Yes, Twitter and Facebook are more addictive than cigarettes, according to new research. It is all of us, over  900 million users who have helped make Facebook such a success because we are indirectly the product.

Let’s face it: Facebook has long lost a huge degree of its cultural cool for me maybe because I socialise more with my fanpage than personal (Perhaps thats what Facebook wants) with its new eye catching redesign for marketing opportunities.

Facebook encourages self promotion and a funny way of keeping in touch with friends by showing list of songs you listening to, videos you’ve been watching, news or ebooks you’ve been reading. While no modern website on earth exists without a Facebook Share button (exagerated), influential social media movements like Twitter & LinkedIn are also on the rise.

Coming in to fill the empty large house on the social media block is Google+ with intuitive features(Circles, hangouts) that makes Facebook look like old. Other guerilla social media movements includes  Pinterest, Path, Tumblr, Badoo and other social media apps on mobile platform.

It could be said that no online product or service has kept its lustre for more than a  decade. Even Google and Yahoo are now struggling to maintain its dominance in search and either building a social networking site or suing  for patents rights to compete with Facebook. In few countries like China and India, Facebook membership faces serious hurdles due to government restrictions/policy on the social networking site and other indigenous social networking sites.

Facebook wont die overnight. Its fate will be like AOL or Yahoo: a huge IPO would make the execs rich; then talent will leave, a lot of fresher networks will emerge and slow, inevitable decline begins.

I may be right or wrong. Do you think Facebook will be overtaken ?

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Being an entrepreneur is a fad these days. This is evident by the increase of technology start-ups worldwide. Running a business requires having a bigger vision in mind and that entrepreneurship is all about adding value. Every potential entrepreneur needs to realise it is a daunting task and to succeed with a business idea, it has to be useful.

In Britain, an average person spends an average of 22 hours, 15 minutes a month on the web. Going by these, the web is the perfect place to start your business. In fact, online business grow up to eight time faster than those not online. The future now seems to lie in digital businesses and to get started, all you need is a good/GREAT idea.

This post highlights 6 essential tips for web success:

1. Buy a Great Name:

Having a great name is important. A business name is crucial for any new company because being a digital venture, the name is all you have to get recognition. Once you have a killer name, protect it by securing all the misspellings or possible formations of that name online.

TIP: Avoid name that direct traffic users might find difficult to type. Avoid  using – or hypen such as www.asoto-adeola.com. Its advisable to purchase other domain extension such as .net, .org, .co.uk, etc

2.  Financing/Mentoring:

CASH IS KING ! Once you’ve got your name, you need money to launch a business: Personal Finance (Save up your 9-5 Pay ), Family & Friends, Venture Capitalist, Investors, Government schemes etc. are ways to source for funds.  It is important to have money and resources available to enable it grow successfully. Make sure you have enough money (this rule might not apply at all times), not only to start your business off but to cover the first few months of trading. Finding suitable investors that do bring along their wealth of experience as mentoring also is key.

3. Invest in Good PR:

When your business is up and running, you’ll need to get people talking about it.  That’s where PR comes in. Online PR gives the most bang for your buck so if you are going to splash, hire a good company. If you are or on a budget and cant afford PR, send out your products and services to influential bloggers for FREE, email journalists directly, stage PR stunts and cultivate press relationships.

4. Drive Traffic:

Customers are lifeblood of your online business you need to get them to your site. Google’s advice ? Think about search or paid advertising (Yes, google has 80% of search engine presence). Invest in keywords that relates to your business. It can really help boost your site’s visibility. I recommend Google Adwords or Facebook Ads. You only pay when a customer clicks on your ad.

Also, make use of classified/business listing sites as as being listed is a great way to drive traffic.

5. Master Marketing:

There are three kinds of marketing, start with market research (If your moving from offline to online business, analyse your client before launching an online store). Then move into direct advertising, using that market research to tailor offers for your customers. Lastly make sure you market offline too, putting your web address on your email footers, business cards, signages – everywhere you can.

6. Record Your own Success:

And finally, Try to do video launches, workshops or consumer events so that you have an interactive record of your progress to show to potential investors later on. Pinpoint the goodnews each week and broadcast through all your channels, social media, your network, investors. It’s a great way to impress potential investors and get people excited.

