Navigating the New Facebook Timeline Effectively for Business

Posted by Steve Pollack     No Comments     Tags:
5/07/12  Facebook is now the most popular social media networking tool in the world with over 845 million active users, and over 100 billion connections as of 2012. In September 2011 the new ‘Facebook Timeline’ was unveiled, and is now available to all users. To keep up with modernizing social media platforms and user capabilities, Facebook [...]
Continue reading this post >
5/07/12  Facebook is now the most popular social media networking tool in the world with over 845 million active users, and over 100 billion connections as of 2012. In September 2011 the new ‘Facebook Timeline’ was unveiled, and is now available to all users. To keep up with modernizing social media platforms and user capabilities, Facebook has slowly begun converting its users and will eventually convert your business page! Is your company’s Facebook page ready for this radical change? Let SoftMirage provide you with useful insight to effectively navigate through the new Facebook timeline.

Aim for the Big Picture

The timeline is a new kind of profile that lets you highlight photos, events, and experiences to tell a story. The way the timeline organizes your past postings is by year, and from there it showcases the most important events and postings. Take this as an opportunity to record notable milestones in your company’s business so that Facebook emphasizes the successes and truly significant events you’ve posted throughout the years. Share an interesting story with your fans and the entire community at any given point of time on your company’s timeline.

Smart Cover Photos

A hot new feature on the new Facebook timeline is the ‘cover photo.’ The cover photo is a large image of your choice located on the top of your timeline, above your profile picture. These images are public, and anyone visiting your timeline will be able to view this image.

Be smart and use a meaningful image that is visually appealing and interesting. Carefully select a cover photo to showcase an important aspect of your business. Companies choose images that are often logos, sale banners, event promotions, or images of their products and services. Update your cover photo every once in a while, just like you do with your profile image.

Navigating the new ‘Admin Panel’

Manage everything in one place with the new ‘Admin Panel’ located in the header of your Facebook page. Your notifications are consolidated in one place for easy access and viewing, right at the top of your timeline. The new user ‘likes’ allows you to see who has recently ‘liked’ your page, giving you the opportunity to reach out to these potential clients, and even direct message them! Direct messaging capabilities have changed and do not allow for mass messaging, so this significantly cuts down on spamming.

The business insights section of the admin panel produces a convenient, color-coded line graph that displays the regularity of your posts, who’s posting about you, and your company’s outreach frequency. This section provides you with the latest trends on your profile activity, and we highly recommend you take advantage of this useful tool.

SoftMirage provides a wide range of social media services for businesses, including Facebook services. SoftMirage can create completely customized Facebook Fanpages that are fully branded to fit any business.  Contact SoftMirage today for further inquiry, and our specialized team of social media experts can help build your business.

Speak your mind.

Reflections on Quarter 1 and Looking Ahead to Quarter 2

Posted by Steve Pollack     No Comments     Tags: Economic Recovery, Marketing Solutions, Quarter 1 2012, Quarter 2 2012
4/10/12  After almost four year of economic recession, the strains of Auld Lang Syne that welcomed 2012 were sung with exuberant hope. This year held promise and, indeed, it appears to be living up to the anticipation by some people’s estimation. Others approach the good news with a grain of salt bearing in mind the seeming [...]
Continue reading this post >
4/10/12  After almost four year of economic recession, the strains of Auld Lang Syne that welcomed 2012 were sung with exuberant hope. This year held promise and, indeed, it appears to be living up to the anticipation by some people’s estimation. Others approach the good news with a grain of salt bearing in mind the seeming recovery in spring 2011 which quickly plunged against the backdrop of the Euro Zone crisis that wasn’t resolved until early this year.

Quarter 1 Reflection

If one examines the data for Quarter 1 alone, it appears the US economy is doing well. Home sales are up due to the extension of historically low mortgage rates and first-time home buyer tax breaks, and thanks to warm weather trends, retail sales have continued to grow beyond the typical holiday boost through the first few months of the year. The stock market rallied and the Dow Jones had managed to remain above the 13,000 mark for more than a few hours at a time. These positive indicators were tempered by 8.3% unemployment holding steady through January and February; however, the outlook was generally positive.

