[Webtrends] analyzed the website traffic of Fortune 100 websites based on ‘unique visits.’ The study revealed that 68% of the top 100 companies were experiencing a negative growth in unique visits over the past year, with an average drop of 23%.

To ascertain if Facebook had a part to play in this decline, unique visits to a brand’s website were compared with unique visits to its Facebook page (obtained using fan count as a proxy) within a three- to five-month period. In a sample of 44 companies, 40% exhibited higher traffic to their Facebook page compared to their website.

Based on these statistics alone, one can glean that social media as a whole is increasingly pertinent to a company’s overall marketing and communications campaign. Company websites will continue to lose ground as additional web traffic is divided among various social media platforms such as Twitter, Google+, etc. With that being said, companies must make themselves accessible on every social media platform in order capture the web traffic of their clients or customers. Social media continues to expand its reach, which provides new opportunities for companies to reach audiences that may never have visited their company website directly in the past. The data presented above tells a compelling story; social media is a viable communication strategy, and it’s time to build an integrated campaign to take advantage of the opportunities that social media presents.

Determining the appropriate communication mix is the ultimate challenge for many businesses. Domus, Inc. can provide a tailored assessment of your brand in order to develop targeted strategies that fit your company’s situation.

Follow Domus, Inc. on Facebook and Twitter through the following:

Twitter: https://twitter.com/#!/DomusInc

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/domusinc

Greg Smore is a Senior Account Manager at Domus, Inc., a marketing communications agency based in Philadelphia. For more information, visit http://www.domusinc.com. For new business inquiries, please contact CEO and founder of Domus, Inc. Betty Tuppeny at betty.tuppeny@domusinc.com or 215-772-2805.

Here is what I have recently witnessed within the industry. The lines between public relations and social media are blurring. Account managers need to be well-versed in analyzing technical data, interpreting those results and translating those results into strategic recommendations. Media professionals need to understand the brand strategy and all of the media options available today including social, online and mobile campaigns as well as established channels like broadcast and print. Likewise, creative and production teams are learning new technology and software programs in order to keep pace as well as how to translate TV or print concepts to online and mobile. And everyone needs to have in-depth expertise within a client’s business.

At a recent Ad Club Second Annual Media Innovation Day, attendees were polled about how the fluctuating advertising environment is impacting their profession. The outcome indicated that media professionals, in particular, are increasingly working with other departments within their companies. When asked which departments they work with “very often,” 31% included their brand planning department and a quarter cited their creative departments. Over half described the use of other departments within their company to develop client campaigns as “very important.” And 32% use their analytics departments to measure every client campaign.

Some other interesting statistics are that Americans have access to:

• 1 trillion web pages
• 65,000 iPhone apps
• 10,500 radio stations
• 5,500 magazines
• 200+ cable TV networks

At Domus we take a holistic view of our clients’ business objectives, including their target audience and how they consume media, react to all forms of advertising and what their brand preferences are.  Our strategic planning approach allows us to understand the extraordinarily complex dynamics of the marketplace from the very start of a project to better equip ourselves and our clients to make decisions about how to connect with customers across all the available platforms. In this way they can achieve the greatest results and analyze the outcomes in qualitative and quantitative terms.

Joanne Michael is an Executive Vice President at Domus, Inc., a marketing communications agency based in Philadelphia. For more information, visit http://www.domusinc.com. For new business inquiries, please contact CEO and founder of Domus, Inc. Betty Tuppeny at betty.tuppeny@domusinc.com or 215-772-2805

Why Sign Up?

Why NOT sign up? Get on there and check it out. For the most part, people are going to sign up – after all it’s Google. People like Google, people are familiar with Google, Google has a lot of money and a lot of expertise, and Google+ is already growing…rapidly.

Gaining Momentum

While 50 million users is a far cry from Facebook’s 1.8 billion users, it’s still 50 MILLION users (and growing) since its launch in August, making Google+ the fastest growing platform EVER. This presents a small problem in that Facebook users are used to Facebook’s features and activities. Facebook has set the precedent, but user activities on Facebook don’t necessarily correlate to similar activities on Google+. This can be a bit confusing. For example and in general terms, if you “Like” a company page on Facebook, you then become a subscriber to the page’s status updates. On Google+, you can “+1” a page; however, in order to subscribe you must add the page to your “Circles.”  This difference may be minor, but it can pose an issue for members’ ease of use.

Differences with Facebook

Interestingly, one of the first things a user will realize is that a company’s Google+ page and Facebook page don’t seem any different. If your audience is already on Facebook and your Google+ page isn’t bringing users anything new, why would they create a Google+ page just to view your brand when everything they need is already on Facebook? Logically speaking, they wouldn’t, but a ComScore survey estimates that 22% of U.S. adults will be on Google+ by August 2012. Hopefully, Google execs are active Google+ members by then. All joking aside, can you or your business afford to ignore 22% of the United States’ young, affluent, early-adopter audience? Or even if you could, why would you?

A big feature within Google+ is the “Hangout,” which is being pegged as something ideal for businesses. Essentially, it’s a chat room which users can visit whenever they want. It allows users and companies an opportunity to interact with one another, and may be a great relationship-building tool. Current limitations do not permit participation in a hangout on a mobile device. Ouch…really Google? But I assume that it’s just a matter of time until mobile capabilities for the hangout feature become available.

Bottom Line

Sign up. I know, I know – ANOTHER page to update?! Between Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, LinkedIn and Foursquare (and so on), you have enough to manage. You might think you’ve got all your audiences covered – and you just may – but you don’t want to be the only company that’s NOT there. It’s obvious, or should be obvious, that managing your company’s social media effort is a full time job. If it’s not, you’re just not engaging as effectively as you could (and should) be. Might as well cover all your bases and add one more to the mix.

Saving the best for last…

With Google analytics finally within the social media mix, Google+ could (maybe, possibly, HOPEFULLY) offer businesses some hard data on the holy grail of social media: social media metrics and ROI.  Halleluiah! It’s a holiday miracle!

Kate Toy is a Senior Account Manager at Domus, Inc., a marketing communications agency based in Philadelphia. For more information, visit http://www.domusinc.com. For new business inquiries, please contact CEO and founder of Domus, Inc. Betty Tuppeny at betty.tuppeny@domusinc.com or 215-772-2805.

Take social media, for example. Consumers are increasingly relying upon social media for their information – going to a company’s Facebook page, for example, before visiting a company’s website. And consumers demonstrate their brand preferences (and loyalty) by following and liking their brands of choice on Twitter and Facebook. In fact, a recent Nielsen report states that 53% of active online adult social networkers follow a brand, that social networking and blogging now account for nearly a quarter of total time spent on the Internet and that Americans spend more time on Facebook than they do on any other U.S. website. Pretty compelling statistics…and pretty valid reasons why public relations professionals need to include social media as part of their overall communications tactics.

Naysayers may dismiss these statistics, but I recall a similar conversation about the World Wide Web nearly 20 years ago. Enough said.

But beyond B2C communications lies the evolution of “media.” Media is ever-increasingly an online vehicle as printed media – printed news media, most especially – fades away. Writers and editors rely on social media platforms to magnify their voice and reach in the hope that it will (1) increase their reach and (2) drive traffic back to their articles/website, thereby increasing their readership and the value of their advertising.

Even what we consider “media” sometimes comes into question: are bloggers considered media, for example? In my opinion, creating online content does not a member of the media make; however, those with the forum and the voice may not be afraid to use it. So we as public relations professionals must manage these relationships just as we must consider social media platforms as media relations tools – platforms for engaging with the media and platforms for communicating with our various publics.

Does your company need assistance navigating the evolving world of social media? Do you have the tools necessary to harness the power of social media in order to communicate your messaging in a cohesive and an articulate manner? Domus does! Put our expertise in public relations and social media to work for you. Visit www.domusinc.com today and be an active part of the conversation that’s taking place in the world of social media.

For more on this topic, see “Public Relations in a Social World” posted on COMPREHENSION – PRSA’s blog: http://comprehension.prsa.org/?p=3557.

