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;" target="_blank">Google's algorithm</a><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> in April 2015 mean that optimising for mobile is no longer an option, but a necessity:</span><br />
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</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; line-height: 26px;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">"Starting April 21, we will be expanding our use of mobile-friendliness as a ranking signal. This change will affect mobile searches in all languages worldwide and will have a significant impact in our search results. Consequently, users will find it easier to get relevant, high quality search results that are optimized for their devices.</span></span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> "</span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">What to consider when optimising for mobile</span></h3>
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</span> <span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">One key element to mobile optimisation is surfacing the transactional elements of your website - the features that enable users to do business with you. Let's look at an example from courier company TNT.</span><br />
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</span> <span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">TNT's recently optimised design allows visitors to conduct 5 actions straight from the homepage (get a quote, track a package, search, log-in, and browse the site structure via a drop-down menu), and a further two within a single click (register, and leave feedback):</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghWc62UwooDEbbp_3wp1Hau1z0d-54fCyWIV5wopifYPkTJJDIiYPwN2fHFfN6BBhDlIrC48J0yqGPx4RwVhxHr9DGTXs6s6-wTd5RT_5qFcEd1ej5CAd1xo0WNpX5LBLvMjAo4b8WM6Q/s1600/tnt2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="221" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghWc62UwooDEbbp_3wp1Hau1z0d-54fCyWIV5wopifYPkTJJDIiYPwN2fHFfN6BBhDlIrC48J0yqGPx4RwVhxHr9DGTXs6s6-wTd5RT_5qFcEd1ej5CAd1xo0WNpX5LBLvMjAo4b8WM6Q/s1600/tnt2.jpg" width="400" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Even on mobile devices where space is at a premium, 3 main actions can be carried out via the optimised site:</span><br />
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</span> <br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiM8nytaTWwtpaqvN074NDxbJlnL_mlTxXRGmpWWXdUxqUuZIo9vnrl1ThcLyOIcDSrEamsNPxTNRKhSToUzeB1Vtyxo7TRtKJqreg0MKu2byYXfnbABh0JjoOgOTU8eS0yphkmAxFTH6E/s1600/MO.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiM8nytaTWwtpaqvN074NDxbJlnL_mlTxXRGmpWWXdUxqUuZIo9vnrl1ThcLyOIcDSrEamsNPxTNRKhSToUzeB1Vtyxo7TRtKJqreg0MKu2byYXfnbABh0JjoOgOTU8eS0yphkmAxFTH6E/s1600/MO.jpg" width="400" /></span></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
</span> <span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">This is a vast improvement on the previous TNT design - although this desktop design renders correctly on mobile devices, calls to action for the end user are not immediately obvious:</span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLFt9JM-RujP2wvos4lagA6I745sgkroZbUGTrwSiWe6Npf8sJeQe5r79amscSZOQgwgHCiGSJcL9uMLF6Ni6yB-oXDcEsWclMPor5mygOu6EMmutWJgDIJXVtidzdmz7H-hF-NJwu3nk/s1600/MO2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="260" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLFt9JM-RujP2wvos4lagA6I745sgkroZbUGTrwSiWe6Npf8sJeQe5r79amscSZOQgwgHCiGSJcL9uMLF6Ni6yB-oXDcEsWclMPor5mygOu6EMmutWJgDIJXVtidzdmz7H-hF-NJwu3nk/s1600/MO2.jpg" width="400" /></span></a></div>
<div class="" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div>
<h3 style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Deciding which actions to optimise</span></h3>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Decisions you make about changes to your online presence should always be based on solid evidence. This can be obtained from a number of primary and secondary sources such as Google Analytics; user experience testing; online ratings and reviews; social media analysis; current best practice guidelines, and so on.</span></div>
<div>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en">
<div dir="ltr" lang="en">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">6.8bn people in the world and 4bn of them use a mobile phone. Are you up to date on your mobile optimisation: <a href="http://t.co/X3rT6sPqxJ">http://t.co/X3rT6sPqxJ</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/webdev?src=hash">#webdev</a></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">— QA Ltd (@QAtraining) <a href="https://twitter.com/QAtraining/status/611190824462893056">June 17, 2015</a></span></blockquote>
<script async="" charset="utf-8" src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js"></script><br /></div>
<h3>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Search is key</span></h3>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Search is a key feature for mobile users - they are much less likely to try to navigate your site because text is harder to read and buttons harder to select on limited screen space. Ensure that your search results are optimised to return the best results for your top transactional features.</span><br />
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-cards="hidden" lang="en">
<div dir="ltr" lang="en">
Google Mobile Search Overtakes Desktop Search In UK <a href="http://t.co/Shdiy8Fd3N">http://t.co/Shdiy8Fd3N</a> There was a time when a mobile website, or responsive design, …</div>
— Searchbloom (@searchbloom) <a href="https://twitter.com/searchbloom/status/612366104191737857">June 20, 2015</a></blockquote>
<script async="" charset="utf-8" src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js"></script><br />
<div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></span></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 22.08px;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.6667px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b>About the author</b></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 22.08px;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://lnkd.in/YMFzk4" target="_blank">Claire Cresswell-Lane</a> is a UK based, CIM Chartered Marketer specialising in digital marketing strategy and communications. You can contact her via <a href="http://lnkd.in/YMFzk4" target="_blank">LinkedIn</a> or <a href="https://twitter.com/ccresswelllane?lang=en" target="_blank">Twitter</a>.</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
</span> <div class="blogger-post-footer">Claire is a CIM Chartered Marketer with over 10 years experience of working in health and public sector communications. You can contact her at clairelane2008@gmail.com.</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3010863521952614729.post-2828991380887486832014-09-30T17:23:00.001+01:002015-09-11T09:57:04.732+01:008 low or no-cost changes that reduce frustration for mobile users<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Mobile users are concerned with completing tasks, and completing goal as efficiently as possible.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Mobile websites must therefore be designed with task completion in mind - without compromising quality of content.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Here are 8 low or no-cost changes you can make today to reduce frustration for mobile users.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"></span><br />
<h3>
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgcgnWv_oLFr8h5ql1WTLPBgYCNZ9KIWrdXtL60GGUwe_GOwrvfLpBoyND2xaL67_CqC9C0-aiW_2_92W-ck8wzuHZRTvGjS6oRLwprpQiuwaskE_U7mY5bURKt32f3_dgcMUBXOYHKuq4/s1600/shutterstock_113071105.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgcgnWv_oLFr8h5ql1WTLPBgYCNZ9KIWrdXtL60GGUwe_GOwrvfLpBoyND2xaL67_CqC9C0-aiW_2_92W-ck8wzuHZRTvGjS6oRLwprpQiuwaskE_U7mY5bURKt32f3_dgcMUBXOYHKuq4/s1600/shutterstock_113071105.jpg" width="272" /></a><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">1. Calls to action on prime real estate</span></h3>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Calls to action should be in the main body of landing pages not behind additional menu items. This could be a form field, a search function, or a location based lookup.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"></span><br />
<h3>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">2. Stay in one browser window</span> </h3>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Keep users in a single browser window as switching between windows on mobile causes frustration.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"></span><br />
<h3>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">3. Make navigating home easy</span></h3>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Make navigating back to the homepage possible from all sub-pages. According to Google’s </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">usability research, a clickable logo at the top of the page is expected by most users.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"></span><br />
<h3>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">4. Click-to-call</span></h3>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Make click-to-call buttons prominent and remove any dialling code parenthesis to enable one-touch dialling.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"></span><br />
<h3>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">5. Be finger friendly</span> </h3>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Ensure tap targets are large and finger friendly.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"></span><br />
<h3>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">6. Real time error checking</span> </h3>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Validate form fields in real time, as opposed to waiting for users to hit submit!</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"></span><br />
<h3>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">7. Descriptive form labels</span></h3>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Place clear and descriptive labels above form fields, rather than within them. This way, guidance notes don’t disappear as soon as users attempts to enter text.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"></span><br />
<h3>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">8. High resolution images</span></h3>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Provide high resolution close-ups of images – users expect to be able to tap for close-ups, especially on e-commerce sites.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana;"></span><br />
<div style="line-height: 22.08px;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.6667px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b>About the author</b></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 22.08px;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><a href="http://lnkd.in/YMFzk4" target="_blank">Claire Cresswell-Lane</a> is a UK based, CIM Chartered Marketer </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">specialising in digital marketing strategy and communications. You can contact her via <a href="http://lnkd.in/YMFzk4" target="_blank">LinkedIn</a> or <a href="https://twitter.com/ccresswelllane?lang=en" target="_blank">Twitter</a>.</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana;"></span><br /><div class="blogger-post-footer">Claire is a CIM Chartered Marketer with over 10 years experience of working in health and public sector communications. You can contact her at clairelane2008@gmail.com.</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3010863521952614729.post-65003912774514457242014-09-26T07:55:00.000+01:002015-06-19T15:16:15.518+01:005 Facebook Tactics to Increase Engagement<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTWzzD0SnNFr9w7AKcLgXw9wgrx38W5K2VU8PrQXZxMMVFq7QA8sRhKE9CexCNtuRkv4NIg2PcNwOH8lOfF7w8bjkVkmAnNtKcdTaUllv-0iD-9iEg5BRG8JmcQmpbRQ2MqTe2m9Fs2wY/s1600/Thank+you.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTWzzD0SnNFr9w7AKcLgXw9wgrx38W5K2VU8PrQXZxMMVFq7QA8sRhKE9CexCNtuRkv4NIg2PcNwOH8lOfF7w8bjkVkmAnNtKcdTaUllv-0iD-9iEg5BRG8JmcQmpbRQ2MqTe2m9Fs2wY/s1600/Thank+you.jpg" height="250" width="320" /></a><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I recently attended a Facebook Master Class, run by </span><a href="http://www.socialmediaadvance.com/" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Social Media Advance</span></a><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">. Here, I share the top 5 tactics I took away from the course.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana;"></span><br />
<h3><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">1. A (cover) picture is worth a thousand words</span></h3><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">When the average user logs on to Facebook there are 1,500 potential updates could feature in their newsfeed. Facebook therefore serves what it judges to be the posts that will be of most value and interest. These are posts from individuals, pages, and groups that the user interacts with most frequently. If you are at the stage of trying to building an audience this can pose a particular challenge – only 5% of your posts are likely to appear in followers newsfeeds organically.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">One tactic to overcome this is to update your cover photo regularly - as notification that you have done so always appears in news feeds of your followers. This provides a touch point between your brand and your audience, reminding them of your presence and increasing the likelihood of engagement.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Beware not to use cover photos in place of posts. No more than 20% of your cover photograph can be text - Facebook have a <a href="https://www.facebook.com/help/468870969814641" target="_blank">text overlay detection tool</a> to help you stay compliant. </span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Updating your cover photo too frequently could also prove a turn-off for your followers, so use this tactic sparingly.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"></span><br />
<h3><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">2. Pinned posts</span></h3><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">If there is a message that you want to remain at the top of your Facebook page, you can pin it by hovering over the drop-down arrow in the top, left-hand corner of the post. Pinned posts automatically stay at the top of your page for 7 days – increasing exposure for important messages.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"></span><br />
<h3><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">3. Less is more</span></h3><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Posts of up to 80 characters get 27% more engagement so keep them brief to encourage comments, likes, and shares.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"></span><br />
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Be succinct on Facebook - you may have a lot of space but posts of 80 characters and less are the most engaging. <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/FacebookTip?src=hash">#FacebookTip</a></p>— Evolve BD - Karen (@EvolveBD) <a href="https://twitter.com/EvolveBD/status/573091887441182720">March 4, 2015</a></blockquote><script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script><br />
<h3><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">4. Full length URLs</span></h3><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Posts with links detailing a full length URL generate 3 times more engagement as users trust the destination site as a trusted source. Keep shortened URLs for platforms with character limits - such as Twitter.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"></span><br />
<h3><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">5. Ask and you shall receive</span> </h3><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Posts asking for likes, comments, and shares gets 30% more engagement, so design your messages in a way that encourages interaction.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana;">On that note, if you have found these tips useful, please '<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">say thank you' with a share, </span><a href="https://twitter.com/CCresswellLane" target="_blank"><span style="color: #2288bb;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">follow</span></span></a><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> (Twitter), or </span><a href="https://www.facebook.com/CommsInSight" target="_blank"><span style="color: #2288bb;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">like</span></span></a> (Facebook)</span><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">.</span></span><div class="blogger-post-footer">Claire is a CIM Chartered Marketer with over 10 years experience of working in health and public sector communications. You can contact her at clairelane2008@gmail.com.</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3010863521952614729.post-62078311171265847302014-09-12T17:08:00.000+01:002014-09-24T12:23:17.716+01:00Tips for structuring website content<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">When reading information from a screen, people do not
