It’s official, July is here,which means we’ve passedthe halfway point of yetanother year. From thismoment forward the rest ofthe year is going to rocketby at warp speed. Beforeyou know it you’ll betoasting a successful 2012and slurring the words to“Auld Lang Syne,” as thenight sky is lit withfireworks.

Still, in the here and now it’s only the beginning of Julyand there’s a lot of work to do before we start planningfor the holidays. For ALLPRO, that means ramping uppreparations for the Fall Stockholder meeting inOctober. This year’s meeting will be held at the WestinKierland in Scottsdale, Arizona, which is just outside ofPhoenix. The format will be a little different than lastyear’s meeting in that we will not be hosting exhibits.Instead, this meeting will focus on a mix of memberinformation/breakout sessions and workshops. Thepurpose of this article is to give you a brief overview ofwhat we have planned for the fall.

The first series of workshops on tap for the fall meetingwill cover Point of Sale software. Each of our three POSsuppliers; EPICOR (Activant), CBC Computer Systems,and SBC Solutions (Autologue) will hold individualworkshops where they will discuss topics relevant totheir respective software systems. These will be heldconcurrently and members can attend the POS sessionof their choice.

Following the POS sessions we will host two veryimportant sessions:

• Valuing Your Business – presented by accountingfirm Pender Newkirk & Company, this session willfocus on determining the value of your company andalso discuss the planning steps necessary intransferring ownership.

• Effectively Managing your Purchasing and Selling –presented by Gleco Paint, this session will focus onpurchasing tactics that balance direct purchasing

vs. buying through distribution and also presenteffective selling tactics on ALLPRO branded productsto generate greater profit dollars.

Afterwards we'll host the stockholder general sessionand town hall meeting. This segment will providemembers an opportunity to openly discussorganizational or industry topics with board andcommittee members, the ALLPRO staff and the groupas a whole.

That should keep everyone gainfully involved the firstday of the meeting. The second day will pick up with arecap and continuation of Pender Newkirk’s LossPrevention session from the 2010 stockholder meeting.Many of you felt there wasn’t enough time for thissession then, so we are not only revisiting it at thismeeting but PNC will expand on their previous session.

Following the PNC presentation we will hear fromseveral members who will offer insights and advice ondiversifying your business model. Specifically, we havea number of members who’ve expanded their productofferings to include industrial/high performancecoatings, hardware, window treatments andcommercial wallcovering, and flooring.

The Loss Prevention and diversifying your businesssessions will be presented to the group en masse,which should allow for a wealth of valuable input andinteraction from the membership.

Aside from the full schedule of breakouts we willalso host a Next Generation reception just prior tothe opening reception. We received quite a bit ofinterest in continuing to offer a reception just for theunder 45 crowd, so this should provide anothergreat opportunity for the up-and-comers to meetand network with one another.

Obviously, we’re still in the process of finalizing theregistration forms and other materials, which should beavailable on the ALLPRO website in the coming weeks.The above is meant to give you a sneak peak at whatthe fall meeting will hold, so you can begin to planaccordingly. You can expect an official announcementcomplete with agenda and registration materials fromus sometime during mid-July.

An ALLPRO® Publication VOL. 22, ISSUE 4 JULY / AUGUST 2012

by:Scott Morath

By: Al Kinnear

One of the hottest topics in theworld of websites and websitedevelopment is how one goesabout optimizing a corporatewebsite for the rise of mobiledevices role in society’swebsite browsing. A studyperformed last year from Pewand from On Device Researchshowed that over 25 percent

of people in the US who browse the web on mobiledevices almost never use any other platform. Mobiledevices consist of tablets and smart phones. Thismonth’s technology focus will be on optimizing awebsite for a tablet.

According to Time.com, tabletsales worldwide will exceed 275million by 2015. At the end of2011 Apple had sold 55 millioniPads since their introduction andsome forecasts show Applemoving 66 million iPads in 2012alone. The tablet segment of themobile market is not as large asthe smart phone segment, but itdoes require that attention bepaid to it on its own whenoptimizing your website.

Tablets range in sizes fromapproximately 7 inches to 10inches in screen size, and vary in resolution size from1024 x 600 for the Samsung Galaxy to 2048 x 1536 forthe newest iPad. Check outwww.tabletpccomparison.net for a really greatcomparative analysis of tablet sizes etc… Theresolution indicates how many pixels can be displayedin each dimension (width x height). This is quiteimportant when planning your website optimization asyou want to make sure you keep these dimensions inmind.

