Blog
Welcome!
Welcome to the B.B. Media Relations blog. We are a social media marketing firm in the Dallas area helping small businesses create better brand awareness through social media. Our approach is to work as a team with you and your company to ensure positive results and make your life as easy as possible. Keep up to date with our blog to receive information about our company and how we are growing, industry news and information, and we always encourage anyone to engage with us because we love hearing from you! (more…)
Branding via Social Media Usernames
Has your organization taken the social media plunge yet? Have you considered the importance of your social media usernames when it comes to your branding and message? It’s important that you take a little time to weigh your options and ponder what your social media username says about your brand.
Networking usernames help form a first impression, which can go a long way towards determining the success of your company’s online marketing activity. It is important to choose a username which is fit for the task – one that is clear, professional and memorable.
Obviously, large companies with well-known brands have an easy decision when it comes to which names to register. Using the company’s name is the simplest solution since doing so gives an air of authority and authenticity.
But for those who are in the process of building a brand – new organizations, small businesses, and the self-employed – there is a wider range of options. They could register simply using their company name, but with limited consumer awareness of their brand this may not necessarily strike a chord. Or they could, with a little creativity, engineer a username which includes a message. Perhaps, a short and simple motto or catchphrase. This username – a brand’s name aligned with an insightful message – may help earn a larger band of followers. Building a personal brand in this way may be more effective since it helps to make yourselves more easily seen and heard in an increasingly competitive marketplace.
Note that you will find it helpful to consult each social media platform’s terms of use before and during your username brainstorming session. Those rules and guidelines have golden nuggets you can use to your advantage.
Further, companies and organizations often find that it can be beneficial to register more than one social media username. It’s not only important to select a username that is memorable but to go the extra mile and register several social media usernames among all platforms. This gives you options down the road, should the need arise, but even more it removes those usernames from the pool of available names for others to register. It is far easier to be proactive now and secure your social media usernames, than it will be to recover them from a social media ‘squatter’ later.
Speaking from experience, negotiating with social media username squatters can be tedious process. However, remember the terms of use we mentioned earlier? This is where they become especially handy. For example, the Facebook terms dictate that the general public use their actual names when registering. If your desired username is in use by someone breaking that rule, you have the option of reporting the situation to get the username freed up for your use. Of course, we highly recommend first approaching the squatter with a pleasant and professional request for them to voluntarily release the username in accordance with Facebook’s guidelines. If they are not willing to comply, know that you still have options.
Once you have a list of username contenders, it can be tedious to check them across multiple platforms. We have an easy solution for you. Checkusernames.com is a great tool for getting answers fast. Just enter the username and click ‘Check User Name’ to have it run through the registries of over 150 platforms. Granted you won’t want or need all those platforms. Their platform list is so thorough and the service so easy to use, why not make the task simpler for yourself? One word of caution, services like these are not 100% accurate. They are accurate enough to be an aid in your process.
While it may seem trivial, choosing your username for your social media platforms is an important branding task. It is best undertaken with careful thought and consideration and an eye toward the future. First impressions count, after all.
KidBiz USA Website Design
Today, we take a few moments to share a recent project we at BB Media Relations enjoyed heading up – the KidBiz USA website design!
Earlier this year Mashable shared an article titled ‘10 Essential Features of Every Good Business Website‘ in which the author, Lauren Drell, shares what she considers to be must-haves on business websites. Lauren makes some great points so we thought we’d frame our KidBiz USA website spotlight around those 10 concepts. Practical application trumps just sharing the link with you. So, in the order from the article, let’s get started. (more…)
3 Reasons Social Media Matters
After years of avoiding social media, small businesses are finally starting to embrace the potential of this relatively new marketing technique. According to a survey of 600 small businesses across the United States, 90% of owners are actively engaged on social networking sites and 74% perceive social networking as valuable — if not more valuable — than networking in-person. Another recent study by Blue, indicates that 50% of small businesses report they have developed new leads from social media. So social is working for small businesses. Is your business one of the holdouts? Or maybe you’ve decided to give it a try but aren’t sure it’s worth your time. Here we briefly review the top 3 reasons social media matters. (more…)
6 Reasons Your Small Business Needs a Website
Why does a small business need a website?
How often do you do a search online for a particular business, only to find that they don’t have a website? How often do members of the business community hand you a business card with an email address @yahoo.com, or the like? In today’s business world it’s amazing to see just how many small businesses still do not have a web presence. You probably know some businesses that are doing phenomenally well without a website. I do, too. But I often wonder how much better they could be doing if they did have one. Here I share 6 reasons your small business needs a website. (more…)
Google +: What Does It Really “Add”?
“It is a tremendous responsibility for us to have all the eyes focused on what we do and give people exactly what they need when they ask for it.” -Larry Page CEO/Co-Founder Google
In the world of social media, proposals come and go. Many different products, social media frameworks, and branding designs are written up and explained all across the nation, but many of them never get passed the first meeting. So, what makes Google + stand out and where is really headed? (more…)
The “Pinning” Generation
What is a pin or what is pinning?
- Pin = “An image added to Pinterest”
- Pinning= “The act of visually sharing content”
Times have changed from using pens to clicking “pin,” from pinning a dress to “pinning” an image. What does all this mean for retailers, for marketers, for customers? It’s a a new dynamic of viral sharing where images begin to dominate the internet on “pin-boards” at a speed faster than most can view them. (more…)
Social Media: Trend or Fad?
As an intern/entry-level employee in 2012 the pressures of my life consist of learning how to handle life out of college, staying professionally competitive in a digital era and figuring out what could be the next “Facebook”. Normal, right? If you lived 20 years ago it might not have been, but today it has very well become known as normal. (more…)
Client Spotlight: Crystal Frasier Weddings
We have been discussing the importance of having a comprehensive online marketing strategy and the elements associated with a companies strategy. We believe the most important element in any online marketing strategy is a well developed and designed website.
Our first website client (besides designing and developing the B.B. Media site) was for a local wedding planner, Crystal Frasier Weddings. Crystal was absolutely wonderful to work with and made it easy for us to understand her vision. When your big day comes may we suggest contacting Crystal Frasier Weddings!
Take a look at the site here and tell us what you think!
Online Marketing Strategies: Email Marketing
Email marketing campaigns are one of the best ways to communicate with your customers. Think about how many emails you receive each day and how many you open. Constant Contact put out a recent infograph with some very interesting statistics you might want to view. (more…)
