-
10 Mar 2010
Today's word of mouth takes place in a digital landscape where word of mouth is now encapsulated in 140 characters, 200 at a stretch. Reputations can be built or damaged on those vital words shared amongst your network, your clients, your colleagues, and/or your competitors. In many professional industries the concept of a globalized community has not fully sunk in, and many still believe that if they don't "surf" the Internet or give information online, then there's no mention of their name or business anywhere on the web.
Nothing could be further from the truth!
Yesterday's Business is Today's History...
Tags:
social media, legal news, online, internet, marketing, business, professional profiles
Full story |
-
25 Feb 2010
It's nothing unusual when a company wants to put their name in front of as many people as possible.Sometimes it's not for the hard sale, sometimes is just for awareness. It's great when people who see your brand for the first time become interested in your products or services and start to ask the right questions. To think that business nowadays simply happens because you tell people to buy your product or service is unrealistic. Today consumers are much more educated, having access to tools that not only share information on your product or service, but the ability to crowdsource ...
Tags:
SXSW, San Antonio, technology, social media, online community, co-working
Full story |
-
08 Feb 2010
A quick glance on a Twitter stream, or perhaps a Facebook and you’ll probably see mentions of Foursquare with a person’s location, or perhaps a small graphic detailing, with an address, just where another person is, using Gowalla. These location based tools are frightening to some and a welcome to others, but like any emerging technology, is fun and interesting to play with. Currently the heavy hitters mentioned above will soon be joined by updates to other programs that offer similar services, Loopt and Yelp. Knowing where you are is always nice, but knowing where you are in ...
Tags:
Foursquare, Gowalla, Loopt, location based services, marketing, advertising, online community
Full story |
-
27 Jan 2010
There was a time, not long ago, when websites became the status quo for any business. Much like the California Gold Rush, businesses saw an opportunity to gain a foothold in the online space. What companies failed to understand is that websites were NOT meant to be static billboards, but rather a place to highlight their company with changing content every so often. What we saw years later was a digital scrap heap of sites that were abandoned, forgotten, and left unloved. The digital landscape is littered with these sites and for a company to think that is what you ...
Tags:
business, social media, social networks, relationships, community building
Full story |
-
08 Jan 2010
Social media has been marked as a branding tool, to establish your position with online communities who may
not be aware of the services or products you provide. It's also been marked as a marketing tool where interactions and customer comments have driven satisfaction to an all time high. With all we've seen in the last two years, it's hard to ignore the fact that online engagement has changed the way businesses and customers coexist. In most instances it's a positive change, and the this has further pushed the business relationship paradigm to shift.
People are fickle, it's a fact ...
Tags:
Dominos, branding, business, marketing, customer service, customer satisfaction
Full story |
-
05 Jan 2010
Blogging, whether for personal or business purposes, has taken on a life of its own in the world of new media. As popular as video and audio have become, writing seems to be the fundamental process that all of us go through when we want to share information. Blogs in general are meant to be conversational. Company blogs sometimes have a tough time defining themselves as they adjust the paradigm shift in how businesses interact with people today, but we're seeing more and more success with company blogs and the conversational tone they are using to gain support from the ...
Tags:
blogs, blog tips, internet, online, blog tags, blog categories
Full story |
-
15 Dec 2009
Please share what the holidays mean to you.
Tags:
Full story |
-
15 Dec 2009
Facebook has made some pretty big changes in the last year, more specifically this last quarter of the year. Some of these changes have had its fair share of critics, but in the end the changes have taken place and they are going to continue making more in the near future as the online numbers continue to swell in all demographic markets.
With its popularity continuing to rise, the social network has become more then even its own creators expected, and is interestingly becoming a hub for discussion, business, commerce, announcements, and more. I've always personally thought of it as ...
Tags:
online, community, Facebook, Facebook changes, social media, marketing, Facebook Pages
Full story |
-
08 Dec 2009
Before there was money, before there was product, even before there was media, there was us. We existed in a world that was big, unexplored, and limitless from our childlike perspective. We existed to connect with others, whether it kids in the neighborhood, or friends at school, our personal value existed solely on the idea of relationship building. This was the purest form of marketing who we were and what we had to offer. Some of us were intellectuals, some of us were jokers, but all in all, we brought value to the relationships we built.
Today we've grown ...
Tags:
social, media, relationships, branding, marketing, advertising, online, community,
Full story |
-
24 Nov 2009
Dr. Vartabedian has an online blog that offers some great advice for fellow physicians and doctors who may be dabbling in social media, especially in a blog post from last month called: Doctor-Patient Dialog on Social Media: A Bad Idea?. Here, Vartrabedian stresses that engaging in specific conversations about a patient’s medical health using social media tools, like a blog, is inappropriate and carries risks let alone exposes both parties to privacy violations. And yet, he also still makes it a point to stress how important it is for physicians to connect with their online E-patients.
So what is ...
Tags:
medical, health, health care, blog, doctor, doctors
online
social, media
medical, health, healthcare, blog, doctor, online, social, media
Full story |
-
20 Nov 2009
An often overlooked necessary piece to your social media strategy is the creation of a social media policy for your online interactions. Much like face to face brand representation, your online interactions should demand the same level of professionalism, expertise, and respect that you'd expect any employee to display in or out of the office. Still, because so many companies are scrambling to develop an internet presence beyond their website, the creation of a social media policy is skipped and can ultimately be the downfall of your online engagement efforts.
