locally.co.uk domain for sale

private domain sale

Online Business

The ‘basics’ of rebranding a business successfully

by Leave a Comment

Nothing stays the same forever.

As much as we love the status quo, there is an interesting visual that shows our comfort zone as being a tiny bubble in the bottom left hand corner of a page but, the sphere where we evolve, grow and create is way beyond this.

You cannot run your company the same way, doing the same thing, over and over again, forever. Times change. People change. Your customers change. You grow.

The boundaries that were once so comforting, are now restricting you. Time has come for change.

For many businesses, this growth means re-branding but before you think this an expensive, potentially disastrous foray in which you will sink without a trace, there is, as always, ways and means of going about such a transformation – and doing so successfully.

Many brands have re-branded and revitalised themselves; take Burberry for example. Once dismissed as gang wear, the likes of Emily Watson now wear the instantly recognisable tartan pattern wear. With many other example of successful re-brands, if the time has come for your business to change, how do you go about it? What have the successful examples and the not-so-successful examples of rebranding taught us?

#1 Be ready for change

If you are in business, there will come a point where something has to give – it either grows, or it starts to retract. What was one perfect, is now changing to something different and this inevitably starts with what your market place is demanding. Society changes, as well as needs, demands and expectations and your business, in order to stay a viable business, may need to leap with both hands and grab on to this change.

#2 Determine a new or revamped mission

You need the bigger picture, not just a snapshot view; don’t forget the song that tells us we can only see a piece of sky through a window and that stepping outside expands our view. There is no time like the present to get to grips with a SWOT analysis of your business – what are its strengths and weakness, the opportunities and threats?

#3 Talk to people

If you are rebranding, the likelihood is you have a successful business on your hands, with customers and suppliers with whom you have a great relationship. Talk to them; ask them what they do and don’t like? What’s missing? What do you do well that could be expanded?

You need a mix of qualitative and quantitative market research…

#4 Your market

Rebranding essentially means branching out and thus, your portion of the market should be bigger but, within your current confines you will only be looking at a small section of it. Take a leaf from the book of Pepsi – considered by some as the poor relation to Coca Cola, Pepsi has quietly and stealthily buying soft drinks companies that not only diversifies it operations, but increases it market share too. The key question you need to answer is, how has your industry and market changed?

#5 Competition and allies

Every company has competition. Every company has allies. The best example of this is the rebranding by Seattle’s Best Coffee, part of the Starbucks brand.

They realised their industry was cluttered, with hundreds of names and logos in which their company was lost. They realised they needed to break out from the crowd and this is where they formed alliances with similar, but not direct competitors.

In the US, Seattle’s Best Coffee is now sold in many different outlets and franchises, including big names such as Subway, Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines, Border’s Bookstores and so on. Their new logo made them stand out as a fun company, appealing to a new clientele.

#6 Re-thinking your customer base

Rebranding means re-targeting your view of customers. It is not about ditching the old ones, but appealing to new ones too. You may offering very similar services or products, just vamped up and with a wider scope. Don’t forget, even tried and tested customers will look for new, innovative products and delivery.

#7 The plunge!

Do you remember those first heady years of business, where you took the plunge and laid everything on the line? You are going to do it again and, like jumping off that top diving board feet in the air, if you think about it, you will never leap.

Once you have the suggestions you need, have realistically studied the market and impact, you need to make the decision – reposition your business or re-brand? And if you decide rebrand, don’t hesitate… But, now is the time for internal business analysis…

#8 Plan of action

Like a business plan that strategizes where you are going and why, you need to strategize your rebranding. What is wrong and why does it need fixing? Do you have all the facts? Are you making an informed choice? How are you going to do it? Is everybody on board?

#9 Communication

Rebranding is just as much an exercise in communication as it is anything else. People need to know you are changing and what this means for them. Harness new ideas – why not create a YouTube clip that explains the new look business? – and stay on with social media channels such as Twitter and Facebook in your current form, whilst creating a crossover to the new brand.