Amy Whilldin is an Account Director at Domus, Inc., a marketing communications agency based in Philadelphia. For more information, visit http://www.domusinc.com. For new business inquiries, please contact CEO and founder of Domus, Inc. Betty Tuppeny at betty.tuppeny@domusinc.com or 215-772-2805.

It’s so important that some people will do anything they can to increase their followers. But there is a right and wrong way to attract followers. Politicians have taken to Twitter to spread their campaign messages (some have ulterior motives, but we won’t name names in this blog). In the early stages of the GOP nomination process, Newt Gingrich boasted that he had 1,325,842 followers, whereas Mitt Romney and Michele Bachman have not even cracked the 100,000 mark. However, it was later learned that more than 80 percent of Gingrich’s followers were dummy accounts and were obtained by an agency that is paid to bolster Twitter followers for a fee http://gawker.com/5826645. As you can see, this is the wrong way to attract Twitter followers.

There are numerous ways to legitimately increase followers. Kevin Rose, the founder of Digg.com, discusses 10 ways to increase followers in the following TechCrunch article: http://techcrunch.com/2009/01/25/kevin-rose-10-ways-to-increase-your-twitter-followers/. Here is one excerpt that specifically caught my eye:

“Start a contest. @jasoncalacanis offered a free macbook air if he reached the #1 most followed spot. That never happened, but Jason added thousands of followers…brilliant.”

Domus has developed and implemented numerous Twitter contests for its clients. A recent Dacor contest included various product giveaways and successfully increased the company’s followers from under 700 to 3,366.

The most important aspect of attracting followers is that a company’s Tweets should fulfill some need. Dacor’s Twitter feed is populated by useful information regarding the company’s products, money-saving deals, recipes and the occasional contest/giveaway. Contact Domus to learn more about our Twitter strategies and how we can help your company.

Greg Smore is a Senior Account Manager at Domus, Inc., a marketing communications agency based in Philadelphia. For more information, visit http://www.domusinc.com. For new business inquiries, please contact CEO and founder of Domus, Inc. Betty Tuppeny at betty.tuppeny@domusinc.com or 215-772-2805.

Experiential marketing, especially one-on-one interaction with customers, can create a branded and memorable experience to help strengthen your marketing campaign. This experiential marketing has the ability to appeal to all five senses, giving customers the opportunity to engage personally with your products and your brand. According to a recent online survey of 2,574 consumers ages 13-65, in the top 25 U.S. markets, the results confirm that this increasingly important marketing medium resonates strongly across demographics and product categories. In fact, 72% of 18- to 23-year-old consumers say experiential marketing would make them more receptive to the brand/product advertising; 59% say it would lead to a quicker purchase.

This study also indicated that live marketing experiences were shown to be a valuable way to increase marketing ROI:  75% of consumers say that participating in a live marketing experience would make them more receptive to the product/brand’s advertising; 75% of consumers said they would be extremely likely to tell others after participating in a live marketing event, extending impact through word-of-mouth.

Domus has had great success with live marketing experiences for the Pennsylvania Lottery to help launch its new instant ticket games. Each event utilized a creative overlay that reinforced the traditional advertising program of television, radio, print and outdoor. The theme was brought to life through a state-wide bus tour including live activities with audience participation, street teams, signage and ticket giveaways. Each tour garnered pre- and post-event press coverage as well as a multitude of attendees. The results? Another record-breaking year of ticket sales for the Pennsylvania Lottery!

Joanne Michael is an Executive Vice President at Domus, Inc., a marketing communications agency based in Philadelphia. For more information, visit http://www.domusinc.com. For new business inquiries, please contact CEO and founder of Domus, Inc. Betty Tuppeny at betty.tuppeny@domusinc.com or 215-772-2805

Since consumers have gotten in the habit of receiving media content online for free or at a lower cost, cable TV content providers and distributors are adjusting their business models so they can remain profitable.

One idea adopted by companies like Comcast and Time Warner is “TV Everywhere.” In this model, consumers are able to watch shows online as long as they are a traditional cable TV subscriber. But according to The Wall Street Journal, “TV Everywhere” has been slow in gaining popularity because some TV channel owners want to be paid extra to provide their shows over the Internet – as a result only select shows are shown online.

Another popular alternative is Hulu – a website offering free TV shows that is a partnership between Walt Disney, Comcast and News Corp. According to The Wall Street Journal, some media executives value Hulu since it gives content creators direct access to consumers compared to working with cable and satellite distribution companies as well as an online alternative to offering shows through Apple’s iTunes and Amazon.com. 

Although Hulu is a free site, consumers can subscribe to Hulu Plus for $7.99 to receive premium content; Hulu Plus currently has more than one million customers. Hulu Plus is a new revenue stream for content creators but also puts them at risk of angering the distributors, who are their biggest customers since the service can be seen as competition.

As consumers continue to increase their use of mobile devices and consume media online, TV content creators and cable companies will need to evaluate their business model to remain profitable and relevant. 

Ed Samide is a Senior Account Manager at Domus, Inc., a marketing communications agency based in Philadelphia. For more information, visit http://www.domusinc.com. For new business inquiries, please contact CEO and founder of Domus, Inc. Betty Tuppeny at betty.tuppeny@domusinc.com or 215-772-2805.

1. Answered or responded to a direct mail letter or brochure? (Current research shows only 3% have responded.)
2. Did you follow up on a mainstream media advertisement such as TV, radio, magazine or newspaper? (22% of those polled did.)
3. Did you go to the Yellow Pages to look up a company to buy a product? (3% of those polled did.)
4. Did you Google and search online when looking to purchase a product or service? (97% of those polled did.)
5. Did you use your Peer to Peer Network via Facebook, Instant Messenger, Twitter, LinkedIn or other social media service to get the URL of a website for a product that you were looking to buy? (80% of those polled did.)
   And now for your ace in the hole…
6. So why are you still using traditional marketing for your company when you yourself have minimal response to it?

Hopefully this is where your clients see the light. If not, just remind them that the social media dark ages will be a lonely (and unprofitable) place.

Kate Toy is a Senior Account Manager at Domus, Inc., a marketing communications agency based in Philadelphia. For more information, visit http://www.domusinc.com. For new business inquiries, please contact CEO and founder of Domus, Inc. Betty Tuppeny at betty.tuppeny@domusinc.com or 215-772-2805.

Since each client is unique, Domus develops the most appropriate reporting and communications systems to meet their needs.  This can include any or all of the following:  creative briefs, decision reports, weekly hot lists, weekly status reports, monthly client meetings, quarterly and annual results analysis as well as other customized reports requested by the client.  Many of the above reports we are now converting to a digital dashboard that allows our clients easy access to this information at the touch of a button.

Domus’ workflow and communication processes have been proven over the years.   In fact, we are often called upon by our own clients, to help them  establish their internal processes and systems to improve their marketing communications efficiency. 

So the next time you’re considering bypassing a process for the sake of speed, remember the importance of standard procedures in the creative environment and how ultimately it will help you deliver better product in the end.

Joanne Michael is an Executive Vice President at Domus, Inc., a marketing communications agency based in Philadelphia. For more information, visit http://www.domusinc.com. For new business inquiries, please contact CEO and founder of Domus, Inc. Betty Tuppeny at betty.tuppeny@domusinc.com or 215-772-2805.

Zynga’s model has key differences which separate it from traditional video game manufacturers. Zynga offers its games for free through Facebook but makes money by selling “virtual goods” that allow people to perform better in the game. According to The Wall Street Journal, 95% of users play for free while the remaining 5% spend from hundreds to thousands of dollars per month. Sales of virtual goods have given Zynga revenue of $600 million in 2010 including $91 million in profits.

Zynga also uses analytics to constantly improve its games. Based on data collected through Facebook, Zynga can regularly make adjustments to the game to increase the time people spend playing as well as increase sales of virtual goods.

