Smartphones and tablets are becoming the devices of choice for web browsing. It is important that your website is easily viewable on these mobile devices so that your business does not miss out on opportunities. A recent Nielson poll shows that 50% of U.S. mobile subscribers now own smartphones. This figure is a jump from the 38% smartphone users in 2011. Soon all cell phones will be smartphones!

Here are some tips to make your website mobile-friendly and mobile-compliant:

• Keep it Simple
  • Viewing on a smaller screen might be difficult if your web design is cluttered and busy. Whether waiting at a red light or on an elevator, a mobile viewer wants a simple and easy-to-use interface.
• Create a responsive design that adapts to the device
  • Smartphones and tablets have varying screen sizes. New techniques enable “responsive design” that formats the web page to the viewer’s screen size. Responsive design means less page scrolling and facilitates surfing the web on-the-go.
• Allow Ease of Contact
  • Have your address and phone number easily accessible for users. There’s a much higher chance of getting inquiries when viewers can easily access your contact information.
• Avoid Flash-based plugins; use new technologies
  • Flash and Mobile are not compatible. Flash drains battery power and is inefficient. The web is transitioning to HTML5 as a language standard. Now is the time to convert your Flash files!
• Create a navigation that is easily accessible
  • Navigation can be confusing and literally all over the place. Keep menus simple and buttons bold.
• Style Your Content by Importance
  • When viewing on the go, it’s important to get information fast. Establish a hierarchy of information. Remember to bold or enlarge key message drivers.

With these six mobile-friendly features, your website will engage all visitors. If you need assistance in assessing the mobile compatibility of your website, please contact Joe or Kathleen at Pagano Media.

Advantages of HTML5:
• beautiful, dynamic, immersive user experiences
• an open source standard that simplifies web development
• multi-browser compatibility that reduces need for web apps/app stores
• battery-conserving technology
• search-friendly language
• caching and local storage technology that allows an offline user to access recent web visits

Disadvantages of HTML5:
• increased features and capabilities expose it to security concerns
• not officially complete until 2014

At Pagano Media, we keep abreast of technology developments
to maximize the life of your communciations investment.

Many people are turned off by the topic of networking. They think it’s slimy, inauthentic. Picture the consummate networker: a high-energy fast talker who collects as many business cards as he can and attends mixers sporting slicked-back hair. Or the overambitious college kid who frantically e-mails alumni, schmoozes with the board of trustees, and adds anyone he’s ever met as an online friend. Such people are drunk on networking Kool-Aid — and are looking at a potentially nasty hangover.

Luckily, building your network doesn’t have to be like that. Old-school networkers are transactional. They pursue relationships thinking solely about what other people can do for them. Relationship builders, on the other hand, try to help others first. They don’t keep score. And they prioritize high-quality relationships over a large number of connections.

Building a genuine relationship with another person depends on at least two abilities. The first is seeing the world from another person’s perspective. No one knows that better than the skilled entrepreneur. Entrepreneurs succeed when they make stuff people will pay money for — and that means understanding what’s going on in the heads of customers. Likewise, in relationships it’s only when you put yourself in the other person’s shoes that you begin to develop an honest connection.

The second ability is being able to think about how you can collaborate with and help the other person rather than thinking about what you can get. We’re not suggesting that you be so saintly that a self-interested thought never crosses your mind. What we’re saying is that your first move should always be to help. A study on negotiation found that a key difference between skilled and average negotiators was the time spent searching for shared interests and asking questions of the other person.

Strengthen your alliances

The best way to engage with new people is not by cold calling or by “networking” with strangers at cocktail parties, but by working with the people you already know. Of the many types of professional relationships, among the most important are your close allies. Most professionals maintain five to 10 active alliances. What makes a relationship an alliance? First, an ally is someone you consult regularly for advice. Second, you proactively share and collaborate on opportunities together. You keep your antennae attuned to an ally’s interests, and when it makes sense to pursue something jointly, you do. Third, you talk up an ally. You promote his or her brand. Finally, when an ally runs into conflict, you defend him and stand up for his reputation, and he does the same for you.

I [Reid] first met Mark Pincus while at PayPal in 2002. I was giving him advice on a startup he was working on. From our first conversation, I felt inspired by Mark’s wild creativity and how he seems to bounce off the walls with energy. I’m more restrained, preferring to fit ideas into strategic frameworks instead of unleashing them fire-hose-style. But it’s our similar interests and vision that have made our collaborations so successful.