Quarter 2 Projections

The first weeks of Quarter 2 have been marred by the latest unemployment report. After a preliminary report by ADP indicated a significant decrease in the unemployment rate in the U.S., the official 8.2% was underwhelming. With only one tenth of a percent decrease, experts are concerned that the country may not be on the mend but rather the official report may be an anomaly in a growing unemployment rate. This, along with uncertainty about China’s economic future, has affected the stock market; however, many are still cautiously optimistic that the recovery seen throughout Q1 will continue in Q2, especially in the housing and retail sectors. There is even evidence which supports the fact that the slight decrease in the unemployment rate indicates the overall trend, with 30% of employers seeking to increase their rosters of full-time employees this quarter. This percentage is up from 24% in Q1, according to a CareerBuilder.com report.

Summary

Quarter 1 showed some solid indications of improvement and there is little reason to think that Quarter 2 won’t continue, if more modestly, in that vein. While there is some potential concern regarding the stock market’s reaction to Asian market projections, key indicators of true economic growth appear to be headed in the right direction. It appears that recovery is on the horizon.

Is Your Company Prepared for Recovery?

Have you reviewed your existing website and print materials lately? Are you considering starting a new business? With the economy recovering, now is a great time to refresh your marketing strategy or realign your marketing materials for consistent branding. SoftMirage offers numerous solutions for a wide variety of businesses. Contact us today to learn more about our services.

To view SoftMirage’s latest work, visit our recently updated portfolio.

Speak your mind.

WordPress- Not Just Another Blog

Posted by Steve Pollack     No Comments     Tags:
3/07/12  WordPress is a free and open source blogging platform and content management system (CMS). It has many advanced features including plug-in options, template systems, social media integration, customizable themes, and multi-user capabilities. WordPress is currently the most popular CMS in use on the Internet. Custom Theme Development – Wordpress.com versus Wordpress.org WordPress.com provides theme choices from existing [...]
Continue reading this post >
3/07/12  WordPress is a free and open source blogging platform and content management system (CMS). It has many advanced features including plug-in options, template systems, social media integration, customizable themes, and multi-user capabilities. WordPress is currently the most popular CMS in use on the Internet.

Custom Theme Development – Wordpress.com versus Wordpress.org

WordPress.com provides theme choices from existing templates that are standard to all users. While this option works fine for some, the design options are very limited and not recommended for business website integration.

WordPress.org is highly customizable. WordPress.org gives users much more control over their blogs and pages for more robust designs and advanced functionality. Utilizing the full capabilities of WordPress.org takes more skill and time than the WordPress.com templates. SoftMirage utilizes WordPress.org to create custom blogs, web pages, and even entire sites that are individualized for each client. Our theme customizations break away from a generic, one-size-fits all model. SoftMirage’s creative team builds visually stunning WordPress pages that match your branding for integration into your website. Integrating WordPress pages onto your site allows your users to read your blog and other WordPress pages without navigating away from your primary site.

Social Media Integration and SEO Optimization
WordPress pages can be an effective way to achieve a comprehensive SEO (Search Engine Optimization) strategy. Optimizing your search engine results is a crucial component for driving traffic to your website. WordPress pages help increase your rankings due to more frequently updated content on your website. This is only one piece of the SEO puzzle, but it will positively impact your visibility on search engines.
Commentary feedback capabilities are beneficial for building an interactive site. Allowing users to comment on your blogs (with your moderation) enables you to communicate directly with site visitors on a variety of subjects. Please note that this will only help users perception of your business if you or your assistant is able to invest the time to maintain the commentary and respond meaningfully. If you are not willing or able to maintain the feedback, it is best to not enable this functionality.

Social media networking sites can be synced together to automatically release new WordPress postings simultaneously. This means you can publish a blog on your website and all of your social media networking accounts will automatically be updated. Social media notifications will allow your friends and followers to see that you’ve just posted a new blog. This will direct traffic directly to your website.