Traditional video game makers are adjusting to this trend. Walt Disney and other major manufacturers have acquired social gaming start-ups. Electronic Arts, launched a free version of “The Sims” on Facebook; as of September 27th, the game climbed to be the second most popular game on the site. In addition, Electronic Arts has evolved its traditional console game FIFA soccer by allowing users to download players, coaches and training sessions for a fee. According to Bloomberg, sales of virtual goods for FIFA soccer were $100 million in 2010.
Wall Street analysts expect revenue for traditional gaming to grow 1% this year to $9.7 billion while sales of virtual goods are expected to rise 50% to $2.2 billion. Traditional gaming companies will need to stay aware of and adjust to social gaming to continue to grow and stay relevant.

If you are interested in social gaming as part of your brand’s marketing program, Domus has deep capabilities in HTML5 driven game development, mobile game development and Facebook/Twitter integration. Please contact us for more information about how we can be a social gaming a resource for you.

Ed Samide is a Senior Account Manager at Domus, Inc., a marketing communications agency based in Philadelphia. For more information, visit http://www.domusinc.com. For new business inquiries, please contact CEO and founder of Domus, Inc. Betty Tuppeny at betty.tuppeny@domusinc.com or 215-772-2805.

This is an extremely important factor when calculating reach, as the pass-along rate creates a multiplier effect for that specific message. This rate has been in use for decades and its significance has grown exponentially given the rise of online media content. For example, 20 years ago you may have read an article in a magazine, found it compelling and gave it to a friend. Therefore, the message did not just impact you, but also your friend as well as anyone else that your friend may have given it to after he or she read it. The point is that published messages live on, and the advent of online content and social networking have created an environment where pass-along rate is paramount.

Let’s look at the previous example that examined the traditional pass-along rate and apply it to the digital age. You see an article in an online magazine and you decide to send that article to five of your friends via email. That message has now been distributed five times more than the traditional pass-along example. Now let’s examine the concept of utilizing social networking to share this same article. Let’s say that you have 30 Twitter followers and you decide to Tweet this same article; you’ve now successfully shared this message with 30 more people. If one of those people then Retweets this article, it is then distributed to all of their followers, and so on.

Brands can create a virtual echo effect by redistributing their company news via social media platforms. If your company is featured in a news article, there’s a good chance that the publication will Tweet the article as well, which means that the publication’s followers have all seen this news item. Your company can then Retweet the article to disseminate this message to your followers. Now there are two identical streams of communication that are targeting two groups of individuals. The message reverberates throughout the network at a greater rate than it could ever be distributed before.

Keep in mind, this is just the tip of the iceberg; we haven’t even discussed the opportunities that Facebook and LinkedIn provide. Domus helps clients such as Dacor and OKI Data Americas manage their social media presence on a daily basis in order to reach their overarching media goals. Contact Domus for more information on how we can help your business manage its social media presence.

Greg Smore is a Senior Account Manager at Domus, Inc., a marketing communications agency based in Philadelphia. For more information, visit http://www.domusinc.com. For new business inquiries, please contact CEO and founder of Domus, Inc. Betty Tuppeny at betty.tuppeny@domusinc.com or 215-772-2805

By being a dialed-in, finger-on-the-pulse-of-your-industry PR professional, you have the opportunity to share breaking news with your fans first. Post a recent article on a relevant topic or ask your followers a question about a hot topic. The beauty of social media, especially now with all of the changes to Facebook, is that every friend of your followers can now see most of their activity. So if they comment on a post on your wall, it will appear in their newsfeed and will ideally inspire someone else to click on your link, find your page interesting – and voilá – you’ll have a new follower.

This method of attracting followers is not guaranteed – in public relations there’s very little that is – but it’s a way to be recognized as a valuable and forward-thinking participant in your particular industry.

Kate Toy is a Senior Account Manager at Domus, Inc., a marketing communications agency based in Philadelphia. For more information, visit http://www.domusinc.com. For new business inquiries, please contact CEO and founder of Domus, Inc. Betty Tuppeny at betty.tuppeny@domusinc.com or 215-772-2805.

Companies can take the customer review process one step further by including testimonial videos on sites such as YouTube. Domus incorporated this tactic with OKI Data Americas’ customers during the ISTE 2011 Conference in Philadelphia. OKI customers were given a platform to present their story and increase their Internet celebrity through the process. This strategy gives consumers a voice and also puts a face to the name, which lends additional credibility to the testimonial. The reach of these videos can be increased when distributed through social media networks as well. An example of the OKI customer testimonial video can be accessed through the following link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yxHIxhVSFuI.

Not only do these videos provide beneficial information to prospective customers, but they also increase the company’s interaction with current clients, helping to build that existing relationship.

Greg Smore is a Senior Account Manager at Domus, Inc., a marketing communications agency based in Philadelphia. For more information, visit http://www.domusinc.com. For new business inquiries, please contact CEO and founder of Domus, Inc. Betty Tuppeny at betty.tuppeny@domusinc.com or 215-772-2805.

With a discount offer, the business is probably appealing to customers that purchase on price. It is unlikely customers will come back to the business in the future to purchase products and services at full value. In a column on AdAge.com, Al Ries, the famous marketing consultant, states:

“Presumably, all those consumers who bought products and services for 50% off are going to be happy to return to their local retailers and return to buy those same products and services at full prices. That’s not going to happen. What is going to happen is that those same consumers are going to go back to Groupon and wait for the next 50%-off sale.”

I’m sure many of you have used Groupon, Living Social or one of the other local daily deal sites. Of those of you who have, how many of you have returned to that business to purchase the same product or service at full price? My guess is not many.

The trouble with only focusing on new customers is that it costs much more to the business to market to new customers than to sell to current customers. A business is also sacrificing its profitability on sales to new customers using a Groupon offer since the business splits about 50% of the revenue with the company.

Filippo Caffari, owner of The Butcher Store, a restaurant in Minneapolis, Minnesota, was quoted in BusinessWeek saying that when using Groupon “A lot of people just come for the deal, and very few become repeat customers.”

In The Wall Street Journal, David Wachs, president of Cellit, a marketing firm that has collaborated with small businesses on Groupon deals, argues that small companies need “ongoing conversations” with customers, not coupon offers. Groupon is best used “to drive new customers in their door.” He’s right about the necessity of ongoing conversations with customers. In order to be a worthwhile marketing tool, business owners need to capitalize on the Groupon or other deal tool. Ask customers to leave their email address when they redeem their deal and contact them with additional coupons, invite them to follow the company’s Facebook or Twitter, and share news about new products and services that would be of interest to them.

With Groupon and other deal sites, a business is reducing profitability as it markets to new customers and by using the deal alone, they are unable to build a relationship with these new customers for repeat business. When considering Groupon as a marketing tool, a business should first evaluate the effect on its profitability, brand and relationship with customers before joining in the daily deal trend.

Ed Samide is a Senior Account Manager at Domus, Inc., a marketing communications agency based in Philadelphia. For more information, visit http://www.domusinc.com. For new business inquiries, please contact CEO and founder of Domus, Inc. Betty Tuppeny at betty.tuppeny@domusinc.com or 215-772-2805.

Listening requires careful attention. Sometimes people don’t pay careful attention when someone is speaking to them, thinking instead about how to press their point when the other person stops speaking. Also consider that people talk at about 125 words per minute. However, we think at a speed that is four or five times as fast, at 500 words per minute or more. This means that our thoughts move much faster than the words we are listening to and makes it not surprising that we often let our attention wander.

Both anecdotal and scholarly research has shown that developing well-honed listening skills is extremely important in team building, project management, problem solving and ultimately, business success. Good listening skills are a valuable attribute in today’s business climate. In developing improved listening skills, individuals must learn to not only listen to the content of words but also pay attention to body language; it speaks as loudly as words.

While listening seems like it should be second nature to all of us, good listening skills take practice. Below are a few tips to improve your listening skills:

1. Face the speaker. Sit up straight or lean forward slightly to show your attentiveness through body language.

2. Maintain eye contact, to the degree that you all remain comfortable.

3. Minimize external distractions. Turn off the cell phone.

4. Focus solely on what the speaker is saying. Try not to think about what you are going to say next. The conversation will follow a logical flow after the speaker makes her point.

