Judging by the First Impression of a Small Business’ Website

As another successful Small Business Saturday concluded this past weekend, entrepreneurs and startups across the country have been swarmed with support from their local communities. Generating a strong base of supportive local customers is crucial to a business’s success, especially in the first couple of months of operation. But how are other potential customers going to learn about your brand? Google of course.

Let’s face it, face-to-face customer interaction has diminished in the last 10 years due to the popularity of ecommerce websites like Amazon, but how can a small business compete? An attractive website is usually a potential buyer’s first impression, and trust us, they’re judging. Here are few helpful tips to building an eye-catching and inviting website that will guarantee your brand to stand out.

Color is Key. According to a recent American Express open forum article, it takes 90 seconds for a customer on your site to form an opinion about your product or service, and 62-90% of that opnion is based on the color alone. Quite an impact, right? Although your logo design may be set in stone, that doesn’t mean your website is confined to those colors. For instance, the Pixe Social logo is black and red, but breaking out of that theme on our website gives us a chance to show some more personality. Do some quick research into how people respond to certain colors and how you want your brand to be received by the online viewers.

Stay in Motion. Websites should not only invite you in with bright colors and powerful messages, but also navigate you around the site. Sliders, image slideshows, and bounce effects are a great way to draw the viewer’s eye along the page and direct their interest to the most important information such as sales or new products. The new Pixe Social website welcomes visitors with a powerful header image, sliding content, and interactive features.

Keep up to Date. An out of date website is one of the quickest ways to turn off any potential customer. Reference dates before 2010 on any content is the first sign that a company isn’t interested in making an impression, and that reflects poorly on their work in general. Make sure to do weekly refreshers updating any new blog posts, photos, or client success

The Impact of Social Media on Small Businesses

Photo courtesy of Symphony Blush

Last week, Pixe Social's Director of Sales, Michael Krantz, recounted his adventures in cosplay at New York Comic Con (NYCC). Michael had the opportunity to partner with a talented special effects makeup artist, Lindsey Ann, of Symphony Blush. The experiences had by both Michael and Lindsey's experiences are a reflection on  how beneficial social media promotion and engagement can be for small businesses.

These days, social media isn’t just for social interactions at a personal level. While posting pictures of your family and friends and rekindling friendships from high school may have been the original plan for networking sites like Facebook and Twitter, businesses big and small, have finally figured out how to connect with previously unattainable audiences and potential customers online.

Sharing her thoughts on social media, Lindsey-shared explained how it allows her to make people aware of what is happening in her world of photo shoots, films, and special events. Leveraging Facebook, Twitter, and especially Instagram, Lindsey welcomes fans to contribute to as well as share her entertaining experiences. “Once Instagram was created, it was easy. Just one click of a button and I can share a picture that other people were able to see, making it much easier to view my work. Social media allowed me to make people aware of any events that I was attending, like New York Comic Con, so they can be a part of it,”, says Lindsey.

Symphony Blush Instagram

While at NYCC, Michael used Pixe Social’s free consumer app, Pixe Snap, to expand the reach for both Symphony Blush and Pixe Social. By using the hashtags #NYCCPixeSnap, #SymphonyBlush and #NYCC on all of his posts to Twitter and Instagram, Michael started to contribute to one of the top trending topics of the weekend. “Recognition is the only way an artist can make a living. An artist's work has to speak for itself. If ‘Symphony Blush’ could trend [on social media], then others can see my brand,” notes Lindsey. Now, when Instagram users search the #NYCC hashtag, the #Symphony Blush” hashtag will be included in some of the posts instantaneously reaching a wider audience.

To learn more about how Pixe Social can provide your small business a scalable social media marketing solution, read our #SBW2014 blog post.

A Scalable Solution for Small Businesses

The week of May 12- 16, 2014 celebrates National Small Business Week (#SBW2014) in North America. At Pixe Social, we are invested in the cause of the success of small businesses because our solution provides a great platform for small and mid-sized businesses to maximize their social reach with minimal investment and in a very short period of time. Whether it’s a local restaurant or café, university event, or automotive dealership, Pixe Social has expanded the fan base of many a brand since its inception in April last year.

As a start-up company, the Pixe team understands how challenging it can be to find any wiggle room in a budget for marketing and promotion. Growing businesses want to see the maximum return on their investments (every penny counts!), and that’s exactly what Pixe Social can provide through our cutting-edge social media marketing solution. It’s simple, really. Start from the source of your business’s success by showcasing your most loyal fans.

How cool would it be if you saw yourself on your favorite restaurant’s Facebook Page? Imagine yourself enjoying a delicious meal with your buddies and your server snaps a picture to capture the evening for posterity? Not only will you be able to keep that memory of a night out with friends, but also the next day, you’ll be famous because you made it onto Facebook Page of your favorite brand. If you can imagine your own excitement from your fifteen minutes of Internet fame, imagine how your business’ fans will respond to the idea of being able to showcase their emotional connection with your brand.

Follow Pixe Social's board Pixe Social at UMD Smith School Business Summit on Pinterest.

