“Your website is an amazing branding tool!”

How many times have you heard that? Hundreds, if not thousands of blog posts, start off this way, but often trail off when it comes to the details. It’s true though, a successful business is fueled by a great web presence. Unfortunately, the brand of a company website or personal profile is often times lost in the clutter of the web. In today’s Web 2.0 world, your message must balance informational web pages with a viable and exciting social media identity.

The Office: A Case Study

Although there are only around 23 episodes of NBC’s The Office per year, the show has become far more than just 30 minutes of weekly airtime. In fact, these half-hour installments have proven to be the axis for a very extensive and enthusiastic leap into new media.

The Office’s years of sustained success stems from its documentary-style format, taken from Ricky Gervais’ original version of the show running from 2001-2003 in the United Kingdom. This hand-held camera angle makes the characters come alive in an authentic way and makes them perfectly transferable to social media.

Even though I know Michael Scott is a fictional boss of a fictional branch for a fictional company, there’s a lingering feeling that I could drive over to Scranton, Pennsylvania and ring his doorbell. As mentioned earlier, much of this “realness” comes from the way the show is filmed, but it is reinforced by the bevy of blogs, Flickr accounts, character Twitter handles and many other media devices associated with the show.

A sample of the discourse The Office characters exchange on Twitter,
adding to their character development and reinforcing the brand overall.

Brand Loyalty

By giving each of the show’s most beloved characters a blog or social media account, The Office is able to interact with their audience and provide additional mediums to create a fanatic connection. It’s a marketing tactic focused on building brand loyalty through an emotional connection. Viewers tune in because they care about the characters, and understand the essence of who they are.

Traffic Boosters

The Office and the NBC fat-cats didn’t setup all this content for their health though. No sir. The Office homepage on NBC.com is both a forum and a billboard. The new media devices act as a magnet, bringing devoted fans to the site. Even though Season 6 wrapped up last month, fans are still getting engaged with the show through the website. Advertisers spend great amounts to acquire the coveted ad space on this site. It’s a win-win for everyone.

But I’m Not In Entertainment…

So where does your business fit in? This case study on The Office’s new media usage is an example that businesses of all types can follow. Even though The Office is a hit network TV show, the themes of the show and the social media campaigns tied to it are modeled around the personnel within the the fictional company. Your social media campaign should try to do the same. Of course, your company (probably) shouldn’t name their blogs The Diabolical Plan or The Halpert Baby Blog, but the point is that you can make fans out of your customers by providing insight into the things that make your company tick.

Where to Get Started

Tweeting for Fun

During our latest round of networking and public events, we heard the same question over and over – how do I get started? If you’re getting into social media for personal use, I always recommend starting with friends and then moving on to your passions. Connecting with friends will help you learn the ins-and-outs of networks like Twitter and Facebook. If you make a mistake, who cares! Only your friends will see. Then start following your passions by following major brands and important people within your area of interest. I found the following instructions to be helpful as I built my Twitter account (@MetaCase):

1. Start with what you know…or what you want to know
2. Stick to it! Devote between 15-45 minutes a day to building connections and posting content.
3. Show, don’t tell. Make sure you keep credibility in mind when Tweeting. It may be therapeutic to complain, but you won’t win followers that way.

Tweeting for a Company

Starting a Twitter or Facebook account for your company is a bit trickier. Although social media accounts are generally operated by the marketing/PR teams, corporate social media usually start with the Legal Department. Work with your legal department to see what kind of interactions you can perform without getting sued. Then, start listening and providing customers with interesting content that starts a conversation.

Sharpie, the permanent marker giant, is pretty nimble when it comes to using social media to increase brand loyalty and advocacy. Their campaign entitled, Sharpie Uncapped, focuses on the thousands of ways Sharpie customers use their markers to express themselves. Need new detailing on your motorcycle? How about some new sneakers? These ideas and many more are chronicled across their blog, YouTube, and Flickr.

Choices, Choices: Twitter or Facebook?

Some companies, like Sharpie, like to use all forms of social media as they attempt to canvas the web and fill every niche. But there are still other companies that choose to focus on one network. Jerry Kozak, Owner & Marketing Director at the Ann Arbor T-Shirt Company, explained why his organization devotes much of their marketing energy on their Facebook page for products like Screen Printing & Custom Shirt Design:

When we get a Facebook fan page to adopt one of our designs, it is presumably there forever. New members see the design indefinitely. Twitter is more like someone standing on a corner announcing something…If you weren’t there to hear it, it’s unlikely you’ll get the message at all.

He goes on to explain the disconnect between Twitter and his image-based designs. All Twit-pics aside, Twitter is mostly text based. Additionally, Twitter is more-or-less a publishing platform, whereas Facebook is a sharing platform. “If your goal is to get your product to go viral, the path is much more fluid on Facebook,” Kozak explains. Whether your company chooses Facebook, Twitter, Flickr, etc., make sure the network represents your brand effectively.