5. Keep an open mind. Wait until the speaker is finished before deciding that you disagree. Try not to make assumptions about what the speaker is thinking.

6. Engage yourself. Ask questions for clarification, but once again, wait until the speaker has finished. That way, you won’t interrupt his train of thought. After you ask questions, paraphrase the speaker’s point to make sure you didn’t misunderstand. Start with: “So you’re saying …”

Joanne Michael is an Executive Vice President at Domus, Inc., a marketing communications agency based in Philadelphia. For more information, visit http://www.domusinc.com. For new business inquiries, please contact CEO and founder of Domus, Inc. Betty Tuppeny at betty.tuppeny@domusinc.com or 215-772-2805.

1. Have a point of difference: Yes, this is Marketing 101, but it’s surprising how many brands, seemingly in a panic over retaining old customers and gaining new ones, slowly, but surely, are moving away from this key basic. Having a point of difference means understanding your market needs, knowing what perceptual space each of your competitors has claimed and then (based on your brand’s core competencies) differentiating your market-relevant message so that it resounds and grabs the minds and hearts of your target audience.

2. Be consistent: Again, a basic that we were all taught in “packaged goods school.”  But, now consistency is what you need to convey not only in your paid advertising, but also in your social media, public relations, promotions, event marketing and especially in your customer service and employee communications.  If your customer service reps or employees can’t describe what your company and brand(s) stand for, you’re missing a great opportunity for the most natural viral campaign. Now, everyone is a star on Facebook – and they talk about their lives, including their work – make sure they are ambassadors, not complainers or destroyers of your positioning.

3. Measure, adjust, measure, adjust, measure, adjust: Well, you get the picture. This approach is common now in online advertising, BUT it needs to be applied to every facet of your brand’s marketing mix. Gone are the days when you implemented an “Annual Planning” cycle and re-wrote the next calendar or fiscal year’s plan to launch on a certain date.  The “measure, adjust, measure, adjust” approach must be built into each program.  When you are developing a promotion, from the onset, you need to know what the monthly, weekly and, dare I say it, daily success hurdles are that your brand needs to clear.  And, they must be actively managed on an ongoing basis to reallocate, increase support or pull the plug.

It’s back to school time (let’s face it, that feeling never goes away) and that can mean back to branding basics. If you want to learn specific examples of how these three easy steps for better ROI worked for marquise brands, visit the Success Stories section at www.domusinc.com If you want to chat online, leave a comment on this post. If you want to chat in person as to how Domus can help your brand, call or e-mail me directly at 215-772-2805 Or betty.tuppeny@domusinc.com.

Betty Tuppeny is the CEO and founder of Domus, Inc., a marketing communications agency based in Philadelphia. For more information, visit http://www.domusinc.com. For new business inquiries, please contact Betty directly at betty.tuppeny@domusinc.com or 215-772-2805.

Recently, we’ve all seen endless debates about who should “control” social media in ad agencies. And that “someone” should be the PR professional – often the eyes and ears of the agency.

PR and Social Media – “Both About the Relationship”

The social space is about quick connections, as well as real and strong relationships. We can no longer isolate social media from public relations – it just can’t be avoided. Savvy journalists and bloggers use Facebook and Twitter like their own personal newswire services and constantly search online for stories and trends. Any way you look at it, the social aspect represents just one more way to get a journalist’s attention.

After all, PR and social media share the same qualifications:

1)         Who is your audience?

2)         What do they care about?

3)         How will your “announcement” impact their lives and help enhance your client’s’ message?

PR Pros – Time to Go Where the Action Is!

PR practitioners cannot expect audiences to come to them; rather – they must go to where their audiences are. So if these targets are online, the PR pro must be online too. This is where the PR/social convergence begins. Think about it: social media goes perfectly with PR – it allows PR pros to engage with audiences and target markets like never before! But yes, there are those in the PR world who consider this imminent change to be one giant annoyance because – it requires that they learn new techniques, while abandoning some old ones.

To many, this overlap presents tremendous opportunity – new technologies and communication channels are available and have changed the PR profession. Yes, PR practitioners must change the way they write, and responding and thinking must be done in real -time. Yes folks, it’s time to know your way around the social world as well as a newsroom! It’s about immersing yourself in the social culture as a way of better understanding its inherent advantages. It’s about participating, interacting and sharing.

PR and social media are now completely intertwined. Both feed on public interest, and neither means making that “sell” right then and there. Both are catalysts for eventual business and should go arm in arm. PR professionals are now realizing that the traditional PR skills that they’ve used so long are perfectly suited to our new social world, they just need some 2011 modifications. Any PR pro that who isn’t becoming a social media expert should get on board…quickly.

Do you agree that the line between PR and social media is now too fine of a line to separate? Should the PR person on your staff take the lead in social media? Please share your thoughts and join our discussion. Thank you.

Lynette Byrnes is a Senior Account Manager at Domus, Inc., a marketing communications agency based in Philadelphia. For more information, visit http://www.domusinc.com. For new business inquiries, please contact CEO and founder of Domus, Inc. Betty Tuppeny at betty.tuppeny@domusinc.com or 215-772-2805

Also consider the fact that newsrooms have been dealing with limited resources as a result of job loss and budget cuts for several years. The recession has not improved that situation and creates more pressure for journalists to produce more content with less resources.  Public relations helps meet that need for content by delivering story ideas, research, subject matter experts and resources.

So while it is not an ideal economy, it is an ideal time to invest in public relations.

Joanne Michael is an Executive Vice President at Domus, Inc., a marketing communications agency based in Philadelphia. For more information, visit http://www.domusinc.com. For new business inquiries, please contact CEO and founder of Domus, Inc. Betty Tuppeny at betty.tuppeny@domusinc.com or 215-772-2805.

This week, Coca-Cola announced that it will be making a $4 billion investment in China over the next three years. Coca-Cola’s sales in China grew 24% in the most recent quarter; in addition, China is Coke’s third largest market. Coke CEO Muhtar Kent stated, “We don’t see China only as a great growth market. We see China as a future market for further innovation that will benefit our business globally.”

Proctor & Gamble is also looking to emerging markets including Africa, Brazil and India to grow its business. This year, Proctor & Gamble plans to enter Brazil with products like Oral B toothpaste and Olay skin cream. According to the Wall Street Journal, “In Brazil, P&G employees pore over maps that document demographic trends and pinpoint stores that don’t yet sell the company’s products.”

Pepsi has taken the strategy of growing its business internationally through acquisitions. In April 2011, Pepsi announced it was purchasing dairy products and fruit-juice maker OAO Wimm-Bill-Dann for $5.4 billion. The acquisition makes Russia the largest market for Pepsi outside of the United States.

Even ad agencies are capitalizing on emerging markets. Ogilvy & Mather launched a division in its New York City office to help Chinese companies with marketing and public relations in the United States. Ogilvy has plans over the next few years to expand this service to Africa, Brazil and India.

If it is right for their business model, U.S. companies should strongly consider growing their business internationally as a way to balance the slow growth predicted for the domestic economy.

Ed Samide is a Senior Account Manager at Domus, Inc., a marketing communications agency based in Philadelphia. For more information, visit http://www.domusinc.com. For new business inquiries, please contact CEO and founder of Domus, Inc. Betty Tuppeny at betty.tuppeny@domusinc.com or 215-772-2805.

This blog post just touches the tip of the iceberg by listing some key features, supported platforms and the basic mobile page structure and by sharing some useful links. The use and role of the jQuery Mobile framework in developing mobile websites is huge. Read further to learn more about this awesome framework.

