Author Archive

…and Magnify was born

This week Business in Vancouver published an article featuring, among others, Moyra Rodger, CEO of Magnify Digital. The article shares where we came from, where we’re at, and where we’re headed. We’re pretty proud of it.

You can read the article here: Showbiz survivors

How Many Twitter Profiles Are Too Many?

How many Twitter profiles are too many? The same question may be applied to Facebook, Foursquare, Flickr, etc.

The decision about whether to have one main Twitter profile or to create several profiles, each speaking to a specific audience, is a tough one. This question is particularly relevant for organizations or businesses that serve multiple audiences.

On the one hand, there is so much noise on Twitter and clutter across all social media, multiple accounts run the risk of diluting, confusing and possibly even losing, an audience. On the other hand, trying to be ‘all things to all people’ on a single profile risks hitting the mark and creating deep engagement with any audience.

I once heard this referred to as centralization versus decentralization. Centralizing is focusing all efforts into one profile. Decentralizing involves creating different profiles on each platform (e.g. Twitter) and targeting content to specific audiences. Done well, decentralizing can be highly effective and provide deeply engaging content for each audience. However, if the accounts do not connect to each another, if the visual branding is inconsistent, and/or if one or more account become dormant, decentralization will be less effective.

Think of a news outlet serving many different audiences: business/finance, arts, local news, real estate, fashion, and tech.  It would be difficult to effectively group this range of content under one social media profile.

This question comes up a lot with our client base at Magnify Digital. A solid argument can be made for each approach. However, I’ve come to the conclusion that most often, targeted social media conversations are best, PROVIDING decentralization is done well with clear target audiences, editorial content and interconnectedness between channels.

I see the take-away as such:

1. There must be one “main” channel established, that points to, aside from the main website URL, a URL that lists all the sub-brand social media accounts. Likewise, each sub-brand account must clearly link to the “main” channel… as this drawing is attempting to illustrate (don’t judge me – I’m not an artist). This way, if someone starts to follow a sub-brand mistaking it for the main brand, and begins to grow disenchanted with the niche messaging that doesn’t interest them, they can migrate to the main profile, which of course, lists other sub-brand accounts that may be of more interest to the individual.
2. The organization must have the resources, the willingness (by all parties) and the depth of content to sustain multiple accounts. Nothing hurts a brand more than public profiles that were once started with grand intentions, only to be abandoned within a few short months.
3. All accounts must be consistently branded and clearly marked as all from the same family.

Do you work at, or are you affiliated with a bigger organization with a widespread online presence? How are you handling your approach to social media? Are you using a centralized or decentralized approach?

Erin

Tags: centralization, decentralization, Erin, Social Media, Twitter

What the Heck is Pinterest and Why Should You Care?

Quick. Take a stab at naming the top ten social sites.

Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, LinkedIn… these ones come easily to mind, but it may surprise you to learn that Pinterest also makes the cut. Coming in at #10, it’s clear that Pinterest is gaining traction fast. It may be time to sit up and notice it, if you haven’t already been lured by its slick and glossy look.

What the heck is it?

The name explains the essence of what it’s about: ‘Pin’ items of ‘interest’. It acts like a virtual pushpin board for things found around the web. Users can create multiple boards, each dedicated to something of interest to them. For example, a board for travel, a board for recipes, a board for home decor. You get the idea. It’s social bookmarking, revisited & refreshed.

Although still in invite-only mode, in just one week alone last December (2011) Pinterest is said to have attracted 11-million visits. It’s growing at an incredible rate, seeing a 4000% jump in traffic from just six months ago. Monthly visits are said to be averaging 3.2-million.

The website is most popular with women aged 25-44, accounting for 58% of the userbase in the past three months (Experian Hitwise). Here are some thoughts on why those who like it, like it a lot. Indeed it must be onto something when it starts spawning copycats.

So why should you care?

There is a business case for participating on Pinterest. It is reported that Real Simple magazine is getting more referral traffic from Pinterest, than from Facebook. From a business perspective, there are many opportunities for building a fan base, building awareness for products, and getting more traffic to your website, but you need to go about it the right way. Pinterest states very clearly there shall be no blatant promoting and marketing on the site. So what can you do? Some ideas are expanded on here, but I think one truth for gaining traction as a business on Pinterest is to have smoking hot photos of smoking hot products. This will inspire members to pin them on their boards, and thus increase the exposure of the business through the image. (Images link back to the original site)

So there you have it. Some pretty compelling reasons to consider Pinterest as a serious player in your ongoing online strategy.

Erin

Tags: facebook, pinterest, strategy

Making Sense of Google+

As all 62-million of us continue on our learning curves of Google+, here are a few “good-to-know” points that you may find useful or fun. We start with personalized search (the hot topic of the month), then talk hashtags and doctored photos. Let’s get started.

You’ve likely heard by now that Google has introduced personalized search for logged-in Google users, called “Search Plus Your World“. This means when you conduct a search on Google, the results you see will be based in part on what you’ve shared on Google+, what others in your circles have shared, and from your personal search history. Personalized search results on Google are not new, but the emphasis on G+ content and profiles is. This places a lot more importance for brands to establish and build a business page on G+. If Google is going to rank G+ content over everything else in search results, businesses would be smart to invest some time there, and fast.

For the record, there is a way to turn personalized search off. Read all about that here.

If you’re like me, reluctantly placing more trust in Google than in Facebook, especially in light of this recent Facebook development, then you may have content of a private nature in your G+ profile that you’re only intending to share with a limited audience. Trouble is, if you use the same Gmail account to log into other Google accounts like Analytics, Webmaster Tools, or Adwords, you run the risk of others inadvertently tripping into your G+ account. There are ways to get around this, of course, by not sharing access to GA using your own Gmail login, but you would be surprised how many people do just that. Don’t. Here’s how to share access to GA without sharing your personal login.

On a completely separate note, G+ now includes auto-complete for common #hashtags. Watch it in action here. Hashtags are useful for grouping content and making related content more discoverable.

And to wrap up on a fun note, search #funwithphotos on G+ to see how you can now add text on top of photos. Here are a few for inspiration.

If you’re still feeling a little in the dark about Google+, especially with regard to its relevance into the foreseeable future, I encourage you to read this comprehensive FAQ article by Marketingland. It links to multiple articles on G+.

Erin

Tags: google, Google Analytics

Insights to Improving Your SEO

Any surprises here for you?

Erin

Tags: content, SEO, tips