Having spent the last few months ironing out the technical kinks of the whole process, I am going to share the technical in’s and outs of designing a Facebook cover image and profile picture.

At this point you’re probably thinking that this is pretty basic stuff. Well yes and no. For your average Jo Blogg’s Facebook profile it is simple – choose a cheesy mug shot for a profile pic, a pretty landscape image for your cover image, crop, and BAM, you’re done. However when it comes to the world of marketing, things need a little more attention to detail and a purpose built design layout.
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Follow Facebook Specifications

Life is going to be a whole lot easier if you set up your profile picture and cover image exactly to Facebook specifications. For example the profile picture needs to be 180 px by 180 px and the cover image sits at 851 px by 315 px. Having your images set up to size is going to save you a stack of dramas at the other end of things when you upload the final designs. If you’re interested, we’ve attached a FREE illustrator template to help you get started.

Secondly, it pays to figure out where everything sits within the Facebook profile pic and cover image layout. For example have you ever noticed that the Facebook profile picture sits half way over the cover image? Bear this in mind during your design process so you don’t lose any of your marketing information behind the profile picture.

In fact some companies have used this to their advantage and created some really cool ways of making the profile picture and the cover picture interact with one another (see attached images). Have a go at this yourself for a creative approach to your social media design.

If you’re looking for inspiration, check out two of my favourites:

Alternatively I highly encourage you to use your company’s logo as the profile picture and any secondary information should be placed within the cover photo. This will go a long way in enhancing your brand’s presence on Facebook. Remember you cover photo covers a lot of digital “real estate” so use this to your own advantage and sell sell sell! Highlight images of your services, feature quality photographs of your products or include team shots of your staff.

*Here’s one I designed a while back for a wine client:

Facebook Guidelines

Furthermore when designing your companies timeline images, it’s important to know that Facebook has a few legal limitations as to what you can include in your design. A little while ago Facebook came down hard not allowing any information relating to pricing, contact information, calls to action, or encouraging people to like your page. However having revised the restrictions Facebook’s new guidelines state that your cover image cannot include more than 20% text. So technically you can include promotional information/ pricing etc but it can only sit within 20% of the image. Click here for a really nifty tool that will analyse whether your image is within the 20% text restriction.

Once you’ve covered all of the above it is really important to remember to make your images web friendly. Remember to export your images as RGB 72 dpi Jpeg’s or Png’s. If this isn’t done, some terrible colours can be churned out once the images have been uploaded. So keep things low resolution and RGB.

Overall, the creative and marketing possibilities that Facebook timeline images allow are endless. Remember that as your business grows you can always change and update your timeline images. Many companies will change their cover photo to promote new competitions and advertising campaigns.

If you have any other design tips or would like to share with us your Facebook profiles please leave a comment.

Facebook Freebie

If you want a little help, feel free to download this Facebook cover photo and profile template file.
 
 

TEDx Sydney was held recently and whilst I didn’t get the opportunity to head up to Sydney for the occasion, I’ve been eagerly awaiting the videos.

There’s some awesome talks, at least I can speak for the ones I have checked out already. But one that grabbed my immediate attention, largely due to the title was ‘What web entrepreneurs can learn from rock stars’.

The presenter Rebekah Campbell has spent a career in music management having developed a number of key Australian artists, including a fave of mine the delightful Lisa Mitchell. She has now moved from music to a start-up called Posse.com and she reflects on its initial failing and how she went back and adapted the lessons of her career in music and adapted it to her start-up.

So what did she learn from music, what can web entrepreneurs learn from rock stars?

It’s only five minutes, check it out for yourself.

Check out the other videos from TEDx Sydney.

Companies are constantly looking for ways to stay creative when it comes to social media, but let’s face it—it can be tough.

Coming up with something ultra unique and ultra interesting three or four times per day is hard.

It’s easy to see another company and think, “how creative, I wish I had thought of that.” One tactic that I’ve been seeing on quite a few companies take advantage of is custom memes. They’ve been around forever, and lots of companies have taken advantage, but lots of companies haven’t.

No matter how many companies utilise this trick, it will always be unique because you’re in charge of creating the content. You can finally say “I thought of that” without having to do anything more than say what’s on your mind.

