How do you measure the success of your brand's social media efforts? It depends on your goal.It's tempting to simply look at your fan and follower count; however, unless your only goal is to win a popularity contest, it's not always the best way to measure success. For example, retailers don't measure the success of their store solely by the number of people that walk through the door.It's important to differentiate activity from results. Gathering fans is an activity; whether or not those fans sign up for your newsletter or respond to your offer and buy your product is a result.So whether your brand is already using social media or you're just about to jump into social media, it's important to remember to approach it with a clear strategy. Figure out what you want from social media, set an attainable goal, use the medium in a way that will benefit your brand and help you reach that goal, and then measure your success.Read more here.
In light of the current logo uproars faced by both GAP and MySpace, now is an opportune time to address the perennial graphic design question asked of advertisers: Can you make the logo bigger?We've all heard it. There are even several spoofs about it on YouTube. But, making the logo bigger isn't a branding strategy. It's just a logo - not a way to get into the hearts and minds of today's fragmented consumers who need to be engaged with your brand.If you think your logo is too small, stop and ask yourself these questions: 1. Is the ad on strategy and memorable? 2. Does it stop the reader and engage them with an offer or information that piques their interest?If the answers are "yes," customers will want to know where they can get your product or service. Aha, the logo. It doesn't matter what size it is or if it's even in the ad. In fact, according to Hey Whipple Squeeze This by Luke Sullivan, ads without any logos at all are often the most powerful. Why? Customers don't buy logos, they buy benefits.
You're probably familiar with terms like graphic design and website design, but what about user-experience (UX) design? What does this encompass?UX strives to create interfaces that meet users' needs, no matter what the platform - website, mobile site or iPad app. UX designers translate business goals into easy-to-use tools for users. They work meticulously, deliberately and step-by-step to fulfill those goals.For instance, when redesigning a website, UX designers consider the site from the user's perspective. They collaborate to organize the site map and then draw up graphically spare wireframes to show where things should live, what the purpose of each section should be, and the overall paths a user should follow - all while regularly checking in with the programmers to make sure they're not trying to build the impossible.Only after the website's entire architecture is laid out does the graphic design work begin. No one builds a house without a blueprint, and UX design is no different. It lets companies focus on how customers will use their website and ensures that few (if any) surprises will occur by the time a site launches because the structure and flow were thought through beforehand.
It's a two-dimensional bar code usually called a QR (Quick Response) code. Created in the early 1990s for inventory tracking, QR codes are now used in B2C and B2B marketing. QR codes store information that can easily be deciphered by open-source software, readily available for all camera/smart phones. Marketers infuse the code with a URL, which sends the user to some compelling content (mobile site or video). Then they place the code in a print ad, an out-of-home ad or a billboard to allow user interaction. If you haven't noticed them on advertisements around the country, you soon will. How does it work? Go to the app store on your smart phone and search for QR Reader. Download a free app and launch it. Point your phone's camera at the QR code above to find the answer to this trivia question:Q. What ubiquitous, medical measuring device was invented in 1862 by Dutchman Hermann Snellen?