ideasblog

I'm In a Relationship with Blogging and It's Complicated

Tue, 07 Sep 2010 22:24:00 GMT

So, if the whole blogging about blogging thing isn't far enough down the proverbial rabbit hole for you, follow me a bit further. What I am going to do now is blog about blogging by blogging about another blog that I found and incorporating the advice from that blog into this blog by using this blog as its own example for what its about.
Go ahead and reread that last part, I'll wait.

Taking My Own Advice
I want to take an excerpt from the HubSpot blog entitled "Expert Advice: Overcoming Business Blogging Challenges" and expound on it a little bit. In this blog, an industry pundit suggests that, as bloggers, we collect materials and inspiration organically, or as we find it. Of course this HubSpot piece was relevant to my interests as a blogger, so I pocketed it for later. Well now it's later and I'm trying to decide what I want to blog about. Oh look, here's this blog I found last week on HubSpot. Get it?

Practice?
All of this should be exciting to us as writers. Writers are generally creative, and creatives are generally sponges, soaking up new experiences and new ideas like it sustains us. Well, creatively, it does. This is why I love my job. I would have loved to be something like an athlete for the glamorous parts; but, my questionable athleticism aside, what would keep me away are the everyday practices. Well, what keeps me blogging is our everyday best practices.

Relish the content you consume because you're also a content producer. The blogosphere is hypersensitive to the unnatural. It can be an ugly thing when a writer forces content. So throw a folder up on your desktop, title it "Stuff to Cure Writer's Block," and let that folder be the reason your computer runs out of memory.

Explaining Twitter to the Non-Tweeter

Sat, 04 Sep 2010 13:44:00 GMT

Have you ever had the joy of explaining Twitter to your non-tweeting friends? If you haven't crossed that bridge yet, get ready because chances are that with hundreds of thousands of new accounts being created every day, your first twitter elevator pitch is approaching faster than you can retweet @KanyeWest giving @JustinBieber props. I know that when I hear my mother, who is a complete social media novice, use the word "tweet" casually in conversation it's only a matter of time before the folks at Merriam-Webster make room for a new verb in their latest edition. I mean, I would expect for @MerriamWebster to get on that ASAP. Just this week, Twitter CEO Evan Williams announced that the service has reached a whopping 145 million users worldwide. That is huge! Individuals, businesses and organizations are finding the value in and making use of the 140 character punch.

When describing itself Twitter says:

Twitter is a real-time information network powered by people all around the world that lets you share and discover what’s happening now.

But if you're on a first date with Twitter what does that really mean? I'd say Twitter sells itself short on it's initial intro as if it lacks "social" skills, but that is far from the truth. I explain Twitter to newbies as an easy way to pick up AND drop off information. It's give and take. It's teach and learn. It's inform and be informed. Twitter puts you in complete control of the information that you opt-in to. It allows individuals and organizations of all sizes that are using Tweets to spread their message, the ability to quickly publish valuable content to followers. One tweet can send your audience anywhere on the entire web.

Marriage has been has been proposed via Twitter. Astronauts have tweeted from space. Big brands are providing customer service support through tweets. If it's information that you want to give or receive Twitter is the place for you to be.

If you're on the fence about whether or not you want to step into the twittersphere and the idea of following and being followed kind makes you a bit apprehensive, I say give it a try! Take the first step and post that first tweet (of course after you come up with a crafty username). Use Twitter applications like Twellow and WeFollow to find and follow users with similar interest. Follow your friends by using Twitter's "Find Your Friends" tab. Before you know it, you'll be getting that first reply from a favorite celebrity and you'll be hooked like I was when @KidSister replied to me and we shared our mutual love for Selena. Or maybe you'll have a pleasant customer service experience like the time @BofA_Help helped me resolve a banking issue. Share and receive valuable content with people and businesses. Most importantly, have fun with it and start making connections.

HTML Email: Forget everything you know about web standards

Wed, 01 Sep 2010 21:50:00 GMT

The past few years have shown tremendous growth in the areas of web standards and overall design strategies for web development. It is now a rarity to see websites using tables for site organization or inline styling for individual tags.

Clean code is the order of the day.

XHTML, XML, and CSS2 have become universally accepted and implimented while HTML5 adoption is ramping up faster than previous changes in standards.

What does all of this mean for email design? Well, unfortunately absolutely nothing.