#10 Be bold and brave

Change is invigorating. Rebranding your business, and growing it to the next level, is a courageous step and one which can reap huge benefits. There are many details to be ironed out, a lot of work to be done but with the right information driving it, a careful thought out strategy, your business can rebrand successfully.

Have you considered rebranding your business?

5 minute read: 55% of visitors spend less than 15 seconds on your website

by Leave a Comment

What?!

Before you panic and run for the hills, we take a closer look at where and why this data was generated. And this is the focus of our first ‘5 minute read’.

The background

Generated by Chartbeat, an online software analytical application, it looked at media companies. On one hand, this is a broad business model but, every business is different. The headline actually refers to what visitors to your website are actually reading which, in this case, are articles; it does not include home pages, landing pages etc.

What is the research telling is?

However, before we discard this statistic as scaremongering tripe, we need to take a deeper look into what and why people are using or accessing information for.

There are several key points to the study:

  1. Current or news worthy content is more engaging that ‘evergreen’ content

The online world is current and fleeting, with the bad stuff hanging around with a penchant for popping up when we least want or expect it – ‘the right to be forgotten‘.

News events that are current, or trends on social media platforms tends to be the type of content that draws in visitors, or according to this pieces of research it is. This study look at a chunk of websites – 2,000 in fact – and monitored 2 billion page views across these websites.

Although this statistic tells us that many visits are fleeting it doesn’t rule out evergreen content as being something we should ditch.

  1. Evergreen content is very important

Evergreen content are the articles, blogs and posts that people write on a variety of subjects from the best way to unblock a drain, to the colours to use in marketing your products, services or brand to your customers.

‘Marathon not a sprint‘ is the motto here as evergreen content has proven to be a lead-generator. Newsworthy stuff is all well and good, especially for a quick read but, for the longer term, generating content that is both valuable and useful to the customer/visitor is essential.

  1. Social media has little effect on ‘reading engagement’

The study that generated the ‘15 second’ statistic also found that of the 10,000 articles shared via social media there was no relationship between the amount a piece of content is shared and the amount of attention the average reader gives it.

Before we all throw our laptops out and rip up our content marketing plans, take note of the following:

  • Social media – the finding of your website by a visitor through the various social media platforms is ‘random’. In other words, they came across something and their interest was piqued. It might be the website is not of interest or value to them.
  • Search engine – visitors who find your site through a social engine search are in ‘search mode’, focused on finding an answer to a query, question or concern. In this sense, they are likely to stay longer on your website.
  1. Banner ads are not working…

And here in lies a debate:

  • Move them – the authors of the ChartBeat study suggested moving the ads to a place where the eyeball falls as people are now suffering from ‘banner blindness’ i.e. regardless of what wonderful deal is on the banner, potential customers pay very little heed.
  • Quality content is key – another aspect is that people will often be searching for a specific fact, answer, product, service etc. and thus, banner ads are not always the best value spend for all businesses. Some pundit suggest that quality content on your pages, rather than ‘renting space on another website’ is a better, wiser move.

The 5 minute round up

The great thing about these kind of reports and studies is that, even though we may not be the same kind of business, we can still take away some great lessons.

  • Hijacking newsworthy stories and events can be useful IF your company, business, product, brand or service has a link to it e.g. the recent health news that there has been a rise in skin cancer amongst people over the age of 50, attributed in part to the rise of cheap package holidays in the 1960s could be something your healthy living company could tag on to.
  • Quality content with value and authority is still paramount
  • Social media can attract people to your website, but they may not always stay long – but, say experts, this is the nature of the social media ‘game’
  • Banner ads may no longer be a great marketing spend for your brand, especially if your content is not working hard.

How to avoid pitfalls and reap the rewards – a ‘how to’ guide for local websites

by Leave a Comment

With the marriage of Twitter and Foursquare on the cards, it has, once again, thrown light on a sticky patch that many local businesses encounter, especially when creating their presence online; just HOW do you reach the local populace whilst using global online platforms? What is the point? And why, oh why, do you need a website…?