start in the top left of the page and read every word. So what do they read and
how can you make sure you get your key messages across?<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<h3 class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 12.75pt;">
Place keywords on the left<o:p></o:p></h3>
<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Special
equipment can be used to detect exactly where people's eyes are focused when
they look at a computer screen. This form of </span><a href="http://www.nngroup.com/topic/eyetracking/"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><span style="color: blue;">usability research</span></span></a><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt;"> makes
it easier to understand what part of website design users are attracted to, and
which parts they tend to overlook. </span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">A study involving 232 people
found that website users spend 69% of their time viewing the left half of the
page (regardless of the layout). Their eyes scan the page in an F pattern.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<h3 class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
Follow the F pattern<o:p></o:p></h3>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">If you focus on
the red areas of the pictures below, you will see what is known as the F shape - this is where users tend to focus their attention when scanning a website. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB; mso-no-proof: yes;"><v:shapetype coordsize="21600,21600" filled="f" id="_x0000_t75" o:preferrelative="t" o:spt="75" path="m@4@5l@4@11@9@11@9@5xe" stroked="f">
<v:stroke joinstyle="miter">
<v:formulas>
<v:f eqn="if lineDrawn pixelLineWidth 0">
<v:f eqn="sum @0 1 0">
<v:f eqn="sum 0 0 @1">
<v:f eqn="prod @2 1 2">
<v:f eqn="prod @3 21600 pixelWidth">
<v:f eqn="prod @3 21600 pixelHeight">
<v:f eqn="sum @0 0 1">
<v:f eqn="prod @6 1 2">
<v:f eqn="prod @7 21600 pixelWidth">
<v:f eqn="sum @8 21600 0">
<v:f eqn="prod @7 21600 pixelHeight">
<v:f eqn="sum @10 21600 0">
</v:f></v:f></v:f></v:f></v:f></v:f></v:f></v:f></v:f></v:f></v:f></v:f></v:formulas>
<v:path gradientshapeok="t" o:connecttype="rect" o:extrusionok="f">
<o:lock aspectratio="t" v:ext="edit">
</o:lock></v:path></v:stroke></v:shapetype></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB; mso-no-proof: yes;"></span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB; mso-no-proof: yes;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLqi0eaDMhkOYvb_Z8qtDg0NYdhyphenhyphenB6TzODADwEifpeQSj1L2Zv6NpOl-691VRTOQn_N8n0B3FETdqIk1IlRSaKYFO0QnQ8NWhMwJ9kZFX_t5OUMNBkOP0gw9Ma6gf3Sh0WkevY92YLdBM/s1600/FShape.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLqi0eaDMhkOYvb_Z8qtDg0NYdhyphenhyphenB6TzODADwEifpeQSj1L2Zv6NpOl-691VRTOQn_N8n0B3FETdqIk1IlRSaKYFO0QnQ8NWhMwJ9kZFX_t5OUMNBkOP0gw9Ma6gf3Sh0WkevY92YLdBM/s1600/FShape.jpg" height="185" width="400" /></a></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB; mso-no-proof: yes;">
</span><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-size: xx-small;">Source </span><a href="http://www.useit.com/"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">www.useit.com</span></a><span style="font-size: xx-small;"> </span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoListParagraph" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt 36pt; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18pt;">
<span style="font-family: Symbol; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 7pt/normal "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; text-indent: -18pt;"><strong>The first two paragraphs</strong> must state the most
important information</span><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; text-indent: -18pt;">. This is the most likely to be read.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
</div>
<br />
<div class="MsoListParagraph" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt 36pt; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18pt;">
<span style="font-family: Symbol; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 7pt/normal "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">Start subheads, paragraphs, and bullet points
with <strong>information-carrying words </strong></span><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">that users will notice
when scanning down the left side of your content in the final stem of their
F-behaviour.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<h3 class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
In summary<o:p></o:p></h3>
<span style="font-family: Symbol; font-size: 12pt; text-indent: -24px;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt;"> </span></span><b style="text-indent: -24px;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Users won't read your text thoroughly </span></b><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; text-indent: -24px;">in a word-by-word manner - especially when conducting initial research. </span><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">People are scanning content <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">headings</b>, <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">sub headings</b> and <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">opening
paragraphs</b> for <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">keywords</b> to
decide if the webpage they have opened is what they are looking for. If it
isn’t, they will hit the back button in their browser and open the next search
result listing!<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">Do you think these rules apply
to websites optimised for mobile? Please add your comments.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="blogger-post-footer">Claire is a CIM Chartered Marketer with over 10 years experience of working in health and public sector communications. You can contact her at clairelane2008@gmail.com.</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3010863521952614729.post-72482486343630689822014-08-22T12:10:00.000+01:002015-09-11T09:56:44.929+01:00Developing an effective SEO strategy<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="400" mozallowfullscreen="" src="http://prezi.com/embed/hgu7cyebr1k7/?bgcolor=ffffff&lock_to_path=1&autoplay=0&autohide_ctrls=0&features=undefined&disabled_features=undefined&html5=1" webkitallowfullscreen="" width="550"></iframe> <span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"></span> <br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">With so many online channels for the modern marketer to manage (websites, blog, social media channels, and so on) it can be difficult to know where to focus efforts in order to create an efficient SEO strategy. Here are 10 tactics that contribute to effective digital growth.</span></div>
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<o:p> <span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Organic website traffic</span></o:p></h3>
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<o:p><span style="font-family: Verdana;"></span></o:p> </h3>
<div class="MsoListParagraph" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt 36pt; mso-list: l5 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18pt;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">1.<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span></span>Increase organic traffic. Organic traffic proves that your content is relevant and current to your users’ needs, adding credibility to your website when it come to search engine rankings. To increase organic traffic, write content that is:<o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span>easy for search engines to index</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
</span> <br />
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt 36pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo2; text-indent: -18pt;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span>relevant to search queries of your target audience(s)</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
</span> <br />
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt 36pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo2; text-indent: -18pt;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span>engaging and original</span></div>
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</span> <br />
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt 36pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo2; text-indent: -18pt;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span>easy to share.</span></div>
<div style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
</div>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en">
<div dir="ltr" lang="en">
<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/TwitterTip?src=hash">#TwitterTip</a>: Tweet original content, and keep tabs on what types of content gets more shares and RTs.</div>
— Jason Houck (@MJasonHouck) <a href="https://twitter.com/MJasonHouck/status/611877431608246273">June 19, 2015</a></blockquote>
<script async="" charset="utf-8" src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js"></script><br />
<h3>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Return visitors</span></h3>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">2.<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span></span>Increased visitor loyalty. In order to realise the lifetime value of customers, you need to facilitate repeat visits to your digital channels. Visitor loyalty will stem from a good initial online experience where:<o:p> </o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
</span> <br />
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt 36pt; mso-list: l1 level1 lfo3; text-indent: -18pt;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span>relevant information is easy to find </span></div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
</span> <br />
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt 36pt; mso-list: l1 level1 lfo3; text-indent: -18pt;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span>queries are resolved first time: through FAQs, online support, or via user forums</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
</span> <br />
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt 36pt; mso-list: l1 level1 lfo3; text-indent: -18pt;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span>content is personalised to the individual (via links to CRM, cookies, or account preferences)</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
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<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt 36pt; mso-list: l1 level1 lfo3; text-indent: -18pt;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span>service is above and beyond that expected.</span></div>
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</div>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en">
<div dir="ltr" lang="en">
10 tips to attract return visitors <a href="http://t.co/hGWyJcfe2R">http://t.co/hGWyJcfe2R</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/seo?src=hash">#seo</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/traffic?src=hash">#traffic</a></div>
— The Backlink PROS (@Seotactics15) <a href="https://twitter.com/Seotactics15/status/610179112854925312">June 14, 2015</a></blockquote>
<script async="" charset="utf-8" src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js"></script><br />
<h3>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Resolve queries online</span></h3>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">3.<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span></span>By resolve queries online you can reduce:<o:p> </o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span>costs to the organisation (cheaper than handling calls via a contact centre)</span></div>
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</span> <br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span>customer frustration (faster than waiting in a telephone queue).</span></div>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en">
<div dir="ltr" lang="en">
U.S. brands ignore 80% of consumer queries asked via Twitter - <a href="http://t.co/AWZsB4WZgL">http://t.co/AWZsB4WZgL</a> via <a href="https://twitter.com/BizReport">@BizReport</a></div>
— Brandwatch (@Brandwatch) <a href="https://twitter.com/Brandwatch/status/610488681770655744">June 15, 2015</a></blockquote>
<script async="" charset="utf-8" src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js"></script><br />
<h3 style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<o:p><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Reinforce your brand off-line </span></o:p></h3>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">4.<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span></span>You can reinforce your brand when customers are offline by providing downloadable content. Remember to: <o:p> </o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
</span> <br />
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt 36pt; mso-list: l8 level1 lfo5; text-indent: -18pt;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span>add genuine value – provide free information and special offers</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
</span> <br />
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt 36pt; mso-list: l8 level1 lfo5; text-indent: -18pt;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span>provide easy routes back to your online channels (via tagged URLS).</span></div>
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<h3>
<o:p><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Data capture</span></o:p></h3>
<div style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">5.<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span></span>Form completion.<o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
</span> <br />
<div style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Whether it’s subscribing to a newsletter, providing feedback, or signing up to an online forum – capturing information via form completion can:<o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
</span> <br />
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt 36pt; mso-list: l3 level1 lfo6; text-indent: -18pt;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span>inform your CRM strategy</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
</span> <br />
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt 36pt; mso-list: l3 level1 lfo6; text-indent: -18pt;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span>help you to segment and target audiences</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
</span> <br />
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt 36pt; mso-list: l3 level1 lfo6; text-indent: -18pt;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span>gain valuable customer insight about your services</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
</span> <br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span>encourage future touch points with your brand.</span></div>
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<h3>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Be social</span></h3>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">6.<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span></span>Encourage social shares.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
</span> <br />
<div style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Word of mouth is a powerful and trusted channel. People are more likely to interact with a brand that is recommended by a friend or family member. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Make your content easy to share (via <a href="https://twitter.com/CCresswellLane"><span style="color: #2288bb;">Twitter</span></a>, <a href="https://www.facebook.com/CommsInSight"><span style="color: #2288bb;">Facebook</span></a>, and so on) and comment on. Amplify compliments via your contacts networks. Minimise reputation damage in the same way.<o:p> </o:p></span></div>
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<h3>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Offer incentives</span></h3>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">7.<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span></span>Competition time!<o:p> </o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
</span> <br />
<div style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Competitions are a great way to increase BUZZ, raise brand awareness, and engage customers old and new – which all boosts your SEO efforts. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If you are running a <a href="http://commsinsight.blogspot.co.uk/2014/06/promoting-competition-via-twitter.html"><span style="color: #2288bb;">competition via Twitter</span></a>, here are some simple rules to help you.</span></div>
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<h3>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Online sales</span></h3>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">8.<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span></span>Sell your products and services online. Increasing revenue is the bottom line! Make it easy for your visitors to buy online by:<o:p> </o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