Key features:

• Built on jQuery core for familiar and consistent jQuery syntax and a minimal learning curve
• Compatible with all major mobile & desktop platforms – iOS, Android, BlackBerry, Palm WebOS, Windows 7 Mobile, Nokia/Symbian, Opera Mobile/Mini, Firefox Mobile and all modern desktop browsers
• Lightweight size – Small file sizes (about 20kb compressed for all mobile functionality) and minimal image dependencies for faster load times
• HTML5 Markup – for fast development and minimal required scripting
• Progressive enhancement approach brings core content and functionality to all mobile, tablet and desktop platforms. For newer mobile platforms, it leads to a rich installed application-like experience.
• Automatic initialization – All jQuery Mobile widgets found on a page are automatically initialized by using HTML5 data-role attributes in the HTML markup to act as the trigger
• Accessibility features – such as WAI-ARIA ensure that the pages work for screen readers (e.g., VoiceOver in iOS) and other assistive technologies
• Touch and mouse event support – New events streamline the process of supporting touch, mouse and cursor focus-based user input methods with a simple API
• New plugins – UI widgets enhance native controls with touch-optimized, themable controls
• Powerful theming framework – Makes it easy to build highly branded experiences

Supported Platforms

At this stage (Beta 2 release), jQuery Mobile works on the vast majority of all modern desktop, smartphone, tablet and e-reader platforms. In addition, older browsers and feature phones are also supported because of its progressive enhancement approach.  Supported platforms include iOS, Android 21.- 2.3, Android Honeycomb, Windows Phone 7, BlackBerry 6.0, Nokia Series 60, Plam WebOS, Firebox Mobile, Opera Mobile and Kindle 3 among smartphones and tablets; and Chrome, Firefox, IE and Opera Desktop among computer browsers.

Mobile page structure

The standard structure of a web page using jQuery Mobile is written in the following lines. Each page is just a div with the attribute data-role set as “page.” Any valid HTML markup can be used within a page, but divs with data-roles of “header,” “content” and “footer” are used most often. An HTML file can also contain multiple pages that are loaded together by stacking multiple divs with data-role=”page.”

<div data-role=”page”>
<div data-role=”header”>…</div>
<div data-role=”content”>…</div>
<div data-role=”footer”>…</div>
</div>

There are many cool features about jQuery Mobile framework, such as Auto Initialization, Page Linking, Theming, Form Elements, etc. Apart from a minimal learning curve (if you are familiar with jQuery), jQuery Mobile takes on so much of the functionality for which we’ve been creating custom code. With conventional jQuery, developing a mobile website often means handwriting code to load pages using Ajax, creating animations to style elements and make the site feel more like a native app and using a lot of images to achieve the desired look and feel – not to mention making sure that it works consistently across all major mobile devices. jQuery makes a developer’s life so much easier: especially with the recent awareness and popularity for “Going Mobile” with your business, this framework is worth taking a deeper look at because it can save a lot of time, code and overhead.

You can read more about jQuery Mobile framework and how to use it for the best in the following links:

• http://jquerymobile.com/test/docs/about/features.html#/test/
• http://jquerymobile.com/blog/2011/08/03/jquery-mobile-beta-2-released/
• http://www.webdesignerdepot.com/2011/05/10-handy-jquery-mobile-tips-and-snippets-to-get-you-started/
• http://www.ibm.com/developerworks/web/library/wa-jqmobile/
• http://www.elated.com/articles/jquery-mobile-what-can-it-do-for-you/

Dhawal Sehgal is a Programmer at Domus, Inc., a marketing communications agency based in Philadelphia. For more information, visit http://www.domusinc.com. For new business inquiries, please contact CEO and founder of Domus, Inc. Betty Tuppeny at betty.tuppeny@domusinc.com or 215-772-2805.

Just because you have created a social media presence doesn’t mean that clients and potential customers are going to automatically “follow” or “like” your brand.  Now, if your customers are offered an incentive to subscribe to your company’s social media newsfeed, two things can happen:

1. Your company increases the amount of people that are viewing your corporate news.
2. You turn those “likes” into customer loyalty.

A current Domus client came to us with this exact issue and requested our advice. What we implemented was a series of promotional sweepstakes that involved turn-key strategies that attracted and maintained “qualified” followers.

*Note-There is a difference between qualified and non-qualified followers but we’ll save that for another post down the road.

Domus constructed giveaways where customers had to like the company’s Facebook page to be entered into the drawing. A similar process was created for Twitter where the contestant had to follow the company’s Twitter feed and also re-tweet the event to a specific Twitter hashtag to be entered into the contest.

A Facebook landing page was created for the virtual event and the specific hashtag created an individual environment for the event on Twitter.

There were three sweepstakes throughout a one year period and each giveaway garnered even more interest than the previous event. This can be attributed to the additional reminders being sent throughout the latter promotions as well as the compounding effect that social media creates.

The results: Domus helped the client quickly increase the number of likes from 471 to over 8,000 and increased their Twitter followers from under 700 to 3,366.

Visit www.domusinc.com to learn more about our social media success stories.

Greg Smore is a Senior Account Manager at Domus, Inc., a marketing communications agency based in Philadelphia. For more information, visit http://www.domusinc.com. For new business inquiries, please contact CEO and founder of Domus, Inc. Betty Tuppeny at betty.tuppeny@domusinc.com or 215-772-2805.

Everything in the advertising/marketing industry has changed dramatically, yet, I believe, has stayed completely the same.  Recent research shows that consumers and businesses have shifted spending to brands that create, maintain and strengthen their relationships while delivering both value and values.  This reflects the principles of a classic marketing approach – listen to your target and speak with them, not at them.

The internet has created (even forced) a new, transparent, immediate, measureable and wide-reaching, yet specific means of relating.  This approach is a far cry from early messaging, during the onset of the ad industry, when brands talked at, not with, their audience.

What has not changed is that in each medium – traditional PR, advertising, events, social media, digital messaging and on every brand’s web site, what you are saying must be based on the customer’s needs.  They want to be friends with the brands that are high quality, great value, connected to their lives and to their communities.  This means using internet presence management to listen to customers and to strategize your brand’s conversation based on the ‘voice of the cusomer.’  A myriad of online products and services to measure what your customers are saying exists now and needs to be a mandatory part of a brand’s marketing mix.

Go to www.domusinc.com to learn more about how Domus’ branding products and services offering can help you hear your customers better or contact her directly at 215-772-2805 and betty.tuppeny@domusinc.com to qualify for a brand assessment analysis utilizing the proven Domus Voice of Customer Tracker (DVCT®)

Betty Tuppeny is the CEO and Founder of Domus, Inc., a marketing communications agency based in Philadelphia.

According to a recent ANA (Association of National Advertisers) survey, while marketers deal in data, qualitative performance still tends to carry more weight in evaluations than quantitative ones such as media cost savings, sales or market shares.  Leading qualitative performance criteria identified by survey respondents as something they measure with their agencies include:

In this same survey, 92% of marketers with sales of more than $5 billion annually have agency review processes vs. 74% of smaller companies.  Overall, of 117 marketers participating in the survey, 76% said they have a formal evaluation process for traditional creative agencies and 68% have one for traditional media agencies, but only 47% do for digital agencies and 25% have one for direct-marketing, PR and multicultural agencies.

If you currently do not perform regular agency evaluations with your client, ask.    Don’t be afraid of the feedback.  Remember, in any relationship, there will be ups and downs and areas for improvement.  Look at the performance review as an opportunity for open, honest dialogue with your client about how to strengthen and improve your service.  Remember, the average client/agency relationship is only three years.  If you want to defy that industry average, regular performance reviews are a good way to start.  At Domus, we conduct quarterly performance reviews, and we’re proud to say that our top three clients have been with us 15, 13 and 8 years.

Joanne Michael is an Executive Vice President at Domus, Inc., a marketing communications agency based in Philadelphia. For more information, visit http://www.domusinc.com. For new business inquiries, please contact CEO and founder of Domus, Inc. Betty Tuppeny at betty.tuppeny@domusinc.com or 215-772-2805.

