Boost Your Recommendations and Reviews with Your Email Signature (Outlook 2010)

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If you’re sending dozens of emails as day, as most of us are, take advantage of this simple means of driving potential customers to your Stik.com profile.

Add your unique URL (http://www.stik.com/INSERTNAME) to your signature line and encourage the people you interact with to view and add to your recommendations.

The recommendations and reviews you’ve received from your customers will speak volumes to those considering enlisting your service. So make that connection easy for them.

Scroll through these screenshots to see how I did it.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

For Microsoft Outlook 2010 users, the steps are easy:

  • Click “File” in the top toolbar on the left
  • Choose the “Options” on the left
  • In that box, click on “Signatures…” box on the right
  • Choose to create a new signature by clicking, “New…”
  • Enter a name for your new signature, like “standard,” and click OK
  • In the next window,  add your desired text with link to your Stik.com profile:
    • Highlight text and click on the link icon above the editing box on the right
    • Enter your Stik.com profile URL in the Address field and click OK
  • Choose what type of email correspondence you’d like to use this signature for (i.e. new messages, replies) and click OK

When you compose a new email, the signature will automatically appear.

Stik to who know!

Nathan Labenz
Stik.com Co-Founder
Visit me at Stik.com

Rotary Partners with Stik.com to Raise ‘Pennies for Polio’ at No Cost to Supporters

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In a new twist on fundraising, local Rotary clubs are asking supporters to open their desktops rather than their wallets.

Through a partnership with the networking website Stik.com, Rotary clubs around the world, including the Macomb Rotary Club and Sterling Heights Rotary Club, have started the Pennies for Polio campaign.

Read the full article on Patch.com»

OR

Check out the campaign at www.stik.com/rotary.

F8 Previews in Review

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Earlier this week I published two columns (one on BusinessInsider and one on AllFacebook) previewing Facebook’s F8 conference.

As speculation built that Facebook would be launching a major media service, I worried that Facebook might be focusing on the wrong opportunities:

For the economy as a whole, more media means more advertising opportunities. That’s great for Facebook’s short-term bottom line, but not so great for the rest of us. We don’t like the advertising we have. Too often, it’s an annoying shouting match between competing brands: banks and insurance companies, reeling from a loss of consumer trust, trying desperately to win us back.

Facebook’s great potential is in better advertising. Yet, the social network appears to be ignoring some important foundational steps in that direction.

You can read both posts to learn about the projects that I think Facebook should be giving more time and attention.  I’m not suggesting anything too radical — rather, I am mostly encouraging Facebook to open a few game-changing advertising tools that it has previously tested for general public use.

The big announcements are now behind us, and the tech press is swooning over Facebook’s new gadgets, but we’ll have to let the dust settle before we know if the new tools are as suitable to commerce as they are to media.  To Facebook’s credit, they have opened up a whole new set of flexible tools for developers that should make Stik.com and other high-value social sites better in one way or another.

Hat tips to:

Boost Recommendations and Reviews with Your Email Signature (gmail)

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If you’re sending dozens of emails as day, as most of us are, take advantage of this simple means of driving potential customers to your Stik.com profile.

Add your unique URL (http://www.stik.com/INSERTNAME) to your signature line and encourage the people you interact with to view and add to your recommendations.

The recommendations and reviews you’ve received from your customers will speak volumes to those considering enlisting your service. So make that connection easy for them.

Scroll through these screenshots to see how I did it.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

For Gmail users, the steps are easy.

  • Go to your “Mail settings” by clicking the options wheel in the upper right hand corner
  • Make sure you’re in “General” settings and scroll down to signature box and select the option for signature
  • Add your desired text with link to Stik.com profile (highlight any text and click the link symbol, then copy and past your unique Stik.com profile URL in the box)
  • Click “Save Changes” and you’re done

When you compose a new email, the signature will automatically appear.

Stik to who know!

