What inspires Diana Bennett Wirtz of Amethyst Designs?

Today we’re highlighting another designer in our Top 100 DesignSherpa “What Inspires You?” contest entry countdown.

The entry comes from Diana Bennett Wirtz of Amethyst Designs. Here’s what she says inspires her:

Fred inspires me.
Rolling down the design road of life I often think of my late husband Fred; for he gave me the gift of believing in oneself, looking for the best in everything and knowing you can always do more or better. He encouraged me to finish my MA in interior design and now working on my PhD and teaching interior design, his delight in the ordinary things of life comes to mind when learning or sharing new ideas or concepts. Great design is not creating complex spaces; it is ability to transform that space from ordinary to extraordinary.

Trip to Paris and Maison & Objet Excites “What Inspires You?” Entrants

DesignSherpa, the leading social media and internet marketing system for design professionals has officially closed the “What Inspires You” contest for new entries at midnight, June 21, 2010.  Hundreds of submissions were received on this site, all including an image and 100 words of inspiration, and our judges will now go to work selecting the top 100 contestants to move to the next round.  We will feature the work and submissions of our favorites until the judges award the ultimate prize of $10K, the trip to Maison & Objet, and the chance to blog about it for DesignSherpa.  We can’t wait to uncover the amazing design talent that rises above all others.  Will a design industry icon be acknowledged or will a new talent be discovered?  Keep checking back here to keep up with all the news.

We launched this social media contest to give something back and to thank the home design and remodeling industry that so quickly made DesignSherpa a successful service for providing full service social media solutions to such a wide array of design professionals, showrooms, and retailers.  We had no idea what to expect or what part of the ultimate prize would be most interesting to the design community.  It looks like Paris and Maison & Objet topped the list based on a survey we hosted here since the launch of the contest.  Who knew?

Final day for “What Inspires You?” contest entries!

If you’re longing for a 10-day trip to Paris, $10,000 and attending Maison & Objet or if you just want to prove to the world your stellar sense of style, then you don’t want to miss an opportunity to enter our “What Inspires You?” contest.

The winner of our contest can lay claim to all of the above, but you must act fast!  The deadline to enter the contest is midnight tonight June 21st, 2010.  Find out more information about the What Inspires You? contest and the contest rules.

No Purchase Necessary. Ends 6/21/10. Open to legal residents of the 50 U.S. and DC age 18 or older as of 4/12/10.Void where prohibited.

Inspired by Design, $10,000 and a Trip to Maison & Objet in Paris?

About Social Media Marketing: The DesignSherpa Perspective

We believe that the core of a powerful social media program is content. The development of targeted content that is consistent with your brand story, which is distributed through social media platforms that align with your customers and prospects preferences, will generate measurable results in your business performance.

Social media marketing requires expertise and management, and at DesignSherpa our mission is to do the heavy lifting associated with building content and managing the distribution through social networks and increased Google recognition. This work doesn’t remove you or your marketing team from the process: it enhances your resources and focuses you and your team on the work of identifying and engaging high-quality prospects and staying connected with your current customers.

Our Chairman & CEO, Dan McCarthy, has been an early adopter of social media as an internet marketing strategy. In his personal blog, ViralHousingFix, Dan has shared many of his observations about the application of social media to marketing and has articulated some foundation principles.

To better understand our approach to social media marketing and to gain additional perspective, you may want to read Dan’s following posts:

Migrating a brand strategy from marketing to content: A case study

My two principals of social media marketing

Online content isn’t just consumed…it can be transformed

An organizational shift to social media: Project Massive Network

Social media can be a marketing platform: It starts with brand evangelism

One Local Business Operator’s View on Social Media

In a recent post at Dan McCarthy’s Viralhousingfix blog there was an interesting ground level story about a local cycling/spin studio operator’s view on his own experiences with social media as a tool for expanding his business.  I happen to know the operator, and he is a practical smart thinker that never overstates matters or sugar coats his experiences.

