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1. Know your audience
2. Honesty
3. Language
4. Feedback and listening
5. Attitude towards change
6. A radical message
7. Leadership and management communication
8. Involvement

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Research highlights that that top 3 technologies used over social media:

• · Video – 52,6%
• · Blogs – 51,9%
• · Instant messaging – 47%

And that’s pretty straightforward. Video is the best media for communicating idea. Sometime it’s really hard to explain using static text and imaging, you need motion to explain how to move from point A to point B. Video also is better to inspire people.

Nevertheless with the help of text we can send any message we want very quickly. Of course if we talking about subject our recipient know very well.

And a third. Timeliness. We need to reach our recipient right in time. Here comes instant messaging.

Royal Caribbean is UK cruise line that communicating with travel agents. To improve communication company created Desktop Messenger “Cruise Compass” to push instant messages. “Cruise Compass” sends news, offers, deals and product information to the desktop.

Results:

• 937 downloads March – September 2009
• Passengers booked to September 2009 increased by 26% year on year
• 59% of respondents were very satisfied with the widget; 41% were fairly satisfied
• 65% of respondents used the widget every day; 35% at least a few times a week

Source:  Utalkmarketing “How Royal Caribbean boosted sales with a Desktop Messenger”

This alert application delivers news and weather right to the desktop. The perfect fit for news website.

Gannon Hall, Brand Week’s digital marketing columnist, says that many companies choose just Facebook and Twitter presence when it comes to social media marketing. And presence mean that they just hanging here without any particular goal or strategy.

Companies are missing digital marketing strategy. It’s not enough to use just Facebook and Twitter. It has to be a part of whole company’s communication strategy.

Companies are not producing qualitative content. Instead of using social media as part of PR activity they need to focus on producing content that will attract new users and will be most likely shared. It’s more important “what”, rather than “where”.

Gannon says:
“Wherever possible, marketers have to focus on delivering more personalized content to customers and website visitors. Tailoring the message helps drive customer engagement and loyalty to your brand, and it’s crucial to building the types of two-way conversations that result in long term relationships with prospects and customers.”

We overloaded with information. There is so much information noise coming that the risk to miss important information is very high. That’s where desktop alerts can help. The purpose of desktop alerts is to push important information. To mark out it from the noise, make it impossible to ignore.

When it comes to pushing important or urgent information desktop alert is the best communication channel. This information is important for person who pushing it. But this information should be important for recipient too. There are many types of information that can be important for us:

• Specific news (local, companies, niche related)
• Emergency information
• Information that affects our business: business critical news
• Notifications about issues with apps we are using through the day
• etc

For example: I personally pay attention to my city local news, weather warnings and new products at my favorite photo equipment store.

The problem with other communication channels is that it’s difficult to pick critical information. That doesn’t mean that you don’t have to use all these channels. It’s savvier to combine all channels.

SpreadHub is fully customizable solution. Templates allow you to change design of desktop alert pop-up window. Template is pre-made design. You can use one SpreadHub account to send alerts about your different sub brands. User grouping feature will help you to do it in easy way. But that’s not necessary that pop-up window should represent any of your brand.

Use templates to distinguish different types of alerts. For example urgent alerts that require attention you can design in red colors. Regular alerts – design in comfort blue color. For special offers – use colorful template.

This your default template.

 
With few clicks you can change template to any other, for example to this one or any other you will create.

Patterns are basically alerts that you use from time to time with minimal changes. You can design pattern and instead of writing of whole new alert every time – use pattern with necessary changes. Pattern is pre-made content. For example if you send Forex signals you can make patterns for Buy Signal and Sell Signal. When you need to send Buy Signal you just choose this pattern and insert correct number here.

There are two different technologies regarding desktop alerts and messaging: push and pull.

Push technology means that desktop application that receives messages (Receiver) is passive and listens to all incoming information.

Pull technology means that the Receiver constantly checks a server if there is new message.

There is no better or worse technology. Each has pros and cons.

Push technology can instantly deliver messages, but can work only via protocols that support persistent connection. And that would be fine, but these protocols are not so widely used. Due to security reasons and corporate policies these protocols are blocked too often.

Pull technology cannot deliver message instantly. Just because the Receiver has to query a server from time to time and there is some time interval between these queries. The main benefit of this technology is that it works over any protocol that does not support persistent connections, like HTTP. That means that message can be delivered in any network, no matter how it can be diversed. It can be delivered via Internet, corporate networks, VPN’s , terminal services and any remote networks. In simple words: it can be delivered anywhere.

There are desktop alert systems that works using pull technology and there are desktop alerts that works using push technologies. Choose what is more important to you: instant delivery or ability to deliver anywhere.

Most desktop alerts that used for marketing purposes: to spread information to customers (like Ding, BBC Alerts), are using pull technology. SpreadHub uses pull technology as well.

Livemint.com benefits from this desktop alert a lot too. It’s brandable and livemint brand is always before users’s eyes. But the main benefit is that this application helps retain user.  Constant news and alerts from livemint always reminds user about this site and induces user to click, click and click. I can bet that main traffic generated by repeating visitors.