Location, location, location?

These days, we're all aware how important it is that our customers know how to find us. And now, more than ever, it's increasingly critical to ensure that no matter how they choose to search for our business or service, they can find it quickly and easily.

The old fashioned way of looking us up in the Yellow Pages (or perhaps phoning directory enquiries) has been usurped by simply typing a search, location or company name into your phone or browser. Therefore, it's of utmost importance that at the very least, when someone types your company name into Google that your website appears in the first page. Go on, do it now, do you appear on the first page?

There's a host of ways to make sure that search engines know you exist: SEO (Search Engine Optimisation), social media, paid listings, link building etc. all do their part, but often the simplest and easiest way is to make sure you've got plenty of relevant (text-based) content on your site and your website is built to be, if not fully 'Search optimised', at least 'search engine friendly'. I won't go into too much detail on SEO  here, as that's a whole different story, but do drop us a line if you'd like to find out more.

So, the other big thing you need to make sure of is that people (and search engines / mapping systems) not only know who you are and what you do, but where you are.

There’s no ‘I’ in ‘Maps’

This is particularly relevant right now, as Apple recently rolled out their new iOS update – introducing their brand spanking new 'Apple Maps' – thus replacing the ubiquitous 'Google Maps' on iPhones and iPads.

Depending on who you speak to, this was either a complete disaster due to Apple wanting to distance themselves from their biggest competitor, or a great success bringing amazing new 3D maps and a cleaner, better designed experience. Even if you love the new system, it has to be said, it's not quite perfect yet (The Guardian, 20/9/12).

Adding yourself to Apple Maps 

The immediate problem this has caused is that all the hard work you've done to make sure you appear on Google Maps for both web and mobile searches (you ARE on Google Maps right? if not, see below) has now been undone - there's no guarantee that your location(s) now appear correctly (or at all) in Apple Maps. Go check your updated iPhone or iPad (or borrow someone elses) and check.

Just go into the new maps, find your approximate location and type your company name into the search. If nothing comes up, or if it's in the wrong place, here's what you can do to try to update it:

• Open the 'page fold' at the bottom right of the screen

• Select 'Report a Problem'

• Now select 'Location is missing', then touch the 'Next' button

• Now you can move the pin to the correct location for your business, once you're happy with it, choose 'Next'

• Enter your business name, address and website, ensure you choose a relevant business category from the list too.

• Once you're happy with all of this, select 'Send'. The rest is up to Apple.

If you want to make doubly sure, you can go straight to the source. Apple get their location information from a number of places, so it's a good idea to look into getting yourself on those too.

Firstly, Apple use Yelp for user reviews, although unfortunately not used for business locations, but it's still a good idea to set up a free business account on there at: biz.yelp.co.uk

In addition, they use data from Acxiom, Localeze, Tom Tom and OpenStreetMap. Most of these are more concerned with geospatial data, so probably the only one really worth investigating is Localeze, however their service isn't free (a single business listing costs around $300).

Adding yourself to Google Maps

Of course this is important for people searching using the 300 million iOS devices out there, but there are still a lot more people using Google Maps (either via the main Google Maps site, on Android Phones, or embedded Google Maps like this one). And don't forget that getting on Google Maps means that your Google search listings are automatically enhanced (for example, typing 'to the point London' into Google).

This is free, really worth doing and will only take a few minutes, so if you're not on there already, or your listing needs a bit of attention, here's how to add yourself to the world.

• Visit Google Maps here: maps.google.co.uk (or here if outside the UK)

• Click the link 'Put your business on Google Maps'. You'll now need to sign in using a Google account. (If you don't already have one, you can create on for free by clicking 'Create an account now' you can link your normal email address to it so you don't have to use Gmail to have a Google account. Once setup, return back to the above page to continue).

• Once signed in, Select 'Add New Business'

• Fill in as much information as you can about your business, eg. country, name, address, phone number, email & website, description and category. Once ready, click 'Next'.

• Click on 'Add Listing'. Note: If your business is already on Google Places, you can claim it by selecting 'Claim Listing' in order to change and update it.

