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Famous Dave’s BBQ Restaurants in Salinas and Redding, California Select Phoenix Marketing Associates for Social Media …

Phoenix Marketing Associates engaged to grow social media presence for two franchised locations while promoting grand opening festivities.

Phoenix, AZ (PRWEB) February 13, 2012

Phoenix Marketing Associates has been engaged by Savory Investments, the ownership group of two upcoming Famous Dave’s BBQ restaurants to rapidly build their overall social media presence of both the Salinas and Redding, CA stores.

Phoenix Marketing Associates has been tasked with growing their Facebook pages both organically and through a paid campaign which invites fans to join them for their grand opening “Pig’tacular.”

Both the Salinas and Redding Facebook pages have been custom coded by Phoenix Marketing featuring a custom side banner and an interactive campaign which not only induces page likes, but also captures fan data.

In addition, Phoenix Marketing Associates will manage both locations’ Twitter accounts. The accounts will be placed on special software designed to rapidly increase Twitter followers while a structured Twitter campaign is executed. Followers of the accounts will be engaged socially and encouraged to follow the brand on Facebook while receiving a chance to be a part of the grand opening.

“We’re very pleased to add the Famous Dave’s brand to our growing list of marketing clients and look forward to over delivering on expectations,” commented Jason Jantzen, President of Phoenix Marketing Associates.

Phoenix Marketing Associates is known as one of the nation’s emerging marketing firms to cater to the restaurant industry and works with restaurant clients throughout seven Western States; from the single unit owner/operator to the multi-unit franchise or franchisee.

About Phoenix Marketing Associates:

Phoenix Marketing Associates works with small to medium sized businesses across North America to provide targeted and results driven marketing solutions on a contract basis within any budget. Their consultative approach allows for a thorough needs analysis which translates into an effective marketing and PR strategy that saves their clients time and money while providing maximum exposure.

By assigning a team of qualified professionals to each individual situation and utilizing the most current communication and online demand generation technologies, Phoenix Marketing Associates enables businesses to achieve Fortune 500 results on an entrepreneurial budget. For additional information, please visit http://www.PhoenixMarketingAssociates.com.

Media contact:

Laura Strickland

Phoenix Marketing Associates

602-282-0202

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Jason Jantzen
Phoenix Marketing Associates
602-282-0202
Email Information

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Famous Dave’s BBQ Restaurants in Salinas and Redding, California Select Phoenix Marketing Associates for Social Media ...

Instead Of Marketing, Businesses Should Be Using Social Media For Customer Support

The trend for the last 3 or 4 years has been for businesses to try to tap into social media as a broadcasting tool. It's not universal, but many (most) see social media as a place to post their messages to prospective clients in hopes of switching on the social media faucet that touches a billion people worldwide.

The promise of social media for businesses, particularly local ones, has only been seen by a small percentage. Most believe there's something there, but they aren't certain that their efforts are going anywhere. In many cases, they're not. It's not that social media is so challenging that only the select few can get in, nor is it that there's no value in it.

It's about intention. Those with the intention of sheer marketing with social media will likely be met with limited rewards. People don't go to Facebook or Twitter to see what they want to buy or which services to select. They go to engage, to have fun, and to experience the virtual filter on the real world that social media has to offer them.

In other words, they don't want to see marketing. If and when they're ready to interact with a business through social media, it's because they have questions or needs that can be fulfilled through easy-access communication. This is the part that most businesses are missing.

The real promise of social media is not just to business, but lies an the center between business and consumer. More internet time is spent on social media than any other category; in fact, it's equal to the next three on the list (games, email, and portals) combined.

Businesses want to take advantage of this fact and many are trying, but customer service management is still 3rd on the list of initiatives they perform on social media with brand reputation management and driving promotions above it. This is backwards. Most businesses can achieve their top two goals by focusing on the customers themselves.

It comes down to a lack of understanding. Those who are able to focus their attention on their customers through social media will gain a better reputation and find it easier to broadcast their promotions as a result. It's counter-intuitive to all other forms of interactions with customers, but it makes sense once one realizes the true capacity of the medium.

This infographic by ZenDesk breaks down the trends in customer service through social media. Click to enlarge.

