Matrix Group International

Month: March 2010

  • Saluting the Small Businesses That Support Local Charities

    Saluting the Small Businesses That Support Local Charities

    For the past few years, I’ve had the honor and pleasure of chairing a benefit auction for Doorways for Women and Families, a non-profit that helps women and children who are homeless and/or victims of domestic violence in the Northern VA area.  This year, despite the recession, the silent auction was the best ever, featuring more items, valued at higher levels, than ever before.

    I want to offer a great, big, heartfelt THANK YOU to all the businesses that supported the auction. What strikes me about the list of donors is that the vast, vast majority are small businesses.  Once again, they answered the call when we asked them to support a worthy cause, despite the awful economy. And once again, they came through in a big way.

    Abaca Imports, my favorite furniture store in the world, once again donated two Asian-inspired lamps.  Salon DeZen, where I get my hair cut every couple of months, donated a haircut and facial.  Signature Theater donated 2 subscriptions to their 2010-2011 season.  Marrakesh Restaurant donated dinner for 10.  Rosenthal Jaguar donated the rental of a 2010 Jaguar for the weekend.  Liberty Tavern donated a progressive dinner for 6.  Thrive Pilates and Yoga donated ten classes.  Amber Association Partners donated two front-row tickets to see the Wizards.  And on, and on.  (You can view the entire, amazing list on the Doorways Web site.)

    Matrix Group works with several, prominent trade associations representing small businesses.  If there’s one message that resonates constantly, it’s this:  small businesses are a vital part of our communities because they are more likely to support local charities and groups. As one exec put it:  You never see a big box retailer’s name on the uniform of the local little league team; it’s always a small, local business that put up the money.
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  • Doorways for Women and Families Blog

    Doorways for Women and Families Blog

    Matrix Group partnered with Doorway for Women and Families (Doorways) of Northern Virginia to design and launch the DoorwaysVA Blog.  The goal of the blog was to create a new platform for the Doorways blog was to provide an opportunity for Executive Director Linda Dunphy to showcase the agency’s leadership on issues related to domestic violence and family homelessness in Northern Virginia, provide her perspective on the agency’s fundraising and legislative environments, and connect with supporters through real-life stories.

    Matrix Group:

    • Created a custom blog design that aligns with Doorways Web site and branding identity, and provides a platform for Linda, and other Doorways staff  to post in order to give visitors a personal, inside look behind the statistics of domestic abuse.
    • Incorporated an interactive tag cloud visually shows blog visitors the topics that Linda covers most in her posts.
    • Integrated elements of Doorway’s social media strategy, with a sidebar displaying the latest post from the Doorways Twitter page, and links to the Doorways Flickr and Facebook fan pages.
    • Provided advice and guidance to help Doorways move beyond traditional communications channel and spread its mission to a wider audience of advocates, volunteers, donors and the general public.

    Visit the New DoorwaysVA Blog

  • Twitter, Facebook, MySpace, LinkedIn, Amplify, Posterous – Which Social Networks Should You Be On?

    Twitter, Facebook, MySpace, LinkedIn, Amplify, Posterous – Which Social Networks Should You Be On?

    I’ve been on Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn for some time now.  I’m also on FoodBuzz, Plaxo, Delicious and StumbleUpon.  Most recently, I signed up for FourSquare, Amplify and Buzz.  FourSquare is a location-based social network that allows  subscribers to check-in from their current location using their mobile phones and provides tips and recommendations.  Amplify asks “users to share news and information they find thought provoking and conversation-worthy,” not anything and everything about their lives, status and locations.  Buzz is the latest offering from Google that lets you share updates, links, photos and videos.

    Now that I’m signed up for all of these services, I’m asking myself these questions:

    • Which social networks should I be on personally and professionally?
    • Most of the social networks let me share out updates from one network to another; should I share out my tweets or does that defeat the reason to be on multiple networks?
    • Am I reaching a different audience on each network or will I be talking with the same group of social network-obsessed friends and colleagues?
    • Just how many networks is practical for me to keep updated without losing my mind?

    To try and get some perspective on these questions, I turned to my friend Jill Foster, social network guru, video blogger, and co-founder of DC Media Makers.  Jill has over 5,000 followers on Twitter, nearly 600 Facebook friends and she’s prolific on what seems like every major social network.  Here’s what she has to say about being active on at least a half dozen platforms:

    There are online networks where my content may overlap but that’s intentional and less frequent.

    Twitter:
    It’s my central hub of online conversation plus a place to observe other users’ content –  and share content I produce.  Twitter frankly goes beyond a business platform for me.  Twitter is a liberal arts engagement pool (with a water cooler chat mentality mixed in) that never stops.

