Like-gating is the practice of preventing people from viewing all or parts of a Facebook page before a user has liked it.  The practice has grown very popular as brands put more emphasis on increasing the number of likes they have on Facebook. The Like-gates themselves are usually well-branded pages that entice visitors by teasing them with the benefits they will receive when they like the page, and there’s no doubt that they do convince some users to relinquish their highly sought after Like.

Since the decision of whether or not to Like-gate a page is ultimately left to the brand, here are some pros and cons of Like-gating to help you decide if it is right for your business:

Pros of Like-gating:

• Encourages users to like your page who may otherwise not have done so. This will allow your Facebook updates to appear on their newsfeed, putting your brand in front of them on a regular basis.

• Rewards your fans with exclusive content, making them feel valued as customers.

• Provides a call-to-action for people coming to your Facebook Page. This is especially useful in coordination with PPC campaigns.

• Tailors content for new users, allowing you to highlight certain marketing messages that don’t need to be shown to your current fans.

Cons of Like-gating:

• Creates a false sense of community since many of your fans have been forced to like you, rather than actually wanting to follow you on Facebook.

• Doesn’t ensure retention. People who like your page because of a Like-gate can just as easily unlike it once they have gotten the content they want.

• Turns some people off and causes them to go away from your page altogether, leaving you with missed opportunities of reaching them at any level.

• Too focussed on the vanity number of likes rather than improving the relationships with fans. A small group of engaged fans is much better than a large group that doesn’t interact with your brand and Like-gating does nothing for engagement.

In our opinion Like-gates can be effective when used properly.  We wouldn’t recommend Like-gating an entire page, because you want people to be able to see your basic information and what your brand has to offer.  This is especially important for campaigns whose goal is to raise brand awareness.  Also, leaving your page open will make people feel as though you aren’t only on Facebook to market to large numbers, but because your brand is truly interested in developing relationships with your customers.

On the other hand, Like-gates can be effective if the content behind them is of high value to your visitor. So, if you have a great app or special offer on your page, people will be more likely to go through the Like-gate and remain your fans.

Striking the right balance is important when using Like-gates, so use them only when you think your page could benefit.  And, for extra measure, make sure to monitor your page’s Insights to see how the Like-gate affects your Facebook traffic and the interactions you have with your fans.

For more information on our social media services and app development services, contact us today.

Visit Cite’s Facebook Page to see if we use a Like-gate in our own social media marketing.

With Facebook ad revenue topping $3.8 billion in 2011, companies now recognise that these ads are an important part of any successful social media campaign.  We’ve worked with clients for years to help them improve their Facebook campaigns, from developing Facebook apps to delivering entire social media strategies, and we have seen firsthand how effective Facebook’s advertising can be.  Benefits to advertising on Facebook include:

1. Highly targetted: Facebook allows you to target your audience using a variety of different options, from basic demographic information to relationship status, education level, interests, and friends. So, no matter what your product or service, Facebook ads allow you to tailor your campaign to reach the people who will be most interested.

2. Working within a budget: In addition to a pay-per-click option, you can also pay per 1,000 impressions. These choices help you keep within your monthly marketing budget, while implementing the campaign that is right for your business.

3. The Snowball Effect: Once somebody has clicked on your Facebook ad, they can be directed to your Facebook Page, giving them more opportunity to interact with your brand. These interactions will then be posted on their newsfeed for their friends to see, allowing you to reach an even larger audience.  Successful campaigns can expect a snowball effect to occur.

4. Sponsored Stories: In addition to a standard pay per click advertisement, you can also advertise using one of your most popular wall posts. This helps make your ad more interesting while also playing to Facebook’s key strength: being social.  Your audience will be able to see the interaction of your fans, learn more about your brand, and even engage in the conversation with just one click.

5. Flexiblity:  Compared to PPC campaigns available on search engines like Google, Yahoo and Bing, Facebook allows you to create more flexible ads, including the ability to add an image as well as allowing for longer character length in ad descriptions.  This allows you to create an ad that can grab your audience’s attention and explain the benefits you have to offer.