We invested in Friendster together in 2002. In 2003 the two of us bought the Six Degrees patent, which covers some of the foundational technology of social networking. Mark then started his own social network, Tribe; I started LinkedIn (LNKD). When Peter Thiel and I were set to put the first money into Facebook in 2004, I suggested that Mark take half of my investment allocation. I wanted to involve Mark in any opportunity that seemed intriguing, especially one that played to his social networking background. In 2007, Mark called me to talk about his idea for Zynga (ZNGA), the social gaming company he co-founded and now leads. I knew almost immediately that I wanted to invest and join the board, which I did. An alliance is always an exchange, but not a transactional one. A transactional relationship is when your accountant files your tax returns and you pay him for his time.

An alliance is when a co-worker needs last-minute help on Sunday night preparing for a Monday morning presentation, and even though you’re busy, you agree to go over to his house and help. You cooperate and sacrifice because you want to help a friend in need but also because you figure you’ll be able to call on him in the future when you are the one in a bind. That isn’t being selfish; it’s being human.

The diversity of weak ties

Allies, by the nature of the bond, are few in number. By contrast, there are potentially hundreds or thousands of looser connections that also play a role in your professional life. These are the folks you meet at conferences, old classmates, co-workers, or just interesting people. Sociologists refer to these contacts as “weak ties”: people with whom you have spent low amounts of low-intensity time but with whom you’re still friendly.

Weak ties usually sit outside the inner circle. Thus, there’s a greater likelihood that a weak tie will be exposed to new information or a new job opportunity you’d otherwise miss. To be sure, weak ties are uniquely helpful so long as they hail from a different social circle or industry niche and therefore bring new information and opportunities. A weak-tie acquaintance whose job and background is identical to yours is unlikely to offer unique network intelligence. So when connecting with acquaintances, prioritize diversity in order to broaden the overall reach of your network.

There is indeed a limit to the number of relationships you can maintain, but a crucial qualifier is that there is not one blunt limit of 150; in fact, there are different limits for different types of relationships. In relationships, you may have only a few close buddies you see every day, yet you can stay in touch with many distant friends if you e-mail them only once or twice a year. But there’s a twist: You can actually maintain a much broader social network than the people you currently “know.”

Three degrees of separation

Your allies, weak ties, and the other people you know right now are your first-degree connections. But your friends know people you don’t know. These friends of friends are your second-degree connections. And those friends of friends have friends — those are your third-degree connections.

Suppose you have 40 connections, and assume that each friend has 35 other friends in turn, and each of those friends of friends has 45 unique friends of his own. If you do the math (40 × 35 × 45), that’s 63,000 people you can reach via an introduction. People’s extended networks are frequently larger than they realize, which is why an early tagline at LinkedIn was “Your network is bigger than you think.” So how do you actually reach those connections? Via an introduction from someone you know, who knows the person you want to reach.Anytime you want to meet a new person in your extended network, you should ask for an introduction. You need to ask, directly and specifically, and you do need to present a compelling reason for why your connection should do it: “I’d love to meet Rebecca because she works in the technology industry.” Not good enough. “I’m interested in talking to Rebecca because my company is looking to partner with companies just like hers.” Better, as it appears to benefit both parties.

The best network: Wide and (selectively) deep

Several years ago sociologist Brian Uzzi did a study of why certain Broadway musicals made between 1945 and 1989 were successful and others flopped. The explanation he arrived at had to do with the people behind the productions. For failed productions, one of two extremes was common. The first was a collaboration between creative artists and producers who tended to all know one another. When there were mostly strong ties, the production lacked the fresh, creative insights that come from diverse experience. The other type of failed production was one in which none of the artists had experience working together. When the group was made up of mostly weak ties, teamwork and group cohesion suffered.

In contrast, the social networks of the people behind successful productions had a healthy balance: There were some strong ties, some weak ties. There was some established trust, but also enough new blood in the system to generate new ideas. Think of your network of relationships in the same way: The best professional network is both narrow/deep (allies with whom you collaborate regularly) and wide/ shallow (weak-tie acquaintances who offer fresh information and ideas).

Giving helpful help

The best way to strengthen a relationship is to do something for another person. But how? Here’s a good example. When Jack Dorsey was co-founding Square — the mobile-payments company — he had loads of investor interest. Digg and Milk founder Kevin Rose had seen a prototype of the Square device and immediately realized the potential. When he asked Jack whether there was room for another person to join the initial funding round, Jack told him it was full. But Kevin still wanted to be helpful. He noticed that Square didn’t have a demo on its website showing how the device worked. So he put together a high-definition video and then showed it to Jack. Impressed, Jack turned around and invited Kevin to invest in the Series A round of financing.

To be truly helpful, as Kevin was, you need to have a sense of your friend’s values and priorities. What keeps him up at 2 a.m.? What are his talents? His challenges? Once you understand his needs, think about offering him a small gift. A small gift is something that’s easy for you to give, unique to the relationship, and unusually helpful for the other person. Classic small gifts include relevant information, introductions, and advice. A really expensive big gift is actually counterproductive — it can feel like a bribe. When deciding what to give, reflect on your unique experiences and capabilities. What might you have that the other person does not?