• The next page is optional but provides additional information about your business eg. hours of operation, payment options etc. It's also a good idea to upload an image or two as this really livens up your maps listing when viewed on the web or mobile. You can even add a video from YouTube if that's relevant to you (eg. a company animation or showreel – that's also something we can help with if you need one).

• Once ready, click 'Submit'

• You will need to verify your listing (so Google can ensure that it's really you!). You can do this either by phone or by postcard. If you choose by phone, you will receive an automated call (to the number you provided) with a code number. Enter this code into the verification box. By postcard does the same thing but will take a day or two to reach you for obvious reasons.

• It can take a few days (allow up to a week or so) for your listing to be updated. You can change/update your listing later if you need to and you won't be asked to verify again.

Finally, if you really want to delve into the world of online location services, you should also look at adding/updating your listing on Bing maps (the 'other' search/mapping engine). Unfortunately it appears that they're currently still very US-centric and use a third party to manage UK listings. However, you can easily update your information here, which should eventually make it's way onto Bing (and a few other location/directory listings to boot).

Beyond that, you can also look into adding yourself to Foursquare, the leading location based social media site and ensuring that you have a Facebook page linked to your location - although these are only really worth investigating if you're considering promoting yourself on there and/or engaging directly with people using these social media sites.

Like?

Unless you've been hiding under the digital equivalent of a large rock over the last few years, you'll be aware of the huge impact 'social media' is having on the world at large. From Twitter to LinkedIn and Google+, these have given us all new ways to communicate with our friends, build brand awareness or plan the next major riot.

In terms of social media though, nothing can really compare to the behemoth that is Facebook, but many companies are still holding back from any kind of social media presence (especially when it comes to Facebook) as they see it as simply a glorified way for people to 'tweet' about their pub-crawl plans and 'like' pictures of kittens etc. - not exactly relevant for most B2B companies. Sure, we've all heard tales of B2C marketing successes - but again, that's when marketing directly to the consumer.

Even so, more and more traditional B2B companies are starting to explore this new frontier. Twitter seems to be the usual jumping off point - setting up a Twitter account is incredibly simple and with a maximum of 140 characters, most of us can just about find the time to write a tweet every now and again (although even that amount can sometimes seem daunting to those new to the idea).

Are you a tweeting fanatic or are you still sitting on the fence and waiting before you dip your toe in those mysterious social waters? And just because social media is the current 'trend' of the day, should you feel forced to join the herd? Facebook presents a few challenges in terms of building an audience and posting relevant content, so if you are new to the whole thing, then Twitter is probably the best place to start. It can be very effective when trying to raise awareness of your brand, getting your point of view out to a wider audience and even increasing your search engine ranking, so it really is worth trying (and talking of raising awareness - see the additional note 'Going Viral' below).

Here's a tip when starting out - one of the key things to do is find a 'voice' - remember this will be the Twitter account for the company, not necessarily yourself, but this doesn't mean that you have to be dull or 'matter of fact' – in fact those who simply use Twitter to post press-releases won't get a lot of followers. Use the channel to communicate with a different audience and in a different way. Don't forget to follow people you also find interesting and don't be afraid to RT (ReTweet) anything you think will be interesting to those who follow you. Throw in some links to interesting things on your site and use it to publicise any news or blogs you want more people to see (this can be great for SEO too). Finally, don't make the mistake that many first time Twitterers make - don't think of it as one way communication. If someone comments on your brand, your work or sends you a direct message - be on the other end of the line and answer their query, engage with them!

But that's just Twitter, what of Facebook? Well over the last few years, Facebook has steadily been rolling out changes to the way it handles 'brand' pages. Facebook is no longer just for individuals and there are now many more tools to enable either a B2C *OR* B2B brand to have a presence. You only really appreciate the true power of Facebook when you set up a page and then look into the advertising possibilities - the sheer range of targeting information and options is quite staggering. Want to advertise to women in London and New York and Tokyo, all between the ages of 24 and 28 who like Skydiving and Crochet? No problem!

