For Web Site Owners

This essay is intended for those of you who are web site owners in dire need of assistance on how to maintain, iterate and market your online presence in a way that is transparent and effective. In achieving these tasks we will investigate several ideas which are essential for maintaining traffic back to your products and online services. When brainstorming for a virtuous marketing campaign its useful to implement a robust call to action.

All modern web sites these days have a “call to action” for the user and your marketing campaign should behave no different. Next is for you to decide which social media platform is most effective for your brand. And regardless of preconceived ideas you might have regarding social media, it is of the utmost importance to understand its value. And how you can maximize it as a powerful leveraging mechanism for delivering news about your business or startup. We will mainly focus on the power of the Facebook Fan Page, Twitter and the all important blog first strategy as fundamental building blocks.

 Call To Action

In his seminal article Paul Boag describes 10 useful techniques for an effective Call to Action:

Every website should have a call to action, a response you want users to complete. But how do you encourage users to act? How do you create an effective call to action

–Paul Boag,

Creating an effective call to action for your next online marketing campaign should follow a few guiding principles. Provided your web site, blog or product has one implemented. Its really a matter of deciding which actions your users will want to achieve first, second and third. Brainstorm, research and modify the most important elements of your web site as a form of value proposition for your users. In an effort to deliver a product which is high fidelity in terms of how is designed and presented. The Fan Page for Creative Think Tank DC clearly describes the mission statement of our design agency incubator startup.

Arts/Humanity Web Site: Public Incubator For Creative Ideas In Art | Design | Tech | Culture

Our primary target audience is clearly those within the arts/ humanities and social sciences side of the spectrum as indicated in our Fan Page call to action.

For us, the Facebook fan page is a living depository aimed at cultivating a conversation with our creative community while exposing core services in web design. This is the first value proposition for the brand (as seen in the image of our home page below). These services are then translated to our fan page using three basic key points:

• To focus attention and traffic back to CTTDC: ( Portfolio )
• Showcasing essays aimed at cultivating our company culture ( Art Journal )
• Hire Me ( Our Culture )

Maintaining the effectiveness of a Facebook fan page requires consistency, effort and a clear marketing budget. Designing compelling experiences aimed  at using active language is a major role to consider:

1. Hire Us
2. Invest
3. Subscribe
4. Read More & Learn
5. Donate

Again, you will gain a better understanding on how to implement an effective campaign during your initial brainstorming phase of the project. With Facebook there are several payment options ranging between 5$ to 200$ daily. Which will get you two important attributes:

• Exposure
• Credibility

Exposure as FB will market your product as a suggested brand to millions of potential users which will increase the amount of “likes”. Which will facilitate how your customers discover your site using social media as a marketing platform.

Twitter As Your Blog First Strategy

A few years ago while working on a client’s web project he asked a very intriguing question with regards to social media and sharable user content.

” Why should I use social media such as FB, Twitter, Google Plus or LinkedIn? are these not all the same. And do people really care about sharing or “liking” my products on social media” ?

As a web site owner, creating a bridge between your online products and social media is a vital element for discovery and openness. We will focus on explaining how to leverage Twitter as a micro blogging  social platform. And highlighting key differences between these services while describing best practices for an effective digital marketing campaign. When brainstorming how to best use these social services and how they actually differ from one another think about Mercedes-Benz Vs BMW. While these are both cars with four wheels anyone can hardly say they are all the same. Each vehicle is unique in terms of engineering, aesthetic, form factor and quality. Twitter is a micro blogging platform, Facebook is a social “water cooler” hub for staying connected with friends and family mostly while LinkedIn is a social platform for business people. LinkedIn allows those looking for work to connect with a vast line of companies which are actively seeking talent using social discovery tools. A Facebook Fan page is a public profile specifically created for business, brands, celebrities, causes and other organizations. And should not be confused with your personal activity on FB.

When your website lacks the use of a good blogging strategy for either talking about what makes your brand great. Or keeping your users updated with useful chronological information, consider using social media to fill in the gap.

When we discuss the use of using Twitter as a micro blogging endeavor we mean two things. First, is to explain what its meant by the use of the term “micro blog” and how it relates to best practices & social marketing. A micro blog is defined as a social media site in which the user makes short and frequent post on any given topic. Twitter with its 140 character limit in conjunction with links + images makes a perfect candidate. Using Twitter to create social signals between your web site’s services, culture and identity is of high value to those customers who use social media as a discovery mechanism.

Further more , when you tied in an effective marketing campaign which adheres to credibility-based design standards. That portray your company, organization or startup  as professional and support a cohesive brand identity. This is essential to your site’s success and how others perceived your online presence. These days, social media signals is most likely the first experience anyone will have with your brand. Make sure these best practices in conjunction with the overall design aesthetic of the campaign reflects the professionalism of your brand or startup.

With Twitter I would recommend utilizing daily to weekly campaigns with a specific call to action. For us with Creative Think Tank DC our weekly call to action is quite simple:

https://twitter.com/socialconceptdc/status/455031436773302272

Andrew B. King, author of O’Reilly’s Website Optimization, cited credibility-based professional design as the number one factor in maximizing site conversion rates.  Speed, reliability and attractiveness are the three primary criteria he notes that will help create a seamless and pleasurable experience that conveys your brand.

Next Steps

 CTTDC

Creative Think Tank DC is a visionary design agency focusing on exploring the culture of creative ideas. Founded & developed by DSC: A  freelance web designer with a background in Fine Arts & Digital Media 

Our Services:

Front End Development | Blog Strategy | Contemporary Art | DIY Magazine Culture | Branding & Web Design | Content MGMT Systems | WordPress