Developing a Facebook application that drives business

If you are in the field of digital marketing, you will at
some stage have considered, or at least thought about using Facebook as a
potential marketing channel. Everybody is jumping on the so-called ‘social
media bandwagon’ these days; yet despite the negative connotations this phrase
carries, there are a multitude of benefits in jumping upon said bandwagon.

There are countless case studies online where enterprising
agencies and businesses have leveraged the social and memetic power inherent in
social media to either generate vast sales figures or turn their business
around. So I shall not mention them all here. What I will do however, is introduce
to you the notion of using Facebook applications to generate leads for your
business. Why do I have the right to tell you it’s a brilliant medium? Because
we have used it and have done exceedingly well in doing so.

The example I put to you is that of our client Inspire
Abroad, a growing volunteering opportunity provider with a fantastic
proposition. They find good causes and projects across the globe that need
people like you and me to get involved and make a difference. Such a
volunteering opportunity would usually be undertaken by students either between
college and university; graduates looking for adventure before beginning a
career or those who fancy a career break and wish to discover more of the world
and travel.

The first challenge here is finding the target market. Some
time ago you may have thought that Facebook was just for younger types,
stereotypically students. Now, although this was true, the balance has shifted
and now the average age of the typical Facebook user is actually much higher. Popular
statistics from Pingdom state that at least 45% of US Facebook users are
between 35 and 54. If for the sake of argument, we were to extrapolate that
across global Facebook usage, it shows that some of our older target audience
is indeed familiar with and actively uses Facebook. Having been a student
myself I can safely say that the majority of students of all years at
universities up and down the country use Facebook. This makes Facebook a great
place for Inspire Abroad to present themselves to their target audience.

Now it’s all very well setting up a business page on
Facebook and posting on the walls of your doting following, but sometimes you
have to go a step further and really drive the interaction.

Those of you who are familiar with Facebook will be aware of
the myriad of applications available to users and you may even know of the
Facebook developer’s platform. We used this platform to produce a custom
application for Inspire abroad to add to their company profile page. The aim
here was to get users to interact with the application to submit their details
and express their interest in the Inspire Abroad volunteering opportunity. In
exchange for these details, these users are then rewarded with a volunteering
guide in the form of a PDF to better inform their volunteering opportunity
search. You can see the value here already. With each exchange of details via
the application, Inspire Abroad are gaining business leads; Facebook users who
are either actively researching volunteering opportunities or interested
parties who want to stay ‘in the know’ as they intend to travel at a later
date. These details can then be stored for mail-outs and e-mail campaigns, only
in this case… They will already have a very, very warm list to interact with.

Now I wouldn’t be much of a marketer if I just left it at
that. If you create something brilliant and have a wonderful market
proposition, you need to make it known.

So, to support the Facebook profile page and information
gathering application we implemented a Facebook Ad campaign. By researching our
key markets and their interests we were able to create an ad campaign that only
appeared to our desired audience. Once clicked these ads would then direct the
user to the application to begin the process. In utilising these ads within
Facebook, we refrain from interrupting the user experience, making the
transition as smooth as possible. Ads like these have a reach in the hundreds
of thousands and once these users engage with the brand at the application
level, they are then more inclined to explore the Inspire Abroad website and
the Twitter presence as well, as they have warmed to the brand. We know this
because we were able to track their exploration via Google Analytics.

The outcome? A great deal of qualified leads that can be
nurtured and communicated with at will. Can you say that you have achieved the
same? Few can, which is why we pride ourselves on taking innovative steps like
these to leverage technologies that would usually intimidate others.

If you would like to know more about developing a Facebook
application or would like to know how social media can benefit you, either
explore the rest of our blog or contact us.

Generate UK have recently began working with Inspire; a volunteering abroad organisation and part of the FutureSense Group, which works with over 100 non-profit organisations to support community development across the world.

The Foundation’s charity volunteer work targets education, child welfare, livelihoods and other selected areas as a means to address a range of development issues. Charity fundraising is a central component of the Foundation’s work and allows it to invest in marginalised individuals and communities as it works towards:

• Improving education
• Relieving poverty
• Helping create sustainable and secure livelihoods
• Improving the transfer of vocational and entrepreneurial skills
• Addressing issues related to health and HIV/AIDS
• Promoting child welfare
• Empowering people living with disabilities
• Enabling voluntary participation and cultural exchange

Generate UK are proud to be associated with this project and look forward to promoting the website using different online marketing activities. If you would like to learn more about this project or to find out how you can help, please do not hesitate to contact us.

