A little free press can go a long way in helping get the word out about your business. Networking in Vancouver has a great article on their web site that is a summary of a presentation given by a PR expert that helps break down the process of getting free publicity for your company into three easy steps:

1. Know Your Angle
2. Know Your Target
3. Pick Up the Phone

Be sure to visit the Networking in Vancouver to read the full article and check out more great content and business networking opportunities.

If you’re anything like us, your e-mail in-box can get pretty full, pretty quickly. Just when you think you’ve tamed the torrent of incoming messages, you open your mailbox to see it full once again. At times, it can seem like a never-ending battle of wills.

Over the past week, we decided to take determined action to reduce our volume of e-mail, a lot of which consisted of newsletters and mailing lists we signed up for over the years. While a lot of the lists still provide interesting content, the fact of the matter is that many times, the messages would simply be deleted without opening them. So, why keep receiving them only to have to take the time to send them to the trash folder?

One way to manage the clutter of a business e-mail box is to create a separate e-mail account specifically for subscriptions to newsletters and signing up for accounts on various sites. We decided to do this as one part of a two-pronged approach for the accounts we wanted to keep and the newsletters we wanted to continue to receive – all while keeping those messages separate from more important business-related correspondence. The other step would simply be to unsubscribe from the lists we weren’t reading any longer. Sensible (and easy) enough, or so you would think…

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You may have seen these strange-looking boxes popping up more and more in magazines, and newspapers, web sites, business cards, signs and retail store displays. They are called QR codes, which stands for “Quick Response”.

While they may seem like a new invention, QR codes have actually been around since 1994, primarily used in Asia and Japan, where they were invented.

QR codes allow a smart phone user to scan the code with an app installed on their phone – Red Laser is our app of choice – and be given an option to view a specified URL or save contact information embedded in the code. This frees the user from having to manually type in a web site address or contact information, which makes them more likely to view the information embedded in the code.

Another part of the QR code’s allure is the mystery of what’s behind the code. Will it be a video, photo, web site or someone’s contact information? Scan the code to find out!

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We’ve worked with Innergy Corporate Yoga for a number of years, having helped them coin their new company name several years back and developing their new logo, corporate identity and web site.

Innergy has built an impressive following on Facebook and Twitter and wanted to extend their Facebook presence to a more versatile marketing tool than the standard Fan page.

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For a long while, web site owners have had many social network buttons to add to their sites in hopes of encouraging more engagement from their visitors.

Facebook has the “Like” button and more recently the “Send” button. LinkedIn has the “Share” button. TweetMeme buttons with tweet counts have been all over the place for a while. So, why has it taken Twitter so long to get the hint and make something similar for their own users?

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Logo design and corporate identity / branding projects have always been some of our favorite types of work to take on. There’s something about distilling a concept down to its bare essence and being able to represent that visually that is exciting and challenging.

We were approached by a new financial education blog, KnowMoney.ca, to design a logo to represent their site. The site is intended to help the average person gain knowledge about money and financial matters so they can make better choices and build a solid financial future.

Our approach to the logo was to use a visual concept that was familiar in a mainstream way, while at the same time being approachable and fun. In other words, we wanted to avoid stuffy at all costs.

The final logo depicts a piggy bank-style icon with the site name set in all lowercase type. The result is a fun, memorable logo that gets the concept across quickly and effectively.

For a while now, Facebook’s “Like” – or “Recommend” as seen on some sites – button has been popping up on more and more web sites. The purpose of the Like button is to allow you to easily share content that you like, publicly, with your friends on Facebook.

If you are logged into Facebook – whether or not you currently have the site open in a browser, thanks to cookies – when you click the Like button, on a blog post, article or web site page you visit, an item will appear in the News Feed of your Facebook profile, letting your friends know that you’ve recommended the site, along with a link to the item.

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In the days when Facebook pages were static, mostly-useless afterthoughts, many users would opt to set up a “profile” for their company (ie: First Name: BOOST Last Name: Social Media) in an effort to create a more interactive way for the company to communicate with its fans which, in the case of a profile versus a business/fan page, would be the company’s “friends”. With a profile you can “like” other company pages, comment on posts by individuals or companies, and connect with other users as “friends”.

In the case of the original business page, you were relegated to commenting as an individual user – the administrator of the page – rather than as the company itself. With the most recent update to Facebook pages, you can use Facebook as a “page”, rather than as your individual profile. You can comment, share articles, and post Wall updates with the identity of your page, rather than as an individual. As a result, this makes the need to create a “profile” for a company unnecessary.

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These days, everyone and their dog (sometimes, literally) has a Facebook fan page. But, the majority of those who do have one are still not doing it well. In that regard, it’s like web sites in general. People think having something is better than nothing and most of the time, we’ll tend to agree.  However, there are a lot of examples of design-gone-wrong that leaves one thinking it would have been better for a company to sit the game out, rather than throw a completely unprofessional web site out there, for all the world to see.

But, we digress…and, thankfully, Facebook maintains pretty strict control over the layout of their site, unlike the eyesore that is (was?) MySpace profile pages. Egads!

