1. Know Your Customer:
Social media has nothing to do with you and everything to do with your audience. We have given way to a digital society and with all demographics using social media in almost equal portions, there is no typical social media user. That being said, all social media users do not frequent the same sites making it imperative to get to know your customer and find out which platforms are best for reaching them. Go where the attention is; visit forums that apply to your business and get involved posting and answering questions. This will not only create a following, but give you insight into specifics about your target market. Once you’ve defined your niche, keep thinking about your target, listen to your customers, and refine your content accordingly.

2. Start Small:
Social media is a never ending commitment that requires time, energy and effort. Instead of attempting to tackle every platform at once, realistically choose one or two that are the best for reaching your market. Establish specific business goals and objectives and define who will be responsible for keeping activity going. Do a little bit often, constant activity even in small quantities is much more effective than showing up inconsistently.

3. Be Personable:
Social media doesn’t equal self-promotion. Posting and tweeting exclusively about the company isn’t going to produce results. Let your customers in to show your humanity. Offer advice, information and be the conduit between your audience and valuable content and resources. Before you link to content, make sure it is relevant and adds value to your audience. Be social, comment and help others by asking questions, stimulating conversation and responding thoughtfully.

4. Measuring Success:
Relationships, trust and credibility are not built overnight, so be patient. Focus on who is engaging and grow your community from there. Rather than trying to acquire a whole new customer base, use social media to build relationships with existing customers. A loyal, devoted start will lead to organic growth and a stable future. SPAMMING= No Traffic, you wouldn’t sell out your friends, so don’t sell out your customers.

5. Get Help:
It’s impossible to be an expert at everything, so don’t hesitate to hire a social media expert to help in maintaining your social media presence. Remain involved by communicating what voice you want portraying your brand and by delegating what content and information is discussed. Don’t be afraid to respond and comment even if you are not responsible for the main content.

Skybox Creative is a San Diego based Brand Consultancy with an emphasis on Web Design and SEO. Get in touch for a free quote on your next design project or search engine marketing campaign! info@skyboxseo.com or call us at 619.381.3825

Fortunately, there are plenty of companies already using social media marketing that can serve as great models. Social Media Examiner recently handed out their 2011 Small Business Facebook Pages Awards to companies who are already maximizing their social media reach on Facebook. And if you look at the winners, there are some common characteristics.

Most of the pages feature great visuals – photos, logos and video – and offer a wide variety of content including blogs, customer testimonials, and Q & A’s. And without exception, the pages feature clear branding with appealing design and use of logo.

But what’s interesting is that the pages were often standouts for very small-business-y reasons. That is, people like the same things about mom-n-pop shops online that they do in the real world.

Yeah, it’s Personal

All the winners of the Small Business Facebook Pages Awards kept their pages personal. Some, like SnapRetail, feature photos of staff to put faces to their company name. Companies Piggies & Paws, Easy Lunch Boxes, and Garden Quest were praised for their consistent, individualized responses to wall posts. And Dog Training Ireland and and Brasserie Sixty6 use Facebook to accept reservations – personalized customer service right online.

Market with Me, Not at Me

One of the ways award-winning pages kept it personal was by offering interactivity. Top-ranked Intrepid Travel features an interactive game and an online community. Others, for example, New Jersey Family use their Questions tabs to ask fun questions – think of it as a trivia night at your local pub.

And a Little Quid Pro Quo Never Hurts

Several of the award-winning Facebook pages offer incentives for “Liking” the page. Some of these are simply “Facebook Specials”, like at Obeo, but Arizona Pro DJs actually gives out prizes. If you’re in a business with easy giveaway “perks” or are able to offer free consultations, this can be a great way to get your brand out there. Maybe that San Diego surf shop can hand out a free surf lesson?

So these are some of the lessons learned from this year’s top small business Facebook pages. Of course, Leo Burnett’s marketing adage holds as true for social media marketing as it does for traditional marketing, “Make it simple. Make it memorable. Make it inviting to look at. Make it fun to read.”

Skybox Creative is a San Diego based Brand Consultancy with an emphasis on Web Design and SEO. Get in touch for a free quote on your next design project or search engine marketing campaign! info@skyboxcreative.com or call us at 619.381.3825

Ai InSite is an online magazine of The Art Institutes, America’s Leader in Creative Education. Several graduates working in the field offered their advice for up-and-coming artists. Angelina Sereno, President of Skybox Creative, among others, were interviewed for the article…

Art, design, and other creative disciplines are just like any other industry — it takes determination and hard work along with talent to gain success. And for all fields marketing is crucial. One of the best ways to market creative work is with social media platforms. Professionals say that Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn should be part of any creative professional’s marketing strategy.

“Many times social media allows the artists to truly impart their personality, perspectives, and opinions on whatever they are passionate about to the Internet to be seen by people who share the same views,” says Zebulun M. Wood, a Media Arts & Animation instructor at The Art Institute of Indianapolis.

POKE YOUR CUSTOMERS

Angelina Sereno graduated from The Art Institute of California — San Diego in 2003 with a degree in Advertising and is now president at Skybox Creative, a Web Design and Branding Studio. She says her company uses social media platforms like Facebook and LinkedIn to help build relationships online.

“It has helped keep us in the forefront of people’s minds,” she explains. “Whether they are a potential client or not, if they are thinking about us, they tend to refer their friends and clients to us.”

