This week we had the pleasure of developing a new website for the AJ Miller Foundation. The "Hire a PI for AJ Miller" project launched earlier today. We were glad to provide AJ's mother a resource to further the investigation into her son's death.

The website will serve as the nerve center for all viral efforts toward spreading AJ's story. With that in mind, we designed this landing page:
 

 
This is a cause worth buzzing about and we were glad to help!

Upon first glance it may seem like IFTTT is trying to reinvent the wheel. Most social media platforms include the ability to automatically distribute your posts, photos, news and more across various platforms. There are also a handful of popular services wielding their ability to disperse content with ease and even some advanced customizations. Dig a little bit deeper and you will realize IFTTT is not reinventing content distribution; it is revolutionizing it. IFTTT leverages user-created triggers and actions known as recipes.

Learn more and join by visiting IFTTT's website. Contact us for further assistance and other social media coaching services in Houston, Texas.

Newsletter marketing has proven to be a powerful and cost effective small business tool for many years. What are the benefits?

• Cost - Usually the cost involved is simply the time your marketing team spends on the one-time account setup along with the ongoing tasks of building your subscriber list, organizing the content, designing the layout, and delivering the newsletters. It is important to note digital newsletter campaigns are far more green than traditional paper-based newsletter or flyer marketing. MailChimp is our provider of choice.
• Social Media Linking - Trying to get people subscribed to your newsletter? Share the signup link on your company's Facebook page, Twitter Feed, or website. Trying to get people visiting your social media accounts? Share the account links in your newsletter.
  
• SEO - Typically newsletters are distributed via email which has no inherit search engine optimization benefits *unless* you take advantage of our tip to archive your newsletters on your website.

We recommend that you provide incentives for newsletter subscriber signup on a fairly regular basis. For example, run a blurb offering a discount on services for new subscribers within the next 24 hours. Also be upfront about the frequency of your newsletter distribution and the fact that your customers can unsubscribe at anytime.

If you are interested in Social Exchange Solutions providing newsletter service to your small business, please contact us.

The Social Exchange Solutions headquarters is located in Houston, Texas. Our team is distributed and composed of content writers, marketing associates, and developers scattered across all major Texas cities.

Although most of our customers and their prospective businesses reside in Texas, over 20% of our customers are located outside of Texas and 10% of those customers are actually outside of the United States including Canada, Mexico, South Africa, and Honduras.

Social Exchange Solutions provides worldwide service remotely. We are committed to expanding our global presence by continuing to deliver excellence in all of our solutions.

If you are a technology professional committed to excellence, design, and customer service please visit review our present Career Opportunities.

Jacob, owner of College Station's best lawn service, Cutting Your Grass To Pay For Class, has been a web design customer for three months now. Social Exchange Solutions designed and presently maintains his company website. This website is an example of how a predominately static website can still reach and engage new customers. Since the first week of launching the website, Jacob has reported an increase in new customer inquiry calls and regular use of the "request a quote" web form.

In true Aggie style, the website recently received a maroon make-over! To see an example of a Social Exchange Solutions customer website and meet the best lawn service team in College Station, Texas, head on over to CuttingYourGrassToPayForClass.com

 
Social Exchange Solutions offers Office 365 consulting, training, and implementation services. Review our complete list of services offered here. Contact us for more information.

There are at least 101 benefits of analyzing your website analytics and here is one you probably had not thought of- browser statistics. Many providers, Google Analytics included, breakdown the percentage of visitors who view your website by the browser they are using.

Why is this important? Imagine you loathe Internet Explorer as much as I do. You never use it and assume your audience does not either. After all, it is human nature to make such an assumption. Unbeknownst to you over half of your viewers are using Internet Explorer 9.  Even further, those viewers are experiencing a quirks mode view of your website with all kinds of formatting errors. You are completely unaware of this because you develop in Google Chrome where everything loads just fine. Different browsers render content in different views.

The moral of this story is analytics can do more than just monitor your site traffic. Social Exchange Solutions provides many web development services including analytics implementation and reporting. Ask us to review your website and send you a free website grading!

Worried about your Facebook ad campaigns not reaching your mobile customers? Don't be- Zuckerberg's on it!

With over 160 million users visiting Facebook via mobile applications versus the traditional desktop interface this is definitely a valid concern.  Facebook mobile traffic has increased steadily throughout 2011 and into 2012.  The Facebook camp admits they are not where they could be as far as incorporating advertising into the mobile market but they are "working on it".

Read more in an official statement from the Facebook Developer Blog.

Thursday night tip! Want to create some buzz around a new product or service? Try offering free samples or trials!

We are on Twitter @SoExSolutions (please follow us if you aren’t) and as an avid Twit I can tell you one of the fastest ways to build buzz is to let people try your product for free. If they like it they will evangelize it for you!

Talk about a ROT- Return on Tweet!

Texas is buzzing about the mega millions lottery jackpot right now. 

How did some organizations take advantage of this trend?  Well, I can tell you that I saw Likes and Shares all over my personal Facebook news feed today from Texas-based radio stations who instructed users to share a lottery ticket photo with friends for a chance to take the winnings if that ticket actually wins.  Why is that one of the best marketing ideas I’ve seen?  Those radio stations touched thousands of users for the cost of a $1 lottery ticket that in all likelihood will not win.  Checkout Google AdWords or Facebook Ads pricing to realize the benefit of reaching that many people for only $1!

Integrating current trends with your social media strategy is imperative to keep your current audience engaged and attract new visitors.  It's good to talk about your business and products but understand this; the fastest way to lose your audience is over self-promotion.  Know your audience.  Share relevant content.  Stay on-top-of trends.