Get Going!

We’ve talked enough about what other people are doing. It’s time to make sure your company is branding effectively through its online presence. So get out there and make sure to let us know how you’re doing!

The iPad didn’t create the mobile web, but after it’s debut on April 3, it sure felt like it. Amidst the hyperbole, jokes and festivities surrounding the iPad’s release, some very real questions were raised regarding the future of web design from a mobile perspective. What skills will designers need in the future?  What is the future of Flash?  Is my website ready for mobile?

Of course, with so many questions, the blogosphere was happy to respond. Designers from all over the globe pondered the ramifications of the iPad’s release and we rounded ‘em up in our 6th Blog Carnival.

Mobile web design goes far past just the iPad. Hopefully you’ve been keeping up with mobile trends so far, but if not, there’s always time to catch up with these posts.

The Mobile Web vs. the Objective-C Web

As Cameron Moll contemplates the affect of the iPad on web design he poses the following question:

As the adoption rate of iPhone increases and if iPad follows suit, it will become increasingly difficult to argue in favor of a starting point other than iPhone OS.

What do you think? Will there be a time when designers start out with mobile versions of the site and then move on to your typical web browser version as a secondary task?

On the iPad and Web Design

Web Design didn’t change when the iPad came out, but many of the changes within the industry are evident now that the device is out. In this post, Soma Design of Winnipeg, Canada says hello to some new trends that are here to stay, while waving farewell to seemingly “timeless” truths like the computer mouse. It is their belief that it’s “business suicide to have poor experience in the mobile sector”.

Designing for iPad: Reality Check

Early rumors and leaks led many digital media creators scurrying to develop applications for “that tablet thing from Apple” months before the world even knew what the product would be called. In this post, the world renown design team from iA (Information Architects) relays their difficulties in designing multiple programs for the iPad months before they had even held it in their hands. The thorough article also points out lessons for designers to follow as new iPad apps are created each day.

You need a mobile version of your site…Now!

In this post, Techexplorer declares the days of 1024×768 resolution over – meaning, it’s time to put mobile display at a high priority. Even if your site visitors aren’t on the iPad, they might be on the iPhone, Droid or other mobile browsers. If you’re wondering if your site is attracting mobile visitors, this post mentions several great analytics services used to track referrals and visitor sources. There are a number of other metrics mentioned to help you decide if your site should be designed as two separate websites: one for high bandwidth browsers and one rich in content-only for low bandwidth visitors.

iPad-ready Web Design: Is it worth it?

This post is for the business owners wondering if they need to optimize their website for the iPad – ultimately, it depends on your target demographic. Trackers suggest that in it’s first month of sales, Apple has sold around 1,000,000 iPads to Apple fans, media aficionados, tech gurus, and the like. If your market falls within these descriptors, this post form Ben Jisa Design Studio has some key advice.

40 Ravishing Scenery iPad Wallpapers

And now for some eye candy! Apple has sold almost a million iPads in it’s first month and that’s a lot of wallpaper space to fill. For those looking to make their device unique, here are 40 scenic wallpapers sure to make your iPad smile.

Next Month’s Issue: Web Development

Thanks to all the authors of these great posts and being a part of the Carnival! Mobile web design is just getting started, so this will be an issue we’ll keep an eye on for sure.

Next month’s Carnival will focus on an issue near and dear to our hearts at MetaSpring: Web Development! There are so many areas to explore when it comes to Development, so make sure to check out the post. And if you have any articles to submit, send ‘em on over to media@metaspring.com.

You’ve probably heard the old saying, “if you build it, they will come,” but as many web startups know – this is very often not the case. The vast and saturated state of the web just doesn’t allow for it – content either can’t be found or doesn’t rank high enough over the competition. So, web startups must turn to various forms of web marketing in order to get their brand out to the target audience. A savvy web marketer will combine concepts from a few different fields such as branding, search engine optimization, social media marketing and advertising to create a complete marketing package.

In this carnival, we’ve collected posts from around the web that reflect this concept in fresh and unique ways. Much thanks to all those who participated!

Crisis Planning: Prepare Your Company for Social Media Attacks

A lot of people spent some time this week monitoring the deforestation and sustainability debates taking place on Nestle’s Facebook fan page. Whether you participated or not, this situation has plenty of lessons to offer the web marketing community.

Jeremiah Owyang, notable Customer Strategy guru, pointed out that any web marketer must be ready for attacks on their brand through social media. By adding transparency to your brand (via Facebook & Twitter accounts), you’re inviting the consumer into your world, but don’t be surprised if a few critics show up too. As the post suggests: “Prepare for the worst, live for the best“, a task best accomplished with a documented community response strategy.

