You’ve heard it before. You may even believe it. But you’re probably still not doing it when it comes to your business’s messaging.

For whatever reason, it is far more difficult to distill a concept or idea into something clear and concise than it is to fill it full of business speak and big words. Counter-intuitive, but true.

Yet another example of this came yesterday in an article from Tom Searcy on Time.com. What a 9-Year-Old Can Teach You About Selling starts with a reference to a recent study confirming what those of us who work on the web have long known: people don’t remember most of what is presented to them. This mega-short attention span and low retention rate is perhaps even more true on the web.

The obvious solution to this problem for marketers and business owners  is to create a short, simple “elevator pitch” that can convey exactly who you are, what you do and why people should want your product or service in a sentence or two. Searcy’s advice on how to actually do this successfully is to think about how you would communicate this to someone with zero context, someone like a 9-year-old.

His example:

Daddy, What Do You Do?

• Right answer: ”I help companies to grow really fast by teaching them how to sell bigger companies much larger orders.”
• Wrong answer: ”Our company helps develop inside of our clients a replicable and scalable process for them to land large accounts.”

Why Do People Decide to Hire You?

• Right answer: “We have helped lots of companies do this before, so we are really good at it as long as they are the right type of companies.”
• Wrong answer: ”We have a proven process for implementation that allows organizations to tailor the model to their market, business offering and company’s growth goals.”

Why Don’t They Do It Themselves?

• Right answer: “Just like when you learned to play the piano: Mommy and I could teach a little, but we don’t know as much as your teacher, and teaching you ourselves would take a long time and be very frustrating. Daddy is a really good teacher of how to make bigger sales, and people want to learn how to do this as fast as they can.”
• Wrong answer: “We are the foremost expert in this field with over $5 billion in business that our clients have closed using this system. Usually our clients have tried a number of things on their own before we work together and have wanted outside help to get better results.”

As his example shows, both answers are accurate, but one is clearly wrong and one is clearly right.

Now, of course, there’s a big difference between simple and condescending and it’s important to consider your audience (and their true level of sophistication) to strike the right balance here, but, in general, Searcy’s direction is right on.

Given all that, does your messaging pass the “9-year-old” test? (Hint: if you aren’t sure, ask a 9-year-old).

Breaking into social media can be an overwhelming task if you don’t understand why your company needs it.  Social media allows us to connect quickly with people and brands.  Customers are forming relationships faster than ever and in many cases social media interactions have a direct impact on consumer buying choices, which has vastly changed the way the businesses are marketing.  So you need to ask yourself; Can your business afford NOT to be using social media?

The way we see it, participation in social media has a number of excellent business benefits.  It can help you gain leads, offer customer support, promote your services and demonstrate leadership among your competitors.  But most importantly, social media is an exceptionally valuable tool for increasing word-of-mouth for your business.

My recommendation to businesses is to do the following:

• Build a social media marketing plan and determine what you hope to achieve from your efforts
• Look at each social media outlet and determine which will be the most beneficial to your business and only take on one at a time (trying to take on too much too soon can be overwhelming)
• Remember that content is king!  Post things that are interesting to your customer base and don’t be afraid to have fun with it.  I live by the 80/20 Rule:  80% of your updates should provide value for your followers and 20% can be self-promotional.  If you need some examples take a look at some of the client pages we’ve listed below
• Once you have established your account and posted some content, share your page with your employees and current customers to build your fan base
• Remember to interact with your fans.  Typically you should respond to any questions or comments within 24 hours

Still don’t seem to understand social media or simply don’t think it’s important?  Let’s take a look at the numbers.

Want to see what we do for client’s social media accounts?  Click on these links below:

• Black Magic Car Care Facebook
• Black Magic Car Care Twitter
• Gumout Facebook
• Gumout Blog
• Thoughtprocess Interactive Facebook
• Thoughtprocess Interactive Twitter
• Thoughtprocess Interactive Pinterest

To learn more about what we do visit our website or contact us today… (We’re pretty good at it, if I don’t say so myself!)

www.thinktpi.com

info@thinktpi.com

As you all know by now Facebook has released Timeline for business pages!  This is exciting news, but trying to keep track of all these changes can be confusing.  Fear not! We have you covered.

Here’s a quick list of the changes you can expect to see in how businesses will communicate and market to their Facebook fans through Timeline (as seen in the Tiffany & Co example below).

1. The overall design, look and feel of Pages has dramatically changed.

2. Photos, Likes, and Apps are now at the top of the page.

• You have the ability to change the order of tab locations although the “Photos” tab must remain in the first position

3. Default welcome tabs will be eliminated.

4. Custom tab locations are changing and will have larger icons.

• Custom tab icons are now 111px by 74px
• Tabs are now wider – 810px

5. The cover photo can be 850px by 315px but can NOT include the following:

• Calls to action
• Contact information, such as web address, email or other information intended for your “About” section
• Price or purchase information
• References to user interface elements, such as Like or Share, or other Facebook site features

6. Admin Panel is new and more user friendly.

• In March new admin capabilities will be activated.  For example you can now add admins who can only post, have complete control over the page, or add an ad partner who cannot make any changes to the page without your approval…pretty cool, huh?
• Fans can now message the page directly and you can reply as the page, instead of using your personal profile!