</span> <br />
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt 36pt; mso-list: l4 level1 lfo7; text-indent: -18pt;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span>providing clear calls to action</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
</span> <br />
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt 36pt; mso-list: l4 level1 lfo7; text-indent: -18pt;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span>remember personal preferences</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
</span> <br />
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt 36pt; mso-list: l4 level1 lfo7; text-indent: -18pt;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span>offering one-click ordering</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
</span> <br />
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt 36pt; mso-list: l4 level1 lfo7; text-indent: -18pt;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span>allowing order tracking</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
</span> <br />
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt 36pt; mso-list: l4 level1 lfo7; text-indent: -18pt;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span>reassuring that transactions are secure!</span></div>
<br />
<h3>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Cross-channel promotion</span></h3>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">9.<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span></span>Promote new channels<o:p>.</o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
</span> <br />
<div style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Promote channels that your existing customers may not have tried before, to increase the touch points they have with your brand:</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
</span> <br />
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt 36pt; mso-list: l2 level1 lfo8; text-indent: -18pt;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span>Follow us, like us, poke us, +1 us, and so on.</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
</span> <br />
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt 36pt; mso-list: l2 level1 lfo8; text-indent: -18pt;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span>Encourage sign-up for off-line promotions.</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
</span> <br />
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt 36pt; mso-list: l2 level1 lfo8; text-indent: -18pt;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span>Run targeted ad campaigns.</span></div>
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<h3>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Accessibility is key</span></h3>
<div class="MsoListParagraph" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt 36pt; mso-list: l5 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18pt;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">10.<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span></span>Make content accessible.<o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
</span> <br />
<div style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">You can have the best content, the fanciest CRM system, and the most engaging graphics out there, but if your customers can’t access your channels, they will not serve you well:<o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
</span> <br />
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt 36pt; mso-list: l7 level1 lfo9; text-indent: -18pt;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span>Invest in <a href="http://commsinsight.blogspot.co.uk/2014/08/optimising-website-for-mobile-devices.html"><span style="color: #2288bb;">mobile optimisation</span></a>.</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
</span> <br />
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt 36pt; mso-list: l7 level1 lfo9; text-indent: -18pt;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span>Comply with W3C standards for accessibility.</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
</span> <br />
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt 36pt; mso-list: l7 level1 lfo9; text-indent: -18pt;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span>Have a business continuity strategy so if one channel fails, others can step in!</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span><div style="line-height: 22.08px;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.6667px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b>About the author</b></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 22.08px;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><a href="http://lnkd.in/YMFzk4" target="_blank">Claire Cresswell-Lane</a> is a UK based, CIM Chartered Marketer </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">specialising in digital marketing strategy and communications. You can contact her via <a href="http://lnkd.in/YMFzk4" target="_blank">LinkedIn</a> or <a href="https://twitter.com/ccresswelllane?lang=en" target="_blank">Twitter</a>.</span></div>
<br />
<br />
<div class="blogger-post-footer">Claire is a CIM Chartered Marketer with over 10 years experience of working in health and public sector communications. You can contact her at clairelane2008@gmail.com.</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3010863521952614729.post-69448771977403395122014-08-18T17:03:00.005+01:002015-02-16T06:45:57.656+00:00How to win the social media debate<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjyWb_sFtakQPgDPslnPWOqaUcKo5jXuS79Zx5A_j1YK4Bb7Jw8Ur8oWE1nO_ibrMhA8PAqVwGuqorJykmx7HP3OCffB2-PBmvpMIuyRNeIMgae8-PMyki5EHWlIoxIJyhEBSbX41BfOOg/s1600/shutterstock_96653740.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjyWb_sFtakQPgDPslnPWOqaUcKo5jXuS79Zx5A_j1YK4Bb7Jw8Ur8oWE1nO_ibrMhA8PAqVwGuqorJykmx7HP3OCffB2-PBmvpMIuyRNeIMgae8-PMyki5EHWlIoxIJyhEBSbX41BfOOg/s1600/shutterstock_96653740.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Sometimes, the most
challenging part of setting-up social media accounts is
convincing your senior colleagues that it is a good idea! Here are
some tactics to help you out...</span><br />
</div>
<h3>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The conversation is already happening</span></h3>
<div class="western">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">People are already talking about your brand and or
activities online – but if you're not actively monitoring social
media, you just don't know it, or if it is correct. There are lots of
tools, both free and paid for, to help you <a href="http://commsinsight.blogspot.co.uk/2014/08/getting-started-with-social-media.html" name="monitor your reputation online" target="_blank">monitor
your reputation online</a>. See what is being said, and make sure decision makers are aware of the frequency and tone of these conversations. Demonstrate the opportunities being missed.</span><br />
</div>
<h3>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Inform future communications efforts</span></h3>
<div class="western">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">By monitoring conversations that others are having
online, you can understand how effective your communications have
been to date – how well your key messages have been delivered and
understood; where you need to correct or reinforce information, and
so on.</span></div>
<div class="western">
</div>
<div class="western">
</div>
<h3 class="western">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Stakeholder database analysis</span></h3>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Analysing stakeholder databases can be a very
powerful tool for convincing colleagues that social media is a
must-do. Make a list of your top stakeholders, then simply list their
social media presence and level of activity. Once you have identified where your stakeholders
are present online, see how they are already interacting with each
other. <span style="color: navy;"><span lang="zxx"><u><a href="http://www.mentionmapp.com/" target="_blank">Mentionmapp.com</a></u></span></span>
is a free tool, that quickly provides you with a visual
representation of who your stakeholders are talking to, and about
which topics (you need to sign in with a Twitter account).</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana;"></span><br />
<h3>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Make your content shareable</span></h3>
<div class="western">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Making your website content easy for your audiences to
share can help to demonstrate how actively they are participating in
social media. There are lots of free tools around, such as
<span style="color: navy;"><span lang="zxx"><u><a href="http://www.addthis.com/" target="_blank">addthis.com</a></u></span></span>
which you can include on website pages, in email footers, newsletters
and press releases. These tools have reporting systems that let you
see how many times content has been shared, and accessed as a result
of those shares.</span></div>
<div class="western">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="western">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">This will demonstrate two points: 1) your current
audience is actively using social media and 2) social media can be a
powerful way of amplifying your messages and extending audience
reach.</span></div>
<div class="western">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="western">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Adding statistics like this to your monthly
reports will serve as a passive reminder that social media should be
on the agenda.</span><br />
</div>
<h3>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Ask your audience</span></h3>
<div class="western">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Asking your target audience(s) about their social
media use can be a powerful tool to convince colleagues that social
media is no longer a nice-to-do. This could be something simple, like
an online poll, or a questionnaire created in <a href="http://www.surveymonkey.com/" name="Survey Monkey" target="_blank">Survey
Monkey</a>, which is free to use.</span><br />
</div>
<h3>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Referrals from social media channels</span></h3>
<div class="western">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Free tools such as <span style="color: navy;"><span lang="zxx"><u><a href="http://www.google.com/analytics">Google
Analytics</a></u></span></span> can tell you all sorts of useful
information to help with your arguments for developing social media
channels, such as: number of referrals to your website via social
media channels and the number of visitors accessing your site via a
smart device. </span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">
</span></div>
<h3>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Brand identity</span></h3>
<div class="western">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Social media accounts are an important part of
brand identity. If you do not claim your accounts, somebody else may
do it for you in order to capitalise on your brand, or even to try to
sell it to you at a later date (this is known as cyber-squatting). </span><br />
</div>
<h3>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Search Engine rankings</span></h3>
<div class="western">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Having your
website appear on the first page of Google is no longer simply about
keyword placement, or how much you are willing to pay for an
ad-placement. Google look at over 200 factors to determine whether
they should return your website content to users who search for given
phrases. Social media activity now plays an important role in
determining your credibility as a trusted online source – social
accounts linked to your domain; frequency of new content posted;
number of quality followers/subscribers, click-through-rate, and so
on. </span><br />
</div>
<h3>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Managing
the risks</span></h3>
<div class="western">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Resistance
to using social media can stem from the perceived or actual risk
associated with doing so:</span></div>
<ul>
<li><div class="western">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Creating
a demand for services that there is not capacity to manage.
</span></div>
</li>
<li><div class="western">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Negative
comments online about the brand, organisation, or individuals.</span></div>
</li>
<li><div class="western">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Passwords
being lost, shared, or accounts being hacked.</span></div>
</li>
<li><div class="western">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Employees
making defamatory remarks online – accidentally or intentionally.</span></div>
</li>
<li><div class="western">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Security
and governance concerns over data being held by third parties such
as Twitter, or Facebook.</span></div>
</li>
<li><div class="western">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Retaining
ownership of online collateral, and so on.....</span></div>
</li>
</ul>
<div class="western">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">
</span></div>
<div class="western">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">These risks
are all real, and it is important to address them in order to provide
reassurance about how they will be managed. Your social media policy
should outline known risks to the organisation, and the methods you
will use to mitigate them. It is important that the written policy is
well communicated and understood by individual employees before any
social media activity takes place. Here are some pointers to get you
started with <a href="http://commsinsight.blogspot.co.uk/2014/07/developing-social-media-policy-what-to.html" name="developing a social media policy" target="_blank">developing
a social media policy</a>.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana;"></span><br />
</div>
<h3>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Pilot projects</span></h3>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Rather than go for a
big-bang approach to social media, you may want to start with one
account and make sure you manage it as well as possible. Ensuring its
success will be the best way to convince colleagues of the value of
future social media use.</span></div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
</span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">It can be useful to identify a specific project
with a clear start and end date, and trial the use of social media as
a communications channel for this. This is helpful because it
legitimately allows the organisation to close the account after a
fixed period of time. This means that if some of the risks identified
above are realised, the social media account can be taken off-line
after a short period of time without further risk to reputation.
</span></div>
<div class="western">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="western">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Pilot projects also allow social media managers to
gain all important hands-on experience, both in terms of dealing with
the platform, and the types of responses received.
</span></div>
<div class="western">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div>
<h3>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Need help with social media?</span></h3>
<div class="western">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">If
you have any questions, post them in the comments below and I will do
my best to help you out.<br /><br />If
you have found this article useful, please show thanks with a
share, <a href="https://twitter.com/CCresswellLane" target="_blank"><span style="text-decoration: none;">follow</span></a>,
or <a href="https://www.facebook.com/CommsInSight" target="_blank"><span style="text-decoration: none;">like</span></a><span style="background-color: white;">.</span></span>
</div>
<div class="blogger-post-footer">Claire is a CIM Chartered Marketer with over 10 years experience of working in health and public sector communications. You can contact her at clairelane2008@gmail.com.</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3010863521952614729.post-35903166028238956822014-08-14T17:07:00.001+01:002015-02-16T06:46:15.365+00:00Getting started with social media - an essential guide for beginners<h3>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Identify your existing audience</span> </h3>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"></span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Social media enables you to reach out to new audiences, grow
your markets, and network in new circles. Why then, do you need to identify
where existing customers and contacts hang out? There are two good reasons for
this:<o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"></span><br />
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt 36pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18pt;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">1.<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span></span>Growing a social media channel can be hard work.
