How Social Media can make or break your Business

Posted on January 31, 2012 by Admin

Developing a social media strategy for your business is a relatively new concept, but using social media platforms have become a staple in keeping up with your competitors, and your client’s requests. Do the Pros outweigh the cons when it comes to investing in a social media campaign? Hopefully this handy pros/cons list that I’ve created will help you in answering this question.

The Pros:

• Customers expect businesses to have social media accounts. If a business has no presence on the social Web, or their page is outdated and not well-maintained, it loses credibility and makes it harder for customers to connect to the company.
• Signing up for a social media account is free. The only money you may end up spending is paying an employee to maintain the accounts, or to outsource your social media efforts elsewhere.
• Social Media Commerce is booming and is expected to grow exponentially over the next few years. See this interesting article
• Having multiple social media accounts for your company increases brand awareness, and helps to drive SEO.
• You have the ability to strategically pinpoint and engage with specific conversations that are happening everyday on the social Web.
• You have the ability to publicly resolve issues that customers have been talking about on the Web about your brand.
The Cons:

• Advertisements that are sent to mass amounts of social media users at the same time, or that are sent out multiple times can often turn away customers and make them lose interest.
• If you don’t have a tight rope on what can and cannot be posted about your company online, undesirable and damaging information can be posted and seen by millions of people. For that reason, we recommend having a social media policy for your employees to understand and comply with.
• When your social media accounts are poorly maintained, it may be even worse than not having an account at all. You want your social media accounts to represent you as a company, and if your pages aren’t well put-together, you will lose credibility for your business.

Once you learn how to interact with your current and potential customers and maintain your presence on the social Web, continuously providing them with informative content as opposed to spam-like advertisements, you can begin to expect to grow your following, and your representation as a business leader.

If you’re interested in creating a social media policy for your company, or would simply like help developing/maintaining your social media programs, call Viral Technologies today at 1-855-718-4725 or email us info@viraltechnologies.com

Winter X Games Update

Posted on January 28, 2012 by Admin

Friday night at Winter X was awesome! We checked out snowboard Big Air and Super Pipe!!! In our last blog post we put up a picture of the Viral Team at the base of the super pipe and words simply can’t describe the size of this thing! Check out our Facebook page for more pics!

Motivation, Inspiration and Determination

Posted on January 27, 2012 by Admin

The team from Viral continues to blaze trails at the 2012 Winter X Games in Aspen, CO. Last night they got to see some of the best extreme skiers and snowmobilers on the planet and with a decent view! After checking out slope style men’s skiing and freestyle snowmobile, they took a moment to catch up with ESPN commentator and former X-Games gold medalist, Chris Burandt. After the event the team met up with several pro snowboarders, helping them to understand the extraordinary power of a good social media presence in building their personal brand online.

(With Chris Burandt)

The biggest highlight of the day didn’t come from watching the X Games though- it was from meeting Sarah Will over coffee. Sarah is the most decorated women’s mono skier in U.S. history. In 1988 she was paralyzed from the waist down in a skiing accident here in Aspen and is now championing for disabled athletes around the world. Her story is one that sends chills. Sarah’s hard work, determination and love for her sport were all great reminders to the characteristics we seek to have as a company. Tune into Viral’s Facebook, Twitter and YouTube channels for updated pics and stories from the X-Games

Winter X Games 2012 (Aspen)

Posted on January 26, 2012 by Admin

Every winter, the most elite of the world’s winter action sports professionals travel to the X Games hoping to earn top honors in their respective events. Some of the annual events include skiing, snowboarding and snowmobiling, and this year they are set to begin tonight, January 26th in Aspen, Colorado.

So what does this have to do with intelligence and Viral Technologies? Some of our team is there now looking to meet prospective athletes and sponsors who may benefit from our services. From experience, we know that we can help these athletes to capitalize on their success by implementing a strong social media presence, helping them to connect with their fans using monitoring and engagement tools, and by learning more about their competition to ultimately break into competing markets.

One of our main goals in targeting this demographic is to help them create affiliate revenue streams allowing for passive income; we want to make the money for them, so they can focus on their training. We are so excited to be a part of this special event. Periodically throughout the week, we will be reporting from the games, keeping you posted on all of the events. Make sure you tweet us if you are in the area, and would like to chat about any of our services!