Why Custom Memes Work for Small Business Social Media Efforts

For those who are unfamiliar, a Meme is simply just a little graphic with funny text to accompany it. There are familiar memes and graphics that we all recognize. Take these two for example:

You probably recognize both of these “types” of memes. They’re all over social media (most commonly Facebook), and you always stop to read what they’re saying.

This makes them beneficial because it gets people to stop and engage with your company.

I can take these same photos above and change the text to directly relate to my company, which helps create something unique for my Facebook page.

Here are two examples:

The great thing about this social tactic is that it’s easy to do, and you really don’t need to know anything about Photoshop or fancy web design.

It’s as simple as visiting QuickMeme.com and typing in what you want to say. You can browse through different memes to find one that suits your needs, or visit the search bar to find something specific.

Has your company ever created a meme to generate social buzz? What was your experience? Did you find this successful? Tell us your story and let us know your thoughts in the comments below.

Photo Credit: quickmeme.com

Chief Content Officer will gain more importance

To manage content creation and marketing activities many companies are hiring content marketing experts for the post of the chief marketing expert. Organizations want to publish content regularly and as a result are hiring content marketing experts to be able to create a large volume of content in-house. Experts predict that more companies will be hiring such content officers this year to help boost in-house content marketing efforts. The Chief Content Officer at any company is expected to work closely with the Public Relations and Marketing departments to create consistent marketing campaigns.

More journalists will be hired to create content

Companies have realized that they need to be able to tell stories with their content and that their content needs to be simplified so that people can understand it quickly. This is why there is a growing trend among non-media companies of hiring qualified journalists for their content marketing teams. Journalists have the skill and expertise to research stories independently and a good command over the language allowing them to create high-quality and original content easily.

More video content will be published

With shortening attention spans of customers, companies need to be able to get their message across quickly and videos are the best way to do so. Companies will reduce the amount of textual content that they are publishing and focus more time and effort on creating engaging videos. Videos also work really well on mobile platforms and as more and more people are adopting mobile devices, companies are making a push towards creating more high-definition video content.

Purchase of media companies

Content marketing has become a major activity for many companies. Also, most companies want to create high-quality and valuable visual and textual content in-house. This is why many major companies have already bought media companies to take care of their content marketing campaigns. Google has already acquired quite a few media companies and has even purchased large media companies like Zagat. Other big brands will be purchasing media companies this year to improve their content marketing initiatives.

Content repurposing

As there are so many types of content that can be published, companies will be repurposing content to be able to publish content frequently and to keep the freshness factor of their blogs and websites high. Old textual content can be converted into ebooks or videos and content repurposing is a great way to create a sustainable content marketing strategy.

The rise of podcasts

Podcasts have always been popular but have been rarely used in content marketing campaigns. 2013 is the year that companies will start creating more podcasts as podcasts are highly compatible with mobile devices. Podcasts are also a great way to repurpose content and many influential experts and leaders have already started creating podcasts.

Non-profit organizations will adopt content marketing

So far, retail and tech sector companies have adopted content marketing enthusiastically and many of them have seen great success. However, non-profit organizations have yet to adopt this form of marketing even though they have so much to gain from it. Non-profit organizations do not have the budgets for glamorous traditional campaigns. Creating and publishing content on the web is the most cost-effective way of getting funds and spreading the organization’s message. 2013 will be the year that more non-profit organizations turn towards content marketing.

As I’ve noted before, there’s plenty of stats coming out of the United States for us here in Australia to discuss but never enough locally-sourced research.

This particular report didn’t unveil anything radical but it probably confirms the changes that everyone in the industry is feeling.

If for some reason you don’t like visuals…Check out our summary below the infographic. 
 

State of B2B Marketing Australia – An infographic by the team at OnQ Marketing

Embed State of B2B Marketing Australia on Your Site: Copy and Paste the Code Below

<br /> <img src="http://www.onqmarketing.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/OnQ-Infographic-1.png" width="540"></p> <p>State of B2B Marketing Australia – An infographic by the team at <a href="http://www.onqmarketing.com.au/blog/general/state-of-b2b-marketing-in-australia-report/">OnQ Marketing</a></p> <p>

 
I thought what the report highlighted as five ‘key observations’ was interesting to read and I wanted to bring them to your attention and throw in my own thoughts.
 

It’s a digital world

The observation is based primarily on the fact that marketing budgets for digital and traditional are almost at a par and one would suggest digital will supersede traditional this time next year.