Complete Childcare is a nurseries group that has been providing outstanding childcare in the Berkshire area for over 20 years. They provide day care for children from 3 months to 5 years and provide a fun, stimulating and caring environment for their children to thrive and develop. As many people at Complete Childcare have children of their own, they understand that the involvement that parents have with their preferred nursery is highly important and that it can have a dramatic effect on their child’s development.

Complete Childcare then decided that they needed to engage parents further and determined that the best way to do so was to launch a new website to update parents on what happens within the nursery as well as providing details on forthcoming events.

The challenge was to produce a new website to unite all 10 of the Complete Childcare nurseries. It had to be not only informative, but also easy to use by the public as well as being easy to maintain by non-technical nursery staff at each nursery. Further to this, a degree of interactivity with parents was required and a new design had to be created to incorporate the Complete Childcare branding and to convey the correct message.

To meet these requirements, a suitable technology platform needed to be established and the Generate CMS was the perfect solution to meet these needs. The Generate CMS provides powerful, user-friendly tools that allow users to take complete control of their website without the need for advanced technical skills. This means that should there be any news or new events, everyone is capable of adding these to the site to keep parents informed. Not only this, but the Generate CMS platform also allows users to create intuitive page and site structures that can be easily managed; this results in a much better user experience as site visitors are able to find the information they require quickly and easily, further improving parental engagement. In having this flexibility built-in from the beginning, Complete Childcare are now able to quickly adapt to market changes and can deliver news and feedback to parents in real-time.

In-keeping with the Complete Childcare branding, a new website design was then built into the Generate CMS to create an easy to use and professional looking web presence. The design was used to emphasise Complete Childcare’s focus on providing first-class childcare as well as raising awareness of the extra services that they provide from learning French, through to their ‘Great little movers’  specialist activity days.

In order to develop a greater level of interactivity, a twitter presence was also created so that news updates and daily events could be ‘followed’ by parents and other users as well as giving these ‘followers’ the opportunity to voice their own opinions and leave comments or feedback. The website was then adapted so that when any news is posted on Twitter, it is automatically updated via the Generate CMS onto the Complete Childcare website so that parents who do not use Twitter can still remain up-to-date on all the latest developments.

What Complete Childcare had to say; Alec Hodson, Managing Director stated “I’d like your team to know that I believe you’ve been flexible, diligent and customer focused. Well done, I believe we now have one of the most visually and functionally effective sites in our sector. I would certainly recommend Generate UK to any person or business looking to design, enhance or build a new website.”

Please click here to visit the Complete Childcare website
If you would like to discuss how a content managed website could help your business, please do not hesitate to contact us on 01635 550431. If you’re already selling products via the Internet, why not let Generate UK provide a free of charge Website Health Check.

When faced with the threat of online divergence in holiday booking trends, Fare Wise Travel understood that they had to move fast or lose potential business. As an independent travel agent, they understood that more and more people are searching for and booking their holidays online with many looking for their dream holiday outside of normal business hours. In order for Fare Wise Travel to continue serving people with their unique adventures for ‘the real traveller’ they had compete and be counted.

The travel industry however has diversified and the way people find and choose their holiday each year has become very different. More and more people are turning to the Internet to research their destination, their accommodation, decide upon their itinerary and then find the best possible price.

Fare Wise Travel has built an amazing reputation for providing quality service and fantastic adventures. However they needed a way to effectively communicate their services and experience to those potential clients and to proactively target those that search the internet out of office hours. They understood they too had to embrace Internet marketing to succeed in this swift changing business environment and so they turned to Generate UK.

A website was agreed to be an essential part of their business moving forward, acting as Fare Wise Travel’s shop window out of hours and proactively generating inbound enquiries and leads.

Following an initial meeting to understand Fare Wise Travel’s website requirements it was clear that the business required an easy to operate content management system (CMS) so that Fare Wise themselves could update products, create promotions and new travel destinations as and when needed. Generate UK was chosen as the partner of choice due to their online experience in delivering stunning websites using the correct technologies for the appropriate business requirements.

From a design perspective it was vital that the new site represented the great travel destinations Fare Wise offered including communicating the fact that they were not a typical travel agents trying to find and sell the cheapest package available.

Using Generate UK’s proven project methodology; the process to launch was exceptionally efficient and completely visible throughout. The website now provides Fare Wise with a platform to continually build business through. The website design includes stunning imagery from around the world and the content is synonymous with the great service Fare Wise offers.