At the 2014 Business Summit at the University of Maryland Robert H Smith School of Business, Pixe Social gave the attending students and faculty a wonderful opportunity to share their love for the Smith School. Photos and testimonials taken at the Pixe-powered photo booth were tweeted in real-time with the event’s hashtag from the @SmithSchoolPixe handle. Fans of Smith School were able to tune into what people loved about their experience not only at the conference itself, but also how the graduate school had change many a former student’s life. The popularity of the event and the photos is evident from the fact that fans continue to favorite and retweet the posts to this day, a month after the event.

Five Ways to Make the Most of Your Pixe Social Album

In order to grow your small business while keeping in mind a small marketing budget, a social media presence is an absolute must. However, many people don’t realize that you will only gain as great a return on your investment in social media as the effort you put into it.

In partnering with Pixe Social, you’ve realized the amazing social media marketing reach your event pictures could have on your business, but how can you go above and beyond? You have to promote those images!

According to Facebook, posts that include images receive 120% more engagement with your fans than a post with only text. The following tips on making the most of your Pixe Social albums will transform your small business into a social media marketing machine.

Cross Promotion

Pixe photos look great on every social media channel! Share some of your favorite event photos through Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, and even on your business’s blog. Blogging about partnering with Pixe Social turns taking photos into an experience for you and your fans. Make sure to share the
link to your Facebook Fan Page and you’ll easily transform readers into followers.

#BizBashFL Attendees: Get the most likes on your @PixeSocial booth photo on Facebook by 11:59 PM EST on 5/5 to win an iPad Mini!
— BizBash Live (@BizBashLive) April 23, 2014

Keep Up the Hype

So your event has concluded and all of the Pixe Social photos are posted on your Fan Page, but how can you make sure fans actually see their pictures? Pixe Social provides your business with an email list from photo booth users, so take advantage of it. Send out a friendly reminder about the Pixe contest and have fans share the pictures on their social media pages.

Start a Conversation with Fans

Online fans love to feel like they are connecting with the people behind the Facebook Page, so start a contest with fans around the Pixe Social Photo album. Ask fans to vote on which one of the event pictures is their favorite and offer a prize. For extra credit points, make the prize a discounted offer for your business so it brings them offline and in store.

Take it Offline

Believe it or not, a lot of your customers have yet to interact with you through social media, so show them what they’re missing by printing out your Pixe Social photos. Spruce up your business walls with a photo collage and show how much you appreciate your fans on and offline.

Photomonials

Don’t ignore those word bubbles! You may not realize it at first, but the comments photo booth users type in their Pixe Social photos provide you with valuable customers testimonials. Create a page on your website or print out some of the best glowing compliments to make the most of your Pixe Social album.

The Robert H Smith School of Business at the University of Maryland recently hosted current students and alumni at the 2014 Business Summit. The official Smith School Pixe Social Photo Booth captured the following remarks from attendees:

Post by Robert H. Smith School of Business Office of Career Services (MBA Program).

Three Organic Ways to Grow Your Twitter Following

We all know that going organic is the latest trend in the food and health industries, but is going organic practical in the marketing industry? Typically established brands shell out hundreds of thousands of dollars on international marketing campaigns, but small businesses may not have the financial standing to push a campaign that large.

Organic Marketing is the process of marketing a brand or product without paying for advertising. It is important to note that organic marketing does contain intent, but it is a more unexpected option. Marketers should focus on creating a natural relationship with your potential customers, especially through word-of-mouth and social media outlets.

Organic marketing is an extremely cost-effective way for small businesses to penetrate any competitive marketplace and one of the best outlets for that is Twitter. It may be a challenge at first, but in 140 characters, a brand can easily reach potential customers with a clear and concise message. With quality content, such as images, tweets can receive up to 180% more retweets and 18% more clicks that bring customers to your brand’s website. Read on to discover the quickest ways your businesses can jump start their success through an organic, unpaid Twitter following.


Follow (the leader)

• Don’t just copy: As a boutique coffee shop, you should not be starting up your own #tweetacoffee hashtag like Starbucks to get attention, but do start following them
• Top Ten Brands: Look at the big companies in your industry and start looking through their Twitter feed. How many retweets, favorites, and responses have a single tweet received
• Keep track: What is the context of their most popular tweets, are they coupons, pictures, or behind-the-scenes insights?

Share the Love
Bing! Bing! Bing! The smartphone equivalent to a hug has now become the notifications from all of your social media accounts. One receives instant gratification in knowing that a follower thinks his or her blog post is as important as they do or that one-liner made one of your friends laugh out loud. So start stroking the egos of those from which you want attention.

• Follow top industry influencers
• Interact through replying, retweeting, and sparking conversations to position your brand on the same level as current leaders

Know Your Industry
The voice on Twitter is extremely important when beginning your account. If you work in a very serious field that does not respond well to puns and comedic relief, a campaign similar to that of Charmin may not be the best route for your brand.

Rule of thumb when it comes to witty banter on Twitter is that if it doesn’t work in the board room, it probably won’t work on your Twitter feed. It is best to talk with the leaders and influencers in the company and to understand how to represent the brand on social media. Whether it is simply tweeting brand awareness, industry news & updates, or trying to lighten the mood of financial experts, the voice on Twitter should 100% reflect the goals of the company at every level.