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The Roaring 2000’s was exactly that: ROARING. The 2009 Media Genesis summer extravaganza was a great success. Party goers enjoyed local brew from Atwater Brewing Company and appetizers served by the Whitney staff. The weather was wonderful for ringing in our 13th year in business.
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Corporate blogs are common enough to be found on websites of Fortune 100 companies, and simple enough to be executed by small, family-owned businesses. The concept of a company directly communicating with its customers online and having a personal voice has taken off, and with good reason. But it’s not as intuitive as you may think, and there are tips that should be kept in mind when publishing your company’s blog.
Smile and have fun – Blogging is known for being more personable than other company communications, so show the fun and interesting side of your company. Take a cue from Kodak (1000words.kodak.com). Their chief blogger tries out new products and writes about her experiences, instead of just trying to market them. Which brings us to the next point…
Converse, don’t market- Don’t make the mistake of thinking this is the place for advertising slogans and generating testimonials. Let your customers tell their stories with your products, like Carhartt does – blogs.carhartt.com/blog/carhartt – by letting its fans post pictures of their kids in Carhartt, or tell stories about their tough jobs. Blogging is not always about what you have to tell your customers; that’s what traditional advertising is for.
Accept criticism - We know it’s a scary thing when you open up your blog for comments. There is the possibility that people might have a complaint. But don’t shy away, instead listen to what your customers have to say and let them know you’re listening.
Not only are social networks, such as Facebook, MySpace and Twitter becoming part of our everyday culture, but now blog posts, pictures and tweets are beginning to seep into our courtrooms. They are even becoming a norm when it comes to evidence in a lawsuit. In general, social networks in general have brought about a whole new way of keeping in touch and expressing ourselves. With the ability to post comments, pictures and status updates, you can virtually get a minute-by-minute play of what your friends are doing at any given moment. But with the ability to share so much information there comes a catch – the information you just posted is now out there in cyberspace for anyone to see.
TROY, Mich.— What happens when 22,000 of your members visit your web site, each with a different purpose in mind? Member-based organizations are unique in that they often have a wide range of communication needs, from legislative, education or lobbying needs to unique needs of members. The Detroit Regional Chamber (DRC) is one such organization whose diversity resulted in a sprawling and complicated web site.
Working with Troy-based Media Genesis (http://www.mediaG.com), DRC utilized usability techniques to overhaul its web site experience. The new web site was launched this December at http://www.DetroitChamber.com and provides a dynamic link between the chamber and the community that it supports.
At the recent holiday launch event, users were provided the first look at the new web site, in exchange for feedback on the new architecture and layout.
“This project was more than just making an attractive web site,” said Antoine Dubeauclard, president of Media Genesis. “We really wanted to empower the DRC with online technology that would allow them to engage their massive and diverse constituency.”
The first step in improving the DRC’s web presence was identifying what the old site was lacking. Before the restructuring, chamber members felt that information was difficult to find and navigation was tedious.
High-fidelity usability tests were used by Media Genesis to collect real-life feedback. Twelve people were put in a room and videotaped while experiencing the web site. Mouse movements, facial expressions and audible comments were recorded for later analysis and used to refine architecture, navigation and organization of content.
Another method used was the Media Genesis AMA (Audience Message Action) session with more than 30 DRC personnel, where key audiences were identified and core messages and desired actions were determined.
“This early participation helps reveal the values of the organization,” Dubeauclard said. “All groups begin to understand their unique and shared objectives.”
Traffic analysis highlighted what users really did on the site. By analyzing their patterns of use, the team identified additional opportunities to improve the user’s experience.
The culmination of these techniques resulted in a number of breakthroughs:
- The Detroiter Online, the Chamber’s publication, now operates as its own web site (http://www.DetroiterOnline.com) where users can preview stories and share feedback and have real-time discussions regarding the topics.
- A Content Management System was rolled out so that various groups within the Chamber can manage their own sections of the site.
“It was an awesome challenge to leverage these techniques on a project of this complexity,” Dubeauclard said. “Good news is that these techniques produce predictable results regardless of the size and scale of the organization.”
About Media Genesis
Media Genesis is one of the largest and oldest web development companies in Michigan and specializes in servicing membership and nonprofit organizations. Media Genesis has helped develop and execute strategies for The Salvation Army, Greening of Detroit, University of Michigan and the Detroit Symphony Orchestra and others. For online marketing services for nonprofits, please visit http://www.DigitalHelpingHands.com or visit http://www.mediaG.com/drcpress for samples of usability studies and other resources.
With the new year already here, a number of new technological standards stare the business world in the face. The horizon for 2009 presents a number of new challenges, certainly, but also a multitude of new opportunities for growth and development—to seize the new methods available to internet developers in addition to new metrics to help calibrate maximum website effectiveness.
Below you can find the list of our top ten “resolutions” for your business and website that will allow you to make the most of the new year.
