The 8 Success Criteria For Facebook Page Marketing
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Safari 5.0.1 Lands, Comes With Extensions
Fresh off the heels of launching
a slew of yesterday, Apple this morning debuted
The company had introduced extensions support in Safari 5 . Users can download and install extensions from the gallery with a single click, and there’s no need to restart the browser (much like Google Chrome, and unlike Firefox).
I did a quick count and came out at above one hundred extensions already.
Add-ons can be automatically updated and are managed within Safari. Users can enable or disable individual extensions, or turn off all extensions with one click.
Every Safari Extension comes signed with a digital certificate from Apple to “prevent tampering” and to verify that updates to the extension are from the original developer. Safari Extensions are also sandboxed, which prevents them from accessing information on a user’s system or communicate with websites aside from those specified by the developer.
As Apple had made clear earlier, Safari Extensions run solely in the browser.
via techcrunch.com
The Quick And Dirty Guide To Making A Rocking PowerPoint
Slide decks are like pets. They live, breathe, and adapt to their environment – or at least they should. In each of my roles, I’ve have 2-3 decks at any time that I use to pitch a deal or sell a product.
At Buzzfeed, I use an advertiser deck and one for publishers. I customize these decks, in many cases for each meeting, and also update the boiler plate versions almost every day.
A deck is never perfect and every day you use it you get good feedback. I’ve probably revised the core Buzzfeed deck close to 100 times. Some tweaks are big, some are small.
My decks have always used lots of screen grabs and typically have only 10-25 words per page.
Almost anything can be mocked up in a slide. I integrate prospective client brands, characters, and messaging into mocked up web pages using just cmd-shift-4 (screen grab on mac), cropping, and layering. I only bother designers on the team for the rarest needs where something needs to be perfect. Quick and dirty is ok in most cases.
Some tools advice:
- Use a Mac if you can. It’s a far superior product for all of this.
- I used Powerpoint for years and just switched to Keynote. It produces far more beautiful slides.
- Sign up for DropBox and keep you decks there.
- Use an iPhone and an iPad (worth the investment). Run Dropbox on both of these devices so you can pull up slides at any time as a reference point, even over dinner, drinks, or on a corner.
- Always send slides in PDF format. Everyone can read PDFs on almost any device
When pitching:
I typically say something different than what’s on the page. I trust that my audience can read the words on the screen, see the images, and get my color commentary. Ogilvy says you should only say what’s on the page, but this is a rate case where times have changed.
I love decks. They refine my thinking and can be great conveyance tools. These decks are different then the kind of powerpoints consultants use, and people complain about. They’re visual aids or streamlined live demos. We could do it live but that would take to much time.
Banging it out:
You also need to be fast with your deck revisions. There’s a lot of work to do in a startup. Think about the changes you need while showering or eating and pound them out in 10 minute sprints between meetings. You can reserve evening hours for big restarts every couple weeks.
A deck is never done. A deck is never “right.” It’s a blade that needs continual sharpening and tooling for each piece of wood.
Calculating the cost of social media | Econsultancy
Imagine an advertising and marketing platform that reaches billions around the world, and doesn’t cost you a penny.
Free to get involved, free to share and promote content, with a massive locked-in audience who will actively promote your content for you.
Unfortunately it doesn’t exist. Social media is many things but despite several statements to the contrary, free is not one of them.
Many companies planning a social media campaign are attracted by the seemingly low set up costs and ongoing overheads involved, but scrape away that optimistic surface and you’ll find there’s a need for real investment if you want your campaign to function properly.
All businesses need a return, but when it comes to marketing, and particularly social media engagement, direct ROI can be difficult to clearly identify.
Ironically, it’s one area where figures feature prominently. With all that raw data sloshing around, you’d think that tracking would be an easy task, but unfortunately traditional ROI is in many cases too simplistic to fully measure either the cost or value of social media campaigns.
