Chillies Latest News

Why QR Codes Won’t Last

Tue, 21 Feb 2012 11:56:06 +0200

Jon Barocas is the founder and CEO of bieMEDIA, a Denver-based online marketing and media solutions company that specializes in video content production and distribution, mobile visual search, technology platforms, SEO, VSEO and more.

Like most technology fans, I am always ready and willing to try any technology that promises to simplify my life. QR codes seemed to present an accessible and uniform way for people with smart devices to interact with advertising, marketing and media. Those little squares of code seemed to open a world of opportunity and potential. But after using them for a length of time, I shifted my perspective.

My initial honeymoon with QR codes was very short-lived. The initial rush that I had received from trying to frame the code on my device had lost its luster. I started to view QR codes as a barrier to additional information. And in many instances, the rewards (whatever I received as a result of scanning the code) did not measure up to the effort of the transaction itself.

Consider a recent study by comScore, which states that only 14 million American mobile device users have have interacted with a QR code. In essence, less than 5% of the American public has scanned a QR code. So where’s the disconnect?

Inadequate technology, lack of education and a perceived dearth of value from QR codes are just three of the reasons mobile barcodes are not clicking with Americans. But it goes deeper than that.

Humans are visual animals. We have visceral reactions to images that a QR code can never evoke; what we see is directly linked to our moods, our purchasing habits and our behaviors. It makes sense, then, that a more visual alternative to QR codes would not only be preferable to consumers, but would most likely stimulate more positive responses to their presence.

The QR Alternative

Enter mobile visual search (MVS). With MVS, you simply point at a product or logo and shoot a picture with your smartphone’s built-in camera. Within seconds, the MVS application will provide product or company information, or even the option to make a purchase right then and there on your mobile device.

MVS is a far more compelling and interactive tool to enable mobile marketing and commerce. In today’s increasingly mobile world, instant gratification is the norm, and taking the extra step of finding a QR code scanner on your mobile device no longer makes sense. With MVS, you are interacting with images that are familiar and desirable, not a square of code that elicits no reaction.

The opportunities are boundless with MVS. Unlike two-dimensional barcodes and QR codes, MVS will have wrap-around and three-dimensional recognition capabilities. Even traditional advertising will be revitalized with MVS. For example, picture an interactive print campaign that incorporates MVS as part of a competition or game. Marketers can offer instant gratification in the form of videos, mobile links, coupons or discounts as incentive for taking the best pictures of a particular product or logo.

The world has already started to migrate to MVS. For example, companies in Argentina and South Korea currently allow commuters waiting for subways or buses to view images of groceries or office supplies. Embedded within these images are recognitions triggers: Smartphone users place and pay for an order to be delivered or picked up within minutes.

Also, MVS can cash in on word-of-mouth marketing. Marketers will seamlessly link their campaigns to social networks so consumers can share photos and rewards, such as vouchers, coupons or music downloads, with their friends and followers.

QR Code Security Risks

In addition to being a more versatile medium, mobile visual search is also more secure than QR code technology. Cybercriminals are able to cloak smartphone QR code attacks due to the nature of the technology — QR codes’ entire purpose is to store data within the code. There is no way to know where that code is going to take you: a legitimate website, infected site, malicious app or a phishing site. MVS’s encryption modality will eliminate the opportunity for malicious code to download to your smartphone.

Recently, there have been documented cases of QR code misuse and abuse around the globe. For instance, infected QR codes can download an app that embeds a hidden SMS texting charge in your monthly cellphone bill. QR codes can also be used to gain full access to a smartphone — Internet access, camera, GPS, read/write local storage and contact data. All of the data from a smartphone can be downloaded and stolen, putting the user at risk for identity theft — without the user noticing.

Mobile visual search is a safer and more secure technology that can provide more information and content than a QR code, without as many security risks. By focusing on real-world objects and images rather than code, MVS lessens the risk of a virus or Trojan attack.

Safety, security and versatility — there are many reasons that MVS will supplant QR codes. However, there is one important, largely overlooked reason to favor MVS over QR codes: For the first time, we will be able connect with our actual surroundings in a truly interactive way. We will be able to provide a virtual marketplace that is familiar and accessible. Humanizing this interaction and making it more visual are the foundations of MVS’s imminent success.

Source: Mashable.com

Adding a site to Google

Wed, 15 Feb 2012 10:13:42 +0200

Inclusion in Google's search results is free and easy; you don't even need to submit your site to Google. Google is a fully automated search engine that uses software known as "spiders" to crawl the web on a regular basis and find sites to add to our index. In fact, the vast majority of sites listed in our results aren't manually submitted for inclusion, but found and added automatically when our spiders crawl the web.

If you've just added a URL to your site, or a page has significantly changed since the last time it was crawled, you can ask Google to crawl it.

If your site offers specialized products, content, or services (for example, video content, local business info, or product listings), you can reach out to the world by distributing it on Google Web Search. For more information, visit Google Content Central.

To determine whether your site is currently included in Google's index, do a site: search for your site's URL. For example, a search for [ site:google.com ] returns the following results: http://www.google.com/search?q=site%3Agoogle.com .

Although Google crawls billions of pages, it's inevitable that some sites will be missed. When our spiders miss a site, it's frequently for one of the following reasons:

The site isn't well connected through multiple links from other sites on the web.

The site launched after Google's most recent crawl was completed.

The design of the site makes it difficult for Google to effectively crawl its content.

The site was temporarily unavailable when we tried to crawl it or we received an error when we tried to crawl it. You can use Google Webmaster Tools to see if we received errors when trying to crawl your site.

Our intent is to represent the content of the internet fairly and accurately. To help make this goal a reality, we offer guidelines as well as tips for building a crawler-friendly site. While there's no guarantee that our spiders will find a particular site, following these guidelines should increase your site's chances of showing up in our search results.

Consider creating and submitting a detailed Sitemap of your pages. Sitemaps are an easy way for you to submit all your URLs to the Google index and get detailed reports about the visibility of your pages on Google. With Sitemaps, you can automatically keep us informed of all of your current pages and any updates you make to those pages. Please note that submitting a Sitemap doesn't guarantee that all pages of your site will be crawled or included in our search results.

Men on Twitter Bicker More About Valentine’s Day Than Women Do

Tue, 14 Feb 2012 08:50:05 +0200

Male Twitter users are more disgruntled by Valentine’s Day than females. Although women post more tweets, men tend to take a more negative tone about the Feb. 14 holiday, according to new data from NM Incite.

The social analytics company inspected 70,000 recent tweets to discover that one-tenth of men’s tweets about Valentine’s Day are positive compared to one-fifth of women’s. For example, @Mamasp00n posted, “[F*ck] valentines day, I’ll be playing twisted metal for 5 minutes then cry in a corner because I’m lonely and eat fun dip.”

The examples are endless. Look no further than the “Tomorrow Is Tuesday” worldwide trending topic that surfaced Monday on Twitter. People aren’t just stating the obvious, they’re criticizing Cupid’s big day.

“Among both genders, the most commonly discussed Valentine’s Day topic is not having a date, with 36 percent for women and 25 percent for men,” says NM Incite. “Interestingly, women are more likely to discuss buying a gift for their significant other, while men are more likely to share their dislike for the holiday.”

Source: Mashable.com

How Facebook and Twitter Help Sound the Official Earthquake Alarm

Mon, 13 Feb 2012 11:31:56 +0200

When a magnitude 6.7 earthquake struck the Philippines Monday, residents and local media outlets used Twitter and Facebook to alert residents and quell tsunami-inspired panic.