Recently, Facebook updated the layout and functionality of their business pages (aka fan pages), opening the door for more consistent interaction between a company and its fans as well as other companies. With the new version of the Facebook page, you can opt to use Facebook as a page of which you are a designated administrator. While logged in as the page, you can “like” other company pages, respond to comments left on your business page and make posts, all as your company versus an individual administrator.

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We’ve worked with NALH Bookkeeping Services for a number of years, beginning with the re-design of their corporate identity in 2003. Wow, has it really been that long?

NALH has been a great client to work with because of their desire to stay on the edge of emerging marketing trends and take advantage of new media and tools, while their competitors remain spectators on the sidelines. We’ve managed NALH’s social media campaigns for over a year and a half, resulting in a significant increase in traffic to their web site and better awareness of their company on popular social media sites.

Our most recent project for NALH was to re-design their Facebook fan page. We had long ago set up their page and integrated their blog posts and Twitter stream with the fan page, but we wanted to do something with more pizazz, so we set about designing a custom layout and graphics for their fan page which would help promote their presence on other social media sites like Plaxo, LinkedIn and Twitter. The new graphics help grab attention and invite people to interact with the page.

Facebook has quickly become a force to be reckoned with on the Internet. And, for businesses who use social media to market themselves, Facebook is often a big focus in those efforts.

Everyone knows that people like a good deal (and freebies, especially!), so why not incorporate one into your social marketing efforts? Facebook is now offering their Deals to businesses with Facebook Places pages. It could be something as small as a free cup of coffee, a reusable shopping bag or something more extravagant. Get creative!

Find out more about how you can offer a special incentive to people who visit and “check in” at your place of business by watching the walkthrough video on Facebook.

We were forwarded an article written by RealPageMaker – a company that specializes in templated web sites for real estate agents  -  about why “social media experts are so dangerous”. Naturally, this piqued some interest from our team. Dangerous? The sub-headline goes on to say “What you don’t know about them could be costing you tens of thousands of dollars!”  Anyone else smell some hyperbole here?

In a nutshell, the article basically says that social media “experts” are full of it because social media is new and venturing into the social arena will cost you thousands of hard-earned dollars for little return. And, with a haphazard, un-targeted approach without goals and a plan to achieve them, that might very well be the case. But, it’s hardly fair to insinuate that anyone who is involved with social media marketing is a con artist which is, more or less, the gist of the message delivered in the article.

The irony? RealPageMaker has an extensive blog which is regularly updated and also a Twitter account which receives regular attention. Obviously, they see SOME value in participating in social media themselves. Are they the ONLY experts who aren’t dangerous?

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We’re excited to note that Design Edge Canada, one of Canada’s most well-read graphic design magazines, has featured an article on their web site about the launch of BOOST Social Media in the Vancouver and Burnaby, BC area.

Design Edge Canada is known for having its finger on the pulse of the Canadian design community, so we’re grateful to make the cut to grace their virtual pages.

To read the full article, visit the Design Edge Canada web site.

Begin with the end in mind.
What do you hope to achieve with social media marketing? Increase traffic to your web site? That’s a given. But, what do you want people to do once they get there? Contact your company for more information? Subscribe to a free newsletter? Register for a webinar or workshop? Be specific and tailor your efforts to support those goals.

Looking for “love” in all the right places.
Each social media site and platform has a different demographic, so make sure you’re speaking to the right audience. Figure out which sites make most sense for your business based on age, lifestyle, income, interests, type of business you’re promoting, etc. MySpace has a younger audience, LinkedIn subscribers are often higher-income earners, Twitter’s user base is generally more net-savvy and Facebook a mix of everyone.

Honest to blog.
Having a blog on your site can be a great tool for boosting search engine rankings. It’s also effective at establishing you as an expert in your field and showing that you have a good handle on what’s going on in your industry and the local business community. Not all blog content has to be original writing. Share articles or web sites that your audience may find interesting and insert some comments on what you liked about those resources.

The operative word in social media is “social”.
Be prepared to engage your audience in a two-way dialogue. It’s a conversation, not a broadcast. Constantly tooting your own horn or selling aggressively will result in your audience tuning out your message or, worse, un-following you.

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Since a lot of social media users are using Smartphones – and the iPhone in particular – to keep in touch with their social circles and network contacts, we thought it would be useful for people to have a list of the new and upgraded features in the newest version of the iPhone operating system: iPhone OS4.

In addition to some eagerly-anticipated features like multi-tasking, home screen wallpaper and folders for organizing app icons, there are a host of other changes that aim to make iPhone more user-friendly.

Here’s a list of changes/additions copied from the installation screen when upgrading to OS4:

This update contains over 100 new features, including the following:

• Multitasking support for third-party apps*
- Multitasking user interface to quickly move between apps
- Support for audio apps to play in the background
- VoIP apps can receive and maintain calls in the background or when device is asleep
- Apps can monitor location and take action while running in the background
- Alerts and messages can be pushed to apps using push and local notifications
- Apps can complete tasks in the background

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