There are ways to actually sense when a tablet deviceis landing on your website and then providing awebsite that has been optimized for tablet viewingonly. Experience tells us that there is not muchappetite for this type of expenditure on websites withinthe paint and decorating website space. We havefound that the most cost effective solution for ourclientele is to optimize the website for both Tablets andPC users with 5 easy steps

Optimizing for Tablets – 5 Easy Steps1. Remove all Flash from your website: There was a

well-publicized feud between Adobe and Applewhich rendered Flash absolutely useless for anyApple iPads. Since Apple’s iPad dominates the

tablet landscape, it makes no sense to continuewith Flash. Although not as dynamic as flashslideshows, a suitable replacement called JQueryallows programmers to replace most flash contentquickly and easily and allow your site to be iPadcompliant. An example of a JQuery presentationthat used to be Flash can be found atwww.hadlockpaint.com on the home page. SayBye Bye to Flash. Anyone resistant to updatingtheir Flash routines to JQuery or other solution arereally asking iPad users to simply look elsewhere.

2. Review your page content and consider splittingcontent into more bitesize pieces. It’s a-ok torequire a user to scroll down to complete contentreview, however, you simply cannot overwhelm auser with never ending pages of content. The user

will simple press the X andleave your website.

3. Use PDF documents tooffer additional productinformation, sales offers,promotional couponsetc, this not only allowsminimal scrolling,but also allows the userto store your sitecontent for futurereference on their tabletdevice.

4. Pay close attention to howyour website looks in both

the portrait and landscape modes on a tablet device.This is where you need to review the resolutions ofthe tablets and make a decision on how best tooptimize your website page layout. This is definitelya conversation that you need to have with yourwebsite programmer. The conversation should focuson the appropriate page layout dimensions to besttake advantage of PC browsers while still allowingfor a great experience on a tablet.

5. Review your website on your favorite tablet andhave your staff do the same. There is really nobetter tool for evaluating how your website looksthan reviewing it on your PC, and as many tablets asyou can find. Make sure that you and your staff aresatisfied with your website on both devices. After afew rounds of review, you will have the confidenceto know that your website provides a pleasurableexperience on both a PC and Tablet.

Our next article will look at a cost-effective way ofproviding an optimized Smart Phone website versionfor your business that allows you to not only provideimportant details for folks looking at your website on aSmart Phone, but also a strategy that does not breakthe bank account in doing so.

Optimizing Your Website For Mobile Devices Part I: Ipads and Tablets

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not offer the same for Facebook’s business pages.Hopefully the developers at Pinterest will allow for thatfeature as the site grows in popularity but for now it isnot an option. Aside from that, pins can be sharedthrough Twitter or embedded directly into a website.

Who uses Pinterest and why?According to comScore, 80% of Pinterest users arefemale, primarily between the ages of 18 and 54 withsome college education and an annual householdincome between $25k and $75k. When you stop toconsider that women today are responsible for 85% ofall consumer purchases (including 94% of homefurnishings and 91% of houses), they purchase for thetheir families, and control the research and evaluationstages of purchasing, it’s easy to see why Pinterest isgaining so much attention from marketers.

The second part, why they use it is simple. 72% ofwomen using Pinterest are Gen X and younger, whichmeans they, for the most part, are technology savvyand readily assimilate it into their every day routine.

Additionally, web enabledsmart phones and tablets nowpermeate the marketplace,which means people canaccess web based informationalmost anywhere and at anytime and they frequently do.

Additionally, Pinterest providesa convenience in that it allowsits users to consolidate andorganize their interests onto asingle, user-friendly web-basedplatform that can be accessedon the go. Since content isvisual and organized bywhatever category a user hasset, it is very easily and quicklyretrieved. And since theimage pinned typically links

back to a website, more detailed information is just a tapof the touch screen away.

For instance, my wife recently signed up on Pinterestand quickly observed that she no longer needed to cutrecipes out of magazines. She simply opens thePinterest app on her iPhone, goes to her recipes board,and looks for the “product shot” of the Balsamic HoneyPulled Pork Sliders she pinned earlier and clicks theimage, which links her to the site with the recipe.From there she can either begin preparations or pay avisit to the market to pick up whatever ingredients shemay need.

The Business of PinterestWhen you consider who uses the site and why, theappeal for business application is considerable. Youessentially have the key buyers of householdseverywhere collecting, organizing, and storing visualcontent representative of ways they want to spend

To Pin or Not to Pin, that is the Question.