But they’re not the only ones using social media to sound a digital alarm when disaster strikes. Officials in the U.S. do that too.

The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), a scientific agency of the U.S. government, is tasked in part with researching natural disasters and getting the word out when they hit. They’re doing much of that information sharing online. Scott Horvatt, Web and Social Media Chief at the USGS, says the organization uses a combination of Facebook and Twitter to spread information about “any significant earthquake event.”

“On Twitter, specifically, our @USGSted account automatically tweets out these significant events,” says Gerber (TED stands for Twitter Earthquake Dispatch).

@UGSGted tweets are sent out with the hashtag #quake. Once they’re tweeted, Horvatt’s system monitors tweets per minute with that hashtag. TED tweets are also automatically picked up and retweeted by the main @USGS account to its more than 186,000 followers.

Next, Horvatt and the USGS start crowdsourcing and responding to followers’ questions. They send out a “Did You Feel It?” message with a link to a form that collects first-hand reports of major earthquakes, helpful to seismologists while they turn raw data into plain English. Gerber says his team tries to respond as quickly as possible to questions during and after a quake.

On Facebook, the USGS cross-posts all earthquake information it tweets along with the same “Did You Feel It?” links. That’s breaking one of the first rules of social media (don’t cross-post), but in the case of emergencies, it’s best to get information out on all channels.

The USGS system isn’t limited to the United States. Through an international partnership called the Global Seismographic Network, the USGS can learn and distribute information about events across the world.

Is the USGS planning any kind of social media-based early warning system? Not at the moment, says Horvatt. But social media does give the USGS a leg up when scouting for seismic trouble. By monitoring social chatter about a possible earthquake, Horvatt’s team can alert seismologists to focus in on what may be happening in a certain geographic area.

“One of the goals behind the @USGSted account is that we have seismometers placed around the country, and in some areas they’re less dense in terms of numbers,” says Horvatt. “The account lets us measure and take a look at the number of tweets coming across about an earthquake. It has the potential to give a bit of heads-up about something possible happening, but it’s not meant as an early warning detection system.”

Source: Mashable.com

10 Essential Features of Every Good Business Website

Fri, 10 Feb 2012 12:19:23 +0200

So your business has a website — or you’re in need of one for your brand new venture. Web design can be an overwhelming process, so we’ve spoken to a few web designers who told us what you need to have on your site … and what you can probably do without (like crazy Flash animation).

The first thing you must do is secure a good, catchy URL. Make sure it makes sense for your business, doesn’t have quirky spelling and is available on social platforms, too. Panabee can help you get creative if your business name is taken, and Name Vine is a great resource for seeing what’s available.

Once you’ve set up your domain, it’s time to build out the site and make some big decisions. Here are 10 must-haves for your website that will ensure your customers have a positive experience on the site, improve your company’s digital footprint and increase engagement with your brand.

1. A Logical Roadmap

Sure, a website should be aesthetically pleasing, but it’s more important for it to be useful. Before you even pick a server or type an HTML tag, you should map out how you’d like the website to work. This is important both for user experience and for SEO, since Google considers the content and structure of a site when it ranks for search. So, map out and mock up a design for the site — what designers call “wireframing” — and run it by a few friends to make sure it makes sense and is intuitive. “If they can understand the logic, so will the people visiting your website … and Google bots when ranking it!” says Pete Mills of web design consultancy Calls9.

2. Crucial Business Information

“The biggest failure that people have is that they try to build the website they want, not necessarily the website they need,” says designer Josh Frankel. Take a restaurant, for example — Frankel says “everyone wants music and this giant ‘about’ page,” but they neglect the basic things like the menu, contact information and directions.

Keep text to a minimum when it comes to your mission statement, because you should be writing things so people can skim — we all have short attention spans. One helpful tip for conveying your mission is to compare your business to something else, like how MeUndies.com is marketed as “Warby Parker for undies” to align itself with the eyewear manufacturer’s keen curation and by-mail convenience. Don’t underestimate brevity — one or two sentences can be really powerful, says Frankel.

Depending on your business, you should have a few things on your website that fall into the realm of “information.” We know restaurants need a menu and a list of locations (ideally with directions or a map), but every industry has its necessary items. If you’re an etailer, you need product images (and they need to be good pictures). If you work in the service industry and have a business that relies heavily on customer service and referrals, put some testimonials on your site. For example, a wedding planner could have one of her recent brides write about her experience with the business. A web designer should include screenshots or link out to previous work. A hair salon could have client testimonials about a stylist’s skills and promptness. Tailor your site so that it offers the information users are likely to be looking for.

3. Contact Information

We can’t stress enough that most crucial business detail is contact information– which is why it has its own section. Mills exclaims, “How many times do you visit a website and think ‘how hard is to contact this company?’ Have a number, email, address and a contact form easily accessible and visible,” he says. It makes a difference because there’s nothing more frustrating than being unable to get in touch with a needed business or service.

When you put an email address or a phone number on the site, don’t upload this information as part of an image — the number or address should be able to be clicked on or copied right from the site in order to place the call or send an email conveniently and quickly. Most smartphones these days have the ability to do “click to call” on the web, so make the process as easy as possible for users.

Don’t want your phone ringing off the hook? Just use an email address, but be sure you answer emails in a timely manner. And please, get an email address for your domain. Using Gmail — or worse, an AOL email address — isn’t professional, and that’s what you’re striving to be. If you like Gmail’s interface, you can use Google Apps to set up custom email addresses through Gmail — it’s free for up to 10 email addresses.

4. Clear Navigation

A map is useless without a legend and a website is useless without clear navigation. Make sure you use easy-to-understand and logical names for the various pages of your site — contact, about, FAQ, etc. Being clever or cryptic will just be a turnoff for users.

When developing your navigation strategy, you should consider a call to action. What is it that you want people to do on your site? Place an order? Email for a quote? Become a member? Come to your brick-and-mortar store? Call to speak with a customer service rep? Make your goals clear and obvious.

“Put yourself in the shoes of who’s coming to your site,” says Frankel. “What are they trying to get done? Think about the goal of your potential customer.” Pepper the site with action items to help customer easily do what you want them to do. Birchbox has done a good job of this, encouraging users to “learn more” and directing them to claim a gifted Birchbox, since it’s a popular gift item and giftees are likely to be first-time visitors.

5. Security

If you’re selling anything online, you need to put some effort into securing your site with an SSL certificate. The SSL will encrypt communications between you and your clients (i.e. a credit card number, Social Security number), which will allay their fears of providing such information, since there’s so much identity theft on the web. VeriSign, TrustE, Entrust and GeoTrust are good options to explore.

6. Social Media Integration

Twitter. Facebook. Tumblr. YouTube. Pinterest. Google+. LinkedIn. Instagram. Foursquare. There are a lot of social platforms out there, and you should promote your presence on them on your website, because social media is critical part of marketing your business. Though not a traditional business, digital savvy Team Coco does a great job promoting its many social channels on the website.

Integrating these platforms into your website will help boost your SEO, improve your business’ footprint on the social web and build your following across numerous social platforms. Is it worth it to maintain a presence on so many social platforms? Yes — as long as you actually maintain your content, you’ll keep your brand top-of-mind and keep users engaged. “Social media is not going to leave us anytime soon and its worth the investment in time — it does make a difference,” says Mills.

