eCompliments is helping churches with social media dilemma

eCompliments Is Helping Churches With Social Media Dilemma

Press Release 7/28/09

Colorado Springs, CO—In today’s world, it’s no longer a question of if a local place of worship wants an online presence or not. Rather, it’s now a question of how they choose to manage the presence they already have.

Any local church, synagogue, or mosque in the yellow pages now also has a profile on at least one online review site such as eCompliments, Yelp!, CitySearch, and others. Online review and social networking sites are rapidly gaining in popularity. The Internet is pulling all places of worship into the digital social arena, although sometimes, kicking and screaming.

While some forward thinking churches have embraced and utilized the Internet, many others have resisted having an online presence. Most don’t have current and relevant websites. Even fewer have embraced online social networking. The dilemma is of course, their members have.

According to a recent Nielsen study, 90% of American’s look to personal referrals and 70% trust online review opinions when making consumer decisions.

eCompliments has over 400,000 worship centers in their database. eCompliments is an online review and referral forum whose mission is to be the world’s forum to share the good. Unlike other national reviews sites, eCompliments is family friendly in that they don’t allow sexual content/businesses or profanity.

“We offer a central depository for testimonials, references and compliments. We help empower local places of worship to be more relevant in the lives of their current members while simultaneously reaching new people in their community,”
says Trey Tipton, VP of Operations for eCompliments.

Profiles on eCompliments can be customized with pictures, service times, upcoming activities, and other up to date information. The cultural and the philosophical nature can be shared. Content can be updated easily and often. PDF files of bulletins, programs, or anything else can be uploaded.

Certain review sites can be an effective outreach tool. Members can post why other people, especially those new to the area, should visit a local center. Sites like eCompliments gives members a proactive tool for sharing the good about their local place of worship with others.

“It’s an easy, non-obtrusive way for people to tell others about your place of worship. If properly utilized it can dramatically and immediately increase the word-of-mouth,” adds Tipton.

To learn more about eCompliments visit our website.

Using eCompliments as your online presence

Today’s business owners are constantly bombarded by talk of the new rules of marketing. You can’t turn on the TV without hearing about Twitter or Facebook and you can’t research a product without seeing a review from Amazon. Most business owners are not marketers and struggle to find ways to promote their business. Do you hire someone to build a website? Do you get a Twitter account and start tweeting? Do you create a Facebook account and join a group? Just where do you start?

If you own a business but haven’t set up a website, eCompliments offers you a way to create an online presence without having to spend hours on research or learning to use new software. You can start slowly just by creating a simple profile or quickly ramp up a whole campaign using the tools provided by eCompliments. Your profile will allow you to provide your location, contact info, and a picture or logo. In addition, you will be able to add the eCompliments logo link to your email signature, send messages to those commenting on your business and create a list of keywords that a person searching for your type of service would use.

The Pro Version give you access to even more incredible tools. You’ll be able to add more pictures giving viewers a broader feel for your business visually. Textboxes let you can tell visitors about your business or current happenings. You can feature white papers, coupons, flyers, or anything that can be printed out. And an invaluable tool for a business that does not have a website is the vanity URL. With a vanity URL, you can choose to use your business name or a product, category, or industry. For example, if you were a Real Estate Agent in Miami, Florida, you could use the URL www.ecompliments.com/FL/MiamiRealEstate. Then when someone searches for real estate in Miami, your company will come up high on the search results – have the most compliments and you will come up on top.

You will also have access to features like Compliment Accelerator which provides you with a vehicle to send emails and get your list of compliments started. The Compliment Responder notifies you every time you receive a new comment. Quickly responding to new comment will let them know you are interested in what they have to say. You can create custom surveys to ask your customers questions about anything - your policies, store hours, product line, or events. The Compliment Magnifier lets you choose the compliment you feel best represents your business and places it at the top of the results. And the Complaint Resolution Solutions allows you to respond to any concerns and resolve issues quickly and openly.

