It is often said that you only get one chance to make a first impression.
This especially apparent in the digital arena where attention spans are particularly short.
Failure to make a good first impression is a social risk (with business risk implications) that no small business can afford to make.
Fail to catch a website visitor's attention within a few seconds, or fail to impress a potential social media friend or follower when you pop up on their radar, and you've lost a potential lead.
Here are four of the more common "first impression" faux pas I've seen, together with some inexpensive (or free) solutions.
#1 Using a web-based, non-branded email address.
When you use a free email service (whether it be a web based service such as Gmail or yahoo mail or your ISP's email service) you represent to the public that your business is brand new and you haven't had much time to work on brand building yet.
If you are brand new, then maybe this is excusable.
If not, you need to make sure you have an email address on your own domain.
This is especially true when some of these free services are pretty open about the fact that they use the contents of your emails to customize their marketing efforts to you, possibly causing your potential clients to be leery about sending emails to you Solution - Purchase a domain for your business (not necessary if you already host your business website on a branded domain).
Then use one of many free or almost free business email solutions to convert your unbranded email address to a much more professional branded version.
Some solutions (such as Google Apps free version) will also allow you to create multiple mailboxes so that you can improve your customer communication flow (such as sending questions to "questions@your-domain.
com" or complaints to "complaints@your-domain.
com) or improve your legal success strategies (such as by creating custom mailboxes to receive CAN SPAM Act complaints, DMCA takedown requests, COPPA complaints etc).
#2 Social media update overload.
So you find someone you'd like to connect with on LinkedIn or Twitter (the primary social media platforms on which I have seen this problem) and are looking forward to some good content or ideas to come your way.
Problem is you get too much of a good thing.
After the third day when you get 15 consecutive shares at 9:00 am, spaced a few seconds apart, you feel like you've been spammed and you do what anyone else would do.
You hit "unfollow.
" The problem lies in the fact that many people do most of their reading for social media sharing first thing in the morning or at night.
Doing what's easiest, and so that they don't neglect their followers or friends, they share all the great content they found, not thinking about how it might be received (ie as annoying spam).
Solution - While one solution would be to use one of many platforms such as HootSuite or TweetDeck that allows the scheduling of updates/tweets, I've come to find BufferApp to be a great solution and an indispensable part of my social media toolbox.
BufferApp, a recent startup, allows you to fill up a virtual hopper full of tweets/updates after which they will be trickled out on a schedule you set.
Best news is that BufferApp has a basic account, that allows up to 10 buffered updates/tweets and it is absolutely free.
#3 Outdated material on your website.
A few years ago, in the so-called web 1.
0 era, websites were static, one-way marketing tools.
In that era, there was little to no expectation that these websites be updated with any regularity.
Fast forward a few years to web 2.
0, and now most small biz websites have interactive elements embedded.
These blogs, calendars, twitter streams, forums, and wikis not only are conducive to being updates regularly, but your customers EXPECT it.
When visitors to your site can't find your social media badge links, can't find information on your latest event or promotion, or see that your latest blog posts or calendar entries are 6 months old, you won't be taken very seriously.
At best, this failure to update your website will somewhat tarnish the visitors' view of your business.
More likely, especially if your business has any technology aspect, these short attention span, information hungry consumers will take their business elsewhere.
Solution - Make your website a priority.
First and foremost, there is no reason, with as far templates have come, for you not to build your website on an easily updateable content management system, of which WordPress is the most popular, (and very easy to use).
Once your website is on WordPress, learn how to update it.
It is easier than you might think and you owe it to yourself to do so if you want to be successful on the web with your business.
Once you have a well established website and know how to update it, develop an update schedule and stick with it.
Be realistic with your schedule.
It is much better for your business to regularly meet your once a month blogging/update schedule than to be hit or miss with a twice a week schedule.
Finally, put yourself in the shoes of initial visitors to your site and make sure that your homepage or landing pages are easy to navigate and clearly feature what your visitors might be looking for.
This includes key informational articles, social media link badges, information about latest events, or whatever is important to your business.
#4 No profile pic on your social media profile.
I continue to be astounded by the number of businesses who think it is OK to just skip out on a profile pic.
I can tell you that when I get connection/friend requests from people/businesses without profile pics I never accept, and when I get followed by tweeps with "egg" profile pics, I never follow back.
Why? Too much of a chance of spam.
Besides, to me having a profile pic is such a basic social media skill that not having one brands you as a rank beginner - not something you want your potential clients thinking.
Solution - Always use profile pics.
There is simply no excuse not to.
Even if you have to type out your brand name in a word processor using a fancy font, turn it into an image and upload it, you must have one...
or risk looking like a social media dud.
What do you think? What ruins your first impressions of a business when you visit their website or social media platforms?