In order to really identify which return you’re getting from your campaign, you need to identify your investment and goals, and examine each aspect of these individually in order to determine effect.
At its core, social media ROI is a fairly straightforward measurement technique:
If your total expenditure is less than the value you receive, then you have positive return. If however your created value is not equal to your investment, then you have negative ROI and the wheels fall off your business fairly quickly.
Simple.
Or at least it seems to be.
The complications arise when you realize that every business has its own definitions of value, and of total expenditure. In order to really measure your return you’ll need to really nail down your costs and create an ongoing measurement model that can be applied to all your social media campaigns.
First, you’ll need to define exactly what ‘total expenditure’ implies.
There’s certainly a common myth that social media campaigns are free to run. Well, it’s true that setting up a Facebook page and sending tweets won’t cost a penny, but hiring someone to do that for you?
As with any campaign, you’ll need to run some fairly complicated breakdowns to ensure you aren’t caught out by hidden costs.
Here are four main areas you’ll need to consider:
Staff costs
Your costs need to include your marketer’s salaries. If you don’t have a dedicated social media campaign manager then you also need to work out the amount of time they are spending on that campaign.
How many man-hours a day does it actually take to manage, maintain and report your social media presence?
External fees
Do you outsource all or part of your social media campaign? You’ll need a detailed breakdown of billing. How much were you charged, and how was it calculated?
Agencies will have different rates for strategy, maintenance and time expended on execution. You’ll also need to work out if this is an ongoing cost and how that affects the value you’re receiving.
Advertising
There’s more to running successful campaigns than simply setting up and maintaining a presence on a social network.
You’ll also need to advertise that presence through both in-network and external ads (Certainly you can trim costs here by adding follow buttons to your email signatures, but remember to factor in the time your coders spend on small tasks like that).
This is the most obvious spend so hopefully you’ll already be tracking it closely, but there’s a need to recognize exactly how it factors into wider costs.
How much time is your web manager spending setting up targeted Facebook ads for example?
Other
There’s also a wealth of other social media specific software and equipment available. Many basic tools are available free, but if you need more in-depth tracking (and you do) then costs can quickly escalate.
You’ll be facing technical and creative costs and unlike many offline campaigns, these can run continuously.
These points should cover the basics, but it’s also worth considering the unique variables generated by your business and organizational structure. Some businesses will be able to benefit from sunk costs.
It’s certainly possible that you may have extra staff on hand and want to increase efficiency there by having them manage your social media day-o-day.
For larger groups there’s also the question of underspend. Does your budget have enough flexibility at the end of the year to facilitate extra social involvement?
These factors will vary from business to business, but before you begin hurling cash at social media its worth trimming costs by considering if you have content that can be repurposed, existing online brand assets or campaigns in other channels that would benefit from a social media boost.
By taking time at the start to properly examine cost, you’ll be in a far better position when it comes to calculating ROI and value.
via econsultancy.com
Facebook’s 500 Million Members [INFOGRAPHIC]
Facebook reached its 500 million member milestone yesterday and celebrated the event with the launch of Facebook Stories. The monumental moment also played a role in the ABC World News report featuring a candid interview between Diane Sawyer and CEO Mark Zuckerberg.
To commemorate the achievement, the team at Facebakers.com put together the comprehensive infographic included below (click to enlarge). The illustration breaks down the demographics of Facebook’s burgeoning population (according to their own data on the service), and explores the international makeup of the site.
F
via mashable.com
vBulletin software security flaw needs urgent patch
The flaw could allow a hacker to access forum user’s personal dataA serious flaw in software widely used to power online discussion sites could allow hackers to harvest reams of personal data, the BBC has learned.
The flaw in a specific version of the vBulletin software allows anyone to easily access the main administrator username and password for a site.
This would also allow hackers to access data, such as e-mail addresses, and edit the site at will.
The owner of the program – Internet Brands – released a fix on 21 July.