Contact SoftMirage today for WordPress Services

SoftMirage offers a variety of professional WordPress services. Our highly skilled creative team of graphic designers creates bold, distinctive designs for fully branded websites that fit your company’s aesthetic. SoftMirage’s social media team also offers specialized services for continuous blogging and social media maintenance. We offer monthly or weekly blogging services, as well as routine social media maintenance programs that can fit the specific needs of your business.

Contact SoftMirage today for more information and a free consultation about our WordPress.org services.

Speak your mind.

Effective E-mail Strategies for Business

Posted by Steve Pollack     No Comments     Tags:
2/14/12   Website Domain The first impression your business makes on its customers is crucial. It is highly recommended that you use your registered business domain name in email addresses to emphasize the company’s professionalism. (The domain name is the part of the email that follows the “@” symbol.) Content Formatting Business emails should always be concise and easy to [...]
Continue reading this post >
2/14/12  

Website Domain

The first impression your business makes on its customers is crucial. It is highly recommended that you use your registered business domain name in email addresses to emphasize the company’s professionalism. (The domain name is the part of the email that follows the “@” symbol.)

Content Formatting

Business emails should always be concise and easy to read. The format of emails should be clearly outlined with appropriate spacing and page breaks especially in lengthy emails. Be sure to use plain text in common fonts with a simple signature line in all business emails. The inclusion of fancy graphics, fonts, and backgrounds can take up unnecessary storage space in the recipient’s inbox and may load slowly or not at all.

Consistent Signature Incorporation

At the end of all business emails always use the same signature, no matter what. It is common to have signatures that include links and other modes of contact. Consistency is key as your signature emphasizes your company’s professionalism. As a precaution, be sure to test your email signature on a smart phone.

Marketing and Advertising

Consider creating E-newsletters to fully utilize the advertising capabilities for your business email. E-newsletters are an inexpensive and highly effective, serving as both a marketing and branding tool. These newsletters can be sent to a large range of clientele and should include both current and potential clients. Sending out regular newsletters to your customers keeps your company in their mind increasing the likelihood of repeat business and referrals. The content should feature products and services and also highlight company news and promotions.

Need Help?

Do you want to align your branding with your emails but are unsure how to do it? Contact SoftMirage today to see the variety of marketing and branding solutions we offer our clients. We look forward to working with you!

Speak your mind.

3D Rendering and Visualization Specialization

Posted by Steve Pollack     No Comments     Tags:
2/14/12  SM Sold provides unique real estate marketing solutions that utilize premiere services in 3D architectural visualization and design. Our creative team of professional graphic artists works precisely with a keen sense of interior design to create stunning visualizations, illustrative models and 3D renderings that are completely customized. SM Sold can work with your commercial, residential, or [...]
Continue reading this post >
2/14/12  SM Sold provides unique real estate marketing solutions that utilize premiere services in 3D architectural visualization and design. Our creative team of professional graphic artists works precisely with a keen sense of interior design to create stunning visualizations, illustrative models and 3D renderings that are completely customized.

SM Sold can work with your commercial, residential, or industrial properties to give you the ultimate virtual visualization experience. 3D walkthroughs, interior/exterior design modeling, landscape plans, and structural renovations are just a few of the many customizable solutions we have to offer. Comprehensive virtual model homes include interior and exterior designs are completely modified to fit your ideal color schemes and patterns.

Expertise in architectural design offers infinite options of highly styled visual representations that are constructed based on your preferences. You are in complete control, as all of your desired building materials and color palates can be applied to your one-of-a-kind model. Our 3D renderings and illustrative models allow you to see your desired architectural and structural designs before they are built. SM sold can personalize your space providing the most accurate and realistic visualizations of any property.

Contact SM Sold today for more information on our services in design visualization and 3D rendering at: www.smsold.com

Speak your mind.
Page 1 of 7 12345 > Last