By Scott Morath

Keeping up with the seemingly endless emergence ofnew social media sites can be a daunting task. What’smore, understanding their uses and determiningwhether or not they can be effectively leveraged forbusiness is not always obvious. For that reason thisarticle takes aim at Pinterest, the newest social mediasite that has taken the internet by storm. It’s an image-sharing service that, according to comScore.com, hasreached the 10 million-user mark faster than anystandalone site ever. The intent is to offer a briefoverview of Pinterest and help you evaluate it as apossible tool for your business.

What is it?Classifying Pinterest as animage-sharing service is correctbut that’s a bit of anoversimplification. Essentially, itis a digital “scrap book” thatallows users to curate theirinterests by posting, or ‘pinning’images onto one or more pinboards he or she has created.Users or ‘pinners’ as they’recalled, can setup any number ofpin boards, which are usuallycategorized by individual interests(i.e., home ideas, decorating,inspirations, apparel, etc.).

Pinners collect images from anynumber of sources. They cancome from other websites such as travel sites, foodblogs, online catalogs, etc., they can be uploadeddirectly to the site or even ‘repinned’ from anotheruser’s collection.

Pinterest is a social media site, so content is meant tobe shared and pinners have the option of followingother pinners. However, unlike Facebook or Twitter auser’s pin boards are available for public consumption.Meaning, a user cannot limit their pin boards to specificfollowers or make them private. As a user pins newitems those pins will appear in their follower’s ‘pin feed’(similar in principle to Facebook’s news feed) and alsobe visible in the larger pool of pins that any user canbrowse through (see screen shot on this page).

Unfortunately, a big downside to Pinterest right now isits limitation when sharing across other social mediaplatforms. While an individual user can share pins totheir personal Facebook page, currently Pinterest does

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places, add your own captions and pin them to variousboards you’ve created.

• Tool for brand building – as a paint store or decoratingcenter you are in the business of being a color andor decorating expert. Anything you can do to furtherthat perception among your customers is brandbuilding. Providing a convenient resource withcreative and inspirational examples of pairing variouscolors will only build on that perception.

But what would I pin?While there is a category for products in the broaderPinterest search criteria for products of all types,I wouldn’t waste time posting images of paint cans orrolls of wallpaper. Reason being, Pinterest is arepository for inspirational and aspirational ideas in theform of visual imagery. Users login to curate thoseideas, not look at pictures of the product they might useto bring those ideas to fruition.

That being said, you want to post an image that evokesan emotional response and showcases color ininteresting ways. Images could range anywhere from apicturesque sunset to a flower garden to a nicelyappointed living room to food items. Basically, anythingthat showcases color.

For example, Southern Paint has a board for ‘ColorInspired by Food’ where they feature a collection ofinteresting and appealing color combinations found inevery day food items. Other boards are titled ‘Clothingfor Walls,’ ‘Inspirations,’ ‘Colors we Love,’ and ‘Don’tforget about the kids.’ Each offers a collection ofdifferent images that focus on the specific category andoffer ideas that provide customers the impetus to visittheir stores to bring those ideas to fruition in their home.

That is Pinterest in a nutshell. As with any other socialmedia platform, it is not a means to directly promoteyour business but a way to add value, which ismarketing speak for pay it forward. Is it worth the timeand effort to have a presence on Pinterest for yourcustomers? In my opinion, if your business ispositioned as a decorating center and you are fortunateenough to employ full or even part time colorconsultants, designers or creatives who can make thetime (15-20 minutes per week) there is a benefit. Ifhowever, you are a business that caters primarily to thepot & brush professional painter and you find it difficultto keep up with your website and/or Facebook thendon’t jump in just yet. If you’re somewhere in betweenthose two extremes, it’s a judgment call. As with anysocial media there is a time commitment and you dohave to work at it but you’ll get out of it what youput into it.

If you’d like a more detailed overview of Pinterest inboundmarketing firm Hubspot has published a comprehensive,and free, e-book on Pinterest. You can find it athttp://blog.hubspot.com/Portals/249/docs/ebooks/howtousepinterestforbusiness.pdf

money. The above example of my wife accessing thesliders recipe could be applied to clothing, householdproducts, lawn & gardening, or just about any otherconsumer product category. One comScore statistic Ifound particularly interesting indicated one of the topcategories on Pinterest is ‘Interior Design’ and one ofthe top brands followed is ‘Better Home & Garden’.

