Audi Superbowl Social Media Buzz

http://adage.com/superbowl/article?article_id=148568

I don’t much care for Audi other than the super cool ads they always seem to have. My automotive heart rests within the motor city and American made cars. That mentality mostly stems from a family(and extended family) that owe the majority of their lively hood toward jobs with the classic Big Three.

On my daily sprawl through AdAge, I notice this article on The Superbowl Audi Ad. What a creative way to extend that 3 million dolla tv spot onto social media. Im sure for Audi it is for more of bragging rights, but heck…I think I might follow along and give the experience a whirl. You can expect me to be comfortably utilizing my twitter account/hashtags this weekend as I nurse the removal of my wisdom teeth (unfortunately no beer or nachos for me L. I feel that the slizzurp the doctor will prescribe should have me feeling pretty gravy).

The article goes on to point out a fear of not many people knowing what a hashtag is or how to use it (for more information on hashtags click on this great link from mashable). That’s an expected risk in social media integrated tv advertisements but realistically who gives a damn. You are not going to magically have every individual using twitter/hashtags.  The people who find value and are currently influenced by the technology will know what it is. Success depends on the value of the content provided (cool useful information on the product or fun engagement with the community) and if it is buzzzzz worthy.

If you are looking for a way to keep in-touch and aggregate hashtag responses check out TweetGrid. I have yet to use it but it looks like a great way to get functionality and quality value from using/following hashtags.

Hopefully you enjoyed this social media driven blurb about Audi. I for one am excited and might blog about the success/failure/obscurity/buzz generated by this clever tactic. For now i am going to finish a case study. 

Regards,

-The Marketing Ninja

Google shows us how to optimize websites using Google Webmaster Tools

Good Monday Everyone,

This wont be a full blown post. Just saw a super cool article on the Google Webmaster Blog about Using Webmaster Tools like an SEO. It's a great 10 minute presentation that pretty much goes over what i do on a Bi-Weekly basis for Royalfences.com. 

Of course to utilize this you are going to need to preferably have the password and access to a website and a nifty FTP client such as http://filezilla-project.org/.

Will post something a bit more legitimate once i get back from picking up my brother at the airport. Good times...Good times..

Until Then,

Best Regards,
(Can i do that twice??)

-The Marketing Ninja

Google pats self on back with success of Click-To-Call ads.

I love when small projects turn into huge successes. Case in point: The Google Click-To-Call advertisement feature.  Google implemented this about a year ago into search results, primarily meant for mobile and possibly IP based compu-phones (Think Skype and yes…I am pretty sure I just made up the word compu-phones). These advertisements are served up when people use smartphones to look up businesses. It offers an easy “Click-To-Call” button, making it easier for the user to interact with the business.

What was the formula for success? Giving users the information they need to act in the easiest way possible with the least amount of work. Brilliant! I am sure that companies are willing to pay a pretty PPC penny for the high quality leads these types of advertisements produce.

In a broader SEO spectrum: Tie this in with the switch to incorporate local search results in organic rankings shows Google’s growing dedication to serving up location relevant content to its users. Any business not taking advantage of this in some way is seriously missing out. I will go more indepth on local listing SEO tactics that are free (other than your time) in one of my Thursday SEO Day posts, as for now, kudos Google!

Such a small usability feature that results in a huge amount of functionality. Just goes to show that no small idea or detail is insignificant and that nothing should ever be overlooked.

Here is the article I read that inspired this post. ENJOY!:http://searchengineland.com/after-just-a-year-even-google-surprised-by-success-of-click-to-call-62724

On a separate note...Ben Gordon of the pistons is on an 18 point 3rd quarter shooting streak. Hopefully he continues to tear it up :)! GO PISTONS!!!!

Regards,

-The Marketing Ninja

Google Algorithm Change = Webmaster Freak outs!