However, at time of writing, many sites remain vulnerable.
via bbc.co.uk
Eight Copywriting Rules for Increasing Conversion | Practical eCommerce
When merchants talk about ecommerce conversion, it usually centers on design, button placement and ease of checkout. The process, though, actually starts the second someone lands on any web page. This is why textual content is so important.
Here are eight rules for using text on your ecommerce site that eliminate confusion, welcome your new visitors and otherwise answer all questions about your products.
1. Don’t Assume Customers Understand Your Products
Product descriptions and supporting pages–like Frequently Asked Questions and customer service details–are highly important. Not only does word choice help define rankings in search engines, it can help teach visitors about products and how to use them. Oft-used terms are always new to someone. Many new Internet users still post on sites asking what LOL (Laughing Out Loud) means.
2. Define Acronyms and Initialisms
Assuming that everyone knows what these types of abbreviations mean can increase frustration amongst those not-in-the-know. Even if the visitor has heard the term repeatedly, he may not know what it actually means. An acronym uses the first letter of each word in a term or company name, but is pronounced as a word (e.g. ROM for “Read-Only Memory”). An initialism also uses the first letter of each word, but each letter is pronounced on it’s own (e.g. FAQ).
3. Spell Out Organization Names and Specialized Terms
Upon first mention, organizations and terms should be spelled out, with the abbreviation in parenthesis. This is the rule most newspapers and online magazines follow, so visitors will be used to this method. Each subsequent mention (in the same section) can then use the abbreviation, such as:
- Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI).
Visitors may still not know what the words actually mean. So, if the definition is short and easy to understand, put it right after the term(s) in parenthesis, or define it in the following line, or by using indents, which can help break up lengthy text. An example of this is:
- Two Read-Only Memory (ROM) chips prevent system data from being mistakenly overwritten. (ROM does not allow for writing to the memory.)
Also, when explaining specialized terms, remember:
- If the term or process needs to be defined in detail, link a pop-up, a separate page, or tag full descriptions at the bottom of the page. Use layman’s terms, always.
- If words are still too technical, use examples that relate to everyday life.
- For lengthy details, section headers make it easier to read. Remember, you should always list the most important factors first.
- If consumers can’t find what they need, savvy users will search across the web. This greatly reduces the chance of conversion.
Screen capture from Crutchfield.com, using tabs to provide extremely detailed product information.
4. Remember the Search Engines
Search engines crawl ecommerce pages, so your terms used should reflect common search terms as well as address all shopper concerns.
5. Address Common Questions
Always take into account common questions your shoppers ask. If the same question has been asked more than once, chances are you need to address it on the site. For every one shopper who contacts you (via phone or email), you can assume at least 20 others didn’t reach out. This is because technology makes running an online search quicker than phoning, or emailing and waiting for an answer.
6. Go Beyond the Manufacturer’s Content
Manufacturer-supplied content is not enough. Chances are your competitors also use this verbiage, so you need to expand and offer more details. This especially helps shoppers who’ve already navigated brand web sites.
7. Publish Customer Feedback
Customer comments (reviews and testimonials) are part of the content. People rely on word-of-mouth just as much as they do technical specifications, product descriptions and pictures.
8. Use a Blog
Still need to explain with lots of pictures and additional text? Blog about it. Many companies use blogs to share information and drive traffic into their online stores. And, done right, it works.
Summary
These eight suggestions are just the tip of the iceberg, so to speak. But, using these ideas as a foundation will convert more visitors into actual customers.
Skype gets businesses to foot the bill with Click & Call | Econsultancy
Skype has an interesting business model. The wildly popular internet phone and video service lets people call other Skype users for free, and pay a small fee to dial terrestrial phones. But if everyone started using Skype, the company could put itself out of business. Before that happens, Skype is trying to increase its advertising options.
This week, Skype announced Click & Call Advertising, which converts business phones numbers online into free call links when companies advertise with Skype. Skype might be on to something here.
