Social Media Has Little Impact on Online Retail Purchases

So if you know me, you know I don't believe that headline, but this was an article posted by Mashable this week. Check it out here.

So of course I had a client that forward this to me and I thought I'd take the time to share my response as I feel it's very valuable to all the retailers out there who read this.

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What I keep reading is that Facebook and mobile commerce will become more acceptable sooner than later. Now we use social media to find our market and convince them our brand is a good resource to follow while building awareness and influence. Plus the well educated consumers are wanting to make smarter purchasing decisions, look for deals and share them: the new age referral.

Check out this survey from IBM>. Most people are simply following companies to get offers and deals.

Social media as about providing instant customer service, building brand loyalty and trust. TV commercials, magazines, newspapers and radio ads don't provide any of that or directly lead sales either. What it's about is finding out how people like to be communicated with, and its different for everyone; some via email and some via Facebook and Twitter as they can filter to their liking. So bottom line, you have to be where the people are and converse with them.

Although consumers might not be going directly from the social media platform to make a purchase, there is still a good chance that social media efforts DO influence purchase decisions. More and more people are looking for retail solutions that allow them to pay via mobile and social sites...and if you ask me, that's the next "big thing".

Website Launch - ROUND ROOM PRODUCTIONS

LOGO, BRAND AND NEW WEBSITE JUST LAUNCHED!

Blooming Footprint was asked by Round Room Productions to create a clean and professional brand and website that would appeal to corporate clients seeking production services. There was an additional challenge as the concept of the company name was derived from the jam band Phish's song,'Round Room'. We were intrigued and inspired by the request and feel great about the results!

Your Brand, Your Way

An online presence for you business is an opportunity to establish a consistent brand through the various services and sites that you use. Branding is a simple concept: determining what distinguishes your business, and then marketing it consistently and persistently. Your brand then becomes your identity.

BLVD's Way
Blooming Footprint has been working on the BLVD brand for a few years now. From their main website, to their blog, Faceboook page and store, we are consistent in using logos, fonts, colors and style anywhere on the internet and in marketing collateral. This presents a clear and consistent identity while providing the information fans need in places where they can easily find it.

Is Branding Important?
Branding is essential in the current competitive business climate, and building an identity online might even be more important. There is a logical reason that what people do on the Web is called "surfing," not "reading." The Web is all about speed: take a look...click...that's not what I want...let me try this...click...no...click...not that...click...YES!

Think of a website as the ultimate "elevator pitch." An elevator pitch is a 30-second pitch that entices the prospect to want to hear more. You have to provide people with a compelling reason to go to your site and remain there rather than moving on to a competitor's site.

Communicating Your Brand Online
Your brand should be reflected in every facet of your online presence, from your website name to the colors you use. There are several factors to consider for a consistent online brand:

- Choose a web address that identifies your business and is easy to spell.
- Create a site layout and writing style that reflects your other marketing materials including colors, logos and even the font you use.
- Visitors want to know about the products or services you offer and how you differ from your competition.
- Tell your customers your company history, why you are in your industry and why you are the best!
- Get on the social media bus by starting a blog, joining social networks and engaging with others via forums or micro-blogging communities.
- Photos help reflect your company's culture, your staff and your products.
- Publish general information about your industry and expertise through the use of a blog or FAQ.
- Nothing can build a brand more effectively than satisfied customer testimonials.

Increase Your Visibility
After you grasp the big picture, you can then start being more creative in your space. Through the use of New Media you can shape your image and tell your brand's story, while building meaningful relationships that foster loyalty and promote advocacy. Create exclusive experiences for fans and loyal customers and reinforce those emotional attachment. A brand is now defined as the sum of all conversations taking place around it and these conversations are happening with or without you. You need to start paying attention and participate.

The Bottom Line
Remember, you're not coming up with a "whole new identity" for the Web. Instead, your web presence should reflect and reaffirm your company's existing brand. Keep in mind that every element of your site - logos, photos, colors, type style, writing style, and content - can contribute positively to your brand and win customers.

What's All This Chatter About Branding?

An online presence for your business is an opportunity to establish a consistent brand through the various services and sites that you use. Branding is a simple concept: determining what distinguishes your business, and then marketing it consistently and persistently. Your brand then becomes your identity.

Is Branding Important?
Branding is essential in the current competitive business climate, and building an identity online might even be more important. Your logo and website should be the #1 tool in the promotion of your business. There is a logical reason that what people do on the Web is called "surfing," not "reading." The Web is all about speed: take a look...click...that's not what I want...let me try this...click...no...click...not that...click...YES!

