Website Design in Saskatoon is booming! Over the past two months our Trio Web Design team has been working hard to complete some fantastic Website Designs that we will be launching next week in Saskatoon. Be sure to check-back next week to see the new website designs. 

In the last month I have received a number of comments and questions from local business owners regarding social media platforms and whether or not they need to be on every social website out there. Our philosopy at Trio is that every customer group is different and businesses need to be on the social platforms where their customers hangout.

For those of you who are on Facebook and have created a Facebook Page for your business, this blog post will be of great value to you, especially if you have an upcoming event that you want to promote!

Just recently one of our Saskatoon clients wanted to create an event on their Facebook Page, the problem was, with all the changes to Facebook they weren't sure how to make the most of promoting this event. 

I found a great article posted by Steve Toth, from TechWyse Internet Marketing Toronto, titled "8 Killer Tips: How to use Facebook for Event Marketing". Steve breaks down creating an event step-by-step.  

If you need help creating engaging graphics for your event call us at (306) 716-0680, we would be happy to assist you in creating the graphics you need to promote your event on Facebook.

Enjoy the post - I hope it helps!

- CBB

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Facebook can be a powerful medium to help drive event ticket sales. This post will take you through some best practices when marketing your event on Facebook.

Tip #1 Create a Facebook Page for your event

If your event happened twice a year, keep the same page and simply adjust the cover photo and profile image to reflect the upcoming show. Make sure to keep your page title and URL generic, and not specific to one year. Let’s say you’re a band who’s got an upcoming tour. Simply use your band’s page to and add the events app.

CBB Insight: You must have a Facebook Page for your business prior to creating an event.  If the event is not connected with any particular business, you can create a Facebook Page specifically for that event. 

Tip #2 Add the Events Application - This is really easy, just follow these simple steps:

CBB Insight: Remember that you must be logged into your Facebook Page in order to complete the following steps. 

Step 1

Step 2

Now you should see the events app appear on your timeline:

The thumbnail image for your event will be drawn from the event’s profile image. The dimensions for the app thumbnails are 111 x 74 px. Try shrinking your profile image down with Photoshop to 111 px wide and make sure the area you want visible sits above the 74 px mark.

Next you’ll want to customize your cover photo and profile photo to promote your event.

Create visually appealing imagery that’s appropriate for your event. Be sure to include event information like venue name and date. Also include a link to buy tickets in your timeline’s about section.

Tip #3 Do a Giveaway

Here’s a really simple tip that Toronto’s Bridal Show did for their upcoming event.

Upload a photo, for every Like a person is entered into a draw, if a person comments it counts as two entries, and for every share the person gets 5 entries. There is one caveat. Only publicly viewable likes, comments and shares count as entries. This is simply because private shares, comments, and likes aren’t viewable by your page. This is a really simple way to generate organic word of mouth for your event.

See the example below:

Tip #4 Create Facebook Ads for your Event

We’ve had a lot of success with Facebook ads for Toronto’s Bridal Show. Instead of creating an ad for your page or website, try creating an ad for your event. The benefits are a higher click through rate and the ability for people to invite their friends directly from the ad. This makes it super easy for people to make plans around your event!

Another critical element is taking advantage of Facebook precise interest targeting. For Toronto’s Bridal Show we targeted people with the following ad. Notice the target: engaged women, 18+, within 80km of the venue’s city.

With this ads we saw a 0.088% CTR (that’s very high, 0.040% -.0050% is considered average). The end cost to Toronto’s Bridal Show was $3.30 per person replying to the event. Not bad, especially when you consider most people don’t attend events alone. The key here is finding an engaged audience (pun intended). Another example would be targeting a group of people who like similar things e.g. if i were promoting a U2 concert, I might want to target Coldplay fans. A strong call-to-action in your ad will also help, in this case “invite your friends & RSVP today!” helps to drive home the desired action.

Tip #5 Create Multiple Admins and Have Them Invite Friends

If you have a group of people working at your event, invite them to become page administrators. That way they can invite their friends to the event fanpage. Facebook does not allow you to send invitations to your existing fans, so your best bet is to post about it often and invite as many people as you know. Check out this post that will show you how to increase your Likes by inviting your LinkedIn and Outlook contacts.

Tip #6 Treat your Event Wall Like Your Page’s Wall

Be sure to add your address, info about your event, the date and post links, photos and videos on the event wall. Facebook doesn’t yet allow for a whole lot of customization for event pages, so an active wall is probably your best selling tool once people land on your event page.

Tip #7 Create Messages for Attendees, Maybes, and People Who Haven’t Replied

This is simply the idea of following up. Just like the dentist will call you a day or two in advance, so should you before your event date arrives. You may wish to create different messages for different groups. Let’s say you’ve go a few people who’ve haven’t replied to your invite; why not send them a message with a ticket coupon discount, or a buy one get one free offer.