(Source: ZenDesk. Via: Infographic Design. H/T: Lauderdale Mazda)

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Instead Of Marketing, Businesses Should Be Using Social Media For Customer Support

Sigma Marketing Launches Fast Forward Social Media Service Determines B2B Social Marketing Effectiveness, Boosts ROI

SIGMA Marketing today announced the launch of Fast Forward Social Media, an expert, streamlined assessment process to help marketers quickly gauge the effectiveness of their business-to-business social media efforts.

Rochester, NY (PRWEB) February 13, 2012

SIGMA Marketing Group, the customer intelligence-driven, direct and digital marketing services firm, today announced the launch of Fast Forward Social Media, an expert, streamlined assessment process to help marketers quickly gauge the effectiveness of their business-to-business social media efforts.

Fast Forward Social Media from SIGMA Marketing Group offers a rapid assessment of business-to-business social media effectiveness, then delivers recommendations on how to best reach target audiences.

“Studies show that over two-thirds of business-to-business companies use social networks in their marketing mix, while few calculate the ROI of their social marketing campaigns,” said Martha Bush, SIGMA senior vice president of strategy & marketing. “That leaves a huge gap in understanding and correcting the profitability of businesses’ social marketing. Fast Forward Social Media fills that gap.”

Fast Forward Social Media will review both online and offline marketing activities as they relate to social media, showing their critical connection. The assessment will also include a thorough analysis of customers’ social media usage, including social profiles, channels and campaigns – and how those efforts stack up against competitors.

The result will be an in-depth report that supplies business with the components of social marketing success:

Learn more about how Fast Forward Social Media can unlock the ROI in business-to-business social marketing, visit [http://sigmamarketing.com/Pages/Social-Media-Marketing-Maturity-Assessment.aspx .

About SIGMA Marketing Group

SIGMA Marketing helps clients like Xerox, Nationwide, AAA and Citizens Bank engage with their customers through Analytics + Strategy + Technology. We turn data into customer intelligence and innovative marketing solutions -- online and offline -- with direct and digital solutions that focus on multichannel marketing strategies, data and technology integration, web analytics and sales enablement. SIGMA builds long term customer relationships and drives Marketing ROI. Visit us at http://www.sigmamarketing.com and at our Fifth Gear Analytics blog: http://fifthgearanalytics.com.

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Jim McNulty
StandPoint Public Relations
(508) 481-2024
Email Information

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Sigma Marketing Launches Fast Forward Social Media Service Determines B2B Social Marketing Effectiveness, Boosts ROI

Media Decoder: Ogilvy & Mather Staffs Up in Social Media and Youth Marketing

One of the biggest advertising agencies, Ogilvy & Mather Worldwide, is starting practice units that are devoted to helping clients navigate two areas that are rewarding but confusing: social media and youth marketing.

Ogilvy & Mather, which is part of WPP, the world’s largest ad-agency holding company, is to announce the formation of the social media unit, called Social@Ogilvy, on Monday morning.

The other unit, Ogilvy Youth, is in a nascent stage, or, in keeping with the vernacular of younger consumers, “in beta.”

The new units join others at Ogilvy & Mather that are devoted to areas like cross-cultural marketing (OgilvyCulture). The formation of the units is indicative of efforts by large ad agencies to adapt to the rapidly changing needs of marketer clients, who must grapple with the seemingly continuous changes in consumer behavior.

“Thinking across the disciplines is critical,” said Miles Young, global chief executive at Ogilvy & Mather Worldwide in New York. “You have to redesign your agency around content and domains.”

Social@Ogilvy will operate across all the specialty agencies of Ogilvy & Mather, including advertising, direct marketing, public relations and digital marketing. Clients include American Express, BP, Ford Motor and I.B.M.

The new unit, with more than 550 employees in 35 markets, is derived from what had been a specialty offering inside Ogilvy Public Relations.

“The headline here is that it’s a worldwide practice that connects all the agencies,” said John Bell, an Ogilvy executive who is being named global managing director of Social@Ogilvy.

Although “we’ve had a social media unit for seven years,” he added, “integrated social solutions matter a lot more,” particularly because, by some estimates, brands will spend 17 or 18 percent of their total marketing communications budget on social media in the next few years.

Brandon Berger, chief digital officer at Ogilvy & Mather, said: “Social has become such a huge priority. It’s core to the way consumers behave. They talk about you, and they talk about you online, and it’s measurable, and you can get involved in the conversation.”

Needless to say, social-media services like Facebook, Tumblr, Twitter and YouTube are an integral part of marketing to young consumers. That is underlined by the fact that Ogilvy Youth, although a fledgling, already has a presence on Tumblr.