One of the biggest of these recent changes is the Facebook Timeline. Any normal Facebook user will already be familiar with the Timeline layout as that rolled out to personal profiles several months ago, however, this now goes live for brands today. This means a whole new layout to the page, so any existing content will probably need to be re-looked at. So if you've already got a Facebook page, you'll need to make sure you're ready for the change, and for those who haven't explored the option, well, now's a good time to try!

The nice thing about the social media revolution is that the tools are free and the hard bit isn't actually the figuring out of technology/software - it's the creation of content (and not just once, but once a month at least!). This means that it's pretty easy for most people to figure out how to setup their Facebook page and add interesting content for your potential audience. That's not to say that more advanced features aren't available of course.

One tool we've recently been exploring is 'LikeIt Pages' - this is an interesting new service that aims to give the average user much more in the way of options when it comes to their Facebook pages - from encouraging users to 'Like' you, to giving extra content 'rewards' when they do. The system is pretty easy to use and any limitations are more down to the way Facebook works rather than problems with the software itself.

If you'd like to find out more about how you can use social media to spread the word and attract more business, give us a call or email me at: ben@tothepoint.co.uk. For further information about LikeIt Pages or setting up your Facebook page to take advantage of the new Timeline see the links below:

For further info:

Our Facebook page (feel free to 'like' us!)

LikeIt Pages

Top 6 guides to starting a Facebook Brand page

Top 6 changes to Facebook with the new Timeline

Timeline for brands - a complete guide

and finally a very nice use of the new Facebook Timeline - the D&AD Easter Egg hunt


Additional note - Going viral:

Just as I'm writing all this stuff about the potential power of Twitter, it's nice to see that our little typography game we created last year 'I Shot the Serif' has gone viral again. You can see the current Twitter chat here: https://twitter.com/#!/search/tothepoint.co.uk - the point is that without doing any additional marketing (over and above the occasional tweet), we had more hits to our site than EVER before yesterday (that's over 3000 unique hits in one day - not bad considering we usually average around 150 per day). And if that isn't a nice way to demonstrate the power of social media, I'm not sure what is!

where New York leads...

...does London follow?

After a brief visit to New York recently, there were a few things that struck me about the fast pace of life over there. It's historically been the case that, at least with new technology, where New York leads, we tend to follow a few years later – but is this still the case? And if it is, what might be headed our way?

Smarts

Even more than in London, it's clear to see that the 'smart phone' has really taken off over there, plenty of iPhone users, but lots of people using Android, Blackberry and Palm phones there too. Whilst the UK is still in the grip of iPhone fever, the US is starting to see much more competition within the smart phone market - with Android phones really starting to eat into Apple's early lead. Meanwhile, Blackberry seems to have left the confines of it's 'business only' reputation – mainly due to it's great instant messaging ('BBM') and it's physical keyboard.

And this proliferation of mobile internet users is having a knock on effect. I was very interested to see that QR codes (you know, those strange bar-code squares you've seen occasionally and always wondered what they were) have caught on in a big way over there, whilst they're still largely underused gimmicks over here. So, for instance, in the New York 'Time Out', many articles ended with a QR barcode – just point your phone at it, click and you're taken to the website containing further relevant information. I'm not entirely sure whether this is genuinely useful for users or just a symptom of the print industry feeling itself being left behind. But it was clear to see that on many large format posters, magazine articles and ads, prominent QR codes effectively work like 'read more buttons' leading to additional, up-to-date content online. I suspect we'll be seeing much more of these over here too as smart phone use becomes more commonplace.

Right place, right time

Another by-product of having more people with smart phones and 'always on' internet (apart from the constant barrage of emails, messages, tweets and Facebook updates, of course) is that these phones are 'location aware' – with built in GPS, our phones know exactly where we are.

This is obviously useful when browsing Google Maps, but it's spawned a new kind of social media too – location based. Handy if you want to tell people you're at a conference, or down the pub – just incase your friends or work colleagues are there too. But while we in the UK seem to be a little more reluctant to share such private information with the masses, location based services such as Foursquare, Gowalla and, to a lesser extent, the newer Facebook Places seem to have really taken off over there. Foursquare seems to be the current leader, being much more integrated into mainstream use, with brands such as Starbucks, Domino's, Time Out, New York Magazine, MTV and a host of other media companies, newspapers, bars, hotels and museums all using it as a new marketing channel, offering special offers to regular visitors.

