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Give it up for Facebook and their latest marketing stunt: Vanity URL’s.

Within hours, Facebook wrangled about 6 million people to convert their profile URL from,

this: www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1128085240
to this: www.facebook.com/ericmiltsch

Does this help you? Sure, maybe you feel better now that your name isn’t a number. Personally, I haven’t seen my Facebook profile move up in the search results.

Who does this help? Facebook. They’re hoping everyone forwards their address to everyone not on Facebook. Imagine if half of those 6 million people sends their new URL to 25 Facebook noobs. That’s 75,000,000 new, warm referrals. Imagine if your business got 75mm warm leads. For free.

Want to beat Facebook at their own game? Here’s two ways to make either your personal, or professional brand, just a little different from everyone else. And that little bit can go a long way.

Collateral full movie Shorten your URL using any site that shrinks URL’s with the ability to customize and provide tracking. Several sites will do the trick – for this example I’ll show you what I did using BudURL.com’s service a few months ago.

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Radio Flyer divx I changed my original long URL to this: http://budurl.com/fbem. The last four characters signify ‘Facebook Eric Miltsch’

Other examples follow the same naming convention for consistency:

budurl.com/dgem | Digg

budurl.com/dlem | Delicious

budurl.com/viem | Vimeo

budurl.com/twem | Twitter

budurl.com/suem | Stumbleupon

Another easy way is to purchase your own custom domain name and simply forward it to your social profile site, such as: EricMiltschOnFacebook.com or some other variation.

You need to do everything possible to promote your personal or professional brand – put your name(s) first.

We’ll see what happens in a couple of weeks when Facebook Pages can get their Vanity URL’s as well.

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Google Buzz

wegmans new logo 4 Ways to Create A Successful Online Presence

I recently had the honor of presenting a case study to the executive management team from Wegmans. For those not familiar, Wegmans is the pinnacle of grocery shopping, having created a shopping experience unlike any other.

People leaving the Rochester area actually include Wegmans as a must-have when deciding where to move.

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The case study presented include some of the online technology solutions and social media guidelines I created for Auction Direct USA. Regardless of the market segment, basic underlying tenets can be applied to creating and managing a successful online campaign.

Create A Unique Online Experience

  • Does the design stand out above your competitors?
  • Is your website memorable?
  • Are key items easily called out and identifiable?
  • Can visitors provide instant feedback?
  • Are you leveraging social channels and tools to extend your online reach?

Create a Continuous Improvement Process

  • Are you actually listening to your visitors feedback and comments?
  • Are you gaining real-time feedback with questions and polls via blogs and micr-blogging platforms?
  • Who will manage customer feedback; is there an escalation process?
  • Is the feedback directed to the appropriate contacts and departments?
  • Is your online brand being managed  (ie: Brand mentions, keywords and competitors?)

Create Metrics to Measure Performance & Ensure Growth

  • Have you implemented a management process to measure past performance, marketing results and benchmarks for your segment?
  • Are you measuring traffic performance with items such as visitor locations, exit/entry locations and bounce rates?
  • Are you monitoring analytics to ensure efficient web activity? (ie: Key sections, effective ad channels, conversions)

Create a Social Media Presence with Specific Objectives

  • Activities on the major networks are a must: Facebook, Flickr, Twitter & YouTube
  • Communicate the overall plans with your internal staff; be sure everyone is on the same page
  • Keep the message congruent between online & offline channels – consistency is so important
  • Emphasize your visitors – not you or your company; create authority, build confidence and earn their trust
  • Develop specific objectives and measure them. (ie: New sign-ups, leads, appointments, revenue, etc.)

What has helped improve your online presence?

erics ramblings2 4 Ways to Create A Successful Online Presence

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Google Buzz
.!.

happy sad faces 300x225 The Message is Key...Not the Tools Delivering itAre people more concerned with the tools being used to deliver their message, than the message itself?

Join my Facebook fan page! Hey, are you on Linkedin? What’s your twitter name? These are usually the first statements/questions people make while attempting to”Network.”

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Are you only interested in boosting your numbers? Or, do you want to build relationships and connect with people who can be an advocate for your product or service as well?

What will you post on your LinkSpaceBook Group Page? What will you send from your iBerryPhone? How will you engage people from your Tweesmictwhirldeck app?

  • How do you improve things for customers?
  • How are you truly being unique? (And I don’t mean re-purposing your competitor’s items)
  • What makes your customer experience memorable?

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The right message determines your success. Not the color of your desktop messenger’s skin.

What Did Eric Say?

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7 Ways To Prevent #FF from Jumping The Shark

05.16.2009

ShareEvery Friday on twitter, you’ll find an a endless supply of recommended people to follow. If you’ve ever seen a tweet begin with #FF or #FollowFriday – that’s what its all about.  Its a brilliant idea and a very unique way to use twitter; @micah is the bright guy who came up with the concept.
An [...]

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How To Make Something Awesome

04.29.2009

Eric Miltsch reviews MotorMouths.com, a website that is changing the way online car shoppers find vehicle reviews and ratings

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13 Ways To Get Quality Followers on Twitter

04.23.2009

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Let’s define quality twitter followers – everyone wants them. A quality follower for me:

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Follows back
Has a full bios with link(s)
Engages and participates
Has a nice balance of self-promotion & re-tweeting
Has positive energy

Keep in mind, my activities center around providing valuable automotive content, among other things, to help consumers. I’m always trying new stuff, always [...]

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Effective & Simple Social Media Strategies

03.24.2009

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One of my new friends and contacts from Raleigh, Kipp Bodnar, invited me to share some ideas with the Raleigh Social Media Breakfast today. (Thanks Kipp – great time!)
Here’s a quick overview of the items we discussed for your reference. The Raleigh SMB is now of my regular stops when I’m in town each month; [...]

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How To Use Social Tools Effectively

03.19.2009

ShareThe ways in which social networking tools are used continues to expand. As usage changes, the opportunities and benefits to the members within these communities also grows.
Perfect example. Michael Banovsky hatched an awesome idea which brought together an instant community of car consumers, fanatics and professionals.  Some people even fell into all three categories; myself [...]

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CEO Interview: PitchEngine's Jason Kintzler

03.15.2009

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Today’s social media technologies make it easy to connect with great people. Last year, I met Jason Kintzler, Founder of PitchEngine.com and was immediately impressed with his new start up.
Jason is shaking up the PR world with his Social Media Release solution.  The SMR is a cost effective, easy to use solution that I recommend [...]

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