In part of our dedication to community outreach, Rocket 55 has decided to donate our web services to an extremely worthy and wonderful local non-profit organization, Cakes on Wheels. This organization, started by Minneapolis woman Veronica Descotte, bakes and delivers birthday cakes to kids whose families can’t afford them. Descotte and the Cakes on Wheels organization firmly believes that every child should have a chance to celebrate their day, feel special and make a wish, no matter what their financial situation is.

Cakes on Wheels makes each deserving child their own, beautifully decorated cake from scratch and personally delivers the cakes to their home to help the parents celebrate their child’s day. Descotte does all the baking out of her home with the help of her husband and a few select volunteers and has loved spreading the joys of birthday wishes to these struggling families. She wants every child to have the chance to blow out their own birthday candles. To her, it’s not as much about the act of making the wish, but rather the mind set that these kids can still have their wishes, even when their families are going through hard times.

At Rocket 55, we are inspired and impressed with Cakes on Wheels and what their organization is doing for people in our community. We are excited to work with Veronica and Cakes on Wheels and are working hard to get their new site up and running. Here is a little sneak peak at our vision for the Cakes on Wheels site. Stay tuned for Cakes on Wheel’s brand new site and consider donating to this local marvel at cakesonwheels.org.

Advertising: every business uses it, every person is exposed to it in some way. But how effective is it? With the constant stream of advertising being thrust at them from every direction, how effective is advertising to the average consumer?

Because people are exposed to advertising in so many different mediums, it all comes down to which forms they can actually trust. As the infographic shows, there isn’t a lot of trust surrounding traditional advertising for many consumers. Consumer opinions and recommendations are overwhelmingly the most trusted forms of advertising.

That being said, utilize consumer opinions and recommendations to help advertise your company. Having open forums for discussion for your customers is a great way to open those channels of communication. Use sources like Blogs, Facebook and Twitter to give people the chance to advertise your product or service. And best of all, these are free services for your company.

Traditional advertising has many great benefits, but sometimes just hearing what other consumers have to say is all the advertising a person needs to hear. People trust their peers, so allow your customers to have the chance to engage with each other.

There aren’t many definite rules when it comes to using social media platforms like Twitter, but there are quite a few “social cues” to follow to avoid looking silly and help you acclimate to the social media climate better. Look to these pieces of advice for your Twitter guidelines.

Don’t beg people to follow you. It is rude, impersonal and just kind of sad. More often than not, if you engage people that you follow, they will follow you back.  You must engage people in some way. That may be through a simple response to one of their threads, but that engagement will mean much more than an impersonal request to have them follow you. This engagement also replaces the notion of thanking every one of your followers.  Conversing with the people you follow and the people that follow you demonstrates your appreciation.

Never call attention to someone who unfollows you. It probably isn’t personal. If it’s someone you regularly engage with, there may be some sort of Twitter bug or it may have been accidental. But if you don’t regularly have much contact with this follower, forget about it. On this same note, you don’t have to follow every single person that follows you. Twitter should be unique to each individual and the people you follow should reflect you and your interests.

Your Twitter should not be used solely for advertising purposes. It is more of an open forum for discussion rather than a broadcasting device, so use it as such. A maximum of 1/3 of your feed should be dedicated to messages from you while the rest should be replies and retweets. It is also good decorum to remember that your Twitter is not the place to air all of your life’s grievances. Social media can be a great tool to reach out to companies for both good and bad experiences, but it shouldn’t be your personal review board.

Because Twitter limits you to 140 characters, don’t auto feed from your other social media platforms unless you are sure that they will be short enough. People that view your Twitter shouldn’t have to seek visit another site to understand your whole message. It is also pretty obvious to visitors that this is being done and it makes you look bad that you won’t take the time to tailor your message on different platforms. It doesn’t take that much time if you follow a social media schedule.

Overall, just remember that Twitter should be used to add value to your company. Be friendly and personable in your posts so that your value increases. Find ways to connect with your followers and keep them aware, not annoyed.

This is a trip I will not soon forget. Through experiencing the unique daily rhythm of life in Haiti you quickly realize that it is a beautiful country like no other. Although the island nation has fallen from front-page news, the need for rebuilding is still present and the potential is as great as it’s ever been. Through building homes and reaching out to individuals, World Wide village is able to work alongside the Haitian people and empower them to actively create the very future that they desire for their own families.
Take Action: 
We at rocket 55 are happy to be making a donation to World Wide Village and would like to let you know how you can do the same or how you can help in other ways….

Below is a link to the worldwide village website along with a video made by Shannon Kelly, another Worldwide Village employee living in Port au prince Haiti. Check out her blog at, www.shannon-kelley.com/blog,
World Wide Village At www.worldwidevillage.org

Videos add an eye catching and interactive element to your website. Not only do web videos engage, they educate and entertain potential customers or business contacts.

Web videos also encourage visitors to spend longer on your site. Even time waiting for the video to load increase your content’s exposure. Curiosity is on your side. Skimming headlines or looking at emphasized phrases are instantaneously gratifying and, typically, less successful. Consider news websites. Video links are just as, if not more, noticeable than headlines and extensive articles. If you can’t present a product or service to someone face-to-face, a video might just be the next best step.

However, keep in mind, not all videos are great. Some of them are just annoying, extensive, or just downright annoying. Here are a couple things to keep in mind when choosing your video:
– Quality: keep your video informative, entertaining, and worth watching.
– Relevance: kittens chasing themselves in mirrors are cute, but worthless to a website selling
audio equipment.
– Length: your video should not be more than a minute; longer than that and your audiences will
care less and less … think diminishing returns.
– Optional: personally, I hate when music is prompted to begin right when I enter a website, or
when an ad video plays in the side bar of a site. Let your audiences choose to watch the video;
I’m pretty sure they will appreciate it … as would I.

So. Web videos seem like a beneficial idea. Need help getting started? Here are a couple of suggestions:
– Demonstrative: show audiences what your product or service does.
– Testimonial: let others tell audiences how great your product or service is.