6. Multiple destinations: Your Facebook ad can either link to your Facebook Page or an external site, allowing you to direct traffic to the best resource. Sending audiences to a Facebook Page works best for B2C brands or is ideal if the content on your page is relevant to the ad. For B2B brands, Facebook ads work best if they link to a related landing page on your website.

7. Captive audience:  Facebook users are a very engaged audience and are receptive to advertisements that interest them.  Reaching them on this platform allows you to interact with them in an environment they are comfortable with and willing to participate in.  And, if they find your ad interesting enough, they’ll share it with their friends.

8. Immediate Like: Facebook ads can include the Like button, which means your audience can begin following your Page with a simple click.  This will provide you with more opportunities to market to them in the future.

9. Easily monitored: Facebook advertising can be tracked and monitored easily, which will help you figure out what works and what doesn’t, while simultaneously learning more about your audience and their behaviour.  You can also test out different versions of an ad to see what is most popular and helps you meet your marketing objectives best.

10. Mobile users: Not only is Facebook one of the most popular sites on the Internet, it’s also one of the most popular mobile sites as well, which means your ads will be seen by people even when they are on the go.  With mobile Internet usage doubling every year, reaching this audience is vital to online marketing campaigns.

Facebook advertising provides endless opportunities to reach your customer base and should be part of any social media strategy. Whether you are announcing a new product, promoting an online competition, or want to drive traffic to your website, Facebook ads could be the right solution for your business.

Cite offer Facebook advertising management to our clients. Contact us on 0116 254 9888 to learn more about this and other social media services.

In order to build relationships and bring in new business for the brands, our social media experts regularly post tweets, engage with followers, and promote the brands as industry experts. We also keep an eye out for relevant Twitter conversations and make sure we’re generating interesting content for each brand. And, to give Thomas & Betts complete control, all our tweets are approved before being published.

In addition to tweeting, we’ve also developed websites for some of these brands, and assisted with their email marketing and SEO, so we were really excited when they were ready to branch into social media. Since maintaining the Thomas & Betts Twitter profiles the brands have already seen an increase in followers and new opportunities for business.

If you need some help maintaining your company’s social media profiles, check out our social media tips for business or contact our team today.

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Close to 10,000 students from 22 countries will be participating in the 2012 competition, many of which are sure to have great management accounting careers ahead of them.  CIMA wanted to engage with participants, supporters, and past participants to develop long-term relationships and promote the various stages of the competition.

Facebook is the perfect platform to reach CIMA’s social media marketing objectives. In addition to the fact that so many undergraduates use Facebook, it also provides us with the ability to generate buzz that will engage visitors and keep them excited about the year-long competition.

As the GBC’s social media agency, we’ve developed a full Facebook marketing strategy, are giving them social media training, and will be launching tabs and apps throughout the year.  We’re not going to reveal what these apps are just yet, but we’ll keep you posted as they launch; until then, check out the GBC Facebook page to keep up with the competition as it unfolds.

For more information on our social media services, including Facebook app development and monthly social media maintenance, contact us today on 0116 254 9888.

The United Kingdom is a common destination for people seeking medical attention for children living with HIV. Often, before children come here for treatment, their parents or guardians immigrate to the UK to find a job and establish a life so that their child arrives to a safe home. This separation can sometimes last years and children may not feel connected to their family members when they arrive.

In order to assist in this transition, Chiva and Faith In People asked us to create a microsite that would help children bond with their parents.  Chiva wanted the site to provide a lot of resources and activities for families, so we’ve included information about HIV as well as a private blog that allows them to write about their experiences together.

We’ve also provided access a well-established family tree site that allows children to learn more about their family and where they come from. Hopefully, after spending time on these activities, parents and children will feel close enough to each other that they can have a chat about the HIV positive status that the children (and in some cases, their parents) have.

The site includes a Google translator to allow people from all over the world access to the information.  Because of the sensitive nature of HIV, a button is included that will instantly hide the website if users do not want others to know what they are viewing.  The website was built in WordPress.

We had a great time developing the “Get 2 Know Me” microsite and would love to get your feedback. Check it out and let us know what you think in the comments below.

For more information on our web design services, please contact us on 0116 254 9888.

