DesignSherpa and Designing Profits on Social Media Leapfrogging

One really successful Interior Designer told me that attending David Shepherd’s Business of Design events helped her to organize her business for purposeful and charted financial growth.  Looking back, a major piece of her learning was centered around the deployment of of social media tools as a foundation for a powerful internet marketing strategy.  So, we were really pleased to get a reference and a call from David, inviting us to participate in his September event in New York City.

We launched our DigitalSherpa turnkey social media solutions last summer, and are now managing close to 1000 social media campaigns for local companies in home design and remodeling, as well as other sectors of the local home and real estate business communities.  The overarching goal of the program is helping companies achieve the results of an expertly executed social media internet marketing program, while saving them the 40-50 hours a month of their valuable time that would otherwise be invested in the usual business of running their businesses.

This is a particularly exciting time for DesignSherpa since the program and its participants are receiving lots of attention across the blogosphere spurred by our recently introduced “What Inspires You” Contest. The contest is open to everyone, DesignSherpa client or not, professional or consumer, with an inspired design sensibility and reasonably strong set of communication skills.  The winner will find him or her self in Paris for ten days, attending Maison & Objet, with a $10,000 cash prize just to make things a bit more luxurious.

The contest was launched to celebrate the amazing reception design professionals across the country have afforded us since the introduction of DesignSherpa, and it is our small payback to celebrate social media, design pros, and design enthusiasts.  We have been simply overwhelmed by the level of two way engagement and participation we have enjoyed with so many design professionals as we work steadily at establishing their social footprints.

Most importantly, we are really eager to share some of the secrets of social media marketing with the design industry in New York in September, and to take it a step further by making ourselves available to implement and execute the programs in turnkey fashion and at affordable monthly rates.

We hope to see you in New York in September!

Welcome to DesignSherpa

Welcome to DesignSherpa, a revolutionary internet marketing service for the home design and remodeling industry from Network Communications, Inc., the parent company of the country’s largest group of regional home design media brands including New England Home, Atlanta Homes & Lifestyles, At Home in Arkansas, Seattle Homes & Lifestyles, Kansas City Home & Garden, Mountain Living, St. Louis Homes & Lifestyles, Colorado Homes & Lifestyles and more.

DesignSherpa provides a turn key solution to building and managing a social media marketing program for design professionals, retailers, showrooms, and luxury home service providers.  DesignSherpa takes the risk and complexity out of social media marketing, creating a new kind of Internet Marketing presence for your home design business. We will improve your visibility on Google, increase your web traffic, enhance your connection with consumers and other design professionals, and turbo-charge your referral network.

The explosion of social media tools and networks, like Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn, create a unique opportunity for design professionals, retailers, showrooms, and other luxury home design businesses to get active on the web, by providing interesting content relevant to consumers and the  trade who are seeking ideas or resources while they plan enhanced residential living environments.  Social media tools help you get involved in the process that starts with inspiration and culminates in selecting  products and resources, creating an active and engaged online community around your business when your prospects are most active.

Network Communications and its home design media brands recognize the incredible potential of social media marketing to improve your bottom line.  We also understand the time and technology challenges that social media marketing presents to busy design professionals.

DesignSherpa is a monthly subscription service that provides a customized turn-key solution to create active, engaged and effective virtual networks of prospects and influential members of the trade in your market..

Our numerous luxury home magazine professionals from Atlanta to Seattle bring their unique skills in content creation and management, as well as knowledge of social media networks to the implementation of DesignSherpa.

Our teams are all social-media certified. Every member has gone through a detailed month-long training program with Domus Consulting to educate them about the power of social media networks and to give them insight and experience in developing effective and influential networks.  Our teams submitted themselves to several additional months of training in creating and sharing content that drives engagement around their magazine brands and market activity and growth in their own social networks.  They can now share their experiences and help you start to harness the power of social media with benefits best appreciated by getting active with a well thought out complete social media strategy and system.

To learn more about this powerful service, please visit the following links:

About DesignSherpa

About Home Design and Network Communications, Inc .

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.

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.

What You Get

For a low monthly fee, Design Sherpa will develop and execute a complete social media Internet marketing program.  This is a fully integrated approach with a custom blog at the core.  Content management,   social newtork identities,   tools, SEO  and reporting analytics are all included.

DesignSherpa provides the following services for an affordable, fixed monthly fee:

Content Management

• Blog hosting and maintenance for your single location business, or a network of blogs for regional and national businesses with multiple locations.  
• Ongoing content creation and management; regular blog posts with content written specifically about your products, events, promotions, projects, and business highlights.  Also relevant content created by our award winning home design journalists along with additional sources we identify and source for you
• NCI supplied content is selected and developed to establish community engagement around the design sensibility, budgets, and project scope of your target prospect and existing customer;
• Emphasis on photo presentations to define your business’ unique design perspective;
• Interactive content;
• Helpful design resources, tools, and answers to FAQs;
• Content that you want to share about personal local favorites, tips, and favorites that define you, your community, or your business.