Think of a website as the ultimate "elevator pitch." An elevator pitch is a 30-second pitch that entices the prospect to want to hear more. You have to provide people with a compelling reason to go to your site and remain there rather than moving on to a competitor's site.

Communicating Your Brand Online
Your brand should be reflected in every facet of your online presence, from your website name to the colors you use. There are several factors to consider for a consistent online brand:

• Choose a web address that identifies your business and is easy to spell.


• Create a site layout and writing style that will be reflected in all of your online and offline marketing materials including the tone/voice, colors, logos and even the font you use.


• Visitors want to know about the products or services you offer and how you differ from your competition.


• Tell your customers your company history, why you are in your industry and why you are the best!


• Get on the social media bus by starting a blog, joining social networks and engaging with others via forums or micro-blogging communities.


• Photos and videos help reflect your company's culture, your staff and your products.


• Publish general information about your industry and expertise through the use of a blog or FAQ.


• Nothing can build a brand more effectively than satisfied customer testimonials.

Increase Your Visibility
After you grasp the big picture, you can then start being more creative in your space. Start listening to the conversations happening and get involved. Tracking this is really the hardest part and Blooming Footprint can help you. We can teach you to listen and lead these conversations, create brand awareness and visibility, gain consumer insight while measuring the effectiveness. It is imperative to establish a dialog with your potential customers, know what is being said about your industry and competitors while being transparent to gain information about the personality, preferences and points of view of your potential customers.

The Bottom Line
Remember, you're not coming up with a "whole new identity" for the Web. Instead, your web presence should reflect and reaffirm your company's existing brand. Keep in mind that every element of your site - logos, photos, colors, type style, writing style, and content - can contribute positively to your brand and win customers.

Optimize Your Blog for 2010

If you have a brand or a business, you should be blogging. This is one of the best and easiest ways to generate fresh, up to date content for your site and keep people coming back.

1. Find your own niche and try to be as unique as you can. Creative and thought provoking topics create interest and clearly defines who your audience is. You should always blog with your core audience in mind.

2. Use attention grabbing titles and relevant keywords. Anything you can do to grab users attention will help grow your audience. This also includes graphics, video and links you can find to relevant blogs.

3. Comment on popular blogs in your niche to make a name for yourself out there. Link back to the original stories in your own blog to give recognition and share the knowledge.

4. Make sure to have RSS (real simple syndication) and subscription buttons available at the top of your blog in the sidebar. This makes it easy for visitors to subscribe to your content and for your to track them. You will need to add these buttons yourself, but with services like Feedburner, it's not very difficult...mostly a copy and paste job. It's now owned by Google and is available with any Gmail account.

5. Post often and get on a regular schedule. If people are interested in what you have to say, they will appreciate consistency. Post weekly, bi-weekly or monthly, but stick to a schedule.

6. Use your networks to get the word out about your new posts. Market each post on Twitter, Facebook, directories and bookmarking sites.

7. Don't give up. Blogging is sometimes tedious, boring, monotonous and downright draining. Keep your ultimate goal in mind of educating and growing your audience and keep on truckin'.

Welcome to Blooming Footprint!

***REPOST FROM JUNE 2009: NEW BLOG SITE!***
Amy & Katie have joined forces to create a cutting-edge, comprehensive, brand management firm. After working hand-in-hand on the marketing and PR for the band BLVD, they instantly recognized their like-mindedness and complimentary skill-sets. It became evident that brands, businesses and bands could all benefit from their combined talents and contacts both on & off-line. They had no choice but to jump in feet first!

OK, enough of talking about ourselves in the third person!!

'So what is this all about?' you might be asking yourself. Well, a FOOTPRINT is everything an organization creates both on and off-line that is available for the public to view...logos, websites, social networks, blogs and even messaging. Through the use of dynamic content, social media strategies, campaigns and untraditional outreach, we are able to help any FOOTPRINT BLOOM based on the businesses individual needs and goals.

For more info and even a picture for you visual folks, please check out our official website and our comprehensive list of services. You'll notice a few "Coming Soons", so please check back often. You know Katie is already out there networking, so please become a fan of Blooming Footprint on Facebook and of course, follow us on Twitter...you never know when Amy might make an appearance ; ) We are just rolling all this out today and could use the love!

We want to thank all of you out there for your support of our new endeavor and of course your referrals are always welcome.

Here's to making YOUR footprint bloom!!!
Amy & Katie