3 Pre-Requisites to Social Media Success

Posted on May 24, 2013 by deborah

Social Media can be an incredibly effective tool for your business’ marketing and branding. Are you looking to refocus your online presence? Good on you! Your willingness to adapt to a new era is the first step in putting your business on the path of growth. But before you jump onto Facebook or Twitter, STOP! Read the following pre-requisites any business needs to fully reap the benefits of Social Media Marketing:

A relevant product/service – Whatever you’re selling should serve a purpose in your customer’s life; more importantly, it should be relevant. In an increasingly dynamic market, it is important to ask yourself: Is my product a “must have”? Who is my customer and what are their preferences? Is my brand visible? The answers to these questions can provide a starting point in measuring your business’ relevancy. Additionally, it can give you insight on whether there is a need to optimize your marketing strategy, your product, or both.

Top-notch customer service – Keep in mind that your customers have easy access to information about your company and sharing the customer experience online has become common for many. Hence, superior customer service should be a central and consistent aspect of your business. Ensure that all of your employees are knowledgeable, amiable and work urgently without compromising the quality of service. If you haven’t already, familiarize yourself with Yelp, an online local business directory that doubles as a social network. With more than 100 million users, it’s necessary that your business have a presence there – for both branding purposes and to measure your business against customer reviews.

Shared values – People will want to do business with you if they like who you are and what you stand for. In order to strengthen the relationship between your brand and your customer, you need to send them a message other than “buy my product.” Engage in community service causes that appeal to you – volunteer as a company, be an event sponsor or educate about an issue; then share your efforts online. Adding an additional dynamic to your brand may be the reason why someone chooses your product over your competitor. If your goal is to drive sales, remember: altruism is good for business.

Business Success Story: San Gabriel Mission

Posted on December 7, 2012 by vivian

Business Success Story: San Gabriel Mission

San Gabriel Mission is a fully functioning Roman Catholic mission and a historic landmark that resides in San Gabriel, CA. Ready Artwork first took on the San Gabriel Mission’s Facebook account back in September of this year. Because it was such a fairly new account, we struggled to bring in new fans and followers. One of the challenges we faced when building a community was the vast amount of Facebook pages, people, and places created for San Gabriel Mission by community members. We took on that challenge and tackled it with grace. For the month of November, we claimed all the possible Facebook pages, people, and places created for San Gabriel Mission by patrons. Because of that, Ready Artwork was able to help San Gabriel Mission increase their fan base by at least 85%. We are proud of our success and accomplishment!

On behalf of San Gabriel Mission, we have been posting relevant Facebook posts about any Catholic holidays/events and current happenings at the San Gabriel Mission, San Gabriel Elementary School, San Gabriel High School, and the San Gabriel Community. We were able to increase in engaged users and reach by over 83%. There was a dramatic increase in the amount of people talking about the San Gabriel Mission by over 137%. We look forward to promoting more events held at the San Gabriel Mission and getting the community actively involved!

Previously, many visitors were confused during check-ins because there were multiple locations to do so. Now, we were able to ensure steady check-ins at the San Gabriel Mission. By collecting everything into one account, Ready Artwork was able to ensure consistent information and message is given out to San Gabriel Mission’s fans.

Many businesses have problems with multiple locations that their patrons have created for them. These locations confuse others during check-ins, follow, and even obtaining information.

Here at Ready Artwork, we were able to assist San Gabriel Mission to claim all the existing Facebook locations and pages for them. Because of that, we were able to gather all accounts’ fan bases and increased their check-ins, reach, virality, and many more. Visitors no longer have to ponder on which site/location to check-in at.

How Many Clicks Does It Take For Conversions?

Posted on November 12, 2012 by vivian

Is your website losing potential customers? This blog will explain the importance behind minimizing the amount of pages and clicks on your e-commerce website. Making a purchase is like committing to a relationship. It is suppose to be effortless and easy to click; however, there is always hesitation. Let’s face it, our customers do not want to jump through hoops to make a commitment and confirm their purchases. The simpler the process of purchase, the better it is. Ready Artwork will explain to you how businesses can convert online sales and increase their click through rate.

According to Jeffrey Zeldman’s “Three-Click Rule”, businesses need to understand the way people use the web, and in this case, the importance of the check out page. By knowing this “rule”, we can understand how to create landing pages that appeal to the customer and are user-friendly. An important key factor for businesses to pay attention to is the amount of clicks it takes for someone to purchase a product on the checkout page. If there are more than a few clicks required to get to the shopping cart or “confirm purchase” page, you will lose a potential customer. According to Bizreport, 77% of shopping carts were abandoned in the last six months. The impact of shopping cart abandonment should not be ignored!