However, in terms of being a driver for sales Pinterestlends itself more to businesses that rely on a high-volume of website traffic, such as an e-commerce site.I think for a true, local brick and mortar store it servesmore as a means to augment your other social mediaefforts, a resource for your customers who usePinterest, and a tool for building your brand. In short,the content you pin will probably never translate to animmediate uptick in sales but could certainly aid inhow your customers perceive your brand and yourbusiness as a resource.

• Augment existing social media – the focus of socialmedia from a business standpoint is to providevalue to your customers. If used correctly andpromoted via other channels, Pinterest can serve asone more social media tool in your marketing toolbelt. It allows you to round out your social mediapresence, reach an audience you may not betapping into, and provide content in a way thatFacebook and/or Twitter are not designed for.

• Resource for customers who use Pinterest – customerhere is the consumer; the person looking forcreative inspiration, design and decorating ideas.Keep in mind they are curating these ideas,collecting them on a pin board labeled ‘inspirations,’‘decorating ideas,’ ‘my future living room’ orsomething similar to use for later reference.They’ve seen a room vignette, color combination orsomething else that appealed to them enough tore-pin [save] to their board. By providing your ownboards with a wide selection of inspirational colorschemes, textural patterns, and designs a decorating

center canset itselfapart as aresource forthosethings andbegin tobuild afollowing.The goodnews is youdon’t haveto createoriginalcontent, youcan curateimagesfrom avariety of

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ALLPRO®

Company ProfilesBy Angel Chovanec

ALLPRO has had the good fortune to add the highestquality companies in the industry to the group. We arepleased to profile some of our newest member andsupplier partners

• Founded: 2007• Location: Charlotte, NC 28273• Telephone: (704) 588-3090• Web site address: www.phoenixtapes.com• Founder: Jim Merritt• Current President: Jim Merritt• ALLPRO Contact: Sean Kim• # Full-Time Employees: 8• Phoenix Tapes manufactures high performancemasking tapes exclusively for small dealers andregional paint companies. Once you get yourcontractors using our tapes they won’t be ableto find them at any “Big Box” or “National” chainsand will have to come back to your store. Whysell tapes that a contractor can buy down thestreet at a “National Retailer”? Because wemanufacture nothing but masking tapes, ourproducts are not only the best in the world,they are priced to help you achieve thebest margins.

• Phoenix Tapes was formed when Cartoseal (aunit of The International Tape Company) decidedto downsize and move operations overseasand Sales was due to be eliminated in thismove. Because he felt that the products werethe best in the market, he quickly assembled agroup of investors to purchase the assets andkeep the plant in operation. Jim was officiallylaid off on Friday afternoon and returned thefollowing Monday as the company’s newpresident and CEO. Phoenix is now 100%American owned and operated withmanufacturing based in Charlotte, NorthCarolina where Phoenix manufactures the bestmasking tapes in the world and manufacturesexclusively for small and medium size businesses.

• Company Slogan: Always find a way to helpour customers

LUU COLOR CENTER

• Founded: 1997• Location: Rockville, MD• Telephone: (301) 984-0066• Web site address: www.luucolorcenter.com• Founder: Toan Luu• Current President: Toan Luu• ALLPRO Contact: Toan Luu• 1 Store• # Full-Time Employees: 2• Wholesale/Commercial/Contractor: 40%,Retail/DIY: 60%

• Luu Color Center is a well established retail store.• Luu Color Center owned a contracting business

CHAPMAN’S PAINT COMPANY

• Founded: 1946• Location: Bryan, TX• Telephone: (979) 776-8191• Web site address: www.chapmanspaint.com• Founder: Jim Chapman• Current President: John R. Jahnke• ALLPRO Contact: John Jahnke• 1 Store• # Full-Time Employees: 6• Wholesale/Commercial/Contractor: 70%,Retail/DIY: 30%

• Chapman’s Paint is one of the South’s finestand most complete paint and flooring storesince 1946. Our highest priority to ourcustomers is service. Our staff, with over140 years of combined experience, isthoroughly knowledgeable in all facets of paintapplication. We want to be your paint andflooring store!

• Chapman’s Paint is an independently owned andoperated company established in 1946 by JimChapman and his son “Chick” Chapman. Mr.Chapman was a man of integrity which is whyChapman’s is known for its high standard ofquality in paints and supplies it sales.

PHOENIX TAPES

for 27 years before we started this retailbusiness in 1997. We are trying to keep itsmall and simple.