The operator, Bill Pryor of Spynergy Cycling Studio (full disclosure: Bill is an old media hand and good friend, and we have used his expertise to help us develop our DigitalSherpa social media services) had this to say about social media as tool for a small businesses like his:

First, all this is still exploratory and the best practices are far from well defined —– but it doesn’t take much time (or money) to explore and there is more than enough anecdotal stuff happening to make me feel it is worth it. Second not ALL my customers are into this stuff……not even MOST of my customers and prospects are into it. But a small, passionate and fast growing group ARE into this. And those people are disproportionately important because they are those key “connectors” or “engagers” or whatever it was that Malcom Gladwell called them in Tipping Point. The ones who ARE into social media often can turn into obsessive evangelists for your business. Evangelists armed with amazing networking tools.

Check out the post at Viralhousingfix.com to see some examples of how some of Bill’s social media savvy customers have helped him promote his local fitness business.  Also, read this post on local businesses and social media .  If you are interested in checking in on Bill’s blogging approach for Spynergy, find it here at spynergy.squarespace.com/blog .  It is just another example of how social media can be an inexpensive but powerful boost for small businesses.

Social Media Checklist Worth Noting

The continued challenge, and some helpful orientation,  for small to medium sized businesses in seizing the powerful marketing benefits derived from effective utilization of social media tools is captured nicely by Heidi Cohen in her recent article Social Media Checklist for Small and Medium Size Businesses.

Cohen lands squarely on the largest challenge for SMBs:

Small and medium-sized businesses tend to be so focused on keeping their businesses going that it can be difficult to brainstorm on ways to leverage the dynamic social media environment.

Yet, it is apparent that the opportunity for high value/low cost marketing with an unusually high ROI lies in the balance of harnessing knowledge and help while simultaneously staying dedicated and unobstructed from doing what SMB operators know best; minding the business.

….it was striking to hear from so many small and medium-sized businesses wrestling with developing a viable social media marketing strategy. Small and medium-sized businesses often have more limited resources, both personnel and budgets, than large companies, so they’re looking to build more cost-effective sales streams. With the goals of raising awareness, expanding market share, and improving customer loyalty, it’s critical to be creative in how your business engages and participates in the social media arena.

Cohen correctly points to deliverables and highlights the right areas to measure including expense/time associated with the program, measuring revenue as a result of the campaign, and engagement in terms of numbers of people and quality of interaction.  A checklist of excellent questions is outlined below, and expanded upon in Cohen’s article:

Does your business tap into people’s passions and/or hobbies?

Can your business show off its work?

Can you give prospects information they find useful?

Can you extend your expertise to a broader audience?

Does your business provide reasons for people to gather?

Can your business disseminate fun or related information via social media?

Are there targeted or niche communities where your prospects and customers naturally congregate?

Do major blogs cover your business’s area of expertise?

Does your offering lend itself to creating a small online community and/or bulletin board?

Once you determine that you are ready to jump into a campaign, Cohen continues to get to the heart of the matter by outlining some thoughts on activities and orientation that accelerate progress and results for the campaign:

Listen before you participate. While social media can help small and medium-sized businesses appear bigger than they are, it’s critical not to promote, promote, promote.

Monitor what’s being said about your business. This includes a variety of social media offerings including blogs, review sites like Yelp and niche communities, and discussion groups.

Integrate social media efforts offline. Provide retail prospects with a similar experience through an old-fashioned bulletin board with photographs or handouts containing how-to information.

Promote social media efforts online and offline.Include your Web site, e-mailings, direct mail, local advertising, in-store postings, flyers, business cards, and correspondence.

Socialize social media marketing. Ask visitors, prospects, and customers to visit your social media installations and share their experiences. Don’t overlook traditional ways to extend your business such as local events like Rotary and local sports teams such as Little League.

Create a content strategy. (For additional insights on content strategy, click here.) Develop an editorial calendar for content creation to ensure that you don’t get stuck thinking of what to write, especially when using Twitter and blogs where customers expect regular servings of information.

Make content search-friendly.Use relevant search keywords and tags and add text to photographs and video to aid findability.

The article is a useful read and its tenets are at the core of the DigitalSherpa programs that we are managing for more than 600 local, regional, and global companies building their social media footprints and driving tangible business results.  We recognize the challenges inherent in running businesses while also trying to get smart about social media and then building the right campaign in a sustainable and quality format.  It’’s not easy, but its worth it.

Consumers Prefer Businesses They Follow Through Social Media

Consumers are engaging with businesses and brands they follow through social networks and media platforms.  A recent study by Razorfish entitled “FEED: Digital Brand Experience Survey” polled users that were active “friending” businesses as summarized in a recent report.

