Seeing the interest skyrocket in kayaks, stand-up paddleboards (SUPs) and rowing sculls, Kevin Kirkland turned the success of one watercraft business, Lake Geneva Marine, into the opportunity for a second. Mr. Kirkland’s passion is being on the lake, and his love of non-motorized watercraft made it clear what was to come next.

Fontana Paddle Company’s mission is providing non-motorized watercraft to enthusiasts on one of Wisconsin’s most premier inland lakes, Lake Geneva. For over a century, Chicago, Milwaukee, Madison and Rockford vacationers have enjoyed Lake Geneva’s clear waters and gentile shores. Today’s thriving lake culture not only supports motorized boats, but the quickly growing popularity of silent sports.

Fontana Paddle Company offers watercraft and equipment rentals, lessons for the first timer as well as the expert, tours for individuals and groups, a pro shop to get gear of your own, and a storage or put in service that will allow customers to keep their gear maintained and ready without the hassle of transport.

Mr. Kirkland came to Signalfire in early June, 2010 with a plan to have the boats in the water before July 12th. Fontana Paddle Company needed a brand, full marketing materials, a website and a complete social media setup. Given the compacted timeframe and the volume of creatives, Signalfire hit the ground running. Developing both the brand and the website concurrently, his completed materials were all online the week before the scheduled launch.

Fontana Paddle Company’s dynamic, self-maintained website was built on the newly-launched WordPress 3.0 platform. The client will have the capabilities to not only manage the content (text and images) on the site, but will also be able to add pages and new stories over time. With smart, dynamic navigation, the site will grow with Fontana Paddle Company’s service offerings.

With marketing materials and branded apparel into production before the launch, Signalfire dove into the social media setup. Signalfire kept their personnel and their ability to share their passion of non-motorized watercraft in the forefront when developing a strategy. By creating a custom landing tab on the Facebook Fan Page, a branded Twitter background, custom avatars (profile icons) and a complete Foursquare business venue setup, Fontana Paddle jumped into the social media waters head first. Look for location specials on Foursquare, news about lessons and tours on Facebook, and keep in touch over Twitter.

The success of Fontana Paddle Company demonstrates Signalfire’s ability to develop engaging brands in many mediums. From logo design to turn-key web development and from print design to social media strategy—Signalfire is your best choice when launching a brand from the ground up!

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.

Getting connected with people who share the same ideas or philosophies and getting involved with groups who share similar missions or goals is critical for a brand or business reaching out into the world. Being connected to your brand’s interest community will give you market insight, market foresight, and market nimbleness.

The fast definition of an interest community is a loosely organized or unorganized group of individuals who share an interest in a particular subject, product, or activity in a common medium.

So why would these loosely or unorganized people matter so much to a brand? Because they talk. They share information and share experiences. The research the finest details and they discuss the smallest points. They do this not out of financial reward, but out of passion. They’re sharing their expertise and insight with others who are equally passionate. They spend lunch breaks and late nights hanging out on discussion boards or post reviews to retail outlet sites and without your business even knowing it—they rule your brand.

Who are they? They are everybody. Young and old, rich and poor, and from every race or culture. They are held together by two of the most overlooked threads of commonality—shared interest and shared medium.

The fifty-something African-American executive from Southfield, Michigan and the twenty-something white trades worker from Princeton, New Jersey both have a passion for all things Harley Davidson. They know details about every model that would make an engineer blush. These two very different individuals share the same passion. They share the same medium and they make a great example of an online community bound by interest.

If you are Harley, how would you reach them? What mediums to these two very different individuals share? Think of the shared interest online. Think how they may share their knowledge and thoughts online. Think of how that community of owners band together both online and offline. Finally, you (Harley, in this instance) and brands in general, must come down from the mountain and engage your brand followers—in short, you must join the community.

Chris Brogan from his article Audience or Community explains, “Community happens when people feel they’re among like-minded others and when they feel their contributions matter.”

Joining or engaging is paramount for interest communities. Communities are just that, groups that exist, communicate, and collaborate. To be a part of a community you (as a brand) must do all three.

Exist

A brand must exist to the interest community. Simply put, you must be visible. You must be real to your community. Your fellow-community members should know you’re there, but the reverse is also true. Acknowledge the people who make up the community by responding and connecting wherever possible. These are the people that will turn from simple consumerism or interest into real brand evangelists.

Here’s a great article on improving brand visibility from Social Media Examiner’s Denise Wakeman: click here

Communicate

Using social media as a broadcast-only platform isn’t communication. Communication is a two way street. A wise man once said to me, “you have two ears and one mouth, so listen twice as much as you speak.” While he had intended it for a leadership lesson, it applies to branding equally well. Brands need to listen and participate in conversations online. Not simply about themselves, but about the industry and the everyday lives of the community. Being engaged doesn’t necessarily mean being business only. Communication is personal. Make sure your brand is, too.

Brian Solis has a great article on this: click here.

Collaborate

The colorful Gary Vaynerchuk has repeatedly made the statement, “you gotta get in the trenches, bitches!” This statement can apply for any of these categories about engaging interest communities, but collaboration is an important point. There are many in your brand’s interest community who will have as much, perhaps even more, knowledge and expertise as anyone inside your business. Being open to opinions, experiences or ideas will give you the valuable position of getting feedback quickly and from relevant sources. Imagine the power a software company might wield with a community of developers that are able to spot the tiniest glitch? While “giving away” proprietary information isn’t recommended, communicating and collaborating ideas will give your brand the edge.

Take a look at Gary Vaynerchuk’s January, 2009 video really bringing this thought home: click here.

This concept is not ours, but it is a culmination of numerous influences. Chris Brogan goes into significant depth in his book, Trust Agents. He describes in riveting detail how relationships and trust is built in these interest communities. Brands must be true to their spirit. Brian Solis devotes an entire book, Engage, to interacting with interest communities. And the ever-colorful Gary Vaynerchuk perpetually reminds brands to “get in the trenches” with their consumer base. Don’t forget to pick up his book, Crush It!

Whether getting a new brand off the round or getting an existing brand out into better light, defining and connecting with your surrounding interest community is critical. Before running out and shouting to anyone who’s there, take the time to look, listen, and as Brian Solis puts it, engage. Becoming a part of your own brand’s interest community will be the best connection you can make.