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All posts by Jen Pang

Why your organisation needs a Facebook Page

March 26, 2012 | Comments (0)

30,485,180 people used Facebook in the UK last month. Of those users, 26,960,820 are aged 18 and over. How many of these people could be interested in fostering and/or adoption and will take to Facebook to find out more or perhaps they are already engaged and wish to share their experience?

Anyone can build a basic Facebook Page. Below is a guide on how to do it. However, if you want a Page that will enhance your online presence and add value to your service whilst acting as a great platform for engagement then contact us.

Before you do anything, you need a Facebook account.

Now it’s time to create a Facebook page.

Bit of a minefield isn’t it? As a Natives’ insight we suggest that you choose ‘company, organisation or institution’. The reason being that you can give a lovely introduction to all those that see your page in an ‘about us’ sort of way once your page has been created.

From the drop down menu, you then select exactly what sort of local business you are. If you can’t find an exact option then just choose the one that’s most relevant. We suggest a ‘Community organisation’.

Next, you have to choose your Page name. It could be the name of your organisation, the service that you offer or a lateral page related to the social platform.

Click ‘Get started’.

Congratulations – you have now created your page!

You’ll now be given a guided tour by Facebook around your new page giving you tips of how to begin promoting and editing your page. The two most noticeable pieces of content are the profile picture and Timeline cover picture. Use your organisation’s logo as the profile picture and a picture of a recent event, your organisation’s team, or a colourful and vibrant image or photo that will draw attention to your page once it is visited.

Now you’re set!

Now you have your basic Facebook Page. But if you are looking to increase engagement, enquiries and leads, you’ll need a fully functioning, branded Facebook Website. You’ll probably want to speak to the experts.

Have a look here to see the great work that we did for Hertfordshire County Council’s fostering and adoption department.

Contact us today to reach out to potential adoption and foster carers with a fully branded and functional Facebook Website.

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Perfecting the Landing Page

March 26, 2012 | Comments (0)

Great, you realise that the best way to promote your fostering and/or adoption organisation is with online or social advertising. But why spend all of that time and effort and then fall at the final hurdle by not getting that potential carer (let’s call them a “click”, as every click costs!) to get in contact?

It’s really important to make sure that your advert takes that click to a place where they can contact you for more information regarding fostering or adoption opportunities.

There are subtle differences between getting someone to land and convert on a Facebook Page and simply driving traffic to a destination on your site, and you need to test and check to make sure you are getting the best return for your campaigns. But there are also plenty of common sense best practices no matter which type of campaign you are running.

As an agency, we should know what we are talking about, so here are some quick pointers to help you get the most from your landing page and stimulate the best return for your online marketing campaign.

1. Always include a Unique Selling Point

It is important that your audience understands why you are different. Think about what makes your proposition unique from the competition. We always recommend having this unique selling point as the primary or secondary header on the page. Always remember to keep it short and informative.

2. Have a Testimonial

It is important to show your audience that you already have a network of carers who enjoy being a part of your organisation. Include a testimonial on your page – and make it sure it’s a real one as you will be asked.

testimonial

3. Add Share Buttons To Make Your Landing Page Social

Social sharing is not just about building Facebook Websites. By adding effective social share buttons (particularly Facebook “Likes”) you can dramatically increase views, reducing your cost of conversion as socially viral views will not come out of your advertising budget.

4. Show What You Have To Offer “In Context”

You should always show your audience an example of your service in context of use. This way your visitor will see what it’s actually like to foster or adopt with you. We recommend that you use a variety of formats including text and images. Be creative!

5. Always Include a Request for Information

The object of every landing page is to gather information on your audience so that you can get them to complete an action. Make your form simple to understand. Also always include a “How did you hear about us?” field. Knowing how your audience found you will help you understand where to focus your marketing spend.

6. The Call To Action

This is a fundamental feature of a successful landing page. This is the statement that instructs your visitor to take an action. It can take the form of a button or a link to an email. Ensure it is obvious and instructs the visitor on what clicking it will actually do. This will deter time wasters.