Skype now has 560 million registered users worldwide. And now businesses that pay for the priviledge, will enable Skype users call them for free. From Skype’s blog:
“Click & Call Advertising with Skype works simply by allowingparticipating advertisers to have their phone number highlighted with ablue Free Call button anywhere online that theirnumbers are displayed. When the button is clicked, the Skype softwarelaunches and the call is connected – at no cost to the caller.”
Currently, the ads are only viewed by PC users, but they will soon be available on Mac screens as well.
The move is interesting because it enables the company to continue what it does best — offer free calls online — while bringing in some revenue. Skype currently handles about 12% of all long distance calls.
The new feature is also a good deal for advertisers who arecompeting for business with similar companies nearby. Search resultsdisplay the numbers for various results, but if someone happens tosearch for pizza, chances are they will call the free number ratherthan another they haven’t heard of.
One slight glitchcould be the way that phone plans have changed in recent years. For many consumers,mobile and even landline phone calls are included with monthly bills. Unless searchers arecoming up on reaching their allotted monthly minutes, free individual calls maynot rank as important in their decision making factor.
However, it’s a smart move by Skype. As the company writes, “Advertisers are now able to acquire new customers using Skype to drive calls in a highly efficient and measurable way.”
But so is Skype. The company has plenty of name recognition at this point, but for web surfers with mobile phones and no international friends, Skype’s business proposition may not be immediately obvious. However, if you’re online and see Skype enabled numbers popping up every time you do a search, the idea of creating a Skype account may seem more beneficial.
And if Skype can keep coming up with new ways to get advertisers to pay for its services, the company might have a winning business model very soon. It’s not too far of a jump to go from advertisers paying for calls to their own businesses to having them foot the bill for other paid calls (after showing a brief ad).
via econsultancy.com
The Pros & Cons of A/B Testing for Startups
One of the topics we touch on from time to time here at ReadWriteStart is the importance of solid design aesthetics for Internet startups. One of the key elements in creating a user-friendly design is A/B testing – a process by which two or more variations of a design element are tested with different groups of users. A/B testing, however, doesn’t apply strictly to the visuals of a site; it can also be a useful tool for startups hoping to learn what their users like best.
The Good: Learn About Your Users’ Habits
For designers, A/B testing is a nice way to gauge user response to small tweaks, including fonts, spacing, artwork or other visual elements. Startups can take advantage of these methods to test non-visual elements of their sites, such as pricing plans, new features, and registration forms. The ability to see feedback based on two or more variations can help a young company make the best decisions surrounding its business going forward.
Just recently, Automattic – Matt Mullenweg’s company behind WordPress – tested a pair of pricing options for a new product called VaultPress. In the service’s sign-up form, potential users are encouraged to suggest a price they would be willing to pay as compared to a suggested figure that the site is “planning to charge.” The suggested figures say $20 for some users, and $10 for others. With this test, it is likely that the company will uncover the best price point at which to sell the service in order to attract the most users.
One of the best looking tools I’ve seen for easy A/B testing of a webpage is a service called Optimizely. Users can drag-and-drop or click-and-drag changes to a site’s design and copy. After dropping a bit of code into the homepage header, they can then view real-time analysis of site usage based on the altered elements.
It’s not clear how well the service handles the testing of feature functionality on the site, as it looks geared mostly toward the look and feel of a page, but it could still be a great tool for startups. Optimizely is funded by Y Combinator and just entered private beta last week. For other A/B testing resources, consult today’s Webdesigner Depot article on the subject.
The Bad: Relying Too Heavily On Perfection
Not everyone agrees, however, that A/B testing is a wise practice. Just this morning, Jeff Atwood, author of the blog Coding Horror, expressed his idea that this kind of testing is a lot like the movie Groundhog Day. In the movie, Bill Murray – stuck in an infinite loop reliving the same day over and over again – attempts to win the love of a woman, Rita, by learning as much as he can about her each day and pretending to share all of her interests.