Do you need help engaging with your client-base, or monitoring your competition/brand? We can help with that. Give us a call today 1-855-718-4725 or email info@viraltechnologies.com, and we’ll set you up with a FREE consultation for any of our services.

Common Misconceptions about Social Media Consumers

Posted on January 23, 2012 by Admin

Over the past ten years or so, using social media to promote, interact and monitor one’s brand has become a best practice for businesses everywhere. Companies have been taking advantage of the many business opportunities that can be obtained through social media. While it is still a relatively new concept, the idea of providing information and updates about your brand directly to the consumer in real time, has opened up doors that many companies did not know existed.

A few of the most common misconceptions about the usage of social media for businesses:

Myth: The majority of consumers prefer to receive customer support by telephone
Fact: According to a recent study, 62% of consumers use social media to get customer support.

Myth: Businesses create profiles for their company solely to promote their brand.
Fact: While social media is a great place to promote your brand, your main goal should be becoming a thought leader in your industry and gaining the trust of your consumers.

Myth: Brands that target a more mature audience do not profit from social media.
Fact: According to a recent study, 57% of Social Media users are over the age of 35!

There hasn’t been a better time to join the social web, so don’t let your competition beat you to the punch. Take advantage of all that the social media has to offer and contact Viral Technologies for a FREE social media consultation and let us help your brand to speak to millions of potential clients around the world. Call us toll-free at 1-855-718-4725 or email info@viraltechnologies.com!

Big Websites Go Black Tomorrow

Posted on January 17, 2012 by Admin

Big Websites Go Black Tomorrow

You may notice tomorrow, that when you try to look up literature pertaining to the SOPA bill on Wikipedia, no valid information can be found, because no information at all will be found tomorrow on Wikipedia. Due to the conditions of the bill, which would heighten U.S. Law enforcement’s ability to fight online trafficking of copyrighted intellectual property and counterfeited products, Wikipedia and other popular sites such as Reddit and Boing Boing plan to “go dark” as a way to protest the controversial bill.

Many large and respected online brands such as Twitter, Google and Facebook have outwardly stated their opposition to the bill, saying that there are better and more practical ways of policing illegal content on the web. As cited by an article on abc.com, Cory Doctorow of Boing Boing stated yesterday, “if you want an internet where human rights, free speech, and the rule of law are not subordinated to the entertainment industry’s profits, I hope you’ll join us.”

War Gaming in the Intelligence World

Posted on January 17, 2012 by Admin

War gaming isn’t just for decorated officers of the military anymore; this predictive strategy is helping businesses everywhere stay a step ahead of their competition and the demands of their consumers. The purpose of using the war gaming strategy is to identify the future needs of your customers and then cater to these needs in the shortest amount of time possible. This competitive intelligence strategy has been used effectively by militaries for hundreds of years since the days of Prussia. War gaming is about simulating a possible business scenario, then coming up with a better strategic solution than your competition.

Today’s markets are continuously changing. Listed below are some common changes in the consumer climate where this strategy would be most efficient and applicable:

Change in consumer values (green products, Gluten-free foods, etc.)
Change in technology (social networks, apps for phones, going paperless etc.)
Change in economy (50/50 deal sites, fuel rewards cards, buying in bulk etc.)

Today’s business leaders have to think about every possible outcome of these changes and adapt accordingly. Here’s an example:

You are a cell phone manufacturer and your competition’s customers are complaining about a camera malfunction in the social space. If you monitor this interaction using the war gaming competitive intelligence strategy, you could then predict that other consumers feel the same way, and start directing your business’ efforts toward resolving their camera phone malfunction. If your business can get the issue fixed before your competition has had a chance to address it, then there is a great probability that customers will begin switching to your company.

The Future in the business battlefield is intelligence. Never has there been a better time to develop a successful online strategy for your brand. Don’t let your business go to battle unarmed! Call Viral Technologies today to help your business win the war. 1-207-899-0346 or email info@viraltechnologies.com

Our Services: Intelligence

Posted on January 13, 2012 by Admin

Do you know how your company is perceived on the Web? We can uncover the conversations going on about your brand, employees, competitors and your products across the social web. Once these discussions have been found, you can then begin to engage in real time with any Web user.

What we’re listening for:

Your Employees/Applicants

Learn what your employees are saying about their experience working for your company. Once you understand your employee’s concerns, you can focus your attention on addressing these issues to encourage the most productive work environment possible. We can also pre-screen potential new-hires back to three years, to survey their online reputation.

