Author Archives: Andrea Zuegel

Post with Purpose

Posted on by
Reply

National Acrobats of China

National Acrobats of China

My kids recently went to see Nazareth College’s National Acrobats of China performance; absolutely loved it. I had seen a small ad in the paper a while back, but frankly forgot about it. So what prompted me to buy those tickets? Facebook.

My friend Rachel DeGuzman, marketing director at Nazareth College Arts Center, is using Facebook the way organizations should. She not only posts interesting and relevant information (to share with her well-cultivated friends list), she makes it actionable. So, because Rachel posted the acrobats performance it was now “in my face,” where I not only noticed it but could take the follow next steps:

  1. Link to a page where I could buy tickets
  2. Export the event to my calendar
  3. Share the event with other friends

Rachel also kept this post interesting by adding reviews as they appeared in local media. There are plenty of additional next steps you can give your friends for your events: RSVP, share with more friends, comment/vote, etc. This is a truly interactive way to engage.

I’ve used Facebook events for both personal and professional events. The key is to post with purpose: notify your friends about the event, but make sure you give them those next steps to seal the deal.

— Andrea Zuegel

Facebook v. Twitter

Posted on by
3

One of my facebook friends recently sent me this question:

What’s the advantage of Twitter over FB? Seems like you can twitter on FB and do so much more. What am I missing, Ms. Social Media Guru?

I’d been pondering the same thing over the past few months, and this is where I come out:

Facebook is for friends to share personal stuff about each other, and you choose with whom to share. The homepage view format resembles twitter, with its list of short status updates, but it’s much more. Sharing personal photos, sending friends whacky “gifts” among other things make Facebook fairly robust and highly social. While many people use Facebook for business contacts, that doesn’t feel quite right to me. Do I really want to see pictures of my work contact’s children, vacation places and potentially embarrassing moments?

Twitter, on the other hand is an easy way to keep up with the thoughts and goings on of people who you may not even know. That’s where it gets interesting. Follow people or organizations you admire, and you get regular exposure into what makes them successful. A great example is Barack Obama. By tweeting regularly, he’s making good on his promise of transparency and creating a great way to get buy in.

Businesses I think should tweet:

  • Wegmans, when they have new products
  • Restaurants, when they change their menu
  • Organizations when they host events
  • Growers when crops are progressing and promising good yields (okay, I’m really thinking about wine, here)
  • Any kind of business when it offers new services

That said, I wouldn’t start a twitter page unless you’re going to tweet at least a couple times a month.

Andrea Zuegel

Love for LinkedIn

Posted on by
4

I’m going for a job interview this week. I know the name of my interviewer and her organization. Within 2 minutes I expect to know her background, what she looks like, and whether or not I know anyone who knows her. Yes, I’m talking about LinkedIn.
As a freelancer, I’ve come to rely on tools like LinkedIn, but it’s not just for me…

  • Employers send requests to their contacts when they need to fill a position (that’s how this opportunity came my way).
  • Colleagues promote each other when their contacts have opportunities (again, how I got hooked up).
  • People get references from other people who are in their “degrees of separation.”

Plus, it’s just fun to look up people you know (God, did everyone in this town except me work at Buck and Pulleyn at some point???).
LinkedIn may seem like old news, but I still find a lot of people who either aren’t on, or whose profiles badly need attention. Seems like the Rochester ad community lives and breathes by its connections. If you’re not already linked up, get hopping.

— Andrea Zuegel

Inform first, then dazzle

Posted on by
Reply

A flashy homepage can show off your company’s creativity and design talent, it can impress first-time visitors with all kinds of animation, music and drama… and it can get really annoying after the first 2-3 seconds. An overdone “intro” can have one of the following effects:
1. the flashy stuff goes on far too long (especially for return visitors)
2. the visitor wants to find what they came for, and is too distracted (read frustrated)
3. the visitor gets the sense that you don’t really know how to use this advertising medium.
My mantra is inform first, dazzle only when you’re sure you’re informing well. Better yet, dazzle them with how well you’re anticipating their information needs.

Oh, and part of making that informing easy includes navigation. Don’t try and be clever with inventing new ways for people to navigate your site. Usability studies show that the best websites have navigation their visitors are used to. If your navigation structure and labels are boring, they’re probably good.

Save the creativity for your portfolio.

Great example from one of the smaller firms in town – Antithesis. Their site is both informative and nicely designed. They tell you right up front who they are, and the flashy stuff is off to the right where you can choose whether or not to engage. I really like their portfolio because it’s super easy to navigate. You can switch back and forth between examples without having to go “back” and their slideshow-style gallery is a format that many news sites use. Nice and simple.

-Andrea Zuegel