EyeSee

Samantha asked several questions via Facebook. Since these questions need somewhat of a long answer I thought that I would address it here.

In a social media marketing training session yesterday I talked about the concept of integrating a blog to a company website.

So how does Bando integrate their blog into their website?

Here is what needs to be done in this case.

Currently Bando promotions has a website.

and a blog

As you can see the blog is on eBlogger and has very different branding than that of the organization.

To the user or potential customer coming to this blog is very confusing as there is no logical way to get back to the Bando website.

Recognizing this they have taken steps to rectify this situation.  The blog tab has been added to their website however this links to the blog that is sitting on eblogger!! Since this is a brand and needs to be consistent with their branding both online and off line, this is not the best setup for them.

So they need to upload wordpress to their existing website server. The look and feel needs to integrated together into whatever template appeals to them.

So when someone clicks on the blog tab at the Bando site they should see either http://www.blog.bandopromotions.com/ or http://www.bandopromotions.com/blog

or something along those lines.

Once this has be done what happens to the existing blog posts?

They can be imported into the new blog. The old blog can be deleted from eBlogger.

If the above steps are executed the end result should be when someone clicks on the blog it feels like it’s part of the website.

Take a look at the Virtual EyeSee website as an example of this.

The second questions was

“However, for our Pure Iron Athletics line we need to know if that is the same route we should be taking. Here is the site www.pureironathletics.com We want to add a blog mainly for a source for our customers that don’t have facebook or twitter and want to share their thoughts and opinions online. This will benefit us as a brand for marketing our products better.”

This question is very tricky as based on these requirements it looks like you want to build a microsite/community around your product and a blog is just one tool in which to achieve this. However not having had a detailed conversation with Samantha about their overall business goals I can’t provide the best solution.

If I were to focus just on the Blog part then the answer would be yes, do integrate the blog into the website.

There are many ways to get up and running with a blog, the most common way and easiest is to use a free blogging site like eBlogger, Typepad, Wordpress and Livejournal. Of course this goes without saying that there are many more sites like this.

Advantages of these sites

These sites are free.

Easy to setup and require no technical knowledge.

Great way to start blogging and discover you online voice.

Perfect for a personal blog, website about events, informal organizations etc…

Disadvantages of these sites are

Offer limited selection of templates.

Templates have limited capabilities

Minimal customization.

No corporate branding.

So if you are just exploring I would say this is the best way to go. I you are a small organization then you can pay the fee and get a custom URL. However if you are an established brand or even an up and coming one then I strongly suggest that you invest in doing this correctly.

Getting a blog up on your website

A number of the free blogging services also offer you an option to upload their cms systems onto your site. I will focus on Wordpress in this case.

Go to Wordpress.org and download the latest version of their software. Remember it’s free.

Unzip this file.

FTP these files to the server that hosts your current website.

Activate the template that you like.

You can find free or paid templates that can be modified for your use.

Add a Blog tab to your existing site and you are almost there.

Website integration

Now comes the website integration. This is the process of taking your existing website and the Wordpress site and making it look the same to the user!!!  This takes a fair bit of technical skills to achieve this.

So ask your person in your company responsible for the website to do this. If you don’t have some internally then fear not as Virtual EyeSee is a full service social media agency and we offer services to do this website integration.

This seems to be quite a bit of work and effort in getting this right so why bother when you can use the free sites out there?

Advantages of integrating your blog into your website?

The first thing is the consistency in your branding both online and of line. This means that when users come to your site what is happening in the background is irrelevant to them, it should appear as one site.

The google juice is important as well i.e. search engine optimization. So one of the factors to having a high ranking is changing content on your website. Each blog post is equivalent to a page and it’s the easiest way to achieve this.

The blog gives potential customers updates, a more personal perspective on your business, or expertise in your industry etc..

Most of all ease of navigation.