Sometimes less is more, and in this scenario it applies to your shopping cart. When a customer enters your website, the suggested number of clicks it takes to navigate and search for information is no more than three mouse clicks. It is based on the belief that customers will become frustrated and often leave if they cannot find the information they need within three clicks. This is one of the few reasons why optimizing your landing page and check out page is important for website optimization. Why do individuals focus so much on being ranked in the top three on Google’s Search Engine Results Page? It is because people usually click no more than three times to find what it is they are searching for. Statistics state that the top three spots on Google get 58% of clicks. Three is the lucky number!

To ensure the success of clicks, businesses need customers to feel at ease while shopping around. Adding items into a shopping cart should be non-committal and effortless. After all, customers are putting items into their shopping carts for possible future purchases. When customers are required to click a “BUY” or “PURCHASE” button to add an item to their carts, it is often unsettling for them since they are not necessarily ready to buy the item at the moment. They just want to place it in their shopping carts. Buying is the final step in the shopping experience and it should not be presumed that adding an item to the cart is a commitment to buy. While developing a site for your business, it is important to make your “clicks” efficient.

Here at Ready Artwork, we offer services such as Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and web site development. We live by the three click rule and know how to make every click count. Contact Ready Artwork today to optimize your business before the holidays!

Halloween Happenings with Ready Artwork!

Posted on November 7, 2012 by sing

Here at Ready Artwork we like to show our holiday spirit by participating in multiple company events! We wanted to share with you some of the festivities we coordinated during the month of October. We kicked off the Halloween merriment by having a pumpkin decorating/carving contest between colleagues. The competition was fierce and we received extremely creative pumpkins! We had a wide variety of pumpkin’s ranging from three dimensional to colorfully painted!

After we lined up our pumpkins, we decided to let our Facebook fans participate in guessing who decorated which pumpkin. We promoted this Facebook post and encouraged our fans to participate in this “Halloween Pumpkin Guessing Contest”!

The winner, with seven correct pumpkin decorating guesses, was Brenton Weist! He received a Halloween candy basket and a $10 gift certificate from Candy Chef ! He shared with us his winnings in a fierce, Wolverine costume. Surprised Wolverine had time to save the world and share a picture with us.

The fun doesn’t end there; we also held an internal pumpkin voting contest! Each staff member voted for his or her favorite decorated/carved pumpkin and the winner was …drum roll please… Joanna Hsu! She painted her pumpkin like a bat with a cute mustache & sharp white fangs!

What comes after an awesome Pumpkin Decorating Contest? The costumes of course! We encouraged our staff to brush off the dust on those Halloween Costumes packed away on the top shelf of their closet. We held a Spooktacular Halloween potluck and posted all our costumes for our Facebook fans to see! Which one was your favorite one: Voldermort, Mad Hatter, Greek Goddess, and the others?

We love to get into the Holiday festivities at Ready Artwork, and want to share all of the fun events with you! We also participated in a preschool pumpkin decorating/carving contest. We were thrilled to announce the winner of a colorful and exceptionally creative caterpillar pumpkin by a pre-kindergartener.

In addition to pumpkin decorating and costume wearing, we specialize in website design, social media marketing, search engine optimization, and graphic design! Call us for further information or stop by our studio in the San Gabriel Valley! We hope you had a Happy HOWLaween.

3 Easy Tips to Avoid Committing Social Media Suicide

Posted on October 17, 2012 by sing

Have you heard of the popular social media platforms: Facebook, Twitter, Yelp, and Pinterest? You better start getting familiar with them because it is true when small businesses say that Social Media is slowly taking over the world. Fifty percent of individuals in North America are actively using Facebook as their social media platform to market and connect with friends and fans!

Since social media is continuously trending, we want to give you 3 tips on how to gain more followers and avoid committing social media suicide. Don’t worry, this blog is not morbid in any sense, on the contrary, it is an optimistic outlook on how you can enhance your business and reach one of the 174,586,680 users on Facebook and many of the other social media platforms!

Tip #1: Know your product/service and send a relatable message that will reel in your target demographic. What does this mean? Set a goal for your company. Are you looking to increase ROI (Return on Investment), conversions, foot traffic, or brand identity? Through setting a proper goal you will be able to build up this foundation. If you are looking to promote your brand, then visuals are crucial. If your product is not tangible, then provide your customers with a visual that allows them to see the product that they are interested in purchasing. This is the bait. You can’t lure anything in if you don’t have the proper incentive. Know your businesses goals before you start to build your success.

