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Spam is goodI am back and I am Hot & Spicy!

Wow, I just spent the better part of three days removing more than 2000 spam messages that were clogging up my blog! Viagra, Ugg Boots, and Polo shirt offers in Russian – who would have thought there could be so many unique and personal messages, from different individuals, at different gmail accounts all with the exact same comments? “Thanks, you site raelly helped me a lot” (typos typical) “все рубашки поло хлопка” (all cotton polo shirts) “Does size matter? Are you concerned about your performance” (viagra). Everybody has got something to sell – but I wonder who pays these mechanical wonders? Do the brand name companies know how these links and back links are added to blog sites to improve search rank? Does it even matter any more? We’ll take a look at how search is changing in a coming article and help you to stay on top of your game.

Share your experience with spam? I like mine Hot and Spicy – but keep it off of my blog!

Spam image ©2012 Hormel Foods, LLC

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By Hub – January 31, 2012

Social Media Improves Reach

Social Media TacticsLike traditional marketing, Internet marketing takes time to develop and penetrate to the right people. Picking the right audience is challenging and there are many competing products and offers that can interfere with the delivery of your message. Social media provides a viral aspect to your campaign that can reach far more people than traditional or Internet marketing alone. When your product or service is introduced and cross-linked on a variety of social networks it has the potential to spread very quickly – like word-of-mouth testimonials on steroids. Internet-based marketing efforts can be tracked, often in fine detail, with analytic applications like WebTrends, Urchin, and Alexa (Grappone & Couzin, 2008). Inbound links to your content can provide a good amount of detail on your customers, their preferences, and where they are finding you. This allows for immediate adjustments to your market strategy and the opportunity to improve results.

This past week I came across an interesting article titled “The Top 7 Facebook and Twitter Strategies That are Working Right Now” (Gallagher, 2010) describing how social media is being used to find and build relationships with customers, cross-posting and cross-promoting and metrics for measuring results.

For your site, try twitter, flickr, and linkedin to cross post and promote and with automatic features. Join communities and groups to speed up the process and improve reach. Now get out there and get involved to improve your reach!

Gallagher, C. (2010, September 19). The top 7 facebook and twitter strategies that are working right now. Retrieved from http://www.sitepronews.com/2010/09/19/the-top-7-facebook-and-twitter-strategies-that-are-working-right-now/

Grappone, J., & Couzin, G. (2008). Search engine optimization. Hoboken, NJ: Wiley Publishing, Inc..

Posted in Branding, Social Networking.

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By Hub – November 19, 2010

Company Blog – Not Yet!

creative edge web site exampleBlogging is a fun and exciting medium – a way to express your voice and share with people all over the world. Well-established blogs can reach millions of people and raise a groundswell of support or opposition on popular issues. But what is the real value of blogging to a company?

I work at a company where most of our systems and products cannot be publicly discussed so on the surface; a blog would be a tough sell. However, I see great benefits to our business development managers, field reps, marketing managers and proposal staff if they were to participate in military and technology blogs. This would be a great way to gauge direction and feedback from actual users of our products (Davidson & Vaast 2009). I have monitored several discussions regarding our systems and products (http://www.engadget.com/). These posts quickly pointed out a misunderstanding regarding the capabilities and expectations of our products. Active, continuous participation, immersion in specific blogging communities would allow us to be aware and responsive to user concerns and misconceptions. Company exposure to this blog-chatter can help to shape the strategic direction of the company and future products (Droge, Stanko & Pollitte 2010).

There are obvious benefits to Public Affairs, HR, and Recruitment that can only be achieved through a company-affiliated blog. But, along with the benefits also comes added risk – risk that someone will post a comment that negatively reflects on the Company. There are strategies that can defend against this – but that we will take up in a later post.

If blogs were to be used at our company, I would think that the respective manager of each of the above areas would be responsible for monitoring and responding to bloggers. However, there would need to be a delay in posting responses, as a thorough review and approval would need to be completed to protect the company. An over arching governance, policy of terms and use, and formal corporate training would be required before a manager could participate. The entire blogging function would be centrally controlled by a high-level position that fully understands branding, security, marketing, and communications and should answer directly to the company’s top management.

