Engaging Offline?

This week's question: How can an industry use social media to engage their customers offline?


We all know how convenient it is to shop online. All you do is, click, click, and done! It's so simple that it can't possibly be a bad thing, right?

Well, you're right and you're also wrong. While shopping online is a good way to widen the number of customers reached, it can also hurt a business. Several big name brands often suffer because their online rates practically slaughter their in-store rates. This causes chain stores to close and people in retail to lose their jobs.

But big stores aren't all doomed. In fact, there a few ways one can save their physical store without a lot of stress. One of the best ways is hosting special events IN store, like special sales. 

For example, every year, Macy's has an early Memorial Day Sale that happens only in-store. Events like these are perfect for keeping people coming to your store. It gets audience out of the house and physically into your business. This way, they can save a little money and you can get the rates your business deserves.

SEO & Benefits?

This week's question is simply, "What's a SEO and why should brands care about using SEO?

A SEO is short for, "Search Engine Optimization". It's essentially the process of getting traffic from natural search results on search engines like, Yahoo or, Google. In today's modern world almost, if not all, businesses have a website for their products and/or services. But not all know about SEO and why they should use it.

There are a few reasons as to why it's important to use SEO:

1).  Increase in traffic for the brand.
When you go to search for something on Google, you usually go with the first few sites that come up. Those top sites are the ones that receive the most traffic and make the brand more popular. SEO usually focuses on producing informative and keywords that are relevant to the titles pages and descriptions of the website.

2). Cost Effectiveness.
Using SEO is one of the best ways to raise money for your brand. It targets users that are currently looking at your products and services online.

3). Brand Awareness.
Have your site on the first page of Google or Yahoo is a great way to get more exposure for your business. Users will more likely correlate your brand with those words. Plus, the top sites on the search results are often viewed as the most trustworthy. So your brand will be seen as a first choice when compared to other companies.

So there you have it. Most brands that do use SEO are usually the more popular sites and the ones that usually show up on the first page of a Search Engine. By using SEO, a business is more likely to have larger traffic turn-outs than those who don't use it.

Social Media: Pulling people in or pulling them apart?

Do you think that Social Media can actually do what's it set out to - that is, bring us closer instead of further from one another? What changes would have to take place?

  Honestly? Yes and no.

For the most part, yes: Social Media has done what it was created for. It tends to bring people to a common ground. Such as with Facebook, a lot of the time we post and share things that we know our friends will like. We create groups and write blogs for people who share the same interests as us. I can honestly say that because of social media, I’ve met some of my best friends.

Another reason social media helps connect with friends who have either moved away or lost contact. It tends to be more popular than texting with mobile phones.

While it has done what it was created for, it has also torn people apart. The main reason? People almost always find a reason to be offended. A simple disagreement between two people can turn into an all out war. Instead of compromising or agreeing to disagree, we tend to believe that we’re in the right.

There’s also the plethora of “Internet Trolls”, or people who purposely try and create disputes. After posting something that’s offensive, they lay in wait for someone to fight with. People like this are just best to be ignored.

My suggestion? Everyone needs to learn to relax. Yes, people have a right to their opinion, even if it’s wrong. Other people need to learn how to take a chill pill. Why should someone care about someone else’s life? If they’re not doing saying or doing anything harmful then they should just move along?

If you disagree, then click the “backspace” button and your problem will be solved. Simple as that.