In our mooching around the Internet, as well as our growing customer base of local, national and global businesses, we have come up with 10 pitfalls in to which local, online businesses can tumble.

Flailing about in the dark is no fun, especially when everyone else on the top side is winning new customers, and seeing old ones return.

Now is the time to grasp the mettle, and understand what is undermining your online, local presence…

#1 It is not ALL about YOU…

Commissioning your website is very exciting but, it can place some businesses in a position whereby they think their online presence is only about them. Although your brand is important, but when it comes to social media, more is a distinct advantage.

Link with other businesses, blogs and the like that are in harmony with yours. If you sell sea salt, for example, look to food based social media shares and the like. Think beyond your own brand bubble!

#2 It is not just about what you sell…

Yes your products and services are the very thing that makes you a business; yup, we all need or want things in our lives, and you have one of those things. But, following on from point 1, think outside the box – who, what or how else can your product be linked to other business, news events and so on?

Take care – linking with news events is great BUT, makes sure you are not pushing the boundaries or sensitive material. It can back fire and, unless you have a suave, fast-acting PR department then you could be sunk without a trace.

#3 Not all people will know what they want…

Some businesses will tell you that people come to them when they know they want their product or service.

Mmmm… might be true but, you could be alienating a group of buyers early on in the process who are in the market for a product like yours but, they miss your site because your SEO etc. is all geared toward the ‘sure-thing-buyer’.

#4 Local signals can reap rewards

We have touched on this many times in recent blogs and, it seems we are not wrong!

Various data-crunching companies and agencies have been analysing 2014 data from various search engines and it seems that local signals are slowly beginning to emerge as the must-have search term.

If your business has a local presence, then you need this somewhere on your website, social media profiles and so forth. If not, you could be missing a trick.

#5 Local signals go beyond your website!

It pays to spend some time checking out pages such as Yell.com and other local listing sites as all these combined create a stronger force when people search for a business, product or service in a certain area.

The Google My Business page might be worth a look at too, or Bing Places for Business.

#6 Your Home Page

Go to it now. Is it really doing its job?

Just it give a clear, succinct paragraph or two about what it is you do, and why the customer needs YOUR business to do these things? Do you have a tagline that explains what it is you do?

Are you sure it is cutting the mustard?

Mini quiz; which websites are these from?

  1. ‘live a life less ordinary’

  2. ‘Think different’ 

  3. ‘melts in your mouth, not in your hands’

    *scroll to the bottom of the page for the answers!

#7 The rest of your pages

Think value.

With this in mind, go to page that talks about your window cleaning service… does ‘call for more information’ really give the customer any value? Nope. They will navigate away to another competitor who will tell them that they “are in the area of so-and-so on Tuesday and a 3 bedroomed semi-detached costs £12 to have windows and doors cleaned”.

#8 One mention of a city, town or village is not enough…

If you determined to win the local business title online then you need to mention your location, county etc. more than once… and this just not mean putting your address on there.

Don’t go too far the other way and over stuff pages but, if your location is key to your business then this is priority information to be included on pages, metatags etc.

#9  Title tags should be 65-70 characters…

…. Or they don’t fit. So, when you search the Internet and you get the business heading, the tag line underneath falls off the end of the gap the search engine has to display results. Looks messy and people are missing key information. Guess what they do?

Yup, that’s right. They hit the next listing down.

#10 Update key information

Just like you don’t use old business card with the old phone number on, you would be amazed at the number of websites that do not have current, up-to-date contact information, addresses etc. on them. Hence, if you are a local business, then you need to ensure that they key information is right (and don’t forget all those other places where your address, phone number etc. is registered too!)

Local businesses are thriving in the global place that is the Internet – are you?

Mini-quiz answers… how many did you get right?

  1. ‘live a life less ordinary’ – Not on the High Street.com

  2. ‘Think different’ – Apple

  3. ‘melts in your mouth, not in your hands’ – M&Ms in the US, or Minstrels here in the UK

10 Crucial Ingredients to Website Credibility

by Leave a Comment

Does your website include them all?