Seven Golden Link Building Strategies

Link building is no small part of web marketing. Getting your links in the right place and seen by the right people can help your site rank better for keyword searches, and can also drive valuable traffic to your site.

The folks over at Cemper.com posted a great guide to building links recently. And with the millions of “Best Link Building Guide Ever” posts out there, that’s saying something. Link building is hard work and even harder to get started. These 7 strategies help you do both. I find #3 (Compare Competitor’s Backlink) and #6 (Build Trust) the most important to follow. How about you?

How to Best Measure Social Media Marketing ROI

At this time last year, marketing managers were asking for, nay, demanding a way to measure their return on investment (ROI) for social media marketing. Well, ask and you shall receive. There are many tools online these days that can help you to measure the ROI of your social media presence. But it all depends on how you plan to turn Tweets to dollars, so to speak.

The Web Marketing Group of North Yorkshire, England, posted some interesting data recently – revealing that only 16% of those engaged in Social Media Marketing worldwide measure their ROI. The survey also points out that these marketers only measure the “vanity metrics” like traffic, page views and click through rates. Try taking it a step further to see if these metrics turned into sales.

Your Social Media Success Will Be Defined By What You Ignore

Social Media is a field of intense noise and clutter. As a web marketer, it’s very beneficial to implement a social media strategy into your campaigns, but your success will depend on how well you can organize the noise.

Our friends at Simply Zesty, an Online PR & Social Media firm, are at the forefront of web marketing, dealing with social media services every day. If there’s a new strategy or web tool out there, they’ve heard about it – but that doesn’t mean they hop on the early adopter bandwagon. Author Niall Harbison proves why it’s important to say no to the latest social media fads in favor of paying attention to the audience you’ve spent hours and hours building on Facebook , Youtube, or Twitter, etc.

Notes from a Newbie: From PR to SEO

SEOmoz posts great web marketing content to their blog daily, but some of the most fascinating posts come from their YOUmoz blog. YOUmoz is a creative way of adding user generated content to SEOmoz that facilitates discussion and allows for users to promote themselves.

A recent post from Tom Mcloughlin chronicles a very important lesson learned as he transitioned from the traditional Public Relations world into the realm of Search Engine Optimization. He expected a harsh learning curve and tons of nerdy data crunching, but what he got was a field that wasn’t all that far off from his roots in PR. The fundamentals of SEO aren’t that different from PR, again reminding us that web marketing has many elements that blur together the traditional fields of advertising, branding and marketing.

Are You Sending Your Clicks to the Right Place?

Another important part of web marketing, and one we’ve dealt with in the past at MetaSpring, is Affiliate Marketing. Many of our projects involve a focus on Ecommerce, so we understand the importance of presenting the consumer with a call to action that works.

As this post by Ion Interactive clearly points out, there are two important questions you should answer in any pay-per-click campaign: “Where should I send the clicks, and are the clicks ‘ready to buy?’” In order to help you sift through the various options, Ion Interactive presents five places you should consider sending these clicks right off the bat.

Next Month’s Issue: Web Design

Thanks again for joining us and reading the great posts from this month’s Carnival. A special thanks to all those that put the posts together. We enjoyed connecting with you and discussing some of the Web Marketing trends out there today.

For next month’s Carnival, we’re going to revisit the our first topic: Web Design! Designers are always coming up with new and interesting ideas, so we’re sure to have some great posts. If you have a Web Design post or a suggestion for a topic that you’d like to see discussed, make sure to let us know at media@metaspring.com.

West Hall (“SI West”) on the U-M
Central Campus in Ann Arbor

“Dive in and stay local.”

That was the unanimous message from a panel of Ann Arbor’s digital marketers who gathered last Friday at the University of Michigan School of Information’s Career Development lecture. The lecture called, “A Day in the Life of an SEO and SEM Professional,” featured industry insights from Chad Wiebesick, Nate Lewalski and MetaSpring’s own marketing extraordinaire John Paul Narowski.

The lecture was part of a series of career development lectures put on by the U of M School of Information (UMSI), designed to help students stay up to date on trends and strategies being utilized in potential career paths. Search engine optimization (SEO) and Search engine marketing (SEM) are two of those trends that are rapidly expanding, with businesses of all sizes taking notice – especially the highly digital companies in Ann Arbor, MI.

Here are some of the concepts that each speaker covered:

Chad Wiebesick

Chad, President of the Ann Arbor Ad Club, nationally recognized author, and award-winning digital marketing strategist, had plenty to offer this group of future job applicants. Some of his key points included:

• SEO and SEM are growing, exciting fields to get into these days. About 60 billion dollars are spent in online advertising each year and that number is constantly increasing, so there is plenty of room to step into the market.
• Skills for those looking to get in this field or find success include analytical abilities, hard work and a desire to learn. Most SEO/SEMers learn on the job.
• Social media is now the 4th most popular internet activity, outranking email. This means that social media is the “go-to” way for communicating with peers. Email is becoming a very formal communications method.

