Posts Tagged ‘social media marketing agency’

Creating a Social Media Campaign

Tuesday, April 17th, 2012

By Natalia Rodriguez

Luck may exist in life, but not in social media marketing.

As an interactive marketing agency in South Florida, here at iSource Digital, we understand that having a successful social media campaign it’s not about luck, but about the content, strategy and understanding of the target audience.

One of the biggest mistakes many organizations make when embarking onto a social media campaign is that they go into it with little understanding of how social media works and with unrealistic goals and expectations. They think that to gain people’s interest the only thing they have to do is post random content on their Twitter or Facebook page. But social media doesn’t work like that.

To create a successful social media campaign, there needs to be a concrete strategy in mind. Organizations should establish goals and objectives that are relevant to their organization’s needs.

For our most recent social media campaign for BenQ Latin America (BenQ Latam), the first thing we did was establish a strategy relevant to their target audience. Our objectives and goals were relevant and realistic. We dedicated important resources to the campaign. Thus far (the campaign is still in progress), this resulted in more than 10,000 likes on BenQ Latam’s Facebook page in less than a week, and that number keeps on growing.

“Kony 2012” is another great example of a successful social media campaign. The short film, created and produced by Invisible Children, was launched on March 5, 2012. It didn’t take long for the video to go viral. As of March 30, 2012, the video has been viewed 80 million times on Youtube. By creating concrete goals and strong content and by keeping followers updated and active, the campaign has been able to acquire the interest of the public and the press.

Don’t just embark onto a social media campaign if you are not willing to dedicate the resources and time that it needs. That will only lead to failure, and it could do more harm than good. Concentrate, research and communicate correctly to obtain better results.

Social media can do great things for an organization. It’s one of the best tools out there. Give it the attention and resources it needs, and you will see a great improvement.

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Posted in 2012 Trends, Businesses, Current Events, Events in Review, Everything iSource, Facebook, Facebook trends, Social Media, Social Media Tips, SocialNitro, Uncategorized | No Comments »

Facebook Timeline for Your Business

Tuesday, March 20th, 2012

By: Carolina Perello

The idea of switching to the new Facebook Timeline may come uneasy to some businesses. As an interactive agency in South Florida, here at iSource Digital we understand that changes can be nerve-wracking, but it is an investment that’s worth it.

Unlike the previous Facebook set up, Timeline allows your business to represent itself in a more personalized way using features like interactive posts and the new cover photo. Timeline has also made it easier for businesses to keep track of how many people “like” the page and how well they are interacting with it. Additional advantages include milestones to capture significant moments over time along with the feature and pin options that allow you to draw the visitors’ attention. This all may sound complicated (and scary), but no need to worry! I’ll explain in a brief breakdown all of Timeline’s new features and how they will each benefit your business.

The first thing you need to do is choose a profile and cover photo. Think of this process as building the brand identity for you Facebook page. The Profile picture is ideally the company logo or what represents your business best. Along with the Profile picture, the cover photo is also essential in characterizing your business.  Keep in mind that the cover picture is the first thing people will see when visiting your page. There is also a section at the top of your page that includes your “likes,” photos and other additional apps that can be incorporated into your business page.  These features serve as visual aids to the public so they can paint a better image of what your business is about.

In the Timeline itself, people can see the current activities following your business, and this allows them to feel more connected with your business using your profile posts in a timely order. It’s all about staying connected in this fast-paced world where people (especially in cities like Miami) no longer have time to sit down and read a page full of words. Your latest update is what catches the audience attention. Your post is not only what promotes you but what connects with your followers. For example, at iSource we are trying to personalize our posts so followers recognize that there are actual people they can connect with working here and not just robots that type all day and answer calls. Some other features on Timeline are also good to keep in mind, like a pinned post. Pinned posts allow you to keep the most important message at the top of your page for up to seven days, making sure it gathers more attention than other posts. It is also good to take advantage of larger stories to use pictures and videos to capture attention and build interaction. You can also keep track of when people engage most with your content by using Timeline’s insight. This way you know when the best time is to post certain items on your page.

Don’t think of Timeline as the monster under your bed who is out to get you. Instead, think of all the benefits your business will receive from it. Not only will you gain more followers and recognition, but you will also have a chance to develop a meaningful connection with your target audience that no amount of research can give you. We’ve been able to manage iSource Digital’s Facebook much easier since switching to Timeline, and you can use it as an example so that you have a better idea of everything explained on this blog. Don’t be afraid and make the switch!

