Getting clients to become microcelebrities is the goal of one Internet marketing company.
“We try to make our clients celebrities within their niche,” said Michael Pilla, who with partner Joanna Cali owns White Plains-based mQuotient. “In the entertainment business, a celebrity”™s Q, or quotient, tells how popular they are in the marketplace. The mQuotient is a company”™s weight or standing on the Internet as it relates to their ability to do business.”
The company”™s motto, “Find them, reach them, keep them” relates to search engine optimization, web site development and retention of customers.
“The key is basically to get your sites ranked well on the search engines, but once they find you (you) have to give them an experience to make them join you,” Pilla, a graphic designer, said.
Cali, a search engine optimization specialist, said being a microcelebrity is not all about popularity.
“You can be a superstar within the community that places value on what you offer,” Cali said. “We want targeted traffic, not just masses. I”™d rather have five visitors that each became a paying client than 5 million who flipped through the site and went elsewhere because we weren”™t reaching the right market. It”™s not just sheer numbers; it”™s the right number.”
Or, as Pilla puts it, “it”™s making people famous within their niche as a function of business development, and (making) them popular among people who are likely to respond to their products and services.”
Years ago, all it really took to rank high on a search engine was a well-built, optimized web site, Cali said. Now, more businesses are realizing it”™s a more competitive marketplace.
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“An ongoing component is reaching into the social media circles, finding the places where their constituents hang out and gaining exposure and relevance in those circles,” Cali said. “Using social media outlets as a way to listen allows you to respond very quickly to any changes going on in your marketplace. What we”™ll do is look for guest blogging opportunities so they can maintain the aura of the go-to (company) in that environment without the daily commitment to maintain (a blog).”
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Pilla said most people are familiar with social media sites like Twitter and LinkedIn, but there are also niche sites for all major industries that can give small businesses good exposure.
Pilla said video sharing web site YouTube “is very effective as getting you noticed by Google.”
In addition, web site analytics programs provide a wealth of information, including which pages were visited, how long users stayed on the page and which pages they leave from.
“With that information, you could take a weak page and turn it into a powerhouse page,” Cali said.
Pilla said mobile media will be “the next big wave” in marketing.
“As the smart phones become more and more like handheld PCs, a lot of people are looking to reach their customers via their Blackberry”™s and iPhones,” Pilla said. “It can be anything as simple as sending out alerts and letting people interested in your company know what”™s happening. The way people talked about social media two years ago is the way they”™re talking about mobile media now.”
