Welcome to AlterNation! Today we’re talking location-based services!
2009 saw the rise of location-based social applications, such as Foursquare and Gowalla, which have tremendous potential for businesses. Though barely a year old Foursquare has nearly 1 million users. Gowalla, its main competition has about 150,000 users. April 16, 2010 was declared Foursquare day by the company via Twitter, and Manchester, New Hampshire declared official “Foursquare Day” in the town.
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Welcome to Alternation! Today we’re talking Twitter search!
It’s common practice to monitor your brand on Twitter, but Christopher Penn has written about what he calls“Three nearly guaranteed Twitter moneymaking words”. Wordiness aside, his suggestions are really great. He says “recommend“, “suggest“, and “anyone” are the words, and that they should be used in combination with eachother and with the product or service your brand offers. He mentions how this is like search marketing a decade ago, and how extremely long-tailed searches were used to drive high conversion rates. In the same way as “What is the best veterinarian in Topeka” get people to specific results, Tweets asking “Can anyone recommend a good vet in Topeka” give you an opportunity to gain a customer. If you are searching for keywords included in this sort of query, all you’ll need to do is wait for people to ask questions, then answer helpfully. While the effectiveness won’t be the same for everyone, the point remains the same: brand management isn’t the same as Twitter search marketing. Monitoring your brand is often better suited to after-the-fact customer service and satisfaction, and while it’s important, it won’t drive sales like query monitoring has the potential to do.
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Welcome to AlterNation! Today we’re talking WordPress; what it is, why it’s great, and how you can make it better. For the uninformed, here’s a description of WordPress pulled from WordPress.org: “WordPress is a state-of-the-art publishing platform with a focus on aesthetics, web standards, and usability. WordPress is both free and priceless at the same time.”
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6 Reasons why WordPress is amazing:
Welcome to AlterNation! Today we’re talking about blogs, and why companies should have them.
Why Your Business Should be Blogging
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SEO benefits
Pushing out new content keeps giving google more to pick up, and helps you rank for more keywords. You can target specific keywords by writing posts referencing them in the title; to branch out and grab
Social Media benefits
Blogging is regarded as “social media”, because it promotes conversation, rather than simple consumption of media. One of your goals is to get people talking, whether the conversation takes place in your comments, on Twitter, on Facebook, or anywhere else. Blogging provides you with a stream of content to promote on other sites, so you aren’t simply telling people to “look at my business”.
Welcome to AlterNation! Today we’re talking about tools to make Twitter easier to use, and more powerful for you.
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Management
Twitter’s website may be fine for the average user, but it isn’t that handy for someone looking to use the service for business. We suggest using <a href=” />HootSuite to manage your account or accounts. With HootSuite you can Tweet from multiple accounts, follow keywords and brand mentions, and schedule tweets.
Welcome to AlterNation Episode 5. On this episode, we’re talking about the importance of having a mobile version of your site, as well as creating content on a regular basis.
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According to a December 2009 Mobile metrics report by AdMob, the iPhone has a 54% browser market share in North America, and Android has a 27% browser market share. Because these devices can display full versions of the websites, many website owners feel that it’s not important to have a mobile version of their site. Even though there are so many mobile devices that can display full versions of their site, it’s still important to have a mobile version of your site. Slower mobile networks and tiny navigation elements can make navigating a site on a mobile device an unpleasant experience.
Welcome to Alternation! Today we’re talking about Twitter, specifically using the network for customer service.
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Southwest Airlines’ response to Kevin Smith is a good example of a company using Twitter to handle a situation that could have been out of their control. Toyota is doing the same thing, to a degree, and using Tweetmeme to try and steer the conversation about their massive recall in a positive direction. In both cases, Twitter is helping businesses repair a tarnished image; something that would have been far more difficult to do in years past.
Best Buy launch the “Twelp Force” last summer; a way for people to ask Best Buy employees questions through Twitter. As of a few weeks ago, the Twelp Force had answered over 22,000 questions, and averages 100 questions answered a day. The Twelp Force is a great example of a business using Twitter as a combined service and marketing front, since they are answering questions, and commonly referring people to products and services Best Buy offers.
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Welcome to AlterNation Episode 3! We’re taking a close look at using Facebook for business and marketing, and we discuss all sorts of tips and tricks.
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Getting Started
Facebook has a decent system in place to show you how to set up various portions of your page, but after that they don’t give any instructions. There are lots of things you can do, and should do to improve your page and connect better with fans and clients. One of the earliest, and most vital things you need to do for your page is obtain a Facebook vanity URL, at WiseStamp is a useful tool for adding this sort of link to emails.
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About gaming, that is. Welcome to AlterNation Episode 2! This week we talk online social games, location-based services and the dangers invovled with them (oh my!), and look at a case of schools using webcams to spy on students, big brother style.
For show notes, click more.
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Welcome to AlterNation, the official Alter Imaging podcast! Alternation will provide a weekly review of the latest internet news, as well as commentary and tips. In episode 1 we discuss the huge amount of Google news from last week, Facebook’s 6th anniversary, and some interesting statistics.
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For show notes, click more.
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Seven Tips for Effective Blogging
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