Sociatic

Posts Tagged ‘brand communication’

Posted on July 27, 2011 - by Kwame

Cinemagraphs; The Ultimate Invention for Future Online Branding and Marketing

Recently, there has been some buzz surrounding cinemagraphs; still photos with some animated areas. Many people may see cinemagraphs as just works of art/creativity but I see a future where they are used by businesses to introduce their products or employees online.

Below are some examples of cinemagraphs. Click on the images to visit their sources:

1) Could wine and beverage companies be using cinemagraphs to make their products look more appealing on their websites? I bet they can!

2) Can’t grocery shops be using cinemagraphs on their websites to show the freshness of their groceries? I bet they can!

3) Can’t fashion houses be using cinematics to reveal their latest designs? I bet they can!

4) What about phone companies? Can they use a cinemagraph like the one below and say something like, “You just can’t stop using it”? I bet they can!

5) And I bet make-up artists and/ cosmetic sellers can have a cinematic similar to the one below and have a thought bubble over the woman’s head, saying something like, “The new Sociatic lip-stick is fantastic! Henry will love this!” and then there’ll be a link to that exact lip-stick?

Okay, maybe I was a little biased with the “Sociatic lip-stick” thing but I guess you got my point.

I don’t believe there is an easier way to use cinemagraphs all over a site that carries thousands of products. Just one cinemagraph on the homepage or one in each product category might work well.

If it is used to introduce every new product a manufacturer makes,

1) Will it be more sharable across social media? Yes!

2) Will it appeal to people more than just using regular photos? Yes!

3) Will it increase sales? Maybe! Just like video, I don’t see it being a miracle invention! You need to be creative with it in order to get the best out of it but I trust that it will be a better tool than regular (still) images.

So, I have got some work for you to do. Share this post across the social web and let’s see your friends reactions. Do you believe cinemagraphs will be used in future online marketing? Do you think it should? I will like to know what you also think.

If you enjoyed reading this post, subscribe to the RSS feed so that you don’t miss future articles. In my next post, I will be sharing a free landing page template with you. Don’t miss it!

Post thumbnail image source

Posted on July 29, 2010 - by Kwame

How to Effectively Communicate Your Online Brand

Do you know that communication can make or break your business? Many people think business communication is easy but it really isn’t. There is more to it than just words.

Communication is an essential tool for building your business and brand online. It actually has a direct relationship with content development and content marketing.

If you have an email list and social media community, you’ll need to know how to communicate with them.

In order to communicate effectively, there are nine questions you’ll need to ask yourself:

Who is the message for?
What relationship do you have with your target audience?
What is the actual message?
Will your message be useful to your audience?
Is the timing right?
What barriers are you likely to encounter?
What communication channel will you use?
What feedback are you likely to get?
How will you work with the feedback?

Basically, there are 4 characters involved in the communication process; the sender, the receiver, the message itself and channels.

Many people assume communication as a system that only has to do with words

The roles of the sender include:

Developing the appropriate message/content for his audience: I once came across a college Twitter account with an update that said something like, “Get 1,000 followers in not time. Click here” or so. Please don’t do this. I was shocked when I saw it.

Identifying channels for content distribution. Channels include: e-mail, social media and video sites such as Facebook, Twitter, Youtube, LinkedIn, etc., whitepapers, ebooks, etc.

Identifying barriers that may hinder the purpose of the message. Likely barriers include email filtering (to prevent spam), nature of your list (e.g. demographics, income levels, etc.) and language.

Analyzing response: The kind of feedback you get will let you know how effective your message was. This is an essential part that is actively being considered by both new and old businesses.

As the sender, you have many tasks on your hand and you should make sure to follow through the above roles if you want to be effective. For example, once you identify appropriate channels for certain types of messages, you’ll not have to worry about what type of message to communicate and how to deliver it.

The receiver’s roles include:

Consuming message
Sharing message to other people who may be interested
Giving Feedback
Doing any other thing the message asks them to do.

The receiver has the magic wand when it comes to sharing and acting on your content.

Your message could be any of these types:

Newsy
Sales pitch
Survey/feedback request
Tips/tutorials

Messages can serve the following purposes:

Inform
Educate
Convince

Messages can be converted to the following formats:

Video
Audio
Document files; .PDF, .doc, .txt, etc.
Graphic; .gif, .jpg, .png, etc.
Regular text/ undocumented text
Regular speech

Channels are paths for communication; email, social media, telephone, TV, Radio, etc..

The channels I currently use to communicate Sociatic are Q&A sites, Twitter, LinkedIn, Junta42, Social Media Today, Bizsugar, Delicious, Google Buzz, blogs (via this blog and via guest posting on other blogs) etc.

When you identify and recognize the communication process like this, you can easily convince and convert your leads into sales.

Let me know if I left something out.

Posted on July 21, 2010 - by Kwame

Download: Sociatic Brand Communication Resource

Hello everyone. I have packaged some of my best blog posts into a tidy PDF so that you could read them offline and share them if you want. Yes, it is just for you so go ahead and download your copy. It is FREE.

The PDF shares 10 posts from this blog. All articles talk about marketing; branding, social media, etc.

It is easily sharable (incase you want to show it to your friends or colleagues) so go ahead and share it as much as you like. Your audience will thank you for giving them a valuable resource.

Click on this link to start your download.

P.S., I am available for hire if you want to have something like this for your blog or business. Get in touch.