To send invitees a message just follow these simple steps:

Now select which group of guests you’d like to send a message to:

Tip #8 Have fun!

Post lots of photos and videos during your events. Create signage with your Facebook page URL. Ask people to post on your Timeline during your event and be sure to participate in the conversation.

The online advertising trend continues to grow with more businesses turning their attention and focusing their marketing budgets to include pay-per-click Ads on sites such as Google and Facebook.  This morning I came across a great article highlighting strategies that businesses should consider before running a promotion on Facebook.

If you would like more information about running a Facebook promotion or need assistance in creating the graphics for a promotion contact us - we would be happy to help you drive more traffic to your Facebook Page and your website!

Enjoy the article. 

- CBB

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This post originally appeared on the American Express OPEN Forum, where Mashable regularly contributes articles about leveraging social media and technology in small business.

Facebook has become a no-brainer for small business owners looking for an easy way to promote and interact with new and regular customers. But before a small business owner launches a promotion on the platform, there are several things to consider — and a couple things to keep in mind after the launch.

North Social‘s managing partner David Brody, who specializes in promotion strategy and creative concepts, says that a small business owner should always take the time to craft the right objective, strategy and motivating value-based idea.

“By thinking through your promotional effort from start to finish, you’re giving your promotion the best chance at achieving social success — sounds simple right?” he says. “But you can’t imagine how many promotions fail because they didn’t have a smart plan in place.”

Building a Better Promotions Strategy

Before you rush to put a promotion in place, yourself these simple questions:

• What am I trying to achieve?
• How do I plan on achieving it?
• First you need an objective — do you want fan growth, someone to sample your product, purchase, data collection or usage?

Brody says there are three common strategies to achieve your goals: added value, price discounts and merchandising. More specific examples of tactic would be coupons, product samples, sweepstakes, contests and downloads.

Once you’ve mapped this out, you can determine the type of Facebook application you’ll need. Keep in mind that there are a lot of promotions guidelines set by Facebook that small business owners might not know about. One common violation, Brody says, is using Facebook features or functionality as a promotion registration or entry mechanism.

“The act of ‘liking’ a Page cannot automatically enter you in a sweepstakes or contest,” he says. “You must also not condition registration or entry upon the user taking any action using any Facebook features or functionality other than ‘liking’ a Page, checking in to a Place, or connecting to your app.”

If you’re not sure whether your promotion is compliant with Facebook rules related to “like-gating” and entry collection, you could use a Facebook-approved promotion app. You can read the complete Facebook promotion guidelines here.

Are Contests For Everyone on Facebook?

“The ultimate goal of a running a promotion on Facebook is to inspire action — not squander away your valuable page traffic,” says Brody. “But in order to inspire action — Likes, shares, engagement — you’ll need to first serve up a meaningful experience or offer up something of value.”

Keep your audience in mind when planning a prize. Small business owners don’t necessarily need cash, cars and vacation trips to entice consumers into your Facebook promotion.

Instead, focus on what’s valuable to your audience — informative and entertaining content. Brody suggests digital goods, such as coupons, group discounts, samples, VIP invitations and video previews.

Things to Avoid When Running a Promotion

Always remember that simplicity is key — entry to the promotion should be as simple as possible.

“The more hoops you make them jump through in order to have a chance a receiving or winning something, the less likely they’ll participate — or tell their friends about it,” Brody says.

Also, don’t rely solely on the fans you already have to push new customers to your promotion. The best-constructed Facebook promotions can still fail without the help of other traffic drivers. It is unlikely, even among the hundreds millions of consumers on Facebook, that users will stumble onto your Facebook Page unless you give them directions, along with an easy way to navigate once they do find you.

Brody’s advice is to consider the following: “Outside of Facebook ads, which are extremely powerful at delivering new fans, what other marketing touch points do you have at your disposal that could create more buzz for your promotion?”

For example, if you sell a product or service offline, you could print a Facebook-only offer on your paper receipts to attract more fans. If your store is online, your packages could include a strong call-to-action, asking customers to join you on Facebook to discover special offers.

“Don’t assume your current customers already follow you on Facebook,” says Brody. “In fact, most of them probably don’t.”

Finally, keep in mind that the Facebook promotion itself is not the end goal. There’s an ultimate goal behind it.

“Your first goal should always be to get a visitor to take action by ‘liking’ or sharing your Facebook Page, but your second objective should be to get them to return to your Page and interact with your brand or business on a regular basis,” says Brody.

Examples Brody suggest are to entertain and inform — filling their news feed with thought-provoking and valuable messages that entice them to participate with your business.