The really interesting shift here is that, until now, the internet hasn't really concerned itself in any meaningful way with where we or our customers/visitors physically are. In a way, the power of internet marketing has been it's world-wide reach and it's ability to ignore specific location. Location based marketing brings things back to the importance of 'nearby' and, as long as our audience is willing to share their current location, gives us another, very important and relevant communication channel. As consumers, we're currently able to search for businesses near to us (either physically or online), but location based marketing offers businesses the opportunity to search for potential customers near to them. It's early days for this as a concept but, in New York at least, brands are getting excited about exploring it's possibilities.

It's interesting to see that while 'location' is being heralded as the 'next big thing' out in New York, hopping onto Foursquare over here is still a fairly empty experience for now (or maybe I just don't have enough cool friends in the know?). And while Facebook is as busy as ever, I'm not seeing many 'Places' check-ins yet – perhaps this is because there just aren't many advantages for those who do 'check-in' over here. For instance, after two check-ins at my local Domino's, I've been awarded 'Mayor' status on Foursquare – and the benefit of being Mayor is a free pizza every Wednesday! This would be great, if it wasn't for the fact that the local staff have never heard of this offer, or even of Foursquare itself – so I guess we have some catching up to do! The other reason it's still not made much of an impact is perhaps that culturally we're much more reticent to share such personal information. The denizens of New York seem much less worried about letting everyone know exactly where they are – whilst this provides marketers even more targeted data, it may of course result in unintended consequences - as the site 'pleaserobme.com' set out to highlight last year.

A Minority Report
 

Although not specific to New York, while I was out there, the new Microsoft 'Kinect' device launched to much fanfare and marketing hype (and was released not long after, over here). In short, it's a gaming device that allows you to interact without a controller – a little like the Nintendo Wii that's been around for years (just without the remote). So, apart from the obligatory dancing and fitness games, what's so special about this and why should it interest anyone not actually into gaming?

Well, in short, the technology is really quite amazing and it's light years beyond the giroscopes and motion sensors used in Nintendo's offering. Based on tech originally developed for the Israeli military, the device features multiple cameras (including infrared) – able to capture a whole room (and anyone in it) in 3D and in realtime. Once it recognises a person (yes, it has facial recognition), it's able to map their exact body movements – creating a 3D virtual skeleton model that can be replicated by an avatar on screen. This is similar to the technique of 'motion capture' used for movies such as Avatar and the character 'Gollum' in Lord of the Rings. And if that's not quite futuristic enough, it even features speech recognition too. All wonderfully techy (for more info on how it works, start here), but what impact will this have other than another variation on virtual ten-pin bowling? The initial games all look quite fun, but it's what the technology itself offers beyond the gaming applications that I find really exciting.

As is the way with new technology and the excitable IT crowd, people are already dissecting it and trying to find out how it works – and what else they can use it for. Remember the famous scene from Minority Report, where Tom Cruise manipulates a rather complicated computer interface just with swift hand movements (requiring special gloves to do so)? We all figured that was a good decade or two away. Well, Kinect has the potential to do all that right now (and no gloves required). Where touch screens have revolutionised the way we interact with our phones, it's really limited to smaller screens and in two dimensions only. So what does the future hold for this 3D motion control technology? Possibly a complete revolution in the way we interact with computers – finally doing away with the age old 'keyboard and mouse' user interface we've used since Xerox invented the idea 37 years ago (yes, it's that old and no, Apple didn't invent the idea). Am I getting carried away by a cheap gaming gadget? Perhaps, after all, there's still a few issues with accuracy and latency, but check out these first step experiments and imagine a future where kids laugh at the ancient idea of clunky and unintuitive keyboards, mice and even the touch screens we're so used to now. Unlike New York, I don't think that future's so far away.

hacking Kinect - experiments in realtime motion control:




(oh, and of course, where geeks experiment, Star Wars surely follows...)

Ben Jackson,
Head of Digital Media,
www.tothepoint.co.uk