1. Structure and adjust your B2B website around usability. Business-to-business transactions are rational and relationship driven, so while eye-catching Flash pieces are important to help your website stay current, they by no means take the place of building your website around clear messaging and strong service branding.
2. Assess your website according to usability standards and best practices. Gain valuable real-world user feedback about the advantages and shortcomings of your site through live, high-fidelity usability studies. Actual user feedback can be an excellent barometer about your current site’s messaging and focus.
3. Develop mobile web content. In 2007 this was seen as a burgeoning market, in 2008 growing to be a normative part of web browsing, and 2009 is expected to be the year that mobile web browsing and the .mobi suffix becomes a prominent part of the market share for web browsing. Tailoring your B2B site toward mobile browsing or setting up a parallel site greatly improves the accessibility of your messaging.
4. Take advantage of new forms of social media. Already, highly visible social media like Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn have helped shape the way people do business and communicate. While social media will never take the place of real business communication, it’s becoming too important of a realm to ignore.
5. Finally take advantage of blogs, vlogs (video blogs) or podcasts in 2009. Having regularly updated dynamic content on your website is a great way to encourage return visitors and blogs are quickly becoming the standard—not the option—for both B2C and B2B sites to encourage repeat visits. Consider the prominence of blogs and social media in the 2008 presidential campaign, and think of it as a model on how to cultivate relationships.
6. Introduce video to your homepage if you haven’t already. Video is stimulating and can easily be tailored to maximize your website’s messaging with messages like a company overview or a possible elevator pitch. Given that user viewers watched 13.5 billion videos in the month of October 2008 alone, a website without video is losing ground against its competitors, even in the B2B world.
7. Be careful about reducing marketing budgets. The economy for 2009 almost certainly means that some sacrifice will be necessary. Redefining your business focus on existing customers rather than developing new leads is fiscally responsible—but only in the short term. The measurability of ROI on the internet, the relative cost-effectiveness compared to print media, and the ability of the internet to more quickly develop a diverse customer base all make internet marketing retain its value even in hard times.
8. Revisit your web content to be both user and search engine optimized. Based on an Infrared eye tracking study conducted by the Nielsen Norman Group, most users view websites in an “F” pattern, scanning from left to right in jumps from top to bottom. This makes bullets an absolute must. Additionally, Latent Semantic Indexing (LSI) has been becoming increasingly prevalent in major search engines. LSI emphasizes relevant and related content and actually blacklists the practice of keyword stuffing when indexing a web page, which redefines how pages should be constructed for optimal search results.
9. Examine the structure of your business communication model. Do you communicate exclusively via e-mail? If so, how well does it work? Consider developing alternative inter- and intranet based applications to help unify your business communication, from sales to project management and development.
10. Remember the little things. Remember that your clients and relationships are oriented not only around presentation, but ease of communication. Is your website set up obtrusively at all? Does it contain any broken links or PDFs or outdated copyright material? If so, it can give the appearance of a site that is more or less abandoned by its creator, setting up a serious barrier to your messaging. Making sure that your content is current, functional, and legible are critical indicators for how likely a prospect is to glean your messaging from the website and increases the chances of conversion.
For more information, visit www.mediaG.com, or contact us at inquiry@mediaG.com.
(Troy, Mich.) – While the Web has taken giant steps to becoming interactive and social, it may never replace real life contact and relationships.
Media Genesis (www.mediaG.com), a Web development company is trying to bridge that gap with the use of videos to provide a personal connection with a Web site.
Working with a leading Detroit law firm, Dickinson Wright, Media Genesis created a series of candid videos to engage users. The video project includes videos from several of the firm’s lawyers, such as Dennis Archer, chairman of Dickinson Wright, former Detroit Mayor and former president of the American Bar Association.
“Professional services firms, firms whose primary service is intellectual property, need to have their web site reflect their core service in an engaging fashion – and no amount of text can provide the experience of Dennis Archer explaining how the practice of law has changed,” said Antoine Dubeauclard, president of Media Genesis.
Today, people want to have a relationship of trust and comfort with their attorneys and out of that, expect a partner to assist in all aspects of business – not just a courtroom gladiator, Archer said.
To capture these sound bites and candid comments from time-pressed attorneys, Media Genesis set up a rolling schedule over a couple of days to do 20 minute interviews on location. These interviews were then edited and turned into 30 second clips and incorporated into a custom-built Adobe Flash-based video player for display on www.DickinsonWright.com.
Media Genesis provides a suite of services geared at professional services firms (law firms, accounting firms, consulting firms, training and development firms, architectural and engineering firms). Services range from web development, content management systems, e-learning courses, video presentations, interactive multimedia, strategy consulting and marketing. For more information visit www.mediaG.com.
When it comes to making e-commerce updates easily and effectively, there’s a new tool being used by major websites to integrate the eye-catching motion of Adobe Flash, yet is can be as easy to update as HTML. The result is a series of database-ready web services that brings interactivity to an e-commerce site — just check out http://disney.go.com/index or http://www.millionclouds.com/ for examples of the flexibility and database readiness of Adobe Flex.