As web design has been able to evolve and adapt to changing technologies with every passing year, email has been partying like it's 1999. Basic web design standards like absolute positioning and the box model are not always respected by email clients. Microsoft Outlook continues to use Word as the engine to display HTML, Gmail does not recognize CSS in the header, and Lotus Notes is even worse.

However with a little extra effort emails can be built to render correctly in all email clients. Some suggestions for email designs that will render consistently regardless of the client being used:

Use tables (even nested tables): Forget everything you learned 10 years ago about how tables are bad for web design. That advice is based in the assumption that absolute positioning, margins and padding are better for your design. However, in the email world none of those alternatives are possible. Tables is the best solution to controlling the positioning of all elements of your design, so nest away!
Inline CSS: Most email clients will recognize an external Style Sheet and some won't recognize CSS in the head. So make sure and copy all styling inline into each tag. This is tedious and makes small changes complex but it is the only way to ensure that the styles are respected by all clients.
Background Color: If you want to use a background color (besides white) use a 100% wrap div that includes all of the content. Some email clients will remove any styling from the body tag. It is a good idea to rely on a wrap box to do any global styling that you want. Background images are a no go.

For more information on Email Standards and to see what you can do to spread the word about the need for compliant email clients, check out the Email Standards Project.

This Is A Blog About Blogging. I Hope That Doesn't Blow Your Mind Too Much.

Mon, 30 Aug 2010 22:42:00 GMT

Now, to start, I would say if you're going to make yourself a part of the blogosphere then rule number one is be interesting. In fact, for the love of God be interesting. Blogs, like most anything else in this world, are over-saturated with uninteresting content. It's a sociological phenomena that I can't explain, but most of the world produces junk.

You won't be doing anybody any favors, not even yourself, by entering into an arena built around the sharing of valuable content and spamming people under the guise of a blog.

Now, that in no way means you can't participate if you're selling something. If you have something useful to sell then you have something useful to say. Talk about it. You're the expert, right? I'm not going to stop listening to Steve Jobs about technology just because he's also selling it. In fact, that's why I'm going to listen to him. But I'm not going to listen to him read me the Apple product catalogue either.

Be apart of the conversation that your industry and your consumers are having. Be the best part of it. These conversations are organic, they are alive. They are people talking, and companies are people too. Just lots of people. We want to start with the right philosophy and then build from there. Next post I'll throw in some cool links to people that are having this conversation, which is to say a conversation about blogs.

Social Media: The Perfect Tool for Small Businesses

Mon, 30 Aug 2010 22:46:00 GMT

It's often a daunting task for small, local businesses to do a full out marketing campaign. That’s why as a small business in today’s technological savvy world, you should turn your marketing efforts to social media.

We know what you’re thinking. No, social media is not just for the big dogs like Staples, Sprint, or Starbucks. Your small business can benefit from having a ‘voice’ and a presence online as well. Turning to social sites, such as Facebook and Twitter, as modern as they are, can be the perfect tool for creating awareness about your business and can even lead to traditional marketing techniques like word-of-mouth.

Another benefit to social media? You can reach a large amount of individuals, from people sitting in the same room as you to people across the coast. The number of impressions are limitless. With social media, it’s easy-to-use and easy to build relationships with current and prospective customers and clients.

And to add yet another benefit, you can quickly react to any negative feedback and offer valuable customer service in a snap. This can also help with building trust and relationships and quickly turn people’s point of views around if you respond in a polite and helpful manner.

Listed below are six platforms small businesses should look into:

1. Twitter - With Twitter’s constantly growing popularity, it’s a great place to find and reach a large amount of people interested in your message. It doesn’t have the limitations of Facebook, like only being able to reach people on your friend list, you can search the entire site for everyone talking about things related to your company and then interact with them.

2. Facebook Page - Who isn’t on Facebook these days? A Facebook page can have a huge impact on your company’s relationship with it’s customers. The page is a place to put anything and everything about your business. Pictures, videos, information, store hours, etc., the list goes on and on. It’s also an easy place to interact with your fans and have them respond back in one central area. As mentioned above, there are some limitations to Facebook but utilizing Twitter to get the word out that you have Facebook page can be helpful and attract new fans.

3. Foursquare – Foursquare is a location-based service. Although Facebook just recently announced it's new 'Places' application, there are currently over 2.6 million users on Foursquare. You're bound to reach someone interested in your message. You should sign up for Foursquare to take advantage of local advertising opportunities. Using Foursquare will push promotions to potential customers who are already close by and in the area.  