    Twitter Search:
    If I want to virtually attend a conference – I follow that conference’s hashtag or the feeds for those able to attend in person.  Also, to observe and engage on core topics of interest with people, I keep certain Twitter feeds active, e.g., women entrepreneurs, public figures, public speaking, social media.
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  • Direct Selling Association Web site Redesign

    Direct Selling Association Web site Redesign

    Matrix Group partnered with Direct Selling Association (DSA) to launch a new and enhanced Web site, www.dsa.org.  In collaboration with DSA and Moire Designs, the goal of the updated site was to make it easier to find information by freshening the design and branding, more effectively market DSA’s meetings, publications and research, promote DSA members through an improved member directory and showcase DSA’s government relations activities.

    Matrix Group and Moire Design work included:

    • A revamped navigation system coupled with a new site search to make finding information easy and intuitive.
    • A New design that represents DSA’s new design aesthetic and image.
    • Enhancements to DSA’s content management system (CMS) that give DSA staff more control over the site, with more options for content formatting and uploading images and multimedia.
    • An interactive map that allows site visitors to click on a state and get information about direct selling activities and legislation for that state.
    • An upgraded member directory that features enhanced member listings that include logos and videos.
    • Cross linking of DSA products and services to market all DSA programs better.
    • Integration with DSA’s membership database (MatrixMaxx)

    Visit the new DSA Web site

  • Why Do We Get So Upset When Facebook Changes Its Interface?

    Why Do We Get So Upset When Facebook Changes Its Interface?

    In the last twelve months, Facebook has made some major and minor changes to its interface. Each time they did this, there was hundreds of blog posts decrying or applauding the changes.  There’s even a group called “I Automatically Hate The New Facebook Home Page.”

    Why do we get so upset when Facebook changes its interface?

    In looking at some of the blog posts and news articles, I can understand many of the complaints. For my part, I cannot figure out the difference between News Feed and Live Feed. But I love that it’s easier to get to my Inbox and see which of my friends is currently online. I also think that Facebook generally does a great job of explaining why they have implemented specific changes.  I thought this Guide to the new Facebook Home Page was especially good.

    Psychologists tell us that most humans are averse to change. With over 350M users, any change then to Facebook, no matter how small, is bound to upset some segment of the user base. And if just 1% is unhappy and vocal, that’s still 3.5M people.  If 0.1 were unhappy, that would be 350,000 people!

    All of this got me thinking. Matrix Group is in the business of redesigning Web sites. We work with clients who want to redesign their sites for all kinds of reasons: name change, the navigation is not intuitive, the company’s focus has changed, yada, yada. But if Facebook users are any indication of how averse we are to change, no matter how rational, articulated or needed, there is always going to be a segment that is unhappy. This unhappy user base may be vocal about it, which I think is a good thing because then you have an opportunity to respond to the concerns.  If the user base is unhappy and silent, then you’re in trouble because you don’t know you have a problem.
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  • Half the Sky

    Half the Sky

    Authors make a compelling case for improving the education and treatment of girls and women worldwide. You will be changed forever if you read this.

  • Companies Beware! Unhappy Customers are Turning to Social Media

    Companies Beware! Unhappy Customers are Turning to Social Media

    Last week, I blogged about how a social media site like YouTube represent the future of advertising. But social media can also represent the anti-advertisement: bad reviews from unhappy customers who are eager to spread the word about a company’s failings. Witness the following:

    • My friend Tanya runs a blog called NitpickyConsumer.com.  Tanya blogs about good and bad customer service, companies that don’t seem to care, companies that just don’t get it.
    • This disillusioned Dell customer created a Dear Dell rant on YouTube that has garnered over 32,000 views and nearly 1,600 comments!
    • Check this one out.  Dave Caroll wrote a song and created a video about United Airlines breaking his guitar.  The video has been viewed over 8 million and generated nearly 43,000 ratings (average 5 stars).  Ouch.
    • And don’t forget the millions of updates that subscribers to various social networks fire off every day about their experiences.  Many are about lousy customer service.  Do a search on Twitter for “comcast sucks” or “verizon sucks” and you’ll never run out of tweets.

    As marketers, we’re always trying to position or brand our companies.  But Harvard Business Review says “your brand is no longer your own” because anyone can go online and talk about your company and its offerings. And when our family, friends and colleagues talk, we listen.  A recent survey sponsored by Tealeaf.com found that “74% of online adults said negative comments read online have an influence on whether they will do business with a company.”  Wow.
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