This especially apparent in the digital arena where attention spans are particularly short.
Failure to make a good first impression is a social risk (with business risk implications) that no small business can afford to make.
Fail to catch a website visitor's attention within a few seconds, or fail to impress a potential social media friend or follower when you pop up on their radar, and you've lost a potential lead.
Here are four of the more common "first impression" faux pas I've seen, together with some inexpensive (or free) solutions.
#1 Using a web-based, non-branded email address.
When you use a free email service (whether it be a web based service such as Gmail or yahoo mail or your ISP's email service) you represent to the public that your business is brand new and you haven't had much time to work on brand building yet.
If you are brand new, then maybe this is excusable.
If not, you need to make sure you have an email address on your own domain.
This is especially true when some of these free services are pretty open about the fact that they use the contents of your emails to customize their marketing efforts to you, possibly causing your potential clients to be leery about sending emails to you Solution - Purchase a domain for your business (not necessary if you already host your business website on a branded domain).
Then use one of many free or almost free business email solutions to convert your unbranded email address to a much more professional branded version.
Some solutions (such as Google Apps free version) will also allow you to create multiple mailboxes so that you can improve your customer communication flow (such as sending questions to "questions@your-domain.
com" or complaints to "complaints@your-domain.
com) or improve your legal success strategies (such as by creating custom mailboxes to receive CAN SPAM Act complaints, DMCA takedown requests, COPPA complaints etc).
#2 Social media update overload.
So you find someone you'd like to connect with on LinkedIn or Twitter (the primary social media platforms on which I have seen this problem) and are looking forward to some good content or ideas to come your way.
Problem is you get too much of a good thing.
After the third day when you get 15 consecutive shares at 9:00 am, spaced a few seconds apart, you feel like you've been spammed and you do what anyone else would do.
You hit "unfollow.
" The problem lies in the fact that many people do most of their reading for social media sharing first thing in the morning or at night.
Doing what's easiest, and so that they don't neglect their followers or friends, they share all the great content they found, not thinking about how it might be received (ie as annoying spam).
Solution - While one solution would be to use one of many platforms such as HootSuite or TweetDeck that allows the scheduling of updates/tweets, I've come to find BufferApp to be a great solution and an indispensable part of my social media toolbox.
BufferApp, a recent startup, allows you to fill up a virtual hopper full of tweets/updates after which they will be trickled out on a schedule you set.
Best news is that BufferApp has a basic account, that allows up to 10 buffered updates/tweets and it is absolutely free.
#3 Outdated material on your website.
A few years ago, in the so-called web 1.
0 era, websites were static, one-way marketing tools.
In that era, there was little to no expectation that these websites be updated with any regularity.
Fast forward a few years to web 2.
0, and now most small biz websites have interactive elements embedded.
These blogs, calendars, twitter streams, forums, and wikis not only are conducive to being updates regularly, but your customers EXPECT it.
When visitors to your site can't find your social media badge links, can't find information on your latest event or promotion, or see that your latest blog posts or calendar entries are 6 months old, you won't be taken very seriously.
At best, this failure to update your website will somewhat tarnish the visitors' view of your business.
More likely, especially if your business has any technology aspect, these short attention span, information hungry consumers will take their business elsewhere.
Solution - Make your website a priority.
First and foremost, there is no reason, with as far templates have come, for you not to build your website on an easily updateable content management system, of which WordPress is the most popular, (and very easy to use).
Once your website is on WordPress, learn how to update it.
It is easier than you might think and you owe it to yourself to do so if you want to be successful on the web with your business.
Once you have a well established website and know how to update it, develop an update schedule and stick with it.
Be realistic with your schedule.
It is much better for your business to regularly meet your once a month blogging/update schedule than to be hit or miss with a twice a week schedule.
Finally, put yourself in the shoes of initial visitors to your site and make sure that your homepage or landing pages are easy to navigate and clearly feature what your visitors might be looking for.
This includes key informational articles, social media link badges, information about latest events, or whatever is important to your business.
#4 No profile pic on your social media profile.
I continue to be astounded by the number of businesses who think it is OK to just skip out on a profile pic.
I can tell you that when I get connection/friend requests from people/businesses without profile pics I never accept, and when I get followed by tweeps with "egg" profile pics, I never follow back.
Why? Too much of a chance of spam.
Besides, to me having a profile pic is such a basic social media skill that not having one brands you as a rank beginner - not something you want your potential clients thinking.
Solution - Always use profile pics.
There is simply no excuse not to.
Even if you have to type out your brand name in a word processor using a fancy font, turn it into an image and upload it, you must have one...
or risk looking like a social media dud.
What do you think? What ruins your first impressions of a business when you visit their website or social media platforms?
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