4. YouTube - Uploading smartly tagged videos with interesting titles to YouTube can greatly improve your SEO. People tend to generally absorb information presented online through visuals, like photos, and multimedia, like videos.  You can also easily embed your YouTube videos on your Facebook Page and thus expand your presence.

5. Flickr - Similar to YouTube, uploading smartly tagged photos to Flickr will improve your SEO. Again, people like to absorb information presented online through visuals and uploading photos are a great way of doing that. 

6. Yelp - Yelp is necessary If you have a retail store or a restaurant. You can set up a business account on Yelp, which will let you include information on your business, track the visitors to your page, and announce special deals, discounts and promotions. It's a great place for people to get a quick overview of what you do and what you have to offer.

The next step in your social media efforts is to build a strategic marketing plan that you intend to stick with. Researching each site to find which ones work best with your business and your target audience is a great place to begin. Although social media is fun, rewarding, and can produce positive results for your business, there needs to be a large amount of effort and consistent attention paid to each of your platforms.

Are you interested in using social media for your small business? Let’s discuss how we can help build your online following.

5 Reasons Why Your Social Sites Aren’t Getting Noticed

Tue, 10 Aug 2010 17:13:00 GMT

So you’ve just signed up for Twitter, put together a Facebook page, started a group on LinkedIn, became a member on YouTube, and set up your Flickr account. You’ve then sporadically posted a few generic messages on each site to attract fans, friends, and followers. You think you’re done, right?

Wrong.

Maintaining your social networking sites takes a strategic approach, a lot of effort and a ton of passion. It is no easy task. Establishing a content strategy that engages your target audience is step one. Keeping a consistent flow of valuable information is step two. The final step is actively engaging and interacting with fans (prospective customers) which will keep you alive and kicking amongst the plethora of other business’ out there.

Listed below are 5 common mistakes made on social sites that keep many from getting the attention they want, need, and deserve.

1. Infrequent Posting

You started your Twitter account last July and since then have only posted four times. You forgot about it or were too busy, you let it collect dust, and you lost all the followers you started out with. Your Facebook page, YouTube account, and Flickr albums look the same as well.

In order to keep people interested, you have to post on a regular basis. Two to three posts a day is a good number to start out with and once you get the swing of things and some conversations going with people, your social sites will be brought back to life.

2. Bad Design

Your page is missing a picture on Facebook, your Twitter background is as boring as they come, your LinkedIn group has outdated information, and the colors of your YouTube background have no connection to your business.

Sadly, how things look and how they are designed can play a major role in attracting your audience. Take the time to color coordinate every platform and match the images. It shows organization and provides clarity for newcomers.

3. Too Much Focus on You

People don’t want read all of the awesome and amazing things YOU can do. They want to read how your product or service can benefit them. Don’t place too much emphasis on yourself and your company, a little is fine, but find ways to explain and connect to your audience with why they need your product or service.

4. Lack of Interest

You have to show passion, creativity, or interest in what you’re sharing on your social sites. No passion is easily detectable by your audience and it comes off as if you really don’t care.

If you’re trying to make progress in gaining friends, fans, followers, etc., you need to be passionate about what you post. It gives people the notion that you’re not a robotic, bland company spitting out generic messages but a human being, just like them, and easy to connect with.

5. Lack of Clarity

If your posts, tweets, or uploads don’t make any sense, you won’t be looked at twice. Make sure you are using correct grammar, spelling out all of your words (No “u” instead of “you” or “gr8” instead of great.”), using correct punctuation, posting the right links, and proofreading everything before you post it. As soon as you click the “tweet” or “post” button, your information is live and available for the world to see.

If you need help with establishing a content strategy that engages your prospective customer, click here to meet up with us!

The Importance of Correctly Tagging Your Blog

Fri, 30 Jul 2010 16:30:00 GMT

Before you begin writing, you must brainstorm tags and special keywords you’d like to use for generating traffic to your blog. For a well optimized blog, keyword and tag research is essential. Brainstorm ideas and create a list of appealing keywords to attract your target audience.

Properly using the correct tags will not only drive the audience you want but it will also provide visitors with an overview of the main topics you’re writing about. This allows for people to easily understand your site’s content. Since people tend to think in concepts and models, it’s easier to get an idea of presented content if the main concepts are given straight away through said tags.