7. Timeline can feature your brand’s history. 

• We love how Tiffany & Co. has highlighted their company’s rich history with “highlighted” stories

8. Access to a limited view of OTHER brand page’s insights. 

• You can view this only if the brand has the new Timeline.  Click on their “likes” box and voila…there are their insights for all to see!
• This is sort of a double edged sword.  For those who are new to business pages on Facebook…or just not so hot at fan engagement and outreach on this medium, this could be a way to learn from businesses and brands that are doing it well.  Consequently, if you’re doing a really good job with fan engagement, this could be a way for competitors to take a peek at your game plan.

Tiffany & Co. has done a great job taking advantage of the new apps boxes, filling their timeline with rich content and attracting fans with their cover photo. Head over to their page to check out how they have filled their Timeline!

Below is just one example of a highlighted story they’re featuring:

We have a feeling we will be updating this list with more changes we notice as we get more familiar with Timeline.  What do you think of the changes?  Tell us in the comments below!

Picture this: I’m walking through the park with my dog last week and my phone rings.  I take my phone out of my pocket to answer it and I can’t.  Why not?  Because I have gloves on.  I made it work by using the tip of my nose but you can just imagine how silly I looked!

For the rest of my very cold walk through the park I took my gloves off so I could text, take a picture of my dog and answer my phone…I might have been able to do all this with my nose but I choose not to look like an idiot and just let my hand freeze.

Fast forward to last night when I’m Christmas shopping at Target and I happen to come across the perfect present for everyone who has a smartphone:  TOUCH SCREEN GLOVES!  How did I not know about these before?  I ended up buying a pair for all my friends and family with smartphones – which is everyone.  So after my semi-expensive trip to Target, I Googled these gloves and it turns out they are everywhere!

While I realize you (or my boss, hi James!) are probably thinking this has absolutely nothing to do with what we do here at Thoughtprocess Interactive, consider this:  Morgan Stanley’s analysts believe that based on the current rate of change and adoption, the mobile web will be bigger than desktop Internet use by 2015.  That means if you want to get on the internet anytime during the winter in the future (without your hands freezing off) you may want to invest in these touchscreen-friendly gloves.

Or you can just use your nose.

We know, we know, Facebook has had so many changes lately it’s hard to keep up with them all. If you are a casual user, there are plenty of new features to explore. You may see some changes in accessing some of your games, or notice different content on some business pages, but generally you’re good to go.

However, it gets trickier if you’re a business owner who has developed Facebook apps. Starting October 1st, apps that run on Facebook must be hosted from a secure server. Facebook is requiring this to help protect the privacy of its users. What does it mean to you? If you don’t have a SSL certificate for your app’s site domain, your app will not show up on Facebook anymore – meaning your fans won’t see it!

Don’t worry, we’re here to help. If you host your application with us, we can get a SSL certificate set up for your domain. If you use a different host, they’ll be able to help you. Either way, you’ll just need to provide some specific information that verifies you are the owner of the site, and you’ll likely have to pay a small amount to buy the certification from the company that provides it. The most commonly known certificate provider is VeriSign, but there are plenty to choose from, with a variety of features and prices.

If we can help you, let us know. In the meantime, enjoy the latest features on Facebook… we will be back soon to guide you through more of the interesting changes that are happening there — stay tuned!

Change. No one likes it.  There are a lot of complaints on the social feeds today about the new features on Facebook.  Every 6 month or so our News Feed fills up with “I hate this new layout” and “I’m gonna stop using Facebook if they keep changing it” (like that will ever happen).  However, if you take a couple minutes to figure these features out it you will see that they are actually very useful.  So don’t fret, we have put together a quick and easy guide to understanding these new features.

Ticker & Chat: The new ticker on the top right of your homepage shows real-time posts making them easier to go through.  Just hover over any story to see entire update.  Additionally by clicking your chat sidebar the ticker attaches to the top.  You can chat while navigating to any page you like while watching your friend’s status updates change.

Photo Layout: You probably noticed the creative way our pictures are now laid out in our News Feed.  This is purely for our viewing experience and gives business pages a more unique way to attract “likes”.

Top Stories:  Facebook’s new concept shows posts that you will most likely find interesting and puts them at the top of your feed when you first log in.  The top stories are marked by a blue tag on the top left corner of the post.  To remove them from your top stories just click on the blue tag and they will be removed.  To add a top story that you are interested in just hover over an update where the blue tab would be and click-it’s that easy!

Friend Lists:  Facebook’s new “Smart Lists” are just that-Smart.  Smart lists automatically create lists for your city, work, family, and school.  You can add friends or brands you follow to the lists Facebook automatically created for you, or you can create a new list to organize your friends even better.  To create a new list or edit an existing list click on “Lists” on the left of your News Feed.