All of the tools eCompliments provides to business owners give you the ability to connect with your customers in numerous ways. We want you to successfully use all of them and maximize each one to grow your client base, sales, and ultimately, profits. So explore each feature to learn more about using that tool.

Submitted by Joanne Hall
Community Manager
eCompliments

Choosing keywords for your profile

Keywords help your customers find you in the sea of listings on the web. So it is important that you choose words your customer would use when searching for your type of business. Someone looking for an answer to their problem may not know what the actual solution they are looking for is called.

For example, a mom planning a child’s birthday party is looking for a bounce house to entertain the kids. But she does not realize it is called a bounce house. She may search for an inflatable jumper or kid bouncer. Those types of keywords should be included in your list.

Maybe she has not yet determined what kind of entertainment she wants, she just knows she wants the kids to be entertained. Instead of listing only the keyword bounce house, make a list of everything you can think of that the mom may enter for her search; party activities, clowns, magicians, slides, etc.

If she is throwing a themed party, she may be looking for activities that fit the theme. So make sure that you include All Sports bounce house, Disney Cars Pit bounce house, Princess Carriage bounce house and any other themes you may have or can tailor for a specific theme.

So now your keyword list has grown from just bounce house to include inflatable jumper, kid bouncer, party activities, clowns, magicians, slides, inflatable slides, all sport bounce house, Disney Cars Pit bounce house, princess Carriage bounce house, and on and on.

One more thing to keep in mind, unless you sell very specialized products to other businesses, try not to use industry specific terms or acronyms. Remember that people look for a solution to their problem and you need to use words that answer their dilemma and fill their desires.

Submitted by Joanne Hall
Community Manager
eCompliments

Adding photos to your profile

People do business with people they know, like, and trust. Photos can be a great way to let customers get to know you and your work. A photo of you, your family, your team, and/or examples of your work will go a long way towards connecting with visitors. And photos let you tell a story at a glance. Whether you have just attended a tradeshow, won an award, sponsored a little league team, or just finished your best job, photos can relay this information quickly.

Your eCompliments Profile allows you to place a photo that represents you or your business. This can be your logo or a picture that best represents your company. With the Pro Version you have the option of adding 3 additional pictures. The pictures can show the variety of skills you or your team has.

For example, a plumber may show a beautiful new bathroom, an outdoor kitchen, and a well manicured lawn being watered to show that he can remodel a bathroom, install a gas line, and fix a sprinkler system. A clothing store may post a picture of a Juicy Couture tracksuit, a little black dress, and an appropriate professional outfit to show customers that they can find what they need for any occasion at this store.

The photos do not need to be professionally taken. By investing in a good digital camera and following a few simple guidelines, most business owners can portray the image they want for their company. The posted photos can, and should, be changed constantly. If your restaurant is known for hosting children’s birthday parties, get into the habit of taking pictures at the beginning of each party and posting a new photo each month. This will help to build a sense of community involvement for your business and also show how family-friendly your establishment is.

Here are a few tips on taking interesting photos that will help market your business visually.

Show people – whether they are customers or staff, people will humanize the photos and help visitors connect to your business. Show homeowners cooking in the brand new kitchen you remodeled, pet owners hugging their freshly groomed pet, and show party goers enjoying a new backyard oasis.

Use angles – don’t just take pictures from straight-on. Take photos from multiple angles and multiple heights to add interest to the picture. Stand on a stair case to photograph a custom built entertainment center or take a picture from the floor pointing up to the braces-filled smile of your newest orthodontic patient.

Choose the setting – take pictures with interesting background or setting. Take a cue from magazines and create an appropriate setting to highlight your business. Show off your picnic catering services with a fun tablescape or use a doorway to frame your hotel lobby.

Get close – show details. Take close ups that enhance the image and feature the fine points of your business. Show off your salon staff’s skills with a close up side shot that illustrates natural looking highlights and expert styling. Photograph a model from ear to chest to feature a necklace and earring set.