The research showed a dramatic increase in awareness or  inclination to consider the brand when in the market to buy, and then to ultimately purchase or recommend the businesses’ service or products for consumers following those businesses through their online social communities.  Here are some of the highlight results:

We launched DesignSherpa as a way to help home design and remodelling professionals integrate social media into their marketing plans by simplifying the process and doing all the heavy lifting.  Just email us at ajapko@nci.com and let us help you put the social web to work for your business.

New Report Has Implications for Local Home Design Professionals

Small to medium sized businesses (SMBs) are embracing social networking in growing numbers.  A recent survey by Internet2Go outlines just how prevalent social media based internet marketing is ultimately going to be for small businesses.

While it is indicative of where saavy business owners are focusing and where the overall market is heading,  the study is most likely not a current representation of the broader population of small businesses.  The 2000+ businesses surveyed are out ahead of their competitors and selected from a pool the most active content contributors to a business- to-consumer social network site.  Internet2Go says:

45 percent of respondents have a presence or profiles on Facebook and Twitter to promote their businesses…… [yet SMBs'] marketing efforts have lagged consumer adoption of digital platforms, because of inertia, confusion and a lack of resources.

Here are a few highlights outlined in another report on this research that underscores the attractive budget characteristics of social media marketing compared to other forms of internet marketing.  Most importantly, it points to the importance of a  fully developed social media system in order to realize the benefits of the kind of engagement and marketing outcomes social media tools enable;

79% of respondents report annual marketing budgets of less than $5,000 per year with the 44% spending “less than $1,000” annually on advertising and marketing

Asked about their “biggest complaint” regarding online marketing the top two were “too costly” (26%) and “there’s not enough time to do it well and still run a business” (15.9%)

Despite its popularity social media showed the biggest gap between SMB adoption and perceived effectiveness as a marketing platform.

DesignSherpa has begun helping local home design businesses, through an affordable turnkey social media based internet marketing system, realize the benefits and outcomes of a well executed social media program.  For more information on the trends and power of social media for local design businesess contact Adam Japko at ajapko@nci.com or your local NCI Home Design Magazine representative.

What to Expect as a DesignSherpa Customer

We retain more than 50 acclaimed Design Industry journalists and photographers across the country to provide a unique content advantage that allows your business to develop a social media footprint that is supported by the highest quality underlying content.

In addition to the Content Advantage, when you become a client of DesignSherpa through any of our programs you will benefit from the expertise and focus of an experienced team of account management, customer service, and social media implementation professionals.  Your primary point of contact will be your DesignSherpa Account Manager.

The Account Manager will be intimately involved in the creation and implementation of your social media marketing campaign. From working with you to develop your business blog’s look and feel, to pinpointing the right kind of content to drive your content marketing strategy, to coordinating the introduction and creation of your social networking presence, your Account Manager will ensure that you don’t have to sweat the small details and will be able to focus on the important issues of running your business and overall marketing plan.

Supporting your Account Manager and managing the daily tasks associated with your DesignSherpa account is an experienced team made up of Social Media Coordinators, Content Managers, Social Network Managers, Search Engine Optimization Specialists, Web Developers and Web Designers.

These individuals are members of the DigitalSherpa Operations Team, headquartered at NCI’s operations center in Lawrenceville, GA. As a DesignSherpa client, you benefit from the experience and expertise of a team that has worked on developing internet marketing solutions for thousands of companies in the home design, multi-family, real estate industries.

The DesignSherpa Customer Service Promise

We understand that our customers have busy and demanding professional lives. We also understand that a key to the success of a social media marketing program is engagement, focus and conversation.

Our promise to every customer is that we will make the process of managing a social media marketing campaign as painless and simple as possible.

To help accomplish this, we have a Customer Service Communications Program that helps you stay on top of the important details related to your account.

The program includes:

Weekly social marketing tips.

Weekly Content Idea Sheets, complete with reminders to update important information in your DesignSherpa blog, such as events, sales, products of the week, etc.

On-Demand Conversation Alerts, which are sent to your appointed contact whenever a question or sensitive topic is tracked on your blog or within your Business Social Network.

Monthly Marketing Consultations, which include a review of your DesignSherpa activity, including leads generated for your business, and a fine-tuning of the different elements of your Social Media Marketing Program.

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