Atwood says that this is exactly what startups and designers are doing by relying too heavily on A/B testing. While romantic relationships are certainly different than business relationships, the parallels are interesting. Even though Murray’s character says presumably “all the rights things,” Rita can still tell there is something odd about it. Startups should be wary of testing too many of their decisions and should instead focus on just a few key elements at a time.
Rand Fishkin at SEOmoz warned a few weeks ago against falling into the “trap of A/B testing minutiae.” He says many are “tantalized” by the idea that a small change can go a long way, when in reality this is far from the norm.
“In all of these, some simple change accounted for big increases in click-through or conversion rate, leading to widespread praise and sharing,” says Fishkin. “The problem is – they’re the exception, not the rule. In fact, that’s precisely why they’re newsworthy and get so many mentions.”
Fishkin also says for the small changes A/B testing often produces, the time and energy is too high. He suggests that startups focus more on testing larger changes – like a sight redesign – rather than smaller ones – like button colors.
Like many things in business, design and life, there is no one perfect answer for all occasions. A/B may be valuable to your startup, if used correctly. Or it may not be. There certainly seems to be a place for A/B testing within startups, but don’t let it become too much of a good thing.
Image from SEOmoz.
via readwriteweb.com
Google buys Metaweb to ‘improve’ search – Telegraph
Google has acquired Metaweb, an internet information database company, in a bid to “improve its search” offering.
Google is on an acquisition spree having bought Metaweb and ITA, a flight information software company, during the last two weeks. Photo: AFPThe search giant announced its acquisition late on Friday evening (July 16) via its company blog. Jack Menzel, director of product management at Google, wrote: “We’ve acquired Metaweb, a company that maintains an open database of things in the world. Working together we want to improve search and make the web richer and more meaningful for everyone.
“With efforts like ‘rich snippets’ and the ‘search answers feature’, we’re just beginning to apply our understanding of the web to make search better. Type [Barack Obama birthday] in the search box and see the answer right at the top of the page. Or search for [events in San Jose] and see a list of specific events and dates. We can offer this kind of experience because we understand facts about real people and real events out in the world.
“But what about [colleges on the west coast with tuition under $30,000] or [actors over 40 who have won at least one Oscar]? These are hard questions, and we’ve acquired Metaweb because we believe working together we’ll be able to provide better answers.”
Metaweb had raised $15 million in funding in 2006, followed by another $42.5 million in 2008. At the time, too, the company garnered significant publicity and although it had subsequently become less prominent, industry sources indicate that Google has paid more than has been invested in the company. The terms of the deal were not disclosed
It has also been suggested that the move by the search giant, to bolster its core search operation, demonstrates that it is beginning to look at ways of augmenting the algorithmic methods it currently uses to provide search results.
Menzel added: “In addition to our ideas for search, we’re also excited about the possibilities for Freebase, Metaweb’s free and open database of over 12 million things, including movies, books, TV shows, celebrities, locations, companies and more.
“Google and Metaweb plan to maintain Freebase as a free and open database for the world. Better yet, we plan to contribute to and further develop Freebase and would be delighted if other web companies use and contribute to the data. We believe that by improving Freebase, it will be a tremendous resource to make the web richer for everyone. And to the extent the web becomes a better place, this is good for webmasters and good for users.”
Google is on something of an acquisition spree, having recently announced the $700 million cash acquisition of ITA, a flight information software company, in a bid to enter the lucrative digital travel market.
The search giant is hoping that the cash acquisition, the fourth largest in its history, will allow it to create bespoke search tools focused on travel. ITA, which has been in existence for 14 years, aggregates and organises information it gathers from travel agents and airlines, including flight times, ticket prices and availability.
However, the deal needs approval by the US competition authorities, as the acquisition would bring together the world’s largest search engine with one of the biggest pieces of travel search software.
via telegraph.co.uk