Social media has been part of our lives for over 20 years.  Is your business taking advantage of it?

Traditional social media? They are only 25 years old, but yes, there are social media platforms one might refer to as traditional, as in older.  The first social media platform was 1997's Six Degrees. Simple by today’s standards, users could upload photos, add friends, and not much else. By 1999 blogging sites became accessible to the internet novice, introducing the masses to the kinds of ubiquitous social sharing we are accustomed to using today.

The social media giants we are familiar with today are far younger, and new ones are being born all the time. Between 2002 and 2006 many of the platforms we know and love today got their start: Facebook, LinkedIn, Youtube, Blogger, Flikr, Twitter among them. With more computers in homes and mobile phones and tablets accessing the internet, social media exploded. 

Astute business marketers saw this new phenomenon as a new way to deliver their message to potential new customers. From Facebook Fan Pages to commercial Twitter accounts, companies small and large have been capitalizing on social media long enough for a mature approach to take shape.

From formal to friendly, United WebWorks transforms a website for a local Savannah lawyer. 

Websites are more than an information gateway.  They tell the story of your business by speaking to your unique value and setting the bar of professionalism.  When we met with Barbara Braziel, a Savannah bankruptcy lawyer, her website was not evoking feelings of warmth and trust that she needs to work with clients who experience financial struggles. While visitors had accurate information, they often left the site not understanding the extensive experience and non-judgmental consultative process Barbara Braziel’s office provides.

Let’s face it.

Web developers get a bad rap — with unflattering extremes that include socially-challenged nerds living in their mom’s basements or shiny corporate pencil pushers forcing the highest price with the lowest efforts. In a business environment that is saturated with digital marketing professionals, it’s ironic that finding a good web developer can be harder than getting through a Friday work day before a three-day weekend.

So … how can you tell if a web developer is good or bad? Is your head spinning from complicated technical jargon? Are you generally unhappy with your web developer but you’re not sure if you’re overreacting? Here are eight telltale signs that you need to fire your web developer:

Sixty minutes could be all it takes to dramatically
change how you see your business

Public Relations is often confused in the murky waters surrounding an all-in-one service.  Is it a press release? Social Media? Networking? Sponsoring charity events? Employee bios?  

Well, yes.  It’s all those things and more.  

The question all of us at United WebWorks like to ask is “What do those services get you?”

A flashy billboard or a catchy jingle you can’t get out of your head are great for brand awareness. But public relations should also inspire people to trust your brand, to seek it out and to ask the questions that turn handshakes into contracts.