Five Ways to Develop Your Online Brand Voice
You communicate with your customers in a multitude of ways online. Perhaps you send them targeted emails or e-newsletters, but you also have information on your blog, 
messaging on social media and in your online advertisements. Given all of these touch points, it’s critical that you business develops a consistent tone of voice that helps to engage customers, builds credibility, develops relationships and helps to solidify expectations.
If you have a number of different people communicating on behalf of the brand, it can become difficult to establish the right tone of voice and style for your brand – and keep it going on a consistent basis.
It’s not an easy skill to master, but here are five steps to help you develop a consistent online brand voice:
- Know Your Audience: In order to build your brand and your voice, you first need to know who you’re talking to. Understand your audience and tailor your communication strategy to them. There are a number of analytics tools that will help you identify your target audience, and narrow down their age, gender, income and location (and more.)
- Secure Your Name: This is more of an overall branding tip, but it’s really important to make sure the username you use across all of your online social media platforms is consistent. There’s a great website called namechk that will tell you if a name has already been taken and/or where it’s available. You should find a username that’s available on most of the sites, especially the big ones like Twitter and Facebook..
- Define Your Tone and Personality: Now that you know who you’re talking to, and the name you’re using, determine your customer’s needs and wants in order to tailor your messaging to them. Define your personality and key messages; and once you do, you’ll be able to pinpoint the tone easier. Make sure you know how you want people to feel when they interact with your brand. Consider the personality of your business and remember to speak with, not at.
- Educate: Make employees aware of the key messages, tone, and how to best deliver them. Give clear examples, and provide tips and tricks that help to create consistent copy and grammar – perhaps even create a style guide.
- Evaluate, Get Feedback: Take a look. How does the messaging on your blog hold up to the tone of your Facebook posts? Do they sound like they’re coming from the same person? If it sounds like your business has multiple personalities, it’s time to tweak your strategy. Also, note the comments on your Facebook page and Tweets on Twitter to see what customers have been responding to (or not).
Drop AdMix Social a line to find out how we can help you further develop your online brand voice!
5 Critical Things You Need to Know About Facebook Timeline for Pages
While we were sleeping last night, Facebook flipped the switch on the new timeline for business pages. As social media marketers, AdMix Social and other Facebook business page admins are scrambling to update their pages. Fortunately, you have a little time to make decisions and create new graphics for your page. The official date for the switch is March 30, 2012 according to Facebook messages to page admins. The new timeline for pages is very similar to the personal profile timeline and has been anticipated by many in the social marketing industry.
So what’s new?
1. Cover Photo – a very large image at the top of your page that can be used to visually communicate your brand and what your business is about.
The Cover Photo cannot contain:
- Price or purchase information (such as 40% off or Download it on our site.)
- Contact info such as web address, email, mailing address or info for the About section.
- References to user interface elements, such as Like and Share.
- Calls to action, such as “Get it Now” or “Tell Your Friends”
Pages will also be divided into two columns that signify the passage of time. You will be able to add to your timeline significant events in your business that go back further than your presence on Facebook. For a great example of this, check out Coca-Cola’s Facebook page. They have updated the timeline to their founding date of 1886 with images.
2. Tabs for Additional Pages – The apps and additional pages are still available but with reduced visibility. They are listed at the top of your page along with your photos and events rather than down the left side of your page. Businesses will need to arrange these so the most important will display prominently at the top of your page. Additional apps and views will be found by clicking the drop down arrow. (The maximum number is 12)
3. No Default Landing Page - Many pages relied on a landing page as a way to communicate the brand to consumers that hadn’t connected previously. New visitors to your page 
will now land directly on your timeline.
4) Featured Content – One major new feature we love is the ability to “pin” certain posts to the top of the Timeline. Timeline allows it to precede any other content for a week. You can pin only one item at a time, and the pinned item then exists in two locations — as the top item on the Timeline itself, as well as within its chronological place.
5) Private Messages Between Business Page and Users – Users will be will be able to send and receive private messages with the brand. This allows for much deeper consumer interaction, and will also help Page managers to take extended customer inquiries off the Timeline and into a private message.
Check out some examples of businesses that have already published their new timeline:
Over the next 30 days we will be working with our clients to get their pages ready for the timeline changes. What do you think of the new timeline? Drop a note to AdMix Social and let us know how we can help.
6 Reasons Your Company Needs to Blog
Does your business have a blog? If you’ve considered creating one for your business, but aren’t quite sure why it’s needed, here are some tips to help you figure it all out.
What is a Blog?