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IMPORTANT DATES TO REMEMBER …

ALLPRO 2012 Fall Stockholder’s MeetingWestin Kierland Resort & Spa

Scottsdale, AZ, Oct 25 – Oct 28, 2012

ALLPRO 2013 Spring Show & Sales MeetingJW Marriott Starr Pass Resort & Spa

Tucson, AZ, Mar 20 – 24, 2013

ALLPRO 2013 Fall Stockholder’s MeetingWestin Hilton Head Island Resort & SpaHilton Head Island, SC, Oct 24 – 27, 2013

ALLPRO 2014 Spring Show & Sales MeetingJW Marriott Desert Ridge

Phoenix, AZ, Mar 19 – 23, 2014

ALLPRO 2014 Fall Stockholder’s MeetingWestin Diplomat Resort & SpaMiami, FL, Oct 16 – 19, 2014

ALLPRO 2015 Spring Show & Sales MeetingRosen Shingle Creek

Orlando, FL, Mar 18 – 22, 2015

Welcome New MembersWe are pleased to welcome our two newest member companies to the ALLPRO family of independents,Chapman’s Paint Company and Luu Color Center. Chapman’s Paint is a single store located in Bryan, Texasand has been in business since 1946. Luu Color Center operates one location in Rockville, Maryland and hasbeen in business since 1992. Both companies offer a traditional mix of painter/maintenance and retailbusiness.

Congratulations to ALLPRO member Canpro Decorating Products, who recently added two new companies,Lake’s Pro Paint & Lacquer Centre and Markham Colours & Décor, to their roster of members.

2012 Golden Hammer Award RecipientsSpecial congratulations to Aubuchon Hardware who received the Retailer of the year Award at the 28thGolden Hammer Awards held as part of the National Hardware show in Las Vegas. M. Marcus Moran Jr.accepted the award on behalf of Aubuchon Hardware. Moran, grandson of the company founder W.E.Aubuchon, credited the company’s success to its 1,250 employees. “We’re very proud of all of them. Ourstore managers have an average length of service today of 23 years. They are the backbone of the business.We will bring this Golden Hammer back home to them,” said Moran to The Home Channel News.

The Home Channel News also recognized several ALLPRO Supplier partners for product innovation &improvements at the Golden Hammer Awards Ceremony. Award recipients were: Hyde Mfg. for PaintSupplies & Tools, Benjamin Moore for Paint Wall Treatments & Stains and DAP for Caulking & Sealants.Congratulations to all!

J.D. Power and Associates Interior Paint Satisfaction StudyCongratulations to supplier partner Benjamin Moore who recently ranked highest in 2012 J.D. Power andAssociates Interior Paint Satisfaction Study. The study measured six key factors of the painting experience:Application, product offerings, durability, price, design guides and warranty/guarantee. The study was basedon responses from more than 8,000 customers who purchased and applied interior paint within the previous12 months. This is Benjamin Moore’s second consecutive year with this highest rank.

ALLPRO Has Gone MobileEarly last year we developed the store locator feature on the ALLPRO website. It provides an easy user interfacethat allows those interested in purchasing ALLPRO brand products to find the nearest ALLPRO member retailer. Aspart of our advertising campaign in American Painting Contractor and the Paint Contractor magazines we alsoincorporated QR Codes that link readers directly to the store locatorfeature in an effort to drive traffic to the website. Users simply scanthe QR Code using their smart phone and up pops the website. Thisyear we’ve been working with our website provider Mercury NewMedia to optimize that particular section of the site for mobile devices.

We are pleased to report that area of the site has been launched andanyone who scans the QR code from their iPhone, Android or othermobile device will find an easy to use site that fits in the palm oftheir hand. Meaning, they won’t have to enlarge the view to selectspecific links or read text. For now the mobile site is limited to avery brief ‘About Us’ section and a ‘Contact Us’ section in addition tothe locator. We will be expanding the public footprint of the mobilesite, as well as the regular site, to include ALLPRO product photosand other information but for now our focus was on getting the storelocator feature optimized. It should provide users on the go, whichis pretty much everybody, a much easier and user-friendly experiencewhen trying to find an ALLPRO member retailer nearest them.

Scouting Report OnlineWe mentioned this in the last issue but only briefly so we’ve decided to give it a little more press. The ScoutingReport is now available online under the Resources and Documents tab. Specifically, you’ll find the link labeled‘Scouting Report Archive’ in the submenu bar of that tab. We currently have the archive populated with issues thatgo as far back as May/June 2011 but will be uploading additional back issues as we’re able to reformat them foruploading. In addition to back issues the most current issue will always be shown at the top of the list.