Tip #2: Build a lasting first impression. From Webmasterworld.com, owners of websites listed engagement time of users on their website, and more than 50% of visitors stay from 0s – 30s. Therefore, unless someone see’s what they want and need in 0-30 seconds they will be clicking away from your website. To help avoid high bounce rates and users leaving without even “bookmarking,” revamp your landing page and direct the user to what they need immediately. An effective tip to improve your website landing page is to incorporate an image slider, or include content that showcases your services. If a user were shopping for a pink lipstick and was directed to pink nail polish, they would leave that landing page as fast as they got there.

In addition, to making edits to your website, you will need to showcase your specialty on social media platforms. Let people know about who you are, what you do, and how you are better than your competitors. Build a lasting relationship and level of trust with your viewers and potential clients by being personal and attentive to each of your client’s needs they will feel appreciated and valued.

Tip#3: Be clear and transparent with your client. Know what you want and communicate it clearly to your target demographic. If you promise your fans that if they “click” your link they will receive a Free Quote, and then they get charged for their “free” consultation, they will not be walking out the door happy or wanting to return. Social Media is a platform that allows you to build a transparent and honest relationship with your fans. With social media, you are able to inform your fans about your company, new product releases, and current specials you might be running. Facebook features Ads where you can “reach the exact audience you want with relevant targeted ads.” These ads are used to promote your businesses contests, services, and/or products. Utilize this feature to expand your reach about your services and products to eager prospects!

These few tips will help you to effectively use social media to build long-term relationships with your customers. Be sure to plan ahead on your posts and remember to always be transparent with your audience.

Call or visit us at our studio in San Gabriel, CA to discuss how social media marketing can help your company connect with your target fan base!

Embracing Customer Feedback with Yelp

Posted on September 19, 2012 by rachael

As we discussed previously, great customer care is a major part of any business’ long-term success. As a business owner, you know that customer feedback cannot be overlooked. Both positive and negative feedback needs to be carefully reviewed and responded to in order to help your business grow. In fact, customer opinions are one of the most important factors that determine how you choose to run your business day in and day out.

This is where social media can be a great (and did we mention free?) asset for business owners. Consumers rely on word-of-mouth information when making decisions about where to spend their money. One of the best social media platforms for consumers to vent their frustrations or sing the praises of their favorite places to shop, dine and hang out is Yelp.

If you look at the statistics, almost 25 million reviews had been posted on Yelp by the end of 2011. With that many people talking and sharing opinions about different stores, restaurants and locations, it’s crucial for business owners to take note of what is being said about their own business.

If you own a local coffee shop, for example, you need to pay close attention to your customers’ shopping experiences. One bad tempered waitress can drive away customers with a glare, a long wait in line can dissuade repeat business, and mediocre coffee can spell the end of all your hard work. With Yelp, you can listen and react to customer feedback, and begin to remedy dissatisfaction and gain loyal customers.

The best place to start is to claim your venue on Yelp with a quick phone confirmation and pin number.

Once you are able to manage your venue, you’re on your way to building a positive online presence! It’s best to add as much information as possible to make it convenient for customers to learn about your business. Upload photographs of your business location, products or even employees to add a personal touch. Take a look at Ready Artwork’s Yelp page!

The next important step is to respond to customer reviews, whether they are positive or negative. Always express your appreciation for the time and thought that a customer put into writing a review about your business and acknowledge their concerns.

For example, one Yelp reviewer had a negative comment about his experience staying at a hotel. The General Manager of the hotel then took the time to respond to the review in a professional, courteous manner.

When you let your customers know that you are listening and you value their opinions, your customers will see that you are proactive, engaging and reliable. The General Manager’s comment shows how a negative review, however slight, can be turned in to a positive. When someone thinking about booking a night at the hotel sees this conversation on Yelp, they will see that the General Manger who runs the hotel is responsible and polite.

“With over 85% of the Yelp reviewers rating a business 3 stars or higher, odds are your business will receive more favorable than negative reviews” (Bee-Social.com) . So, encourage your customers to write reviews! The more positive reviews your business receives, the higher your business will be listed on Yelp’s search engine results page.

The difference of a high number of reviews:

Social media is a great way to reach out to potential customers and loyal customers alike. So, why not get active and join the conversation?

For more information on social media marketing and how Yelp can influence your business’s online presence, call us today or schedule an appointment to stop by our studio in San Gabriel, California! We’re always happy to work with businesses of all sizes to help them reach their goals!