People are less likely to follow, like, or share content from a name or brand they
are unfamiliar with, or have not interacted with before. Connecting with an existing
audience will give you that all important head start when trying to get a
social media channel off the ground. Having them like, follow, or share your
information will allow you to harness their contacts – amplify your messages,
and growing your audience organically.</span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt 36pt;">
</div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt 36pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18pt;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">2.<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span></span>You need to look after your existing customers
in order to realise their lifetime value – it is more costly to acquire a new
customer than it is to retain an existing one. Social media is an added ‘touch
point’ through which contacts interact with your brand – it will <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">remind</b> them that you exist, <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">reinforce</b> your key messages through a drip,
drip, drip of information, and <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">persuade</b>
them to follow your calls to action.</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"></span><br />
<h3 class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">Finding your existing
contacts<o:p></o:p></span></span></h3>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">It is well known that different demographic groups hang out on
different social networking platforms. </span><a href="http://www.pewresearch.org/topics/social-media/" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Pew Research Center</span></a><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> provide some
informative and insightful statistics on this topic.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Therefore, you need
to decide which segments of your audience to seek out. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>To help you decide on this, you may want to examine
your Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system, or stakeholder database, to
find out what information you hold on existing contacts. </span></div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Tools like </span><a href="http://socialeyezer.com/target-your-demographic-by-knowing-which-social-network-they-use-chart/"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Socialeyezer</span></a><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">
allow you to identify which social networks your target demographic audience
hang out on.</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Next, examine whether the platforms you are considering are
increasing or decreasing in popularity for your target audience. Do you
remember articles like this - highlighting the number of </span><a href="http://business.time.com/2014/01/15/more-than-11-million-young-people-have-fled-facebook-since-2011" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">young people movingaway from Facebook</span></a><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> (11 million since 2011)?</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Of course, these methods will help you identify the
demographics of people that are already engaged, to some extent, with your
brand. Your objectives probably include growing your audiences and extending
your reach in one or more of the following ways:<o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"></span><br />
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt 36pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18pt;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">1.<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span></span>Retain existing customers, and continue to sell
them the same products or services (market penetration).</span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt 36pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18pt;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">2.<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span></span>Identify and engage new customers, and continue
to sell products and services from your current range (market development).</span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt 36pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18pt;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">3.<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span></span>Promote a new product or service to existing
customers (product development).</span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt 36pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18pt;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">4.<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span></span>Promote new products and services to new
customers (diversification).</span><br />
</div>
<h3>
Define your social
media objectives</h3>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">It is really important for you to stop and think about what
you want to achieve by having social media channels. What does success look
like? Knowing what you are trying to achieve should determine the methods and
tactics you use to get there. For example, if your objective is to increase
website traffic, you may measure the cost per click of advertising campaigns;
if your objective is to have people sign-up to a newsletter, you may measure
cost per acquisition instead.</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Having clear objectives will also help you to identify key
messages, decide on tone of voice, timings and frequency of postings, channels
to use, levels of engagement required, and so on.</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Objectives can be wide ranging and may include:<o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<ul>
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">raising awareness of your brand</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">selling a product or service</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">encouraging visitors to subscribe, make a
donation, or try new things</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">improving SEO by generating user comments and
increasing engagement</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">gaining customer feedback and insight.</span></li>
</ul>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"></span><br />
<h3 class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
Listen to existing social media conversations </h3>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">If you follow the steps above, you will now know:</span></div>
<ol>
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">who you want to engage with</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">where to find your target audience</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">what your objectives for opening social media channels targeting these audiences are.</span></li>
</ol>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">You are now almost ready to join conversations in the
virtual world. Joining a conversation on social media is the same as joining a
conversation in the real world. Before you begin to speak you make a mental
assessment to:<o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<ul>
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">understanding who is already talking</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">note the tone, pitch, and sentiment of the
conversation</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">think about how you can add value to what is already
being said.</span></li>
</ul>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">You do not:<o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<ul>
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">speak without introducing yourself</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">interrupt the speaker to take the conversation
off on a new tangent</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">talk without listening and responding to the
comments directed towards you.</span></li>
</ul>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The same rules apply to your interactions on social media. </span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; tab-stops: 356.25pt;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span></div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Listening will enable you to assess sentiment around your
brand and decide how to amplify or manage these feelings when you open your own
social media channels.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">By listening to existing conversations, you will quickly be
able to identify who your greatest ambassadors and critics are online. You can
then evaluate how influential these people are to inform how much effort you
should spend in engaging with them.</span><br />
</div>
<h3>
Social Media Monitoring Tools</h3>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">There are a number of tools, both free and paid-for, that
enable you to listen to existing conversations .</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Social media monitoring tools such as </span><a href="http://www.sproutsocial.com/"><span style="background: yellow; mso-highlight: yellow;"><span style="background-color: white; color: blue; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Sprout Social</span></span></a><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">,<span style="background-color: white;"> </span></span><a href="http://www.brandwatch.com/"><span style="background: yellow; mso-highlight: yellow;"><span style="background-color: white; color: blue; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Brandwatch</span></span></a><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">, </span><a href="http://www.gorkana.com/"><span style="background: yellow; mso-highlight: yellow;"><span style="background-color: white; color: blue; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Gorkana</span></span></a><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">, or </span><a href="http://www.meltwater.com/"><span style="background: yellow; mso-highlight: yellow;"><span style="background-color: white; color: blue; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Meltwater Buzz</span></span></a><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> are paid-for
services that will do the segmentation for you.</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Tools such as </span><a href="http://socialmention.com/"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Social
Mention</span></a><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">, </span><a href="http://addictomatic.com/"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Addictomatic</span></a><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">, and </span><a href="http://www.icerocket.com/"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">IceRocket</span></a><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>are freely available online and will require
manual analysis on your part.</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Once you have identified who the key opinion formers and
influencers are for your particular niche, you can monitor who they are
engaging with, and on what topics, by using a great, free online tool called </span><a href="https://www.blogger.com/editor/static_files/mentionmapp.com/"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Mention map</span></a><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">.</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"></span><br />
<h3>
Keeping social media conversations flowing</h3>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Just as in real life, your contributions to conversation
should be guided by what is already being said, the tone with which it is
delivered, it’s value to taking relationships forward, and so on. As your
experience with social media develops, you will also initiate conversations of
your own. A tool that can help you to manage your online dialogue is a
conversation calendar. Simply put, this is a roadmap of planned conversations
that you will participate in throughout the year. Of course, you will take part
in unplanned discussions too, as you react to unknown events related to your
sector. Here are some ideas of what your conversation calendar might include:</span><o:p><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> </span></o:p><br />
<ul>
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">events that you will be taking part in, or
attending</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">annual holidays or sporting events that may
#trend – wishing your customers good luck in Olympic events, for example</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">known dates of publications or product launches
– of course you will want to plan for their build up in your planned conversations
too</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">inspirational quotes specific to your niche –
likely to be reposted and add to your online credibility</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">did you know...posts to remind customers of your
offering and reinforce your brand and key messages</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">the birthday of your organisation, a product, or
service.</span></li>
</ul>
<br />
<h3 class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
Assess your capacity
to manage different platforms</h3>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Fully engaging on social media can become a time consuming
business. Failure to fully engage or respond to contacts can be damaging to
your reputation. You will need to be realistic about how much resource the
channels you are considering will cost you on a day-to-day basis and whether
you can manage this on your own or need help from an independent third party.
Issues to consider include:</span> </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<ul>
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span></span>How often do you intent to publish information?</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">How many responses do you anticipate receiving?</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Who will manage the responses?</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">How will responses be managed out of working hours?</span></li>
</ul>
</div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana;"><strong>Questions?</strong></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">If you have any questions, post them in the comments below and I will do my best to help you out.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="color: purple;">If you have found this article useful, please show thanks with a share,</span> </span><a href="https://twitter.com/CCresswellLane" style="background-color: white; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">follow</span></a><span style="background-color: white; color: purple; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">, or </span><a href="https://www.facebook.com/CommsInSight" style="background-color: white; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">like</span></a><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white;">.</span> </span><div class="blogger-post-footer">Claire is a CIM Chartered Marketer with over 10 years experience of working in health and public sector communications. You can contact her at clairelane2008@gmail.com.</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3010863521952614729.post-58662712997469533212014-08-08T07:31:00.000+01:002014-08-19T16:42:20.833+01:00SEO Strategy - What's in a (Domain) Name?<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPWPEPEWsGRkXSpyOuYMp0FDhxaWlOEMnUVFOZG64nMUyKFU5GqlFx59ugozZ3YFnCmjywkxMNxfj8IQh4xTiFzKIXKANpZlJVwO0zO5XiqbYHQLmqFN2C9ryXya3Q3cnxs59yli0nDvg/s1600/names.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPWPEPEWsGRkXSpyOuYMp0FDhxaWlOEMnUVFOZG64nMUyKFU5GqlFx59ugozZ3YFnCmjywkxMNxfj8IQh4xTiFzKIXKANpZlJVwO0zO5XiqbYHQLmqFN2C9ryXya3Q3cnxs59yli0nDvg/s1600/names.jpg" height="250" width="320" /></a><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">A domain name can have a big impact when it comes to competing for that all important top search engine results page spot. Here are a few points to consider as part of your SEO strategy.</span><br />
<h3>
Domain structure</h3>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Make sure your keywords and phrases are </span><a href="http://commsinsight.blogspot.com/2014/07/content-marketing-tips-3-keyword.html"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">positioned</span></a><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> correctly. This is vitally important when it comes search engine rankings. As part of this SEO tactic, ensure that keywords appear in your top level domain - it shows a commitment to your subject area.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Accorzing to <a href="http://www.moz.com/article/search-ranking-factors#metrics" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Moz's Search Engine Factors</span></a><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">, placing a keyword as the first in your domain can give you a competitive edge over sites that don't feature keywords in the domain at all, or include it in the middle of a URL. Similarly, including keywords in sub-domains can also boost SERPs positions.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">This article on competitior keyword analysis list a number of tools to help you </span><a href="http://commsinsight.blogspot.co.uk/2014/07/travel-republic-key-to-advertising.html"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">research keywords and phrases</span></a><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">.</span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"></span><br />
<h3>
Domain stablility</h3>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The length of time that a domain has been registered for does have some weighting on SERPs positions. A stable domain adds to evidence of long-term subject commitment. Of course, this would not be looked at in isolation - you may have registered a domain 10 years ago but that doesn't mean you are still actively managing the content.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">A domain that has remained in the same hands for a significant amount of time is another indicator of a credible website. Hiding '</span><a href="http://www.nominet.org.uk/uk-domain-names/about-domain-names/domain-lookup-whois/whois-tool" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Who is</span></a><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">' status, or a 'Who is' status showing regular domain change of hands can be signals of instability.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Domains that are penalised by Google, for black-hat SEO techniques, will affect other websites owned by the same individuals - something to bear in mind if you are purchasing a domain from an existing business - or if you are the owner of multiple websites.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"></span><br />
<h3>
Domain location</h3>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Having a domain that is specific to your geographical location is a great way to focus SEO efforts if your target audience is in the same country. However, if you wish to have a global reach, you should consider domain location in your SEO strategy.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Before registering a domain, you may also wish to research who has the same URL but with a different country extension (.uk, .ca, .cn and so on). Do you want to be accidently associated or confused with that organisation?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><blockquote class="tr_bq">
"Google Search returns the most relevant and useful sites in response to a user query. For that reason, the results we show to a user in Ireland can vary from the results returned to a user in France.</blockquote>
</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><blockquote class="tr_bq">
