Miles Abraham, the Head of Strategic Planning and Creative at Si, was a guest speaker at the Caribbean Internet Marketing Summit on June 26, 2010.  He was invited to speak about what he knows best – the Internet and doing business in the Digital World.

Miles has been invited to speak at many conferences in the past to spread his knowledge of the digital industry and explain why businesses in T&T need to keep up with advancing technology and new internet trends. He talked about social media trends and how local companies can use these inexpensive marketing platforms to build their brand online and engage their customers.

We invite you to read the Trinidad Guardian newspaper here: http://guardian.co.tt/features/life/2010/07/04/internet-growth-demands-new-ideas.

Whether you own a retail store, educational institute, or an engineering firm, Twitter can help grow your business! Let’s look at a few key ways in which your business can benefit from Twitter:

Market your Products – Twitter is most popularly used as a promotional tool by businesses. Businesses can post regular updates or tweets advertising product promotions, events, and other fun information that is company or product-related. This keeps your target audience informed and more likely to indulge in your product or service.

Increase Website Traffic – Businesses can use Twitter to direct traffic back to their corporate website and blog, which helps to build sales leads. The team at Si are experts at increasing web traffic via SEO and social networking websites such as Twitter.

Build Consumer Trust – Twitter enables you to interact directly with the users or fans of your products or service. It provides a platform where they can openly communicate and share feedback with your business and your followers. This has proven to build consumer trust and loyalty by allowing them to interact freely with your brand.

Stag is the perfect example of a local Trinidadian company that uses Twitter to communicate with their fans and consumers.

Fair Competition – Twitter is a fair stomping grounds for businesses of all sizes. This often benefits small business because they have a fair chance of promoting their brand via Twitter with the larger, more established companies.

Reputation Management – Owning a Twitter profile allows you to monitor the reputation of your business and keep in-the-know of what people are saying about your brand. Communicating with your followers and providing quick responses to their questions and feedback can help maintain the reputation of your brand.

The team at Si are experienced in Twitter Management and all activities related to the Twittersphere. If you are interested in signing on to Twitter, we’d be happy to help you! Please email our Sales Department at sales@simplyintense.com for more information.

In our most recent newsletter, we offered insight on how a CMS works. But how exactly does it benefit you?  Let’s explore the features of a CMS a bit closer…

1. Faster Updates – As mentioned in the newsletter, a CMS solution allows you to modify and refresh your website internally without having to constantly hire outside web developers.

2. Control Your Content – using a CMS, you can control your content from remote locations. Additionally, your employees can have individual user accounts with customized access rights granting them permission to control specific areas of your website.  This is an excellent way to create accountability within your organization.

3. Instantaneous Results – When a new webpage is created using a CMS solution, it automatically goes live on the Web once approved by the designated parties. With a good CMS, the flow of information between departments and approval staff can be all automated.

4. Tailor your Website – with a CMS solution you can customize the layout and functionality of your website at any time. Whether you want to add a new webpage or a new photo gallery, it can all be done with just a few clicks.

5. Add a Blog – Blogs are a great tool to communicate with your customers and market your products or services in a timely fashion. At Si, we offer the SiCMS, a fully customizable CMS solution that allows you to add easy-to-use Blogging functionalities.

6. Flexible Design – Content and design are stored separately in a CMS, therefore, when a new webpage is created the design will never change.  Users can simply enter the content while the design and layout remains the same across all pages on the website. If your company logo changes or brand changes and the entire site needs a redesign. A CMS makes it easy to change visuals across the board while keeping your text, archives of content and all your data in tact.

7. Database-backed Website – Content is stored on a database allowing you to access it for future use, which cannot be done with a static website. This data can also be accessed by third party tools, solutions and other data readers to reposition your content or data somewhere else, for example for mobile phones, digital signage or other forms of digital media.

8. Ease-of-Use – typically CMS solutions are created with non-technical users in mind and the SiCMS is the perfect example!  You do not need knowledge of HTML or any other skills; the interface is guaranteed to be easy and straightforward for all content authors.

9. Content Scheduling – the publication of content to the web can be done in a timely fashion using scheduling rules done internally within the CMS.

10. SAVE! – Other than the initial set-up expense of a CMS solution, the long-term costs are minimal to none; an opportunity that businesses can certainly capitalize on!