Why Great Customer Care is an Essential Part of Any Business

Posted on September 12, 2012 by eau

What do Nordstrom, Netflix, UPS, and Amazon.com have in common? They have all scored top spots in the MSN Money/Zogby International customer service ranking for the last 3 consecutive years. (According to reports from CBS Money Watch)

Great customer care is essential for large and small businesses alike if they hope to survive in the long run. As a small business, Ready Artwork has made excellent customer service one of our top priorities. We are proud to be able to offer the kind of personalized customer service experience that sets us apart from large corporations.

Over the years, Ready Artwork has had the opportunity to work with various businesses and companies. Many of these companies have been with us since the beginning and still remain our loyal customers to this day. Often times, customers return, not only for Ready Artwork’s graphic design work, but also because they appreciated our personable and attentive customer service. We always strive to show our customers that they have made a right choice in choosing our firm. One of our customers once told us, “The last person to buy from you is most likely to be the next person who buys from you.” If you make a particular effort to provide excellent customer service, you will often be rewarded with more business.

If your customer ever has an issue, always listen, identify and understand the problem fully before offering suggestions. It is often best, in the long run, to show helpfulness and kindness to your customers rather than try to argue. Your customers will be especially impressed if you go above and beyond the call of duty to catch and proactively fix potential problems before they occur. Customers need to know that you are not out to steal their money, but actually care about the service you provide. A professional attitude and accommodating service will go a long way in earning your customer’s trust and loyalty.

Statistically, businesses that focus on customer service are able to charge more than their competitors. Other statistics show that consumers that have had a bad shopping experience are likely to inform at least nine other people and address their experience on at least one social media platform. Keep in mind the popular marketing quote: “When she walks out the door, what have I given her to talk about?” Can you really afford to not make customer service the main focus of your business?

Ready Artwork works with clients to improve customer service as a part of our marketing consulting services because a positive customer experience is an important part of business marketing. Call or make an appointment with us to discuss how to leverage online platforms to improve your business customer service! Walk-ins are also welcome!

infographic source: B2B community

US Mobile Web Users and You

Posted on August 29, 2012 by rachael

Welcome back to Ready Artwork’s Web Wednesday!

It seems like only yesterday that the early smartphone models came onto the market and changed the way we think about mobile phones. Now, every time you blink, there seems to be a new app for making smartphones even more convenient. So, it’s no wonder the number of mobile web users in the United States is quickly on the rise. Everywhere you look, someone is using their smartphone to check their e-mail, send a text and yes, even browse the web and watch online videos.

Let’s take a look at some interesting numbers that shed light on how smartphone users are using their phones:

Nearly half (46%) of American adults are smartphone owners as of February 2012, an increase of 11 percentage points over the 35% of Americans who owned a smartphone last May. (source)
13% of those ages 65 and older now own a smartphone and only saw modest or non-existent growth of users. (source)
In December 2011, 47.5 percent of the total mobile audience in the U.S. used mobile browsers, up 11.1 percent. (source)
46% of Holiday Shoppers Used Smartphone for Research Before Buying Offline. 28% of Holiday Shoppers Used a mobile device to purchase online. (source)
As of early 2012, 58% of American adults have a desktop computer, 61% have a laptop. (source).

Business owners should take note that about 46% of smartphone users browsed the mobile web before making a purchase during the holiday season. Such a high percentage shows how important a strong mobile web strategy can be for a business. It’s no longer enough to have only a website or a social media presence. If you have an informational or e-commerce website, setting up a mobile website will help increase the amount of time viewers can spend researching your business or browsing your product selection.

With a mobile site, users should be able to get to exactly what they’re looking for in just a few simple swipes.

For example, have a look at Ready Artwork’s home page on our mobile site:

Everything is formatted to fit on a smaller smartphone screen, and every link is easy to see and tap with just an index finger. While a typical website may look great on a computer screen or a tablet, it may look extremely different on a 5-inch mobile phone.

It is important to make sure that the information on the mobile site is a lot more condensed and easy for users to navigate. Most people are on the go when they’re browsing the web on their phones, so information should be straightforward and to the point!

As the number of people with mobile devices increases, it is important to have a mobile site to specifically target smartphone. Ready Artwork can build a mobile website for you that is tailored to your needs. Give us a call today for free consultation at (626) 400-4511.

How to Target Your Audience Using Facebook Life Events

Posted on August 22, 2012 by rachael

Facebook recently unveiled a new Timeline feature that will allow users to document a major life event: Expecting a child. This new life event also gives users the option to “tag” the other parent, set when the announcement goes live and even include a story or comments. While it may be interesting and fun for friends and family to share in such personal news, what does it mean for the millions of businesses that are reaching out to potential customers via Facebook?

