Facebook Facelift

by Mark Treager Social Media

If you have a Facebook account, chances are you are a fan of something or someone. But, if you’re hesitant to join in the social media hoopla (don’t worry, I was too) here’s how fanpages work. When you set up a Facebook account for a company, you actually create a fanpage, where Facebookers from all over the world can become a fan of your company and suggest their friends become fans also. Any status updates from your company show up in the newsfeed of all your fans. You can use this to make fans aware of specials, introduce new products or use special Facebook fan only discount codes!

Many national companies have utilized fanpages, such as Macy’s, McDonald’s and Coca-Cola. However, not everyone has an attractive fanpage. What makes these companies stand out from everyone else? These companies, and several others, have integrated a section, such as the company homepage, About Us or Contact Us pages right into Facebook. You can check ours out here!

Not only can you have your homepage be a part of your Facebook fan page, but you can also have all of your fans and fans-to-be default to particular Facebook tabs. For example, many fans-to-be are directed to the homepage or About Us tab in the fanpage, while actual fans are directed to the fan comments tab or a tab introducing new products or specials.

So, how is it done? Facebook uses a special language, FBML (FaceBook Mark-up Language) to code the insertion of your website page. There is a special application in Facebook (FBML app) that translates the code of your website into FBML so your content can be viewed in Facebook. You can search Facebook for the application and follow directions or, if you are anything like me and this stuff is just way beyond your realm of geekiness, call us at Cornerstone and one of our gurus would be happy to help get you set up with an appointment for your very own Facebook Facelift! (no surgery required!)

Free Shipping? What does it do to ROI?

by Mark Treager Our Blog

Free shipping offers can cost your company a bundle, but they may produce ROI that makes them worth the expenditure. As you explore your options, you will probably be interested in a whitepaper from Experian CheetahMail that examines questions like these:

  • Are more companies deploying free-shipping emails?
  • Are free shipping emails as effective now as they were in the past?
  • Which factors can positively or negatively affect a free-shipping promotion?

At the Hitwise blog, Bill Tancer provides a link to the free, downloadable whitepaper—and highlights its findings on heightened interest in free-shipping offers during the holiday season:

  • People are beginning to search with the term “free shipping” earlier and earlier in the year. In 2007, the first holiday surge occurred early in November; in 2008, however, it happened in mid-October.
  • The most-common searches include a brand name, the phrase “free shipping” and the words “code” or “codes.”
  • “The actual peak for ‘free shipping’ searches each year is the first week of the New Year,” notes Tancer, “as online buyers look for post-holiday sale items.” In the first week of 2009, volume during this period increased 75 percent compared with the first week of 2008. “[G]iven CheetahMail’s data,” he continues, “[this] might indicate a gap between vendor offers and consumer interest.”

Our Po!nt: Before you implement a costly strategy like free shipping, be sure you’re timing your offers for optimum ROI.

Source: Hitwise. Click here for the full post.

How to build an online store

by Mark Treager Our Blog

There are two primary tasks involved in building and opening a Web store: planning and implementation.

Planning
Having a successful Web store involves much more than just an “If you build it, they will come” mentality. You aren’t ready to get started until you’ve done a significant amount of planning.

Decide What to Sell
The products that you offer for sale are – of course – a critical factor in Continue reading →