Understanding Social Communities

on November 22nd, 2010

When building social communities, it’s so easy to believe the mantra: “Build it, and they will come.” Sadly, that’s not usually the case. Understanding the community you’re building for is much more important than how you build it.  When building the Holden Beach Facebook Page, we started by understanding the dynamics of the Holden Beach community.  People love living and visiting Holden Beach and have a very real, emotional connection to the place.  Developing a social community gave people a way to maintain that connection.  That relationship is what’s important.

Chris Grams, a writer and communications strategist, highlights this point in “Avoid the tool trap when building communities,” an article on opensource.com.  He reminds us to ask “What are the values” of a community not necessarily what tool do I use to build it.

Read the full article: “Avoid the tool trap when building communities“

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Marketing is a System

on November 18th, 2010
Marketing is often difficult for small businesses because it can feel like a broad, ambiguous field.  They know they should “do” marketing, but it’s so easy to think of marketing as sales.  John Jantsch, the founder and writer of Duct Tape Marketing, culled down the basics of marketing into a 7 step process that we feel gives the absolute best representation of marketing.

Marketing is a system that must be developed and improved continuously, just like a distribution or purchasing system.   Below is John’s summary of the steps.  We urge you to reach the full article at the AMEX Open forum as well.

  1. Develop strategy before tactics – Base all decisions on an ideal customer and core message of difference
  2. Embrace The Marketing Hourglass – Look at every potential prospect and customer touchpoint and design a remarkable experience
  3. Adopt the publishing model. – Commit to producing content that builds trust and educates
  4. Create a total web presence. – Develop a plan that takes advantage of the SEO and social media aspects of being found
  5. Orchestrate the lead generation trio. – Use technology to create multiple ways to generate leads via advertising, public relations, and referrals
  6. Drive a lead conversion system. – Develop a sales system that everyone in the organization can use from initial contact to results review
  7. Live by the marketing calendar. – Make marketing a habit by establishing monthly, weekly and daily action steps

Read the full story: 7 Steps to Creating a Sure-Fire Marketing System

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Client News: Server Updates

on November 13th, 2010

Hello friends,

We’ll be doing regularly scheduled server upgrades over the next 24 hours. This should be a seamless process with ZERO downtime for those who are hosting with us. If for some reason you do have difficulty connecting to TapTrend hosted resources, please let us know immediately.

The upgraded servers will allow us to offer new, improved services to our customers. Stay tuned for news and updates in the coming weeks.

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Claim Your Customers: Social Business Listings

on November 8th, 2010

What’s so amazing about social media, is that it allows you to connect with your current and future customer in such a simple, natural way.  Today the primary way people discover information about a company or service is through search, just as they do any other topic they’re curious about.

That’s why, when clients ask me “How do we get into social media?” I tell them “We claim your business on every service your customers are already using.”  This could include your business listing and/or it’s location on Google Local, Yelp!, Facebook Places, Foursquare, or any number of other popular, business listing directory.

But “Shouldn’t I first create a Facebook Page?” I’m asked.  Sure, that’s important, but I say it’s more important to claim the pages/listings your customers are already visiting and using before creating another page you’ll be promoting yourself.

If you have questions on how to utilize social media for you business, we can help.  Email us at info@taptrend.com today.

Socialize Your Brand

on November 3rd, 2010

One of the most important processes we follow here at TapTrend is our approach toward social media development.  We call our approach “DEE.”

DEE stands for Discover, Engage, and Evaluate and it is our “secret sauce” in repeatedly executing successful social campaigns and programs.  It’s really not much of a secret.  In fact, it’s drop dead simple.  Here it is:

We use this process in all our social media projects.  Facebook.  Twitter.  YouTube.  Yelp.  Foursquare.  Google Places.  Linkedin.  You name it, it’s been used on it.  It’s used repeatedly through the setup and management of our social programs–rinse, lather, repeat.

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