NOTE: Customer service is also important when you have an online business, as it’s the only real contact you ever have with your clientele. Every delivery, every order, is a chance to communicate with your customers so use it to do something memorable. interactive surveys, offers, voucher cards; the more more you know about your customer base, the more reactive you can be.

You don’t need to be tech savvy to launch an online business – you can pay someone to build something – but it does help to know the basic.

Are you planning on starting an online business ?

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Artisan Mining is a boutique ‘Community Interest Company’ specialising in partnerships with small-scale miners to commercialise their production and accompany them in achieving International Fairtrade Fairmined Certification.

Client: Artisan Mining

Project: Brand Identity & Digital Branding

Role:

I was responsible for

1. Developing/ choosing basic elements such as, typeface selection, color, icons across all brand collaterals.
2. Art Direction for communication materials such as Website, Stationery design & other promotional materials.
3. Providing final artwork elements for production.

Work Done:

LOGO/VISUAL STYLE

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According to Nielson Wire, social media consumes over 25% of our time online. Yes, more people spend longer time on social media networks and blogs than ever before. Social media today seems to be a no-brainer for businesses and individuals, but despite that I believe that it should be done correctly.

It could be view as sheer waste of time if the right social media strategy is not employed. It’s crucial to do one’s homework and realise what you want to achieve, which platforms are your best fit and how to avoid common social media casualties and faux pas.

This post highlights 5 social media checklist for businesses or individuals:

1. Use the Right Medium – With the booming start-ups scene around the world, it is tough keeping tabs with which platform to embrace. It should be a function of where your target audience resides or perhaps combine the top three platforms based on market research.

2. Identify Yourself – Make it clear who you are and what you do which requires thinking before updating status, avoiding personal opinions, and not mixing personal and business accounts if your a business owner.

3. Put the Effort In – Investing time and energy in managing and updating profiles and connections.

4. Quality not Quantity – Its better to have a smaller number of useful connections than a large number who aren’t interested in you or your business.

5. Engage and Interact – Discussions are the social currency of social media. Social networking is a two-way activity, so replying promptly to messages aids conversations.

Which of these have you checked ?

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Are you on LinkedIn, Pinterest? Do you tweet? Do you blog? Do you spend time on Youtube, Facebook or G+ ? Perhaps, you likely are presently engaged in one of these before getting on this page. Yes, social media as a business tool cannot be over-emphasized. Already, individuals and many organisations alike have absorbed social media into their marketing and PR.

This post highlights 10 key strategies to make social media an effective for your personal brand  or business:

1. Control Google

In my previous post about how to know what Google knows about you, it highlighted the need to understand how Google uses your personal and social sentiment to help determine which ads to show you based on your account information as its evident with their new privacy policy. One can come to the conclusion that your personal brand is equal to your google results, so get active as search engines love to see fresh content coming out of Blogs, Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn. It is imperative to harness all these platforms.

2. Use One Display Picture

Yes, this might seems boring but it very much professional for a personal brand to use the same image (even it if requires changing them occasionally) across each platform that represents your brand online.

3. Tagline Consistency

Your personal tagline is where you say who you are and what you do in about 10-140 characters. Make sure it’s identical everywhere- on your Twitter bio as well as LinkedIn.

4. Know Your Audience

This perhaps could be difficult at the start but identifying a niche market or finding where your target audience like to hang out and target that platform via an effective strategy.

5. Connect with Key Names

Every industry has its “Mafia”. It is important to know them and start following or engaging with them online so as to ensure you’re on their radar.

6. Content Marketing

Procuring quality content can be challenging but necessary to continually engage your audience. But setup a system of procuring quality content from the web  relevant to you audience. Present this to your network regularly- just remember to add your personal twist to avoid plagiarism or duplicate content.

7. Create Content

Creating content is better than procuring content and more challenging. Content can be anything from a blog post, a podcast or a Youtube clip

8. Listen

Use Twitter search, LinkedIn signal and Google Alerts so you can monitor mentions of your name, company and keyword related to your industry.

9. Meet People

Some of the greatest relationships start on social networks and are taken offline. Meeting people for a drink or at events creates even stronger bonds online.

10. Remember to Switch Off

Social media is a time bandit. Set a limit.

Personally, I  do employ majority of these steps and still need to improve on other areas. Which of these steps are you effectively using presently, share with us ?

