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.

Today, the Google Analytics team decided to share the new version of Google Analytics with a small group of Analytics users. Luckily, Sage Island was chosen as one of them.  We are here to tell you that the future of Google Analytics is looking AMAZING and more intuitive than ever.  The functionality of this new version makes the site easier to navigate through than ever. You can look at several different analytical variables at one time, under one interface, which is incredibly helpful when comparing your site data.  The Google Analytics team has made it much easier and faster to get to the site data that you’re looking for through the enhanced Analytics platform. You can also view information about your site visitors by new dynamics such as demographics, behavior and technology.  With this new version comes a whole new updated Google Analytics Help Center and Report Finder.  There is also a section in the Help Forum for you to ask questions and discuss topics with other Analytics users.  You can sign up to be considered for this Google Analytics test run at the beta sign-up page.    If you have any questions or do not have Google Analytics set up for your site, please contact us at Sage Island.

Since Google has introduced Realtime Search, it has become ever-so-important to understand social media feeds and the value behind posting on Twitter. Below are a few best practices that our team at Sage Island follows, that may be beneficial to your business as well.

1) Establish trust:

To be successful on Twitter, you have to build a reputation for being a trusted source. You must become your industries leading source for up-to-date and timely information. This will help you build a strong following on Twitter. You can establish this trust by referencing articles and links about the bigger picture as it relates to your business.

2) Link to your website:

Integrate your current Twitter URL into your website by placing a button or call to action on all pages within your website. When tweeting, provide back links that redirect to your site to help gain traffic to your site. Make sure that when promoting your company’s URL, that you have provided added value once they arrive. Both integrating your Twitter URL and linking to your site – will help drive your Twitter URL up in the search engines.

3) Be responsive and reward followers:

You won’t win over the twitter population if you only use twitter as a self-promoting platform. While providing one way marketing messages about your product is okay, it is preferred if you instead ask questions and engage followers in a more casual, conversational approach. Share other peoples content in order to let the “Twitter-sphere” know that you are participating in the conversation. Engaging followers, thanking followers for following and responding in real time will help you build your customer engagement.

4) Don’t forget about your keywords and character limit:

When possible, write keyword rich tweets. Beginning your tweets with a primary keyword will allow you to leverage the realtime and long-term index relevance across search engines. Also, make sure your tweet’s character limits allow for “retweetability.” It is best to keep your tweet under 120 characters in order for your followers to easily add your RT@name in front of their tweet.

5) Measure and monitor what people are saying:

Utilizing tools such as HootSuite and Radian6 will allow you to monitor, track and gain insights regarding your Twitter traffic. Similar to Google Analytics for your website, these sites provide data regarding your Twitter visits, demographics, referring site visits and specifics on individual tweets that you have sent.

Understanding these 5 Twitter tips is only the beginning. Knowing who to follow and the important hashtags for your industry are important as well. Keep your eyes out for more insightful Twitter and social media tips to come in the next week. If you have any questions, or want information regarding other social media opportunities, please contact Sage Island today.

These days there are several different PPC options available that reach out to millions of people around the world.  Thankfully one of the largest networks in the world allows you to display your image ads on their site to all 400 million of their active users. Below are the top 5 reasons why Facebook Ads could benefit you:

1) Ad Destinations
Facebook Ads allow you to drive traffic to any destination on your fan page for an increased amount of “likes” and Facebook interaction.  You can also choose to send your traffic directly to any page on your website.  No matter what your marketing strategy is, Facebook ads are easily customizable for increased opportunity and advertising control.

2) Targeting Your Customers
Facebook allows you to target your ads to users based on their gender, age, location, birthday, relationship status, education, workplace, language, interests and more.  The more targeted your ads are, the higher your CTR will be.  You will also see a large decrease in the unprofitable clicks that you may receive in less targeted PPC campaigns.

3) Character & Image Flexibility
Facebook ads allow almost double the character limit of Google AdWords for greater ad descriptions.  They also give you the option to choose whichever thumbnail picture you would like to display above your ad copy.  These customizable options give your ads increased visual value to the consumer and allow you to say what you want to say.

4) Pricing Options
Once you’ve created your Facebook Ads you can choose to pay for impressions (CPM) or clicks (CPC).  You have total control of your daily budget and bids.  Your ads will discontinue once your budget has been met for the day. Historical data has shown that the average CPC for Facebook is dramatically lower than that of Google AdWords.

5) Reporting
Facebook has much different reporting tools than any other PPC interface we have ever seen.  They have multiple dynamic statistics that allow you to see standard PPC metrics alongside Facebook statistics such as amount of “likes”, social impressions, social CTR and more.  Another report that Facebook can generate is an Ad Demographic report that allows you to see the age, gender and location of the users that are clicking on your ads.  Lastly you can choose a Profile report that shows certain profile metrics of your clicks such as interests, favorite movies and books etc.

Here at Sage Island we have used Facebook Ads for our clients such as Warehouse Skateboards and have seen an increase of over 21,000 “likes” in 2 months.  If you have any questions about Facebook Advertising or you would like to increase your brand exposure on Facebook, please contact Sage Island to begin your social media marketing success.

