FINT or be square: Design Firm launches website to help firms use social media
By JEREMIAH TURNER, Business Editor, Foster’s Daily Democratjturner@fosters.com
Aug 4, 2009
GREENLAND — Let's say you own a pizza shop and you twitter a friend about a new raised dough pie you've created.
She tweets back ordering one for pickup. Within hours you get 20 more orders from her friends who learned about your tasty pie on her Facebook blog.
The problem is some orders are for raised dough and some for "raisin" dough, forcing you to tweet, e-mail and call those customers to clarify what you can make them. Turns out "raised" became "raisin" because your friend mistyped her exciting new food discovery.
This is how the new "social media" is transforming communication and business. Customers can find you on their own at light speed, but your product's identity suddenly is out of your control.
Enter MicroArts Creative, a Greenland-based marketing firm with years of experience helping companies develop brands.
MicroArts has launched www.doyouFINT.com so firms can start to have a presence on the three key platforms in social networking. FINT refers to Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter.
"This is where your audiences are today," said Walter Elly, MicroArts' Senior Director of Internet Marketing. "And that's where you need to be, too. In short, you need to FINT. And we're making it easy for you."
The FINT website provides access to a widget that is adaptable to any existing site. It's designed to help firms not yet using the newest forms of communication, with MicroArts there if they want added help to develop and protect their message.
"FINT is just an entry into the social media sites," said Peter Getman, Principal Brand Director at MicroArts. "We tweet, blog, DIGG, post and update statuses all day long for our clients. So FINT is designed to help those who are not yet on board.
"You would be surprised how many businesses aren't. Even some large companies believe they are established well enough and don't need to transform. They will."
The FINT website is free. MicroArts foresees some new users eventually taking advantage of the firm's paid services such as brand design, website development, Internet ads and videos, return-on-investment research and more.
To help them get started, FINT also offers discussion forums so users can learn as they use.
FINT was launched quietly about two weeks ago and Elly said MicroArts soon will ramp up marketing to raise awareness.
Studies show Internet marketing budgets are poised to grow dramatically in the next year, Elly said, and FINT could play directly into that move, especially if companies know how to use it.
He cited the Southern Comfort liquor brand recently announcing it is shifting its marketing budget from TV to Web-based advertising, including Facebook.
Getman calls what's happening a "paradigm shift" that is creating inbound marketing as opposed to the traditional outbound model.
Where firms used to outwardly advertise their products to generate sales, now users are linked and telling each other about products with or without advertising. It can happen at cyber speed, where one order can become 20 and raised dough can become raisin dough.
"Now people who need you will find you," Getman said.
This can translate into revenue, but also can shape a company's identity whether it participates or not.
By having their own presence on these new networks, companies can have conversations with customers that helps them get their message across and enhances their brand, said Getman. When done well it helps customers understand your product and increases their retention.
The timing of FINT's launch is good, said Catherine Blake, an adjunct professor of marketing at UNH's Whittemore School of Business and founder of Durham-based consulting firm Sales Protocol International.
Blake said "social media" is a hot area that will continue to grow. When used correctly it can be a relevant and powerful branding tool for a business, but she cautions that there is risk.
Even though firms can establish themselves for free in such forums as Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn, they may not be adept at the new technology. You need to be very intentional about who's voice is representing your company and what the message is, she said.
This is why hiring a consultant or using a firm such as MicroArts to establish a presence is a good idea, she said.
In over 20 years, MicroArts has helped launch more than 300 brands in a variety of industries. Some of its latest projects include work for Kenyan presidential candidate Ledama Olekina, a new line of apres-athletic footwear called Todis, and World's Best Cat Litter, a safe clumping material that fights odor.
An example is Olekina's work with MicroArts using Facebook to build his campaign for the presidency of Kenya. In a few months he's amassed over 10,000 Facebook Fans
"Businesses will see some return from using FINT right away... but if they want to take it to the next level we can help them," said Elly.