If your site has a generic top-level domain, such as .com or .org, and targets users in a particular geographic location, you can provide us with information to help us determine how your site appears in our search results. This improves Google Search results for geographic queries, and it won't impact your appearance in search results unless a user limits the scope of the search to a certain country. See a full list of domains Google treats as generic."</blockquote>
</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">To change the target locations for your website, access <a href="https://www.google.com/webmasters/tools" target="_blank">Google Webmaster Tools</a> and access 'Site Settings > Country Targetting'.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: x-small;"><span style="color: purple;">If you have found this article useful, please show thanks with a share,</span> </span><a href="https://twitter.com/CCresswellLane" style="background-color: white; font-size: 13px; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: Verdana;">follow</span></a><span style="background-color: white; color: purple; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 13px;">, or </span><a href="https://www.facebook.com/CommsInSight" style="background-color: white; font-size: 13px; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: Verdana;">like</span></a><span style="font-family: Verdana;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 13px;">.</span> </span><br />
<br />
<br /><div class="blogger-post-footer">Claire is a CIM Chartered Marketer with over 10 years experience of working in health and public sector communications. You can contact her at clairelane2008@gmail.com.</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3010863521952614729.post-71412027345876440412014-08-02T21:23:00.000+01:002014-08-15T06:56:37.195+01:00Optimising a website for mobile devices - why it's not just screen size that matters<div class="SCX17132744" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">
<div class="OutlineElement Ltr SCX17132744" style="font-size: 8px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgcgnWv_oLFr8h5ql1WTLPBgYCNZ9KIWrdXtL60GGUwe_GOwrvfLpBoyND2xaL67_CqC9C0-aiW_2_92W-ck8wzuHZRTvGjS6oRLwprpQiuwaskE_U7mY5bURKt32f3_dgcMUBXOYHKuq4/s1600/shutterstock_113071105.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgcgnWv_oLFr8h5ql1WTLPBgYCNZ9KIWrdXtL60GGUwe_GOwrvfLpBoyND2xaL67_CqC9C0-aiW_2_92W-ck8wzuHZRTvGjS6oRLwprpQiuwaskE_U7mY5bURKt32f3_dgcMUBXOYHKuq4/s1600/shutterstock_113071105.jpg" height="320" width="272" /></a></div>
<h3>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="TextRun SCX17132744" style="font-size: 11pt; font-weight: normal; line-height: 18px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" xml:lang="EN-GB">Optimising websites for mobile devices such as tablets and smart phones is a must-do for today's marketers - but there is much more to consider than screen size...</span></span></h3>
<h3>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="TextRun SCX17132744" style="font-size: 11pt; font-weight: bold; line-height: 18px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" xml:lang="EN-GB">Why optimise a website for mobile?</span><span class="EOP SCX17132744" style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 18px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"> </span></span></h3>
</div>
<div class="OutlineElement Ltr SCX17132744" style="font-size: 8px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">
<div class="Paragraph SCX17132744" paraeid="{a014cd6f-e728-4b83-bfbb-ddc3e2557fec}{162}" paraid="1562455037" style="font-size: 6pt; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; word-wrap: break-word;">
<span class="TextRun SCX17132744" style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 18px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" xml:lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">If you are reading this article, my guess is that you are already well versed in the necessity of optimising your online content for mobile devices (if you really need further convincing, check out this <a href="http://www.digitalbuzzblog.com/infographic-2013-mobile-growth-statistics/" target="_blank">infographic</a> by AF-Studio.pl and Super Monitoring).</span></span></div>
<div class="Paragraph SCX17132744" paraeid="{a014cd6f-e728-4b83-bfbb-ddc3e2557fec}{162}" paraid="1562455037" style="font-size: 6pt; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; word-wrap: break-word;">
<span class="TextRun SCX17132744" style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 18px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" xml:lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="Paragraph SCX17132744" paraeid="{a014cd6f-e728-4b83-bfbb-ddc3e2557fec}{162}" paraid="1562455037" style="font-size: 6pt; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; word-wrap: break-word;">
<span class="TextRun SCX17132744" style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 18px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" xml:lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">But when it comes to mobile design, there is much more to consider than simply making sure your copy and images display in the right format on the variety of screen sizes that exist.</span></span></div>
</div>
<div class="OutlineElement Ltr SCX17132744" style="font-size: 8px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">
<div class="Paragraph SCX17132744" paraeid="{73e92415-2121-4ed2-97eb-253f93d4c4d1}{225}" paraid="1726951101" style="font-size: 6pt; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; word-wrap: break-word;" xml:lang="EN-US">
<br /></div>
<h3>
<b style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 18px;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Optimising a website for mobile devices - approaches</span></b></h3>
</div>
<div class="OutlineElement Ltr SCX17132744" style="font-size: 8px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">
<div class="Paragraph SCX17132744" paraeid="{a014cd6f-e728-4b83-bfbb-ddc3e2557fec}{178}" paraid="1254481304" style="font-size: 6pt; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; word-wrap: break-word;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="TextRun SCX17132744" style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 18px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" xml:lang="EN-GB">There are three main methods </span><span class="TextRun SCX17132744" style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 18px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" xml:lang="EN-GB">used </span><span class="TextRun SCX17132744" style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 18px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" xml:lang="EN-GB">for delivering an optimised website </span><span class="TextRun SCX17132744" style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 18px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" xml:lang="EN-GB">for </span><span class="TextRun SCX17132744" style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 18px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" xml:lang="EN-GB">mobile devices such as smart phones and tablets</span><span class="TextRun SCX17132744" style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 18px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" xml:lang="EN-GB">. In each case, the website code detects the browser being used by the </span><span class="TextRun SCX17132744" style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 18px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" xml:lang="EN-GB">visitor before serving a layout that is optimised for the specific screen size being used</span><span class="TextRun SCX17132744" style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 18px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" xml:lang="EN-GB">: </span><span class="EOP SCX17132744" style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 18px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"> </span></span></div>
</div>
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<br /></div>
</div>
<ol class="NumberListStyle1 SCX17132744" start="1" style="font-size: 8px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">
<li class="OutlineElement Ltr SCX17132744" style="font-size: 8pt; margin: 0px 0px 0px 48px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><div class="Paragraph SCX17132744" paraeid="{a014cd6f-e728-4b83-bfbb-ddc3e2557fec}{192}" paraid="20658711" style="font-size: 6pt; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; word-wrap: break-word;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="TextRun SCX17132744" style="font-size: 11pt; font-weight: bold; line-height: 18px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" xml:lang="EN-GB">Mobile version – </span><span class="TextRun SCX17132744" style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 18px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" xml:lang="EN-GB">this</span><span class="TextRun SCX17132744" style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 18px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" xml:lang="EN-GB"> is a separate website (URL) which the user is directed to</span><span class="TextRun SCX17132744" style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 18px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" xml:lang="EN-GB">, which is</span><span class="TextRun SCX17132744" style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 18px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" xml:lang="EN-GB"> de</span><span class="TextRun SCX17132744" style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 18px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" xml:lang="EN-GB">termined by the</span><span class="TextRun SCX17132744" style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 18px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" xml:lang="EN-GB"> device</span><span class="TextRun SCX17132744" style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 18px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" xml:lang="EN-GB"> they are using</span><span class="TextRun SCX17132744" style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 18px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" xml:lang="EN-GB">.</span><span class="EOP SCX17132744" style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 18px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"> </span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="ListGhost SCX17132744" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"></span></span></li>
</ol>
<ol class="NumberListStyle1 SCX17132744" start="2" style="font-size: 8px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">
<li class="OutlineElement Ltr SCX17132744" style="font-size: 8pt; margin: 0px 0px 0px 48px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><div class="Paragraph SCX17132744" paraeid="{a014cd6f-e728-4b83-bfbb-ddc3e2557fec}{201}" paraid="1180214448" style="font-size: 6pt; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; word-wrap: break-word;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="TextRun SCX17132744" style="font-size: 11pt; font-weight: bold; line-height: 18px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" xml:lang="EN-GB">Responsive design</span><span class="TextRun SCX17132744" style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 18px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" xml:lang="EN-GB"> – serves the same HTM</span><span class="TextRun SCX17132744" style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 18px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" xml:lang="EN-GB">L</span><span class="TextRun SCX17132744" style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 18px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" xml:lang="EN-GB"> for one URL but uses CSS </span><span class="TextRun SCX17132744" style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 18px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" xml:lang="EN-GB">(</span><span class="TextRun SCX17132744" style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 18px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" xml:lang="EN-GB">design code)</span><span class="TextRun SCX17132744" style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 18px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" xml:lang="EN-GB"> </span><span class="TextRun SCX17132744" style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 18px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" xml:lang="EN-GB">queries to decide how to display the content on the user’s device. This is </span><span class="TextRun SCX17132744" style="font-size: 11pt; font-weight: bold; line-height: 18px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" xml:lang="EN-GB">Google’s recommended approach</span><span class="TextRun SCX17132744" style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 18px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" xml:lang="EN-GB">.</span><span class="EOP SCX17132744" style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 18px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"> </span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="ListGhost SCX17132744" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"></span></span></li>
</ol>
<ol class="NumberListStyle1 SCX17132744" start="3" style="font-size: 8px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">
<li class="OutlineElement Ltr SCX17132744" style="font-size: 8pt; margin: 0px 0px 0px 48px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><div class="Paragraph SCX17132744" paraeid="{a014cd6f-e728-4b83-bfbb-ddc3e2557fec}{206}" paraid="901868324" style="font-size: 6pt; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; word-wrap: break-word;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="TextRun SCX17132744" style="font-size: 11pt; font-weight: bold; line-height: 18px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" xml:lang="EN-GB">Dynamic serving</span><span class="TextRun SCX17132744" style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 18px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" xml:lang="EN-GB"> – delivers different HTML for one URL depending on the user’s device.</span><span class="EOP SCX17132744" style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 18px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"> </span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="ListGhost SCX17132744" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"></span></span></li>
</ol>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 18px;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div>
<span class="TextRun SCX17132744" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-weight: bold; line-height: 18px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" xml:lang="EN-GB">Mobile optimised </span><span class="TextRun SCX17132744" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-weight: bold; line-height: 18px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" xml:lang="EN-GB">vs</span><span class="TextRun SCX17132744" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-weight: bold; line-height: 18px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" xml:lang="EN-GB"> responsive design - why it's not just screen size that matters</span></div>
<div class="OutlineElement Ltr SCX17132744" style="font-size: 8px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">
<div class="Paragraph SCX17132744" paraeid="{a014cd6f-e728-4b83-bfbb-ddc3e2557fec}{220}" paraid="2135811345" style="font-size: 6pt; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; word-wrap: break-word;">
<span class="TextRun SCX17132744" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 18px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" xml:lang="EN-GB">Responsive design will solve display issues for the end user, but it will not solve performance issues.</span><span class="TextRun SCX17132744" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 18px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" xml:lang="EN-GB"> Many websites deliver the same number of bytes regardless of screen size.</span><span class="EOP SCX17132744" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 18px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"> </span></div>
</div>
<div class="OutlineElement Ltr SCX17132744" style="font-size: 8px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">
<div class="Paragraph SCX17132744" paraeid="{a014cd6f-e728-4b83-bfbb-ddc3e2557fec}{227}" paraid="1072894662" style="font-size: 6pt; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; word-wrap: break-word;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="EOP SCX17132744" style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 18px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><br /></span></span></div>
</div>
<div class="OutlineElement Ltr SCX17132744" style="font-size: 8px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">
<div class="Paragraph SCX17132744" paraeid="{a014cd6f-e728-4b83-bfbb-ddc3e2557fec}{246}" paraid="376280800" style="font-size: 6pt; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; word-wrap: break-word;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="TextRun SCX17132744" style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 18px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" xml:lang="EN-GB">‘Conditional loading’ is one step you can take to help manage this issue – this is where the browser only parses the selectors and styles specific to the device being used. If conditional loading is not used, the browser will read all of the instructions for all other </span><span class="TextRun SCX17132744" style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 18px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" xml:lang="EN-GB">screen sizes</span><span class="TextRun SCX17132744" style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 18px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" xml:lang="EN-GB"> before it </span><span class="TextRun SCX17132744" style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 18px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" xml:lang="EN-GB">starts</span><span class="TextRun SCX17132744" style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 18px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" xml:lang="EN-GB"> to deliver the content in the correct format. Yes, we </span><span class="TextRun SCX17132744" style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 18px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" xml:lang="EN-GB">may</span><span class="TextRun SCX17132744" style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 18px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" xml:lang="EN-GB"> only </span><span class="TextRun SCX17132744" style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 18px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" xml:lang="EN-GB">be </span><span class="TextRun SCX17132744" style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 18px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" xml:lang="EN-GB">talking </span><span class="TextRun SCX17132744" style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 18px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" xml:lang="EN-GB">about </span><span class="TextRun SCX17132744" style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 18px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" xml:lang="EN-GB">fractions of </span><span class="TextRun SCX17132744" style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 18px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" xml:lang="EN-GB">a </span><span class="TextRun SCX17132744" style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 18px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" xml:lang="EN-GB">second, but </span><span class="TextRun SCX17132744" style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 18px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" xml:lang="EN-GB">this</span><span class="TextRun SCX17132744" style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 18px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" xml:lang="EN-GB"> </span><span class="TextRun SCX17132744" style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 18px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" xml:lang="EN-GB">matters</span><span class="TextRun SCX17132744" style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 18px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" xml:lang="EN-GB"> to users on mobile devices – it can be the difference between them waiting for your site to load, and hitting the back button.</span><span class="EOP SCX17132744" style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 18px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"> </span></span></div>
