Monthly Archives: April 2013

Earth Day 2013 celebrated in Google doodle

Google celebrated Earth Day 2013 with a very special, interactive Google doodle this morning. The doodle features the cycle of the seasons and sees the sun and moon rise and set over the image. Users can create wind, make it rain and see animals emerge with the click of their mouse.

Google-Doodle-Earth-DayThis fantastic animation marks Earth Day, celebrated today,  April 22nd. Earth Day focuses on the importance of taking care of our environment and is celebrated throughout the world. More than a billion people take part in activities to raise awareness of environmental issues, and one of the most popular ways to celebrate the day is to plant a tree.

The 1969 oil spill that took place in Santa Barbara, California prompted US senator Gaylord Nelson to come up with the idea of Earth Day to raise awareness of environmental issues. The first Earth Day was celebrated in 1970 and since this celebration, the US Environmental Protection Agency and the passage of the Clean Air, Clean Water and Endangered Species Act.

Nice work Google!

5 things you must do to have a successful website!

As a Sheffield based marketing agency, we are aware that there are lots of small to medium sized businesses out there that don’t have much of a web presence. We’ve put together 5 simple but very important things you need to do to have a successful website.

Make your website mobile-compatible

Sadly, lots of small to medium sized businesses websites are not compatible with mobile devices. People are moving away from their desktops at a rapid pace, preferring to browse the internet on the go on tablets and smart phones. If your website isn’t suitable for these devices, for example, not optimised for smaller screens, you and your business are missing out on a huge audience.

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Be active on social media

As we know, social media marketing is powerful tool to market your business. By not embracing social media, you are not only falling behind your competitors, but also missing out on a huge captive audience. Your social media accounts also need to be connected to your website!

Have an email link and contact number on your homepage

It is absolutely necessary to have an email link on the home page of your website for consumers to contact your business. Email is a really convenient way of getting in touch, and without a visible email address, you may be missing out on inquiries,  questions from potential customers and even sales.

It is also incredibly important to have a phone number listed on your homepage. Some questions are better answered by phone, and some people prefer to speak to an actual person as opposed to emailing.

Generating phone calls via your homepage makes customers feel comfortable, while not listing a phone number may make people question your legitimacy.

Have an inquiry form built into your website

A form-fill option on your website is a great way to allow consumers to request information. Information inquiry forms should be built into your site, connected to a CRM, an email system, and an ecommerce system. That way, the lead is not just being collected, it’s also being prepared for the business owner to communicate with and generate business via that lead.

Make sure your website is search engine optimised

What’s the point of having a website if no one can actually find it? When people visit a website, a lot of them will have found it through search engines (hopefully!) Key words are essential for being discovered on search engines. This includes keyword research and creation, on-site search engine optimisation and off-site link building. These are all important elements for driving traffic to your website; they will make your site search engine friendly, improve your website’s rankings and allow your business to gain exposure.

As a web marketing agency based in Sheffield, we know how important it is to have these points in place. If you are worried that your website isn’t working for you as well as it could do, or you are missing any of the above, don’t panic – we can help.

Contact us by telephone on 0114 383 0711, email chris@sevencreative.co.uk, or click here to fill out the contact form on our website.

Social media successes and failures

Social media marketing can be a fantastic tool for promoting your business online and marketing your brand. Done properly, social media can generate a buzz that has the power to be seen by thousands if not millions of people. On the other hand, a post that goes bottoms up has the potential to be seen globally.

Here at Seven Creative, we’ve put together a few of our favourite social media successes and fails for you amusement. Enjoy!

Social media successes

Honda’s upside down approach to social media paid off in a big way when they offered $500 to the most active Pinners on the social scrapbooking site Pinterest to take a 24 hour break from the site to promote the new CRV. Ingeniously, they called the break a ‘Pintermission’ and then asked the winners to create a board about all the activities they enjoyed on their day off. Honda reached more than 5.5 million followers of the chosen Pinterest users  with this campaign.

We love the chocolate Facebook thumbs up created by Cadbury too. And no, not just because it looks delicious! Constructed as a Thank you to their fans, a real time video feed of the construction process drove massive fan engagement and resulted in a huge quarter of a million people actively involved in the campaign. They also gained an extra 40,000 fans! I wonder how many more they would have gained if they’d promoted a competition to win the giant choccy hand??!

Cadbury-Facebook-Thumbs-Up

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Social media mega-fails

McDonalds dropped a real clanger with their social media activity which resulted in their campaign being terminated within just two hours. Using the hashtag #McDStories, Twitter users were ‘supposed’ to share heart warming anecdotes about their McDonalds experience. Instead,  tweets about food poisoning, fingernails found in burgers and chicken nugget horror stories went viral. Well, we could have predicted that!

American Apparel’s Hurricane Sandy promotion backfired spectacularly after it offered customers 20% in an email stating “In case you’re bored during the storm, 20% off everything for the next 36 hours.” In reality, those 36 hours turned out to be devastating, with more than 130 deaths, 4 million with no power and billions in damage. American Apparrel apologised saying the campaign came from a good place. Too late, damage done!

Australia’s SellItOnline.com said that it would donate money to Tasmania’s bush fire crisis, but only if people liked its Facebook page. Understandably, an angry fan responded, “Don’t take advantage of this situation. If you’re for real, donate through the right sources. Don’t manipulate social media for your own benefit.” Another wrote, “F*** off with your opportunist marketing trying to take advantage of other people’s tradegy. If you were a decent company you’d just be putting a message up saying you were donating x amount and earning some kudos.” Mmm you’ve got to see their point……

If you’re struggling with social media, and would like some advice on setting up and or managing your businesses social media accounts, Seven Creative can help. We offer a social media set up service, social media management packages, and even regular social media workshops in Sheffield. Contact us on 0114 383 0711, email chris@sevencreative.co.uk or contact us through our website.