Who doesn’t love a good deal? With today’s introduction of Facebook Deals, we wanted to remind everyone of the recent addition of Check-In-Deals through Facebook Places. Launched at the end of January, Check-In-Deals help consumers get special offers when checking in at a local business from a mobile device.

So the next time you are out-and-about with friends or looking for somewhere to dine, open Google Places from your Facebook mobile app. Click the check-in option, and you will be given a list of Nearby Places that are offering Check-In-Deals. Once you check-in you are able to see what offers are nearby and share those deals with your friends.

When you select a local business, you simply check-in to view and claim the deal. Simple as that! You may also notice that there are four types of Facebook Check-In-Deals:

Individual Deals: Get discounts on merchandise
Friend Deals: You and your friends can take advantage of a coupon together, you just have to tag your friends within your check-in to receive the deal
Loyalty Deals: For repeat customers that check-in frequently
Charity Deals: Local businesses will pledge to donate to a cause when you check-in

To redeem your Check-In-Deals, simply show your redemption screen to the local business offering the deal.

For more information on Check-In-Deals, visit Facebook Places. If you have any questions about Facebook Marketing, please feel free to contact our interactive marketing specialist here at Sage Island.

So you recently created a Facebook Fan Page, Twitter account or branded your very own YouTube Page. Now What?

Your next step should be to track what “social customers” are saying about you and your company. Monitoring and engaging these conversations will allow you as a business owner to keep your finger on the pulse of the market, and make quick business decisions.

Facebook Insights

Facebook’s analytics tool, also known as Facebook Insights, provides you with important metrics specifically related to your company’s Facebook Fan Page. This tool allows you to view a comprehensive dashboard highlighting top level metrics around the posts and visits to your company’s Fan page. By understanding and analyzing Insight’s metrics, marketers are better prepared to respond to customer feedback and needs.

Within Facebook Insights Dashboard, you will see both User Insights and Interaction Insights. User Insights allow you to view monthly active users, total and new page Likes, Likes from referring sites, user demographics, tabs views and photo views. In addition, Interaction Insights allow you to track daily comment views, mentions within status updates, reviews, wall posts and video posts surrounding your company.

Monitoring the total number of new Fans or Likes is a valuable metric to consider. At what point did you receive the most Likes? How were you engaging these “social customers”? What content were you pushing on your Fan Page? Once you have defined the factors that contributed to this growth you will be able to cater your marketing strategy accordingly. Aside from new Fans or Likes, it is also beneficial to know the average number of comments you typically receive on any given post. Measuring this engagement metric will allow you to increase the number of posts around topics based on your fans interest. These insights gather data comparable to what you would receive from a focus group, but they are totally free.

YouTube Insights

YouTube offers a similar reporting tool known as YouTube Insights. Much like Facebook Insights, this tool allows you monitor your company’s branded YouTube Page. You can check out who is watching your videos, see what referring sites and keywords continue to drive traffic to your branded page and what videos are the most popular. You can also drill down within a specific video to see what portion particularly sparked viewer’s attention and where the interest dropped. These metrics help you understand what content your customers like, enabling you to promote related content and grow your audience.

Twitter Analytics Dashboard

With millions of tweets occurring daily, it seems only natural that you would want to monitor any conversation surrounding your brand on Twitter. While much newer than Facebook and YouTube, Twitter has several applications that allow you to monitor when people mention or follow your company. Last quarter Twitter announced a launch of a new official Twitter analytics dashboard. This dashboard highlights real-time data regarding which tweets are spreading and which Twitter users are influential in your network. The emphasis of Twitter’s analytics is focused on the fact that the data is truly real-time, allowing for branding adjustments and marketing strategy decisions to be made on the fly.

Each of these monitoring tools will provide you with a wealth of knowledge about our company. When deciding which tools are best for your brand, remember to always keep your end goal in mind. Utilizing these tools will help you better understand how people interpret your brand, and allow you to respond quickly to customer’s needs.

Earth Day, which is held annually on April 22^nd, brings some of the most intriguing and informative ad campaigns the world has ever seen. Some of the largest corporations around the world use advertising to provide awareness to help educate people on ways to sustain and preserve our planet.  The Quiksilver Foundation has partnered with Waves for Development, a volunteer based organization that creates life-enriching experiences in coastal communities through education programs and Surf Volunteerism programs that engage travelers & transform their views of the world and themselves.  Quiksilver has been using their social media to utilize and brand this program for this year’s Earth Day.

Starbucks is also pushing a very beneficial advertising campaign for the planet.  Starbucks announced that they will serve free coffee or tea to anyone who brings in a travel mug tomorrow, Friday April 22^nd in order to reduce the waste accumulated from coffee cups. According to Starbucks, “One person switching can save trees, together we can save forests”.  Last year they pushed a similar campaign that saw more than 32 million participants, keeping nearly 1.45 million pounds of paper out of landfills.   This year at Sage Island, all employees posted their pledge to join the movement. Make your own personal pledge for “A Billion Acts of Green” at the Earth Day Network.

According to Google, 20% of all searches are relative to location. In March alone, 14.3 Billion searches were conducted through Google, which means nearly 3 Billion search queries contained local terms.

With that said, it is important that your business take advantage of the opportunity to be listed within Google Places, Yahoo Local and Bing Local Listings. Your local customers already search Google, Yahoo and Bing for the products and services that you offer. By creating local business listings within these three platforms, you can be confident that your business will be easily found online. These platforms will also complement your current search engine optimization strategies.

While each local listing platform is different, they all provide unique features that will allow you to add photos and videos, custom service categories, brands that you sell and coupon options that make your business stand out among your competitors.

More and more people are searching online for local businesses, so it is important that your company have a presence.

If you are looking for innovative ideas or have any questions, feel free to contact us today. At Sage Island, our goal is to help your business grow.

We have always valued our relationship with UNCW, the local university here in Wilmington, NC. We work closely with the Business and IT Departments and are excited  to be working with the Entrepreneurship Center, an excellent resource for emerging entrepreneurs. The center hosts a weekly television show called Envision, featuring successful local business owners and recently asked our CEO, Mike Duncan to the show. Check out the interview below!

We are proud to announce the recent launch of the new Full Belly Project website!  When the Full Belly Project began their search for a web designer, we were eager to jump on board with such an awesome cause. They wanted a fresh, inspiring design and needed the flexibility to update the site as news,  events and activities came up. The site was built in DNN and has a custom module that lets them upload newsletters and events easily. The site includes videos and photographs of the Full Belly Project equipment and a neat map showcasing all of their project locations. The site includes beautiful, rich photography and warm colors to reflect the positive work of this organization. We are excited with the end result!

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We’re excited to announce the all new website for the Wilmington airport, FlyIlm.com! The updated, modern site captures the airports passion for making ILM a progressive and dynamic travel experience. The new site makes it easier than ever to:

• Find low fares and purchase tickets
• Track arrivals and departures
• Sign up for specials & deals

The sit is built in DotNetNuke and gives the airport staff the flexibility to add and edit information as needed. The new site is packed full of information about the airport that makes traveling in and out of Wilmington, NC convenient and enjoyable. From parking details, to a terminal layout, travel tips, and a detailed list of  airport amenities, the site is organized and easy to navigate. Take a moment to visit the new website today!