Set up an “interesting people” fund

Relationships are living, breathing things. Feed, nurture, and care about them; they grow. Neglect them; they die. You might be nodding your head at the importance of staying in touch. But behavioral change isn’t easy.

Your capabilities and potential get magnified exponentially by an active, up-to-date network.  Create an “interesting people fund” to which you automatically funnel a certain percentage of your paycheck. Use it to pay for coffees and the occasional plane ticket to meet new people and shore up existing relationships.

In the past few years we’ve seen the power of social media at work in elections, the Arab spring, the Occupy movement, and in our personal communications. Leaders of all types of organizations are coming to understand the power of social media to build their online profile, attract visitors to their website, and collect information they need to engage in a two-way conversation.

So how can you best take advantage of this trend that’s moving at warp speed? As with so many things in life, there’s no one right answer. But one thing is clear – a social media presence is effective, and a “crawl – walk – run” approach can be the most manageable, especially for small- to mid-size organizations.

Some basic tips for making the most of social media:

LinkedIn is for everyone.

It’s the new phone directory – for individuals and businesses. Be sure your work and contact information are current and as complete as possible. Aim for 100% completion!

STOP HERE if you do not have the time or resources to commit to social media.
An out-of-date presence is more harmful than no presence at all.
(Keep in mind: we can help.)

PROCEED if you have 1- 2 hours per week or the resources to hire someone to manage your social media.

Facebook is a great place to start.

With 60% of its 800 million users between the ages of 18 and 44, Facebook is the mainstream choice for connecting with others and engaging in a two-way conversation.

Twitter is for pushing out news and status updates.

With 1.6 billion daily tweets and growing, Twitter is particularly effective for specific fields such as sports, entertainment, technology, politics and higher education.

Blogs and e-blasts are quick and inexpensive ways to communicate.

Focus on a targeted audience, and build a two-way dialogue with your key customers and prospects.

Online video is the future.

Video on your website creates an emotional connection and makes it easier for visitors to digest information. Video on YouTube broadens your market reach and improves your search engine optimization. Google owns YouTube; need we say more?!

Keep current.

You will attract and retain loyal followers by keeping your message fresh and engaging.

Add value.

Everyone is busy. Provide useful information that helps people live and work smarter.

Have fun.

Social media is an informal and experimental platform by nature. Take some risk (for
example, offer a discount or promotional giveaway) and you’ll be surprised at the
results.

Experience the impact!

Whether you’re seeking more customers, donors or followers, social media opens a vast
array of new channels for connecting with them regularly.

10. MAKE IT PERSONAL

If a picture is worth a thousand words, imagine the multiplier effect of an image that walks and talks and builds a personal connection with the viewer.

9. SAY IT QUICKLY

In an age of Tweets, don’t expect visitors to plow through pages of text when a video can deliver the message in a fraction of the time.

8. MIX IT UP

Great video should be viewed as an investment rather than an expense. You can maximize that investment by incorporating video into presentations or by using them to deliver your message as TV commercials, radio spots, and on social media channels such as YouTube.

7. BUILD CREDIBILITY

“Seeing is believing,” the saying goes. And watching a product being used, listening to customer testimonials, and hearing you explain how you stand behind your product or service – all of these convey a sense of trustworthiness.

6. GENERATE LEADS

Great video encourages consumers to buy products and services, applicants to apply to colleges, and donors to fund worthy causes.

5. WILL TRAVEL

Video can be downloaded anywhere — giving you an opportunity to do a little marketing on the move.

4. BOOST CONVERSION RATES

The measurements vary, but there seems to be universal agreement that using video is a sure way to turn more visitors into customers.

3. TRACK RESULTS

By using resources such as YouTube Insights, blip.tv stats, visible measures, and Tube- mogul, you can see who is watching your video, where they are located, and what they find engaging about it.

2. INCREASE TRAFFIC

Video can make a dramatic difference in search engine results. According to Forrester Research, “videos are 53 times more likely to appear on the first page of search results than text pages.”

1. MAKE EVERYONE SMILE

If people enjoy their visit to your website, they are much more likely to return. And when that happens, you’ll find yourself smiling as customers line up to at your door.

This article originally appeared as a special feature in the Worcester Business Journal.

The touch points that customers use to interact with companies continue to multiply. To engage customers whenever and wherever they interact with a company – in a store; on the phone; responding to an email, a blog post or an online review – marketing must pervade the entire organization. Customer engagement is a series of related interactions that, added together, create the customer experience.

Does your organization lack the resources to manage it all?

We can help. Let us be your go-to marketing solution.