7. Bullet Point the Main Features of your Service

You should always bullet point the main features and benefits of what you offer. No one will use you if they don’t understand how using you will benefit them. Keep the features easy to understand and definite. Whatever you do, DON’T WAFFLE!

8. Use an Eye-Catching Image

Most people have short attention spans when they are surfing the web. This is why it is so important to grab their attention using an image. This can be a diagram outlining how you work, a chart comparing your company with others or, like we’ve done, some quick stats relating to your offering. Be imaginative with this and you’ll find people stay on your landing page for longer.

9. The Additional Choice

As long as you’re subtle, a landing page can be a great opportunity to promote other activities, but be careful not to confuse the user with too much choice. We always recommend having a link to an informational blog post or PR release that gives more information on your other services that your organisation provides.

Making simple changes to your landing page can really improve results. We have provided consultancy on hundreds of landing pages for our clients, so if you would like our advice on how to improve yours or ways to get relevant visitors to your page please get in touch.

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Best Practices to Comply with Cookie Law in the UK

February 22, 2012 | Comments (1)

Here is the IAB’s own site with examples of best practice principles: www.youronlinechoices.com

Here are some great sites we like - http://www.cookielaw.org/ – (DISCLAIMER – THIS IS THE NATIVES FAVOURED APPROACH)

http://www.predictiveintent.com/2012/02/cookie-law-solutions/

We have spoken to our account managers at Google and below is their advice regarding cookies for online advertising:

“Until the 27 individual EU countries have completed drafting and finalizing the law for their respective countries, we will not know the full scope & implications of the new rules.

We can’t give you legal advice or endorse any particular compliance approach, but you might look at:

The advice that the UK government has given to its webmasters. http://digital.cabinetoffice.gov.uk/2012/03/19/its-not-about-cookies-its-about-privacy/ ”

We’ve also drafted a “Privacy and Cookie Policy” we would recommend any organisation uses on their site:

The policy is:

We may remarket your information. Remarketing is a way for us to connect with users, based upon your past interactions with the [ORGANISATION NAME] website. Third-party marketing vendors may be hired by [ORGANISATION NAME] to perform remarketing services. As a result, third-party vendors, including Google, may show [ORGANISATION NAME] ads on sites on the internet. Third-party vendors, including Google, use cookies to serve ads based on a user’s prior visits to [ORGANISATION NAME]‘s website.

To opt out of customized Google Display Network ads click here. To find out more about how Google uses any data it collects please visit http://www.google.com/privacy_ads.html.

Any information collected is used only for remarketing purposes and will not be used by them for any other purpose.

We would also recommend you take a good look at your website and check what data files are placed on user terminals and why they are in place. You might need to take a comprehensive audit of your website to see which cookies are strictly necessary and if they really need consent. Your audit should include finding out the high and low privacy intrusive pages on your site. Your finding could be presented in a way of a summary of findings, detailed findings against intrusive pages, data privacy risks and technologies to be implemented. Its a good idea to take this opportunity to do any tidying up of your web pages and stop any cookies that are unnecessary or old.

Therefore its important to see how intrusive your cookies are and consider changes in how you use them. Some of  what you find may even help users to keep their data safe. Try to use technologies to improve your site  and always make it clear when you are doing something intrusive. The more privacy intrusive your activity is, you will need to give it more priority to getting consent from the user. You should focus your efforts on complying appropriately to the new cookie law by providing accurate information and offering your user a choice.

Review your privacy policy and make sure it is consistently in compliance with the new cookie law and that it will be subject to any ongoing amendments. Make sure your privacy  policy is clear and as soon as you have the correct measures in place to comply with the law so we can do our job in making sure your campaigns are the best they can be!

 

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The New EU Cookie Law for the UK

February 22, 2012 | Comments (0)

The UK law restricting cookies from websites will come into effect on 25th May 2012, giving websites a year to comply with the new act. This gives you time to gradually phase in the right approach to recognise user’s online privacy concerns. The UK government has updated the Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations in response to the EU Directive to enforce the law.