</div>
<div class="OutlineElement Ltr SCX17132744" style="font-size: 8px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">
<div class="Paragraph SCX17132744" paraeid="{a014cd6f-e728-4b83-bfbb-ddc3e2557fec}{248}" paraid="215367234" style="font-size: 6pt; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; word-wrap: break-word;">
<br /></div>
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<div class="OutlineElement Ltr SCX17132744" style="font-size: 8px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">
<h3>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="TextRun SCX17132744" style="font-size: 11pt; font-weight: bold; line-height: 18px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" xml:lang="EN-GB">Is speed really an issue, with the increasing availability of 4G?</span><span class="EOP SCX17132744" style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 18px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"> </span></span></h3>
</div>
<div class="OutlineElement Ltr SCX17132744" style="font-size: 8px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">
<div class="Paragraph SCX17132744" paraeid="{052843ea-bd2e-425f-8f57-802e2ce6024a}{12}" paraid="111270138" style="font-size: 6pt; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; word-wrap: break-word;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="TextRun SCX17132744" style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 18px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" xml:lang="EN-GB">Connection speeds have a big impact on the user experience in terms of </span><span class="TextRun SCX17132744" style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 18px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" xml:lang="EN-GB">their </span><span class="TextRun SCX17132744" style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 18px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" xml:lang="EN-GB">ability to access large media files such as videos. This </span><span class="TextRun SCX17132744" style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 18px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" xml:lang="EN-GB">improvement in speed </span><span class="TextRun SCX17132744" style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 18px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" xml:lang="EN-GB">is </span><span class="TextRun SCX17132744" style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 18px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" xml:lang="EN-GB">related to </span><span class="TextRun SCX17132744" style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 18px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" xml:lang="EN-GB">bandwidth, </span><span class="TextRun SCX17132744" style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 18px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" xml:lang="EN-GB">which </span><span class="TextRun SCX17132744" style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 18px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" xml:lang="EN-GB">does </span><span class="TextRun SCX17132744" style="font-size: 11pt; font-weight: bold; line-height: 18px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" xml:lang="EN-GB">not</span><span class="TextRun SCX17132744" style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 18px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" xml:lang="EN-GB"> imp</span><span class="TextRun SCX17132744" style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 18px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" xml:lang="EN-GB">act on</span><span class="TextRun SCX17132744" style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 18px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" xml:lang="EN-GB"> the speed of downloading all the component files that are used to </span><span class="TextRun SCX17132744" style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 18px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" xml:lang="EN-GB">build </span><span class="TextRun SCX17132744" style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 18px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" xml:lang="EN-GB">and display a website – this is known as </span><span class="TextRun SCX17132744" style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 18px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" xml:lang="EN-GB">latency</span><span class="TextRun SCX17132744" style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 18px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" xml:lang="EN-GB">.</span><span class="TextRun SCX17132744" style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 18px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" xml:lang="EN-GB"> Another way to think of this is the length of time it takes for a website click request to go from the users device, to the server, and back to the browser again (Round Trip Time / RTT)</span><span class="EOP SCX17132744" style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 18px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"> </span></span></div>
</div>
<div class="OutlineElement Ltr SCX17132744" style="font-size: 8px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">
<div class="Paragraph SCX17132744" paraeid="{052843ea-bd2e-425f-8f57-802e2ce6024a}{14}" paraid="1955950794" style="font-size: 6pt; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; word-wrap: break-word;">
<br /></div>
</div>
<div class="OutlineElement Ltr SCX17132744" style="font-size: 8px; margin: 0px 0px 0px 48px; padding: 0px;">
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="TextRun SCX17132744" style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 17px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" xml:lang="EN-US">“…for the majority of 3G phones and networks we could easily be looking at 5 - 10 seconds of delay to the page load time.” </span><a class="Hyperlink SCX17132744" href="http://www.mobify.com/blog/web-performance-optimization/" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none;"><span class="TextRun Underlined SCX17132744" style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 17px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: underline;" xml:lang="EN-US"><span class="NormalTextRun SCX17132744" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">http://www.mobify.com/blog/web-performance-optimization</span></span></a><span class="TextRun SCX17132744" style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 17px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" xml:lang="EN-US">."</span><span class="EOP SCX17132744" style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 17px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"> </span></span></blockquote>
</div>
<div class="OutlineElement Ltr SCX17132744" style="font-size: 8px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">
<div class="Paragraph SCX17132744" paraeid="{052843ea-bd2e-425f-8f57-802e2ce6024a}{22}" paraid="439123018" style="font-size: 6pt; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; word-wrap: break-word;">
<br /></div>
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<div class="OutlineElement Ltr SCX17132744" style="font-size: 8px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">
<div class="Paragraph SCX17132744" paraeid="{052843ea-bd2e-425f-8f57-802e2ce6024a}{35}" paraid="952356654" style="font-size: 6pt; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; word-wrap: break-word;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="TextRun EmptyTextRun SCX17132744" style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 18px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"></span><a class="Hyperlink SCX17132744" href="http://www.mobify.com/blog/web-performance-optimization/" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none;"><span class="TextRun Underlined SCX17132744" style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 17px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: underline;" xml:lang="EN-US"><span class="NormalTextRun SCX17132744" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Understanding latency</span></span></a><span class="TextRun SCX17132744" style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 17px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" xml:lang="EN-US">, and the steps developers can take to decrease it,</span><span class="TextRun SCX17132744" style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 17px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" xml:lang="EN-US"> is important because it enables </span><span class="TextRun SCX17132744" style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 17px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" xml:lang="EN-US">decisions</span><span class="TextRun SCX17132744" style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 17px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" xml:lang="EN-US"> to be made about how</span><span class="TextRun SCX17132744" style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 17px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" xml:lang="EN-US"> </span><span class="TextRun SCX17132744" style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 17px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" xml:lang="EN-US">to improve </span><span class="TextRun SCX17132744" style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 17px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" xml:lang="EN-US">the amount of </span><span class="TextRun SCX17132744" style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 17px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" xml:lang="EN-US">data we try to serve to the end users</span><span class="TextRun SCX17132744" style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 17px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" xml:lang="EN-US"> based on the</span><span class="TextRun SCX17132744" style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 17px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" xml:lang="EN-US"> device</span><span class="TextRun SCX17132744" style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 17px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" xml:lang="EN-US"> </span><span class="TextRun SCX17132744" style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 17px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" xml:lang="EN-US">being </span><span class="TextRun SCX17132744" style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 17px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" xml:lang="EN-US">us</span><span class="TextRun SCX17132744" style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 17px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" xml:lang="EN-US">ed</span><span class="TextRun SCX17132744" style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 17px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" xml:lang="EN-US">.</span><span class="EOP SCX17132744" style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 17px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"> </span></span></div>
</div>
<div class="OutlineElement Ltr SCX17132744" style="font-size: 8px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">
<div class="Paragraph SCX17132744" paraeid="{052843ea-bd2e-425f-8f57-802e2ce6024a}{37}" paraid="1860419892" style="font-size: 6pt; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; word-wrap: break-word;">
<br /></div>
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<div class="OutlineElement Ltr SCX17132744" style="font-size: 8px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">
<h3>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="TextRun SCX17132744" style="font-size: 11pt; font-weight: bold; line-height: 18px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" xml:lang="EN-GB">Grouping devices by screen size</span><span class="EOP SCX17132744" style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 18px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"> </span></span></h3>
</div>
<div class="OutlineElement Ltr SCX17132744" style="font-size: 8px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">
<div class="Paragraph SCX17132744" paraeid="{052843ea-bd2e-425f-8f57-802e2ce6024a}{58}" paraid="997112403" style="font-size: 6pt; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; word-wrap: break-word;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="TextRun SCX17132744" style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 18px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" xml:lang="EN-GB">Simply delivering the same content at different resolutions may not be a workable solution.</span><span class="TextRun SCX17132744" style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 18px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" xml:lang="EN-GB"> An example may be the inclusion of a diagram or mega-menu that simply would not be usable or accessible on smaller screen sizes. Grouping content by screen size, can help to overcome this – for example, for all screens over 8” show x content; for all screens below 8” show y content</span><span class="TextRun SCX17132744" style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 18px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" xml:lang="EN-GB"> OR for screen over 8” display in portrait mode; for screens below 8” display in landscape mode.</span><span class="EOP SCX17132744" style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 18px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"> </span></span></div>
</div>
<div class="OutlineElement Ltr SCX17132744" style="font-size: 8px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">
<div class="Paragraph SCX17132744" paraeid="{052843ea-bd2e-425f-8f57-802e2ce6024a}{60}" paraid="777598139" style="font-size: 6pt; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; word-wrap: break-word;">
<br /></div>
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<div class="OutlineElement Ltr SCX17132744" style="font-size: 8px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">
<h3>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="TextRun SCX17132744" style="font-size: 11pt; font-weight: bold; line-height: 18px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" xml:lang="EN-GB">Content above the fold</span><span class="EOP SCX17132744" style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 18px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"> </span></span></h3>
</div>
<div class="OutlineElement Ltr SCX17132744" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">
<div class="Paragraph SCX17132744" paraeid="{6cc1de48-085a-4c6a-8183-8224c6481905}{74}" paraid="1645220697" style="font-size: 6pt; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; word-wrap: break-word;" xml:lang="EN-US">
<span class="TextRun SCX17132744" style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 18px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" xml:lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Think of your users as time poor, and make sure you deliver key messages above the fold - that is - before the user is likely to have to scroll on their 7" or 8" screen. For step by step guidance on how ensure your key messages are written into the opening sentences of your content, see my article on the <a href="http://commsinsight.blogspot.co.uk/2014/07/content-marketing-tips-1-inverted.html">inverted pyramid</a>.</span></span><br />
<span class="TextRun SCX17132744" style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 18px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" xml:lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span>
<span class="TextRun SCX17132744" style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 18px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" xml:lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Next, visit the Google webmaster blog guidance on how to <a href="http://googlewebmastercentral.blogspot.co.uk/2013/08/making-smartphone-sites-load-fast.html" target="_blank">make your above the fold content load in under one second</a>, whilst the rest of your webpage loads in the background.</span></span></div>
<div class="Paragraph SCX17132744" paraeid="{6cc1de48-085a-4c6a-8183-8224c6481905}{74}" paraid="1645220697" style="font-size: 6pt; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; word-wrap: break-word;" xml:lang="EN-US">
<span class="EOP SCX17132744" style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 18px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"></span></span> </div>
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<span class="EOP SCX17132744" style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 18px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><strong>Pop-ups and overlays</strong></span></span></div>
<div class="Paragraph SCX17132744" paraeid="{6cc1de48-085a-4c6a-8183-8224c6481905}{74}" paraid="1645220697" style="font-size: 6pt; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; word-wrap: break-word;" xml:lang="EN-US">
<span class="EOP SCX17132744" style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 18px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Most sites have at least one pop-up or overlay, especially since the <a href="http://ec.europa.eu/ipg/basics/legal/cookies/index_en.htm" target="_blank">EU Cookie Directive</a> made this a requirement. Compliance is good, and you should continue to be transparent about the data you collect from users, but pop-ups and screen overlays make for a frustrating end user experience. Make sure you test any pop-ups on a range of mobile devices, to ensure that they are easy to close down (for example, by using finger friendly sized buttons).</span></span></div>
<span class="EOP SCX17132744" style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 18px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><div class="Paragraph SCX17132744" paraeid="{6cc1de48-085a-4c6a-8183-8224c6481905}{74}" paraid="1645220697" style="font-size: 6pt; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; word-wrap: break-word;" xml:lang="EN-US">
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<span class="EOP SCX17132744" style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 18px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 13px;">If you have found this article useful, please show thanks with a share, </span><a href="https://twitter.com/CCresswellLane" style="background-color: white; font-size: 13px; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">follow</a><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 13px;">, or </span><a href="https://www.facebook.com/CommsInSight" style="background-color: white; font-size: 13px; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">like</a><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 13px;">.</span> </span></span></div>
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<span class="EOP SCX17132744" style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 18px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
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<div class="blogger-post-footer">Claire is a CIM Chartered Marketer with over 10 years experience of working in health and public sector communications. You can contact her at clairelane2008@gmail.com.</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3010863521952614729.post-54126747211479059822014-07-25T07:15:00.003+01:002014-07-25T07:15:28.859+01:00Friday fun - can you correct the grammar and punctuation in these statements?
