Web Analytics

Local Search and Social Content for Small Business – A Winning Proposition.

February 9, 2012 · 1 comment

I’m addicted to infographics… and Pinterest is a great place to collect them.  Here’s yet another infographic I could not pass up on.  Though the sub-heading says “the single largest opportunity for national brands,” I look at this from a small regionalized business perspective.  Local search can play a huge role in the success of the small business.  In fact, I just wrote about the powerful combination of social, local and mobile and how that will impact the future of marketing.  But I also recently read a great prediction for this year.  It goes something like this:

“Not joining in the social conversation today will be the equivalent of not answering the phone or email in the year 2014.” Forgive me, I had a browser crash and for the life of me cannot find the source of that quote, and I am not saying it verbatim. It is to the best of my recollection, but I think you get the point, right?  It’s a pretty bold statement… I agree with it on most levels, but would say that joining the social conversation has to be done well – especially for the small guy who has limited resources…

I would add that in some cases, too many small or regionalized businesses are hyper-focused now on the thought “I need to be social,” and are losing sight of the value of local search.  I say the two go hand-in-hand.  For small business, being socially proactive is very important, but being search optimized at the same time will enable you to be highly competitive.  With social content now being better integrated into search results, having that extra push with organic search strength will increase your surface area.

I would encourage the small business owner to work with their internet marketing team to make sure that the social and search goals are closely aligned.  As you better optimize your website for search, the same rules should be applied to your social content sharing so your customers and prospects get the same message across the board!

Maybe this all makes sense, but you are not sure where to start…  Start with an SEO Assessment that looks at your website AND your social strategy to get the two together!

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Who says you can’t track QR Codes?

January 24, 2012 · 5 comments

A few months back I attended a session at a social media conference about QR codes.  I’m not going to mention the conference or the speaker because actually, the presenter was entirely incorrect on one major point they made.  The presentation was on the value of QR Codes, how to use them, why you’d use them and highlighting some customized ones.  Overall the content was pretty good – BUT – the big flaw in the presentation was that the speaker said that QR code activity is not trackable.  That is entirely not true.  They are trackable, and you don’t need some high-end application to do it.

If you don’t understand QR Codes, here are some basics.  A QR Code is similar to a bar code in that it translates pixels into data.  Basically, a QR Code stores a URL (or web address).  Any smart phone or mobile device can scan these codes (with use of a free mobile app) and is then served up content from a website. They are often used to promote events, products, special discounts, and in the example of print ads, they can give the advertiser a quick and easy way to offer more info beyond the quarter-page ad they may have purchased in a magazine.  The QR Code adds another layer to the advertisement that doesn’t cost tons of money.  There are many many uses for them, but people still question them.

But here’s the thing.  If they don’t cost a ton of money, and you CAN track them, why would you not experiment with them?  You could be missing out on something, an audience perhaps, that is more kinesthetic (hands on learners) and loves a good mystery.  I love to scan QR Codes because you just don’t know what’s at the other end. Sometimes there is a “secret” promotion! Consumers love to feel like they got something special that others did not get…

If you run any sort of web analytics on your website, then you have what you need to track the use of QR Codes.  Am I giving away a big trade secret now?  I don’t think so…  If you are building a QR Code, it is URL based – remember we talked about that.  So – if you want to track your QR codes that are out there in print and on walls, etc… create unique landing pages for them.  Did I blow your mind?  Create a new page that is ONLY sending traffic to your website from scanning of a QR Code.  That way when you look at your content page views in analytics you can see how many times they were scanned.

Take it a step further – test custom codes, placement, promotions, and more by creating unique landing pages for each iteration.  That way you can compare one against the other.  For example you may advertise in Food Network Magazine and Cuisine at Home Magazine (my two favorites) and you may run QR codes in both.  If you use the exact same code in both that perhaps sends your users to your website home page – you can’t really track which is sending you more traffic.  If, however, you create unique landing pages for each ad in the different magazines, you can determine which is the better advertising spend based on response as shown in your analytics.

But… make sure your QR Code landing page is compelling.  If you don’t, chances are your visitors will not scan your QR codes in the future, for fear they will be bored to tears, or they won’t expect to find anything of value at the other end of the code.

They are a relatively low cost way to add a new layer to your marketing.  And at the end of the day, they are completely trackable if they are implemented properly.

Want more info on how to get custom QR Codes and landing pages? You know what to do…

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