Ogilvy Youth will be focused on teenagers and millennials, also known as Generation Y. Initial clients include the United Way.

Ogilvy Youth will be overseen by Lauren Crampsie, who is 31; she recently became global chief marketing officer at Ogilvy & Mather Worldwide. The day-to-day operations will be led by Felicia Zhang, 28, who is at the agency as part of her stint as a WPP fellow.

There are two reasons to start Ogilvy Youth, Ms. Crampsie said. One is “thought leadership,” citing a global youth insight study that the unit is hoping to release next month, which will offer a look at, among other things, “a day in the life of teens in 12 global markets.”

The other reason Ms. Crampsie gave is for “recruitment and retention,” in that the employees working at Ogilvy Youth are all to be young themselves.

“I see so many missed opportunities” for the ad agency industry, she said, “with kids right out of school going to work at Google or Facebook.”

“We need to make sure we don’t lose this generation to technology companies and social-media companies,” she added, and demonstrate that Generation Y “can be excited and inspired about agency life.”

Stuart Elliott has been the advertising columnist at The New York Times since 1991. Follow @stuartenyt on Twitter.

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Media Decoder: Ogilvy & Mather Staffs Up in Social Media and Youth Marketing

European protesters fear online censorship from copyright treaty ACTA

Vanessa Gera WARSAW, Poland— The Associated Press Published Saturday, Feb. 11, 2012 12:37PM EST Last updated Monday, Feb. 13, 2012 8:26AM EST

Protesters took to the freezing cold streets of several European cities Saturday to voice anger at an international copyright treaty they fear will lead to a blocking of content on the Internet.

Poland, France, and Italy are among European nations that recently signed the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement, or ACTA, but ratification remains in question in many countries as contempt builds against it, mostly from young people.

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ACTA has been under negotiation for years and it still in the process of being signed. The United States, Japan, South Korea and others say it is needed to harmonize international standards to protect the rights of those who produce music, movies, pharmaceuticals, fashion, and a range of other products that often fall victim to piracy and intellectual property theft.

Strong opposition to the treaty suddenly emerged in Poland last month and is now spreading across Europe, where protests are taking place in many cities. Critics say they fear it will lead to online censorship and overly harsh punishments for those who use copyrighted material.

Some of the first to gather Saturday were in the bitter cold of the Lithuanian capital of Vilnius. In Germany, a few thousand people protested in downtown Berlin, some with sticking tape over their mouths or wearing Guy Fawkes masks. They carried placards such as “Stop ACTA,” ”Right to Remix“ and ”ACTA: the rule of law was yesterday.“

A protest organizer, Tillmann Mueller-Kuckelberg, said the movement against the agreement was “a broad civil rights alliance that has come together out of spontaneous outrage at this project.”

“We have the protests in Poland to thank above all for what is happening in Europe and worldwide at the moment,” he said.

“A lot of people in other European countries woke up then, and we hope worldwide that the protests will lead to the ACTA agreement being stopped.”

Germany's Foreign Ministry said Friday that the country had held off on signing ACTA after the Justice Ministry voiced concerns. An official signature is needed before the deal can go to Parliament for approval.

In Vilnius, hundreds rallied in front of a government building, some carrying signs that said “Stop ACTA.”

“We are deeply concerned about this controversial deal, which most of our society does not know anything about,” said Mantas Kondratavicius, leader of the Vilnius Liberal Youth organization, a rights group.

“There was no public presentation or debates on the principles and possible threats of this act,” Kondratavicius added, voicing another common complaint. Many critics are angry that ACTA was negotiated at high political levels and in secret, without involving civic society.

In the Czech capital Prague, hundreds rallied at the medieval Old Town Square while a similar crowd gathered in the second largest city, Brno. They waved banners that read: “ACTA stinks,” ”ACTA harms you“ and ACTA equals cyber fascism.

Czech organizers said protests were planned in 18 other towns and cities. The government has suspended the ratification of the treaty and the protesters welcomed the move but say it is not enough.

Marches also took place in the Polish cities of Warsaw, Szczecin, Poznan and Gdansk.

“Down with the censorship of Big Brother,” said one of the banners in Warsaw, where about 150 people gathered in front of the presidential palace.

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European protesters fear online censorship from copyright treaty ACTA