7. A Mobile-Ready Version

Smartphones and tablets are driving an increasing amount of web traffic, and the numbers are only going to grow as mobile devices become cheaper and more mainstream. Andy Chu, director of Bing for Mobile, says 70% of task completion happens within one hour on mobile sites, meaning that people are often browsing on the web with intent — they’re looking to do something, buy something or go somewhere. If someone searches for a restaurant on his smartphone, he’s likely to eat at that restaurant within the hour, says Chu. So your website better be readable on handheld devices.

“Until two years ago, designing for the web meant designing for a computer, now it means designing for anything with an internet connection,” says Frankel, referring to laptops, tablets and smartphones, all of which have different screen sizes. So, how can you do it? Responsive design.

Responsive website design enables you to use fluid widths, so that your website layout will adapt to the screen on which it’s being browsed. You can enter HTML code so that your sidebar takes up, say 20% of the screen width, and the remaining 80% is reserved for the body of your website. Layouts are adjustable and images are scalable to make for a better web experience on myriad devices. Here are examples of sites with responsive design, so you can see for yourself.

Do you simply want to focus on developing a mobile website? You can use Mobify and other tools to create a mobile version of your website.

8. FAQ

People have a lot of questions. As you hear concerns from customers and receive feedback via email, gather up the most frequently asked questions into a list and offer clear, concise answers. Questions often revolve around materials and ingredients used (for allergy reasons), shipping information, company history, sizing (for apparel brands) and cancellation or return policies.

9. Good Hosting

Don’t mess around with hosting. “You need your site on a mainstream provider, and it costs a handful of dollars every month to have 24/7 technical assistance,” says Mills.

Not having good hosting can cost you in many ways. A slow site is frustrating, one that fails to load is obnoxious and both could turn off customers. But beyond annoying your users and increasing your bounce rate, poor hosting can also affect your rank in search engines, since many search engine algorithms detect webpage loading speed, says Malakai Whitston of design blog WebDesignFan.

10. Here’s a Curveball — Some Features You Don’t Need

Don’t underestimate the power of simplicity. Feel free to forgo these things on your website:

Music

Flash

Anything that autoplays, whether it’s music or a video. “It’s not something you want to do to somebody,” says Frankel.

Extraneous information and media — it’ll only slow down the page’s loading time.

Source:Mashable.com

4 Ways to Tweet as a Visual Brand

Mon, 06 Feb 2012 11:47:06 +0200

Companies that rely on a visual or photographic web presence often find it difficult to convey their media on Twitter. Take, for instance, apparel brands that need to get social media eyes on their merchandise, or a design firm that seeks exposure. How can these types of businesses ensure that Twitter followers see their wares?

Ecommerce or design companies may prefer Facebook, due to its inherently visual and expansive nature. However, businesses these days can’t afford to bypass Twitter entirely — especially because many people keep their Twitter feeds open all day long.

Read on to discover four pillars of “visual tweeting,” or how to make sure that your Twitter followers get the picture.

1. Twitter Voice Should Be Consistent and Relevant

Obviously not all businesses can afford to hire a social media manager who monitors and shares across social channels full-time. However, try to keep the same individual tweeting most of the time so that your Twitter account’s voice and style remains consistent.

That said, people come to visual-centric brands for a reason. They follow these types of companies and individuals in the hope of discovering new clothing, products, design tips and inspiration in general. Therefore, be sure to provide that very thing.

Remember these two tips: Be descriptive and be relevant. If you want to share a new collection of animal print blouses or a fancy new gadget, explain as much about the product as you can in 140 characters. If you include detail, like in designer Mike Rundle’s tweet above, people will be more inclined to click when they’re intrigued by the prospect of a visual payoff. Then, either link or embed an image at the end of your description.

On the other hand, if your Twitter account represents a visual brand, don’t get too personal to the point of being off-topic (read: Lucky Charms?). People are following your business, not your personal account, for a reason. It’s a tough balance to strike, especially because people want to feel that a brand is relatable and human. A good rule of thumb is to keep every tweet related to your visually-pleasing products or personal brand, but to kill two birds with one stone by injecting a fun or off-beat voice at the same time.

2. Favor Native Images

Now that you’ve got a tweet’s description down, it’s time to attach an image. There’s no rule that says you must embed your images into your Twitter feed, but now that Twitter allows you to do it, why not make it easier for your followers?

Third-party photo apps like Instagram, TwitPic and yfrog allow you to attach images to a tweet that can be expanded immediately within a Twitter feed, so the user doesn’t have to jump to a photo app’s website. Keep in mind, however, that these apps perform differently on mobile. For instance, on Twitter’s iPhone app, Instagram kicks you out to a separate page, but you’re able to view a TwitPic image directly underneath the tweet. Perform a test-run to determine which app suits your business best.

3. Pageviews Are Paramount

Although embedding images into tweets is convenient and visually pleasing, you’re likely still clamoring for pageviews, and therefore, will want to link out to your site as often as possible. That means you’ll have to be more strategic than ever.

Try putting attractive language at the beginning of a tweet that your followers can’t resist. Designer Veerle Pieters advertises a sale using caps lock, and then directs people to her site.

Above all, don’t be vague or else people won’t click through to see your product or design, ultimately losing you valuable pageviews. For example, women’s apparel company Nasty Gal may have a distinct and irreverent voice, but its tweets often do little to introduce attached links. How are we supposed to know that “The Doctor is in” refers to a blog post about Doc Martens?

4. Backgrounds Still Matter

Although more and more people are accessing Twitter profiles via simplified mobile design or dashboard applications like TweetDeck, you might still consider customizing your Twitter.com profile background.

Take a tip from Etsy, which set up a contest for users to submit a background design. Winning designs were featured as Etsy’s Twitter profile background for one month.

Or create your own background that reflects your product or design aesthetic. But be sure to take into account Twitter’s new profile design, which locates the tweet feed on the right-hand side of the page, and lists and suggestions on the left-hand side. Therefore, don’t let important images fall underneath your profile’s opaque boxes. For instance, can you spot the elusive third model in Topshop’s background above?

Instead of obscuring important information, create images that account for the placement and width of the Twitter feed, like designer Grace Smith, whose left-hand mini-bio adds a smart touch.

Source: Mashable.com

10Gbps broadband for universities

Tue, 31 Jan 2012 08:28:02 +0200

South African universities and public research organisations will be connected to each other at a minimum speed of 10Gbps in just a few years, says deputy minister for higher education Hlengiwe Mkhize.

She adds that this is as a result of at least a R886 million investment into the South African National Research and Education Network (Sanren) project since 2007.

SA is ranked at 61 out of 138 countries worldwide on the network readiness index, according to the department. It notes that government has made significant investments in ICT infrastructure to turn the situation around, use ICT more to benefit the higher education sector and improve the country's global rating on the index.

Facing figures

“At least R500 million has been allocated for the rollout of a national wireless broadband network by Sentech, and this will be specifically focused on rural areas. The intention is to connect learning institutions located in rural areas to each other and to other institutions in the country, while at the same time fostering collaboration and exchange of information,” says Mkhize.

She says an additional R300 million has been allocated to upgrade the country's existing broadband, increase the network's capacity, and reach and provide a backbone for Sentech's broadband network.

“This is in addition to the R886 million that has been invested in the Sanren project over the past five years, and this is the country's broadband connectivity network for public research institutions and universities which is also linked to the international network.”