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">1. Dont judge a book by its cover.</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">2. The media is waiting for a statement.</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">3. The children collected ____ coats and bags (insert there,
their, or they’re).</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">4. The boys enjoyed swimming.</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">5. No girls allowed in the Boys Changing Room.</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">
</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Leave your answers in the comments below.</span><div class="blogger-post-footer">Claire is a CIM Chartered Marketer with over 10 years experience of working in health and public sector communications. You can contact her at clairelane2008@gmail.com.</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3010863521952614729.post-20766391763190685182014-07-15T08:06:00.000+01:002014-07-15T08:06:25.753+01:00Free digital download - Marketing in less than 1000 words<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Do you run a small business? Are you new to marketing?
</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Grab your free digital download of Marketing in less than 1000 words:</span>
<iframe frameborder="0" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" scrolling="no" src="http://rcm-eu.amazon-adsystem.com/e/cm?lt1=_blank&bc1=000000&IS2=1&bg1=FFFFFF&fc1=000000&lc1=0000FF&t=comm0a-21&o=2&p=8&l=as4&m=amazon&f=ifr&ref=ss_til&asins=B008EJOBH2" style="height: 240px; width: 120px;"></iframe>
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<div class="blogger-post-footer">Claire is a CIM Chartered Marketer with over 10 years experience of working in health and public sector communications. You can contact her at clairelane2008@gmail.com.</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3010863521952614729.post-33295527837992692492014-07-11T17:30:00.000+01:002014-07-14T06:43:09.963+01:00Content marketing tips #3 – keyword positioning<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGMMaMz_3hmGdo_-VIdMBY2aIGyQ9h4nm1RUZlmSSV2S9HhCtmomothgvRSpyLNfC7h9RYJf4RPqmuTJ1rQPqXftagnuJbHNLS-aeaRHDApQDuIjpZV83gIf3sW_Si7nUKCKMiES4t694/s1600/CISContentMarketing.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGMMaMz_3hmGdo_-VIdMBY2aIGyQ9h4nm1RUZlmSSV2S9HhCtmomothgvRSpyLNfC7h9RYJf4RPqmuTJ1rQPqXftagnuJbHNLS-aeaRHDApQDuIjpZV83gIf3sW_Si7nUKCKMiES4t694/s1600/CISContentMarketing.jpg" height="300" width="400" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Careful keyword positioning helps
to get your online content found by search engines.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Competing for that all important front page position on
Google can seem like an impossible task. However, a few simple steps can make a huge difference to
your search engine rankings.</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">
</span><br />
<b><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"></span></b><br />
<h3 class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Free Keyword position tools</span></span></h3>
<h3 class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><o:p></o:p></span></span> </h3>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><strong>
</strong>Research which keyword(s) or phrase to compete for using
free tools such as Google Keyword Planner: <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span><a href="https://adwords.google.com/KeywordPlanner"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">https</span></a><a href="https://adwords.google.com/KeywordPlanner"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">://adwords.google.com/KeywordPlanner</span></a><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">
</span><br />
<span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"></span></span><br />
<span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Keyword-Position.Com offers you a free tool to check the position of keywords in major search engines Google, Yahoo & MSN: </span><a href="http://www.keyword-position.com/"><span style="color: windowtext; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">http://www.keyword-position.com</span></a></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Location,
location, location</span></b><br />
<b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><br /></span></b></div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">You can
convince search engines that your content is dedicated to the keyword(s) or
phrase chosen by including it in strategic places such as the </span><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">heading, </span><span style="mso-fareast-font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"><span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span></span><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">sub-headings, and </span><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">opening paragraphs.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><br /></span></b>
<b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Less is
more</span></b></div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">
</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Make sure
keywords and phrases don’t make up more than 3% of your overall content by
using this free keyword density tool: <a href="http://www.keyworddensity.com/"><span style="color: blue;">www.keyworddensity.com</span></a></span></span><span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
</div>
<div class="blogger-post-footer">Claire is a CIM Chartered Marketer with over 10 years experience of working in health and public sector communications. You can contact her at clairelane2008@gmail.com.</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3010863521952614729.post-21350557469723710502014-07-08T14:18:00.000+01:002014-10-17T08:18:41.025+01:00Content marketing tips #2 - conduct competitor keyword analysis<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqbSjZO8-kxwmUCnR3HE9EQkNYD2JAbl_vUTPUbIIFrxlcpS6H0-hrRYH1cKEP74acp6L3g3ERwojr8l8yJyvLssvuM-2ytmqMFbgmrFtmvuKJTvjgJkbC7sTOuhsUmp3-vD6Ya5YiwBc/s1600/TravelRepublic.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqbSjZO8-kxwmUCnR3HE9EQkNYD2JAbl_vUTPUbIIFrxlcpS6H0-hrRYH1cKEP74acp6L3g3ERwojr8l8yJyvLssvuM-2ytmqMFbgmrFtmvuKJTvjgJkbC7sTOuhsUmp3-vD6Ya5YiwBc/s1600/TravelRepublic.jpg" height="233" width="320" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I've been looking at this advert a lot lately, as I see it at my local train station. It's by <a href="https://www.travelrepublic.co.uk/" target="_blank">Travel Republic</a> and it tells me two things - they:</span><br />
<ol>
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">have carried out competitor keyword analysis</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">understand that search engine optimisation (SEO) is fundamental to their online marketing strategy.</span></li>
</ol>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The advert invites (potential) customers to spend time researching the key phrase 'best beach holidays for kids' and then contact Travel Republic for the 'lowest price guarantee'.</span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">In order for this campaign to be profitable, Travel Republic must be confident about the information customers will find when searching for the key phrase suggested. They must have analysed this information in order to be able to position their offering competitively.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Competitor keyword analysis should be a key part of your online marketing strategy because you must understand the environment you are entering before formulating your plan.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">There are lots of free tools available to help you identify the keywords and phrases to compete for, so no excuses folks!</span><br />
<h3>
<br /><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Who is your keyword competition?</span></h3>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Online content has to compete in the global marketplace for customers' attention. Take time to identify who your </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">top three online (industry) competitors are. Once you have identified them, take time to analyse their content </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">strategy to help inform your own approach. You may decide to compete directly (in terms of keyword strategy) or you </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">may decide that a completely alternative approach would be more successful – this of course depends on your </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">particular market.</span><br />
<br /><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">As well as competitors within your own industry, you also need to consider those from other industries that will </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">also be competing for the same keywords and phrases your online content will contain. For example, a search for the </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">term 'model' returns results for modelling agencies, model engineering societies, and model shops. These three </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">different industries are competing for search engine rankings using the same keywords.</span><br />
<br /><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">You must consider, not only what search engines know about website content, but also how they wed this to the </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">information they hold about individual users. For example, I have a Google account, so Google knows a lot about me: </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">which category of websites I visit regularly; where I am located; what I have searched for in the past, and so on. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">If I enter a search query for fish and chip shops, the search engine results page lists restaurants in my local </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">area – these will be different to yours. So, location marketing is an ever important consideration.</span><br />
<h3>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Free keyword tools</span></h3>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.wordstream.com/keywords">http://www.wordstream.com/keywords</a></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.keywordeye.com/#plans-pricing">http://www.keywordeye.com/#plans-pricing</a></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.wordpot.com/">http://www.wordpot.com/</a></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.keyworddiscovery.co.uk/search.html">http://www.keyworddiscovery.co.uk/search.html</a></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">If you have found this article useful, please show thanks with a like, comment, or share.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<br />
<div>
</div>
<div class="blogger-post-footer">Claire is a CIM Chartered Marketer with over 10 years experience of working in health and public sector communications. You can contact her at clairelane2008@gmail.com.</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3010863521952614729.post-58556382077641651952014-07-08T13:11:00.000+01:002014-09-24T12:25:15.247+01:00 Lessons from Marks and Spencer website changes<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtK_rUN4afdi_IEfsIsIZxFX4OM1s7or2qEfcNcVLybNowpJ88a0Qde8KoiZS2gpjsZyk4h2sgwEVKFAQm6pTlcfdm97FCW1ntJtV1mQXWp6R0Ho8MkbhnrGtm034DF9HX1GOkYvYiG_E/s1600/mands.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtK_rUN4afdi_IEfsIsIZxFX4OM1s7or2qEfcNcVLybNowpJ88a0Qde8KoiZS2gpjsZyk4h2sgwEVKFAQm6pTlcfdm97FCW1ntJtV1mQXWp6R0Ho8MkbhnrGtm034DF9HX1GOkYvYiG_E/s1600/mands.jpg" height="217" width="400" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Marks and Spencer (M&S) announced an 8.1% drop in online sales which it has attributed to moving its website to a new platform. Users:</span><br />
<br />
<ul>
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">already registered on the site were forced to re-register</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">reported that the navigation was overly complicated and lacked clarity. </span></li>
</ul>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">So, whether you are transferring to a new content management system (CMS), hosting in a new environment, or going for a radical redesign, what lessons can be learnt from the M&S experience?</span></div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<h3>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">1. Let website users know that changes are coming, and the reasons for them</span></h3>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Nobody enjoys logging onto one of their favorite websites to find that it has a radical new redesign. It leaves them wondering what was wrong with the old site that they liked so much. Yet, a few weeks down the line we can hardly remember what the previous version looked like. Fact is, people are uncomfortable with change, especially if it is sudden and unexpected.</span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Chances are the changes you are planning will be based on user feedback and analysis of your site's analytics. Make sure you communicate the reason for the changes to users ahead of time, during, and after the transition. Give users a channel through which to express their opinions about the changes.</span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<h3>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">2. Prioritise the changes</span></h3>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">If 80% of your business is conducted via 20% of your website, make sure you know which 20% that is, and ensure resources are focused on getting these sections right.</span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">It might be that you can make the changes to your site incrementally, rather than going for a big bang approach. This will allow you to gather feedback along the way, and make adjustments if necessary, based on user feedback.</span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<h3>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">3. Have a backup skeleton site on standby</span></h3>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">If you are making wholesale changes to the way your website operates, it is a good idea to have a very simple backup site on standby. This need be little more than a holding page with the contact details of customers services on it, for example. You probably have one of these as part of your business continuity plans anyway, that is hosted in a separate environment. All you need to do is point the DNS at this second site, but remember, DNS changes can take up to 48 hours to take effect.</span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<h3>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">4. Managing external suppliers</span></h3>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Make sure that any external suppliers you are working with have resource dedicated to your project throughout the change process. You will be reliant on them for some aspects of service continuity, so they need to function as an extension of your in-house team.</span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Research their experience in dealing with changes such as CMS transfers before you appoint them. A standard way of doing this is to contact some of their existing customers - ask what went well, and what pit-falls they experienced that you can avoid. A good supplier will let you choose which of their customers to speak to.</span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<h3>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">5. Future proof Content Management System </span></h3>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">We would all like a future proof CMS, and of course this is not completely possible, however, make sure your supplier has a clear road-map for product development. Upgrades and version releases should be scheduled at least a year into the future, and may or may not be included in your contract, so check this out.</span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Of course, nothing can mitigate against mergers and acquisitions which may result in the CMS you are using becoming obsolete or unsupported over time.</span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<h3>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">6. Buy in additional resource</span></h3>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Large scale changes to your website, which may be your biggest or only source of income, will be resource intensive. When planning for the changes, factor in additional (wo)manpower. This could be to help directly with the changes, or to take on some of the day to day business tasks that you won't have time for during the transition. </span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<h3>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">7. Pilot sites</span></h3>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Ask yourself whether you can safely make changes to a small area of your website as a tester before site wide changes are implemented. It may be that parts of your website are hosted in different environments, and are not interdependent. If things do go belly up, you are in a better position than if you try to make all the changes at once.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<br />