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Posted in 2012 Trends, Businesses, Current Events, Everything iSource, Facebook, Facebook trends, Social Media, Social Media Tips, Uncategorized | No Comments »

Predictions for the 2012 Presidential Election

Wednesday, February 15th, 2012

By: Natalia Rodriguez

In the 2008 presidential election, President Obama’s “Yes We Can” campaign made history.  It was the first time a presidential candidate took full advantage of the power of social media platforms  and used them to directly interact and engage voters. Obama went from being an obscured presidential hopeful to becoming America’s president, and his social media campaign is regarded as one of the most successful social media campaigns to date.

The 2012 presidential election promises to bring the same innovations as its predecessor. With the primary election in full force and the general election just around the corner, the iSource Digital team would like to discuss trends we expect to see from the upcoming presidential campaigns, as well as some tips on how business owners in South Florida can apply some of the candidates’ tactics to their marketing and social media strategies.

One of the biggest players making their debut in the 2012 election will be smartphones. According to Nielson Reports, 55 percent of cellphones purchased from March 2011 to May 2011 were smartphones, and this number has only increased in recent months. Due to their portability and accessibility, smartphones have become the go-to device for many people. As the presidential elections take full force, we can expect candidates to start using these devices to target voters.  Some of the strategies that candidates should utilize are the creation of mobile applications and advertising and modification of their websites to a mobile-friendly version.

Social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter will continue to play a vital role in the electoral campaign.  We can expect candidates to use these platforms to engage voters, start conversations, ask questions and get feedback.

New players that candidates should take advantage of are Foursquare and Pinterest. By checking-in to Foursquare, candidates can keep voters up to date on their location, speaking engagements, fundraisers and events they are attending. Pinterest has experienced immense growth in the past few months. This platform allows users to create digital boards by posting pictures of things they like or hope to accomplish. Candidates can take advantage of Pinterest by creating boards that make it easier for voters to see candidates’ policies, goals and what they plan to do if they were to become the next president of the United States.

What can business owners and corporations take from all of this? They should start by paying close attention to the strategies and platforms that candidates are using to engage their voters and try to emulate them the best way they can to engage their consumers. Some key elements to note are the types of messages candidates are using to engage their audience, candidates’ interaction with their audience, key platforms they are using and the design and layout of these platforms (type of apps they use, ascetics of their websites, etc.).

As the presidential election gains momentum, we should expect new mediums to emerge. In the meantime, we advise all business owners in South Florida to pay attention to what these candidates are doing with their social media campaigns and try to apply these tactics to their social media and marketing strategies.

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Posted in 2012 Trends, Current Events, Events in Review, Events in Review, Everything iSource, Social Media, SocialNitro, Uncategorized | No Comments »

PIPA, SOPA and the Future of Piracy

Tuesday, January 24th, 2012

By Natalia Rodriguez

A world without the Internet is inconceivable. If it weren’t for the Internet, iSource Digital and other social media and marketing agencies here in South Florida and across the United States wouldn’t exist. However, despite its usefulness, the Internet isn’t without imperfections. One of the main criticisms of the Internet is the lack of protection for copyright work.

To fight the lack of protection, Sen. Patrick Joseph Leahy and Rep. Lamar S. Smith introduced PIPA (Preventing Real Online Threats to Economic Creativity and Theft of Intellectual Property Act of 2011) and SOPA (Stop Online Piracy Act), respectively.

The main goal of PIPA and SOPA were to protect against copyright infringements and piracy. SOPA allowed for the government to seek a court order to any site violating copyright laws, and for the property right holder to send a seize and desist notification, seek compensation and even petition to close the site.

These initiatives caused a public uproar. Internet giants like Google, Wikipedia and Yahoo, law experts and the general public raised their discontent against the bills claiming that these bills will kill the Internet as we know it, and that they violated the First Amendment.

To show their discontent against these bills, on Jan. 18, Wikipedia and Google joined a massive cyber protest. Wikipedia censored its English-speaking site with a message that read: “For over a decade, we have spent millions of hours building the largest encyclopedia in human history. Right now, the US congress is considering legislation that can fatally damage the free and open Internet. For 24 hours, to raise awareness, we are blacking out Wikipedia.” Google added a black block over its logo with a message that encouraged people to tell congress “please don’t censor the web!”

Many politicians also showed their concerns regarding these bills. Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, who was a co-sponsor of PIPA, posted to his Facebook on Wednesday that he was not going to support the bills because of the impact they could have on the Internet. He added: “A strong interest in stopping online piracy that costs Florida jobs, Congress should listen and avoid rushing through a bill that could have many unintended consequences.”

With the digital world in chaos, the Senate has decided to “postpone” the scheduled vote for PIPA that was to take place on Tuesday, Jan.24 . As for SOPA, the House of Representatives has also backed off due to the recent uproar of protests.

Not everyone was against these two initiatives. The three most outspoken organizations in favor of SOPA and PIPA were the Motion Picture Association of America, Recording Industry Association of America, and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.