Veronica Bailey, Director of Fare Wise Travel stated “I wanted to work with a company that understood our business and what we were looking to achieve. Our old site was completely out of date and we needed a dynamic looking site which represented the unique service we offer. Generate UK were excellent and I now have a website of which I’m exceptionally proud. It has already provided enquiries and I’m looking forward to developing the site moving forward to generate more business. Generate UK really did encapsulate exactly what we’re all about, our style, personality, great experiences and quality service. I look forward to working with them again.”

www.farewise.com

Here at Generate UK we believe in leveraging the best technologies and methods to suit the specific needs of your business. This successful, tailored approach has delivered business and opportunity to our clients time and again. If you too would like to find out more on our stunning web design and user-friendly CMS solutions, please visit us at www.generateuk.co.uk

The Accessory Queen, founded in 2004 is a niche fashion accessory store based in Newbury. The fashion store has established a fantastic client base and has continued to grow as a business despite the challenges faced by many high street stores. They were keen to continue their growth and recognised the next step for their business was to establish and extend their brand to the Internet, which would provide them with a platform to sell and showcase their products to a wider audience.

PROJECT AIM:

The Accessory Queen approached Generate UK to help build a new ecommerce website which would help expand the company’s operations and provide the business with a future proof website ecommerce platform to grow as the business develops.

As a result the ecommerce system was critical to the project. It was important that the backend system was exceptionally easy to operate, to process the orders whilst automatically keeping customers informed throughout the ordering process. It would also allow The Accessory Queen to easily manage products, pricing, content and promotions. Just as important was the systems front end allowing the ordering process to be efficient, without a lengthy account sign-up procedure, ensuring that the whole process was as simple as possible.

Design was essential, developing a site design which represented the traditional retail shop, the quality products and service on offer, whilst showcasing the products through easy navigation was critically important.

SOLUTION:

Generate UK’s Shopping Cart, providing The Accessory Queen with an ecommerce solution which met the immediate and future requirements of the business. The shopping cart allows an easy buying process for the consumer and enables the business to easily manage their products and promotions online.  Through a powerful backend ordering system

A design was created utilising soft colour palettes and a clean structure which represented the business and allowed for customers to easily locate products and brands of choice.

RESULT:

• A website that encapsulates the essence of what The Accessory Queen offers to the market
• A website design which showcases the plethora of beautiful products available through the site
• A website which allows users to easily locate and purchase products
• An  online vehicle to increase sales and expand operations

“We’re exceptionally happy with the end product and results; it’s allowed us to start targeting new opportunities through new products and different markets reaching a far bigger audience. We were really impressed with how Generate UK approached the project, they made it really simple to for us to understand and provided fresh and new ideas. The design really does encapsulate what we’re all about and the excellent communication throughout the project allowed us to understand what was expected of us and schedule time where appropriate, which is always a challenge!” Sarah Lovell , The Accessory Queen Proprietor.

Visit The Accessory Queen

Senspa is an award winning Thai spa set in the    beautiful New Forest, surrounded by amazing scenery. Senspa is a place of inspiration and relaxation and offers the ideal location to escape for a luxury spa break.

Senspa was in need of a new website as its existing site not only failed to represent their brand and the experience Senspa offered, it also lacked the required functionality to move the business forward.

The design was out of date and hard to navigate so after producing a website project brief, Senspa proceeded to review suppliers and following a comprehensive tender process Generate UK was chosen.

Senspa’s business development plan was to increase website traffic, improve how they interacted with their online community whilst striving to increase online sales and business.  They were confident that once a person had experienced the luxurious hydrotherapy pool, soothing thermal rooms, revitalising sensory showers, indulgent treatments and exquisite Thai food they would certainly come back to embrace their unique experience again.

Part of the overall process was to seek a new platform that provided stability and an online marketing agency to deliver their online vision.  Generate UK was chosen due to their design, project management, online marketing expertise and experience in delivering successful online solutions within the leisure market.

Sitekit content management platform was chosen based on its ease of use, excellent publishing process and management tools. This would allow Senspa to market their website, embrace online technology and build a business upon a future proof and powerful web platform.

On top of designing and integrating a new website Senspa also required a bespoke online booking system and package chooser which would allow the user to interact with the website, book packages spa breaks and day experiences whilst collaborating with their internal business processes.

Lina Lotto Senspa Director commented, Generate UK have exceeded what was originally asked of them, taking an idea on paper and developing it right through to a beautiful website which now represents all that Senspa is about. We are now working with Generate UK to help support and market the site moving forward. Our website traffic has already increased by 50% month on month since we launched in January.

The result: With their proven project methodology Generate UK used their online knowledge, design and development expertise to produce a website which not only represents the experience Senspa offers but developed a website that provides Senspa with a platform for future business growth.

Generate UK, a dynamic and commercial thinking digital marketing company based in Newbury, Berkshire offer professional web services and a number of other related online marketing services that would add value to any commercial and public sector organisation.

