Archive for the ‘Local Businesses’ Category

I love promoting awesome people, great causes, events, and organizations/businesses that are doing interesting things. My favorite tech tool to help me do this is the Apple iPhone 3Gs.

There’s a reason the iPhone 3Gs is such a hot seller, it is a mobile promotion machine. I use it to check email on the road or at home when away from my laptop. I use it to take pictures that I post to my Twitter and Facebook status feeds and to various blogs. The built in video allows me to post to my YouTube Channel, post via email to my Posterous account, send short videos via 12seconds.tv, and to live stream using Qik.com and UStream. With this single tool, I can immediately share what’s going on with my life or at an event.

Here’s an example of how I used my iPhone for shameless self-promotion. A couple of months back, I noticed Nancy Rodriguez’s Twitter update where she mentioned that she and the crew from Q1047, the local Hip-Hop and R&B station, where going to be live broadcasting from a nearby McDonald’s. It was around 7am so I grabbed a fast shower then zoomed over to McDees. I had chatted with Nancy before via Twitter so it was great meeting her and the rest of the Rico and Mambo show. I took a couple of photos of them in action, posted the pictures to Twitpic and Twitter, spoke to Nancy, then headed back to go home.

Now, I’ve been listening to Q1047 since I moved to Ventura County and it’s my favorite station. So I was glad to post pictures and tweet about them on Twitter. But as I headed back to the car I realized that I could have plugged my new online blogging course. So I decided to grow a sack and went back to ask Nancy to send a shoutout to my BuildYourFanBase.com readers and she kindly did so.

Fifteen minutes after I left the live broadcast, I had uploaded the video shoutout to YouTube and had already tweeted out a link to my blog post on the event. Minutes later Nancy retweeted the link and gave my blog and new blog class an on-air shoutout.

Now that’s promotion at the speed of light!

Do you have any other mobile promotion tech tools that you swear by?

[Cross posted to www.jesseluna.com]

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There are so many blog templates and so little time. So it’s understandable why many bloggers stick with “out of the box” template designs.

But here are the top reasons you should have a well-designed custom header image.

A custom header image allows you to:

1. Establish your brand
2. Tell visitors where they are
3. Establish identity

Establish Your Brand

Your customer header image should match your other Web site, print, and offline marketing designs. This consistency helps to reinforce your overall company and/or personal brand.

Mari Smith, Facebook and Twitter marketing expert, exemplifies this branding concept. Below, notice that her Twitter profile and “Why Facebook?” blog both use the same colors, background design, similar pictures, and both use her “blinged out” M logo.

Mari Smith uses consistent design elements to establish her brand

Mari Smith’s Twitter profile also reinforces this same brand. Consistency FTW!

Mari Smith uses same branding elements on Twitter to reinforce her brand

Tell visitors where they are

There are over 100 million blogs on the Internet so it is important that your blog visitors know where they are. The easiest way to do this is to put a big honkin blog title on your header image. Mari Smith’s blog is named “Why Facebook?” It’s clear, it’s obvious, and it eschews obfuscation (avoids confusion).

Search engine optimization tip: Make sure you have your blog title as text on other parts of your blog design. This will help search engines, like Google, index it as a crucial keyword phrase. That way, if someone searches over your title, it will have a great ranking and hopefully show up towards the top of the search results. This is less likely to happen if you only use the text on the image.

This blog is named “Build Your Fan Base”, so I make sure to have this show up as part of the standard blog template text at the top of the page to take advantage of this optimization.

Establish Identity

If you have several blogs, Web sites, and social networking presences (Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, Flickr, etc.), it is important to establish your identity early on. I distinguish between Brand and Identity because you could have a corporate brand for a blog (any many blogs) but a personal identity for the blogger.

How many times have you visited a blog, read through some of its great content then scanned the site only to realize there was no name attached to the blog? This is a huge lost opportunity.

To establish identity via your blog header, use a photograph of yourself and make sure your name is on the header. If you do have several Web presences, go the extra step and make sure your photograph matches the other sites. Having a similar expression and wearing similar color clothing help make things that much more consistent. I use the same image on my Twitter profile as I do on this blog to keep things easy and so I don’t have to shop for a dozen light grey shirts.

Summary

To maximize your blog, use a customer image header that reflects your brand, tells visitors immediately where they are, and also announces your name and mug to the world. If you use this trifecta of tips, you will surely be on your way to building a valuable and lasting fan base.

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[I originally wrote this during Thanksgiving of 2008 but this still applies today. I mention "fans" here but by that I mean super loyal customers.]

It’s great seeing all the Thanksgiving thank you messages on social network sites like Twitter and Facebook. So how can you say “Thanks” to your fans?

Here are two quick examples:

1. ROLL CALL

Internet Marketing expert Douglas Karr extended a special Thank You to all his blog Commenters by listing them on today’s blog post. He listed them in order of how active they’ve been on his site.

Wouldn’t you rather comment on a site that listens to you and appreciates your comments? I would!

Thank You message from Douglas Karr

2. MAKE YOUR FANS FAMOUS

Here’s an offline example of how to thank your fans. Make your fans famous and post pictures of them!

My favorite little burger place in Ventura, CA is BJ’s. They have great burgers and have lots of loyal customers. When the shop changed ownership, they wanted to keep the regulars coming back so they started posting pictures of folks. The picture below is a bit dark because it was raining but there were still people standing out there to look for their friends and relatives on the picture board.

Loyal customers can see thier pictures on BJ's fan board

Do you have any other great ideas for saying Thanks to your fans? Let me know in the comments.

Would you like to be a part of Build Your Fan Base? Post a link to one of your pictures and a link to your blog/site and I’ll post your picture to my new Fans Only page.

Thanks for reading and have a wonderful Thanksgiving to all who celebrate it.

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I recently had “the Twitter talk” with the CEO of a high tech B2B company. His one main question was, “Will Twitter help us make money?”

My response was that B2B companies should not look to Twitter as a way to sell widgets, but to view it as a trade show.

At a trade show:

1. Conversations and actions are focused on building relationships
2. Outcomes are evaluated on a long-term basis, not a quick hit
3. Strong partnerships are the greatest financial reward. In the CEO’s business, a new vendor can mean millions in sales per year
4. It’s a great place to share the company’s brand and personality
5. To get the most out of a show, you have to engage participants or you will get lost in the crowd

So there is a reward at the end of the Twitter rainbow for B2B companies. But it takes time, work, and a decent strategy.

Oh, and don’t forget the swag.

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The presentation was originally part of my booth display at the LA Mart Prosperity Rally on June 16, 2009.

Presentation tech details: Created using Power Point, imported into Slideshare.com, then added synchronized audio via free Audacity software.

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