May 03

Social Media Update – Keeping It Local With Twitter & Facebook

The internet landscape is constantly evolving. Today people are better able to connect to a wider-scale of relevant sources and share information more effectively than ever before.  According to social media, there’s always room for improvement. Check out this week’s blog to see what we’ve discovered about Twitter and Facebook, and how businesses can proactively integrate these changes into their digital marketing strategy.

Twitter

Twitter is infamous for connecting strangers throughout the globe, giving anyone with an account the ability to tweet celebrities, and spreading national news faster than wildfire. Great for a news source and cyber stalkers, yet not so beneficial for local businesses without a significant investment of resources into building a dedicated Twitter following. However, localized tweets would significantly change the game.

All Things D blogger, Mike Isaac broke the story about Twitter testing a new ‘Local Discovery’ feature which would show tweets relevant to a user’s current geographic location. The project was given new light during Twitter’s most recent Hack Week in early April but is an idea that Twitter developers have been toying with for a while. The problem is how to integrate the feature without disrupting the current user ecosystem?

Localized tweets offer a tremendous opportunity for small business owners. Most active users follow anywhere from 200 to over 1,000 different accounts – that’s a lot of newsfeed competition! Geo-location tweets would allow small businesses to get back into the conversation and communicate more effectively with their desired audience.

Can’t wait for Twitter to stop twiddling their thumbs? Among a host of third party sites, LocalChirp (free), Trendsmap (monthly subscription), and LocalTweetFinder (onetime fee) top of our list for getting insight into local conversations.

Facebook

fb

This social media giant is at it again, this time eyeing consumer review traffic, a market currently dominated by Yelp and Google Reviews. In April, Facebook Mobile got a makeover, optimizing the on-the-go site to be more user-friendly.

Along with user convenience in mind, Facebook is also better positioning the platform to be more mobile ad-friendly. With smartphone and tablet sales’ rapidly outpacing desktop computers the Era of Mobile Ads is just around the corner. A handful of big time digital players, including Google are already beta testing mobile ad best practices on how to capture leads and generate sales via the mobile platforms

Shopping local is ‘in’ again. And unlike traditional marketing and advertising campaigns, social media and SEO marketing comes with precise, measureable Return On Investment. For real results, there must be real investment, especially of time. With social media platforms embracing the ‘glo-cal’ mindset, companies both big and small can benefit from marketing online.

Take off the business hat, and put on your consumer shoes. When you need a phone number or address, do you open the phone book? If you need directions, do you pull out your map? Brick and mortar marketing is quickly turning into junk mail and a waste of trees to the environmentally-conscious consumer. If you’re looking to take your business to the next level, social influence marketing provides the tangible ROI to walk the talk. Let us give your business back its bragging rights.

Apr 08

Using Instagram To Drive Business

urlThe marriage of technology and social media are continually creating new ways for people to communicate with one another, as well as an entirely new vocabulary to go along with it, giving significant meaning to phrases like “tweet” and “status update.”  Since its launch in October 2010, Instagram, your user-friendly photo-editing and sharing platform, has attracted over 90 million active users as of January 2013. While the company maintains independent management, Facebook acquired the platform in early September 2012, solidifying Instagram’s place in the social media scene.

sunrisesurfIncorporating a consistent visual element into your social media strategy is a great way to show your company’s personality and to engage both future and current customers. Similar to Facebook and Twitter, Instagram requires you to post regularly for successful results, and allows you to interact with users who comment on or like your posts. It also incorporates hashtags* to make posts more searchable, and easily integrates with Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, Flickr, Foursquare, and E-mail to increase photo-sharing. The Instagram app will only upload and edit photos from mobile phones and tablets, though you can view user profiles and photos from the computer.

Instagram has shown significant consumer engagement results, and the ability to drive business for a variety of industries; especially companies which provide fresh, creative content and post multiple times per week. Proving to be a viable platform on all scales, from major corporations like Starbucks, to small, local surf shops like Sunrise in Jacksonville, Fl, Instagram can be a beneficial integration for any company wishing to visually-engage. Need some inspiration? Check out 3 Ways Restaurants Can Use Instagram.

starbucks

During December, Sunrise Surf Shop ran a month-long promotion for the 24 days leading up to Christmas. Each day they posted a photo of a new item on sale, giving their Instagram followers a visual image, creating a call to action response.

