At Mindshift Media, we specialize in innovative online media campaigns and solutions for all of your visual communication needs. Our award winning team create an effective digital marketing approach, incorporating cutting-edge tactics and results driven strategies. We look forward to helping you achieve the success you deserve!
Showing posts with label social network marketing. Show all posts
Showing posts with label social network marketing. Show all posts
There are plenty of people out there advocating social media. It has been touted online and in the press as the next generation of communication. This very blog has dedicated many articles to the subject. Despite all that, some companies are still on the fence about social media.
After all, it can be hard to understand the true power of sites life Facebook or Twitter, when huge corporations like Apple or CNN are using them. Social networking may be good for them but it could also be that they are just so popular, that people will seek them out wherever they are. That being said, there is one example free from any corporate celebrity or huge budget, that example is a 21 year old college student named Elise Hall. Using a campaign based largely on Facebook and Twitter, she was just elected to the Oklahoma State House of Representatives. Needless to say, before her political campaign, Hall was a fairly ordinary college student. She had not political war-chest or fame to catapult her into public office, just a computer and the drive to succeed. Using Facebook and Twitter, Hall beat out her opponents.
She did all that while still studying and attending classes. By regularly tweeting and organizing her supporters via social networks, Hall was able to enlist an army of followers. In fact, her cunning use of social media not only got her elected, it got her on CNN, a feat any good business owner would love to replicate. This means two things, a promising political career for Hall, and another good reason for every business to get involved with social media.
Blog Posting By: Tyler Griffin, Creative Director - Mindshift Media Written By: Brad Girtz - Mindshift Media Blogger
Businesses are always looking for new ways to communicate with their customers. Whether its advertising, market research or consumer feedback, every company is trying to better understand their client base. Unfortunately, most businesses overlook the easiest and most underrated method of communication,the blog. Blogs are one of the best ways to spread a message and get people to respond. In fact, there are ten great reasons for every company to create a busy business blog.
1: Its quick and easy. There are a number of great free blogging services that make it very simple to set up a blog. Once the initial blog site is up, it is just a matter of keeping it up to date with interesting articles.
2: A good blog can grow into an amazing advertising and marketing machine and requires as little as a few hours a week to keep up to date.
3: It provides easy access to company news. A blog can inform customers about sales, product information, events and even company news. It can also provide a great deal of information for other businesses and potential investors.
4: A blog is search engine friendly. Many search engines like Google look for “key words” in websites. A blog can provide thousands of key words. That means it will come up more often for more searches, thereby guiding more potential customers to a businesses website.
5: Blogs mean easier customer access. Customers will be better able to contact the company and share their views. A good blog also makes the company seem more open and accessible, even if it is not.
6: A blog makes the company look like an authority or expert. By writing about a subject on a blog, a business looks like they know their field and are an authority on the subject. That gives customers confidence and can boost sales.
7: Blogs increase brand awareness. Businesses want their name to stick in a customers head. The more times people see or hear a name, the more likely they are to associate that name with the service the company provides. A blog helps link a company’s name to its product in the minds of consumers.
8: Blogs build Rapport. A good blog is written in a more informal style than tradition news. That means customers feel like they know the company. They are more likely to trust the produce and make a purchase.
9: Blogs help gain insight. Customers are fickle creatures and often the only way to find out what they want or like is to speak with them directly. By allowing comments, blogs provide that vital link between customer and company. A blog also allows businesses to track which posts get the most hits and which are most popular. That means more market research data all for free.
10: Blogs answer questions. A good blog answers customer questions before they have to call or email. That means less stress on the customer service department and makes the company look good.
These ten reasons are just the tip of the iceberg, blogs can do much more for any company. With a little work, a blog can even draw in a loyal base of readers which means more sales and free advertising. As long as it is updated regularly and full of good information, a blog is marketing machine. It can be harnessed to work 24/7 pulling in new customers and funneling them towards a businesses website. That makes blogging more powerful and relevant than ever.
Social Network Marketing
We Make Your Identity!
Consumers are flocking to blogs, social-networking sites and virtual worlds. Mindshift Mediaoffers Social Networking/Media Marketing solutions as well as custom designed blogs for your corporation or business. We utilize award winning script writers to write columns and blog postings about your business, and we look forward to helping you achieve the success your company deserves! Our passion combined with your potential drives us to see our clients succeed in the online marketplace!
In the world of social networking, one name stands above the rest. Facebook. It is the undisputed champion of the social scene, a monolith in the market. That makes it very hard for any newcomer to survive. With 500 million users and a net worth of about 33 billion dollars, the giant is certainly not going out without a fight. Despite all that, one company thinks there may be a few chinks in Facebook’s armor. The David facing off against the Facebook Goliath is called Diaspora.
Loosely translated, diaspora means the spreading out of people. This new company aims to take advantage of two things, the first is Facebook’s privacy problems. Not long ago, there was a tremendous outcry when Facebook started changing its privacy settings. People were often confused by the new settings and many users felt their information was not being protected. Since then, Facebook has simplified its privacy controls but there is still a fear that the company will try to make more profiles public. That is good news for Diaspora, which describes itself as a “privacy-aware, personally-controlled” social network. Their goal is to give users more control over what information is shared and who can see it. That means users can choose who can see what on an individual basis. For instance, Your boss, won’t be able to see that hilarious picture you took of him at the office christmas party. The second innovation that may help Diaspora succeed is the fact it is open source. That means the company allows people to access the code that runs the programs. In laymen's terms, anyone can see how the program works. That gives apps creators and other software developers more access and means there may be more games and other customizable creations for the individual account. Diaspora is set to be released on September 15th. So far the company has raised more than $200,000 dollars. Among the initial investors was Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg. With plenty of capital and some luck this new upstart could give Facebook a run for its money.