Strategically placing tag words and keywords within the blog itself also helps with SEO purposes.

As with every task, keyword research can sometimes be difficult. You have to really dive deep and try to find keywords that match your business and your blog. Putting yourself in the shoes of your audience and stepping back to find keywords you think will attract them will allow you to engage your audience further and keep them coming back.

If you’re interested in starting a blog for your business, we can help.

Apple Approves Agency Entourage’s New App for CW33 GameDay

Thu, 29 Jul 2010 16:34:00 GMT

Everyone knows the saying, “there’s an app for that.” Well all you avid Dallas-Ft. Worth high school football fans looking to stay up-to-date on the latest high school football news, Agency Entourage has built an app for that.

The app has been approved by Apple and is now available for sale in Apple’s App Store on iTunes. Apps can be downloaded to the iPhone, iPod Touch, and iPad.

Entitled CW33 GameDay, the app will follow CW GameDay host Candice Crawford and her crew every Friday as she travels throughout the Dallas-Ft. Worth area highlighting the high school Game of the Week. The latest high school sports news, game scores, and pictures of teams and cheerleaders in the area are also included with the app.

“When we first started working with KDAF/CW33, we were surprised at how little coverage there was for North Texas high school sports.” Account Director Ben Randolph said. “With the CW33’s Candice Crawford highlighting high school games on a weekly basis, we were excited to get an app developed that allows people to follow the games on their iPhone and participate by uploading photos and videos directly from the game.”

To download the app, simply open the iTunes Store and search “CW33” or “Agency Entourage.” Or download the web version here.

A Few of Our Favorite Email Newsletters

Wed, 28 Jul 2010 15:35:00 GMT

“Raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens...” We all know that song. (And unfortunately it is probably stuck in your head now.) We’re dedicating this blog post to one of our “favorite things,” Email Marketing.

We asked around the office what newsletters our employees love to read and why and here is what they had to say:

Jonathan Morris: “I really enjoy Wormy Dog Saloon’s newsletter. The content is always easy to read and something I want to read about. The lingo is fun and that really helps to highlight and capture the atmosphere of the Oklahoma venue. The subject lines have been catchy and their header at the top is superb. They also include pictures of previous concerts which are fun to look through. They embed videos of upcoming shows as well. It’s an easy and convenient place to hear news about the venue and to find out about an artist. If people like what they hear from the newsletter, it can attract an audience to the venue.”

Andrea Sign: “Kayak’s newsletter is my favorite newsletter to receive. Their newsletters are very informative and set up nicely. At the top of the newsletter, they have an “In This Issue” section which I think is helpful for the reader to see what is inside. They offer links that are accurately tied into all of their content.”

Nealy Mincher: “My favorite newsletter is Thrilllist. Although there is a new email everyday, it always highlights a really cool place in Dallas that sounds like a place I want to visit. They put videos and pictures in their emails too, which makes it really fun and engaging. The newsletter is really organized so I’m not reading randomly all over the page to try and find what I’m looking for. Also, since I’ll be moving out to Dallas in the future, it keeps me updated on the hip places to go to so I can become more familiar with the city.”

Have you thought about utilizing email marketing for your business?

Agency Entourage is now accepting resumes for Fall 2010 Internships!

Fri, 02 Jul 2010 20:17:00 GMT

We are excited to announce that we are taking resumes for Fall 2010 Internships. We feel confident that being a part of Agency Entourage’s internship program will give you the experiences and knowledge you are looking to gain through any Advertising, Marketing and Public Relations internship.

The Agency Entourage internship program consists of a number of exciting and engaging projects that will be completed by you during the semester. Projects include hosting an Agency Entourage event, joining an industry club or group, closing a new client, assisting our Interactive Producers on one account, and finding someone to fill your shoes when the internship is complete.

Your work schedule will be determined based on your school schedule and may also count for school credit if it’s offered. During the assigned working hours, you should devote your full professional time, energy and attention to the performance of your duties for Agency Entourage.

We promise that participating in our Internship Program will launch you into work experiences and networking opportunities that will lead to your future success!

Please send resumes to careers@agencyentourage.com.