Thatcham Jewellers, near Newbury in Berkshire is an independent retail jewellers, set up by Penny Morgan in 1983. As a business Thatcham Jewellers has built a fantastic reputation locally and is the perfect place to locate that special gift or item of jewellery.   Since its formation Thatcham Jewellers has successfully built a reputation for quality and expertise.  This joined with the choice of stock, service and value for money is a powerful combination.
With the growth of the internet and the amount of potential business available Thatcham Jewellers felt that it was essential that they moved with the times and created a brand new website.

Thatcham Jewellers met Generate UK through a seminar attended by Penny and from the word go were able to give Penny the confidence that Generate UK could build her a fantastic and reputable new website.

Following a scoping meeting to understand Thatcham Jewellers website requirements it was clear that the business required an easy to operate content management system (CMS) so that Penny and her team could update products and create seasonal promotions as and when needed.   Generate CMS was chosen as the system of choice due to its ease of use and flexible platform that allows anyone with a non technical background to manage and develop their own website within in a secure working environment. This would provide Thatcham Jewellers with the control needed and ability to continually develop a professional website.

From a design perspective it was important that the new site represented the style of products on offer which were traditional, fashionable and contemporary. As well as the importance of design it was equally important to allow the user to navigate easily throughout the site, showcasing the products through eight identifiable categories and encourage enquiries. After a number of design concepts Generate UK used the favoured design and integrated it upon Generate CMS and worked with Thatcham Jewellers over the project period to optimise and format the content which they provided. 

Since the launch of the website Thatcham Jewellers have now opened the doors and business to a far greater audience, the World Wide Web and they have already experienced a significant increase in enquiries.
Penny Morgan, Owner of Thatcham Jewellers stated “I was seeking a reputable web company to work with on this new venture as the website represented a substantial investment for the business. It was essential that we invested into a web platform that allowed us to easily manage the site moving forward and allow us to quickly update and build upon the fantastic site we now have. Generate UK really did encapsulate our style and personality as a business and I look forward to working with them again.”  To visit the new website please click here.

If you would like to learn more about this project or to arrange a demo of the Generate UK Content Management System, please call us on 01635 550431.

NHS South Gloucestershire is a Primary Care Trust whose aim is to provide and plan health services for approximately 258,800 people who live in South Gloucestershire.

Part of their continued development plan is to forge closer ties through effective partnerships with organisations and local people. Part of that process is to bring more health services closer to local people by effectively communicating them through an interactive and informative website.

NHS South Gloucestershire required a new website after their previous one became out of date and hard to navigate so after producing a website project brief, they proceeded to tender for a new public facing website and following a comprehensive tender process Generate UK won the project.

“We chose Generate UK because of their obvious enthusiasm and commitment to service.  This project demonstrates a significant investment by NHS South Gloucestershire to help increase communications within the local community and it is imperative that we get it right.  After a rigorous tender process we believed that Generate UK’s partnership approach to their clients gave us the comfort we required to take that next step” Sue Pratt - Communication Manager, NHS South Gloucestershire.

The project involved building a new public facing website which complied with W3C web content accessibility standards and conformed to priority level 2 AA. The site was to be built upon Sitekit content management system and the design was to take on a clean, concise and attractive look and be compliant with NHS guidelines and colour scheme. Overall the design, structure of the site and information was to enhance the end user experience and be reflective of the South Gloucestershire population.

The Generate UK project team worked with the PCT’s communication team and through detailed project scoping were able to understand the exact requirements. This was fully documented and used as the base for the project to move forward to the design phase. Through the production of wire frames this enabled the designs to be structured in a clean and precise fashion taken into account all sections of the website’s navigation, usability and accessibility.

The result: Generate UK used their online project experience and proven methodology to produce and deliver and excellent new public facing website for the PCT. http://www.sglos-pct.nhs.uk/

Generate UK, a dynamic and commercial thinking digital marketing company based in Newbury, Berkshire offer professional web services and a number of other related online marketing services that would add value to any commercial and public sector organisation.

We are exceptionally happy with our new site, Generate UK have excelled during the project through excellent communication, creativity, online knowledge and overall project management. We now have a website that is easy to navigate, is far more interactive and presents NHS South Gloucestershire’s information and services to the local community which is easy to assimilate thereby forging closer relations. The next step is to create a staff area for the site to help increase the levels of communications with our employees - Fiona Reid – Head of Communications, NHS South Gloucestershire

Baron Ferdinand de Rothschild built Waddesdon Manor 120 years ago on a hill 60 miles from London, in the style of a French 16^th century chateau. He was an inspired collector and the house was designed to accommodate his exceptional French 18^th century furniture, Sevres porcelain, English portraits and Renaissance works of art. When Ferdinand died in 1898 he left Waddesdon to his sister, Miss Alice. In 1922 the house passed to James de Rothschild, her French cousin. James inherited a substantial part of his father Baron Edmond’s great collection and brought this to Waddesdon. In 1957, in order to ensure its future perpetuity, Waddesdon was bequeathed to the National Trust by James de Rothschild, although his widow, Dolly continued to manage the house until her death in 1988.