Creating and maintaining a business website is a strategic, proactive task. It is your shop window, through which your online customers will peer and decide whether to have a browse around. Like a tangible, high street shop, you need to avail yourself to your customer, without ramming a sale down their throat as soon as they walk through the door.

It takes skill. It takes the ability to know when to leap, and when not to leap. It takes credibility.

And this is the topic for today’s post – what makes customers run for the hills and what is it that makes them stay. Like a tangible shop, you website has a lot of boxes to tick… and this is BEFORE potential customers have made an enquiry, left a question or, better still, decided to make a purchase.

The online world can be a malevolent place

Like ‘real’ life, some people out there are not as nice as you or I. They are wanting to secure their money, goods or whatever it is they want, by means that are underhand, illegal in many cases.

With the Internet being full of scams, malicious websites and scoundrels, potential customers are growing in suspicion. The website needs to look and feel right; you may be one of the best producers of a certain product, your products may be the best in the business BUT, if your website does ooze this same quality, appearance and credibility, you are on a hiding to nothing.

This needing to look ‘alive and kicking’ is something we have talked about before; the regular addition of new, quality and informative content. The links with social media, the links with other websites, all these things meld together to create the ‘right impression’. The impression that the website is monitored, looked after and valued. It is not an online presence that has been dumped there to entice people to part with their cash.

What is credibility?

No, really; what is it? We all have different yardsticks to measure website credibility but B.J. Fogg, Stanford University defines it as this;

…credibility is defined as believability. Credible people are believable people; credibly information is believable information. In some languages, they use the same word to describe both of these characteristics: credible and believable.

Sounds all well and good but, as some of us are aware, the most convincing of con artists are believable but, what can happen is we think of credibility in a one-dimensional way. It is important to remember that credibility is:

  • A perceived quality, overall – is isn’t necessarily embedded in a person, object or a piece of information; it is the overall impression
  • It is multi–layered – other emotional factors come in to play, such as trustworthiness and expertise

Fogg also points out prominence & interpretation system – you notice something (prominence) and make a decision, or a judgement about it (interpretation).

Thus to give you a helping hand, here are the 10 crucial ingredients that lend credibility to your website:

  • Design

It is no great surprise that we judge a business by its website. The better this design, the more we seem to trust it. Studies show that consumers are naturally less trusting of websites that a tangible, on the high street retailer – 30% less trusting thus, as online retailers, we are a step behind the high street shop.

BUT… websites that are ‘pretty’, designed well, with trimmings and the like, make up for this shortfall. A study of 2,500 online shoppers conducted in 2011, found that nearly half of them trusted a website based on the design and look of a website.

Clearly, a BIG lesson for us all.

  • Security and seals

There are many different security seals and certification we can display on our e-commerce websites and it seems these marks are also important in impacting on the judgement that consumers make about websites and credibility.

Increasingly sassy, consumers are looking for ticks that say ‘we have jumped through hoops, and your can shop safely with us’. People are realising that the need to put in bank details is not always something we should be doing… we admit to always looking for PayPal or Sage Pay, knowing that our details are not data and information that the website business will have to store or keep safe, for PayPal do all that anyway.

For authenticity, use seals and marks that are highly recognised; in a 2011 survey, consumers recognised the logos for MacAfee, Verisign and PayPal. Familiarity seems to ooze credibility.

  • Clearly visible contact details

The basics like a physical address, contact phone and email contact are the three top credibility signals for you website. Various studies also go on to suggest that photos of ‘the team’ can also be a useful tool for lending credibility. If people have to look too much, for hidden information that they consider ‘basic’, you may find that your website credibility takes a sub-conscious nose dive.

If nothing else, have a prominent ‘contact us’ button!

  • Content

OK, potential customer may not read your 2,000 word diatribe on the effects of poor quality screenwash on a car’s paint work BUT, if the content is relevant (clearly not if you sell bags, hats and scarves), informative and engaging, then it all adds to the credibility of you and your website.

Customers tend to ‘scan’ information and thus, they may not devour every word but the fact that it is there and the fact that you add content regularly to your website is also important. And customers DO scan the dates of when things were added…

  • Returns, FAQs, terms & conditions etc.