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Blogging can be really challenging as a designer especially when you working on a couple of projects. But i have decided to start this month on a good note by blogging (hard-selling my “time” and “ideas” as a commodity).  I am presently accepting freelance projects. Recent projects worked on includes www.empowermentuniversity.com, www.calebcollege.org.

Looking for a web/graphic designer to work with on your brand identity, logo design, website or other social media marketing(SMM) project? Then look no further. If you have any questions about working together, want to discuss your project before submitting a design brief, or just want to say hello, please feel free to contact me  via contactme@asotoadeola.com

A proper brief/design brief would be required so I can have a good understanding of what is required and have a smooth work process. To submit information for a brand identity, logo design project, please download and fill  the identity design brief here. To submit information for a website design project, please download and fill  the web design brief here.

I’m available by email, telephone, skype or arrange a face-to-face meeting if suitable.

I look forward to hearing from you.

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Trionyx Limited is a Nigerian firm in the business of Procurement and Supply Chain Management, Manpower Provision and Management, Downstream Oil and Gas Trading.

Client: Trionyx Limited

Project: Brand Identity & Digital Branding

Role:

I was responsible for

1. Developing/ choosing basic elements such as, typeface selection, color, icons across all brand collaterals.
2. Art Direction for communication materials such as Website, Stationery design, Print ad & other promotional materials.
3. Providing final artwork elements for production.

Work Done:
LOGO/VISUAL STYLE

WEBSITE DESIGN

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Kayode Filani & Co. is a Lagos-based law firm. Its broad client base ranges from local and national businesses to foreign governments and multi-national corporations.

The firm represents its clients’ interests before federal and state agencies, in litigation before state and federal courts; in federal and state legislative matters; and in planning and implementing business and personal financial strategies.

Client: Kayode Filani & Co.

Project: Brand Identity & Digital Branding

Role:

I was responsible for

1. Developing/ choosing basic elements such as, typeface selection, color, icons across all brand collaterals.
2. Art Direction for communication materials such as Website, Stationery design, Print ad & other promotional materials.
3. Providing final artwork elements for production.

Work Done:

LOGO/VISUAL STYLE

WEBSITE DESIGN

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Have you ever wondered what make the ads you see on the web more interesting, well Google uses your personal and social sentiment to help determine which ads to show you.

Google uses your Google account information, such as items you +1′d on Google websites and across the web, to personalize content and ads on non-Google websites.

How it works ?

Many websites, such as news sites and blogs, partners with Google to show ads to their visitors. Your interests are associated with an advertising cookie that’s stored in your browser. Google actually gives users the ability to edit/correct the personal information stored in the cookie Google has about you.

Simply go to: Google Ads settings page and Google will tell you what it knows about you, and it gives you the option of changing it if you like.

Here’s what they think about me: [screen shot]

It’s actually pretty accurate,  so I do know the ads I expect to see.

Google is Watching and Measuring Your Search History

Google also uses your actual search history to determine what ads to show to you. This is most apparent on the Google Display Network, where you are likely retargeted to no end after visiting an advertiser’s web site.

In search, Google uses “session-based ads” to show ads to you for products that are totally unrelated to your current search, but might have been something you searched on in recent memory.

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Recently, i have been working on a couple of e-commerce websites and kept pondering whether 2012 will be the year e-commerce, due to its increased enquires from prospective clients. Despite its increased popularity, stats as shown that only four percent of visits to retail websites result in a completed shopping session.

Personally, i feel TRUST has always been an issue when it comes to online transactions most especially in developing countries where internet users would rather socialise than purchase online. It is interesting to note that few startups are interested in finding a solution to online retail problems.

As a marketer, it is important to understand social consumers in terms of behavioural patterns. In a recent survey, 1,500 participants were asked about products and services they recently researched online and how they went about it. According to data from M Booth and Beyond, different product categories compel people to seek information and reviews from different sources on the web. Consumers tend to go the company website for electronics, they rely on search for travel and they go to discussion forums to see what people think about different car models.

The top five influential online channels include search results, brand websites,news articles, product review sites, online ads respectively.

The infographic below explains where consumers go for product information — suggesting to marketers that some aspects of digital marketing deserve more attention than others. As a consumer, what influences you to buy online?

Infographic courtesy of M Booth and Beyond

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