Web Savvy Marketers» Rahna’s Posts

The SEO Rap

Carolyn Griswold — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 22:41:01 +0000

Design the code right – the real trick to SEO.

Smart and accurate. Fun way to end a Monday afternoon. Enjoy.

Random Facts About Twitter

Rahna Barthelmess — Fri, 27 Mar 2009 03:36:14 +0000

I’ve had a Twitter account for over a year now but have truly only been active for about four months.

Here are some things I’ve discovered:

1) There are ways to lengthen the conversation. It’s hard to carry on in-depth conversations with only 140 characters per tweet. Many Twitterers overcome this by posting their messages over multiple tweets.

2) Some people tweet about really stupid things. People who don’t use Twitter scratch up their faces and say, “why on earth would I want to know that my friend is standing in line at the checkout counter or that their dog just pee’d on the carpet?” … And they’re right. Those are inane conversations

3) Some people Tweet about really interesting things. Think of the Twitter-sphere as a worldwide bar or bistro, if you’d like, where the noise level is high, and many people are posturing to make a “score.” Imagine what you might find: two college kids are blathering on at the bar about nothing. But you may also find that there’s a couple in the back booth who are engaged in a fascinating debate about one of your passions. For all the stupid dialogue there are so many other intelligent conversations going on.

Discerning the Inane from the Interesting

The trick is to find the compelling conversations. That’s where search.twitter.com comes in so handy. This simple tool allows you to search for the conversations that matter to you and find the kindred spirits who have your passion who share your passion.

What is Twitter?

Rahna Barthelmess — Fri, 13 Mar 2009 03:32:51 +0000

For social media junkies, they already know the answer to this question, but for many, they know that they should know the answer, but they don’t know.

So here’s my twitter 101 discussion, just to get you started. The concept of Twitter was originally that participants answer, in 140 characters or less, one question: what are you doing right now? Your answer (called a “tweet”) is intended to spark short messaging conversations and deeper engagements with those who share your interests.

It’s a fledgling media, one that is changing and growing day by day. However, I don’t think it’s going away anytime soon, so I suggest you get to know it. Now, that doesn’t mean that you may be somebody who spends their life on Twitter. As a matter of fact, most people don’t. The only people that I know that do are those who are engaged in the social media world. However, I have found it to be useful.

In May, I am giving a talk to the financial services industry on New Media Marketing. I wanted to research who was engaged in new media marketing in the insurance world. I put a tweet out on Twitter and Facebook, asking for ideas and information. Many people got back to me, giving reference material, lists of those engaged in social media, as well as connecting me to people relevant to the topic. As a matter of fact, I got hooked up with a director of social media at one of the major insurance companies and was able to get enough information for a case study. If you need to do some research or find the right person, chances are you’ll find it by crashing around on Twitter.

Now most people don’t actually answer the question posed, “What are you doing right now?” They simply comment on interesting things that they found around the worldwide web. Twitter becomes, then, a type of human search engine, pointing out interesting or relevant information to a particular group of people that you have decided to associate with or “follow. “

In addition search.twitter.com can help you find the conversations and the people engaged in activities that are of interest to you. I suggest you spend a little time getting on Twitter and trying it now. Just listen. That’s what everyone else is doing too. If you’re old enough to be puzzled by Twitter, you may be old enough to remember life before e-mail or voice mail, and look how helpful those tools are. This is just another technological tool to be used to communicate and engage with your clients and your customers, your friends, your family and your neighbors.

Happy tweeting!

Social Media During the Lenten Season

Rahna Barthelmess — Thu, 26 Feb 2009 23:21:49 +0000

So I heard that people are giving up Facebook for Lent. I’m not Catholic, so it isn’t something that I would ever have to contemplate doing myself, but I am in awe about the implications associated with this fact. Any marketer worth his salt should take note. This statement puts Facebook right up there with chocolate, TV, gambling, and gossip. It reveals Facebook as a beloved activity that, to give up is truly a sacrifice. Anyone who thinks that this is a fad or a fluke should reconsider that opinion immediately.

So what should marketers learn from this:

Social Media is on its way to becoming mainstream.
If you serve a general target market, your consumers are there….therefore, you should be there.
If you serve a very niche target market, your consumers might be there…therefore, you should consider being there.
Other marketers are figuring out how to leverage all that traffic. Shouldn’t you be a part of that?

If you have a great social media story, we’d love to hear it. Leave your comments here! If you’d like to know more about how companies are interacting with Facebook, MySpace, Twitter or any of the other social media sites, please contact me. New stories are being created every day!

The Concept of Collaboration

Rahna Barthelmess — Thu, 12 Feb 2009 19:09:24 +0000

Contributed by Rahna Barthelmess, Chief Marketing Strategist, Beacon Marketing

Anyone who has ever participated in a brainstorming event or worked on the high school dance committee knows this very simple truth, that two heads are always better than one. The contributors to this blog have started this discussion because they believe that collaboration is one of the Top Ten Secrets of Digital Branding. Each of us feels that 1+1+1+1 really does equal so much more than four. Collaboration is a cornerstone to the digital world, underpinning such mastermind concepts as Wikipedia, that captures the world’s collective definition of all things and Amazon’s “ratings and recommendations” for music, movies, books and more.

As a Marketing Strategist, it’s my job to guide my clients in the development of the best, most business-building strategies available. Collaboration is one strategy we always employ when developing massively successful marketing plans. The tactics we use to execute those strategies are multitudinous. Blogs, wikis, forums, message boards, rating systems all work to foster that collaboration. And the beautiful thing about the digital world is that these many tools automate the collaboration process, which means that the collaboration process can go on…even when you are not there.

This blog is an example of one such automated tool. Blogs are a place where you can start a conversation and have anyone jump in at any time of the day or night. It provides a forum for listening to your consumers, an avenue for inspiration, and a way to connect with others who have similar interests, ideas, and investigations that they are undertaking.

We hope you will participate in our discussions here at this blog. Our aim is to provide inspiration and practical advice on a variety of web-related topics. All of the contributors of this blog have been involved with the web since its inception and have gained a great deal of expertise about how to market something on-line. So what is your question? Tell us what you want to know. In the meantime, we’ll share some of our wisdom and pose questions about contemporary marketing issues. Share your thoughts with us! We’re eager to engage in conversation with you!

So here’s a question for today: While you’re reading this, ask yourself, “What am I doing to engage with my customers? Who can I collaborate with to supercharge my customer’s business and my own business?” Here are some idea starters:

Ajacent categories: What else does my customer need that relates to my product or service, but does not directly compete with me?

“Add-ons:” Are there other services or product enhancements that could provide partnership opportunities?

Distribution Opportunities: Perhaps there are retailers or distributors that deliver your product or service to the end user that you could collaborate with.

Passionate Consumers: There may be concentrated enthusiast groups that you could work with to deliver even more powerful consumer experiences.

Employees: Are there some highly customer-oriented employees that you could tap into for even greater delivery of customer engagement and satisfaction?