An interesting stat to check out in the report is the one that highlights the trends for intended use of traditional and digital marketing activities. Website, email, social media and mobile activation are the key activities driving the strong trend to digital.
 

Inbound (and social) reach tipping point

This may be a little misleading. The report notes that there may be disparate opinions between sales teams looking for immediate leads and the marketing department looking to create content marketing platforms for future strength.
 

Marketers need to think ‘left-brain’ and systemise

The report highlights that many of the key challenges faced by marketers include marketing automation, lead generation, data maintenance, etc all challenges that can be solved with the right system processes. If the marketer gets these processes right they will find themselves making more efficient and effective decisions, if they do not then they run the risk of falling into that chasm of irrelevance.
 

Traditional marketing methods are not cutting it

The difference in marketing budgets between traditional and digital was 12% in favour of traditional in 2012. This time around the difference is just 4%.

But bucking the trends is public relations and in-person events, with more than 30% of respondents stating they will do more of both activities in the next year.
 

What does all this mean for the B2B marketer?

Life sure is changing for the B2B marketer. Within the next 12 months digital marketing will have a greater share of our marketing budgets. The marketer must diversify, they must play well with the IT department to automate processes, and they must learn to accurately demonstrate ROI performance.
 

The numbers we all love

The gap between 2013 budget allocated to digital marketing (24%) and traditional/offline marketing (28%) has reduced to just 4%. The difference reported in this study last year was 12%.

Nearly two thirds (65%) will be doing more lead nurture marketing with personalised content, or starting that activity.

To check out the report in full check it out ‘B2B Marketing Outlook Australia 2013‘.

It is not just our world that has become smaller thanks to the internet, but the gadgets that we use to access the net have shrunk as well. None of us think twice about using our smartphone of choice to coast through the cyber waves. And oh those wonderful mobile applications! Whether it is to get our daily news fix or learning about our favourite celebrities – mobile apps can help us with everything.

Know your target market

So the target market for mobile apps is juicy, abundant and teeming with opportunities. As a mobile app developer your job may not really be over with the development of a great big humungous application. Marketing it is just as important. And as wonderful as the market for mobile apps may be, it is packed tighter than sardines in a tin can. So how do you get your mobile app to stand out and be counted? Well, we go back to the beginning – search engine rankings. Regardless of the domain in which your mobile app works – retail, media, health, travel and so on – you can do a few things to get the search engines to point to your mobile app.

Brand positioning

Literally! Name your application with the name of your brand. Putting your brand name within the application means easier recall for the customer as well. Christen your app with an interesting and easy name as well. Ideally, the app can contain the brand name and a description of what it does. For instance, would you really need explanation on what the ‘Gucci Style’ app is all about?

Work in a seamless world

Integrate your mobile app marketing strategy across as many platforms as possible. For instance, build a website around your mobile application, link it with social networking sites, link it with subject oriented or complementary websites. For instance, if you have built a travel related app then get into an alliance with a travel related website like Conde Nast Traveller and let your app pop up there. Make these messages valid and simple and clear. For instance, it is better to get eyeballs on “Get the BBC app for iPhone here” rather than “Get the iPhone App”.

The key is in keywords

For sure, using keywords is a tricky thing. Too many keywords and you will never do well in the search engine rankings and too less is, well, too less. But if you sit down and define keywords in relation to the target markets then you have yourself a winner. Knowing what a specific target market will type in when they search for mobile apps is crucial.

The right kind of filters

Filters such as country, price, language and so on are important keywords when people search for mobile apps. Also, depending on which store your mobile app is available in, you will have to tailor your keywords as well. For example, keywords need to be optimised for 100 characters at least in the Apple App Store.

Apart from being a data nerd I am a tech-geek and I wanted to share with you the 5 tech toys that I’m looking forward to seeing in 2013.
 

iPhone 6

Love it or hate it, the 2012 launch of the iPhone 5 didn’t exactly strike the hearts and the minds as those launched before it had. But you can bet they’re going all out to make sure the iPhone 6 will be something truly special.

Whether we see the iPhone 6 in 2013 is dependent on their plans of an iPhone 5S, which if launched will sure to be a modest upgrade to the current model.