According to the recent J. D. Power and Associates Inaugural Cross-Industry Report on Best Practices in Customer Service, during the past decade, average satisfaction scores for service-oriented industries have remained flat, unlike in product-based industries, for which satisfaction has improved steadily. In addition, across all service industries measured by J.D. Power, gaps in satisfaction between the highest- and lowest-performing brands have increased considerably between 2003 and 2010.  This is a sad state of affairs for the “service” industry.

In this same report, J. D. Powers recognized Customer Service Champions (the top 5 percent of 800 companies evaluated) representing a variety of different industries, from financial services and insurance to automotive and travel.  All had one thing in common: they do more than deliver on their customers’ expectations – they exceed them.  Which makes good business sense.  Brands that excel in providing customer service often enjoy higher rates of customer retention, pricing advantages and reduced costs to acquire new customers, compared with companies that have lower levels of customer service satisfaction.  Among customers of brands designated as J.D. Power Customer Service Champions, 62 percent said they “definitely would” recommend the brand to family and friends, while just 23 percent of customers of other companies included in the report said the same.  Additionally, 58 percent of customers of J.D. Power Customer Service Champions said they “definitely would” repurchase products or services from those brands, compared with just 36 percent of customers of other brands included in the report.

So how does Domus delight its clients?  It’s by constantly asking clients about their business and proactively providing business building ideas.  It’s presenting in person when it’s much easier to send an email.  It’s responding immediately to their requests.  It’s telling a client that we’ll have the project complete in five  days and then delivering it in four days.  It’s providing a recommendation, when the client only asked that you research an opportunity.  It’s not only securing an interview with the L.A. Business Journal that’s been our client’s wish list, but getting them the Orange Country Business Journal as well.  It’s developing and executing a virtual press event that generated 30 top industry media in attendance while saving the client thousands of dollars vs. a traditional media event.  It’s offering to do a brainstorming session with a client on a new product launch as a value add service rather than charging a fee.  It’s making their lives easier.

So don’t settle for satisfying your clients – delight them!

For example, in public relations we measure a total number of impressions by multiplying a publication’s circulation number (which in itself can be unreliable) by a specified number. This is known as the “pass along rate.” I stick with the number 2. Meaning, for every person that subscribes to the publication, there’s one additional person reading it. Some folks are not as conservative and will use a pass along rate of 2.5 or 3. By using “2” I may err on the conservative side but at least I’m not making any false promises. The pass along rate is justified for many reasons; dentist and doctor’s offices often have magazines in the lobby so several people are reading them, there’s usually more than one person in a household reading a magazine that’s delivered there, and in other cases people will share magazines or interesting articles with friends and colleagues. Regardless of the ways to justify it – there’s no exact science to it.

You may be wondering what the point of even doing PR is if you can’t guarantee that it’s going to be seen, but that answer is extremely cut and dry: the people you WANT to see it are seeing it. PR pros target a reporter or publication that speaks to the audience that their client is trying to reach. While the 2,000,000+ people who read the Wall Street Journal may not see your company mentioned in an article; the ones who are interested in your services or business generally will. Are you interested in business? Then you’re reading the business section. Looking for a hot new restaurant? I’ll bet you’re checking out local restaurant reviews. Your PR person knows who to pitch to get you in front of your audience. Are you a food manufacturer? Then your PR pro is contacting the Food & Wine reporter, the Manufacturing reporter, the Lifestyle reporter and – if you’re whipping up something healthy or wholesome – the Health reporter. In each of these places, your pro is developing a pitch and working an angle to get you in print where your target audience will see it.

Measuring PR is a numbers game, but PR is not a numbers profession, which makes it tough. Talk to an engineer and he’ll give you solid, unfailing facts. Talk to a PR pro and you’ll get a laundry list of pitches, reporters and outreach, but no metrics. This has been a hurdle that agencies have had to overcome for years.

In some respects measuring social media is slightly easier. It’s fairly easy to calculate and compare your followers on Twitter and Facebook month over month. If only that were enough. Social media is all about ENGAGEMENT. It’s not enough that you have followers and fans, you need them to be legitimately aware of your brand and services. You then want them to visit your website or social media page often, believe in your brand, recommend it to their social network, and ultimately buy your products and encourage others to do the same. Sounds easy right? Not at all. However, you can measure engagement fairly simply. Measuring engagement is explained well in a blog by the Social Media Examiner. Basically you need to count every click, comment, retweet, use of your hashtag, YouTube video view and rating, etc. Ok, so it might take you all day, but it’s easy enough to do.

Now for the hard part. While you can tell that someone is engaging by simply counting all of the above, it’s difficult to tell at a glance whether what’s being said about your company is positive, neutral, or negative. This is called influence or Sentiment Analysis and it’s extremely subjective. Domus Dish touched on this awhile back and very little has changed since that blog post was written. (Be sure to check out the Pepsi diagram…who knew people posted about soft drinks so much?) Analytic tools have been developed to monitor influence but since computers can’t perceive emotion or sarcasm it’s difficult to get fully accurate statistics on a company’s social media influence. To get it right an actual person has to review the computer report and change the positive, neutral, or negative classifications as necessary. It’s a lot of work, which is why many companies opt not to do it.

While measurement can be tricky and in some cases, hard to define, it’s really all about deciding what you want. For most companies brand awareness is the goal, but achieving it takes some legwork and expert guidance. Do you want thousands of Facebook followers who “like” each and every status update? Or do you want to build a community that believes in your brand, actively engages with you and recommends your company to their network? I’m guessing the latter. Use the community to your advantage and listen to what your social network is looking for. Pose questions. Treat them like a sounding board. Cherish their feedback. Once they know you’re listening to them, they’ll listen to you.

In 2003, Google offered to purchase the social network Friendster, but they declined the offer. Google then internally commissioned Orkut Büyükkökten to work on a competing independent project. The result was Orkut. The product launched on January 24, 2004, which was 9 days before the launch of Facebook, which now boasts nearly 750 million users (as per Mark Zuckerberg’s announcement on July 6, 2011) . Orkut.com initially had its largest user base in the United States, but that soon changed with the site being noticed in Brazil (later in 2004) and then in India (in 2006-2007). The site became highly popular in these countries but unfortunately failed to create a buzz anywhere else.

Speaking of buzz, Google Buzz was launched in February 2010. Google Buzz is a social networking and messaging tool from Google that is integrated into Gmail, Google’s free email service. Buzz serves as a micro-blogging platform, much like the hugely popular Twitter. Buzz received a lot of criticism from both consumer and technical media. Because of the plethora of criticism that followed Google Buzz, it has not become popular and most of the people have stuck to Twitter for micro-blogging.
Prior to the release of Buzz, Google Wave was released in September 2009. It would “set a new benchmark for interactivity,” said Sergey Brin in May 2009 when they unveiled the real time messaging platform to an enthusiastic crowd of developers at the Google I/O event in San Francisco. The product was part email, part Twitter and part instant messaging. Users could drag files from the desktop to a discussion. Wave even showed character-by-character live typing. And while the service had many, or at least some, passionate users, it “has not seen the user adoption we would have liked,” said Google. Recognizing another flop, they stopped further development in August 2010. While, Google wave is still available, it is being phased out shortly.

Tech Crunch came up with the term “Google’s WWF”, which stands for “Google’s War With Facebook.” In 2010, Google appointed Vic Gundotra as the Senior Vice President of Social Media at Google and is considered to be the Social Czar at Google, as reported by Gigaom.

Gundotra officially introduced the Google+ project to the world on Google’s official blog on June 28, 2011. Google+ is considered to be Google’s biggest initiative yet in the social networking domain. It’s currently in its testing phase and is (or was) an invitation-only service (the invitations feature was recalled the next day due to an insane demand for accounts). Google+ will integrate different Google social services, such as Google Profiles and Google Buzz. It also introduces many new features including Circles, Hangouts, Sparks and Huddles. Google+ will also be available as a desktop application and as an application on Android and iOS.