Enticing researchers

Sanren is a high-speed network aiming to connect more than 200 research and tertiary sites around the country with international research and education organisations around the globe.

The network architecture consists of a national backbone connecting Durban, Pretoria, Johannesburg, Bloemfontein, Cape Town, Port Elizabeth and East London on a 10Gbps ring network. Metro rings are being installed in Johannesburg, Tshwane, eThekwini and Cape Town. A second phase of the Sanren project is extending the backbone to more remote sites including Polokwane, Grahamstown, Makhado and Mafikeng.

By the end of 2012, a total of R783 million is expected to have been invested by the Department of Science and Technology (DST) in the complete Sanren network rollout. This includes the national backbone network, metropolitan area networks, backbone network extensions, connections to the South African Large Telescope and Square Kilometre Array sites, and associated equipment costs.

Dr Daniel Adams, chief director of emerging research areas and infrastructure at the DST, says one of the fundamental goals is to build a world-class network across SA, to prove to researchers around the globe that the country can offer them the same connectivity as any research network on the planet.

Source: Itweb.co.za

10Gbps broadband for universities

Tue, 31 Jan 2012 08:19:17 +0200

She adds that this is as a result of at least a R886 million investment into the South African National Research and Education Network (Sanren) project since 2007.

Facing figures

She says an additional R300 million has been allocated to upgrade the country's existing broadband, increase the network's capacity, and reach and provide a backbone for Sentech's broadband network.

Enticing researchers

Sanren is a high-speed network aiming to connect more than 200 research and tertiary sites around the country with international research and education organisations around the globe.

Source: Itweb.co.za

Snaps on Maps: Google Wants to Send Photographers Inside Your Business

Mon, 30 Jan 2012 07:42:04 +0200

Snaps on Maps: Google Wants to Send Photographers Inside Your Business

Google wants to get all up in your business — but in a good way.

The search giant just unveiled an expansion to its Business Photos program, which aims to put indoor images of businesses on Google Maps and Google Places profiles. The program now has a clear way to hook business owners up with local photographers with its “Trusted Photographers” initiative.

If you’re interested in getting better photos of your establishment online, all you have to do is head over to the Google Business Photos page, then click on “Get Started” to see a list of photographers in your area who Google know can do the job.

That job includes both high-res pics of your location (inside and out) as well as 360-degree panoramic views, like this one.

The panoramic views are one of the most challenging parts, says Chris Favis, a Google Trusted Photographer based in Orlando, Florida.

“It’s pretty systematic,” he says. “Google loans us the cameras, and within the business you have to follow the rules, like getting the set of panos [panoramic shots] as soon as you walk in. The timing can be complicated — it’s a very specialized thing.”

You can also go to http://maps.google.com/help/maps/businessphotos/index.html to find a photographer in your area.

Source - Mashable.com

Google’s Privacy Update: What You Need to Know

Fri, 27 Jan 2012 09:53:05 +0200

Google’s new privacy update that will allow the company to eventually integrate its products will kick in March 1.

Tuesday’s news that Google condensed its 70 privacy settings into one easier-to-understand and more transparent document, paves the way for the company to meld its products into a more integrated and intuitive user platform, i.e. Google needed to give itself permission to sync your products in the future.

Nothing will change tangibly on March 1 — Google products will all still look and function the same. Users can already share data across services such as Picasa and Google+. And Google already has numerous intuitive functions: the Google calendar can autocomplete using names in your Gmail account. But the new privacy rules give the company leeway to combine your Google products in cool ways in the future.

Not searching for a gym membership in January? Google will remove those ads from your search. Email a friend about adopting a puppy? You might see ads for animal shelters in your area. Your friend Jon doesn’t have an “h” in his name? Google Docs will remember this, too. By syncing your Google products, the ads you see and your search results will be customized. Google will be different for each individual.

Just like with iTunes and other online services, there is no way to opt out of a privacy policy, other than not using the service — and that’s unlikely considering Google is the world’s largest search engine. Users can, however, customize their privacy settings as integrated products roll out in the future.

When Google launched Search Plus Your World it had some people wondering if Google searches would be tainted with irrelevant Google+ results. With the service, users can switch between the original Google and Search Plus Your World by logging out of their Google accounts. Any future services will most likely have that option as well.

The company is adamant that it will not give your information to advertisers — Google uses the information, though, to place the ads it purchases.

Google says it’ll let you opt in if it wants to access “personal information relating to confidential medical facts, racial or ethnic origins, political or religious beliefs, or sexuality.” Your account information will not be shared with Google’s Double Click advertising network, either.

Source:mashable.com

Jailbreaking Exemption Law Could Expire Soon

Thu, 26 Jan 2012 09:52:14 +0200

Protection granted by the U.S. Copyright Office for people who modify their iPhones and other iOS devices so they can install apps not authorized by Apple (known as “jailbreaking”) is set to expire soon. That’s why the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) is rallying supporters to sign a petition to renew the jailbreaking exemption law.

“The idea that you might face criminal charges because you altered your own property is totally unfair,” said Rebecca Jeschke, media relations director and digital rights analyst for the EFF. “The goal here is to make the law really clear.”

Three years ago the Copyright Office created an exemption to the1998 Digital Millennium Copyright Act DMCA that would protect users who jailbroke their phones from legal threats. Without this protection, anyone with a jailbroken iOS device could have legal issues looming over their heads. Currently, jailbreaking an iPhone just voids your Apple warranty.

On Wednesday, the EEF — the organization that filed for the initial jailbreaking exemption that was put into place three years ago — called on users of jailbroken devices to send their comments to the Copyright Office and explain why the exemption should be extended. The EFF also wants tablets and video game consoles to be included in the exemption.

Comments to the Copyright Office are due by Feb. 10 [link to .pdf comment form on copyright.gov]. You can also visit jailbreakingisnotacrime.org to sign a petition supported by EFF and Andrew “Bunnie” Huang, author of Hacking the Xbox.

“The law was never intended to limit legal activity with a device that was legally bought,” Jeschke said. “It’s not good policy for consumers.”

Jailbreaking devices is useful for uncovering security issues within it, or simply installing a modified operating system so you can access third-party app stores like Cydia.

When news of the 2010 smartphone jailbreaking exemption made headlines, Jeschke said lots of people were flabbergasted to hear this was an issue. Apple fought against the exemption in 2010 — “Which I think would be a surprise to people who spent money on the phone to own it,” Jeschke added.

Apple released a software update late last year for the iPhone 4, iPhone 3GS, iPad 2 and iPad, plus the third and fourth generations of the iPod Touch. The update would bring phones to 4.3.4. and protect users from malicious PDFs, but also prevented users from jailbreaking the phone with JailBreakMe 3.0.

The tug-of-war between Apple and Android for customers is ongoing and constant. Fans of Apple appreciate the company’s focus on design, while critics say Apple’s closed operating system is confining.

Source:Mashable.com

Anonymous Threatens Facebook Shutdown Jan. 28

Tue, 24 Jan 2012 09:02:37 +0200

Anonymous is planning to target Facebook in an attack Jan. 28 — at least that’s what a video uploaded to YouTube Monday is claiming in the name of the hacker network.

And you thought a day without Wikipedia was bad.

“An online war has begun between Anonymous, the people and the government of the United States,” the video begins. “While SOPA and PIPA may be postponed from Congress, this doesn’t guarantee that our Internet rights will be upheld.”