First, in order to understand why your business should have a blog, you should understand what one is. A blog is 
essentially an online journal consisting of entries in chronological order. Entries can be from a single person, a small group or business, and are often centered on a theme. Entries can include text, photos, videos, polls, music or any other kind of media you can imagine.
A blog can be private (for personal use) or it can be for business purposes. For businesses, blogs can be used internally (corporate communication) or externally for marketing and PR purposes.
What Blogging Platform Should You Use?
There are a number of blogging platforms (the website that allows you to publish to the web) available, but if you’re new at it, here are two of the most popular and most user friendly (and free):
WordPress
Key features:
- Create multiple pages (allows you to use it as a website)
- Widgets for Flickr, del.icio.us Twitter and more – easy integration
- Multiple authors
- Super simple to use
- Great stats system
- SEO, SEO and more SEO
Tumblr
Key features:
- Design control (create your own design)
- Mobile access
- Social Media integration
- Multiple contributors to one post
- You keep your copyright
Why Should I Blog?
The most obvious answer is because it’s good for search engine optimization and will help send Google traffic to you. But it’s much more than that:
1. If you allow multiple contributors to your blog, it empowers your employees to share their opinions; it makes them feel valued and part of the team.
2. If you’re writing a blog post two or three times per week about your industry, you’ll find:
- Blogging forces you to stay on top of the trends. You’ll know what’s hot and what’s not in your field on a consistent basis.
- It’s easier to answer questions about your industry and company because you’re well informed with the most up to date information.
- Your overall skills, presentation and sales ability will increase—because you’re well informed.
3. You’ll become a thought leader. Once you establish yourself as someone consistently knowledgeable and trustworthy, others will begin to look to you as a thought leader in your industry. Customers will come to trust your opinions and, eventually, this will lead to an increase in sales.
4. Feedback: When blogging, be sure to allow feedback, via the comments section of your blog. It’s a great way hear – and respond—directly to their thoughts, comments and suggestions. It’s possible that your customers might tell you things about your business that you didn’t know.
5. Do Better: Once you have feedback, make tweaks to your business. Do better. And when you do, be sure to tell them about it via your blog.
6. Content is KING! It’s true. Content drives the Internet, and people are looking for information that solves a problem. Content marketing creates trust, credibility, and authority, while introducing your audience to your products or services.
As a business owner, blogs are a great way to learn, share, listen and establish credibility. Drop AdMix Social a line to find out how we can help.
Pinterest for Your Business
New social networking platforms seem to pop up with regular frequency, but one that’s grabbing a lot of attention – and users — is Pinterest. Essentially an e-bulletin board, the site launched in 2009 and is currently still invite only (in Beta testing).
Pinning = Winning
Pinterest revolves around the idea of “pinning” images of your favorite items and sharing them with friends. The site saw explosive growth in the past year, and recently became one of the top 10 websites within the Hitwise Social Networking & Forums category, receiving nearly 11 million total visits during the week ending December 17, 2011 (via Experian Hitwise). Some reports claim that they already have 10 million registered users.
Pinspiration
But what’s all the fuss about? Pinterest is a visual social discovery network that allows users to create online pinboards (like a bulletin board or vision board) for various categories (things like “craft projects,” “dream kitchen” or “recipes”), and pin photos or videos to it, with a caption. It’s a great way to organize your inspiration, share the things that you love and that inspire you, and to be inspired by those in your networks.
Three Ways to “Pin”
Here are the three ways that you “pin”:
- Upload an image or video directly to Pinterest from your phone (there’s a Pinterest app) or computer.
- Install the Pin It bookmarklet to your toolbar, which allows you to pin any image from any site on the web.
- Repin other pins from your friends’ or by browsing Pinterest’s categories.
Of the over 10 million users on Pinterest, approximately 70 percent are female, and they’re a highly engaged audience– logging more than 421 million page views. So, as a small business owner, how do you use Pinterest as a marketing tool?
First things first – set up your profile with Search Engine Optimization in mind. Search Engine Land published a great article that will walk you through the appropriate steps.
Second, know the rules. In “Pin Etiquette,” it says that Pinterest is not a place for self-promotion – yeah, right! According to this Mashable interview with Evan Sharp, Pinterest Designer and Co-Founder, a lot of brands use Pinterest to share the idea behind their company. Create boards that will resonate with your customers and potential customers. Share more than your product line; share things like the inspiration behind your brand, or similar products and places that support your brand that your customers would be interested in, complementary products and brands. Share the lifestyle, not the just your product and your personality.
Check out this article from American Express Open that gives a great round up of what some well-known brands are doing on Pinterest.
As a small business owner, Pinterest is a great tool to share ideas and inspiration. How will you use it? Let us know in the comments!