In a letter to the New York Times editor, The Executive Vice President of the Global Intellectual Property Center, Mark Elliot, argued that websites that steal American’s innovative products threaten more than 19 million American jobs a year.

Little by little, initiatives like SOPA and PIPA have spread to Latin American Countries, where piracy is a huge problem. In Mexico, soon after SOPA was introduced, Federico Döring–a Mexican senator–proposed a similar initiative called the “Ley Döring.”  This initiative also seeks to end online piracy by regulating the Internet.

It seems that we are still far from reaching a solution. As an interactive agency, it’s hard for us to take a stand. On one hand, these acts could protect our clients’ work, but on the other, our day-to-day jobs would become increasingly difficult. We rely on content from the Internet to keep us up to date on the latest digital trends, to share information with our social networks, and keep our business running smoothly. I can’t imagine a world without the Internet, and I’m not sure I want to. These initiatives have opened the doors for a solution to piracy. As they are now, the price to pay is too high.

What are your thoughts?

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Posted in 2012 Trends, Current Events, Everything iSource, Social Media | 2 Comments »

But You Can Call Me Carmelita

Friday, September 23rd, 2011

By Katherine Schober, Account Coordinator

Like most recent graduates, the job search was an exciting and overwhelming process. After graduating from the University of Oklahoma, I wasn’t sure where I’d end up. But still, I packed my bags. Finally after more than enough interviews, I made the long drive to the beautiful sunshine state, where shorts are almost always in season and wearing sandals in December doesn’t mean frostbite. I am embracing the sandy beaches and leaving the heavy winter coat and snow boots behind. With more places to Check-in on Foursquare in a five mile radius than in the entire town of Norman, Oklahoma, adjusting to the large city of Miami, Florida has been easier than I expected.

The size of this city is only one of the changes I’ve had to get used to. There is a strong presence of cultures from all over the world in this city. I have spotted families from Russia, Argentina, and Cuba in my apartment complex alone. These people may not speak the same language, but they have a common ground. Miami is truly a modern-day melting pot, where anyone from anywhere can come to reinvent themselves. With that in mind, I’ve decided that this culturally-diverse city demands something of me, of all its inhabitants; to be the best version of ourselves to make up the best city in the state. I’m in a new place, with new faces, a new job in downtown Hollywood, FL, and a new name? Well, maybe not a legal new name, but maybe a nickname to embody this fun and fresh new path my life has taken.

Allow me to introduce myself: I am iSource Digital’s newest intern; a determined gal from the south who dreams of success and is best known by friends for a feisty personality. My name is Katherine, but you can call me Carmelita.

My first week as an iSource intern has flown by. I’ve taken it upon myself to rename my position “The Human Sponge,” as I am soaking up any and all relevant information about the industry. I’ve become so focused on experiencing everything I couldn’t be taught in a classroom, which of course they don’t tell you in school, happens to be a lot. The way we advertise and communicate continues to change drastically, and a university’s curriculum should reflect those changes. The use of Facebook, for example, has gone from a database of student profiles to a directory of people, businesses, and common interests. Social media is not something to be ignored, by universities, advertising agencies, or their clients. For the past week, I have been using sites like Facebook and Twitter to implement marketing strategies that help a client reach their target audience and company goals. I thought because I had been on Facebook for years and taken part in the occasional “tweet” that I knew everything worth knowing about these social media venues. Wrong. I was incredibly wrong. Don’t even get me started on the programs that are available to help manage accounts and schedule activity. I was shaking my fist (with some choice words) toward the social media class I never took. Fortunately, I’m a fast learner and feel more confident in my knowledge and experience with social media after just one week. Working for an interactive agency is opening my eyes to the world of digital marketing and even after a short time, I already feel confident that when my internship ends, I’ll be ready.  That being said, I’m still far from seasoned in agency experience, and so with much to learn, my “sponge-hood” continues.

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Posted in Everything iSource, Social Media, SocialNitro, The Life of an iSource Intern | 1 Comment »

Social Media Day 2011 Meetup – Fort Lauderdale, Florida

Wednesday, June 29th, 2011

Social Media Day Meetup gives you the opportunity to engage with your local social media peers in-person, rather than just virtually! “The global event is a celebration of the advancements we make in technology that allow us real-time connectivity with our business partners, consumers, and customers.” (Sun-Sentinel.com) Meet people in your area that are following the same topics, reading the same articles, and engaging on the same social networks. Talk to other professionals about the influence and future of social media. Will Twitter out-live Facebook? Will Foursquare continue to grow at its current rapid pace? What do you think about Seth Priebatsch’s “game layer” concept? Join in the discussion on using #SMDay on Twitter. For more info, contact via Twitter @SocialNitro.