It is understandable that there is a good deal of excitement and promise with utilizing social media and blogs for company web sites – reaching out and speaking directly to customers. The value is obvious and the exchange is immediate. But these same qualities also require a company and its officers to take special care to protect the name, reputation and brand of the company.

Blogs, personal and professional, need to follow different sets of rules and are an extension of the company for which you work. Like it or not your social responsibility may become the business of your employer.

Droge, C., Stanko, M., & Pollitte, W.. (2010). Lead Users and Early Adopters on the Web: The Role of New Technology Product Blogs. The Journal of Product Innovation Management, 27(1), 66. Retrieved May 13, 2010, from ABI/INFORM Global. (Document ID: 1921524601).

Davidson, E., & Vaast, E.. (2009). Tech Talk: An Investigation of Blogging in Technology Innovation Discourse. IEEE Transactions on Professional Communication, 52(1), 40. Retrieved May 13, 2010, from ABI/INFORM Global. (Document ID: 1653792871).

Posted in Branding, Social Networking.

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By Hub – October 31, 2010

What Works in Social Media?

If you believe that endless tweeting, daily posting, and a barrage of social messages is what it takes to get your social campaign off the ground – use some common sense. While these tactics are great for promoting your campaign, first and foremost you need good quality content. Information that cannot be easily attained anywhere else. Content is king.

content is kingPeople will look to your content for the value it provides to their lives and their business. What do people want to know about and what can you share that will make their lives better, more enriched, more efficient, more successful? Take this blog post for instance – I hope that I can help you to understand that the quality of your information will enable you to be more successful in launching your social media campaign. So what is it that people will look to you to provide?

Not an easy question – but vitally important to your approach. Will your content be best served by the written word? A video? An audio clip or podcast? Maybe even through more traditional media such as a white paper, research brief or printed brochure? Decide what your content will be – then determine the best method to deliver it to your customers.

It is important to remember that your delivery is a reflection of you and your company. The quality of the piece will be a reflection of your brand and how you do business. Provide good quality information to your audience and do it repeatedly. This will build recognition and contribute to your brand. Once you’ve developed good quality information you can deliver it in any of the mediums listed above and promote its availability through social networks such as twitter or Facebook “Hey, new article about building a strong brand through social media” – or digg it, reddit, or promote on technorati. Social media is a very powerful tool to get your message out there – but to cut through the tens of thousands of posts each day – you need good quality content. Build recognition by repeating the formula and then promote it using social networks. Content is King!

Posted in Social Networking.

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By Hub – October 22, 2010

Securing Internet Transactions

internet securityInternet security is critical to conducting on-line business transactions, nationally and globally. Just as we have laws governing right and wrong, moral and ethical we should also have minimal requirements for secure web transactions.

At a minimum, all websites that permit monetary exchange should employ 128-bit encryption with a valid SSL certificate (The March Group, 3 May) and user data should be collected to a separate server behind the company or ISP’s firewall. Organizations collecting data should be required to protect personal data, store, and dispose of it in a timely and efficient manner. These requirements would be mandatory for low cash value, every day transactions. Compliant websites would be identified by certificate and listed on a register.

Large value transactions, say over $2500 (USD) would require two-way authentication though a VPN client (Virtual Private Network) or IVE (Instant Virtual Network) with an RSA token. This method requires a PIN and variable code authentication to sync with a Db on the server. VerifySmart (VerifySmart, 14 September) provides a two-part authentication using a PIN and a mobile device such as a phone or PDA to verify the account owner is aware of and approves of each transaction. Hard as it may be, inconvenient as it may appear – these steps are necessary to secure transactions over the Internet. According to TowerGroup, Research Director, George Tubin (Stopping Man, 19 February) the best approach remains to be multi-layered security with two-form authentication.