Previous Intern Testimonials:

Addison Wheeler, Texas Tech - “At Agency Entourage, you get real world experience and you learn what to expect in a real work environment. You also learn how to work by a schedule and how to meet deadlines. With this internship, I’ve been able to refine my writing skills for various channels of mediums which is helpful now and in the future.“

Nealy Mincher, UT Arlington - “I’ve gained so much knowledge and experience in every aspect with Agency Entourage. Unlike internships at big agencies or larger companies, I’ve been able to get hands-on, real-life experience and I’ve been able to actually work and sit in meetings with clients. It’s been an the best internship I’ve had so far!”

Will Meier, Baylor - “I’ve learned more here in the last month than two years of schooling it feels like! I loved interning at Agency Entourage.“

Agency Entourage is Giving Away iPads!

Thu, 10 Jun 2010 20:18:00 GMT

Now through June 30th, AE will give an iPad to any new client who signs on for a 24-month Social Media Marketing or E-Mail Marketing campaign.

Not only will you be getting Apple’s newest revolutionizing communication device, you will also get pre-loaded applications to see how your online marketing is progressing. The applications will provide vital campaign analytic data, design proofs, and copy revisions. With AE’s iPad giveaway, there will be no need to wait for monthly analytic reports to see results. All you have to do is touch an application and you will see your companies campaign numbers in realtime.

Recently, we changed the way we deliver campaign analytics by releasing our very own “By The Numbers” platform (as seen in the iPad image). Now we are changing how clients view those numbers with the iPad and its growing list of powerful capabilities.

For a free online marketing review: Call us! Tweet Us! Facebook Us! Or just come over and Check-in with us!

Agency Entourage announces analytics platform tracking social marketing, blogging and e-mail marketing metrics all in one place.

Mon, 07 Jun 2010 15:05:00 GMT

THIS IS HOW AE DOES ANALYTICS!

We are excited to unveil our very own analytics platform, built from the ground up and with our client's needs in mind. This is the first analytic platform that ties together social activities, blogging, URL shortening/tracking, email marketing and landing pages. There isn't a centralized analytics platform out there to date with the important numbers that we present. Our analytics are delivered as a single document that focuses on unique trends and sought after numbers via social media, email marketing, and blogging. Not only is it a creative approach to a normally mundane report, but it's easy to read and very easy to interpret. You'll be able to efficiently utilize the numbers provided and gain a better understanding of your customer's wants and needs, which is the core purpose of a marketing campaign.

4 TIps for Twitter and Facebook Share

Fri, 14 May 2010 18:56:00 GMT

1. Tweetbacks and Facebook ShareThis: Bloggers are beginning to use the simplest version of this app, which will show the number of people who have tweeted this post.

2. Tweetstats: In addition to “most read,” “most commented” type sections in blog sidebars, bloggers can add “most tweeted” and “recently tweeted” blog posts sections.

3. TweetThis: Some bloggers can use TweetThis instead of the traditional catch-all social networking plugins AddThis (AddThis) and ShareThis, they will quickly find this to be the most effective way of sharing new links online.

4. TwitterRolls: In addition to blog rolls, bloggers will list their favorite tweeters and optionally a short note on why they're worth following to help others discover new tweeters.

1 Simple Reason Your Business Should Be On Foursquare

Sun, 02 May 2010 14:51:00 GMT

Foursquare is making it easier than ever for businesses to get real-time analytics on their Foursquare venue. For Brick and Mortar business, this is a game changer.

The location-based social network has launched a do-it-yourself tool for businesses to claim their venue and reap the rewards of the business dashboard. Venue pages now include the message, “Are you the manger of this business?” and a link to begin the process. Any business owner can claim their Foursquare (Foursquare) venue, verify ownership and gain access to their dashboard with rich analytics.

Here are a few key analytics you gain from the dashboard:

- most recent visitors

- most frequent visitors

- the times of day users check-in

- total number of unique visitors

- a histogram of check-ins per day

See example dashboard here:

How To Integrate Social Media in Your E-mail Marketing - Part 2

Sat, 03 Apr 2010 18:43:00 GMT

Share buttons have become common on Web content, but they’re also easy to integrate into e-mails. If your e-mail consists of multiple articles, make sure each points to a page on the Web, and that your Facebook, Twitter, or LinkedIn share buttons are setup to share the URL of each respective article (note: you’ll want to stick to images and text links for your e-mail share buttons as opposed to JavaScript).

Beyond sharing articles though, make sure all of your e-mails include prominent links to your presence on various social sites. Calls to action in a sidebar or in the header like “Follow Us on Twitter” or “Become a Fan on Facebook” will help people connect with you on social sites and help build your audience on them.