If the rumours are true expect another change in the screen for the iPhone 6 with a larger 4.8 inch retina display that will be thinner and boast even more clarity. Apple will also use their new processor chip as another upgrade to the iPhone, whilst there is also talk about sonar technology and wireless charging.

It will be a huge year for the smartphone market as Samsung seeks to further their gains with the launch of Samsung Galaxy IV, and keep an eye on the progress of Motorola’s multi-year partnership with Intel – Smartphones with Intel chips has to be a good thing. Could Facebook launch its own smartphone in 2013?

Apple iTV

Taking the Apple TV set top box one step further, there is significant talk that Apple is planning a long-awaited launch of the Apple iTV – That’s right the whole TV produced by Apple.

The rumours suggest that Apple hopes that it will be the main focus of consumers’ living room, having control across a range of multiple devices. It is also rumoured to feature Siri and FaceTime, which I’m not even sure the Jetsons had imagined.

Steve Jobs had discussed his desire to really interrupt the television industry in the same manner Apple did with iTunes but then again the iPad’s impact on the television experience may have quelled their desire.

Either way it sounds like Apple has a launch planned for 2013 but it just might be a huge upgrade to the Apple TV set top box.

MacBook Air with Retina Display

Apple launched the MacBook Pro with retina display in 2012 and we would expect to see the new MacBook Air feature a retina display when launched in 2013.

Many will be eagerly awaiting the launch, particularly those who made the move from the MacBook Pro to MacBook Air prior to hearing of the new display.

Also expect to see an upgrade to the processor platform for the new MacBook Air.

Google Glasses

Google took them for a test drive in 2012 without releasing them but it is expected there will be an initial release in 2013 after pre-orders were taken in 2012 at US $1500.

The early-adopters will be wearing the glasses like they’re wearing a smartphone, they’ll be taking pictures and recording video, sending SMS and making phone calls and so much more.

A number of questions surround the Google Glasses, like will people seriously walk down the street wearing these things? Do Google even care whether these things sell? Are they going to fail like other radical technology launches like the Segway?

Personally, I think we’re ready and whilst they may not hit that critical mass anytime soon they will be viewed as a successful advancement in technology.

For those not quite inclined to hit the slopes you may also be interested to know that Oakley has already launched Goggles with a built-in display integrated with Bluetooth and GPS and allowing users to make the most of pre-loaded maps and a music playlist.

The Flex

We’re going to see a flood of new devices and apps to help us stay fit in 2013 and beyond. One that will likely grab the attention of the broader consumer base will be Fitbit’s The Flex.

The stylish wristband on pre-order for US $99 should be worn 24 hours a day so it can track your steps and kilojoules burned, monitor your sleep quality, and more. Data is nothing if it can’t be synced and The Flex will do this with your desktop, tablet or smartphone.  

Honourable Mention

Robot Dragonfly

Techject started research on the Robot Dragonfly with a US$1 million grant from the US Air Force. Since then they’ve sought further funding via Indiegogo thus bringing the product to the public. The funding is now closed after reaching a further US$1.1 million.

The Robot Dragonfly is more than impressive fitting into the palm of your hand and weighing just 25 grams (Roughly the weight of an AA battery). Even more impressive is the fact that the basic version was coming in at just US$99.

With the funding now closed Techject are not officially taking orders but you would assume with significant interest resulting in US $1 million of funding more than their project goal, they might be taking additional orders at some stage in 2013.

But if you’re keen don’t hold out for the $99 entry model, take a look at the version starting at $399 which takes high-definition pictures and can be controlled by your tablet or smartphone via wi-fi.

This is one tech toy that I would love but will never get because well, it’s just a little creepy. Worth an honourable mention. 

We’ve also provided links to the guest authors’ Google+ profiles, so please click on through and connect with these guys.

1.  5 Real Estate marketing ideas to stay ahead of the game
2.  15 Websites for small business advice in Australia
3.   Which SEO metrics really matter [+Alex Petrovic]
4.  Social media flowchart for small business [+Rob Toledo]
5.  Twitter hashtags that backfired into PR disasters
6.  Why is social media important to Gen Y employees?
7.  What is Pinterest and how you can use it for your business
8.  Incorporating social media into your small business marketing plan [+Amy Moczynski]
9.  Politics and social media in Australia : Tips for Julia Gillard Part Two
10. Top 5 Websites to keep you in the marketing loop [+Amanda DiSilvestro]

All the best in 2013. If you have any suggestions for future posts, we would love to hear them in the comments below.

