We know that the toolkit at a full-service agency is already extensive, but we never underestimate the ability of the tech world to create something that makes our lives easier, faster, more efficient and more fun. The best part of “the Internets” overflowing with so many ideas is finding the ones that work for you and passing along their value to your clients.

We’ve experienced a few great upgrades and new finds in the last few weeks – all of which help us do work better and faster, and provide a better product for our clients.

WordPress 3.3

The gang at WordPress just released WordPress 3.3, or “Sonny,” the latest version of the content management system we recommend to our clients. The 3.3 release is chock-full of new features for developers, of course, but we also appreciate the improvements to the user interface, such as mouse-over menus and drag-and-drop media uploads. These upgrades make the back-end of WordPress even easier for us and our clients to use.

Jing

We’ve all had one or both of these problems before. Maybe you’ve shown someone how to do something on the computer a thousand times, even written it down in painstaking detail, but every time they come back to you with questions. Or maybe you want to show someone a procedure but don’t have time or don’t want to schedule a GoToMeeting. Screen-capture software has been around for a while, but Jing rises above the rest because of its ease of use and the free hosting of your screen-capture videos on Screencast. We’ve had some great success in the past week creating Jing videos to demonstrate specific procedures for our clients – and with the Screencast hosting, we can quickly email the link or permanently place it into a list of FAQs.

Shortstack

Facebook is an essential item in the toolbox, so we’re all for anything that makes it more customizable and easier to use as a promotional tool. The folks over at Shortstack have created an easy way to create sweepstakes, voting forms, custom tabs and more – all with full design control in a drag-and-drop interface. No programming experience needed. We see endless possibilities to help our clients run contests and increase “Likes” by creating exclusive content behind a “Like” wall.

“Why would anyone into social media be interested in my company or product?”

Truth is, you’re right. Your company or product probably isn’t that interesting.

Contrary to popular belief, social media users are not waiting anxiously for their favorite brand of dinner rolls or laundry detergent to launch a Twitter feed. As marketers, the problem we face is presenting our advertisements in a way that generates enough interest that our audience will tolerate and even want to see our ads.

This is by no means a new challenge for marketers. In the 1950s, manufacturers of household products struggled to find a way to market their products to stay-at-home women on then-new television. The iconic “soap opera” was born.

The soap opera used a formula where 80 percent of the television broadcast was aimed at entertaining the audience with compelling, an often over sensationalized, stories and just 20 percent aimed at advertising. The entertainment value these broadcasts provided to women who were often confined to their homes for the majority of the day was well received. This formula worked then and works now.

Providing your audience with value is still the most successful strategy in today’s new social media world. So the question instead becomes…

“What value can you provide your customers through social media?”

People become devout followers of a social media presence because they feel the channel provides them value. This value can be in the form of entertainment, exclusive deals, prizes, exclusive content, or as a source of local or industry news. Base your social media efforts on providing your audience these values, and they will in turn engage with your brand.

We discussed in a previous post why it’s important to manage your online image, but let’s talk about why Yelp stands out. Companies sometimes balk at getting involved with Yelp, wondering if it’s really worth their time or if they can just ignore the one-star diatribe from Henry M. and maybe it will go away.

The answer is that Yelp isn’t going away. For companies in service industries in particular, the site is too ubiquitous to ignore. Earlier this year, Yelp passed 41 million monthly visitors who have written more than 15 million reviews. That’s a lot of people basing their opinions of your business on the number of stars in your rating.

It’s important to remember that there are two sides to Yelp – the customer who takes the time to write a review and the customer who is checking out star ratings to decide where to eat or get their hair cut. Engaging on Yelp isn’t about giving power to the angry customer – it’s about showing your other customers what your business is all about so they can draw their own conclusions.

So how can you leverage all those visits and reviews to help your business?

1. Claim

The first step is to claim your business page. Go to Yelp.com, find your business page and look for the small text link that says “Work here? Unlock the Business Page.” It can usually be found beneath the business information.

Follow the steps to claim the page, making sure to use a stable email address. You will need to have access to the business telephone, as Yelp will robo-call the phone to verify ownership.

2. Prepare

Put together a plan. Who will be the point person responsible for monitoring the account? How often will they log in to engage customers? Which types of reviews warrant private or public responses? Will your business pay to upgrade to a slideshow, run Deals or use Ads? How should you publicize your page to your customers? Your PR professional or marketing team can help you come up with the best engagement strategy for your business.