Because BlueWorld Gardener is a web-based business, it needs a powerful online marketing strategy that will reach its target audience. The company needs to highlight its wide array of gardening products, from plants and equipment to seasonal items and decorative features, and email marketing is an excellent way of achieving this goal.

Whereas some of our clients prefer to construct their email campaigns themselves using our specialist software, BlueWorld Gardener have engaged us to take care of the whole process, including:
• Uploading subscriber lists
• Managing and formatting content
• Scheduling email delivery
• Providing comprehensive reporting

BlueWorld Gardener are the latest client to sign up for our email marketing services, alongside Elkay, NHS Supply Chain, and Myriad CEG. Our guarantee is a great service and greater results.

For more information on our email marketing services, contact us today.

In addition to making privacy easier to understand, Google claims that this move will help improve the user experience by allowing it to share a user’s information across its various platforms. So, instead of tailoring your search results based on information you’ve searched in the past, Google will be able to also access other information about your web activities, such as what you watch on YouTube or what your recent emails were about to determine what search results you’d prefer.

In some ways this is great—a more fluid experience whenever you use Google products. However, many people are concerned that this sharing of information will give Google too much information about users. Sure, it has been collecting this information for quite some time, but to put it into use has some people wondering what’s to come. Another concern for privacy activists is the fact that Google doesn’t give people the choice to opt out of this feature, giving users no control over their information.

This move may come as a surprise to many, however the cause is most likely based on Google’s attempt to compete against Facebook and Apple, both of which have successfully built unified online products. Not only that, but in terms of online marketing, this change will allow Google to develop much more targeted advertisements than it has in the past.

With only a month to go until these new privacy features are put in to affect, it will be interesting to see how they operate and how the user experience will actually change. This story should be one to watch as many countries have already begun to show signs of concern and of possible assessments being taken to make sure the policy complies with their laws.

Our digital agency is especially interested in these developments because Google is such an important part of our industry, including how it will impact SEO, social media, and reporting and analysis services.

For more information on our services, or just to have a friendly chat, give us a call today on 0116 254 9888.

*The video used in this post is from Google’s official announcement about the policy change. The video was originally located the Google blog.

SOPA (Stop Online Piracy Act) is intended to protect intellectual property copyright by shutting down websites that infringe on these laws.  Many organisations are concerned that the wording in the act makes it too easy to shut down websites that may unintentionally be breaking copyright, leading to the ability to censor the web. So, while we can all understand a website that allows illegal movie downloads being shut down, the act allows for much more than that.  Any site that illegally contains copyrighted material can be taken down, as can any website that could potentially facilitate copyright infringement—which includes YouTube, Facebook, Gmail, and even blogs.

The acts also allow the US government to censor foreign-based sites that it does not have the power to directly take down. It will also allow companies to take individuals to court over online copyright infringement, even if their intention was not to break copyright.

And while we don’t live in the US, there is a worry that the impact of this act will be felt around the world. How will it impact online dialogue or creativity? Will people be able to upload videos of themselves singing a popular song? Will famous images be able to be used on blogs? Will the Internet continue to be a place that promotes access to information, creativity, and sharing?

So, today is a day of action online, with companies blacking out to show the possible impact of the act if it goes into affect.  The campaign against this act is popular in the tech industry and even has the backing of the Obama administration. And while we wait to see what will happens, many hope that the wording will change to prevent the potential for massive Internet censorship.

For more information, read SOPA in its entirety.

We deliver a quick turnaround, so Pure doesn’t have to wait around once they’ve got a great idea for a competition. Each competition is designed with a different look and feel, while offering Pure the same easy-to-use functionality and data collection methods. We also host all of the competitions, give them any support they need, and peace of mind that it will all run smoothly.

To date the competitions have been drawing a lot of attention from Pure’s listeners, and we’re excited to be part of it all.

For more information on our Facebook app services, contact us today.

Want to learn more about the possibilities with a Facebook competition app? Find out how Taylor Wimpey is using our Facebook Competition App Template to improve their Facebook strategy.

For those of you sticking to Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Posterous, we’ll still be staying busy on those social networks too.  So, take your pick or take them all, and drop us a line whenever you like.

For more information on our social media services, feel free to contact us through one of our profiles or give us a bell on 0116 254 9888.