“If you don’t deliver ‘high perceived-value’ on a regular basis, you could find your fans using their own thumb to hitch a ride to your competition’s page,” he says.

As more businesses begin to realize the importance of having a website, and not just a basic website - I mean a website that is powered by an Internet Marketing strategy designed to increase their Online Presence, the Internet real estate will become more competitive and the margin of quality results will require more work to maintain. 

Since starting Trio Web Design in Saskatoon, our main drivers have been to educate and implement foundational Internet Marketing practices through the development of our custom designed websites.  At our inception, the term Online Presence was a foriegn term for many businesses, but today the majority of business owners are feeling the "heat" of either their lack of..or...their ineffective Internet Marketing Strategies (Online Presence). 

With this ever growing rush to the Internet and maddash for priority in organic search results, one major "reality" has been forgotten and that is - sustainable, effective, and measurable success takes time, effort, and money.

Business owners that desire to obtain a high priority in organic search results need to have a "full-buy-in" mentality when it comes to developing and maintaining their Online Presence.  Unfortunately, the Internet isn't a win-win environment.  It is no longer as easy as simply putting up a basic website and magically your website has the best priority in the local organic search results.  

Search Engines are continually sifting through websites to determine their relevance and monitor the consistency of new content rich updates. 

I came across a great article this morning titled: 4 Major Internet Marketing Game Changers for 2012 by Steve Toth, see below.  The article highlights some of the important Internet success factors behind developing an Online Presence.  

Internet and Website Marketing are two areas that cannot be overlooked when deciding whether or not a website should be created for your business, or whether or not your current website needs a redesign.  If you are considering either option contact us and we would be happy to help you develop an Online Presence that will grow as your business continues to grow. 

Enjoy the article!

- CBB

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The 2012 IM trends landscape continues to look increasingly competitive. We’re no longer in the age of a few early adopters monopolizing the first page of Google. Now every, dentist, auto mechanic, flower shop etc. is online; not only online, but actively investing internet marketing dollars in the areas of PPC (search and display), SEO and social media. As more players enter the game, the bidding war for ad space heightens. 2012 will see increased barriers to entry to those who are late to the game.

Social is the New Word of Mouth

Facebook’s “talking about this” metric is a nod to what social media really is: a massive network for word of mouth recommendations. You don’t have to share your status to let others know what you’re doing anymore. Facebook is moving in the direction of publishing more than just your like and comment activity. By installing apps like the Washington Post Social Reader, your friends can now see that you’ve read an article, not simply that you’ve liked, shared or commented on it.

The Fracturing of Search Results

Search results are now highly geared towards a user’s location and social network. Browsing habits still play a major factor. All of this leads to fractured search results, where some sites may rank, while others don’t depending on who the searcher is.

Other key shifts will include:

• The inclusion of socially relevant posts
• The rise of PPC as the core strategy for online marketing
• New challenges for SEO
• Fresh Content will become ever more important, if you don’t have a blog, get on it. 
• Local search and reviews, Google Places and Yelp will continue to influence buying decisions.
• Mobile search will be influenced by location, companies with mobile websites will see better conversions from organic and paid traffic.

Google Quality Continues to Get Better

• The quality of referring links will need to be high. Google will not give credence to poor quality backlinks, link farms and link wheels are a thing of the past. Quality will outweigh quantity.
• Search results will contain high quality, fresh content that’s been shared.
• Sites with great user experiences may rank higher, Google can analyze this if the site has Google Analytics installed.
• Websites with high CTRs, low bounce rates and original content will have an edge
• An integrated strategy will be needed in order to rank organically – UI, Social, PPC, SEO, Content Strategy.

Referring Sites Will Continue to Proliferate

• Sites like portals, destination guides and niche resources will be a valuable source of traffic. Don’t be surprised if these sites pop up overnight, as social media is now a primary springboard for many start-up sites looking for traffic.
• Referring sites are growing more quickly than your competitors, actively research them and get linked to.
• Consumers will continue to research in more places, and these sites will increase in importance as they provide links, rank for related terms and influence buying decisions.
• Search engines will continue to reward sites that are present on highly trafficked, socially connected sites.

That’s a wrap! Authentic, original content, is key to your online marketing success in 2012 and moving forward. Produce original content and spread it through social networks. Google’s algorithm will reward you for hard work e.g. consistent content creation, social updates, networking with referring sites and building organic links. Sprinkle in a little PPC and you’ve got a recipe for success!

As I was reading through my morning web design news, I came across a great article called 3 Tips for Running a Successful Daily Deal Promotion Online. John Amato, CEO of MarketSharing, shares the top 3 areas that businesses should carefully consider before launching the online coupon campaign. 

