Be a Favorite Place on Google

Posted on December 28, 2009 by Cynthia Closkey

Big Big Design is a Favorite Place on Google

We received Big Big Design’s “Favorite Place on Google” sticker today, and I’m geekily excited.

The sticker is a window decal with a barcode that points to our business listing on Google and Google Maps. A person with a camera phone can scan the barcode to see our listing, including information we post there — hours, coupons and specials, reviews from customers or clients, photos and videos.

This is all free from Google, and it’s a nice tool set for any business or organization that has a local client or customer base. It’s part of a Google Local Business Center listing, which can act as a small and simple webpage for your business or as a landing page that points to your full website.

To get started, log in with a Google account (or sign up for a free Google account) and visit google.com/localbusinesscenter. Start out with just basic information, and add to it over time. You’ll also be able to see how many people are looking at your listing, searching for your business, and more.

Need help? Give us a call.

Big Ideas vs. Small Insights

Posted on December 3, 2009 by Cynthia Closkey

“teamwork” by jksphotos on Flickr

When I suggest to business people that they should consider blogging, the second most common objection I hear is that they don’t have anything to blog about.

(The most common objection I hear is that they don’t have time. It’s a real concern — I feel that way sometimes too — but one that’s solvable. I’ll address that in another post.)

Despite their objections, these business people do have worthy blogging topics. I know they do, because I sit in coffee shops. In a coffee shop, I hear people expounding on the news of the day, what they thought of the game the previous night, how their lives are going, how their businesses are doing. Each one has a unique take, information to share, insights.

Continue reading →

Selling Social Media to Your Boss

Posted on October 10, 2009 by Cynthia Closkey

Social media? Isn't that just kids texting what they ate for lunch?

Today we’re at PodCamp Pittsburgh 4, Anthony and I, along with hundreds of social media friends and colleagues. I spoke this morning on what seemed to be a popular topic: “How to Sell Social Media to Your Boss.”

You know social media is a great tool for marketing, customer feedback, and developing valuable communities, but your boss thinks it’s a waste of resources — or even a danger to the organization. How can you make your case? Cynthia Closkey of Big Big Design will discuss what managers need to know about social media and online networking, resources for finding examples and statistics that have weight, and a simple plan for helping your organization move ahead.

The room was full — sorry to those who found themselves having to sit on the floor — and many people shared their questions and conundrums about how to bring social media tools into their organizations.

Earlier this week, Chris Brogan had a post on the same topic. My ideas overlap his; it’s lovely to be in such good company on a topic. I particularly liked his idea for keeping your proposal for a pilot project to just one page, so I adopted that into my presentation. If you use that and it works, please thank Chris. Continue reading →

Cheers! News and celebrations for our clients

Posted on September 8, 2009 by Cynthia Closkey

Girl Friends Dancing in Their School Gym

Photo Credit: adwriter

Our clients have been up to big things lately, and we’re excited too:

iTwixie, the ultimate handout for tween girls, is having a launch party tonight in Pittsburgh at the Hard Rock Cafe. Live music, munchies, goodie bags, and fun for tween girls, their families, and friends. If you’re in the area, check out the details and come along.

Smart Futures, a Pittsburgh-based nonprofit working to make career education a part of every Pennsylvania classroom, has started a new year on online career mentoring for students through PA eMentoring. If you are an adult — working or retired — who can volunteer 30 minutes a week, you can help guide a high school age youth through choices about careers. It’s a guided program, and you participate from the convenience of your computer. Find out more at the PA eMentoring website.

Suzanne Mauro, our favorite fashionista and online style maven, has been branching out and offering guidance to executives. She’s contributed a chapter to a new book, Executive Image Power; her focus is looking your best on video, whether it’s a promotional video on a website, a podcast, or an appearance on broadcast television. Find info on the book on Suz’s website.

The 6 Types of Social Media Sites

Posted on September 3, 2009 by Cynthia Closkey

Postvakjes ("Pigeonholes") by Photocapy

In introducing social media sites and tools to business people, I’ve found it helpful to group sites into categories based on what they do best and how a business or organization might find them useful.

Here are the categories I use, and the strengths I see in each:

Blogs and podcasts primarily value passion and interestingness. For business, they are most useful for thought leadership, feedback, site quality/search result ranking.

Group networks (like BlogHer) primarily value community and discussion. For business, they are most useful for understanding or targeting a community or market segment.

Social networks (Facebook, MySpace, LinkedIn) primarily value connections and newness/freshness of information. For business, they are most useful for targeting and cultivating community, and for conveying humanness.

Media networks (YouTube, Flickr, Picasa) primarily value popularity, interestingness, and availability of content. For business, they are most useful for distributing content to an interested audience.

Bookmarking sites (Delicious, Digg, StumbleUpon) value popularity/change in popularity and archiving. For business they are most useful for trend-spotting and news-spotting, curation/edition/thoughtleadership, and knowledge-sharing within a group or organization.

Twitter (which I put in its own category) values freshness/speed and linking over depth. For business, it is most useful for capturing and responding to feedback, and for communicating one-to-one.

Categories are useful but also controversial: Each person sees things in different ways and places emphasis according to his personal world view. I’m pretty sure that categories are second only to ranked lists in creating flame wars.

But a little controversy keeps things lively, don’t you think?

Do these groupings match how you see the social media landscape? What groups have I missed? What strengths or weakness did I leave out? How do you explain this online world?

20 Presence Management Chores for Business You COULD Do Every Day

Posted on August 6, 2009 by Cynthia Closkey

Photo credit: enviziondotnet

A few weeks back, new media marketer extraordinaire Chris Brogan shared ideas and suggestions for maintaining a personal presence online. (“19 Presence Management Chores You COULD Do Every Day“) The list is dense and ambitious, but the time you put into this kind of effort pays off.

If you’re charged with maintaining the social media presence of a company, the list still holds great value, but it might need a bit of translation. When you speak for your company or for a brand, you’re stepping outside your individual persona, and your actions should reflect that. This is also true if you maintain separate online presences for your personal self and your work self.

Here’s my take on key online presence management chores for a company or brand. Continue reading →

Let’s talk about home(page) renovation

Posted on March 27, 2008 by Cynthia Closkey

Photo credit: good-god-guy

Slapping on a fresh coat of paint is fun and looks pretty, but will it make your business more profitable, or your organization more successful?

Maybe it’s time to do more. Time to open windows, knock down walls, and build a marquee. Or at least remove the locks from the doors.

That may sound like a huge project, but it doesn’t have to be. Even a few small but smart changes can have big and lasting effects.

Big Big Design makes websites that work for you. See what we can do.

Are your web-savvy employees wondering when you are going to “get it” and start harnessing social networking?

Social Media — What Every Executive Needs to Know (And what your employees already know!)

Social Media — What Every Executive Needs to Know
(And what your employees already know!)