We are firm believers that a CMS solution is the way of the future for businesses of all sizes! To find out more about our SiCMS, please contact our Sales Department at sales@simplyintense.com.

Social media allows you to communicate, share information, and network with other individuals. It provides a means to an end when it comes to marketing your products via the web to increase sales revenues. Furthermore, Social Media allows marketers to reach larger local and global audiences at a lower cost compared to traditional offline marketing techniques.

If you are online, then you have most likely interacted with social media. The following statistics show how people are using and interacting with information: The numbers continue to grow exponentially and the people are there waiting for you to share engaging content:

1. On Feb 5^th, 2010 Facebook announced 400mm users.

2. To date, there are over 300,000 Facebook users from Trinidad and Tobago.

3. LinkedIn currently has over 60mm users.

4. Twitter reports that they see an average of 50 million tweets per day (600 tweets per second).

5. 80% of Twitter usage and updates is done via mobile devices.

6. YouTube is the 2^nd largest search engine in the world.

7. 70% of bloggers are organically talking about products and brands on their blog.

8. 78% of social media users trust peer reviews and recommendations.

9. 91% of people use their mobile web to socialize and network online.

10.  Wikipedia has an excess of 14m articles, meaning that its 85,000 contributors have written nearly a million new posts in six months.

11.  If Facebook were a country, it would be the 4^th largest between USA and Indonesia.

So, again, the question is: Why Should You Care?

If you are a business owner, marketing manager, or have a vested interested in a company, Social Media can help build your brand online. Social Media has proven to be not just a trend but a lasting phenomenon that continues to develop rapidly. It’s time you take the leap into the future of online marketing and get your brand noticed by those with most influence.

Digital Media firms such as Si are new-age web design and development companies that specialize in the progression of online media. Let us help you explore the world of Social Media and other digital media initiatives that will help elevate your brand and reward you with a healthy ROI.

Please contact our Sales Department for more information at sales@simplyintense.com or visit us at www.simplyintense.com.

According to Wikipedia, “Search engine optimization (SEO) is the process of improving the volume or quality of traffic to a web site from search engines via “natural” or un-paid search results as opposes to search engine marketing (SEM) which deals with paid inclusion.”

The fact is, when searching the web, online users do not usually venture beyond the 10th page of the search engine results. If you do not rank in the top 10 pages, your customers will not be able to easily access your website.  This can put a considerable damper on the number of site visitors and, inevitably, the number of sales you receive.

Creating a healthy web presence is key to digital success. There are several factors that increase the compatibility of your website with search engines. Your objective should be to rank in the first page of Google search results.  SEO professionals look at the following website features to help boost ranking by building a SEO-friendly website.

Navigation
The navigation headers on your website should be clear and concise so these links are indexed by search engines.  Flash-based websites are not SEO-compliant therefore all navigation should be image or text-based to be recognised by search engines.

Content
Content include the text and SEO-relevant keywords used throughout your website.

Multimedia
This include the pictures, videos, animation, and audio found on your website along with the text used to describe these features.

Localised Domains
Selecting domain names (URL’s) for your website that end in .co.tt or .tt (for example, www.blinkbroadband.tt) helps to boost your visibility in localised regions, in this case, Trinidad and Tobago. Helping your customers to find you online when searching for services you offer will inevitably boost your site traffic, and overall profitability.

Website Code
Meta-Tags speak directly to search engines to describe what your website has to offer.  The meta-tags found in the coding of your website should be written clearly, precisely and include relevant keywords.

Web analytics
Web analytics allows you to track user trends, where your web traffic is coming from and how visitors interact with your website.  This essential tools also allows you to evaluate the progress of your website and make adjustment to troubled areas.

If you own a website, search engine optimization should be incorporated into your marketing strategy to ensure that your website is receiving a healthy amount of traffic. A successful website is key to the success of any organization. The expert web developers, designers and marketers at Si can implement search engine optimized features that ensure a higher ranking and visibility in popular search engines.

For more information, please contact us at sales@simplyintense.com.

It’s no secret that video is still one of the most effective forms of communication but with the advent of Internet video, a host of additional benefits and uses were born.

1. Make your site more interesting: Video is a lot more interesting than plain text and images because it contains motion and sound. People are drawn to it and are more likely to watch a three-minute video than read an entire web page or blog post. Multimedia implementation (including video) is one aspect of a successful website.

