Use those advertising dollars where your customers hang out…on Facebook! Create ad campaigns designed to generate new leads, promote exclusive offers, or drive traffic and “likes” to your social media page or website. Choose between pay-per-impression or pay-per-click budget options, designed to effectively and efficiently display your ad where it counts.

Our experts are ready to take your brand directly to your customers.

Contact us today for a free consultation.

It can be difficult to read a bad review about your business or profession, especially on a platform that at times can be informal and unforgiving. So what are you to do? A business can easily take a step back and ignore online reviews and interactions with their customers…but is it wise to ignore 92% of consumers who make their purchasing decisions based on this form of media?

Whether it’s on Facebook, Twitter, Yelp or Angie’s List, consumers are sharing content online 24/7/365 (366 during Leap Year). Rather than absorb the negatives, why not harness the power of social media?  Start hanging out where your customers hang out…online!

Here are a few tips to help maintain your online composure and meet customers half way:

• Understand The Tools Available To You. If you’re a restaurant owner, you know what brands are being used in the kitchen. How familiar are you with social media sites? Understanding the potential that each platform carries is an important piece in developing an efficient and effective online marketing presence. From check ins to hashtags, tips to pins, there’s a world of useful tools at your disposal. Your customers are already using them, so it’s now up to you to understand and incorporate them into your everyday business practices.

• Keep Your Eye On The Ball. Setting up a Twitter handle (account) and leaving it alone for two months doesn’t count as having a social media presence. If you’re going to do this…do it right. By the end of 2011, Yelp averaged 66 million visitors per month. There is a good chance that someone is looking for or reviewing your business as read this. Is it negative or positive? If you’re not paying attention, you will miss it. And by the time you’re able to catch up, you’ve not only lost a customer, but the 70% (at least) of consumers who trust these posts have now taken into consideration what they’ve just read online. Your online efforts require time and resources in order to harness the marketing potential available through these medias.

• Accentuate The Positives. Mary loves the product selection. Susan’s expectations were exceeded. And David will definitely recommend your business to his friends. Sounds like your business has done a great job. Now what? If it hasn’t been posted directly onto your social media accounts or a review site, ask your customers to share their positive experiences. And when they do share these comments for the world to see, acknowledge them! Interact with your customers and make them feel appreciated. After all, your business just received free advertising to hundreds online connections.

• Don’t Ignore The Negatives. Did you know you have the option to respond to a negative review on most sites? Not only can you respond…you should respond! The worst reaction to have towards a customer’s experience is no reaction at all. No one likes to be publicly humiliated, especially over spilled milk…or not enough milk. However, any content being shared online about your business should be considered gold. Your customers are sharing what they feel will make your business even better than you already think it is. If it happens to be a piece of bad news, deal with it. Take a moment to collect your thoughts and get passed the the feeling of having been personally attacked. Acknowledge the problem and respond accordingly. But remember, your reaction will be public and everyone will see how you respond to criticism. Use that to your advantage.

Want specific tips on how to turn the tables on negative reviews or utilizing the power of social media? Contact us today for a free consultation!

And while you’re online, don’t forget to Like us on Facebook, Follow us on Twitter and join us across the web. Sign up for email updates, news bits and marketing tips.

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Pinterest lets you organize and share all the beautiful things you find on the web. People use pinboards to plan their weddings, decorate their homes, organize their favorite recipes, share artwork and more!

Join us on the newest and fastest growing social media site in the world; and keep up with our designs, projects, GoBrag places and everything New Nine Media!  Feel free to share your pinboards with us! Simply tag or tweet @NewNineMedia.

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Sign up now…we promise you won’t find this exclusive content anywhere else! Actually, you can probably use Google to find almost anything. But why go through the hassle?

The Blog-Search Engine Dance

When Google is looking at two substantially similar sites, it will usually put the one with a blog up higher than the completely static, never updated site. Adding regular, relevant, fresh content to your website can do wonders for your site over time.

So…you naturally want a blog.

Not So Fast, Hot Shot!

If not properly built or maintained, your blog can actually do more harm than good! Before you commit to having a blog, consider a few things:

• what will you write about?
• who will write it?
• how often will you update it?
• who will want to read it?

If you think that you can blog your way to the top of Google by pumping out keyword-rich, spammy crap that nobody wants to read, you’re sorely mistaken.

The Audience: Tips and Pitfalls

When writing for your blog, first consider who your audience is. If you’re pumping out garbage just to rank on Google and other search engines, with absolutely no consideration for actual human readers, we have news for you: there are 24,000 people at Google who want to make sure your site only shows up for humans who want to read it.

No real person wants to read a page stuffed with keywords that make no sense, which is also why Google and other search engines will actually penalize you if they find you jamming in keywords for no reason.

The best way to ensure success for your blog is to write good, quality content that people want to read. Those people will share it with their friends, buzz will grow, and Google will reward you by moving you up the search engines.

