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working on some new content - your ideas are most welcome.

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Social Media Facts Sep 2010

This presentation aggregates social media facts and data and outline some of the trends we see online today. This is relevant for online marketing and PR professionals or for anyone who wants to learn about the current Social Media environment. The last presentation seems to have been popular so check it out.

Social media facts sep 2010

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Social Media Facts and Trends

This presentation aggregates social media facts and data and outline some of the trends we see online today. This is relevant for online marketing and PR professionals or for anyone who wants to learn about the current Social Media environment.

Social Media Facts and Trends, May 2010

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Designers

Web 2.0 for Young
Graphic Designers

Purpose

The following Web2.0 marketing plan will outline the strategy and tools for a starting graphic designer. Specifically, how to get business exposure, acquire clients and generate income.

I wrote this strategy as an assignment for a Web 2.0 Marketing class. It was originally written for my sister Dana who is a young graphic designer living in Israel.

Strategy

Dana should start by building an online presence for her business. Her online presence will serve as a hub where she can present her portfolio and share information. Since Dana needs a quick way to generate cash flow, she can sell some of her existing designs using free online designer marketplaces. One of the benefits in a web 2.0 marketing plan is that the upfront capital costs are lower than in the past, making it easier to enjoy the network effects (A.Shuen, Web 2.0 Strategy Guide).

Online Tools

Develop a complete website. The cost will be as minimal as buying a domain name since Dana will be the one designing it. Partner with a coder to develop the technical aspects of the site and in return design one of his/her projects for free.

Make the designs available for purchase online. Sign up to services such as PayPal and Visa Bill Payment to provide a secure online purchasing option. These services have no setup fees but they charge, on average, 2.5% for each transaction.

Create a Flickr profile. Flickr can be used as you main portal until you get a website. The Flickr account will be used mainly to display designs, but also to have people rank or comment on them. Having people’s provide feedback on the designs will build credibility, and also inform you which designs are more popular and why. Finally, you can connect with other designers through Flickr to exchange ideas, learn about the competitors and stay updated on new tools.

Dana is an active user of Facebook. I created a Facebook photo album presenting some of her work. Once I shared the album with my network and her network, the album was visible to more than 600 people. I would not suggest starting a Facebook page unless Dana is planning to advertise the page. From my experience, she will get better results if she starts a Facebook group. In any case, updating the photo album and making it public will give her more exposure.

Twitter is not as popular in Israel as Facebook, but it is definitely picking up. It is more popular with the Israelis who have lived in the US or are doing business with the US.

Since graphic design is a global business, there really shouldn’t be any limitation for Dana to promote herself globally. The time investment in twitter is very little and the follower numbers build up quickly. She should open an account and send tweets with links to her designs. Some of her tweets can include special promotions. Thomas Schlijper is one example of a photographer who I thought did a great job using twitpic to promote his work.

Email campaign – Dana should create an email campaign to let her network know about her new business and ask them to forward the information to people they know. She can create a “free emotion icon” gift or “free calendar desktop background” and include them in her email. The call to action would be – “get a price offer” by email or phone.

Graphic leftovers sale and online graphic design marketplaces

One great and fast way to create revenue is to sell some of the designs that Dana is not using. Digg’s best article on this topic found a list of 40 websites that had the same idea. I couldn’t find any good website that offered this service in Israel, but as I mentioned before, graphic design can be sold globally in web 2.0. Here are the three websites that had the best fit for Dana’s business.

Graphic Leftovers - This website is a year old and has 800 members and 1000 designs. Their pricing modules are $1, $3, $5, $10 and $20. The sign up process is fairly easy and they pay designers 51% of their art’s sale price, a high margin compared to other websites I looked at (istockphoto pays 20-40%)

Graphicriver – This website is has more than 160,000 members. It pays artists between 40-70% of the art’s sales price. Their pricing modules are: $1, $3, $5, $10 and $20. The sign up process is fairly easy - in other websites you have to submit your work for review or create a whole themed design, whereas here you just upload existing designs.

Logobash – The site pays designers $180 for any logo that gets picked by a client.

Dana should also publish her work in Israeli forums and groups linking back to her Flickr account.

Jobi and BDN are Israeli websites, which provide a small business directory in Israel. As a business owner you can create an online business page for free, and include your portfolio and price range. Clients who are looking for a graphic design project that is around your range will be provided to you as leads. The Jobi website’s fee for two years of publishing is 200 NIS (equivalent to $47). BDN takes a percentage off the job cost. This is a great, inexpensive way to find leads. I chose these websites over others since they represent a wide range of small business services from handymen to catering services. Hence, clients are more likely to use this site as an appointed internet source.

Measurement

In order to measure her success Dana can use the Flickr statistics option to count views. She can use Google Analytics once she decides to create a website and measure the site’s performance. If she would use tr.im to shorten her tweet links, she could also measure the click-through rate. She can count the number of leads she receives from the Israeli directories sites. She can count the number of times her designs were downloaded in the “graphic leftovers” site. Finally, she can count the actual sales - paid projects she gets from Web2.0 channels.

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