Waddesdon has gone from strength to strength and today attracts on average 350,000 visitors per year.  Whilst visitor numbers are excellent it’s really important that Waddesdon seek to build upon other revenue generated areas of the organisation.

Towards the end of 2008, Waddesdon Manor decided to move away from their managed ecommerce system. They were looking for a shopping cart that was easy to use, scalable, rich in features and performance allowing Waddesdon to implement new products from new initiatives. This included a recent project where Waddesdon commissioned the Royal College of Art (RCA) student designers to create a range of products to be sold in its shop. These exclusive items are now available on the new Waddesdon Manor Online Gift Shop.

As well as efficiency the new system would also allow Waddesdon to move away from their current ecommerce subscription model, which attracted annual costs.

Due to their energy and experience in delivering ecommerce solutions Generate UK were chosen to project manage and deliver a new online shop.  To achieve all of the objectives highlighted above Generate UK worked closely with Waddesdon Manor to understand:

• Design and branding requirements
• Waddesdon’s backend ordering and fulfilment processes,  to understand how the shopping cart would fit in would fit in with the rest of the business
• How the products should be represented on the site and to the search engines
• The products and categories to help structure and implement easy navigation rules

The shopping cart scales to support an unlimited number of products and can quickly and easily be managed by anyone without HTML or other technical skills. It even integrates directly with Royal Mail for real time delivery prices, which can be rolled out across the store or changed per product.

Kim Hallett, Head of Sales and Marketing commented; the online store is a fundamental part of our business, the old system was exceptionally hard to use and made our lives miserable! It was important that when we changed to a new system it was flexible, dynamic and easy to use, whilst improving the backend sales process. It was also important that the new site look great and improved our search engine rankings. Generate UK guided us through the whole process and made the project really easy. The shopping cart is fantastic to use and we are already benefiting through a great new look and improved sales figures.

Please click here to visit the Waddesdon Manor Gift Shop

The Eight Bells is an independent pub in Long Crendon, Buckinghamshire the home of the famous Midsomer Murders!

The Eight Bells is an attractive friendly pub that has been serving the local community for over 400 years.  The pub has gained a reputation as a great pub to enjoy a relaxing drink in beautiful surroundings. The menu at the Eight Bells is traditional home made pub food, which is locally sourced and produced wherever possible.

In recent time the Eight Bells have won awards for Real Ales; with the Cask Marque accreditation and also the Beautiful Beer Gold award. Recently, they were included in the Good Beer Guide 2010 and were awarded Aylesbury Vale’s Community pub of the year 2008

Unfortunately the old site did not represent the pubs great atmosphere, great service, excellent beer and pub food which it offered so they decided it was time for a change.

Generate UK worked with Helen, the owner of the Eight Bells to understand her exact requirements. Increasing traffic, improving the design and most importantly it was evident from the start that Helen required a content management system (CMS). This was to allow Helen and her team to update the website in the future with content changes, new menus, images etc

Whilst design was very important to Helen, to make sure the Pub was presented in the correct way the Eight Bells also wanted to focus on making their site highly visible within the search engines both locally and regionally.

Generate UK built a great new design and integrated it within the Generate CMS platform which now allows the Eight Bells to take full control of their own website.  Focusing on location, primary and secondary keywords i.e. pubs in Long Crendon was essential as this has now ensured that location based searches will present the Eight Bells pub high within the organic search engines.  The result of this will increase traffic and raise the venue’s profile locally throughout the surrounding counties.

This has already substantially increased the number of unique visitors to the website which has generated more visitors to the pub which in turn has delivered more business.

Helen Copleston, Proprietor of the Eight Bells Pub stated “A key challenge for any small business is finding the right company to work with who will give you honest advice and won’t charge the earth.  I found Generate UK brilliant to work with; they’ve built the Eight Bells a great new website and guided me through the whole process, advising me on keywords, design structure and even budget. They were very reasonable in cost and for what they have delivered I am over the moon!  We now have a future proof website that my team can amend as and when is needed and the content management system is really easy to use. The overall experience was great and as a result is generating more revenue, a great investment. Many thanks!”

Visit The Eight Bells Pub website