Your Competitors’ Employees

We can gather public conversation going on across the web in order to discover what your competitor’s employees are saying about their management, working conditions, pay, and even the future of their company.

Sentiment about your brand

This is where we can help to engage in real time with your customers. People are talking about your brand right now and in order to properly meet the demands of your consumer, you need to know what they are thinking.

Sentiment about your competitor’s brand

Stay ahead of your competitors by listening and engaging with their displeased customers, and give them what your competitor has been neglecting to do.

Sentiment about your product

Hear honest feedback about your product from your consumers, and respond quickly to concerns or praise. Answering individual’s comments will increase customer faithfulness and help your company to find loyal brand ambassadors.

Become aware. Contact Viral Technologies today for a free intelligence consultation from one of our experts! (207-899-0346) or email info@viraltechnologies.com

5 Steps to a Competitive Advantage using Social Media

Posted on January 9, 2012 by Admin

1. Explore the most appropriate social media networks for your industry.

Each social network attracts different types of users. It is important to understand your target audience so that you can maximize your company’s visibility to the people who would be interested in your brand.

2. Establish a social media presence and provide strategic content.

As you already know, setting your company up with multiple social media accounts has proven incredibly beneficial. The content you provide to your public must be original, relevant and easily accessible. Pictures and videos are the most-viewed content on the social web so it is worth the extra time it takes to produce this content.

3. Identify the top influencers for your industry and engage with them.

An influencer is anyone with the ability to affect and inspire a large group of people in a way that can change a society. Sometimes the influencers are not the ones with highest number of followers or views, but the ones with the most engagement with their target audience. Customers want to feel that their business is valuable to your company, and by engaging with them, your company will gain customer-loyalty.

4. Turn the chatter around your industry into actionable intelligence.

Social Media monitoring tools make this step possible. One of the most highly rated tools out there is Radian6, a web based tool allowing the user to conduct advanced social web searches during specific time periods, and sort these results into categories by sentiment, common trends, or key influencers.

5. Continue to predict your customers’ and competition’s next move.

Now that you have insight as to what your customers are saying and what your competition is doing, you can start to notice changes in your market and predict the outcome before it happens. Discovering trends early help your company to better understand what customers will be looking for in a product/service. You can then capitalize on this opportunity by reaching out to consumers, and creating the product/service before your competitors have the chance to.

Remain ahead of your competition, and on-top of your customer’s demands, by scheduling a free consultation with one of Viral Technologies’ intelligence analysts today! 207-899-0346 or e-mail us info@viraltechnologies.com

SEO and You

Posted on January 5, 2012 by Admin

We’ve already discussed the fact that in this day and age a business simply isn’t viable without an online presence. Most markets are highly competitive, though, and you can rest assured that there’s someone else out there who’s selling the same product or service that you are. Therefore, the question then becomes, “how do I get people to visit my site first?” The answer is found within the relatively new practice of Search Engine Optimization, or SEO.

SEO can best be defined as “understanding the seemingly arcane intricacies of search engines like Google and Yahoo!.” Have you ever wondered why one Web site will appear much higher than another site in Google search results, even though both sites are ostensibly selling the same product or service? The simple answer is that the first site has made tweaks and adjustments that Google “likes,” thus placing it higher in the results.

You could fill a dictionary-sized book in an attempt to explain the mathematical algorithms that search engines like Google use to determine which sites get placed higher than others, but fortunately we here at Viral Technologies are fully-versed and proficient in the SEO arts and can not only assess your Web site’s visibility but increase your rankings exponentially. “Why does that even matter?” you might ask; keep in mind that most people who are searching for something on Google will never venture beyond the second page of results, and the vast majority of people don’t go beyond the first. What this means to you as a Web site owner is that you want your site to show up as close to the top of the pile as possible. We can help you do just that by applying our proven SEO checklist to your site: are your images formatted properly? Are you using the right keywords at the right frequency? Is your menu laid out properly? Are your pages named correctly?

These questions just breach the surface of the many ways in which Viral Technologies make sure your site is fully and correctly optimized. We’ll make sure that you’re at the top of the heap every time. Contact us today and let us give you a FREE appraisal of your site’s SEO. (207)-899-0346 or email info@viraltechnologies.com