3. Engage

Execute your plan and make sure you stick with it. If you say you’re going to log in three times a week, don’t engage five times a week for the first month and then forget a month. Stay consistent. It’s natural to become personally invested in the reviews, even defensive, but remind yourself to stay with your strategy, especially regarding which reviews merit responses. It doesn’t help your image to respond in kind to a critical reviewer, even if they did “get it wrong.”

4. Keep at it

Consistency and a long-term view are crucial. You won’t raise your star rating or flood your page with reviews overnight. Getting the word out about your page and encouraging customers to visit and review will help boost your numbers. Remember to stay positive – thoughtful reviews from diligent Yelpers count for more in the Yelp community than a review from one irascible customer who signed up just to post a rant. The more you are engaged with the Yelp community and your customers, the more success you’ll start to see.

With so many social media platforms, review sites and business listings out there, controlling your online presence can feel like plugging leaks in a dam with your fingers.

Since consumers increasingly rely on the wisdom of the crowd to make decisions, businesses need to know what the crowd sees and thinks. This is especially critical for restaurants, retailers and service providers, but useful for other industries as well.

Here are four reasons why you should understand and control your online image.

1.       Put accurate information out there.

If you are not in control of your content on sites such as Yelp, Foursquare or Google Places, your customers can and will put up information about your business that they believe to be true. “We don’t manage our page,” will not mollify an angry customer who showed up an hour after closing based on faulty information on Yelp.

By claiming your Yelp Business page or managing your Foursquare Venue page, you can ensure customers have accurate information about hours, location and services provided.

2.       Track and engage.

On sites with check-in features, such as Facebook and Foursquare, managing the business page lets you see how many people are checking in at your business. Each check-in promotes your business across the site to the user’s friends.

With a review site like Yelp, claiming the business page lets you receive alerts when site users post reviews. A savvy page manager can engage with customers by sending them private or public messages about their reviews, encouraging feedback and being first on the scene to remedy misunderstandings.

3.       Online advertising platforms.

Both review sites like Yelp and social media platforms like Facebook and Foursquare offer unique opportunities for targeted ads and promotions. Knowing how to fully utilize these sites means that you can market directly to users who will actively engage with your business.

4.       It’s easy and informative.

On most sites it is easy to register and free to manage the business page. Most sites also offer tracking to help you learn more about your customer – for instance, Foursquare breaks down users who check-in by gender and age, and Yelp allows you to see what other businesses reviewers are visiting.

Maintenance of the business page can be as easy as an automated email report in your inbox daily, weekly or monthly. You only have to log in if the business information changes significantly.

Pivot is experienced at managing a variety of social media and review sites. Call or email us to learn more about the importance of controlling your online presence.

It’s a common roadblock. Business owners know their companies should have a social media presence, but they don’t have the time to commit to regular blog posts and updates. Why not streamline the process?

We recently created a social media package for Comfort Zone Center for Whole Self Healing. Comfort Zone has a blog (the main content source) and LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter and YouTube profiles customized to reflect Comfort Zone’s brand. Read more »

Our friends at Boulder Digital Arts announced they’re moving into a 3,000-square foot space in Boulder this week. The new classroom space makes them better equipped to offer affordable classes taught by digital professionals who work with video editing, photography, design, new media and other technology. They’ve been a great resource for the Denver area and now they’re ready to be a regional powerhouse in digital education. Congrats, BDA.

Full details after the jump … Read more »

Wetpaint, a service that allows you to create your own social Web site and Altimeter Group, a digital strategy company, recently released a report on the value of social media engagement. The numbers are in; carving out a social media niche for your brand pays dividends.

There are too many social media platforms to count and more are emerging every day. How do you know where you need to be? What are the rules of engagement? First and foremost, determine the reason for incorporating social media into your business plan. Do you want to increase sales, raise awareness or test new ideas? Once you’ve got a goal in mind, it’s time to figure out where your audience is.

“Listening” is a great way to get started finding your audience and carving out a social media niche for your business. If you don’t already know, ask your customers which social media platforms they are using and start exploring them.

Once you’re ready to dive in, the most important thing to remember is be authentic. Be up front about who you are and what you’re trying to accomplish. And remember that social media are not just new broadcasting channels; they are designed to be interactive. So go forth and post, tweet, friend and comment your way toward a niche for your business.