Here you can see a list I created based on my favorite movies and television shows making it easy for me to skip all the news feed and go straight to my shows.

Friend List Dropdown:  You can also organize your friend into lists right from their profile page.

Subscribe:  The subscribe button allows you to hear from people that you are interested in, even if you’re not friends.  You are automatically subscribed to all your current friends updates and with the subscribe button you can choose which of their updates you see.  For example, if you have a friend who is always playing Facebook games (we all have those friends), you can hide all those game posts in a simple step.

Not all profiles have a Subscribe button.  Only people who allow subscribers will have the Subscribe button on their profile.  If you choose to allow Subscribers they will only see the things you share publicly.

What do you think of all these new features?  Love it or hate it?

Exploring the Buddypress Add-on for WordPress to turn our blog into a social community.

http://buddypress.org/

Check out these web sites:

http://2011.uxlondon.com/
http://www.saltercane.com/

Any person or company with a consumer-facing web site, if they are paying any attention at all, will want their site to be mobile phone accessible soon if not sooner. Assuming 1024 pixel wide screens isn’t going to cut it, these two sites show how it can be done really well in just one smart design, rather than the usual way (sniffing out the client browser and redirecting mobile phones to a different version).

Resize your browser and watch what happens as it get narrower. (Use Firefox or a webkit browser like Safari — IE need not apply.) The first site re-flows in each section and the bio pictures shrink down as the page gets narrower. The second site dynamically re-flows from three columns to two columns to one.  If you have a browser on your mobile phone, look at the sites there too. Very cool!

You can read about the technique from the guy who designed those sites here:

http://adactio.com/journal/

Something to think about.

I went to the movies on Labor Day and one of the previews was for “The Social Network” (which, just like actual “Facebook,” totally baffled my mom). I haven’t heard that much about the movie to this point. I remember reading some column about how scathing it was a few months ago, but that’s about it.

Unfortunately, now having seen the trailer, I still can’t tell you much about it. Why is that? Because I was so busy marveling at the choice of music that accompanies the entire preview to notice any of the actors or plot points. The whole thing plays against a gussied up version of Radiohead’s classic anthem, “Creep,” sung by a youth choir accompanied by piano.

As I listened to it alongside a montage of Facebook status updates, changes in relationship status, profile pictures and the like, I was totally blown away by what an absolute perfect commentary it is on Facebook and the population(s) it serves. Totally one of those connections you can’t believe you haven’t already made yourself.

To whomever is responsible for this stroke of genius: Bravo.

“First – and understand this, Harry, ’cause it’s very important – not all wizards are good. Some of them go bad.” – Rubeus Hagrid (Harry Potter and the Sourcerer’s Stone)

The world’s most lovable half-giant delivered a very important life message to Harry Potter in the statement above. Fortunately for Harry, he learned this lesson from a friend, rather than learning things the hard way. If only everyone could be so lucky…

To work their magic, SEO strategists make use of a variety of complex and ever-evolving tactics that can be difficult to explain, and even harder for those who are less than web-savvy to understand. To further complicate matters, not all SEO methods and professionals are created equal, and this uneven relationship can make it all too easy for web novices to end up getting scammed.

So put on your Sorting Hats. Here are a few simple rules to help you ensure that you are not one of the unfortunate many to get scammed by dark wizards.

Run away (Disapparate if you can) from:

• Companies that claim that they will optimize your site through “meta tag optimization and submission to the search engines.” It is well known that this tactic will no longer accomplish anything in terms of increasing search engine rankings
• Anyone who guarantees you a certain position in the search engines. Since the search engines run on their own proprietary algorithms, no one can guarantee a particular ranking
• Read fine print. Many companies use questionable tactics to meet their “guarantees”
• Be wary of anyone who won’t tell you what they are doing to your site, or says that they can do all of their work behind the scenes without changing the appearance of your site. The odds are that person is either doing nothing at all or engaging in some risky SEO strategies that can ultimately lead to a penalty for your website

Keep in mind:

• A high ranking is not everything when it comes to measuring SEO success. If you get a top ranking for a keyword phrase that doesn’t deliver relevant traffic to your website, then it has no value to your business. Having a lower ranking for a high converting keyword is far more valuable than being number one for some obscure phrase that no one searches. You and your SEO consultant should work together to find the appropriate keyword phrases for your business
• The SEO consultant you are working with should be concerned about your overall marketing objectives. SEO is just one component of an integrated marketing strategy, so understanding a client’s business is a vital part of any successful SEO strategy
• Be an active participant in the planning phases for your SEO project. Be sure to give frequent feedback on keyword suggestions, copywriting and site architecture recommendations
• Before any work begins, outline a detailed plan for measuring success with your SEO consultant. Specify what metrics will be tracked, what kind of reports will be generated and how often you will hold a review to discuss key accomplishments and next steps