2. It’s On Demand: Unlike a television commercial people can watch an internet video whenever and where they want. It’s always ready to be played and can be viewed on multiple devices such as computers, laptops, cell phones and portable media players.

3. Increase your search engine ranking: Google and other search engines index videos. Pictures and videos add interest to your web pages and search engine rankings recognize and reward this feature. Sites with images and videos are placed higher than those without. Videos also appear in search results.

The Screen-shot below shows the search results for “a lesson in wining” The first hit is a video from eZshop.tt’s YouTube channel:

Google Search: " A lesson in Wining"

4. Raise your brand image: Video can add to your credibility, create awareness of your company and help build your brand. Video can convey a depth of information that text documents or still image cannot possibly deliver. This level of communication lets your voice be heard above all the noise.

5. Provide a gateway from other sites: Uploading videos to popular video sharing sites such as Youtube can provide links to your website. You can add your URL to the description of the video or in the video itself. Internet videos that go viral can help increase traffic to your website.

6. Simplify something difficult: Complex ideas, concepts and instructions can be easily simplified with an instructional video or screencast. It’s much easier to visually show someone how to do something than to try and explain it using just words.

In this age of new media the platforms for old tools of communication are rapidly changing. Prices are down and the world is connected like never before. Competition is stiff and there is a lot of noise. For business success, it is time you add video to your digital arsenal. To find out more about video implementation and viral marketing of videos, please contact us at sales@simplyintense.com.

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At Si Media, we understand brands and how online branding efforts can achieve the results our clients expect.  Using these tips to build and execute a branding strategy will ensure success for your organization.

Engage Them
Provide an engaging online environment that attracts your audience and rewards them for their time. Avoid providing too much mundane information about your company; instead draw them in by focusing on their needs and interests and educate them on the benefits of your product or service.

Consistency is Key
Make sure your online initiatives are consistent with your offline campaigns. Your branding message and approach should speak the same words in all of your channels. Consistency is key to build a trustworthy brand that your target audience can rely on.

Open Communication Barriers
There are several online media platforms that enable companies to quickly and efficiently share branded company information and build customer trust such as social media websites, blogs, and eNewsletters.

Social Media Networks
Social networks are the perfect web tool to communicate with your audience. Popular social media networks such as LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook allow you to connect with your market, share information and respond to their feedback to build consumer trust.  One notable company that has been sharing information, responding to feedback and actively communicating with their audience is eZshop Caribbean.  This progressive company has set up an eZshop Trinidad Facebook page as well as a Twitter profile to help open communication barriers and keep their target market informed about new products and promotions.

Company Blogs
Having a blog allows you to provide company information, product updates, and events information to your audience. A blog differs from your corporate website because it gives you the opportunity to be less formal, yet speak directly to your customers on a regular basis.  Blogs also allow your customers to interact with your Blog posts by providing feedback and sharing information with other users.

eNewsletters
Relying on your audience to visit your website for news and updates is not always practical. eNewsletters allow you to build a database of client information and update your audience via branded emails. It gives you control of who sees your information and in what timeframe.

Banner Advertising
Banners ads are the perfect tool to build web visibility.  There are several advertising platforms and local websites that offer advertising space.  The type of website you chose to advertise on will depend on your company’s location and industry. Simply Intense offers advertising opportunities on several Microsoft platforms including MSN Home, Hotmail, and MSN Messenger. The beauty of advertising on Microsoft is that you can target your ads to be viewed based on the online users age group, gender, and location so the right person sees your branded message. These online spaces offer high visibility to your audience to build brand awareness and encourage viewers to visit your website.

Providing engaging content in the right web spaces is key to building you brand.  The above tips will help any organization spread information and get your customers talking. Good luck!

Si Media recently launched a localized eCommerce portal for eZshop Caribbean that enables the buying and selling of retail products to the masses in Trinidad & Tobago. We have created the technology to enable multiple wholesalers to manage their own online stores. This is said to be the most complex digital management system in the Caribbean region as it is facilitated by the latest in technology advancements. Consumers in the Caribbean now have the oppportunity to shop online and get products delivered to their frontdoor – which was a limited service in the T & T up until recently.