Following the U.S. government shutdown of file-sharing site Megaupload Friday, Anonymous attacked the U.S. Department of Justice’s website, among others.

Monday’s YouTube video calls on the American people to participate in the hack by downloading Low Orbit Ion Cannon (LOIC), the tool that was successfully used to target the Department of Justice. LOIC crashes websites by sending thousands of information packets to their servers.

The video gives instructions for downloading and running the program, as well as a time — 12 a.m. on Jan. 28 — to launch the attack. No time zone, however, is distinguished.

“Would you like to become part of the greatest Internet protests and first official cyber war?,” the video asks. “Operation Global Blackout is ongoing and everyone can be a part of it.”

SEE ALSO: Anonymous Hacks CBS, Universal Music

Facebook, of course, is one of the world’s largest websites, operating through thousands of servers located across the world. In the video, Anonymous acknowledges the difficulties of attacking such a large site.

“While it is true that Facebook has at least 60,000 servers, it is still possible to bring it down,” says the Anonymous voice. “Anonymous needs the help of the people.”

YouTube commenters have raised an important question, Why would Anonymous want to crash Facebook, after the site came out against SOPA and PIPA?

The video essentially equates the privately-owned company with the U.S. government, with no explanation for the linkage. CNET postulates that Zuckerberg took too long to voice his opposition, landing his social network a spot on the potential targets list.

We’ve heard this threat before from the global network of hactivists, who promised to shut down the site Nov. 5, 2011, over user privacy concerns. Ultimately, no attack was executed and the loosely-connected hacker network called the threat the work of peripheral members.

Source: Mashable.com

How to Grow Your Business With Mobile Paid Search

Fri, 20 Jan 2012 08:16:21 +0200

Many business owners are trying to figure out how to use mobile marketing to grow sales and revenues. You may already have a mobile website, and may have even explored creating a mobile app for your business. But after that, things may have come to a standstill.

So, what’s the next easiest thing you can do to acquire new customers via mobile?

The low-hanging fruit in the mobile world just happens to be mobile search, which differs from regular search in that it appeals to prospects who are on-the-go and actively searching for a product or service. Mobile Marketer reported a study from Google, which revealed 70% of all mobile searches result in action within an hour. For desktop searches, that figure drops to 30%.

Here are some tips and techniques you can use to grow your sales and revenue using mobile paid search.

Start With Your Keyword List

When you’re creating a keyword list for your mobile campaign, it’s a good idea to consider what people are doing when they’re searching from a mobile device. People who conduct searches from their smartphones want information quickly that can be acted upon right away. They’re not looking for in-depth company bios or details about your corporate philosophy; they want short, quick answers about your street address, phone number or customer service department.

Google has a keyword tool that lets you research keywords used on mobile devices vs. desktops. That’s important because when people are doing a mobile search they’re often looking for something immediate.

As you develop your keyword list, be sure to add a mobile spin to it. For example, if you own a chain of restaurants, you’ll not only want to buy “Tony’s Italian Pizza,” you’ll also want to search “Tony’s Italian Pizza Locations” and “Tony’s Italian Pizza on Peachtree Street.” Also, don’t forget to buy zip codes (“Florists in 30342”) and urgency terms (“Plumbing Emergency Repair”).

How to Buy Mobile Keywords

1. List All Relevant Keywords For a Campaign.

Let’s say you’re a florist — you’d want to list all the keywords and keyword phrases that might attract people doing searches for florists. This includes obvious terms, like “Florist” and “Flowers for Birthday,” but it should also include broader terms, like “Anniversary Gifts” and “Birthday Gift Ideas.”

2. Split Keywords into Themed Ad Groups

Florists typically have seasons in which sales skyrocket, like Valentine’s Day, but they also have non-seasonal triggers. Therefore, you want to divide your keyword ad groups out by themes. Of course, one theme would be Valentine’s Day, but other themes could be groups like Birthday Gifts, Special Offers or Summer Promotions.

3. Refine Your List

Once you’ve done everything outlined above, review and refine your list. For example, you won’t want to bid on terms like “Flowers” because your ad would show up every time a gardener, biology student or artist searched for that term. You should also avoid using the same keyword in multiple ad groups within the same campaign, since that would effectively put you in competition with yourself. (Why is that a bad thing? You’d artificially bid the price of the keyword up.)

Also, using negative match keywords like “Free” will prevent your ad from showing up when someone is looking for free stuff – people looking for free stuff are not in your target market.

Writing Your Ads

Here are some tips to get a head start on what works and what doesn’t work in mobile paid search.

1. Focus on Your Product, Not Your Company

A common mistake many people make when writing their first paid search ad is focusing on their company instead of the product. In paid search, people aren’t buying your company – they’re buying your product (preferably at some sort of discount). For example, Valentine’s Day Specials would be a product-focused ad. Peachtree Road Florist is a company-focused ad, which is not as effective.

2. Provide Benefits in the Body Copy

Your ad should help people understand why your product or service is exactly what they’re looking for. Focus on the benefits of purchasing your specific product or service, not on a generic, fluffy description.

3. Include a Call-to-Action

Research shows that ads perform better when there’s a specific call-to-action in the copy. Be sure to have a sense of urgency – you’ll receive better results if you give people a deadline.

4. Develop a Mobile Landing Page, Not Your Homepage

In the example we’ve been using here, the florist would want the person who clicked the ad to land on a page that was selling Valentine’s Day flowers at a discount. Driving people to a generic homepage is a waste of money. More importantly, be sure your landing page is optimized for mobile – there’s nothing more frustrating than clicking on a mobile paid search ad, only to be driven to a page with text that’s too small to read.

5. Use Keywords in Your Ad

According to Google, the best-performing ads are the ones with keywords in the headlines. For instance, if you’re running an ad that has “Valentine’s Day Discounts” as a keyword phrase, you’ll want to regularly use that phrase in the headline of your paid search ad. That way, the user knows the ad specifically matches what he’s searched for.

Measuring the Success of Your Campaign

One of the great things about mobile marketing is that it’s digital, and therefore, can be easily tracked. One of the very first things you should do when setting-up a mobile paid search campaign is to figure out how you’re going to track the results of your ads.

Here are some things you should be measuring in your paid search campaign.

1. Click Through Rate (CTR)

As mentioned earlier, your CTR is one of the fundamental things you should be keeping an eye on. Less than 1% CTR means your ad is not targeted properly — in other words, the ad you’ve written isn’t matching the keywords people are searching for. If you have a CTR less than 1%, you’ll want to double-check that the keywords match what your ads are promoting (“Valentine’s Day Specials” vs. “Valentine’s Day Sale”).

2. Average Position

Be sure to check your average position to find out where your ad is appearing on the search results page. On a regular paid search campaign, there are up to 11 ads shown on any given page. But in mobile, that’s usually limited to two or three. So, if your average position in your mobile paid search campaign isn’t better than three, you’re really not showing up where you need to be.

3. Conversion Tracking

All roads in mobile paid search should lead to conversions, which in a classic sense, means a customer buys your product. For mobile paid search purposes, you may have to provide a coupon to track conversions. Since many mobile searchers are searching for locations (rather than ecommerce web pages), you can’t really sell to them via your mobile landing page.

What’s a business to do? Simply provide a mobile coupon on the landing page that can be scanned (and, thus, tracked) at your store location. By doing that, you’ll be able to drive people to your location and measure the results of your campaign when the coupon is scanned.