Although the VerifySmart credit and debit card solution is approved in 29 countries, (VerifySmart, 14 September) the process appears that it would be cumbersome for on-line transactions. The notion of on-line business with developing nations is still a long way off and will remain a “Buyer Beware” scenario for quite some time. In the meantime, companies like Pay Pal, eCash, and Western Union may see great opportunities in processing transactions for international customers.

Stopping Man-in-the-Browser — Entrust, TowerGroup Explore Critical Threats, Solutions :Man-in-the-browser the malware of choice for today’s online criminals. (19 February). PR Newswire. Retrieved May 17, 2010, from ABI/INFORM Dateline. (Document ID: 1966185841).
The March Group Scam Prevention Program Cautions Business Owners to Preserve Client Relations with Secure Online Transactions. (3 May). Business Wire. Retrieved May 17, 2010, from ABI/INFORM Dateline. (Document ID: 2024112641).
VerifySmart(TM) Corp. Enhanced Credit Debit Card Security Solution Provides Next Generation, Near Real-Time Identity Fraud Protection Far Superior to Chip PIN. (14 September). PR Newswire. Retrieved May 17, 2010, from ABI/INFORM Dateline. (Document ID: 1858668281).

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By Hub – October 16, 2010

Building an Internet Brand:
3 Strikes and You’re Out

Hubbard Jordan LogoBrands on the Internet have some advantages over brands established as bricks-and-mortar. To some extent, Internet born brands are easier to create and establish. It is not necessary to open locations in every city to engage with the customer. Compared to establishing a physical location, Internet branding is far less costly and easier to maintain than training and managing a hundred offices to carry your message and treat customers equally (Laudon & Traver, E-commerce, 2010). Both Internet and bricks-and-mortar brands need to:

  • provide customer value
  • build a strong rational or emotional connection
  • differentiate offerings from the competition (McKee, 2010)

At the core of the brand is the company’s genuine personality, what people think of and say about the company, the promise to the consumer, the lifestyle (Klein, 2008).
The reality is that companies doing business on the Internet must provide visitors a great user experience for the entirety of their online experience. The three things most destructive to an Internet brand:
Building an Internet Brand

  1. Clumsy navigation
  2. The inability to find a product
  3. A non-functional purchasing mechanism.

Once a customer has a bad user experience they will be gone forever (Manning, 2000).

Klein, K. (2008, June 9). A Practical guide to branding. Bloomberg Businessweek, Retrieved from http://www.businessweek.com/smallbiz/content/jun2008/sb2008069_694225.htm
Laudon, K.C., & Traver, C.G. (Ed.). (2010). The Internet and world wide web: e-commerce marketing. Boston: Pearson Learning Solutions.
Manning, R. (2000). Internet branding and the user experience. clickz.com, Retrieved from http://www.clickz.com/822571
McKee, S. (2010, May 14). The Case for sustainable differentiation. Bloomberg Businessweek, Retrieved from http://www.businessweek.com/smallbiz/content/may2010/sb20100514_343611.htm

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By Hub – October 15, 2010

Convenience is Key to Online Brand

There are many start-ups that chose to be Internet-only companies. Some companies that were successful in establishing their online brand have become household names, (i.e., Match.com, E-LOAN, and Lending Tree) even though they do not have physical, brick-and-mortar locations. Lending Tree is a good example of quick to market and building a strong brand with the slogan “When banks compete, you win”. The brand perfectly empowers the consumer and puts them in control over the lending process. The consumer’s perception of having the control over the financing decision is very appealing to a large audience of new homebuyers and refinancers (Silverstein, 2008).

I do not think that Lending Tree would have been as successful in the crowded lending market as a physical location. The real edge they provided to consumers was convenience. The ease of access to multiple institutions was critical to their online success.