Various features of Google+ are considered as fresh and make it different and interesting with respect to its biggest rival, Facebook. The announced features of Google+ include:

• Circles – A feature that enables users to organize contacts into groups (such as Ski group, Acquaintances, Family etc.) for sharing, across various Google products and services. It has a simple drag-and-drop interface that allows users to create groups of their choice.
• Huddle – A feature available for mobile phone users, specifically to Android, iPhone, and SMS devices for communicating with circles.
• Hang – A feature that allows users to “hang out” with their friends. It’s used to facilitate group video chat (with a maximum of 10 people participating in a single Hangout at any point in time).
• Instant Upload – Specific to Android mobile devices; it stores photos or video in a private album for sharing later.
• Sparks – A front-end to Google Search, enabling user to identify topics they might be interested in sharing with others; “featured interests” Sparks are also available, based on topics others globally are finding interesting.
• Streams – This is a feature similar to the facebook news feeds. Through Streams, users see updates from those in their circles. The input box allows users to enter a status update or use icons to upload and share photo and videos.
• +1 (Plus One) – Released in March 2011 as a standalone button for Google users. It’s similar to the Facebook LIKE button. Users can +1 anything that they like and would like to share with the world on the web. The +1 button is integrated into Google+ for pretty much everything.

Check out the following video to have a quick look at Google+:

For now, Google+ has received great reviews and there’s a lot of excitement in the public to get their hands on it. This is the full-fledged attempt by Google to compete with Facebook in a domain where it has been struggling for quite some time now. I think that Google+ is impressive and is better than the previous attempts by the company. But in order to lead in the game they have to steal the users currently on Facebook and make them loyal to Google+. Not an easy task. But if Microsoft’s Bing can compete with Google and get to a 31.6% market share (as per reports from Compete.com – May 2011), Google+ can definitely create ripples in the sea of social networking. We will soon find out, how Google+ will fare with respect to Facebook.

It will also be interesting to see what Facebook will do to keep its current user base (hint – in browser video chat supported by Skype) Is there any coincidence that today’s announcement by Mark Zuckerberg is believed to be regarding Skype on Facebook? We think not.
Speaking of Zuckerberg; The most followed person on Google+ is the Facebook creator – Mark Zuckerberg (as per the Official Google+ statistics of the Top 100 most popular Google+ users). What a small (online) world.

You can read more about Google+ on the Google’s official blog at http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2011/06/introducing-google-project-real-life.html

Domus’ approach to crisis management is strategic and disciplined, yet flexible enough to deal with any crisis; we plan for both the expected and unexpected alike.  This approach includes five key strategies: 

Prevention
Domus specialists extensively research the client’s industry, then analyze key vulnerabilities, quantify and prioritize the risks, and outline steps to mitigate those risks.

Containment
When a crisis occurs, Domus takes action swiftly and works with the client to assert control over the message and events. This includes creation of an on-site “War Room” that acts as a command center to address the crisis as it unfolds.  Experts with decades of crisis management experience are on site with our clients throughout the crisis situation.

Immediate Damage Assessment
Domus prepares the tools to manage the situation, including a Crisis Outlook Grid, which states the current situation, and presents all possible scenarios. The grid is constantly updated and outlines formal action with the media, interpersonal action with the community, and details next steps for each scenario. Accompanying the grid are shell statements that contain basic details that are easily customized when a crisis occurs.

Media Monitoring and Inquiry Management
Domus monitors all broadcast and print coverage, as well as fields all media calls to analyze and process their requests while key decisions are made with our strategists and our client’s decision-makers.

Rebuilding and Repairing by Refocusing
When we have controlled the immediate crisis, Domus will begin to rebuild relationships by shifting the public’s focus back to the positive aspects of the brand. The Domus team works with clients to rebuild the potentially damaged relationships with the public, media, community, or even their own employees and associates.

While overwhelming and stressful, a crisis situation can be contained – and public opinion restored –  when it is handled properly from the start.

A Sleek, Stylish, Sexy – yet Efficient – Website

Where’s a prospective client most likely to look for a product or service they need? The internet! In an age where Google and Bing have become verbs, a website is a necessity for any business. With the availability of the latest website building tools, a new website is expected to have utilized some, if not most, of the features available with the latest website building tools. With the advent of HTML 5, dynamic web has reached new heights, and a good looking, scalable dynamic website is a definite plus (or requirement) for your new business. A smart website is not only sexy, but should also be easy to browse and user friendly. Keep in mind that browsing a website should be geared towards the user since the user experience of the website can have a direct impact on the business. A person who is unhappy or unimpressed by a client website may be less inclined to approach it for his business needs.

Here are examples of some really cool websites that use the latest in web technology, mainly HTML 5:

• http://www.culturalsolutions.co.uk/
• http://www.siebennull.com/
• http://www.iutopi.com/en/
• http://www.lexways.com/
• http://www.fidiz.com/
• http://www.garbage.ro/
• http://www.oxdesign.fr/
• http://benthebodyguard.com/

Mobile Website

It’s a well-known fact that the internet is moving towards the mobile web . The number of people browsing the internet from their cell phones is soon going to exceed the number of people accessing the web from computers. If you haven’t already, you can read more about the rise of the mobile web on one of our previous blogs at http://www.domusinc.com/blog/2011/04/going-mobile-with-your-website-here-are-a-few-things-to-keep-in-mind/.

Having a mobile website essentially opens more doors for prospective customers to find you in a more desirable manner on their smartphones. While smartphones render most conventional websites correctly, it’s always a better idea to give your clients a more readable, mobile-friendly format. All old and new businesses are increasingly converting their websites to be mobile friendly, and to keep up with the competition, it should be a part of your revamp/launch plan.

Here’s an interesting video describing the importance of getting mobile-ready:

Presence on the Social Web

Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and other social sites –  in addition to the sites’ individual benefits, they have become synonymous with client outreach and marketing. Having presence on a social media site is possibly the easiest way to interact with people who are genuinely interested in your business, whether they’re existing or prospective clients, competitors, or even people who share common interests.  Sites like Facebook and Twitter make it easy for people to connect with businesses, share their feedback, ask questions, and gain knowledge about the brand/business they are following. Facebook is 700 million strong and growing. This fact alone should make you very eager to get on the social web, considering the possible outreach.

One of our previous blogs posts illustrates the importance of the social media and some tips to drive a good social media campaign. You can read it at http://www.domusinc.com/blog/2011/05/improve-your-pace-in-the-marketing-race-with-social-medias-embrace/

SEO/SEM

SEO stands for Search Engine Optimization and SEM stands for Search Engine Marketing. These two terms are very important for people who search the web using engines like Google and Bing to find a business or business services. Search engine optimization (SEO) is optimizing website pages to achieve a higher ranking in search results by selecting specific keyword expressions that a user may search when looking for a business, produce, or service. For example, if you own a sporting goods store, you would want your website SEO’d so that when a user searches the term “baseball glove” your business comes up in the search results.  It’s helpful if your website is highly ranked when a person is looking for something that is related to your business. For example, if you Google “luxury appliances” which is a generic term, the luxury appliance company Dacor comes up as the number two ranked link. Chances of people clicking that link are higher than clicking on AGA, which is another company that comes up on the second page of search results. It’s a good idea to invest in SEO and have a content optimized website while your website is being developed.  SEM is a form of Internet marketing that aims to promote websites by increasing their visibility in search engine result pages through the use of, paid placement, contextual advertising, and paid inclusion. The sponsored ads that show up on web searches are results of SEM campaigns. SEM gives a required boost and exposure to any business on the web and which is important for a business that wants people to notice something that is new or updated.