The Frequency: The Message You Send

We suck at blogging and we probably shouldn’t have one. Why? It’s because we are so busy with web design, social media marketing, email marketing, text messaging, etc that we don’t have a lot of time to write for the blog.

Unfortunately, visitors don’t see how busy we are. When a visitor lands on your blog and you have neglected it for weeks or months at a time (like we have), they don’t immediately assume you’re busy…they assume you’re out of business. (And if you think they’re going to call to verify it, you’re wrong – they’re going to leave and never come back!)

Blog too little, and you look like you’re not a real business. Blog too much, and you send the message that you have nothing better to do. (And why would they do business with someone nobody else is doing business with?!?!)

The trick is to only blog when you have something good to say, but also find that balance between “abandoned” and “annoying”.

How Often Should I Blog?

The absolute minimum is one blog post a month. If you’re running a weekly or monthly blog, be sure to stay consistent – the Monday morning blog or the first day of the month or whatever. People will come to expect it at a certain time when they know not to expect it often.

If you plan on blogging more than once a week, try not to blog more than once a day unless you absolutely have to. News websites and stock trading blogs have timeline, frequent updates and may need to update frequently throughout the day; restaurants, dentists, and attorneys don’t!

Blogging Is Hard Work

Before you decide to add a blog to your website, first ask yourself if you can write, if people will want to read what you write, if you can keep up with it, and if the time spent blogging is better spent trying to get new clients in other ways.

Do as we say, not as we do because, quite frankly, we have a blog because it’s expected that Chicago’s WordPress experts would naturally have a blog. Now we have to work extra hard just to prove to the world that we’re here, busy, and waiting for your call!

Traveler: “How do I get to [this intersection or place]?”
My Friend: “Oh…you can’t get there from here.”

It never failed – the traveler would leave perplexed and my friend would laugh at his own sick humor. After all, how can you not get there from here? No matter where you want to go, there is a way to get there!

The same is true with WordPress – you can always get there from here.

It’s a Framework, Stupid!

I know – we’re not supposed to insult you, but it’s the only way to get through to some of the hardcore, yet misguided, Drupal/Joomla/etc loyalists. The simple fact is that all of these CMS systems – WordPress, Drupal, and Joomla – are nothing more than PHP files that talk to MySQL databases. Each has a different table structure, list of core functions, and file structure, but at the end of the day…

…they are nothing more than PHP files and MySQL databases!

So can you get there from here in WordPress? Absolutely! The same way you get there from here in Joomla or Drupal – by digging in, getting your hands dirty, and writing some code.

In the end, WordPress, Drupal, and Joomla are merely frameworks that give you the ability to:

• quickly get a generic website up and running
• add functionality through plugins or modules with minimal or no coding
• easily add, edit, and remove content, pages, and blog posts

WordPress Is All Grown Up

Many old blogs and websites – as well as some old, stubborn programmers – will try to convince you that WordPress is just a blogging tool. While that may have been true in years past, WordPress has truly grown up in the past few years and is now a fully capable content management system.

Out of the box, WordPress can do a lot of amazing things. With a carefully built custom theme, WordPress can accommodate 90% of business website needs. But can it do more? Absolutely!

With some careful thought, planning, and programming, you can make WordPress do anything that Drupal, Joomla, or even a custom built site can do. Real time stock quotes? You bet! Restaurant menus? Video blogs? News and press releases? Yep! Multiple contact forms, surveys, and sign-up forms? No problem!

And the best part about WordPress? It has the best, easiest to use back-end so that you spend less time wrestling with your website and more time focusing on your business. If you can use Microsoft Word and email, you can use WordPress!

Take a Second Look

If you looked at WordPress a few years ago, or are basing your opinion solely on what you’ve read on older websites, you should definitely take another look at WordPress.

Like we said – with today’s WordPress, you can definitely get there from here.

Enter Twitter, a social media tool used to send messages out to the masses (in 140 characters or less). Every day, millions of “tweets” are sent through cyberspace via computers and smart phones, by individuals and businesses, politicians and celebrities, from Chicago to London and everywhere in between.  Millions of photos, videos, websites, and comments shouted out to anyone and everyone.  There’s a good chance someone is tweeting about your business this very moment.  Are you making any noise to show you’re alive?

Many companies use Twitter for constant communication with customers, letting them know that they’re message is so important, it’s everywhere.  Tweeting allows companies, organizations, and individuals to be noticed by their followers, even if it’s for just a few seconds.  Take this tweet for example:

Bam! Hundreds of our followers are now instantly connected to GoBrag, the app that lets you earn rewards at the places you already frequent.  Have a follower “re-tweet” your tweet, and now all of their followers see your message too.  Tweets from companies can show followers a livelier side to the business, and cater to a younger demographic that finds itself embedded in social media.

As early as March of this year, nearly 175 million people had Twitter account.  Chances are if you’re making noise, whistling, tweeting…a new customer is listening.  So get out there and whistle while you work!  Let everyone know what your company is up to and why everyone should be following your brand.  Heck, even Bashful could muster up a few tweets here and there.