Calm Mediacentre

Something interesting happened today at Calm. We were able to  practice what we preach about how brands should use social networks to engage with not only their friends, but their critics as well. Social networking via Twitter etc,  is all about engaging in conversations, both positive and negative, that the wider network is having about you and your work. This can’t be a bad thing and it can only improve performance all round.

We posted a link to a 3 year old website of an e-commerce client in the interest of goodwill to help drive traffic to the site. Unbeknown to me, the site owner had recently uploaded some images of new stock, but put a £0.00 amount against them.

The comments that this invited ranged from constructive advice to very harsh criticism of the developer. (One kindly Twitizen mentioned that this was a tad “ungentlemanly” of said critic). Some said it made the site look broken, and others said that we should have validated amount field so it doesn’t allow a £0 against a product. I have put solutions to these issues to the client and will see whether we can take this forward. The comments, although hard to hear,  will (we hope) serve to make the user experience a lot smoother and ultimately increase sales through the site.

If brands are given a chance to explain their position and are humble enough to acknowledge where they can improve, clients will benefit from a better result. Who wants a brand that thinks it already knows everything and there is nothing left to be learned?

Not quite! But as in most industries, terminology exists to differentiate between types of services-here’s an overview of some of the terms that you might of heard whilst talking to people within the industry…

Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) and Search Engine Placement (SEP) are terms used to describe the practice of modifying or tuning invisible website content according to the key search terms it is required to be found for. Some parts of this process are on-site: the modifying of the actual website – some work involves establishing external links (link building) from other websites to yours. Careful work with site content that is efficient (and useful for the site visitor), organic and well structured is usually the first step of a long, but well worthwhile journey to becoming a website of authority status.

Search Engine Marketing (SEM) is a natural evolution for SEO, but is more far reaching in terms of using other methods to achieve high numbers of visitors and general exposure. This is a form of on-line marketing that seeks to promote websites by increasing their visibility in search engine results through the use of paid inclusion, paid placement or contextual advertising i.e. Google Adwords (PPC).

Social Media Optimisation (SMO) is related to SEO, but the main focus of this is on driving traffic from other sources, rather than search engines. i.e. RSS feeds, social news buttons, blogging, social media sites and other media exposure can contribute extensively to a website popularity.

Conversion Rate Marketing (CRM) is the science of detailed analysis of a website to goal settings and funnelling strategies of all on-line traffic. This procedure often involves highly detailed visitor data for the website (metrics). An in-depth refinement process can be be conducted through multivariate testing, heat maps and other other methods that constantly refine and improve the sites structure, layout and also navigation. All text content, ‘calls to action’, persuasion paths and other elements of design are changed to convert more visitors and massively reduce bounce rates. Raising visitor retention considerably (often in excess of 50 percent) makes interesting reading from the point of view of a Return of Interest on moneys invested.

I hope this helps! If you have any questions or require any further information regarding these or any other terms, please give us a call or check out Calm Digital.

Twitter seems to be all over the media like a rash at the moment. So much so that I’ve been forced to revisit my twitter after it had lain dormant for months. And guess what – it’s so addictive that I’ve had to limit my time on it. So what’s happened?

It’s hit the Tipping Point!

In his book, The Tipping Point, Malcolm Gladwell explores three personality types that are essential for reaching out to people: Connectors, Mavens and Salespeople.

Connectors: These are folks who naturally build links, networks and connections between individuals and groups – think twitter fiend Jonathan Ross.

Mavens: In the best sense of the term these are people who love to gather practical information and share it with others, think  Stephen Fry, Arch Twitterer.

Salespeople: Folks who love to sell because they are passionate about people and twitter. – Phil Schofield fits this archetype.

Of course there are also those who by their very status can ifluence simply by adopting, like Barack Obama.

These personality types are enjoy people and effectively build community. Prominent personlaties fitting these archetypes can influence individuals and organizations who may adopt Twitter, becoming contributors, followers and ultimately twitters best advocates.

Add to the mix a global networking frenzy in the form Twestival, a live networking and fundraising event in 202 cities in the world, and yo, twitter hits the mainstream in a big media glitz type way.

As generously shared with the masses by @seotimeline on twitter and re-shared by Calm Asylum yo.

It really is an essential roadmap for all your social media / networking needs, detailing both community and B2B social networking sites, search engines, video sites, micro-blogging and texting, tools and platforms, blogs, wikis, photo sharing sites, social bookmarking and podcasting. The full palava really. Check it out here.

Calm Asylum has found the blog of a true genius. The periodic table of social media elements is so cool and it even gives you links to social media movers and shakers like Guy Kawasaki and The Real Shaq.