Silverstein, B. (2008, December 15). Lending tree: branching out. Retrieved from http://www.brandchannel.com/features_profile.asp?pr_id=417

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By Hub – October 10, 2010

Online Brands Need to Provide Value

Branding is the personality of the company. It does not matter if it is a physical location, many locations, or an Internet based company. Both types of business require advertising and promotion to establish their brand. Despite the teaching of the text (Laudon & Traver, E-commerce, 2010. p245) the methods they use will be similar and most likely will overlap between electronic, online and traditional mass media. The in-store brand is established through customer interaction with staff and merchandise. Online brand is forged through user experience, honesty, fairness, and trust (Laudon & Traver, E-commerce, 2010. p252). Each must provide a quality that the other does not in order to survive in the future.

The number one thing, an online company must do to increase the value of their brand is to provide value to the consumer – convenience, selection, or price.

Laudon, K.C., & Traver, C.G. (Ed.). (2010). The Internet and world wide web: e-commerce marketing. Boston: Pearson Learning Solutions.

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By Hub – October 8, 2010

APIs, Mashups and the Dashboard

Hubbard Jordan LogoGraphical representations of data or dashboards are often used to allow immediate access to critical data from the user’s desktop. Through the use of an Application Program Interface (API) or Mashup, datasets from different databases can be combined to relate the information in new ways – much like the ability of the Apple iPhone to use Starbuck’s store location data and overlay it on Google maps. This approach can also be used to collect data from suppliers, manufacturers and shippers to precisely follow a particular product through its entire development lifecycle. The information can be presented in the form of a small local desktop interface, “dashboard” to provide critical information for customer service representatives.

Posted in Web Technology.

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By Hub – October 6, 2010

Are you ready for Social Media?

ready for social mediaRight before our eyes, the landscape of marketing is changing. It is not so much that the principals of marketing are changing but the methods of reaching the market (Meredith, 2010). This change is not local or regional, but global. All across the world communications are advancing and technology is presenting new venues on which to seek customers. The audience is no longer captured solely by a television, cable, or magazine ad. The new customer can be found only with a new medium – social media on the Internet.

The Internet has spawned many new interactive channels that complicate the process of reaching potential customers. Leading social sites such as Facebook, Twitter, My Space, Blogger and You Tube are capturing increasing numbers of viewers – exponentially and at break-neck speed. Social networks have introduced a couple of new, interesting dynamics that will impact how businesses reach customers.

  • Social media is live. There is no lag time between initiating a campaign and releasing it. The viewer’s reaction, feedback, and response can be immediate and unforgiving.
  • Social media is two-way communication. The notion that company’s can push information to the customer is coming to an end. In order for today’s marketing campaigns to reach their customers they must engage them in a meaningful conversation and allow them to share their voice (Anonymous, EContent, 2010).
  • Customer’s now have a voice – a say in what they want, how they want it, where they want to get it, and when. Word can spread very quickly between consumers and from the consumer to the company (Meredith, 2010).
  • Control. The customer is now in the driver’s seat and can influence company products and decisions, changing the shape of marketing messages. In social marketing the company no longer has control of the message they want shared with consumers (Meredith, 2010).

It is easy to fall into the trap of counting views or followers to gauge success. The real numbers will come from measuring how many buying influences your social campaign initiated or how many customer service issues were resolved as the result of social networking (Vancil, 2010). The challenge for the future will be to discard everything we have learned about reaching mass markets and turn the new focus to one-to-one social relationships (Gillin, 2010).

Anonymous, . Engage [review of the hardcover book Engage written by Brian Solis].(2010, May). EContent, 33(4), 16. Retrieved May 29, 2010, from ABI/INFORM Global. (Document ID: 2037037721).

Gillin, P.. (2010, April). Putting the ‘social’ in social media. B to B, 95(4), 34. Retrieved May 29, 2010, from ABI/INFORM Global. (Document ID: 2017006481).

Meredith, B.. (2010, May). Making sense of marketing chaos. NZ Business, 24(4), 71. Retrieved May 29, 2010, from ABI/INFORM Trade & Industry. (Document ID: 2030688661).

Vancil, R.. (2010, April). Social media making its mark on marketing. B to B, 95(4), 34. Retrieved May 29, 2010, from ABI/INFORM Global. (Document ID: 2017006461).

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By Hub – October 2, 2010