We realize that not everyone memorizes the articles andcontent of every issue, so we’ve built in a search feature tohelp you find the particular issue you may be looking for.Simply type in a keyword then click the ‘Apply Filter’ buttonand it will provide you a list of every issue that contains theparticular keyword you’re looking for. Needless to say, if youtype words like ‘ALLPRO’ or ‘paint’ there’s a good chance you’llget a list of every issue contained in the archive. To open anyissue shown on the screen simply click on the download link,which will give you the option of opening the file as a PDF orsave the issue to your computer.

Unfortunately the advertising section is not included in the online version. Beyond the immediate time frame ofeach issue the advertising section provides no real value and only adds size to the individual file, so we decided notto include it in the online version. Also contained in the archive are the current rate card and ad reservation formsfor those suppliers who want to advertise in one or more issues. Just click the link and the respective form ordocument will open up as a PDF, which you can fill out and fax or scan and e-mail in to the ALLPRO office. It’s easyas can be.

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As part of our ongoing efforts to encourage participationin the ALLPRO distribution centers from our members inthe Northeast and Southeast, we have begun offeringmonthly ‘Hot Buys’. These Hot Buys are sent out via e-mail, hardcopy, and are also posted to the ALLPROwebsite. Be sure to keep an eye out for the monthly hotbuys and take advantage of them as often as you can.

Editor/ProductionScott Morath

ProofersAnn Spire

Julia ThomasAngel ChovanecChris GingellPat BrulferMatt Spire

Contributing WritersScott Morath - ALLPRO

Al Kinnear - Big Eye Productions

ALLPRO® PresidentTravis Detter

Exec. Vice PresidentJoe Poliseo

SUGGESTIONS WELCOMEYour suggestions, ideas, articles and

comments are encouraged.

The Scouting Report is an importantcommunications media for ALLPRO®.

Mail all correspondence to:The Scouting Report

c /o ALLPRO® Corporation

4946 Joanne Kearney Blvd.

Tampa, FL 33619 • (813) 628-4800

Website: www.allprocorp.com

The Scouting Report is a bimonthly publicationof the ALLPRO® Corporation.

Printed on recycled paper

Think Customers Want a Relationship? Think Again.A recent article in the Harvard Business Review tackled three commonly heldmyths regarding customer/brand relationships and interactions. The 1st mythdispelled was that consumers want a relationship with your brand. They don’t. Astudy of 7,000 consumer showed 77% don’t have (or want) a relationship with abrand while only 23% do (sounds a lot like the 80/20 rule). The 2nd myth was thatinteractions build relationships. Nope. 64% of consumers indicated a sharedvalue as the biggest driver, while 13% indicated frequent interactions led to arelationship. The 3rd myth was the more interactions (i.e., e-mail traffic, socialmedia posts, flyers, etc.) the better. The study showed no correlation betweenfrequency of interactions and likelihood to purchase. The moral of the story, toquote the article, “More isn’t better.” What is better is to understand which ofyour customers wants a relationship and which doesn’t and adjust your approachto each.

Facebook: What Not to Do.You’ve heard this before (Scouting Report Mar/Apr 2011) but new data fromFacebook confirms – lose the conversational nonsense. According to AdvertisingAge, Facebook recently conducted a month long survey that looked at over 1,200posts from 23 different brands in an effort to gauge which posts yielded moreinteractions with fans. “By far the biggest predictor of engagement was that thepost was on a topic relevant to the brand.” In short, they “Liked” your pagebecause they had a positive experience with your brand or (see above) because ofa shared value (community). In short, focus on topics that are relevant to that.Additionally, if you want fans to share your posts and spread the word post morephotos and videos. And finally, if you’re going to ask questions, use questionsthat begin with “where,” “when,” “would” and “should.” Avoid starting a questionwith “why” as those have the lowest like and comment rate.

Mobile – is it really necessary?If you want to market to the next generation of consumer then yes, it really isnecessary. Investment bank and asset management firm Piper Jaffray recentlyconducted a survey of 5,600 high school students. The survey showed that 34%of those students own an iPhone and another 40% indicated they intend to buyone in the next six months (other brand choices of smart phones were notsurveyed). Additionally, an identical 34% indicated they own a tablet and of that,70% owned an iPad. Another 19% of students intend to purchase a tablet and ofthat, 80% plan to purchase an iPad. These are eye opening statistics when youconsider the survey was conducted on high school kids who are 3 – 5 years frombecoming household consumers themselves and not college students who are 1 –2 years from becoming household consumers. To echo the gist of BigeyeProduction’s article in this issue, now is the time to begin looking at optimization.