Join Katina French and Scott Million as they discuss Social Media 101 and changes to the Social Media Landscape.

 LeapCast - LFI University: 04.17.08 - The Social Media Landscape: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Join Jeremy Kolonay and Michael Wunsch as they discuss the technical implications of user-generated content campaigns.

 LeapCast LFI University Feb 8 2008: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Join Mike and Katina as they take an honest and realistic look at why brands are hesitating and holding back on committing to digital advertising and interactive marketing, and the recent developments that might address those concerns.

 Realizing the Potential of Digital: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Join Mike and Katina as they discuss assessing your content for viral potential, and the rules of engagement for social media and online public relations.

 LFI University November 2007: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Join Katina and Mike as they discuss recent trends for big brands and the use of social media to take their brands to a more upscale position.

 LeapCast - LFI University: 10.9.07 - Big Brand Love: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

On this episode of LFI University, Katina and Mike discuss Geek Gods, Karma Queens and Innerpreneurs - a new marketing book from Ron Rentel.

 LeapCast - LFI University: 9.10.07 - Book Review and Discussion: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Think SEO ends with site optimization?  Think again.  Join Mike and Kat as they explore the importance of off-site SEO activities, talk a little about the socially-conscious consumer, and the growth of social networking among business marketers.

 LeapCast - LFI University: 8.13.07 - The Beauty of Off-site SEO: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Much emphasis is placed on proper on-site optimization when discussing search engine optimization. While on-site optimization is important in ensuring that your company site maximizes the indexing and ranking that occurs when a search engine spider crawls your pages, a well-rounded and complete SEO plan should also include off-site efforts to increase page rank and relevance for your corporate site.

The simplest and most obvious of these efforts is to submit online press releases, or media releases, through outlets such as pr.com, prweb.com and prnewswire.com. A well-written and genuinely newsworthy media release can increase your relevance when it includes inbound links to your site. While most of these online outlets have a free service available, using the paid submittal service will ensure better positioning and can result in your release being picked up by other news organizations and aggregators, increasing the SEO value.

Another effective offsite activity is social media marketing. Getting involved in online conversations through blogs, social networking platforms, and discussion forums is a great way to not only create buzz for your organization, it can also increase your page ranks when appropriate inbound links are used.

However, it’s important to make sure that the person tasked with your offsite public relations and social media marketing is well-versed in both your brand and online etiquette. Even a CEO can make serious missteps that negatively reflect on your company. A perfect example would be the recent scandal involving Whole Foods CEO John Mackey, who was discovered anonymously posting derogatory comments about a competitor in online forums and blogs.

When it comes to offline SEO activity, what you say, when you say it and where you say it are all of critical importance.

This is the second of a three part series on user experience and its potential to enhance or detract from your brand.  User experience encompasses the total impression that your site makes on a user, including visual appeal, ease of navigation, and overall usability.

In the last article, we discussed the look and feel of your site, otherwise known as your site’s Graphical User Interface (GUI), and how it affects the overall user experience.  Now it’s time to talk about the content that your GUI should be built to showcase.    

Writing for the web is a tricky business.  Web users are a notoriously hard audience to capture.  First, a study performed by Jakob Nielsen indicated that 79% of users don’t read at all on the web—they scan.  Second, web users have a low level of inherent trust in what they read.  The typical web user is either a Baby Boomer who is suspicious of the web as a medium, or a postmodern Generation X or Millenial who tend to be skeptical of all sources of information.  You must build credibility with your audience.  You must be concise and your copy must be tightly targeted. 

Another important thing to remember in regards to your content is the importance of keeping it updated and relevant.  Your website is most effective as a branding and public relations tool when users see it as a valuable source of relevant, topical and newsworthy information regarding your industry.  Implementing a corporate weblog, or blog, can be one way of keeping a steady flow of fresh content available to your site users.  A blog is an online journal written in a more informal, personal tone.  While press releases are a more traditional outlet for this kind of information, typical traffic to the press release section of any website is generally lower than traffic to a corporate blog.  

Another way to provide users with relevant content on your site is to produce informational White Papers and make them available for download.  While users will typically not read lengthy content online, they do respond well if it’s made available as a PDF or Word document download which they can print and read offline at their convenience. 

Always remember that to your users, your site’s success is not based on whether it presents a positive image of your brand, but rather on whether or not it provides them with a positive experience.  Fresh, relevant, user-friendly copy can contribute to that positive experience.  Ultimately, it’s that good user experience which generates buzz and goodwill for your brand.   

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