Starbucks Coffee on the other hand, seeks to capitalize on their hashtag, #Starbucks. They encourage their followers to photograph their own experiences with the company and tag Starbucks, who then reposts randomly-selected photos from followers, broadcasting them out to their other 1.2 million followers with an honorable mention to the original photographer by tagging them using the ‘@’ followed by their username**. Read the rest of this entry »

Dec 06

Have You Shared on “Keek” Yet?

Lately it seems that the Internet madness has migrated and evolved into an App madness, it’s because of this that many businesses are creating and launching their own mobile apps to be present at the fingertips of their customer’s lives. Every time a new social media app comes out we may think to ourselves that “now everything has been done”, only to be presented with a new one a few months later. In celebration of new social media sites and apps launching everyday – have you rejoiced in the launching of the new found social media feed ‘Keek’?

Keek, is a Canadian based social media app that was launched in 2011, but recently has been gaining recognition and is a new favorite app for everyone to enjoy, including celebrities. It can be defined as a Video Instagram or a Twitter feed but for videos. The concept: You can tape anything you want using your phone’s camera and post it creating a ‘keek’, later your friends and everyone on your network can look at your ‘keek’ and comment or ‘keekback’ with their own video response.

Keek is a terrific tool for businesses that are looking for new ways to share videos with their clients, customers and prospects. Shoot videos about new products, upcoming events, informational videos or the “just for fun” videos to engage your customers to make them smile.

Keek differs from YouTube in that it’s more personal and videos are considerably shorter, only 36 seconds long. The point is to express what you want to say in a fun, short and easy to understand manner, while letting your network connect with you at their convenience. Read the rest of this entry »

Nov 28

Using Google Plus for Car Dealerships

Google + is a great tool to connect businesses to the outside world, it let’s you share your thoughts, photos and promote to the right people at the right time. It’s also a way to build relationships with your clients and have them recommend your products or services to their peers online.

5 Ways to Utilize Google Plus:

  • Google + Circles: A terrific tool when marketing to specific audiences. Google + let’s you divide your network into groups of people that share a common characteristic, for example if you have a special promotion on mini vans you can target your posts about the special to a specific circle of people, for example moms who have smaller children.
  • Google + Direct Connect: This feature allows users to search for businesses in a totally different way. All they have to do is add a + sign at the beginning of their Google search and it will link them automatically to your Google + page. When people Google information about your Dealership they can add your business page to one of their circles – once this is done they will begin receiving your updates allowing them to stay up to date on promotions and current news.
  • Google +1 Recommendations: Is the ‘word of mouth’ of the technological era. Often people seek and trust advice given by their family members and friends when they want to find or try a new product or business. Being recommended by their peers will make you more likeable and trustworthy by your future clients, even if it is online.
  • Google +1 Display Ads: This feature lets you take recommendations made by your client’s to a whole new level. It’s a great place to let people discuss common topics relevant to your business. This interaction creates ripples that spread across Google + and the Web.  Read the rest of this entry »

Nov 26

3 Ways to Make Your Ads Stand Out on Spotify

Two things people love – Music & Technology. Spotify is here to unite both worlds. This software allows people to search, listen and share their favorite songs… for free! And how do they do that? The same way radio does – through advertising!

Spotify is an up and coming App and website that allows users to create playlists, share them with their friends and enjoy music anywhere by using the App on their phone or through logging in on a computer.

For every 5 songs that are played, an ad will be played before the next song goes live.  These ads are specifically targeted depending on the users age, gender and music taste. Spotify has the ability to let you narrow and find real potential customers based on users likes and dislikes. This precise targeting means your campaign is more effective and measurable than advertising on the radio.

3 Ways to Make Your Ads Stand Out on Spotify:

  • Use Music – Most ads are created to interrupt – Ads that are created with a little background music will draw attention and stand out to the rest. Users are on the platform listening to music; they will enjoy an ad with a good tune & continue to listen versus blocking you out.
  • Know Your Audience – Know what age group you want to target as well as the likes and interests of your target customers. Use this information to create catchy, compelling ads that appeal to their interests.
  • Short, Sweet & to the Point – No need to say the same thing 600 times; keep your ad short with a clear message and a call to action that requires listeners to either go to a website or your Facebook page to track the effectiveness of your ad.

Spotify does not necessarily take the place of radio advertising, however it reaches a different group of people who enjoy putting their own playlists together on a free downloadable app.

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