Source: Mashable.com

How to Pick the Right Name for Your Business

Wed, 18 Jan 2012 08:33:11 +0200

Abstract or dead simple? Clever irony? Cute and playful? There are endless paths to take when brainstorming your new business name. But for many small business owners and entrepreneurs, the naming process is fraught with uncertainty and doubt.

Yet, the stakes couldn’t be higher. A business begins with a name — the cornerstone of company identity that shapes branding, company tone and first impressions. Whether you’ll be name-brainstorming yourself or have hired a branding firm, here are a few tips to help you pick the right name for your new business.

1. Set the tone.

Your business name sets the tone for all that follows. Think about what’s important to you and your business. What’s the first thing you want a customer to think in regard to your business? For example, a young company breaking into the financial advising field may be more concerned about credibility, and thus forgo the edgy, attention-grabbing name. Your own tone can be playful or academic, edgy or professional. Just make sure it reflects what your business is and what you want it to be in the future.

2. Simple is strong.

A powerful name is easy to spell, pronounce and remember. After all, what good is word-of-mouth if your customer tells a friend, “You really should look up my caterer for your next event. I think their name begins with an A…”

If you need to explain a business name, you’ve failed to make an impact. One creative marketing consultant selected a variant of the name Agora for her business, loving the connection to the ancient Greek word agora, meaning marketplace. She quickly abandoned the name when a colleague’s first reaction was “I get it. Sometimes I feel agoraphobic when I’ve got a big project too.”

3. Do not use initials!

We all know the business landscape has an affinity for acronyms, but try to avoid using initials for your company name. A random collection of letters doesn’t inspire an emotional connection. And you can run into legal and branding headaches by juggling two different business names (the initials and the name spelled out).

4. Opt for a descriptive name.

A descriptive name helps frame your company better than a generic one. For example, consider Speedy Electronics vs. Speedy, Inc. Adding this qualifier instantly tells potential customers what your business is all about.

5. Don’t box yourself in.

While descriptive is good, you don’t want your name to be too descriptive, in case you end up expanding your offerings down the road. Imagine if Target still went by its original name, Dayton Dry Goods Company. You need to consider where your brand is today, as well as where you want to go in the future.

6. Watch out for language pitfalls.

A word in English may have a negative meaning in another language or culture. And enthusiastic business owners can be blind to awkward puns and double entendres. The best way to avoid creating an embarrassing or damaging brand situation is to test your name on your target audiences; they may see something you missed.

7. Give any new name time to sink in.

It can take some time for a new name to feel right, and you may need to use your name for several months before it starts to feel natural. This is particularly true when a name is off the beaten path, which is often the case for some the industry’s most memorable and impactful names. Just imagine the initial reaction to the name “Google.”

Along these lines, a strong brand or product can overcome a potentially ill-conceived name. When Apple first unveiled its tablet, I was skeptical of the choice in name. I was far from alone. Yet fast forward a few years and the word “iPad” is a natural part of my daily vernacular (and I never think of feminine hygiene).

8. Don’t finalize too soon.

The most important lesson is not to get too attached to any one name during the brainstorming process. When inspiration strikes, it’s all too tempting to start envisioning your company logo, web design, signage, business cards, etc. But you’ve got to make sure that perfect name is legally available for you to use — no one wants to be on the wrong end of a trademark dispute.

Source: Mashable.com

5 Strategies for Creating Magnetic Online Content

Tue, 17 Jan 2012 08:18:01 +0200

Traditional advertising worked through distraction — an interruption to our sitcom, a page between magazine articles, a banner teasing our attention at the top of a webpage.

Then entertainment channels fragmented as digital moved to the center of culture. “The goal now is to attract rather than distract, to engage rather than intrude,” as eMarketer puts it in its Top Digital Trends for 2012 report.

The result? Brands are content publishers. And the Holy Grail of brand-produced content is magnetic content — an emerging buzzword eMarketer describes as a form of marketing that “involves blurring the lines between content and advertising,” and calls out as one of the top trends for 2012.

The Role of Magnetic Content in Your Marketing Mix

Magnetic content is content that’s good — content that gets people’s attention with great story or outright hilarity. It’s the sort of thing people want to engage with and share.

As one element of a brand’s broader content marketing strategy, magnetic content is the premium stuff: It can powerfully augment the everyday flow of comments and questions and links you’re sharing in your social media channels, garnering earned media attention that drives interest in your brand and builds audience for it. But how do you do it right?

Here are five strategies to get you started defining magnetic content for your 2012 marketing mix.

1. Make It Brand-Relevant

Properly produced magnetic content manifests your brand strategy. If there’s no relevance to your brand, there’s no magnetism for your brand, so you want the content to reflect your brand aspiration and engage around its promise.

Denny’s web series “Always Open” features comedian David Koechner conducting short interviews of fellow comics like Will Arnett, Amy Poehler and Sarah Silverman in a Denny’s booth at a live, working restaurant. The quirky questions and silly interactions don’t open any new doors, but they meet Denny’s millennial target through recognizable actors and goofy situations, evoking a cultural sensibility toward diners as places where people come together and talk and eat in a casual environment.

2. Connect Across Time

The most magnetic content lives over time, building community around an experience — think of Star Wars, Lord of the Rings, or Seinfeld. But that doesn’t mean it has to be episodic. In fact, you can maximize your impact if you design your content experience to live as a platform.

Look at Lancome’s Visions of Beauties, which invites people from around the world to share what beauty is to them through photos, videos, and tweets. As a crowdsourced campaign, Lancome has set up an aspirational, brand-resonant experience around beauty that anybody can participate in as a contributor or voyeur. The seductive, elegant interface speaks to a global audience. The experience evolves over time, bringing people together across space to weave together a story about the very thing Lancome’s products aspire to: beauty. The brand promise becomes the story, linking the brand’s global audience.

3. Extend Across Media

The Internet makes it easy to extend excellent content, creating a transmedia (multi-platform) experience that builds off an initial execution to offer many different ways to engage. Hornbach, a German home improvement and DIY chain, created the 10-minute film The Infinite House, to introduce the launch of its online stores.

While the video itself is a masterful story that speaks of Hornbach’s core values of loyalty, friendship, and neighborliness, it served as one piece of a broader experience that included Facebook profiles of the film’s characters and construction manuals for the furniture featured in the film. These extensions from the video provide ways for people to immerse themselves more deeply in the story and engage in a richer experience with the brand.

4. Inspire People

Magnetic content doesn’t have to offer something inspiring, but, when done well, inspiration can have an enormous effect. It can root the content in the brand’s values and associate the brand with a meaningful stand. Levi’s Now Is Our Time plays with this idea, pulling together brand values of pioneering, freedom, and equality to connect with its young, independent-minded customer.

The campaign extends across multiple media, but the film that provides a framework and platform for a series of crowdsourced philanthropic fundraising hits an emotionally resonant note that’s fresh and unexpected, especially from a brand: “Your life is your life. Don’t let it be clubbed into dank submission. Be on the watch. There are ways out. There is light somewhere. It may not be much light, but it beats the darkness. Be on the watch. The gods will offer you chances. Know them. Take them.”

5. Draw From the Everyday

Some of the best ideas are taken from everyday experience. Everybody relates to meeting friends in a diner; we all have personal experiences of beauty. Finding ideas that can produce magnetic content only means thinking hard about what a brand, product, or service stands for, and how we might relate it interestingly to our experiences.

