Lately, intriguing stories about how companies manage to increase the number of ‘Likes’ in Facebook fan pages have been floating around. Firstly, we will discuss few real life examples. Additionally, we will point out why opting for these short cut strategies may not be a great idea.

Example 1 – The story of Taco Bell

Recently, Taco Bell-a fast-food food chain based in California, received approximately 250,000 Facebook likes from customers by offering them a free taco. In simple terms, this means that those who liked the Facebook fan page of Taco Bell enjoyed a free Taco.

Example 2 – Strategy of Discovery Communications

Discovery Communications, a media company, also managed to add 25 million likes on its Facebook page. In contrast to Taco Bell, it did not offer any exclusive gift to people who liked its page. Rather, it opted for a tactic that emphasizes on community engagement and interaction. This strategy can be termed as ‘like-gating’.

Companies that implement like-gating strategy put exclusive information on the page that can only be viewed by people who like their Facebook page. To raise curiosity of users further, the company incorporates a certain part of the exclusive content in the splash page (anyone can view this splash page).

The content sometimes includes a video. Other times, it highlights a contest. In brief, sneak peak of the exclusive content appears so attractive that people almost feel compelled to like the page.

Why like-gating may not solve your marketing problems?

Companies that aim to increase Facebook likes somehow, often forget the fact that users can also leave the page. To acquire a strong customer base, you need to convey your goals to your customers and highlight your values. If you force people to like your page, without establishing a strong connection with them, they may leave the page, after sometime.

Most marketing experts agree that like-gating is a short-term strategy and may not help companies to create a strong brand image.

In fact, recent surveys reveal that many people like Facebook fan page of a company only to take advantage of its ‘one-time deal’. Studies further reveal that people often leave a Facebook fan page because they expected more offers from the company. Since they did not get interesting offers, they chose to leave the page.

What do these surveys reveal?

According to these surveys, like-gating can initially help companies to acquire more customers. However, if you do not aim to build a long-term relationship with your clients, chances are high that they will shift their loyalty.

Internet marketing and SEO services experts should remember the fact that famous companies did not acquire a strong customer base overnight or by implementing short cuts. You need to invest time, patience, and energy to build up the corporate identity or brand image of a company. Opt for an honest approach and you are bound to receive positive feedback from your customers.

Tablet computing received new lease of life with iPad redefining this segment a year back. Since then, every major technology giant, including Lenovo and Dell, has been busy introducing its own versions of tablet touch screen devices.

Amazon, which is mostly known as a major online retailer with an impressive corporate identity, does not want to be left behind in this race to woo gadget users. It has revamped its popular Kindle e-book reader with new features and wants to give serious competition to Apple, which still owns a majority of stake in global tablet market.

Needless to say, increased use of tablets for web browsing has opened new career avenues for web developers who are exploring options to develop tablet based apps. They have several platforms to choose from, including iOS, Android and Blackberry OS. Windows 8 will hit shelves the next year, which is being touted by Microsoft as a tablet centric OS.

So, what does the release of Kindle Fire mean for web programming veterans specializing in tablet app development?

For a website development company focussing on tablet app development, Kindle Fire remains an intriguing device, more so for its unremarkable new hardware. It is true that Amazon has unveiled 4 variants of Kindle but basically, there is only one Color tablet and three Ink-based devices. These three Ink-based tablets offer more feature than earlier versions of Kindle, but they do not have any groundbreaking features as such. Kindle Touch comes with a touch based Infrared Sensor and lacks mechanical buttons. Only Kindle Fire offers a Touch screen with Color Display.

As a matter of fact, ink-based Kindle models cannot be classified as full-fledged tablets and developers do not have many reasons to warm up to them. Kindle Fire does run on Android, though Amazon has not highlighted on that aspect much, yet, in its promotional activities.

As a tablet, it falls far short of competition. For instance, it does not have a camera, GPS navigation and SD card slot, etc. As far as connectivity goes, there is WiFi and USB. This does limit scope for developers willing to make apps for Kindle Fire.
Amazon Kindle Fire is equipped with new Silk browser. This is useful for delivering good results where connectivity is sluggish. Given its feature set and usability, Kindle Fire does not pose much threat to Android tablets. It is more than an e-Book reader for sure, but does not contain any major new feature.

Developers rue the fact that Kindle KDK, unveiled almost a year back, is still in beta version. There are a handful of apps available for Kindle but prospect of final version of KDK is uncertain. Android developers are warming up to release of Android OS4, which is just a few days away. However, there is no likelihood of Amazon switching to this much talked about update for its flagship e-book tablet.

Kindle Fire is based on a modified version of Android Froyo, which can make developing apps for it rather cumbersome. Google is trying to do away with Android segment fragmentation and this may make things difficult for Kindle app development.

From initial developments, it seems that Amazon is not going all the way out to woo developers to make apps for its tablet, in contrast to Microsoft. Amazon did not talk much about developers at launch of new Kindle.

Corporate identity involves establishing the presence of a company through a corporate logo and other representative tools. The brand identity of a company is also at times reflected through the corporate identity.

But ideally brand identity and corporate identity is not one and the same thing. They may be closely related to each other. But by merely changing the logo will not affect the existing brand identity of the company.

A corporate identity of a company generally develops with time. If the corporate identity is not well established, it may hamper the development of the brand identity. But too much of alteration in the presentation of a company brand can also leave the customers in a concern. The corporate identity is dependent on the various factors like the reputation of the company, the service provided by the company, its performance and the value maintained by it round the year. Continue reading ‘Establishing the Corporate Identity of a Company’ »