Interactive
Services

any firms seem to be on a treadmill when it comes to interactivity. CIOC was no different. We dutifully attended industry meetings on the topic, but the process showed little to no progress over the years. The subjects evolved: news groups, listservs, blogs, but no matter the issue du jour, someone would pontificate, the CEOs and owners would nod and listen with great interest, and the recommendations fell to the wayside during the rush of day-to-day business.

Though some blame inertia, we adhere to the theory of “digital natives” and “digital immigrants.” Digital natives grew up with computers and the Internet already in existence and are comfortable with multi-purpose cell phones, text messaging and regularly visit websites such as MySpace and YouTube. Digital immigrants remember society without computers and are constantly trying to catch up. Most PR and business owners today are immigrants, not natives.

Our firm would have been like all the others unless we had discovered an amazing company for web design and SEO. The owners forced us into the digital world and showed us how to:

• Add structured web pages indistinguishable from the rest of our site;
• Send out electronic press releases through key distributors;
• Achieve online syndication through content providers;
• Promote our firm with digg.com and, surprisingly, My Space; and
• Start a blog.

We also modified some of their ideas, for example, changing the blog into a weekly format -- it’s titled “My Week in Review” -- because who has time to write an entry every two days? A similar format is possible for nearly any of our clients, e.g., “This Week in [any topic].

CIOC willingly shares its new-found knowledge with clients. Thanks to our experience with our own firm, we now know the strengths and pitfalls of the most recent developments.