Consider how IKEA Sweden communicated its promise of “better sleep for everyone.” It commissioned six Swedish musicians to modernize classic lullabies — a simple idea, harmonizing perfectly with the product’s promise.

Then IKEA took the idea a step further, extending beyond the simple lullaby (which it later sold as an album on iTunes, with an album cover that looked a lot like a banner for IKEA) to commission six different artists, each of whom created a music video for a lullaby, featuring IKEA beds. The lullabies aired on the radio and a website provided a place to watch the music videos and read about the artists and their beds.

Magnetic Content Tells a Story

The best magnetic content begins with a strong, compelling idea. It offers a platform and extension that goes beyond a simple, dead-end execution, and creates conversation around an experience that is relevant to your brand.

But that doesn’t mean the content is about your brand primarily, or even secondarily. The story must come first. Magnetic content is always about human experience. It is an attractor because it is fundamentally and meaningfully social. And its power lies in the degree to which it reflects and expands people’s vision of themselves.

Source: Mashable.com

4 Tips to Keep Your Website Ahead of the Curve in 2012

Mon, 16 Jan 2012 08:38:05 +0200

Sure, having a website for your business serves a practical need: to draw net-surfing users to your product or service. However, it’s also much more than slapping on a run of the mill two-column template and calling it a day. Nothing kills an online buzz like a poorly designed or drastically outdated website. Dry and boring default templates, broken assets, confusing pages and invasive widgets do nothing but harm a page’s style, which in turn reflects poorly on the company.

2012 is heralding a new wave of innovative web technologies and design, and a page that stays in step with these trends is bound to pique interest and lower your bounce rate. Even more, a well done and on-trend website remains effective well after the year is over, reeling users in with thoughtful design and building a design-conscious and taste-making reputation. Keep these tips in mind when you clean up your company’s website, and stay ahead of the curve for the new year.

1. Don’t Be Afraid to be Bold

Mail Chimp. Instagram. Pinterest. All of these websites are joined together by a commitment to bold designs and layout. Whether it’s an exaggerated footer, a turn to minimalism or a bold and new typeface, incorporating a key graphical element to a website speaks volumes about the overall composition of the layout — and a keen level of attention to detail. Opting for a bold design element is a great way to modernize a website and keep it on trend in the coming years.

A bold design can be obtained with very little money, especially for those who aren’t necessarily experienced in coding. For example, webpages operating on a WordPress can find a host of free templates that offer a wide range of customizable options to suit any business. New and exciting fonts can be found via Google‘s open API font styles and require a simple set of code to be dropped in for compatibility with a website. Inspiration and how-tos for more hands-on DIY upgrades can be found at coding/design blogs like A List Apart, One Extra Pixel and Mashable‘s Dev and Design channel.

For those with a little more cash to burn on a proper contractor, 99 Designs relies on crowdsourcing to gather great designers for companies looking for a reliable and cutting edge renovation. Companies on 99 Designs are allowed to name their own price, which means a promising design on a budget.

However you choose to go about it, a bold design dusts off the cobwebs on your old page and keeps it fresh for years to come.

2. Use HTML5 … With Care

For the last couple years, people have been buzzing about HTML5, and it’s not just chatter; HTML5 offers a lot of exciting flexibility that can make a website truly interactive. Seamlessly embedded videos, drag-and-drop interfaces and dynamic message posts are all achievable via HTML5, and with relatively little code work.

But it’s not enough to just call up your freelance web designer and throw up some HTML5 features. As with any programming language, there’s always an issue of browser compatibility. While your new and shiny UI outfitted with dynamic HTML5 might look stunning to a user running on the latest version of Chrome, your high-tech page may look like a series of broken features — or nothing at all — to a less tech-savvy user running Internet Explorer 7 (and there’s a lot of them).

This issue has been longstanding in the Internet world, but there are precautions to take in order to ensure that every user has a pleasurable experience on your website without you making a major investment. Modernizr is an open-source, JavaScript-based tool that offers feature detection for HTML5, and it’s just-as-snazzy brother CSS3. Instead of doing simple browser detection, Modernizr will figure out just what features the user’s browser can support and react accordingly. If a user is operating on an incompatible browser, then Modernizr will automatically decide whether to switch to a JavaScript-based fallback of the features or just create a downgraded version.

Make no mistake, this solution shouldn’t be implemented by a newbie to code, but it does provide a simple way to implement exciting and revolutionary features while still providing support for the little guys.

3. Cut the Fat

The traditional layouts for websites often call for separate pages that encapsulate the “About,” “Contact” and other informational areas of the website. 2011 saw minimalist designs from multiple websites, and that often translated to cutting these pages in favor of a sleeker overall design (think Tumblr). Some companies chose to forgo nearly everything to produce a strongly graphical one-page website — blogs like One Page Love and successful networking tools like Flavors.me show that people are drifting towards a bold singular statement that makes a big impact on fellow users.

As we move forward in 2012, further exploration into one-page websites is a given. But a single-page website has both its pros and cons. HTML5 can help create a one-page website that cleverly contains all necessary information via pop-up boxes or other media, but the amount of information that can be on a one-page website is still relatively limited. Do you want your website to make a bold statement about your company and focus less on a blog-style format? If so, a one-page website could be right in your wheelhouse. Are you more interested in showing off testimonials, case studies and blogs from your employees? If yes, then this trend would be worth passing on.

However, that doesn’t mean to forgo trimming entirely. Culling the best parts of your website and truncating the rest will result in a sleeker, more intuitive design — and sleek never goes out of style.

4. Tie in Social Media Intelligently

This tip could also be titled “Quit it With the Widgets.” Announcing your social media presence on your own website is an absolute necessity, but it needs to be done with care. Automatically updating widgets that stream in social media presence seems intrusive and outdated, not to mention that they can be a hassle for a DIY designer to install and maintain.

To put it simply, social media should absolutely be a presence on a business website, but it should not be a dominating presence. Integrating social media, whether in graphic links or a social ticker, should be done with the user’s eyes in mind. It’s simple on paper, but can be difficult to execute. When social media is done intelligently and with consideration, your website instantly will look socially connected and organized.

Source: Mashable.com

Chillies closing dates for December/January

Thu, 15 Dec 2011 11:11:24 +0200

Dear Valued Clients,

In celebration of this year's festive holiday, our company will temporarily close its business hours on Thursday, 15 December 2011. This is to give our Chillies staff a well-deserved rest.

Chillies will resume its business on 9 January 2012.

Should there be an emergency, feel free to email (webmaster@chillies.co.za) or call us (082 555 4453) for customer assistance. We would like to thank you for your loyalty and support.

A merry Christmas & a prosperous new year!

Kind Regards,

Nelio de SA

CEO

How to Increase Facebook Engagement Using Custom Page Tabs

Mon, 12 Dec 2011 06:59:22 +0200

The year 2011 brought exciting changes to social media marketing, especially when it came to Facebook. One such change is the ability to build customized landing tabs using iFrames, social plugins and geotargeting. These custom tabs open a world of opportunity for brands to increase Facebook engagement.

Brands that invest in building the right types of tabs on their Facebook Pages are more likely to increase Likes and achieve real engagement growth. However, simply throwing a tab up will not suffice. There are certain considerations and important steps to take in order to significantly increase engagement through a Facebook tab.

1. Know Your Audience

Understanding your audience is key to building a tab that will increase both Likes and engagement. “You should think about your audience and what interests them, then figure out how to build a relationship around those things,” advises Victoria Ransom, founder and CEO of Wildfire, one of the most widely used tools to build and manage Facebook tabs.

