Take a Critical Look at Social Media Strategies
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- Success is the ability to fail and recover.
- Success is listening, learning, and making necessary changes.
- Most importantly, success is getting to do what you love everyday, and having a ton of fun while doing it.
From Mikal: Funley’s would be wise to launch a blog sooner rather than later. Its business model and brand are ideal for tapping the power of social media marketing, and the core component of any such marketing effort is a company blog. As I have been telling my clients for years (and Chris Brogan also points this out), a blog can become your home base from which you can support numerous social media outposts.Do you use social networking sites, like Facebook, and social media platforms, like Twitter, to promote your business? If so, how?
From Mikal: Funley’s launched its Facebook Page in April of 2009, and as of today has just 172 fans who have posted 10 items on the company’s wall, while Funley’s itself has posted just 14 status updates in the last year. Simply stated, these are surprisingly low numbers for a brand that prioritizes fun.What do you think about your website?
Part of the problem with attracting more fans may be due to the fact that:Launching a blog, as suggested above, would help Funley’s keep its Facebook page active and up-to-date, assuming of course the blog was fed to Facebook and Ashley and Shawn updated the blog regularly. With a slightly larger investment, Funley’s could leverage the power of Facebook apps to engage customers, current and prospective, in even more fun activities.
- Funley’s fan page provides no compelling reason to become a fan, and
- Funley’s own website doesn’t provide a link to its fan page. Posting compelling and relevant status updates at least three to four times per week should increase awareness of the Funley’s brand and its playful approach to business and deliciousness. Encouraging website visitors by placing a Find us on Facebook badge in a more obvious location on the site should help, too.
From Mikal: I visited Funleys.com and was quite impressed with the visual design, which is true to Funley’s business model and brand. One look at the site, and you think “fun.” However, I found its navigation scheme, use of Flash, and overall usability less impressive. As Funley’s plans phases two and three to improve the site, they may want to consider the following:You call yourselves ‘Funpreneurs.’ What exactly does that mean and how has that helped your business?
- Visitors first land on a page where they must click a link to enter the site. This extra step strikes me as an obstacle to entry.
- When a visitor clicks the link to enter the site, a new window opens. Some visitors may find that a bit intrusive.
- The site is built in Flash, which takes considerable time to load, costs almost twice as much to maintain when compared to HTML and a CMS-driven site and isn’t scalable. To make matters worse, Flash isn’t search engine friendly. Rotating images and other elements powered by a simple Javascript could be incorporated on the site to make certain areas more fun and interactive.
- The site really should have its own store or at least a link to online stores that carry the product. If Shawn hadn’t told me that Amazon.com carries Funley’s products, I would never have known just by visiting the site. A “Buy on Amazon” link prominently displayed on Funleys.com would be a valuable addition.
From Mikal: Thanks to Funpreneurs Ashley and Shawn Mendel for treating us to their insights and vision. . . and their fun!
- Success is the ability to fail and recover.
- Success is listening, learning, and making necessary changes.
- Most importantly, success is getting to do what you love everyday, and having a ton of fun while doing it.
From Mikal: Funley’s would be wise to launch a blog sooner rather than later. Its business model and brand are ideal for tapping the power of social media marketing, and the core component of any such marketing effort is a company blog. As I have been telling my clients for years (and Chris Brogan also points this out), a blog can become your home base from which you can support numerous social media outposts.Do you use social networking sites, like Facebook, and social media platforms, like Twitter, to promote your business? If so, how?
From Mikal: Funley’s launched its Facebook Page in April of 2009, and as of today has just 172 fans who have posted 10 items on the company’s wall, while Funley’s itself has posted just 14 status updates in the last year. Simply stated, these are surprisingly low numbers for a brand that prioritizes fun.What do you think about your website?
Part of the problem with attracting more fans may be due to the fact that:Launching a blog, as suggested above, would help Funley’s keep its Facebook page active and up-to-date, assuming of course the blog was fed to Facebook and Ashley and Shawn updated the blog regularly. With a slightly larger investment, Funley’s could leverage the power of Facebook apps to engage customers, current and prospective, in even more fun activities.
- Funley’s fan page provides no compelling reason to become a fan, and
- Funley’s own website doesn’t provide a link to its fan page. Posting compelling and relevant status updates at least three to four times per week should increase awareness of the Funley’s brand and its playful approach to business and deliciousness. Encouraging website visitors by placing a Find us on Facebook badge in a more obvious location on the site should help, too.
From Mikal: I visited Funleys.com and was quite impressed with the visual design, which is true to Funley’s business model and brand. One look at the site, and you think “fun.” However, I found its navigation scheme, use of Flash, and overall usability less impressive. As Funley’s plans phases two and three to improve the site, they may want to consider the following:You call yourselves ‘Funpreneurs.’ What exactly does that mean and how has that helped your business?
- Visitors first land on a page where they must click a link to enter the site. This extra step strikes me as an obstacle to entry.
- When a visitor clicks the link to enter the site, a new window opens. Some visitors may find that a bit intrusive.
- The site is built in Flash, which takes considerable time to load, costs almost twice as much to maintain when compared to HTML and a CMS-driven site and isn’t scalable. To make matters worse, Flash isn’t search engine friendly. Rotating images and other elements powered by a simple Javascript could be incorporated on the site to make certain areas more fun and interactive.
- The site really should have its own store or at least a link to online stores that carry the product. If Shawn hadn’t told me that Amazon.com carries Funley’s products, I would never have known just by visiting the site. A “Buy on Amazon” link prominently displayed on Funleys.com would be a valuable addition.
From Mikal: Thanks to Funpreneurs Ashley and Shawn Mendel for treating us to their insights and vision. . . and their fun!
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