Nathan Labenz
Stik.com Co-Founder
Visit me at Stik.com

Boost Recommendations and Reviews with Your Email Signature (Yahoo)

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If you’re sending dozens of emails as day, as most of us are, take advantage of this simple means of driving potential customers to your Stik.com profile.

Add your unique URL (http://www.stik.com/INSERTNAME) to your signature line and encourage the people you interact with to view and add to your recommendations.

The recommendations and reviews you’ve received from your customers will speak volumes to those considering enlisting your service. So make that connection easy for them.

Scroll through these screenshots to see how I did it.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

For Yahoo users, the steps are easy:

  • Choose “Mail Options from the options tab at the top of the screen
  • Click on “Signature” in the left column
  • Choose to “Show a signature on all outgoing messages” and make sure you select the “Rich Text” option on the right
  • Add your desired text with link to Stik.com profile (highlight text and click on the link symbol, then enter your Stik.com profile URL in the box)
  • Click “Save Changes” and you’re done

When you compose a new email, the signature will automatically appear.

Stik to who know!

Nathan Labenz
Stik.com Co-Founder
Visit me at Stik.com

Boost Recommendations and Reviews with Your Email Signature (Hotmail)

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If you’re sending dozens of emails as day, as most of us are, take advantage of this simple means of driving potential customers to your Stik.com profile.

Add your unique URL (http://www.stik.com/INSERTNAME) to your signature line and encourage the people you interact with to view and add to your recommendations.

The recommendations and reviews you’ve received from your customers will speak volumes to those considering enlisting your service. So make that connection easy for them.

Scroll through these screenshots to see how I did it.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

For Hotmail users, the steps are easy:

  • Choose options from the drop-down tab underneath your name at the top right of the screen
  • Click on “Signature” in the left column
  • Choose to “Mail” from the left tab to get to your mail options
  • Then select “Message Font and Signature”
  • In the “Personal signature” box, add your desired text with link to Stik.com profile (highlight text and click on the “add hyperlink” symbol, then enter your Stik.com profile URL)
  • Click “Save” and you’re done

When you compose a new email, the signature will automatically appear.

Stik to who know!

Nathan Labenz
Stik.com Co-Founder
Visit me at Stik.com

Boost Recommendations and Reviews with Your Email Signature (AOL)

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If you’re sending dozens of emails as day, as most of us are, take advantage of this simple means of driving potential customers to your Stik.com profile.

Add your unique URL (http://www.stik.com/INSERTNAME) to your signature line and encourage the people you interact with to view and add to your recommendations.

The recommendations and reviews you’ve received from your customers will speak volumes to those considering enlisting your service. So make that connection easy for them.

Scroll through these screenshots to see how I did it.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

For AOL users, the steps are easy:

  • Click “Settings” at the top right of the screen
  • Click on “Compose” in the left column
  • Choose to “use signature” from the drop-down menu under signature
  • In the signature box, add your desired text with link to Stik.com profile (highlight text and click on the “link” symbol, then enter your Stik.com profile URL)
  • Click “Save” and you’re done

When you compose a new email, the signature will automatically appear.

Stik to who know!

Nathan Labenz
Stik.com Co-Founder
Visit me at Stik.com

Boost Your Recommendations and Reviews with Your Email Signature (Outlook 2003)

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If you’re sending dozens of emails as day, as most of us are, take advantage of this simple means of driving potential customers to your Stik.com profile.

Add your unique URL (http://www.stik.com/INSERTNAME) to your signature line and encourage the people you interact with to view and add to your recommendations.

The recommendations and reviews you’ve received from your customers will speak volumes to those considering enlisting your service. So make that connection easy for them.