I presented at the OCRI, Zone5ive event today and I focused on must have social media tools to engage your customers.  As I was preparing for this presentation I needed to figure out a starting point as customer engagement is as vague as being “green”. So I took a look at the websites of companies that typically attended these events to find a starting point.

To explain where I came from I used the analogy of social media being the invitation to the house party and the house being the company website. I went further to stress that if the house either did not exist nor was structurally strong then the party would fail.

So my starting point was reinforcing the house and creating the invitations.

Details are in the following presentation.

My goal was to let the people in the room leave with information that they could use to implement these basic social media tools into their websites and social media marketing mix.

The room was fairly silent with not a lot of questions however I did notice a fair bit of note taking. I guess it’s a very different dynamic from the interactive workshops that I am used to giving.

So if you were at the presentation today and have had time to digest this do you have any further questions? If you do, then drop me a line via this post and we can take it from there. Remember there is not such thing as a stupid question. Also there are other people out there that have the same questions in mind.

Several weeks ago I was invited to create a 3 minute video about the use of social media to engage employees. I did create the video however it’s guaranteed to give someone a seizure, my video editing skills need much improvement. It’s on my to do list to edit and improve so I don’t have a video for you to see, however I do have a detailed presentation in regards to this.

When I started to work on this project I knew that there was a number of people that did not like their jobs however I was very surprised to find out the actual numbers.

Only 29% of employees are engaged, 54% are not engaged and 17% are actively disengaged!!! I can’t remember where I found these numbers but they seem to be somewhat consistent across the board wherever you look.

The reasons are many but the one point that I focused on what shortening the gap between the leaders of the organization and the employees. It’s a known fact that business owners, CEOs etc. are very passionate about their company and if you are part of a small organization it’s very easy to feel that energy, know what the vision is and share in that vision. When you are a large organization it becomes hard to have that connection with the owners so to speak as there are many layers between you and the leaders of the organization. There are many ways to shorten the gap and one is by regular meetings/updates with these leaders. However these are few and far in between but what about on a more regular basis? Social media, if used effectively, can enable this gap to be shortened thus driving employee engagement up.

The presentation goes through the various tools available today, how to use them and the benefits to the organization. So take a look and ponder. I have not presented any case studies here however you are only limited by your imagination. So to all the leaders out there, try something new.

Summer is here, although it’s hard to believe due to all the rainy cold days we have been having lately. It’s also the time when most people take their vacations and the office is generally quite and things slow down a little.

So if you are looking for some excitement how about some personal development on the social media front. We have just launched our Social Media Summer Series.

Three great topics to inspire and enlighten you to embark on a social media adventure.

Twitter demystified – July 14th 9:30am-noon

There has been a lot of hype around Twitter lately and most people sign up and don’t know what to do after that. They quickly loose interest. Twitter is a microblog and if used effectively can be very effective communication tool.

Flickr & YouTube – a key to the success of a Social Media Campaign – July 21st 9:30am-noon

Flickr is a photo sharing site and what has this got to do with anything? Images are interesting and entertaining so what better way to get your message across using an image.

YouTube is a video sharing site and too can be used very effectively from a business perspective. There are many ways and it’s not just about amateur videos but professional ones as well.

Blog and website design using Wordpress – Aug. 18th 9:30am-noon

Blogs are getting increasingly popular today. Wordpress is a free open source content management tool that can be used both as a Blog and to design a website as well.

So why is social media becoming so popular these days? People do spend a fair bit of their time online whether it’s for work, their own personal use or entertainment. As a business it’s very important to have a presence in these places or be part of these communities and connect with them in a meaningful way.

It’s not about spamming them or telling them about your product or service. It’s about establishing a connection with them.

These seminars have been designed to show you the how to as well as the different ways these tools can be used.

Registration

Twitter demystified – July 14th 9:30am-noon

Flickr & YouTube – a key to the success of a Social Media Campaign – July 21st 9:30am-noon

Blog and website design using Wordpress – Aug. 18th 9:30am-noon

So take advantage of this great learning opportunity and sign up for these sessions. See you there.