Submitted by Joanne Hall
Community Manager
eCompliments

Our Community Managers are a unique bunch

We’re expanding our group of a few dozen Community Managers to more than 10 dozen over the next 6 weeks. Because of the strong interest we’ve received about this position (and the dozens of interviews we are conducting on a daily basis) I thought I would share my thoughts about this role.

The Community Manager (CM) position at eCompliments is the foundation of our company and what much of our growth is centered around. This is a role few are cut out for. We are hiring a rare combination of the right personality, mindset, and determination. Even if the person has the right combo we’re looking for it still needs to be the right timing and opportunity for them.

Our CMs are the local representatives of eCompliments to their community. They don't just represent our company but our cause. CMs represent the mission that drives all of us who are a part of the eCompliments family. Share the good is not just a trademarked phrase, it is our mission. It’s what we’re all about.

Because of the fierce passion our 72 employees have about fulfilling our mission we are only seeking likeminded people for our CM role. We have a crazy obsession about sharing the good. If your crazy like this then we just might be the family you have been looking for.

Sharing the good is a fundamental desire of our CMs, however, not because of eCompliments. Our CMs have already been living a version of sharing the good as part of their personal life mission. We’re looking for optimistic people who are already doing this; who want to be a part of a corporate family believing the same way; and make a nice living in the process.

Having the right personality and mindset is crucial but having the ambition and determination to turn your community into an eCompliments community is critical. Because of our aggressive commission structure, our CMs are able to build a substantial residual income through their diligent efforts of building and managing their community. It’s a challenge and we are looking for CMs having the fortitude necessary to meet this challenge.

Although sharing the good is what drives us our CMs are also big on helping. Being a helper to business owners, managers, organizations, nonprofits and more, is a fundamental aspect of what our CMs do.

Our CMs help small businesses in utilizing eCompliments to improve their customers’ experience and loyalty; strengthen their branding; drive more word of mouth traffic; manage their online reputation and SEO; and increase revenues.

If you’re considering the CM role I hope this post has given you more insight. Our company is more of a cause, so it isn’t for everyone. If this does sound like a perfect match for you (and you meet the qualifications we’re looking for), we look forward to talking with you further.

Please search for eCompliments on Monster.com for available locations and details.

Share the good.

eCompliments giving $10,000 to YouTube video winner

Today eCompliments announced the commencement of their YouTube quarterly video contest where each winning contestant will receive $10,000 in prize money.

People are invited to create a video complimenting any person, place or thing. Videos are submitted to eCompliments at videocontest@ecompliments.com. They’re screened to ensure each submission follows the three entry rules. Once approved, the video can be seen and voted on by the public at http://videocontest.ecompliments.com.

eCompliments has created a short YouTube video detailing the video contest found at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E4JeFmqAZDk.

eCompliments is a new online review and referral site serving as a central depository for compliments, testimonials and kudos for any person, place or thing.

“We’re hoping ten grand every three months gets people motivated in a fun way to start sharing the good through video eCompliments,” says Founder Darin Manis. “It’s just one of the many ways we are trying to kick start the share the good movement in America.”

Each calendar quarter a new contest begins. The first winner will be announced on October 1st. The contestant with the video receiving the most votes (not views) wins $10,000. The video will also be submitted in national press releases, to media, and for it’s reign be displayed on eCompliments.com.

eCompliments is inviting national companies to sponsor and donate additional grand and consolation prizes as well. Interested businesses can email videocontest@ecompliments.com to request more information.

The three submission rules (in addition to the video being a compliment to a person, place or thing) are: 1. Keep short. The maximum length is sixty seconds. 2. Family friendly. No adult sexual content, profanity or vulgarity. 3. Must mention or show either the eCompliments.com website address or the contest URL at videocontest.ecompliments.com.

The submission and voting process is free. There is no cost for submitting videos and people of course can get on the site and vote for free. To protect the integrity of the contest, people voting must create a free user login. People can vote on as many videos as they want but can only vote once per video.

“We’re trying to change the world we live in. We think YouTube ecompliments can help us play a part in this,” says Manis.

For more information visit http://www.ecompliments.com.

Share the good.