O2 Creative

Living in a social media age can be overwhelming but following some simple guidelines can help your business succeed on Facebook and Twitter.
Below is a list of guidelines to help you out:

1. Post information you would be interested in – People engage with topics that are informative. Before you post or tweet ask yourself, “Would I be interested in this topic?”
2. Spell out everything and double check grammar and spelling – It’s easy to use abbreviations for words (especially on Twitter) but you might end up confusing your followers.
3. Don’t be a one way spam-bot – If all you do is post information about your business or blog, your audience might get annoyed. Make sure you engage with other people’s posts that you follow too.
4. Never auto post –readers can spot auto posts a mile away. It does not take too much time to manually post on both Twitter and Facebook.
5. Don’t get too personal on a business profile – You don’t always have to post something about your business but if it is off topic make sure it’s not too personal – People might get turned off.
6. Reply to messages or comments on posts – Positive or negative comments are a good thing, just make sure you reply to them.
7. Appreciate your following – Let your fans or followers know how much you appreciate them by posting a thank you or special offer to fans.
8. Know what people are saying – Even if you don’t post on Twitter, it is a great tool to monitor topics relating to you business. You can use Twitter as an informational tool.
9. Know your competitors – monitoring what your competitors are posting on social media is useful in planning strategic posts.
10. Spend time on your profile – Adding useful information on your profile is important because viewers can find out more about your business and how to contact you.
11. Be consistent with your brand – Social media is great tool but if your message is not consistent with your website or other marketing materials your business gets lost and is not easily recognized.

Follow these guidelines and you will find success in marketing your business with Social Media.
Don’t have time to manage your social media? Let O2 Creative help, email or give us a call today: 970-726-8021 or eric@o2creative.com

Thanks to all who came by to see us at the Winter Park Resort end of season C-lot party!

Here are some pictures from last Sunday:

o2 Creative will be hanging out and barbecuing at C Lot, Winter Park Resort, Sunday April 18. Stop by and meet the staff and register to win a t-shirt. We will also be broadcasting live so if you can make it in person tune in online. www.livestream.com/o2creative

If you’re not yet a fan of O2 Creative on facebook go here www.facebook.com/o2creative and become one.
Don’t worry everyone is doing it.

o2 creative spring blast 2010

Why choose a professional web design firm when you can do it yourself?

There are a million ways to build your website, in fact there are even free, “do it yourself” options. The real question is what happens down the road with a “do it yourself” website?

Here are a few insights as to how working with a professional web design firm will increase your ROI (Return on Investment):

1) Branding Your Business

You’ve spent countless hours filtering through pre-designed templates, uploading photos, inputting your content and launching your new website. After you go live you realize that your logo, business cards and ads look completely different from your new website. Let’s say you give out your business card at a local networking event to a potential client and that potential client visits your website. Did your website convey your message from the networking event? Did your website match the business card you gave out? If potential clients visit your website and are confused or can’t find what they are looking for then your time was not well spent. Your potential client is no longer a potential client and you’ve lost the chance for new business.
A professional design firm will carefully place your brand into the market so your message is clear, concise and well designed. Design firms work hard to make sure your marketing efforts are a success, so you can concentrate on what you do best!

2) Website Architecture

Planning out your website is far more important than just getting something up as fast as possible. O2 Creative takes the time to plan your website architecture so the navigation is simple and intuitive. Showing up #1 in search engines is useless if your bounce rate is high – meaning visitors leave your website immediately.

3) Custom Website Design

Pre-designed website templates are easy to use and fast, but that’s all there is to it. Visitors can tell it’s a pre-designed template because they have seen the same layout else where- this makes your site generic. O2 Creative takes the time to understand you and your business so you get what you wanted the first time and the design conveys your business. We understand website standards, research website trends, and test usability.

4) Website Management and Support

So you went live with your “do it yourself” website, now what? Did you add all the features you wanted? What happens when you run into problems? Is your email working properly? O2 Creative offers support with new websites and continued support with websites we manage.

5) The Big Picture

If you created your own website did you keep in mind key search words, Meta tags, web marketing or social media? Are you ready to keep up with the ever changing search engine optimization (SEO) trends and regular posting on blogs, Facebook and Twitter?

O2 Creative not only designs custom websites, we also keep the big picture in mind. We are a full service agency offering complete branding & marketing services. Give us a call or email us today at 970-726-8021 or info@o2creative.com

What has social media done for your business?
Check out this article http://mashable.com/2010/01/18/social-media-not-for-everyone/ and please feel free to post what social media has or has not done for your business.

Eric from O2 Creative dressed up as Bag Monster Last Friday in Winter Park to promote the Grand BYOB Project. Even though the day was hit with the biggest snowstorm of the year, the Bag Monster was by the highway dancing and waving at traffic.

O2 Creative donated time and designed the logo, flyers and banners to promote the Grand BYOB (bring your own bag) project.

Eric from O2 Creative dressed up as Bag Monster

Winter Park Resort – What a way to end the ski season with a huge snow storm hitting the Continental Divide. From Thursday (4/16) to Saturday (4/18) a huge spring storm rolled into the Winter Park / Fraser Valley.

Below are some pictures taken snowboarding on Saturday.

Stumbled across this post and thought I would share. If you are too cheap to hire a designer, at least follow these steps in hopes it will improve your “do it yourself” work.

Excellent typography skills not only communicate your message but also makes you look like a million bucks!

Click Here to read.

This is a great guide to social marketing by Boris Epstein

Click Here to read.