Cookies are used for a variety of things but are generally used by third-parties to analyse our browsing habits and are useful for us to remember log-in details on different websites. Most importantly the use of tracking cookies is what the EU law wants to raise awareness of, by requiring websites to inform and gain users absolute consent for cookies to give web users more control over their online privacy.

Settings within Microsoft IE9 and Mozilla Firefox already offer to protect users from sites that collect and keep browser data. Whilst Google Chrome is still working at integrating a non-tracking service into their browser. This new rule on cookies will be challenging but it is needed to be brought into place to give consumers more freedom in about what companies know about them. The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) is in charge of implementing the law and will be looking for a solution over the year for both online businesses and web users.

 

The Old Cookie Law

The former rule on using cookies to store information was that you had to tell users how you use cookies and how they can opt out. This information is usually shown in website’s privacy policies giving users the possible option of opting out.

This rule is set out in the Regulation 6 of the Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations 2003 (PECR):

6. (1) Subject to paragraph (4), a person shall not use an electronic communications network to store information, or to gain access to information stored, in the terminal equipment of a subscriber or user unless the requirements of paragraph (2) are met.

(2) The requirements are that the subscriber or user of that terminal equipment -
(a) is provided with clear and comprehensive information about the purposes of the storage of, or access to, that information; and
(b) is given the opportunity to refuse the storage of or access to that information

 

The New Cookie Law!

The new law now requires that cookies can only be placed on machines where the user has given their consent.

6 (1) Subject to paragraph (4), a person shall not store or gain access to information stored, in the terminal equipment of a subscriber or user unless the requirements of paragraph (2) are met.
(2) The requirements are that the subscriber or user of that terminal equipment–
(a) is provided with clear and comprehensive information about the purposes of the storage of, or access to, that information; and
(b) has given his or her consent.
(3) Where an electronic communications network is used by the same person to store or access information in the terminal equipment of a subscriber or user on more than one occasion, it is sufficient for
the purposes of this regulation that the requirements of paragraph (2) are met in respect of the initial use.
“(3A) For the purposes of paragraph (2), consent may be signified by a subscriber who amends or sets controls on the internet browser which the subscriber uses or by using another application or programme to signify consent.
(4) Paragraph (1) shall not apply to the technical storage of, or access to, information–
(a) for the sole purpose of carrying out the transmission of a communication over an electronic communications network; or
(b) where such storage or access is strictly necessary for the provision of an information society service requested by the subscriber or user.

There is a narrow exception to this change in law if what you are doing is absolutely necessary for a website or service requested by the user. For example a cookie used by a retailer to ensure a user has chosen products they wish to purchase and clicks to ‘add to basket’ for the site to remember what the user has bought. The exception to this type of activity will need to be interpreted narrowly to comply with what is “strictly necessary” to limit the range of activity for the cookie to strictly relate to the service requested by the user.

If cookies are placed before a user has an opportunity to give consent, then you are not compliant with the the new cookie law! The Information Commissioners Office (ICO) will fine website owners up to £500,000 for any serious breaches in this law.  So be sure to make a distinction between ‘opt-in’ and ‘informed consent’ in your policy. Why not take a look at our best practices in how to comply with the new law here >>>

 

 

 

 

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Social Media Policy – We like this!

October 18, 2011 | Comments (0)

At Net Natives we recognise the importance of the Internet in influencing the public of what they think about your company. Employees joining in and helping share your company and direction through blogging and interaction in social media is a good thing, as long as you are within in the guidelines of your social media privacy policy.

Companies should be committed to supporting your right to interact knowledgeably and socially in the blogosphere and on the Internet through blogging and interaction in social media. Ford Motor shows us great example of their policy which fully outlines the core guidelines.

A good social media policy will help you open up a respectful and knowledgeable interaction with everyone on the Internet. They also protect the privacy, confidentiality, and interests of your company and current and potential products, employees, partners, customers, and competitors.

What’s your social media privacy policy?

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