Do well on mobile search results

I’m sure you know the importance of SEO and scoring well on the search results. But are you putting the same effort into scoring for local, mobile searches? You should! Turns out that 81% of smartphone users search for local information. Even more amazing is that 68% of them take direct action! This is an amazing opportunity to attract more local business!

But… when we search mobile we want results fast. About half of desktop users often look through more than 2 pages in the search results. In contrast, less than 10% of mobile users go further than the second page.

To achieve this there are two things to work on. The first is optimizing your SEO for mobile, local searches. The second option is paid advertising. Wait! Hear me out. Nearly 9 out of 10 smartphone users notice mobile ads. That is huge! Consider buying some advertising for your most targeted keywords and optimising them for mobile.

Every business past the second page is non-existent to the eyes of mobile users. This is another opportunity, since once you get in those top results, there are only a few companies competing with you. This is when it becomes important to have strong, mobile ready content.
 

Make sure you have mobile ready content

Okay, you got on the first page of the search results, and even got users to click through to your landing page! Now what? Now you need content that is optimised for mobile visitors. Don’t just link to the desktop version of your site. The users we are targeting are local searchers, often on the go. Remember what we said earlier? We want results fast.
 
(i) Tell them why they are on your page first. Tell them what you do, and why you are the best fit. Are you a computer shop with outstanding customers service? A boutique with only the greatest fashion? The cheapest haircut for men?Tell your visitors up front so they know they’re in the right place.
(ii) An attractive visual can help to draw attention. A picture of your building will help people recognize you when they visit.
(iii) Have a clear call to action. This is perhaps the most important. Tell people what you want them to do. Do you want them to call you? Visit? Like you on facebook? Share your cool promotion on Twitter? Make this very clear.
Incentivise visitors to take action. Having a call to action is the first step. The second step is to persuade them to take that action. You can do this by rewarding them for the action. E.g. Share on Facebook and get a discount, check in on Foursquare and get a coupon, call us now and get free shipping, …
 
Google has some free basic templates for mobile pages for different kinds of businesses.
 

Bridge the gap between in-store and online

Now you have a great spot in the result page and a great landing page that persuades users to take action. There is even more opportunity in mobile! Nearly 2 out of 3 smartphone owners use their smartphone while they are in a store. So why not use that to our advantage as well?

There are easy technologies to make the transition from offline experience to online action seamless. The most recent of these is Near Field Communication (NFC). NFC allows a user with a supported phone to simply touch a special NFC enabled sticker to view content. Another technology is QR codes, which are a special kind of barcode users can scan with their smartphone camera.

These type of codes have gotten a bad reputation lately. But did you know that according to a study by scanlife the amount of QR codes scanned rose exponentially in 2012? Comscore found that 25% of smartphone users regularly scan QR codes in stores.

The key to using these correctly is to incentivise users, like we talked about earlier. Most people who scan a QR code expect to get a coupon or deal in return. So give them a reward after completing the action, and communicate this reward wherever you place your NFC or QR code.

If you don’t have coding knowledge or simply no time to do development, there are tools which easily let you create mobile landing pages with a social call to action (Facebook and Twitter) and immediately hooks them up to a QR code or NFC tag so all you have to do is place them on your products or promo material.
 

What now?

The first step for you could be to create a few mobile landing pages and optimise a few for searches on your most important keywords and create some others to link in your store. Get a feel for what works, and where the opportunities in your industry are.

Once you feel ready to make the plunge to a full blown mobile strategy, check out the excellent ‘howtogomo’ by Google to learn more about the mobile market and how to build a whole mobile website.

Do you have any experience with local mobile business? Let’s hear it in the comments!

Now Erik Qualman and the team at Socialnomics are back with an updated version keeping with the same successful soundtrack. Here it is, right here, right now:

Whenever you see productions like this you have to be amazed by at least some of the stats and I have to admit my head spins over some of it including:
- If Wikipedia was printed it would be 2.25 million pages long
- There’s actually parents in Egypt naming their kids Facebook & Twitter
- I’ve heard it before but continue to be amazed that every day 20% of Google searches have never been searched before
- Humbling to find out 50% of the world’s population is younger than I

Let us know what impressed you in the comments below!