One of the perks of Facebook Insights is that business owners can analyze the demographics of who is interacting with their Facebook pages based on age, location and language. And as Social Media users begin to record more personal information on Facebook, business owners can now create Ads that are more specific to their consumers’ interests and needs. But the added category of “Expecting a Baby” on Facebook means that niche companies selling baby supplies, maternity clothes or parent classes, for example, can hone in on parents-to-be and avoid wasted advertising.

Narrowing down your business’ demographic really is one of the most important ways to ensure success in online marketing, and Facebook is only making it easier to expand your viral reach. For instance if a furniture store just started carrying a collection of toddler beds, they could create a Facebook ad targeted toward “Parents (child: 0-3 years)” because that demographic is more likely to be interested in children’s furniture than any other. With Facebook, the furniture store can now easily tap into a very specific portion within a larger demographic.

However, it’s not as simple as just clicking a check box and hoping for the best. Facebook ads combine visuals and text, and both must be fully optimized for reaching your demographic. Launching an ad that simply reads “Quality Furniture at Affordable Prices” with hard-to-see image of a cradle won’t appeal to expecting parents looking to purchase an affordable, high-quality baby cradle.

An effective online marketing ad campaign requires plenty of research; from identifying target keywords, to analyzing competitors to studying your core audience.

For more insight into social media marketing and how Facebook advertising can improve your business’s online presence (and increase your ROI) call us today or schedule an appointment to stop by our studio in San Gabriel, California! We’re always happy to work with businesses of all sizes to help them reach their goals!

Beginner’s Guide to Social Media

Posted on August 1, 2012 by sing

Whether you’re trying to connect with a loved one across the country or a small business owner trying to promote your brand, social media has made it amazingly convenient for anyone in the world to communicate and interact. Social media includes all web-based and mobile-based technology that is used to turn communication into an interactive dialogue among organizations, communities, and individuals. (Source: Wikipedia). A few of the most popular social media platforms include Facebook, Twitter, Yelp, Pinterest, YouTube and Foursquare.

Social media websites offer much more than just a way to tell anyone who’ll listen about what you had for dinner. The degree of separation, which states that everyone is, on average, acquainted with any other individual by at least six people. In 2008, Facebook reported 5.28 degrees of separation, and in as little as 3 years, that number has dropped to 4.74 degrees. Experts attribute this dramatic change to mostly Facebook! (Source) That means that almost everyone could potentially be considered a “friend of a friend.” So, like it or not, we probably know each other! Now, let’s get comfortable and start learning about social media!

Let’s imagine for a moment that you own a small cupcake business. You make the most delectable red velvet cupcakes (yum!), but how do you get individuals to walk into your store and try a bite?

This is where social media helps you get the word out about your delicious treats! First, create a Facebook business page to begin building your fan base. Why are fan subscriptions so important? They act as your personal cheerleader; the more fan subscriptions you have the more people you have cheering for you and encouraging others to join your team! In addition to Facebook, make sure to claim your business on Yelp, Google Places, FourSquare, and any other social media platform that allows individuals to “check-in” and locate your business information. If people cannot search your business, they will not be able to locate you!

Second, start posting pictures of your mouth-watering treats on Facebook, Yelp, Pinterest, and Twitter. Remember, the old saying “a picture is worth a thousand words” is true! Facebook and Twitter are great platforms for sharing your daily cupcake specials, but a photo of your cupcake decorating skills and adorable presentation is an easy way to pique your fans’ appetites! Pinterest is also the perfect place to organize all your photos for fans to see and share, as well!

The third step is the most important point for social media marketing. You must continually interact with your fans and work to increase your fan base. People love to read interesting stories, find deals and receive thanks for their continued support. So, make sure to share fun everyday happenings, host flash deals and giveaways, and let your fans know how much you appreciate them. The more interactive and engaging your social media accounts, the more fans you’ll attract. You might even put some money into a few Facebook ads to broaden your reach to an even wider demographic. Consistently interacting with your fans is a long-term commitment and rarely a short-term gain; therefore, if you invest enough time and thought in to your social media presence, the line to your business will slowly begin to round the corner!

Of course, there’s still so much more to learn! We’d like to take the time to educate you about Social Media and how you can use this powerful tool to improve your business and create a strong online presence!

Follow us on Facebook and Twitter to stay up-to-date as we dive deeper into the Beginner’s Guide to Social Media! We’ll discuss how to get the most out of your Facebook Fan page, the best way to “tweet” to your audience on Twitter, the perks of Pinterest, and much more!

We’d also like to invite you to stop by our studio in San Gabriel, CA for a free quote on our social media marketing services, as well. Or give us a call at (626) 400-4511!

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