A Company Blog

More and more companies are placing emphasis on connecting with their user/client base by different means of social interaction. If you’re reading this, chances are you’re already familiar with some of the benefits of having a blog. People read blogs because, not only are they informative, but they’re personal too. They express opinions of people like you and me. Not to mention, they reflect the opinions and the abilities of the people who work for you. Having a blog has SEO advantages for your websites as well because of many things that are attributes of a blog such as:

• Structured Content – which makes it easier for sear engines to understand and index the content on a blog
• Crawlable URLs – The uncomplicated URL structure generally used by blogs makes it an easier job for search spiders to find and crawl a blog
• Internal links – A blog can host internal website links
• Fresh Content – Both readers and search engines reward fresh content with repeat visits.
• RSS – Links to RSS feed URLs that use the blog domain name will assist in building link popularity and when RSS content is syndicated or cited by other blogs, any embedded links will also assist in sending traffic.
• Inbound link magnet – One of the biggest benefits, blogs link freely to each other – much more than web sites do. Blogs are also a significant source of many posts to social news and social media web sites.

With these five basic, essential and important things in place, you can expect your business to have a prominent presence on the web. Implementing these five essential things, even though they may sound simple enough, may end up being overwhelming in terms of time and efficiency. We at Domus, Inc. have a special division called Domus Digital that can navigate these five basic and important needs for your new or renewed business. We are experts at web, mobile and social media. Contact us if you need help strategizing and/or executing a plan that will get your web presence in full swing and successfully introduce your business to the WWW.

Social media is the internet on steroids. It’s the amped up version, and it’s super informative, super fast and super easy to botch.

Some public relations skills have been crucial from the very beginning and, even with social media (or because of it), these skills are more important than ever:

Pay attention to detail

With the ability to get information out at lightning speed it’s pretty easy to send the wrong information. Or if it’s not wrong, there’s a good chance that you’ve made a typo or grammatical error. These things don’t reflect well on you or your client. Whether it’s a written letter or a Twitter post – read it and re-read it. In the 24 hour news cycle, we have to move fast, but taking the time to post correctly will spare you from developing a reprieve (or explaining yourself to your client) and save time in the long run.

Build the Relationship

You may have spent hours, days, or weeks trying to reach the right reporter. To land coverage, it all boils down to building relationships by identifying the correct journalist and sending the correct message, at the correct time.

While social media actually makes it easier to find the right person because they’re tweeting or posting about topics they’re interested in, there’s no shortcut to building that relationship. In fact, there are no shortcuts in Public Relations. Period.  In order to get a few columns in print, we’re up against media deadlines, staffing shortages, competitor sources and breaking news. It takes more than a cleverly written pitch to secure that placement and social media is no different; just because the posts and comments come quickly, it doesn’t mean that your client’s coverage will. Whether it’s traditional or social media, show our colleagues in the media general courtesy and respect and take the time to cultivate the relationship.

Be relevant

With traditional public relations we spend a ton of time crafting the perfect pitch. We research our content, line up subject matter experts and generally try to serve up a story on a silver platter. Just because we now have about 140 characters or so to do it doesn’t mean we should spend less time doing the background work. Granted, we’re not using Twitter for pitching, but we ARE using it to establish our client as a credible, relevant source of information. You need to identify the right targets, not just blast your client’s information all over the internet. You want your fans and followers to think of your brand as a resource – just as with traditional PR.  I’ll say it again – in public relations there are no shortcuts. Do your homework. Know your client and your client’s industry. You wouldn’t craft a traditional pitch without doing all of the legwork and finding the right contact, so don’t post on social media or pitch a blogger without putting the background research in.

Social media presents us with a lot of new opportunities – and plenty of new outlets – but to be an effective social media participant you need to remember the fundamentals of public relations.

The afternoon blahs got you feeling fatigued and lethargic?  Can’t find the energy you need to focus?  Need a pot of coffee just to make it through the afternoon?  It happens to all of us sometimes. I exercise frequently. I eat well. My metabolism should be running high, but still I get tired in the afternoons, on occasion.

If you suffer from a lack of energy during the workday what can you do to combat the fatigue and power through your day like a champ?  Try some of the strategies below.  Pick options that you can commit to over the long-term and start enjoying a more productive and energized day at the office. You may even inspire others to become more invigorated too.

Make time breaks and movement

Take a 15-minute break and get outside for a walkabout. While outside your body will absorb vitamin D, which can improve your mood and increase your energy.

Take a five-minute break every hour. At a bare minimum stand up and stretch to get your blood flowing.

Breaks are crucial to distracting your mind from work and the change in movement will increase blood circulation providing oxygen and nutrients to organs and muscles. Increased blood circulation will help keep you mentally alert and prevent muscle fatigue.

Start an exercise program

Exercise in the morning.  This will get your day started on a positive and active note. In the summer, mornings are the coolest time of the day for vigorous exercise.  This will set the tone for the rest of the day and free up your evenings for other activities. Your workout needn’t be extraordinary to have positive benefits to you throughout the day.  Find a routine that works for you and is sustainable.

Pay attention to nutrition

Drink water! Carbonated water is fine, but flat water will provide better hydration. Drink at least 4 to 6 cups per day. Don’t wait until you are thirsty, keep some water nearby at all times.  Too little water can lead to mental fatigue and muscle cramps.

Don’t skip breakfast.  Lack of time is no excuse.  Make time or eat some healthy raw food such as fruits and vegetables.  This will fuel you through the morning hours and prevent overeating at lunch, which can often lead to increased sleepiness in the afternoon.

Eat healthful food. Candy and other sugary foods will provide an energy spike causing you to crash quickly thereafter and feeling hungry again.  Choose high protein snacks that will leave you feeling satiated longer and provide extended energy.  For quick energy eat fruits that provide natural sugars as well as fiber. Eating small but frequent healthy snacks can keep your metabolism revved up all day.

Avoid eating heavy meals at work.  These will cause drowsiness shortly after your meal.  Again, eating healthy and balanced meals will provide extended energy and quality calories for your body.

Infrequently, for a quick but short boost, consumption of highly caffeinated beverages can provide the fix you require. However, artificially maintaining an energy level is not an acceptable and sustainable long-term plan. If caffeine is a requisite, try some options with reduced caffeine such as green tea, yerba mate, or dark chocolate.  Mint tea can be refreshing without the caffeine.

Make some changes to your work environment

Stop sitting so much.  The modern office is one of the greatest evils in the modern world.  Stand up to perform your work as much as possible.  Switch to a specialized stool or exercise ball for a seat that encourages improved posture and proper breathing.

Decrease the temperature.  Keep you work area as chilly as you can while remaining comfortable.

Use scents to awaken yourself. Place some essential oils at your desk or bring in some fresh herbs like mint or rosemary and put them in a vase with water.

Stay mentally sharp

Learn the benefits of a power nap. Use part of your lunch break for a quick snooze. To boost alertness upon waking drink a small cup of coffee before you nap.  Caffeine requires 20-30 minutes to really kick in which incidentally is the perfect amount of time for a power nap.

Set aside approximately 30 to 60 minutes of quiet time in your day.  Let your brain reboot.  Focus on deep breathing into your belly.  Use this time to rest and recover.

Keep a positive mental attitude.  Force it if you must, but stay committed to positivity.  It will create a more alert brain and breed positive feedback that will motivate and energize you.  The mind body connection is powerful.  Let positive energy fuel your mind and healthy foods fuel your body.

Free your mind with positivity.  Take a moment to make a list of things you are thankful for, look forward to, are proud of, etc.  This simple exercise will remove you from your work for a moment and energize your mind and spirit.

Engage energized and positive individuals.  The interaction will leave you revitalized.  Better yet, be that person to others.  You will reap the rewards while paying it forward.

If you have many tasks to do in your day, perform the tedious or boring tasks in the morning and save the more exciting or physical tasks for the afternoon.  Physical activity increases circulation, which aids alertness.

Focus on one task; feeling overwhelmed by all your tasks is often cited as a cause of burnout. Put energy and presence into just the task at hand. Give the task the attention and weight it requires; this will improve you sense of accomplishment.

Let your music energize you. Select music that motivates you.  Share music with coworkers, it will spread some joy and have you moving around the office.

Have a good laugh.

__

Try some of these suggestions on a regular basis and feel the improvement in your energy throughout the day.  Find strategies that work for you and allow you to remain committed.  Turn your newfound energy into increased productivity you and your company can be proud of.