Again, at this mid-point in our list of 10 things that add credibility to your website, the policies of when you will and will accept returns, the terms and conditions of trading, FAQs etc. may not be the most exciting pages of content but, it seems, that when they are clearly visible, customers feel they can trust the company and website. Remember the ‘perceive – interpret’ equation?

  • Product information

One of the biggest bug bears, it seems to customers is the lack of information about a product. If two websites sell exactly the same product – a white mug – but everyone is ordering from one and not the other, the answer may lay in the product description.

Which one would you buy…?

A white mug, with a handle. Great for all hot beverages. Order 2 and get a third free!

OR…

A white, porcelain mug, great for everyday use. Holding 16oz of your favourite drink – hot or cold – the mug can withstand the rigours of the dishwasher too. Standing at 12cm tall, it is a mug that is simply perfect

Delicate, but not flimsy so why stop at 1? Buy 2 and get the third free!

Don’t underestimate details in product descriptions; 60% of shoppers said they used the product description as a cue of whether to buy, or not…

  • Testimonials

When there are genuine testimonials on your website, they attract attention. Experts, for some time now, have been telling companies that stories to content is a key factor is adding credibility to a website, and now, after various studies, it seems that this is the case.

Make sure they stand out; give them some whopping quotation marks to help them stand out!

  • Reviews

Testimonials are when people love you… reviews are when people are commenting on the product. So, let’s go back to our “white, porcelain mug, great for everyday use”. If the reviews looked like this, would you be so keen to buy…?

3 out of 5 stars – relay poor quality, cracked when washed… [read more]

79% of customers trust online reviews; think of it as the online version of ‘word of mouth’ – we all know how strong that can be.

  • Reputation & recognition

Not strictly an online element but, worth mentioning. Reputation and recognition are both important in helping the customer decide if your website is credible… or not. Now, for new businesses this can be difficult to establish thus, you need to make sure that your online presence covers as many bases as possible.

People, if they like your products, may do a separate search on your company thus, you need you social media stuff to pop up, you need some business listings etc. and they all need to be consistent (see Part 1 and Part 2 of better search engine results for local online businesses for a helping hand on this!)

  • And finally, customer service

This is not last because it is the least important but, in the steps that potential customers take in ‘whether to make a purchase or not’, this one of the last… but, customers of online retail websites have higher expectations of customers service, far higher than when they approach any other industry.

We expect brands and businesses, or so it seems, to not only be grateful for our business, but value it too.

In summary

Credibility of a website is directly linked to interest; if you garner the interest of a user, this lends to your credibility and, it seems, as consumers, we are more likely to use it.

Is your website credible? Are you sure…?

10 small steps to better search engine rankings for LOCAL businesses – Part 1

by Leave a Comment

Steps 1 to 5 of how to rank better in terms of being a local business (steps 6 to 10 to follow on….)

Let’s starts this two-part article with a rhetorical question –

would you like MORE customers?

(sits back, makes more tea and dunks another biscuit)

Of course you do. Anyone running their own business would like more customers because, after all, that is what makes a business. And makes it successful.

Lessons in hard work:

  • Running your own business is hard work
  • Running your website is hard work
  • Attracting new customers is hard work
  • Maintaining this attraction so customers come back, is hard work

Add in to this mix the need for your website and online presence to be constant, consistent and up to date and you can be forgiven for thinking it is simply all too much.

But you are not the only local business to be in this position. Every day seems a struggle to get everything done but, we carry on regardless because at the end of the day, we are our own boss, we make the decision and the risks are acceptable.

Keeping on top of search engine optimisation (SEO)

A bit like keep the plug hole in the sink unblocked, staying on top of SEO updates and the like, will prevent a backlog that, all of a sudden, needs a professional or a lot of YouTube-video-watching in order to rectify it. Keeping that plug hole running clear and free from blockages stops that expensive call out to a plumber.

