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Promotions Mingle Comfortably Among Social Networking Crowd

Todd Little first learned about the magnitude 7.2 earthquake that struck Baja California, Mexico, on April 4 within minutes on his mobile phone via the popular social networking site Twitter.

It’s a good example, said Little, account manager for San Diego-based marketing and media firm Oster and Associates, of the power and immediate satisfaction of social media. More companies and advertisers are catching on to the growing influence social media has on consumers and are beginning to add such mediums to their overall marketing and advertising strategies, he said.

“Social media is incredibly subjective and it’s unique to you and to me,” Little said. “It’s customized to whatever I want it to be. Social media is on the verge of eclipsing television as the primary means of entertainment in the home. Soon, more people will be looking at a computer monitor rather than a TV screen for a source of information, comedy and interaction.”

Unlike traditional advertising, social networking sites such as Twitter and Facebook create a quick following and immediate responses, Little explained. He pointed to one of Oster and Associates’ clients, Pizza Nova, which, through a Twitter campaign, invited two dozen of the restaurant’s Twitter followers for an exclusive sneak preview of entrees being considered for the menu.

“They were the very first to sample the new ravioli and we encouraged them to ‘tweet’ if it was as good as everything else on the Pizza Nova menu,” Little said. “The response was positive and the ravioli ended up on the menu.

“This is an example of a company being proactive with social media,” Little added. “It can be a barometer of whether or not your customers are saying good things about you.”

Stream of Conversation

Just because a company creates a Twitter account or Facebook page doesn’t mean business will begin to flow, Little said. In order to be successful with social media campaigns, companies must create and continue conversations not only about themselves but also on topics their customers are interested in, he said. For example, another Oster and Associates client, KRC Rock Inc., a landscape and masonry stone company, has a Facebook page that is updated regularly. One of the company’s recent Facebook posts read, “Here’s a list of ideas to spark your creativity and outdoor living projects — just in time for summer! Do you have any ideas to add to the list? Let us know!” Here’s another one: “We’re hosting a FREE BBQ this Saturday! Come see our display and learn tips on how to improve your outdoor living space!”

Little said it’s all about sparking conversation and keeping consumers interested.

“You have to find compelling conversation and you have to maintain that for months and years,” he said. “The biggest mistake is people think they can just create a Facebook page and it’s the magic bullet. But it’s your job to add content and create dialogue and use social media for what it was intended for. A lot of people think it’s a cheap and easy marketing tool that will sell a product. Social media is a commitment to conversation. Companies can jump into a conversation and carry it forward and participate and ask questions and get a glimpse of what people are thinking.”

Little said social networking can also help companies keep track of what their competitors are doing by following them on Twitter or by adding their Facebook page.

“Social media requires a strategy,” he said. “It’s not just a one day thing. It’s all about finding different ways to create that foot traffic.”

While social networking is all the rage, it must be combined with other forms of marketing and advertising in order to reach its full potential. So says Tom Gallego, president and chief creative officer of L7 Creative Communications. It’s all about connecting with customers via multiple forms of media, including traditional advertising, Twitter, Facebook, blogs and new media, he said.

“In any type of digital advertising campaign the first thing we do is we understand the client’s goals and we identify potential metrics for an ROI (return on investment) and integrate that into traditional media,” Gallego said. “Digital media and marketing is much more powerful when you integrate it into traditional media. For example, if you place an ad in a newspaper you can lead people to your blog or Facebook page. Then you have a customer for life who you can monitor and have a two-way dialogue with and continue to market to them.”

Displaying Mobile Ads

Advertisers are also using mobile advertising platforms such as Apple Inc.’s iAD, a new platform for iPhone, iTouch and iPad devices.

“There are new tools that are available to us with new platforms such as the iPad and subscription-based Internet services,” said Scott Blair, L7’s director of creative technology. “These types of services can allow you to really be creative with advertisements.”

Companies that are using the Internet and digital media strategies to enhance their marketing and advertising campaigns must be mindful of the different platforms available as well as the capabilities of various devices in order to be effective, Blair added.

“About 15 percent of all traffic on our Web site, for example, is through iPhones,” he said. “So we have content that these users can access and view. If you don’t have a smart phone-compatible/optimized Web site you are losing out on market share and customers. For example, I have an iPhone and I got a marketing e-mail that I clicked on, which took me to a Flash-based Web site. My iPhone isn’t Flash compatible so as soon as I got to the Web site they lost me.”

Text messaging and search engine optimization are also popular advertising strategies in this digital age. Just ask Julia Simms, president of San Diego-based j. simms agency.

In much the same way that e-mail marketing revolutionized interaction with consumers a decade ago, mobile marketing is, according to Simms, the next big thing. Simms and her team have created a text messaging campaign — along with other social media strategies such as Twitter and Facebook as well as traditional public relations — for Fiesta de Reyes in Old Town, which is celebrating its one-year anniversary this month.

“If you are on the Fiesta de Reyes Web site you can register for the text message club,” Simms said. “We plan on rewarding those customers who sign up for the text messaging club with once-a-month offers like first notice of a VIP party when the Cosmopolitan Hotel opens, a notice about a new band coming or a two-for-one dining coupon.”

Using such digital marketing campaigns allows companies to reach a broader consumer base, Simms said.

“There are still plenty of people who aren’t on the Internet all day, such as hospital workers and police officers,” she said. “A two-for-one happy hour advertisement may not reach them on the Internet before they leave work, but they may get a notice via a text message on their mobile phone. We also have to remember that only 12 percent of mobile phones in the United States are Internet capable. With text messaging you don’t need the Internet.”

Getting the Word Out Digitally

Besides text messaging campaigns, j. simms agency helps its clients create and maintain Facebook and Twitter accounts.

“We will update a client’s Facebook page as if we are sitting in that restaurant by telling people what’s happening that night or what band is playing that weekend,” Simms said. “If we are having a special happy hour for a restaurant in Old Town we can notify people via Twitter and Facebook. In turn, those people then tell other people about it via Facebook and Twitter.”

Another growing form of Internet advertising is search engine optimization, or SEO, in which Web sites are built to improve the volume of traffic via search results. SEO, which is now incorporated into most Web site designs, has replaced pay-per-click digital advertising where companies pay Google or Yahoo! to be placed at the top of a search engine, Simms said.

Simms and her team have incorporated SEO for a number of clients, including Bosa Development. Bosa recently launched a comprehensive social media program for its Bayside at the Embarcadero condominium project in downtown San Diego with the help of j. simms agency. The campaign includes a Facebook fan page, which is monitored and updated daily and includes information on the building as well as on the downtown lifestyle, real estate market conditions and urban living.

“It’s important that once you have a Facebook or Twitter account that you are consistent and update them regularly,” Simms said. “We want to help our clients create traction through social media.”

Andrea Siedsma is a freelance writer for the San Diego Business Journal.

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