Fashion over Function?

Ever heard the saying fashion over function?

Well what about when it comes to website design in comparison to functionality… Of course if your sites up and not able to take a sale because of functionality issues then – NO – function over fashion!

However, if minor technical or functionality abilities are limited and you think you need more and more functionality – don’t let the look and feel of you site be tainted just because you think that a particular function is 100% necessary.

Say.. for example there are two not so ugly ladies together in a room one with a pair of purpose built runners and others with a seductive pair of high heels, I can guarantee that the lady with the runners would be most comfortable, but who do you think will be the one asked out on a date?

When creating a website the balance between functionality and fashion is critical.

Don’t be left all alone in the room with a great website but no one to share it with!!!

Online Consumer Psychology: They’re using it together?

No I am not talking about Facebook, MySpace or even Twitter… I am talking about web browsing as the centre of REAL LIFE social interaction. Whether your at work, in an internet cafe or at home browsing the web, chances are your in a room with other people – find something interesting and next thing you know you have 2,3 or even more people huddling around the glowing light as if you were watching the moon landing.

Many people think of browsing the web as a one-on-one interaction, however, is this assumption really correct?

Is online browsing moving away from the traditional perception of a personal entertainment medium to something that people are enjoying together, not just in the virtual world? I think so!!!

Whether it’s watching a funny clip on You-Tube with a bunch of friends, researching your next holiday with your partner, helping your grandmother look for a new TV cabinet or even showing your boss a great new site to dig up statistics, for many, the internet is becoming the centre of real life social interaction.

The way that people use and interact with the web – ‘Online Consumer Psychology’ (OCP); is an area that requires a great deal more research to truly understand how people are using the web today. It’s all very well to put all your efforts into online social media sites and increasing your SEO, but do we really have a good understanding of how different types of people use the internet?

I believe many online marketers have forgotten the basic marketing fundamentals and need to reconsider some of the marketing basics. For example, next time you are dumbfounded why online sales are lacking or why your consumers are not behaving how you would like them to, take into account the basic fundamentals.

* Who are the influencers?

* Where are they?

* What is the customers online purchasing decision process?

* Where are they really going for information first? Ect, ect, ect.

So next time you are wondering why your online sales are down for a second month in a row, rather than just going and throwing a heap of money at AdWords – try going back to the basics!

Getting in bed with customers through Local Social Media Marketing

With the dawn of the internet the term globalisation was made extremely apparent to the world, with the ability to sell your products, speak to customers and gain their attention through a whole new means. Doing business ‘globally’ immediately became the ‘in thing’, even more so than before. Many have utilised the benefits of the internet to sell their product or service to customers internationally but a lot less have fully utilised its potential to attract and retain existing and potential customers on a local level. 

Web 2.0 has brought about a whole new bag of tricks for businesses to market to their customers and on a geographical level, the bag seems to be never ending. Facebook itself offers two formats for organisations to target their customers locally, through dedicated pages tailored for local businesses or through localised advertising.

Posting pictures, videos from your Youtube channel, relevant content and participating in discussions on your businesses local Facebook page will ideally create an online community for current customers as well as providing them with the opportunity to share your information with their friends and others interested in what you have to offer.  Creating an online community, if done correctly, has the ability to create an offline community with online and offline word of mouth. Clubs, bars and restaurants can be a great example of this. Social media is simply all the better to hear you with my dear!

Let’s say for example that a friend of a friend notices that a girl friend that he likes shows up on his personal feed attending a particular event at a local bar x. He then suddenly has the urge to also go to local bar x, however, he is a dilemma, he can’t go by himself! So he posts a link to his friend suggesting the page and next thing you know there are 3 friends going to local bar x purely through the organisation providing and initial fan something of interest to them  through social media. This is only one example and as you could understand that different methods of targeting your customers locally through social media for different types of businesses can be quite different. Also note that using knowledge of your customer and targeting directly to your customer on a local level will usually provide the business with immediate results.

Facebook also provides advertisers the ability target their customers almost on an individual level. If you want to target single women, aged 30-35, who are a fan of Oriton handbags and a friend of a fan of your page in the same town as where your business is present – you can… at a cost of course. This ability to direct advertising so closely to your target market means advertisers, particularly online advertisers can now directly target campaigns to the exact individuals who they want to receive the message and can also eliminate unnecessary ad spend.

With a steady increase of mobile users online and the prevalent use of GPS, targeting users by location has also been assisted through the means of geo tagging sites like Foresquare and Gowalla where businesses can provide customers discounts if they login from their premises. More recently Twitter has also introduced geo-tagged tweets where users can also create and share location based tweets. Social media and GPS is simply all the better to see you with my dear!

Whether it’s through Facebook presence or advertising, a short Youtube video or geo-tagged tweets, the ability to reach your target market on a local level through social media is something not to be overlooked. Local Social Media Marketing – All the better to eat you with my dear!