The Internet and search is an organic entity that we marketers have to constantly adapt to. It is constantly changing and evolving its inner workings which causes Webmasters to...well.....FREAK OUT!

Google's recent change to target content spam (i.e. content farms, i.e. black hat SEO) has recently been implemented. Mostly for general users there should be no change in our search experience. It is more so targeting sites that like to gain juicy SEO link backs and the such from other valuable content. (for those of you not fluent in SEO, organic search rankings is our business. Search advertising that you don't directly pay for. Linkbacks are one of the most valuable assets to any websites SEO arsenal. Nice linkbacks from a well respected site can supercharge your site to the top of a users Google search session) In most cases people will be rerouted to the source of the content and not the content farm.

See these articles for a bit more info:
http://searchengineland.com/google-launches-algorithm-to-fight-content-spam-62736
http://searchengineland.com/google-sets-sights-on-content-farms-in-2011-62068

If you have not noticed yet, i use searchengineland as a huge source of SEO info. I go to the site almost daily to check up on new trends and recommendations. 


I am sure that i don't have a loyal enough following to ask you all questions, but what do you think about this recent change? Overall i think that it is awesome for rewarding the creators of the content, instead of a content farm for liberal regurgitation of the information to catch a sweet SEO rankings wave. At the end of the day it should not effect the SEO of a quality site and not impact the quality of a users search experience.

What else is on my mind? Looking forward to the Pistons game tonight!

Regards,
- The Marketing Ninja

How to make your resume stand out!

This is my senior year of college and there is alot of talk about graduates trying to make their resume stand-out. All of the worry about the job market in the Motor City doesnt help one bit. My resume is nice, neat and has all of its working parts where it should be. Guess its just a representation of myself. Im not trying to throw glitter in your face, just showing you what i am capable of. My creativity, crazy personality, and love for marketing/advertising will show itself when we eventually meet in person. Hopefully that is not dependent upon me changing the header of my resume from black font to red.

Regardless, Microsoft has decided to help us all out with 6 Awesome Steps To Developing A Great Resume.

I have heard mixed results from recruiters about what they like to see in a resume. Some like to see creative layouts and colors, others just want it plain jane. No matter if you are going into Advertising (you may want to think about some color in your resume) or teaching middle school, these layouts offered by Microsoft should give you a nice little base to give your resume a certain level of umph(know what i mean?). Nifty Micrsoft Resume Templates

Hope you have enjoyed these little tid-bits of information. Time to get back to the Pistons game! Hopefully the injury Stuckey sustained in the 1st isnt too serious.

Regards,

-The Marketing Ninja

Google...Such a spiteful lover...

What does Google do when a courtship goes awry? They anted up a rumored $6 Billion for this digital based group discount start-up and were straight-up turned down. Apparently there is alot of spite from Google in the failed takeover bid and public humiliation for Groupon.

I just read this CNET article GoogleGroupon? on the soon to be released Google Offers (basically Google's version of Groupon). When it releases we shall see if Google can get back at Groupon and show the many other group discount sites online that it can play ball. Maybe the discontent from a failed takeover will fuel Google to take this concept in a new and interesting direction.

Gotta love the constantly evolving digital marketplace.

Regards,

-The Marketing Ninja

Why be a Ninja?

Other than sounding really cool and having several years of Tracy's Kenpo under my belt its really a unique philosophy of mine.

One of the duties of a Ninja was to infiltrate the enemy and find weaknesses and gaps to take advantage of. While we may not be sieging castles, in a business sense the definition of a ninja perfectly describes my mantra. Researching competitors and finding strengths and weaknesses has been a favorite past time as i assisted with my parents small business. Is there a gap in a specific industry to take advantage of? A certain customer need that is not being fulfilled?

I will attempt to dedicate myself to this blog and share interesting trends in marketing/advertising, experiences of mine, and talking about the Pistons.

Hopefully i will have the constitution to update regularly and at the very least amuse myself.

Regards,

- The Marketing Ninja