But social media can be beneficial for artists who may not work at a company but instead do a considerable amount of freelance work.

Read the full article here

1.   Why do you use social media platforms?

We utilize social media to build relationships online that we further strengthen offline and vice versa. Say we go to a networking event and meet a few people, we usually try to add them as a friend on our company Facebook or LinkedIn, this allows us to stay in front of them and open up ongoing dialogue. We also search social media sites for companies/people with similar interests, for example being eco-friendly. We will add them as a friend and then post specials for our green printing company, this way the message is more targeted.

2.   What is the best way for an artist or designer to use these outlets?

Well, a lot of the sites are interwoven now, so it’s important to do a little research and make a list of things to do/profiles to set up/link together. For example, Behance.net allows you to display your portfolio on LinkedIn.com, that’s huge. LinkedIn is still the top Professional social media site, so to be able to have your portfolio displayed on your profile is huge. LinkedIn also offers the option to share your updates on Twitter, we linked this feature, now we primarily use LinkedIn and it will automatically keep our Twitter up-to-date. There are a ton of portfolio sites, like CarbonMade.com, Behance.net, Coroflot.com, etc. I think a designer looking for work should be on all of the top portfolio sites and actively add friends, get involved in discussions, join groups, etc.

Another smart thing to remember is that “to give is to receive”, its a good idea to give recommendations to people you know on LinkedIn, then you can ask for the same in return. Or help a friend get introduced to someone via LinkedIn, these kind of selfless actions can really help in building relationships and helping you get more recognition for yourself. Also when posting updates and links on Facebook for example, try to offer an idea or resource that will help others instead of only being focused on your work.

3.   How has Facebook and other social media outlets affected your business?

It has helped keep us in the forefront of people’s minds. Whether they are a potential client or not, if they are thinking about us, they tend to refer their friends and clients to us when they mention “web design” or “cost effective printing”. We host a lot of networking mixers and this has been a great way to promote the events as well.

4.   Are there certain social media musts for artists and designers or does it depend on the individual?

I think you should pick a few and focus on them. It’s very easy to become overwhelmed with social media because it can really be a full time job. As technology moves, more and more sites will pop up too, so it’s important to try to watch the trends. Sites like Mashable.com help keep you up on the latest trends. There are sites like Ping.fm that allow you to update several profiles at once and other applications like Tweetdeck.com that allow you to streamline the Twitter process, schedule tweets and sort your contacts into groups. One thing we’ve done several times is submit our designs to the Designer Spotlight on iStock. If you used an image from their site in a design, you can submit the artwork. If they accept the design, you get free iStock credit, but more importantly it is a form of recognition you can use to help promote yourself (as profile updates, blog posts, etc.)

5.   Any tips and tricks for successfully using social media for art/design work?

Networking is key to success online and offline. Sites like Meetup.com have great niche groups like “Web Design San Diego”, I would recommend finding groups that have similar interests and attend an event or two each month. Even if you are surrounded by your peers, you might be surprised by how many clients you can get from it. We’ve gotten quite a few clients from web design meetups. Not only can you learn from your peers but since people typically have a specialty, they often need good referral sources for everything they don’t do (and are asked for all the time).

Hope you found this information helpful! Feel free to add us on Facebook, Twitter or LinkedIn!

Share any web page with your friends right from the Toolbar
• Click the Share button on any page and select a service.
• Add an optional personal note and send to your friends.
• You can modify which favorites pop up by going to Share > Settings.

Click Here to Learn More

A few Google Toolbar features:

• Share any web page with your friends right from the Toolbar.
• Contribute and read helpful information on any web page with Google Sidewiki.
• Translate web pages instantly with automatic language detection.

Download the Google Toolbar

These were all some of the lasting sentiments echoed by David Epstein, one of the founding members of the San Diego Coastal Group. Started on the Linkedin platform, this group has over 1400 members, and is vying to be one of the more connected and bonded groups found in the social media marketplace.

We all have someone on our Facebook page with 1000, 2000 or even 5000 “friends,” but what is their connection to all of these people and will it be affecting their lives in some sort of positive manor?

The San Diego Coastal Group hopes to be able to use social media as a tool to connect, but wants to host monthly, if not bi-weekly gatherings in which people can truly come together, discuss business, friendships, family and more.

Skybox Creative had the pleasure to attend the inaugural meet up at Rancho Santa Fe’s Morgan Run Club and Resort, and were introduced to a group of really innovative and inspiring people, from successful entrepreneurs to those facing career transitions.

Skybox had the opportunity to share our expertise in web development, branding, graphic design, printing and more with guests including, Yasmin Shah, Timothy Rhodes of Tech Coast Sales and scientists Atsuo Kuki and Steven Sands.

On another cool note, Skybox Creative Account Manager Carly Bartkiewicz won a fishing trip raffled off by Epstein during the sit down portion of the evening. Bluefin, yellowtail and the salty ocean air, here we come!

If you’re looking for a networking group that is more than just networking and equally about helping people and connecting with others looking to make a positive difference, definitely join the group and come out to the next event!

You can embed the presentation with a code provided or share the URL, like you see below, with friends and business associates! Great tool. The internet is crazy!

We uploaded our corporate brochure >> Click here to view!