Prior to building tabs, the Mexico Tourism Board (MTB) sought out audience input by launching a consumer survey on its primary website. The survey asked what types of information people would like to get from the MTB Facebook Page. “The over 15,000 responses contributed directly to the architecture of each of the four tabs: Highlights, Celebs, Attractions and Press,” says Lane Douglas, executive vice president of vantage strategy. MTB Page Likes increased from 6,000 to 70,000 within a three-week period, and its “People Talking About This” index raised to 14,000 daily.

Audience-relevant tabs allow for delivery of on-point content and rich engagement. The great part about social media is that it eliminates the middle man. Each company can directly target and communicate with its customer base for inspiration.

2. Define Your Goals

Not to overwhelm you, but there are limitless possibilities with tabs. With that in mind, it’s not recommended to have just one goal per tab. According to Stephanie Chaparro, senior account strategist for Wildfire, “Brands don’t want to use simple goals like ‘increase likes’ or ‘engage fans.’ Instead look into the strategy of the tabs and consider what audience to target and what end action is wanted, for example, Like the page, watch a video, share stories or leave a comment. Be as specific as possible in the goals you are setting.”

Wildfire contracted Webroot Software to help build and monitor tabs for the company’s Facebook Page. Their goal was to deliver personalized content, build brand awareness and increase engagement on a Page that was, for the most part, stagnant and passive. Five months after launching Wildfire’s tabs, Webroot Software saw Likes increase by 40,906, a 523% improvement.

3. Build a Cool Tab

Once you’ve done the research and determined the optimal strategy, it’s time to build an effective tab. Focus on including these features: a hook, fresh content and a rich experience. “The best tabs are the ones that have a hook to get people to come back to the page on regular basis, but at the same time, provides a real opportunity for them to engage with the product and share,” says Ransom.

Blowfish Shoes implemented a Shoe-A-Day Giveaway tab, a year-long campaign in which the company gives away a different pair of shoes daily. At the end of the year, Blowfish found its Facebook Page Likes had increased by 2,488%. The giveaway tab was so successful, in part, because it contained all the key aspects of the most successful tabs. With a new pair of shoes to feature every day, Blowfish was able to constantly stream fresh content in the form of photos and videos. And by announcing new winners every day, Blowfish gave people another reason to check back. Finally, through strategically placed links, the tab provided an opportunity for product engagement. Sixty-four percent of entrants actually went on to browse the Blowfish Shoes website, and nearly half of all sales during the promotion came from contestants. Through a single tab, Blowfish was able to build brand awareness, grow its Facebook community and increase overall engagement and sales.

4. Manage Tabs

By implementing a clear strategy around tabs, organizations can benefit on an ongoing basis. But in order to sustain growth, there must be a strategic plan in place. “Companies that do the best are those who have a regular plan around their social media (including their Facebook tabs) and who take advantage of opportunities like holidays and events,” says Ransom.

Part of the strategic plan should include how to handle multiple tabs. “It’s important to be strategic in implementing and running multiple tabs simultaneously. We see a lot of brands put up multiple tabs, each requiring different actions. This can overwhelm the user, “ says Chapparo.

If you want to increase overall engagement, do not overwhelm users by requiring multiple actions on tabs. Instead, focus on keeping the wall engaging and fresh, while simultaneously providing tabs for a richer experience. Ideeli, a multi-retail channel, never runs multiple tabs that require actions. “We prioritize our tabs and realize we can only drive people away from our wall so many times,” Sarah Conley, social media manager at ideeli. Over the last year ideeli saw its Facebook Page Likes increase by 291%. The company also increased wall engagement by 48%.

5. Support Your Tabs

Facebook tabs cannot exist in a void. “Businesses need to realize the point is not to create a tab and expect to get tons of traffic spontaneously. Tabs can fail when businesses don’t have a plan for getting people to the tab,” says Ransom.

There are a variety of ways to drive traffic to tabs including Facebook ads, sponsored stories, Wall posts, email blasts, newsletters and share buttons. Webroot Software used video to drive traffic to its tabs. “With our marketplace in mind, we created three humorous videos that each ended with a promotional link to our Facebook Page. These videos have received over 32 million views and counting,” shares Chris Benham, chief demand officer at Webroot.

As traffic to the Facebook Page increases, so do Likes and community engagement. Community management will become ever-more important to handle the influx of Facebook activity. “Fans of Mexico came out of the woodwork. As the community began to grow and move through the tabs, they posted stories and photos of their best Mexico vacation experiences on the wall,” says Douglas of Mexico Tourism Board.

As Facebook’s popularity grows, it becomes more and more imperative to stand out from the crowds by offering valuable content and a thriving community. By executing on-point Facebook tabs, any organization, no matter its size, industry or age, can build a living, breathing Facebook community.

Source:Mashable.com

Google+ for iOS Gets Search and Big Pics

Tue, 06 Dec 2011 07:23:53 +0200

Google+ for iOS just got a little more useful with the addition of Search and the ability to upload full-resolution photos directly from your iOS device. These features, which Google added on Monday, work on all iOS 4.0 and later devices, including the iPhone, iPod touch and iPad tablet. No, this update — officially known as “1.0.7.2940″ — does nothing to enhance the visual experience on the iPad.

For now, though, anyone using the app on a handheld iOS device should find it faster and somewhat less buggy. In our brief tests, the full-photo-resolution upload worked smoothly. When we clicked on the details for an 8-megapixel image, it reported the resolution as 2,448 x 3,264 pixels. However, we couldn’t find any way within Google+ to view the image at its full pixel size. Even on the phone, we couldn’t pinch and zoom on our own uploaded photos. To do so, we had to download the image to our desktop. Then we could zoom in.

Google+ search on the iPhone worked well; there’s even an option to facet the search between People and Posts. The other new enhancement is the ability to +1 photos in your stream. There’s now a nice, big “+1″ in the upper right-hand corner whenever you view a photo. Tap and you’ve +1ed a photo. Commenting on the same photo appears unchanged.

So what do you think of Google’s latest Google+ update? Will it encourage you to check in more often via your iPhone or other iOS device? How do you currently use Google+ and are you as excited about it as you were three months ago?

Source: Mashable.com

Google+ Brand Pages: Multi-Admin Capability ‘Coming Soon’

Thu, 01 Dec 2011 08:26:26 +0200

Google+ will allow multiple admins to manage a brand page “before 2012,” Kristoffer Sorensen, a Google marketing strategist, said on in a live Q&A on Wednesday.

Currently, brand pages are tied to one admin account that has total control over the page and profile. This has been a point of frustration for social media managers who have multiple team members updating their company social profiles.

Until two weeks ago, when Google gave select third-party apps early access to the Google+ API, the only solution was for a team to share one login or for one person to maintain the Google+ page alone. These situations are less than ideal because they can cause security and workflow issues. When the social media management tools in the pilot program integrated Google+ posting, companies not using these tools were still at a loss. Even some social managers using one of the six select services with Google+ are struggling as they wait for the early Google+ API to iron out some kinks.

Sorensen and his team addressed other popular feature requests in the live Q&A. While scheduled posting and events integration seem to be up in the air, the Google reps said analytics, widely-available Hangouts on Air and mobile page management are in the works.

How might the multi-admin feature help your Google+ brand page? What other features are you most looking forward to? Tell us in the comments below.

Source: Mashable.com