Keeping on top of your SEO as a local business also sees you outshine your competitors online thus, we have created 10 small-ish steps to improving your search engine rankings so that local customers find your local business…

Step 1: research you keywords

HOW will people find your local business? If you are a florist in Watford then you need to say so; if you are a speciality butcher and delicatessen in Newport, South Wales, then you need to say so.

However, we need to be careful that the obvious isn’t hidden in plain sight so take a moment or two to think about how, and what language your customers will use to find you. Google search terms are becoming a little more detailed in how they interact too, hence if a place is often known by its initials such as ‘New York City’ as NYC, it is beginning to tie these two search terms together.

You would be amazed at the number of local businesses that do not list their locality or location.

Step 2: optimise your website and content

What can happen with this step is people go from the sublime to the ridiculous; in other words, from not much content, to overstuffing every page with every keyword that they think hits their business. This looks awkward to both your customer and search engines, so stop it (if you are doing it) and don’t do it (if you are thinking of doing it).

High quality content all over you website is a the way forward, along with other soft technical such as keywords in meta titles etc. along with the other background stuff.

Some experts suggest that a ‘frequently asked question’ page is also a good for both customers and search engines too thus, if it is time to upgrade or revamp your content, then why not consider and FAQ page?

Step 3: Google Local

You will no doubt have come across these rather handy location maps when you have been searching for a business, supplier, etc. and getting your business on Google Local is an external activity to your website, but will obviously link to it, but is a great way of people being able to find your local business.

Think how you use Google… only the other week we were in a place we didn’t know, fancied a nice pub lunch, typed it in to Google and hey presto!, we found a delightful pub by the canal. Ignoring the sub-zero temperatures and the gathering rain clouds, we had at least 10 minutes of sunshine by the water’s edge and quite a nice lunch… all helped by the fact the local pub was on Google Local, and so in the corner of the tablet screen, the map bobbed up and away we went. It wasn’t far off the beaten track but you would not have known it was there otherwise.

Step 4: Local business listing websites

There are many different types, and trying to make sure you are on them all can be a bit like herding cats BUT, that said, if you do manage to list your business or update some of the information that already exists, it sends ‘good signals’ to both your prospective customers and the various search engines.

We typed in some key search terms and came up with these…

Really Moving – type in your local area, and local removal firms pop up… if you are a removal firm, are you on here?

Trip Advisor – in many ways, Trip Advisor is infamous for negative reviews that some businesses say are uncalled for, unnecessary and downright lies but, many customers are still using this website. Take a moment to surf around and you will see that the vast majority of customers are leaving helpful reviews (not always positive!).

There are many more review, business listing and location type websites, some better than others but take some time to have a look what is local to you and, more importantly, what people are using… but don’t forget to keep an eye on them, and respond appropriately to both negative and positive reviews.

Step 5: Consistency

One issue (among others…) that seems to crop up for local businesses online seems to be a lack of consistency when it comes to business listings etc. When people talk about brand, this is the kind of thing they mean.

You have a business name, a logo and a tag line – e.g. Locally – strategic thinking, creative web design – boom! Job done… keep using it.

Don’t decide to change it when you list it on Yell.com (Locally – really good web design and stuff), or on a local business directory (Locally – really good at all things website and stuff).

All these ‘descriptions’ need to be the same, over and over again… this might be ‘boring’. On that Friday afternoon when you were “doing the admin”, it might have seemed fun to add or embellish your business description… but it does impact on how all the search engines look at you.

These changes and differences in descriptions and tag lines could be damaging on your online search results.

Before you head on over to part 2, why not take some time to go through these 5 steps with you local, online business?

Going viral – what #TheDress taught us

by Leave a Comment

If you have not been on the Internet for the last few weeks (pfft! Who can live without it?), then you will have seen or even partaken in the #TheDress debate (take a look at the science behind the dress colour debate).

A poorly shot photograph shared on Instagram of a blue and black dress started an online debate, with everybody joining in, from Mavis at no. 32 to Kim Kardashian. Some saw a ‘white and gold’ dress and others saw ‘blue and black’.