The website offers nifty products for boys, girls, men and women, so we’ve created the eZ Family known as “The Zee’s”  to represent ezShop’s product categories and appeal to the market in the Caribbean.  The Zees are the first Caribbean animated family to exist which is an exciting adventure for us and our partners. This project, once again demonstrates our teams creative skills and technology background that can redefine business, as we know it locally.

Meet the eZ Family – Emily Zee (daughter), Eric Zee (son), Liz Zee (mother) and Earl Zee (father)

Please check out eZshop.tt….it bess!

Web tracking tools allow you to plan and redefine your business strategy and make appropriate changes for the purpose of continuous improvement – a necessary practice for any business.  Si Media offers Tracking and Reporting Management services helping to save our clients time and preparing data for easy reading and analysis.

Although there are a number of tools available in the market, here we focus solely on the Google Analytics Tool; our web performance tool of choice.  Google Analytics offers an array of features that enable companies to achieve their short-term and long-term objectives by measuring key performance indicators via graphs and website traffic data.

Benefits of Google Analytics:

1.    Free Service – Google Analytics is a free service that offers the same features compared to other website performance tools that are provided at a cost.

2.    Site Comparison – Google Analytics allows you to compare the performance of your website with sites of comparable size.

3.    Website Optimization – The data provided in your web analytics reports allows you understand what pages your visitors are visiting the most and plan ways in which you can to better optimize the less popular pages (copywriting, incoming links, etc.).  This allows you to plan your marketing strategy to enhance incoming traffic and sales.

4.    Measure Traffic – With Google Analytics you can compare whether your website traffic has increased or decreased over different periods of time. This data gives you valuable insight for optimization purposes and helps to measure the impact a marketing/PR campaign had on your traffic.

5.   Track Visitor Activity & Behavior - You gain the ability to track the pages and links that your visitors clicked on and measure whether optimization is needed for the less popular web pages on your site.

6.    Measure Bounce Rate – According to Wikipedia, “bounce rate is a term used in web site traffic analysis. It essentially represents the percentage of initial visitors to a site who “bounce” away to a different site, rather than continue on to other pages within the same site. The formula used to calculate bounce rate is: Bounce Rate = Total Number of Visits Viewing One Page ÷ Total Number of Visits.”

7.    Track How Visitors Find Your Site – Google Analytics allows you to find out how visitors find your website (via a search engine, link on another site, typing your URL into their browser, etc.).  You can also view keywords that online searchers used to find your website on search engines.  This data also provides insight for website optimization purposes.

8.    Measure KPI’s – Google Analytics allows you to measure success indicators of your website including increased/decreased visits, sales, and conversions.  These key performance indicators provide valuable insight to website owners and marketing professionals enabling them to tweak their website for better performance ratings and search engine rankings.

9.    Visitor Segmentation – Google Analytics reports allows you segment your traffic by location/geography, new or returning visitors, and how they found your website, enabling you to plan and coordinate targeted marketing strategies around the trending of your website.

According to Wikipedia, “a virtual community, e-community or online community is a group of people that primarily interact via communication media such as newsletters, telephone, email, internet social network service or instant messages rather than face to face, for social, professional, educational or other purposes”.

The influence of an Online Community can greatly benefit your business in a number of ways:

1.    Customer Service – An online community allows you to interact directly with your clients and customers, helping your business to build relationships and strengthen customer loyalty.

2.    Marketing – Promoting your products, services, and/or ideas to a targeted audience is very easily achieved with an online community.

3.    Search Engine Optimization – Online communities lend a hand to the concept of search engine optimization or SEO, which results in increased traffic to your site and more positive interaction (comments, feedback, etc.) from visitors.

4.    Market Research – Online communities allow for instant customer feedback helping you to better understand the likes and dislikes of your target market and lending a hand in your company’s idea generation process.  Customers will feel empowered to know that your company values their opinions.

5.    Public Relations– Online communities help to strengthen word-of-mouth, build support among your followers and manage the reputation of your business.

6.    Employee Communications – Your employees will be provided with a platform within which they can interact and quickly share information.

Simply Intense Media offers a community management tool called the SiCommunity. Si Community enables you to harness the power of our CMS with key functionality and features that enable you to manage your own online community.  With loads of standard features and many progressive social networking tools built in, SiCommunity is your answer to engage your audience.