So what's the solution? What will a social media ...
Tags:
Social Media, Internet, Online, Community, Media, Branding, Marketing, Advertising, Conversation, Networks
Full story |
-
17 Nov 2009
You’re a business professional. You’ve been around the block a few times. You know that the planning of any project is crucial to its long term success. And sure, you want a new website. You want a really great website. You want a website that makes the right first impression. It does, after all, serve as your digital handshake. So why are you pushing your web developer to launch this great new site in record time?
Great websites take time to build. At GWT, our larger web development projects can take up to 90 days before they are ready to ...
Tags:
Website, Internet, Online, Designers, Site Design
Full story |
-
12 Nov 2009
Today’s post will quickly highlight some of the biggest mistakes bloggers make, whether it's personal or business related. Online communication via a blog has been a successful step for many that have ventured into this space. Focusing on all the effective methods for blog writing and promotion can truly help in the success, but ultimately your content will be decided upon by the audience that reads your blog.
Please note that these are generalized and
may not pertain to your own blog directly, but these seem to be the biggest problems seen online.
- Not using a self hosted blog
- Copying ...
Tags:
blog, blogs, internet, online, social media, communication, community, writer
Full story |
-
10 Nov 2009
Twitter, with its millions and millions of users online, has struck a deal
with multiple search engines and is now benefiting from the Internet
crawler experience. This will benefit marketers, advertisers, and users
alike by providing link-back benefits, mention benefits, and assuredly,
keyword benefits.
What's a crawler?
Stated simply is
the behind the scenes scanner that goes through web content looking for
specific keywords which ultimately help web content rank higher in
search engines. Considering how many Tweets go out daily, it's
surprising that Twitter and the search engines involved (
Bing, Google, Yahoo)
didn't seal this deal earlier. With more users coming on ...
Tags:
SEO, Internet, Online, Google, Bing, Yahoo, Search Engine, Twitter
Full story |
-
05 Nov 2009
October was a strong month for our clients as they saw the implementation of their new sites, and the development of online social engagement campaigns that have driven both traffic and business to their site and locations respectively. Last month we saw Friends of the Alamo and San Antonio Children's Museum both launch a successfully designed and functional sites to further catapult their brand to not just existing supporters, but attract the eyes of new fans.
Internally we've seen the development of some amazing online articles targeting the legal, small business and health industries. Our clients are important to us ...
Tags:
Internet, Online, Articles, Business, Marketing, Healthcare, Medical, Technology, Social
Full story |
-
03 Nov 2009
SEO is vital for any industry with an online presence. Ensuring your online community can find your website can convert users to patients when content is clear, relevant, and easy to find. Too often medical doctors become concerned and frustrated when their medical practice does not come up during a standard Google search.
Dr. X to Healthcare Marketer: “I do 45% of the procedures in the city; I presented at the national conference last month; I took care of that NBA player when he was in town; I see patients 7 days a week! Why doesn’t the name ...
Tags:
doctor, medical, health, healthcare, internet, hospital, SEO, search engine
Full story |
-
28 Oct 2009
In years past blogging was simply looked at as a past time, something a person did to get their thoughts from their head and onto something that could record it. As more and more people began to seek out blogs for information and news, larger players started paying attention and incorporating them into their day today. Now there is no doubt that blogging has established itself in mainstream digital culture with both business and personal uses have found a way to coexist in the blogosphere.
When we write we stand to build credibility, reliability, and trust. Our readers are ...
Tags:
Attribution, Blogging, Writing, Building Trust, Social Media, Networks, Online Community, SEO, Post Ranking
Full story |
-
26 Oct 2009
H1N1 is top of mind for most parents these days. It certainly is the top of the newscast each night. Many hospitals are making it the top of their social media strategy. Part marketing and part social service, messaging around H1N1 is vital to keep our communities informed and up to date on the latest news around this epidemic.
If you’re a hospital marketer and you’re not sure how to begin communicating with your community on H1N1, visit: http://www.cdc.gov/SocialMedia/Campaigns/H1N1/. There you will find some excellent tools to add your website such as buttons you add to your website to ...
Tags:
Hospital, Medical, Doctor, HealthCare, Social Media, Online Community, H1N1, Swine Flu, Epidemic, Crisis Management, Health Risk
Full story |
-
23 Oct 2009
Today we're pleased to announce the launch of the San Antonio Children's Museum's web site. http://www.sakids.org/
Anyone who visits this new website can count on staying for quite a while and adding a few more bookmarks to their browser. SAKids.org is jam-packed with activity and facility information, driving directions, volunteer and employment info, donation and membership sign-up tools, facility rental information, group tour and party reservation forms, and much more.
This website isn't just an online presence, it is a true online marketing tool and information resource for all visitors. Not only does the site link off to SACM's ...
Tags:
San Antonio Children's Museum, Family, Entertainment, Education, Texas
Full story |
-
16 Oct 2009
Blogs are becoming a more popular way for businesses to inform and connect with their consumers. A chronological posting of conversational style entries, blogs are a great way to share ideas, connect with similarly minded audiences on the web, and enter into a dialogue with followers of your business, product or service.
The Sitefinity Blog publishing system streamlines the management of single or multiple user blogs appearing on your site. Its module is extremely easy to use and makes this simple social media marketing tool a must-have feature on your website. You can also use an RSS feed on ...
Tags:
blogging, blogger, new media, social networks, online community, branding, marketing, advertising
Full story |