Have you ever considered doing an online coupon campaign with websites like Groupon Saskatoon ? If you have or are considering it - be sure to read this article - it might just assist you in executing the online promotion successfully!

- CBB

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John Amato is the CEO of MarketSharing, a premium business-to-business deals provider for exceptional business products and services. Follow @MarketSharing on Twitter for more information and the latest deals for businesses.

Recently, I stated my thoughts on why daily deal sites are here to stay, and it lead me to start thinking about the daily deal space a bit more.

We’ve all heard horror stories surrounding daily deals. A local café business goes belly up; a large restaurant becomes inundated with coupon hunters, thereby losing its regular customers. In this economic climate, such losses are not to be downplayed. However, do these stories mean that all daily deals are bad for business?

Quite simply, the answer is no, they aren’t.

As with any decision, a small business owner needs to take daily deals seriously and plan for successful execution. Just because a daily deal doesn’t require up front capital doesn’t mean it shouldn’t involve an investment of time and energy. Effective daily deals are built upon detailed planning and analysis. And when these crucial steps are carried out correctly, the effort will reap rewards.

When business owners are delving into these marketing campaigns, they should learn from three of the most common flaws of failed daily deals.

1. Know Your Margins

Daily deals discount a product or service, which can result in a serious financial plus or minus for a business. When reducing the price of a revenue generator, business owners need to know what goes into the cost of making their product and their margins. Knowing the margins will help daily dealers set their discounted price.

With the standard daily deal discount being 50%, and an additional 50% commission going to the deal site, the costs should be 25% or less of the retail price in order to break even. Granted, this equation changes based on the specifics negotiated with a deal provider. It serves more as a backbone equation to show that margins play a critical role in turning a positive promotion.

Business owners should keep in mind that by “only” breaking even, they have nonetheless used the daily deal platform to generate new customers at no cost.

2. Prepare for the Surge of Deal Seekers

One common daily deal issue involves hordes of new customers flooding one location all at once. If not managed and anticipated correctly, this rush places a tremendous stress on a business, its staff and its customers ⎯ both new and old alike.

In order to avoid this situation, the merchant should determine how much volume their business can handle with the daily deal promotion, and then cap the discounted units sold at that specific number. Ideally, the daily operations will not be disrupted. Furthermore, such analysis will work as a pseudo insurance plan if a merchant incorrectly crunches the margin numbers.

Additionally, new customer calamity can be avoided if merchants ask their deal provider for references from other local shops that ran similar deals. That way they’ll better understand the anticipated customer volume.

According to research conducted by deals site Yipit, businesses can expect approximately 25% of vouchers to be redeemed in both the first and last months of the campaign. Much like our margin equation, this data should help businesses prepare for the deal deluge. As such, business owners should make sure that staff is trained how to process the deal’s coupons, and that the facility can handle the surge of new customers.

3. Get Your Employees Onboard

It would seem that a business has the green light once it calculates margins and determines capacity. However, there’s still more to be done to drive success. Now each business owner should encourage their employees to help convert daily dealers from bargain hunters to repeat customers.

As Uptal Dholakia’s Groupon study states, the key factor in a successful campaign is employees. Workers should be educated on the intricacies and background of the deal so that the entire team knows how to achieve the desired goal.

For example, if a restaurant were to run a daily deal on a new dish, as opposed to the most popular one, the owner should tell the staff that they are doing so to highlight a new direction or strength, and that they should emphasize its selling points to new customers.

Most importantly, merchants and employees should be prepared for the increase in foot traffic, and thus, be ready to represent their company with a positive attitude. If new customers encounter a negative environment, they will ultimately connect that mood with the business, and probably decide to take the deal and run.

If merchants do their margin homework, prepare for the onslaught of new customers, and ensure that new customers encounter a positive experience, they will have created a solid backbone to generate repeat customers and avoid a daily deal disaster.

NEW PRODUCT - TRIO BLUEPRINTS

We have a new website design product - Trio Blueprints. Be sure to browse through our Trio Blueprint Website Designs

Start-up costs - $995.50 (this includes taxes). 

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Trio Blueprints are custom designed websites - built on the Trio Foundation

Blueprints are customized to your specific look and feel by:

• modifying colour schemes
• using different font styles that complement your logo
• creating high impact graphic banners that showcase your products and services
• using your own content and images
• adding-on optional features to the design - blog page, online payments, video page
• upgrading standard features like image galleries, banners, and forms

For businesses in need of a smaller 5 page website, we are excited to offer you this new website product line with access to our website support services at a very affordable cost and quick turn around time.

If you would like more information about Trio Blueprints please contact Allison directly at 716-0680 or fill out our online contact form for Trio Blueprints

- CBB