Scroll through these screenshots to see how I did it.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

For Microsoft Outlook users, the steps are easy:

  • Click “Tools” in the top toolbar and select “Options…” from drop-down menu
  • Choose the “Mail Format” tab at the top
  • In that box, click on “Signatures…” box at the bottom right
  • Choose to create a new signature by clicking, “New…”
  • Enter a name for your new signature, like “standard,” and click Next
  • In the next window, choose “Advanced Edit…”
  • In the Word document that opens, add your desired text with link to your Stik.com profile:
    • Highlight text and click insert
    • Select “Hyperlink…” or hit Ctrl+K
    • Enter your Stik.com profile URL in the Address field and click OK
  • Click “Save” and go back to Outlook
  • Click OK in the “Create Signature” box
  • Back in the “Mail Format” of options, be sure to choose whatever you named your new signature as under “Signature for new messages.”

When you compose a new email, the signature will automatically appear.

Stik to who know!

Nathan Labenz
Stik.com Co-Founder
Visit me at Stik.com

A Travelin’ Brand: TripAdvisor’s Facebook-Connected Reviews Threaten Travel Brands

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My latest guest post has just been published on GigaOM.  The big idea is that online review sites are undermining brands by making it easier for consumers to know the quality of specific locations and individual service professionals.

Here’s an excerpt:

Take this Google search for Super 8 Motels, for example. On the front page, you’ll see ratings that hotel guests have written about particular Super 8s on TripAdvisor, Yahoo Travel and Yelp. Importantly, the reviews vary widely. When I checked, a New Mexico location was rated 4.5 stars, while a Los Angeles location was at 3.5 stars and one in British Columbia had only 2 stars. Such location-specific information undermines brands’ ability to affect consumers’ purchasing decisions with 30-second TV spots and gives TripAdvisor a powerful position.

TripAdvisor is ahead of other travel sites thanks in part to their use of Facebook-connected recommendations, which help websites make sales by establishing instant trust with visitors. As a potential hotel guest, I am interested in the consensus among previous guests, but I am especially interested in what my friends have said. Reviews can be intensely personal — for example, here’s my TripAdvisor review of a beach resort in Mexico — and if you know the author, it makes a huge difference in how reliable you consider the review.

For the Super 8 brand, the end game could be scary: as TripAdvisor accumulates more and more trusted reviews, the best-performing Super 8s, all of which are independent franchises, may eventually realize that their business is suffering from their association with lesser motels. At that point, we might see a “brand run,” wherein the best locations leave the chain, lowering the brand’s value and ultimately leading to its collapse.

See the post itself for a few recommendations for brand managers.

I didn’t have space to discuss which sorts of brands are more or less threatened by reviews sites, but it’s worth pointing out that consumer product brands like Coca-Cola, Gillette, and Doritos are safe.  Online review sites don’t make sense for such items, as everybody already knows the taste of Coca-Cola.

Franchise brands like hotel chains and national insurance agent networks (think Farmers, State Farm, Allstate) - will face the biggest challenges as consumers gain access to location- and employee-level reviews.

The Next eCommerce Engine: Personal Recommendations

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Here is Nathan’s piece on Business Insider, highlighting how personalized recommendations will drive the next phase of eCommerce growth.    Despite a growing number of online alternatives, the brick & mortar retail model has largely remained intact and eCommerce still only accounts for  7% of retail sales in the US.  What happened?

In short, the prognosticating class failed to recognize two basic facts:

1. As social creatures, people like to establish trust via personal interactions before making important purchases

2. As physical creatures, people prefer to touch even the most basic things before buying.

This history of eCommerce since 1999 has largely been about overcoming these two hurdles. Progress has been slower than expected, but there have been notable successes. Amazon, for example, disrupted books and music sales by making it fun and easy to sample media on their website, and in this domain the old predictions are starting to come true: Borders is closing their doors.

Yet, eCommerce has remained highly impersonal, and the fate of booksellers has been the exception, because websites have never had a good way to promote trust-building interactions. That is, until Facebook began powering 1-click logins for other sites.

Read the full article here.  Hat tip to Lauren at Business Insider for her continued support.