Google AdWords is deemed one of the fastest, easiest and most cost-effective ways to advertise your product/service online. According to the Google Help Center, Google’s Network reaches 80% of the 170 million people that use the Internet in the U.S., and it doesn’t stop there. You can advertise in approximately 250 countries in 38 different languages. Below are the top 5 reasons why Google AdWords could benefit you:

1. Cost & Flexibility
AdWords allows you to choose between two different pricing models: Cost-Per-Click (CPC) or Cost-Per-Impression (CPM). This allows you to have an increased level of control with your advertising campaigns. You can also set a maximum daily budget and maximum CPC or CPM bids to completely manage your advertising costs.

2. Targeting & Scheduling Capabilities
Within your Google AdWords account you can specifically target ads to a city, region, state, metro area or any specific location you define for yourself. You can also target any of the provided 38 languages. Ad Scheduling can be extremely important to the performance of your advertising campaigns. With AdWords you can customize which days of the week and hours of the day you would like for your ads to run.

3. Ad Extensions
AdWords provide 4 different ad extensions in Google Search: Location Extension, Phone Extension, Ad Sitelinks and Product Extensions. Ad Extensions expand your standard text ad with additional information such as a product listing or image, address and phone number, click-to-call phone number, or additional links to your site. These extensions help users more easily find out about your business, product or service.

4. Conversion Optimizer
By using your conversion tracking data, AdWords features two ways to get you more conversions at a lower cost. The Conversion Optimizer keyword bidding option optimizes your ad placement in each ad auction for increased likelihood of conversion and avoidance of unprofitable clicks. You can set your maximum cost-per-acquisition (the most you’re willing to pay per conversion) and this feature will automatically choose the optimal CPC for each ad auction. The second feature is the “Optimize for conversions” ad rotation option. This feature shows the ads that are expected to provide more conversions more often.

5. The Google Network
Google is split into 2 networks; the Search Network, which includes Google and other search sites and the Display Network, which includes Gmail, YouTube and sites like the New York Times. The Search Network uses keywords to target text ads on search results pages. The Display Network reaches prospects at different points of the buying cycle through contextual targeting. Here you can run text/rich media ads, image or video ads depending on the site. Display ads serve as an effective media choice for both branding and direct response goals.

If you have any questions about Google AdWords, or if you think PPC advertising could be the marketing choice for you, please contact Sage Island to begin your marketing success.

Best Practices

1. Construct the perfect profile picture. Facebook profile pictures are one of the most important factors in capturing a user’s initial attention; therefore, it is crucial to have a clear, eye catching image that perfectly represents your business and your brand. In order for your thumbnail to contain your brand logo, you must remember that Facebook crops your photo with a 12 pixel border and that Facebook thumbnails are square with rounded corners.

2. Captivating conversations matter!  That means doing more than inserting a post, a link or a picture periodically on the page. You should comment on posts made by fans, answer their questions in a timely fashion, add value to those posts with additional information and encourage more interaction. Make sure people know that you are personally updating the page and it’s not just a feed.

3. Integrate other Facebook entities. The sections on the left side of the page should be intelligently selected with one goal in mind: Enabling your fans to do more and spread the word. Add a welcome page or a mailing list page where fans can add themselves to your email list. You can also add a shopping cart to allow fans to purchase your products directly and securely through Facebook. Ex: Warehouse Skateboards Welcome Page, Join My List & Shop Now.

4. Statistics are extremely important: Facebook Insights allows you to understand which posts are encouraging your fans to interact and engage with you by analyzing trends in your Facebook data. Make sure to conform to your demographics, too. Whatever works should be continued!

5. Make your fans feel special.  Reward fans for participating, let them know you are watching and encourage additional engagement. Make someone a fan of the week; allow fans to link to your Facebook page and website so that they stand out as an extended member of the brand family. Do things that are unique to your Facebook fan page only.

6. Use outside properties to promote the page: Too often enough, people create their business page and never receive the desired audience. Use all of your communication properties to build up your Facebook. Mention your Facebook in your blog, on your website and in your ads. If you prioritize brand promo in front of conversation on your Facebook fan page, expect an inactive fan base.

7. Facebook fans love photos and videos.  Tagging your fans from event photos and videos is just a simple, obvious way to make them feel like they are part of the community. In fact, you should be encouraging them to upload their own photos and videos.

8. Limit the number of posts. No one wants their Facebook page flooded with useless posting, but you don’t want your fans to forget about you either. It is best to post about 3-4 times a day at the most in order to maximize your fan base according to their Facebook timing.

9. Always add variety. It is best to post a variety of different things to add value to your page and keep fans interested. If you consecutively post multiple photos, links or videos than your fans will lose their interest quickly. So make sure to change it up every time or every other time in order to keep your fans captivated.

10. Expand your reach. Facebook is the best way to interact with your loyal customers and prospects. These days a “Like” is just as good as a lead. Throughout our own analysis we have found that one way to obtain “likes” is by simply running Facebook ads.  These ads should target your customer demographic, link directly to your Facebook page,  include an enticing thumbnail picture and creative ad copy.

If you are looking for innovative ideas or have any questions, our expert designers, programmers and marketers are here to help you with your next project. Contact us to move your business to a new level of Facebook success.

I am happy to announce that the new Cape Fear Heart Associates website launched today!  The site is for a new practice formed by Wilmington Cardiology and Coastal Cardiology under the New Hanover Regional Medical Center Physicians Group.  The site utilizes the brand established by New Hanover Regional Medical Center and provides a place for patients and physicians to get information on the new practice.  It was built in DotNetNuke to offer easy editing and growth for the 6 expanding locations of Cape Fear Heart Associates.