Nate Lewalski

Nate is an Interactive Marketing Planner at Enlighten, an interactive marketing firm. Since graduating from Western Michigan University in 2006, he’s been immersed in the digital marketing field and so he wanted to discuss some of the trends happening (literally) right now. Here are some of his key points:

• Real-Time search is an up-and-coming space in marketing. Given the deals with Twitter, Bing and Google, advertisers, marketers and branding experts need to find ways to master this new concept and get results for clients.
• Digital media is extremely track-able and thus, an easy sell to clients.
• SEO/SEM is fun! Accounts are live and constantly being updated, so you can get results in real-time.

John Paul Narowski

JP began his discussion by recounting a few of his initial trials and tribulations as a young SEOer at Amish Tables in Ann Arbor. He followed this up with his thoughts on today’s trends and the lessons that he learns daily in his work at MetaSpring.

• The beauty of SEO is that you can learn from your results. By conducting optimization tests and beta trials, the internet can teach you how to gather clients and impact target audiences.
• SEO and SEM are only successful through “constant interaction”. SEO are SEM are processes that seemingly never ending…and that’s a good thing!
• Anyone looking to get into the emerging field of SEM/SEO should have a solid understanding of search engines and strategic thinking. As the industry grows though, these requirements will surely progress and mature.

An Informative Event

This career development lecture series was a great example of the proactive steps I begged the academic community to take in my Web 2.0 post a few weeks back. As an audience member at the lecture, I was impressed by the wealth of knowledge Nate, Chad and JP presented to the class and the size of the audience as well. About 25 students showed up ready to learn and discuss the growing field of SEO and SEM.

Special thanks to Joanna Kroll for assembling the panel. For more information on the University of Michigan School of Information and their Career Development series, visit their website at: www.si.umich.edu.

Additional Resources

• SearchMarketingNow
• OneUpWeb
• AdAge
• SEOMoz

Valentine’s Day was more than a week ago, but we’re still feeling the love. We’ve been fortunate enough to get a bit of press attention recently and were thrilled to share our thoughts and ideas with the community.

Business Innovations with Larry Eiler

Last week, MetaSpring’s own Casey and JP were invited to record a podcast with Larry Eiler, co-founder, chairman and CEO of Eiler Communications. The podcast is part of a weekly series entitled Innovative Business Results. Guests on the show discuss their organization, as well as other business-related issues in the news.

We were very excited to join Larry on the podcast and thank him for the invitation. Topics discussed include:

• MetaSpring Company News
• Our recent exploration of Web 2.0 in the Academic community
• Ann Arbor’s Tech & Innovation Community

You can listen to our segment here: February 23, 2010 Podcast

And, you can find the full archive of shows at the Business Innovation website.

Job Searching in a Tough Economy

As many of you know, the MetaTeam has a pretty extensive online presence. Whether you’re on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, or other social networks, you can usually find someone at MetaSpring to connect with. That was the case when a student at the University of Oregon was recently looking for job-searching advice from recent college grads through Twitter. This sort of crowd-sourcing technique was one of the skills Casey discussed in his last post about Web 2.0 and its role in career preparation.

Casey was happy to answer the call and bestowed upon her the knowledge that he’d gained from his job search last summer. The student, Paige Landsem, was able to condense Casey’s thoughts into a very helpful blog post for her class entitled Gateway to Media. The post is intended to help students combat current economic conditions. Well done, Paige!

Upcoming MetaSpring Appearances

We’re continuing our publicity run next month with another local engagement:

Lucy Ann Lance Business Insider – March 16

Lucy Ann Lance is one of the most ardent supporters of the Ann Arbor business community, emceeing events and chairing several local advocacy groups around town. She also hosts a daily (Mon-Sat) radio show called The Lucy Ann Business Insider, 9am-12pm on 1290AM WLBY in Ann Arbor. The show can also be found streaming online on 1290AM’s site or archived on Lucy Ann’s website. We start our day listening to her show co-hosted with Dean Erskine.

After a few conversations with Lucy Ann on Twitter, we were fortunate enough to receive an invite to appear on her Tech Tuesday segment on March 16th . This pre-St. Patrick’s Day show will be a lot of fun and we invite you to listen along.

Contact MetaSpring

As you can see, MetaSpring loves to talk. Usually we let our web designs do most of the talking, but we love to chat in person too. Most of our staff is on Twitter and we maintain an active Facebook presence. If you’d like to get in touch with a member of our team for an interview, networking event, or speaking engagement, email us at info@metaspring.com or check out our staff pages for social networking info.