Do you think this is just hype, or a successful business venture?? Do you feel Diaspora can compete with Facebook? Let us know what you think about this new business and idea!
Blog Posted by: Tyler Griffin, Creative Director - Mindshift Media Written by: Brad Girtz - Mindshift Media Blogger
Anyone with online video, dreams of the day their creation will go viral. It is like winning the world cup and super bowl at the same time. A tiny investment in video is suddenly the most talked about thing on the web and everyone is watching it. Unfortunately, there is no guarantee that any video will hit it big online.
People have spent vast amounts of time and money on videos that have fallen flat. That having been said, it takes more than lots of luck to be the next big online sensation. Mindshift Media recommends the following important rules to consider when attempting to produce an online multimedia campaign that will ultimately go VIRAL!
Rule 1: Make a video for people who are bored at work. There are hundreds of millions of people around the world sitting at a computer with nothing to do. They surf sites like YouTube looking for funny or interesting videos and sharing them with friends. While the idea of so many slacking employees may scare any good business person, it has created one of the best and most lucrative avenues for viral videos. By creating a video these people will want to share, companies can tap in to a pool of viewers larger than that of any major television networks.
Rule 2: Use what Jonah Peretti (CEO of Buzzfield) calls “The Mullet Strategy”. That is, business in front, party in back. Keep the front page of your website serious and put all the crazy silly stuff in back. That way the site still looks professional but there is something fun as well to keep people coming back.
Rule 3: Brands should use big seed marketing. That means anyone trying to sell a brand needs to spend some money. By making a really good campaign/video and paying to have it in a few high profile places, social media will pick up parts of the video faster and businesses can get the viral boost they crave for free.
Rule 4: Target the maniacs. The goal of any good viral campaign should be to target people like Lady Gaga, Kanye West and Perez Hilton, because they are the people who get involved and stir stuff up. When they rant about something or get involved with a product, the world knows. The web is run by maniacs and when they speak, consumers listen.
Rule 5: Companies need to always be pushing themselves and looking for new customers and new markets. The moment they stop, so does the companies growth. The same is true for any viral video. The moment people stop pushing it, the video flops.
These five rules are by no means a guarantee that a video will go viral, but they are the result of a decade of hard work and research from many successful corporations and Fortune 500 companies. They may not always work, but ignoring them is a good way to loose the race to go viral.
Blog Posting By: Tyler Griffin, Creative Director - Mindshift Media
Android phone users may be in for a shock on their next phone bill. Google, Androids creator has identified the first “malicious app” for its popular phone. This phone virus is disguised as a media player but once installed, it sends text messages to a premium rate number. The viruses creator then collects the money from the premium number. That means big charges and little recourse for those affected. This booby trapped app was discovered by Kaspersky Labs and is spread by text message. The message tells users to install a 13KB media player app. The virus or “trojan” is called Trojan-SMS.AndroidOS.FakePlayer.a. Currently, the virus is most common in Russia but because it is spread via text, android users in the U.S. and elsewhere can also be targeted.
A spokesman for Google says users can take steps to prevent their phones from being infected. First, read the permissions screen before installing. This screen tells users what the app has permission to do. Second, only install apps you trust and finally, be especially cautious when installing applications outside the Android market.
Blog Posting By: Tyler Griffin, Creative Director - Mindshift Media Written By: Brad Girtz - Mindshift Media Blogger
20 years ago, anyone with a question went to an expert. Then came the internet, and people began to use giant search engines like Yahoo and Google to find answers. This gave people access to far more information, but lacked the personal approach and security you got from asking a known expert. Without knowing where information originates, it can be hard to see bias or know how credible the source really is. That is the premise behind a new search feature on Facebook called “Questions”.
The option allows users to post questions to other users of Facebook. That way not only do you get an answer to a question, but you know where, or better yet, who the answer came from. The option is being offered to a small selection of Facebooks 500 million users for now but it will be available to a wider audience soon.
Some online analysts see this as a direct challenge to Google, but it is more likely to be a threat to search engines like ask.com and yahoo answers. Facebook can not match the searching and indexing power of google, instead, it will use its vast network of social contacts to help answer questions. That means it will not provide the immediate results provided by Google, but it may give users better answers to more specific or specialized questions. It could also prove a great way to find knowledgeable professionals. One day businesses may even use Questions as a sort of pre interview phase to vet potential employees.
Either way, web users now have another choice in the ever growing number of specialized search engines.
Blog Posting By: Tyler Griffin, Creative Director - Mindshift Media Writter By: Brad Girtz - Mindshift Media Blogger
Mindshift Media is an interactive multimedia agency located in Bellevue, Washington. From promotional multimedia campaigns to social networking solutions, we provide our clients with many tools needed to succeed in today's global marketplace. Our unique and comprehensive approach to advertising enables us to accommodate a variety of clients, including businesses, organizations, non-profit’s and individual’s. Mindshift Media includes a tight-knit group of experienced multimedia professionals. We enjoy working with results-oriented businesses and ambitious entrepreneurs.
At Mindshift Media, we specialize in results driven online media marketing campaigns and innovative ideas for creative advertising for local, national and globally based companies. We look forward to helping you achieve the success you deserve.
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