  • What: Social Media Day 2011
  • When: June 30, 6 p.m. – 8 p.m.
  • Where: Irish Pub, 305 S Andrews Ave, Fort Lauderdale
  • Details: Global event is a celebration of the technological advancements that enable everyone to connect with real-time information, communicate from miles apart and have their voices be heard. We invite you to celebrate by socializing with your online community offline!

Register/contact:  Mashable Meetup

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Posted in Events in Review, Everything iSource, Social Media, SocialNitro, The Life of an iSource Intern | No Comments »

#GettingSchooledOnTwitter

Monday, June 20th, 2011

by Juan Roman, Business Development & Sales

With social media taking the marketing world by storm and quickly replacing outdated ways of communication, I am now surprised that I didn’t turn to Twitter earlier, especially since my degree is in marketing. As a Facebook user, “The little blue bird” represented a confusing mix of “status updates”, containing @ signs and # signs, followed by a million words strung together. I was never really sure who the message was coming from or going to, let alone know what abbreviations like RT or DM meant. For these and other reasons, I resisted twitter for as long as I could. After college, I moved to Miami and began my internship @SocialNitro, working mostly with social media marketing for small to medium-sized businesses in the greater Miami area. As I’ve learned more about social media marketing for restaurants and retail, as well as the integration of social media marketing with digital marketing campaigns, I quickly realized that I had no option but to dive into the Twitter craze.

The whole experience reminded me of the many times I switched schools as a “shawty.” I typed www.twitter.com into the URL bar, feeling slightly reminiscent of the times when I took a bus to a new school. I went in knowing it was a place where I would learn a whole new lingo, meet new tweeters, and form connections with people. Much like I would be assigned a spot in the classroom, I was assigned a profile that, in order to set myself apart from the estimated 200 million users on Twitter, I was able to personalize with different colors, images, and even put my name on it. Since I wasn’t really sure how or what I should Tweet, not wanting to seem “socially awkward” and irrelevant, my first day I just observed other tweeters interact on my home screen. Asking my fellow tweeters for help was not an option. In school, obvious questions never seemed like a great icebreaker; I thought twitter would be no different.

Through observation, I began to find answers to most of my questions. For example, I learned that #AStringofWords was used basically to categorize messages or “trending topics.” Just knowing this meant I no longer had to worry about being irrelevant. Like a “shawty” with newfound confidence, I felt ready to raise my hand and participate. It’s only my 4th week on twitter, and after abstaining from it for a long time, I have rather enjoyed it. Although there’s still a lot to learn, it’s clear that I’ll continue being part of the twitter community for a long time to come. Lastly I came to the conclusion that my school days would have been much better if girls walked around with hashtags on their foreheads announcing their mood… maybe not appealing but certainly helpful.

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Posted in Everything iSource, Social Media, SocialNitro, The Life of an iSource Intern, Uncategorized | No Comments »

Optimizing Mobile Channels

Wednesday, March 2nd, 2011

by Jason Andujar, Business Development

Today’s companies are looking for alternative methods of advertising. But how are companies to increase sales and cut costs at the same time? By shifting their methods from traditional print advertising to social media marketing, businesses are reaching their target market while cutting their marketing expenses. With mobile purchases increasing and GPS-capable applications on the rise, companies are looking to capitalize on new digital opportunities.

Since the birth of smartphones (i.e. iPhone, HTC EVO, Blackberry, Android), sales have consistently increased. The number of users is to reach over 73 million by the end of 2011, which is roughly 30% of the total mobile user population. (eMarketer.com)  This is attributed to the practicality of using one. Smartphones allow you to do more than simply make a call or send a message. With today’s technology, you can pay bills, make reservation, book a flight, calculate tips, and much more with only the touch of a button.

Consumers are turning to their mobile devices to make online shopping easier, from scanning items for price comparison to keeping track of their package shipment. Consumers are also turning to social media applications like Foursquare, a location-based check-in app. This social service allows consumers to check-in to a location and get rewarded for doing so. Companies are advertising directly through Foursquare and other geo-location applications to increase sales and develop consumer relationships. It’s important for companies to keep up with developments in the digital marketing world. If not, they may miss the opportunity to reach their target market at costs lower than their current spending.

SocialNitro, a social media marketing agency powered by iSource Digital in North Miami Beach, FL is using these social websites to create unique social platforms for local establishments. SocialNitro helps them reach out to new and repeat customers to develop social media promotions and longstanding brand equity. Weekly reporting by SocialNitro shows return on investment through exposure and fan engagement. With the increased development of e-commerce and mobile marketing, SocialNitro directs companies to find their target market in the industry’s most current avenues.

For more information about social media marketing or mobile marketing, contact Jason at jason@isourcedigital.com.

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Posted in Everything iSource, Social Media, Uncategorized | No Comments »