Flex isn’t just for e-commerce web sites. It is also a great solution for developing desktop software programs like widgets, or even mobile applications. If you want to make your brand to be more accessible to consumers by putting it right on their desktop or cell phone, Flex is the software that can make it possible.
Adobe Flex is a suite of technologies released by Adobe as an animation alternative to Flash. Flex embeds Flash in HTML for use as a data-driven platform for websites. Flex files— displayed by the flash plug-in and compatible across all browser platforms—have the advantage of being database-ready. This enables Flex to function interactively for a web page feature such as a shopping cart or a series of streaming videos. Flex features include:
• Data grids
• Pull-down menus
• Charts
• Integration of Flex into Flash or vice-versa
• Customizable styles and skins
• Creation of desktop applications
For programmers, Adobe Flex Builder features a visual, object-oriented user interface for easy organization of visual components. This allows you to more quickly develop the Flex application for the website, since it requires less coding. This means programmers will spend less time building and maintaining your web site overall, which means a more efficient website for you.
For more information on how your business could benefit from the use of Adobe Flex, contact Media Genesis at inquiry@mediaG.com.
Media Genesis has had an ongoing partnership with The Salvation Army to help promote their Online Red Kettle Campaign. Media Genesis video taped more than 20 people from around metro Detroit to explain why family, friends and co-workers should help The Salvation Army and donate to their personal Online Red Kettles this holiday season. Media Genesis developed and edited the videos, and designed a website for The Salvation Army to promote the campaign.
The videos include direct appeals from Darren McCarty and Mike Babcock from the Detroit Red Wings, prominent Salvation Army officers, and local business leaders such as William Langford from the Pepsi Bottling Group, Robert Zocco from Logo Vision, and Maria Leonhauser from Franco Public Relations Group.
The kettles allow people to set donation goals and measure their donation progress online. This allows donors to view the progress their donation merits toward an individual donation goal. To donate to Media Genesis’ Online Red Kettle, please visit http://give.salvationarmyusa.org/goto/mediaG or start your own at www.onlineredkettle.org.
Below is a testimonial from a Salvation Army employee who has worked on the campaign.
“I’m very excited with how much support The Salvation Army’s Online Red Kettle Campaign is gaining this year. These Online Red Kettles help support thousands of people right in your area just like the red kettles you see outside of store fronts.
Working with Media Genesis has been a great experience! Media Genesis was also able to come to our office to do a live video shoot and welcomed participants to their office for shooting as well. The videos turned out great. They were able to accommodate last-minute changes and have been able to make edits with a fast turnaround.
I believe Online Red Kettles are a great way to help raise funds. Data shows that the average online donation is higher than the average donation made to a red kettle in real life. Each of the participants will be able to link their kettle video directly to their e-mail or post it online to YouTube or other social networking sites.
I’m definitely thrilled with the possibilities of using these videos to make donor appeals; I think the video project will really help support the Online Red Kettle campaign and I’m excited to see where we stand at the end of January.”
Health care – it was a major topic in this year’s presidential election and remains a concern for many businesses as health care spending continues to rise. According to the American Journal of Health Promotion, more than 95 percent of health care dollars are spent on treatment rather than prevention. As a result, Media Genesis decided to devote the month of November to wellness and teamed up with Wellco, a provider of corporate wellness systems for organizations who want to stop employee health risks before they become more dangerous and costly.
Scott Foster, Wellco’s corporate wellness expert, recently came to Media Genesis to give a seminar and admit HealthHammer testing. The HealthHammer testing was complimentary to all Media Genesis employees. HealthHammer can predict dangerous and costly health conditions such as heart disease, diabetes, and depression. It is the first system of its kind to integrate medical measurements, health risk appraisal, and avoidable costs in one powerful tool that offers instant, on-site results.
A common misconception is that people believe they are healthier than they really are, Foster said. Ninety percent of Michigan workers have at least one health risk.
“Not only does productivity rise and stress levels decrease when employees are healthy, but we feel we have a responsibility to our employees to make their health a priority and make resources more available to them,” said Brad Frederick, founder and CEO of Media Genesis.
Regular visits with your physician are critical to your overall health, Foster said. Yet, today’s culture and climate shows more employees avoiding the doctor.
“Companies are facing medical care costs that are consuming nearly half of corporate profits, he said. “The right corporate wellness program can dramatically lower costs for both employers and employees – there is currently no greater opportunity for the economy.”
The need and success of this program was demonstrated by the fact that almost 100 percent of Media Genesis employees participated in HealthHammer, Foster said.
Wellness month also included smaller efforts, such as health awareness signs, offering flu shots, promotion of healthy food through potlucks, and even a meditation session.
Wellco Corporation offers seminars, on-site testing, and health system assessments to corporations and organizations of all sizes. For more information, please visit www.wellcocorp.com.