<h3>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">8. Take time to get service level agreements (SLAs) with suppliers right</span></h3>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">It can be tempting to sign paperwork with a supplier without making time consuming changes to the terms and conditions. However, working out the actual cost of a day's down-time will really clarify to the supplier the significance of the project to your business. Consider working financial penalties into the contract if failure to deliver the project is on the part of the supplier.</span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<h3>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">9. Test, test, test</span></h3>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Regardless of the changes you are making, ensure that there is a sandpit environment where changes can be previewed and tested before being sent live. Be open-minded about who can conduct the testing and consider not just user acceptance testing (UAT) but also </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">employee feedback and </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">consumer panel testing. Yes, this takes more time to complete, but it could mean you end up with a better product at the end of the process.</span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<h3>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">10. Reflect on lessons learnt</span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></h3>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">All large website changes will encounter problems. Manage risk, assign risk owners, and have clear processes for escalation. Take time at the end of your project to debrief with the team, reflect, and learn lessons for next time.</span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Personally, I can see a lots of positive changes to the <a href="http://www.marksandspencer.com/" target="_blank">M and S website</a> that are getting lost in the current bad press around the downturn in sales. It's important for the team to remain motivated and focused which is sometimes easier said then done at such times!</span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>Sources</b></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b><br /></b></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>- <a href="http://www.marksandspencer.com/" target="_blank">Marks and Spencer</a></b></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">- <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/28205935" target="_blank">BBC</a> - Marks and Spencer sales hot by website move </span></div>
<div class="blogger-post-footer">Claire is a CIM Chartered Marketer with over 10 years experience of working in health and public sector communications. You can contact her at clairelane2008@gmail.com.</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3010863521952614729.post-41224549723817728192014-07-04T17:08:00.000+01:002014-08-01T07:27:38.230+01:00Developing a social media policy - what to include<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="color: #1f497d; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-themecolor: dark2;">10 issues to cover when developing a social
media policy</span><span style="mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="color: #1f497d; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-themecolor: dark2;"><o:p><span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> </span></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraph" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt 36pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18pt;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">1.<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span></span>Stress that the policy is there to protect the
reputation of the individual, as well as the organisation.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<o:p><span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> </span></o:p></div>
<span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoListParagraph" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt 36pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18pt;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">2.<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span></span>Be clear on who is responsible for setting up
and managing social media accounts on behalf of the business.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<o:p><span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> </span></o:p></div>
<span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoListParagraph" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt 36pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18pt;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">3.<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span></span>Outline the scope of the policy – does it cover
work social media accounts or personal social media accounts too? Specify that
the policy covers posts made during working hours as well as those made out of
hours.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<o:p><span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> </span></o:p></div>
<span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoListParagraph" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt 36pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18pt;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">4.<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span></span>Offer examples of how individuals might be
identified as an employee of your organisation, for example, via personal
details posted on a range of <span style="color: #1f497d; mso-themecolor: dark2;"><span style="color: black;">websites</span></span>.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<o:p><span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> </span></o:p></div>
<span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoListParagraph" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt 36pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18pt;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">5.<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span></span>Be clear on what individuals should do<span style="color: #1f497d; mso-themecolor: dark2;">,</span> to avoid conflicts of
interest, when commenting on work related topics via their personal accounts -
for example, by being explicit that ‘all views are my own’ in posts.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<o:p><span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> </span></o:p></div>
<span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoListParagraph" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt 36pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18pt;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">6.<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span></span>Outline whether it is acceptable for individuals
to use their work email address to manage their personal accounts.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<o:p><span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> </span></o:p></div>
<span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoListParagraph" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt 36pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18pt;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">7.<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span></span>Be clear on what individuals should do if
customers or other stakeholders offer to ‘friend’ them via their personal
social media accounts.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<o:p><span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> </span></o:p></div>
<span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoListParagraph" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt 36pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18pt;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">8.<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span></span>Tell individuals what steps they should take if
they feel uncomfortable about discussions taking place on social media.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<o:p><span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> </span></o:p></div>
<span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoListParagraph" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt 36pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18pt;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">9.<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span></span>Offer safety advice about opening links and
attachments sent via social media that are not from trusted sources.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<o:p><span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> </span></o:p></div>
<span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoListParagraph" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt 36pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18pt;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">10.<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span></span>Align the social media policy with others
related to code of conduct to ensure continuity of message. Make the rules easy
to understand - If you wouldn’t do it offline, don’t do it on social media.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">
</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana;">If you have found this useful, please show thanks with a comment in the box below, <a href="https://twitter.com/CCresswellLane" target="_blank">tweet</a>, or share.</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<o:p><span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> </span></o:p></div>
<div class="blogger-post-footer">Claire is a CIM Chartered Marketer with over 10 years experience of working in health and public sector communications. You can contact her at clairelane2008@gmail.com.</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3010863521952614729.post-10971855853504505502014-07-02T20:54:00.000+01:002014-07-11T08:17:20.298+01:00Content marketing tips - #1 - The inverted pyramid<br />
<h3>
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">What is the inverted pyramid style of writing?</span></h3>
<span style="color: #444444;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Think of a newspaper article. By reading the</span><b style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> first paragraph</b><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> you can decide whether or not to read on. It tells you the who, what, when, where, and why. Read on and you will get the more granular detail. This is known as the </span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">inverted pyramid.</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></span>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_8AxUXotiMJCMoBQWXe-bR3L1EyzlzM1JBTGubtaUoEv_TN46YQRKee2XQy4f3pwtfivliFstrcq15ZEBL8d-KtoO8wt6XaoF4aL33v2MdAnJ-DwYt6ukFGHkudeC7RC4o7EGhdx7XgY/s1600/content_marketing_tips.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="color: #444444;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_8AxUXotiMJCMoBQWXe-bR3L1EyzlzM1JBTGubtaUoEv_TN46YQRKee2XQy4f3pwtfivliFstrcq15ZEBL8d-KtoO8wt6XaoF4aL33v2MdAnJ-DwYt6ukFGHkudeC7RC4o7EGhdx7XgY/s1600/content_marketing_tips.gif" height="386" width="400" /></span></a></div>
<h3>
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white;">Why is the inverted pyramid important in content marketing</span></span></h3>
<br />
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white;">When it comes to content marketing, that opening paragraph of text is all important.</span><span style="background-color: white;"><br /></span><span style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></span><br />
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white;"><a href="http://www.nngroup.com/topic/eyetracking/" target="_blank">Eye tracking studies</a> have shown that the part of online content most likely to be read by visitors is the opening paragraph.</span><span style="background-color: white;"><br /></span><span style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></span><br />
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white;">The opening paragraph of content appears as the description text under the link to your site in search engine results pages (SERPS). It may be the only interaction you have your potential audience, unless the copy is compelling enough for them to click.</span><span style="background-color: white;"><br /></span><span style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></span><br />
<br />
<h3>
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white;">Applying the inverted pyramid style of writing</span></span></h3>
<span style="color: #444444;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">A good example of the inverted
pyramid is an opening paragraph which
effectively provides the reader with a summary or conclusion. Without reading any
other information, they understand what the rest of the article is about. Here is a great example – consider this opening
paragraph from </span><a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/general/athletics/alysia-montano-completes-the-mother-of-800m-races-just-seven-weeks-before-she-is-due-to-give-birth-9568904.html" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;" target="_blank">The
Independent</a><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">:</span></span><br />
<br />
<div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="color: #444444;"><br /></span></div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="color: #444444;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">“</span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Track runner Alysia Montano ran the 800m at the US Track and Field Championships on Thursday, even though she is due to give birth to her first child in seven weeks.”</span></span></blockquote>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Lets
break that down and see all the information this one sentence
provides us with:</span></div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>Who?</b>:
“Track runner Alysia Montano”</span></div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>What?</b>:
“ran the 800m”</span></div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>Where?: </b>“at
the US Track and Field Championships”</span></div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>When?</b>:
“on Thursday”</span></div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>Why</b>
<b>is
this newsworthy</b>?:
“even though she is due to give birth to her first child in seven
weeks”.</span></div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="color: #444444;"><br /></span></span></div>
<h3>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="color: #444444;">A word on keywords</span></span></h3>
</div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="color: #444444;">Don't forget to include the carefully researched keywords or phrases that you are optimising your content for in the heading, opening paragraph, and sub-headings. </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="color: #444444;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">If you have found this article useful, please show thanks with a share, <a href="https://twitter.com/CCresswellLane" target="_blank">follow</a>, or <a href="https://www.facebook.com/CommsInSight" target="_blank">like</a>.</span><div class="blogger-post-footer">Claire is a CIM Chartered Marketer with over 10 years experience of working in health and public sector communications. You can contact her at clairelane2008@gmail.com.</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3010863521952614729.post-77854441707577646282014-06-26T12:59:00.000+01:002014-06-26T12:59:57.867+01:00How to build an intranet<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Redeveloping a corporate intranet can seem like a daunting
task – securing buy-in from senior management; capturing technical requirements
from across the business; ensuring compatibility with the existing technical infrastructure
and software solutions; fostering employee adoption and so on. This series of articles
looks at how to get started:</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">1. <a class="GCUXF0KCPB" href="http://commsinsight.blogspot.com/2014/05/aligning-your-intranet-strategy-with.html" rel="nofollow">Aligning your intranet strategy with your business objectives</a><span class="GCUXF0KCLB"><a class="GCUXF0KCKB" href="https://www.blogger.com/null" kind="label build"></a></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">2. <a class="GCUXF0KCPB" href="http://commsinsight.blogspot.com/2014/05/building-intranet-identify-your.html">Identify your starting point</a><span class="GCUXF0KCLB"><a class="GCUXF0KCKB" href="https://www.blogger.com/null" kind="label build"></a></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">3. <a class="GCUXF0KCPB" href="http://commsinsight.blogspot.com/2014/05/intranet-vendor-selection-and-management.html">Intranet vendor selection and management</a></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">4. <a class="GCUXF0KCPB" href="http://commsinsight.blogspot.com/2014/05/intranet-hosting-and-infrastructure.html">Hosting and infrastructure of your intranet</a></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">5. <a class="GCUXF0KCPB" href="http://commsinsight.blogspot.com/2014/05/intranet-accessibility.html">Intranet accessibility</a></span><br />
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<span class="GCUXF0KCLB"><span class="GCUXF0KCLB" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">6. <a class="GCUXF0KCPB" href="http://commsinsight.blogspot.com/2014/05/sustaining-your-investment-in-intranet.html">Sustaining your investment</a><span class="GCUXF0KCLB"></span></span></span><br />
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<span class="GCUXF0KCLB"><span class="GCUXF0KCLB"><span class="GCUXF0KCLB" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">7. <a class="GCUXF0KCPB" href="http://commsinsight.blogspot.com/2014/05/the-impact-of-intranet-on-cultural.html">The impact of an intranet on cultural change</a></span></span></span><br />
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<span class="GCUXF0KCLB"><span class="GCUXF0KCLB"><span class="GCUXF0KCLB" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">8. <a class="GCUXF0KCPB" href="http://commsinsight.blogspot.com/2014/05/intranet-credibility.html">Content credibility</a><span class="GCUXF0KCLB"></span></span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="GCUXF0KCLB"><span class="GCUXF0KCLB"><span class="GCUXF0KCLB"><span class="GCUXF0KCLB"></span></span></span></span></span><br />
<span class="GCUXF0KCLB"><span class="GCUXF0KCLB"><span class="GCUXF0KCLB"><span class="GCUXF0KCLB" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">9. <a class="GCUXF0KCPB" href="http://commsinsight.blogspot.com/2014/05/remove-old-ways-of-working.html">Removing old ways of working</a></span></span></span></span><br />
<span class="GCUXF0KCLB"><span class="GCUXF0KCLB"><span class="GCUXF0KCLB"><span class="GCUXF0KCLB"></span></span></span></span><br />
<span class="GCUXF0KCLB"><span class="GCUXF0KCLB"><span class="GCUXF0KCLB"><span class="GCUXF0KCLB"></span></span></span></span><br /><div class="blogger-post-footer">Claire is a CIM Chartered Marketer with over 10 years experience of working in health and public sector communications. You can contact her at clairelane2008@gmail.com.</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3010863521952614729.post-34353856702176320492014-06-13T21:25:00.003+01:002014-06-14T12:10:41.773+01:00Communications Strategy - What's Your Game Plan?<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<br /><div class="blogger-post-footer">Claire is a CIM Chartered Marketer with over 10 years experience of working in health and public sector communications. You can contact her at clairelane2008@gmail.com.</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com