Social Network Development Maintenance

• Creation of social identities for your business on Facebook and Twitter
• Development and publishing of content for your social identities
• Recruiting and development of your social network connections among your clients and prospects
• Monitoring of your social network activity for problematic or sensitive issues and dialogue

Internet Tool Development / Search Engine Optimization

• Periodic enhancement and upgrade of social media tools, such as blog platforms, interactive widgets, etc.
• Analysis and refinement of Search Engine Optimization performance for your professional business blog in search engines such as Google,  to increase traffic and raise your business and personal brand’s profile.

Reporting Analytics

Monthly reporting and analysis will include:

• Measurement of how many members of your network interacted with your program
• Report on traffic and leads
• Referal activity measurement
• Measure business activity among customers who are participants in your social network vs. non-participants

Getting Started

Three unique programs available

All three programs develop and execute a full-service social media marketing plan for  your business.  All three provide customized content tailored to the voice and image you wish to communicate to your market.  There are slight differences in content presentation based on whether you are primarily a service and project oriented business, a product or showroom oriented business , or a multi-location business.

I. Design Professional Program

Recommeneded for all styles of design professional:  builders, architects, interior designers, landscape architects, remodelers, etc.   In this program, we recognize the importance of showcasing projects as well as educating, informing and entertaining your prospect community with relevant news and information.

Using an extensive interview process, we will work with you to hand select categories of content to populate your blog and social media.  Content for your program is overseen by experienced home design professionals who draw from NCI  home design brands as well as from carefully selected online resources.

A few examples of content categories you can select

-         New and archived projects / before and afters

-         Home design news and trends

-         Helpful tips and resources

-         Local events and insights

-         Inspirations and ideas

-         Green living

What you get:

Content management: hosting, creation, distribution
Social network development: identity creation, content population, audience development, activity monitoring
Tool development:  Search engine optimization, system and platform upgrades, performance analysis
Reporting Analytics: traffic, audience interaction, leads and referrals

Pricing:  There is a monthly maintenance fee and fulfillment begins on the contract start date.  Program will be up and running within 45 days.  Program continues for 13 months from the contract start date.

II. Shop / Showroom Program

Recommeneded for stores and showrooms that feature primarily products and that hold inventory of some kind.  In this program, we recognize the importance of showcasing products as well as educating, informing and entertaining your prospect community with relevant news and information.   Also included is an e-commerce option allowing you to list products with pricing for online selling direct to consumers.

Using an extensive interview process, we will work with you to hand select categories of content to populate your blog and social media network.  Content for your program is overseen by experienced home design professionals who draw from NCI  home design brands as well as from carefully selected online resources.

A few examples of content categories you can select

-         In Store Promotions

-         Design Trends

-         Helpful tips and resources

-         Local events and insights

-         Inspirations and ideas

-         Design tips

What you get:

Content management: hosting, creation, distribution
Social network development: identity creation, content population, audience development, activity monitoring
Tool development:  Search engine optimization, system and platform upgrades, performance analysis
Reporting Analytics: traffic, audience interaction, leads and referrals

Pricing:  There is a monthly maintenance fee and fulfillment begins on the contract start date.  Program will be up and running within 45 days.  Program continues for 13 months from the contract start date.

III. Multi Location Program

The Multi Location program is available for a minimum of 10 locations.

With the Multi Location program, you are able to customize the basic template and design of your DesignSherpa Blogs to match your business’ design sensibilities. In addition, each DesignSherpa Blog will have a custom-designed header and marketing web pages.  (You may submit pre-designed pages for these elements, if you desire.)

As a Multi Location client, you will have the opportunity to customize the functionality of your blog. Your Account Manager will detail the various functions that can be added into your blog, including interactivity with your customers and prospects, enhanced photo galleries, integration with your social network platforms and video.

As a Multi Location client, you will have a central marketing resource at your company, who will be the key point of contact for developing the Social Media Marketing plan. In addition, you will appoint a contact person at each local dealer or location who will interact with the DesignSherpa Operations Team on a weekly basis in order to supply key content and handle engagement with the users of your program. Each month, the central marketing contact at the Company will receive a report detailing the performance of the program.

Pricing:
For more information, contact:

Adam Japko
President, DesignSherpa
ajapko@nci.com

-or-

contact your local NCI Home Design magazine and social media sales professional

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Boston Design Community Gathers for Social Media Primer

NCI’s Chairman and CEO recently gave a presentation about social media outside Boston to a group of design professionals.  The event was sponsored by New England Home and Kitchen Views.  Here is a link to Dan’s really compelling and eye opening presenation on ways to think about harnessing social media as a new internet marketing tool for the design industry.