Social media is constantly being qualified for ROI, stickiness and reach, but how many of your indicators are looking at the destination of social media? How does your website work for or against your social media presence? Let’s look at this from the perspective of high school physics or just a need for speed.

Speed Versus Velocity

Good social media and poor social media is similar to comparing speed and velocity. Without getting into a huge physics discussion, speed is a distance traveled over time. Miles per hour, a rate of travel we’re all familiar with, especially those of us with speeding tickets. A business can pump out volumes of tweets, Facebook entries, etc. None of it will matter without a destination—a direction.

Velocity is commonly confused with speed. While speed is a rate of travel, velocity is a rate of travel and direction. This is critical to keep in mind when bringing the analogy to a business’ social media. All the social media outreach won’t convert to real customers until you give them the ability to connect with your business. The destination (direction) on your website becomes critically important. The question you need to ask: is my website ready for social media?

What Makes a Social Media-Friendly Website?

In the dawning age of social media, a website has never been more important. A website becomes the hub for your entire brand. Imagine an airport concourse or rail depot—site visitors coming in from all manner of locations. Some may come from organic searches based on your products or services, some may come from social media looking to read an entry on your blog, and some might come from email marketing wanting to learn more. All are there to interact with your business.

Interacting with your business’ website brings it back to the main question: is your website ready? Do you have an easy to navigate product or service section? How easy is it for readers of your blog to contact you to hire? How easily can that marketing email recipient purchase the widget you featured? These are questions that may be asked ahead of significantly diving into social media.

What are some recommendations associated with a social media-ready website?

• Keep your blog or news directly on your site and not on a separate domain.

• Navigation should be clear, comprehensive (don’t hide pages), and consistent throughout the site.

• Clearly show your social media connections. Give site visitors plenty of options to connect to your brand.

• Develop a keyword vocabulary and use them to tag your pages, posts and products effectively. Effective use of blog categories will go a long way.

• If you have a blog, FAQ or products—include a search box.

• Link all the time. If you mention a product or service you offer in your blog or social media post, be sure to link it!

• Be easy to contact with your phone number, email link, or email form. If someone contacts you, get back to them the same business day.

As your business begins to venture down the rewarding path of engaging new consumers with social media, don’t forget to give them a destination or a venue to continue the brand experience. Social media becomes an even greater brand force when it is given speed and velocity.

Wednesday, March 24, March 31, & April 7
6:00 – 8:00 pm
The Lodge at Geneva Ridge
Lake Geneva, Wisconsin

The use of social media for business has exploded in the past year, and businesses in every industry are feeling the pressure to do “something.” But what? Many business owners and managers may be familiar with Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn on the surface or in their personal lives, but how can they be helpful for your business? Are they helpful for every business? Does utilizing one make more sense than others? If you are using social media, how do you know it’s working? It’s time to get some answers you can trust.

Join Matthew Olson, President of Signalfire, for a three-part interactive workshop to learn about the concepts and the practices of social media for your business. This interactive learning environment will include discussions, hands-on practice, and strategic tips and tricks to help you assess the value of social media in a business environment. Read More »

Foursquare is a combination of a game and a social media network that utilizes locations as venues in which points are awarded when you “check in” on mobile devices. Venues can be a restaurant, a store, or any other set location. While Foursquare has been address based, the system recently advanced to a pure GPS-based system for determining the venue’s location.

One of the most rapidly growing themes in social media is location-based interaction. Even though you may be in a crowded bar, you can immediately discover who in your network (friends) is there or see where they have checked in recently. Points are awarded for each check-in. Badges, or awards for frequent check-ins, adding new venues, or checking in with numerous people are given as the user gains points. Some cities or large events (CES in Las Vegas and the upcoming SXSW in Austin) even have custom badges for the savvy tech travelers.

Such games or networks have traditionally been viewed as purely recreational and not seen as having any business potential. However, like we’ve seen with many other aspects of social media, most anything can be used for smart business. In some of the more experienced Foursquare markets, we’ve seen the uprise of bars, restaurants and retail locations using Foursquare as a powerful networking and rewards tool. How?

A Foursquare Evening

To better understand how a business can maximize Foursquare, lets walk through a semi-typical example of how consumers use Foursquare. Steve is out for an evening with his best friend John and several friends. To kick off the night, they attend a basketball game at the local sport arena. Using their mobile devices, Steve and John “check-in” at the well-frequented arena. Steve sees Foursquare notify other “friends” he is at the game with John. Both receive points for checking in. Steve also has Foursquare publish his location and who he checked in with on Facebook and Twitter.

At the conclusion of the basketball game, the group decides to hit a nearby bar. Again, both check in and again, both see their networks and other social media accounts get notification. Because the establishment is “social media friendly”, a “tip” shows up on Steve and John’s mobile devices that the bar is offering “2 for 1 rail drinks with arena stub”. After some time, the group decides to call it a night. Steve and John go their separate ways. Steve heads for home, but receives a check-in notification that John went to another bar and met up with several others. Feeling hungary, Steve decides to stop at a local take out restaurant.

At the local take-out restaurant, Steve attempts to check in only to find the venue not in the Foursquare system. Using his mobile device, Steve is able to add the venue and check in. In addition to gaining points for checking in, Steve receives additional points for adding a new venue. Taking his food, Steve ends his evening back at his apartment.

While this whole escapade may seem like “over sharing” to some and a breakdown of interpersonal communication to others, there is opportunity for a business to capitalize on this location-based interaction. As we mentioned at the bar near the arena, Foursquare allows users to add tips or to-do items associated with venues. This can range from specials to menu suggestions, or even reviews on service. Simply put, this is a forum where consumers are talking about your business (your brand). Being part of that conversation would be a good idea.

Benefiting Business

Being part of the Foursquare conversation is a lot like participating in other social media. It will take time. It will take some open-mindedness. It will take a bit of hands-on research about your individual market. Depending on your individual market, you may already have a presence on Foursquare. The question is then, how does a business make the most of it?

Here is an Example of a Bar/Pub—

One bar uses Foursquare tips to announce specials to users “checking-in” at their location. This “exclusive” special gives the bar the ability to see in real life the effects of Foursquare check-ins. By showing the bartender you’ve checked in, simply flashing the status screen, the business owner can keep a relatively accurate tally sheet of the number of specials versus the number of actual check-ins.

This particular establishment goes one step further. The individual who has the most numerous check-ins over time (referred to by Foursquare as the “Mayor”), receives free tap beer when he or she arrives with more than two others. Why? First, to reach the status of Mayor a user has to check-in a significant number of times. In all likelihood, that means they have made numerous purchases. Further, when coming in with others, it is far more likely the others will spend even more when one of their members are perceived as “drinking for free”.

Is the system foolproof? No. Neither are most promotions. However, rather than focus on the Mayor, for example, look at the number of people competing to become the Mayor. Looking at the tally of drink specials, you have an excellent source of feedback of a low-cost marketing effort. This example may be unique, but think of your own business’ situation.

Many will agree Foursquare is just one of many location-based social networking apps currently in use. Participating in more than one may be beneficial. A word of warning—don’t fall into the “if you build it they will come” trap. If you have Foursquare specials, be sure you advertise it in the entrance. Bring it up on your Facebook Fan Page or Twitter. Have fliers out in the customer areas. One of the best examples we’ve seen is a sign in the front door of a bar “We are a social media friendly establishment: Facebook, Twitter, Foursquare — Check in or check them out for specials”.

With all of the advances in mobile devices, the changes to the way consumers or customers interact with a business, and the ever-more entwined we are with social media, the more businesses have to look at developments like Foursquare. Just imagine what you could do with your business?