Whether you joined in or not, unless you are not on any kind of social media, don’t watch TV and basically switch off from all society, then you cannot have failed to have heard about the #TheDress debate.

And this is our very point. The discussions, the engagement and the coverage of this dress and its colour combination, had the nation talking – and beyond – about the product, the company, the psychology and the inner workings of the eye ball.

Of course, Roman Originals, the company behind the dress are now reaping the rewards – and why not? Their website hits have shot up by 500% (yup, you read that right), their phone calls have significantly increased and their sales are doing very nicely indeed, thank you. Drill in to this analysis, and you will see that people are not buying only this particular dress, but all kinds of others products too.

All this got us thinking…

In pensive mood, we hunkered down with the kettle and the chocolate digestives, and took a moment to ponder the power of #TheDress. What ingredients make for a viral episode on social media?

We came up with 5 factors, including a sprinkling of magic fairy dust…

Use of photos

We have said it before and we’ll say it again, photos really make a difference. They can be the source of conversation, repulsion, attraction and confusion. Adding photos of your products and asking or inciting debate is a great way to get attention to your posts and products.

In this case, the original photo was unfiltered and used on Instagram; the comments that then ensued all questioned the original posting that said #TheDress was black and blue. Some say the dress as white and gold, thus the comments started rolling.

Good quality photos are always best, and this photo was not intentionally posted to provoke debate; in fact, the user was quite clear was the colour of the dress was…

Use of #hashtag

Once the momentum started to build around #TheDress and the ensuing debate, the hashtag came in to being. Every time someone commented and the various social media streams, the use of the hashtag ensured that the comment found its way in to the forum.

Get people talking, sharing and communicating

Social media is about making connections, creating discussion and sharing ideas. This online debate is a perfect example of this, but on a gargantuan, global scale. Simply because your viral debate does not measure up in the same reach and magnitude of #TheDress, does not mean it is not having an impact.

Some hashtags are in use for weeks, if not months and others are a mainstay of some of the groups that meet up on a regular basis on various social media platforms; there are various business groups, for example, who meet on Twitter and thus, any tweets that you want to be part of the stream of comments should contain this designated hashtag. Think of it as a call sign…

Magic fairy dust – the one comment, the stroke of luck

In this case, the photos posted on Instagram was a genuine one; it was posted with no more intention than a flash-in-the-pan photo of one of the many products sold at Roman Originals. But, there was a stroke a luck and sprinkling of fairy dust…

… there was one comment, by another Instagram user, that questioned the ‘blue and black’; they say, they saw white and gold… and then someone else joined in… and it started to roll and roll. Before you knew what others the dress came in, THE photo of #TheDress was bounced, shared and re-tweeted thousands and thousands of times.

There were comments and articles on the psychology of what people saw and why; there were debates on the street with the local junior reporter for the local TV catching their break by dangling a tablet in front of the eyes of many a Wednesday afternoon shopper, asking them what colours they saw… the debate was enormous. And, for a change, it was all good fun. We discussed it over our dinner table too; did you?

Cannot be contrived

And we think that this shows a fourth and important final point about the whole #TheDress thing. As hard as you try, some of the best viral exchanges cannot be contrived.

The photo was not posted to incite or excite comment; it was not posted to cogitate favour or stir ill-feeling. It was a photograph that was simply shared, then commented on… nothing more. Even though we try hard with the whole hashtag thing, photos and the like, sometimes something takes off.

Blessing… or curse?

The ‘taking off’ bit can be a blessing and a curse. Roman Originals are a company big enough to deal with the 500% jump in website visitors, the phone ringing off the hook (around 150 calls per hour in the days immediately following #TheDress explosion) and have enough staff to work the barricades and the tills.

For a small, online local business, this may not be the case but, should a social media campaign go viral – and this episode shows that it can, in a blink of an eye and when you least expect it – ride the crest of the wave, for it could be the making of you…

(And the dress…?

It is available in blue & black, and white & black, red & black, as well as pink and black… but not a white and gold option, just yet. But Roman Originals is planning to create one, allegedly.)