Proliferation

Jun 08
0

Twitter’s New Changes: What They Mean for Marketing

By | digital marketing, marketing agencies, Social Media | No Comments

Lift up your voice and rejoice! Twitter just announced some major changes that will make life at marketing agencies much easier. The changes are a step towards loosening Twitter’s strict 140-character limit in tweets, while still preserving its signature micro blogging charm.

Adios “.@”

 Under Twitter’s current formula, tweets starting with another user’s Twitter handle were only seen by the shared followers of the person tweeting and the recipient. Twitter users created the “.@” to circumvent this rule. When the new changes take effect, users can do away with that pesky period before the handle. Tweets beginning with a handle will be seen by everyone instead of being restricted.

Media Files

 In the past, photos, GIFs, videos, polls and quote tweets could take up to 25 characters each. The new rules do not count media files towards the character total. This is especially welcomed news for marketing agencies that rely increasingly on visual and interactive elements to engage with audiences. Not having to worry about characters being sucked up by media files means more room to be creative and share your message.

Twitter Handles in Replies

 When replying to another user, Twitter handles will no longer count toward the character limit, with one exception: Only names already in the conversation will be exempt from counting. Adding new handles to the conversation will still count toward the character limit.

Retweet Yourself

 That’s right, Kanye. The new Twitter will allow you to retweet and quote yourself. You’re so vain. You probably think this tweet is about you … oh wait, it is.

When Will It Come to Pass?

 In the blog post announcing the changes, Twitter’s Senior Project Manager Todd Sherman said users could expect the updates to roll out in the next few months. He also announced plans to help users get even more from their tweets. Marketing agencies can only hope that means URL links will one day not count toward those precious 140 characters either. Twitter gods, hear our plea.

May 27
0

Fusion 360: A New Generation of Revolutionaries

By | content marketing, digital marketing | No Comments

In the year 1776, a piece of paper signed by 56 men started a revolution. Sure, there’d been other revolutions before, but the world had never seen a revolution like this. This was a group of colonies with relatively nothing to their name rising up against the most powerful country in the world, and for what? For an idea that had never been tried before and, as far as the world was concerned, probably wouldn’t succeed. But it did.

That’s the thing about revolutionaries. They can see a future in the distance that others just can’t grasp. With creativity, hard work and a little bit of luck they don’t just embrace the new world. They create it. At Fusion 360, we are revolutionaries.

Fusion 360 doesn’t seek to be on par with the best marketing agencies in the world. We want to lead them. When other marketing agencies reach an advertising peak, we’ll be waving to them from the next summit.

You see, there’s a revolution happening right now. The world of digital marketing is changing and developing and growing, and we were there to sign its declaration of independence from the marketing strategies of the past. Other marketing agencies are joining the fight, but we’ve been out on the front lines for years, right where we want to be.

We’re a tight battalion of marketing soldiers. We collaborate together, eat together and fight many a Nerf battle together. This environment enables us to be creative and formulate innovative strategies. We’re not afraid to share new ideas — because at Fusion 360 ideas aren’t rejected, they’re improved. We work hard, and we play hard because that’s how you keep the spark of revolution burning.

Why are we like this? Why do we insist on rising up for ideas that have never been tried before? Because we are Fusion 360. We are the agency for the digital revolution.

May 27
0

Seven of the Best Easter Eggs on the Web

By | content marketing, digital marketing | No Comments

The Internet is a beautiful thing. It’s a place where ideas flow freely no matter how bogus, and the bizarre and ridiculous are welcomed with open screens. Everyone from digital marketing companies to your weird neighbor down the street who lives in his parents’ basement can take part in the worldwide Web. But there are secrets lurking in the hidden corners of your favorite websites. They’re called Easter eggs, and they are amazing.

We’re not talking about the hardboiled eggs you dye with your mom and hide in the backyard — which, let’s be honest, is a weird tradition no one seems to understand why we do. These Easter eggs are hidden “surprises” coders embed within websites and programs just because they can. Even digital marketing companies have been known to hide a thing or two in their websites. Now, we know you’re entering Nicholas Cage in “National Treasure” mode as you read this, so we’ve assembled a list of a few of our favorite website Easter eggs to get you started.

1. Wikipedia’s Easter Egg

Search “Easter egg” on Wikipedia. Check out the image of two rabbits in the right-hand corner. See the hedgehog? Click it. It’s basically Easter egg inception.

2. Buzzfeed’s Wilkie Takeover

Mark Wilkie is the chief technology officer at Buzzfeed, and clearly someone in the Web department loves him very much. Click anywhere in the white space of the Buzzfeed homepage, and then, type the Nintendo Konami Code (UP ARROW – UP ARROW – DOWN ARROW – DOWN ARROW – LEFT ARROW – RIGHT ARROW – LEFT ARROW – RIGHT ARROW – B – A). Suddenly everything’s coming up Wilkie.

3. Google Images’ Atari Breakout

Feel the need to travel back to 1976? Search for “Atari Breakout” in Google images, and you can play the game to your heart’s content.

4. British Vogue Dino

Even the British digital marketing companies love a good Easter egg. Visit British Vogue’s homepage, click the white space and type in that beautiful Konami Code. You’re welcome.

5. The Bacon Number

Even digital marketing companies love a good web gimmick. They also love Kevin Bacon, though they might not admit it. Someone at Google also loves Kevin Bacon because that person had a brilliant idea called “The Bacon Number”. Bacon Numbers operate under the theory that all celebrities are connected to Kevin Bacon by six or less degrees of separation. Each celebrity’s Bacon Number reflects that degree. Google search “Bacon Number” and the name of any celebrity to find out how close each has come to the incomparable Kevin Bacon. 

In case you were wondering, Chris Pratt’s Bacon Number is 2.

6. Pirate Language

Change your Facebook language settings to “English (Pirate).” Never gets old.

7. Earl’s Court Station

Here’s one for all you “Doctor Who” fans hitting a slow day of work at your digital marketing companies. Head over to Google Maps and search for “Earl’s Court Station.” Entering street view lets you catch a glimpse of a particular blue police box. You can even go inside by dropping your yellow street view dude right on the pin in classic map view or by double clicking the box from street view level.

May 25
0

The Facebook Metrics You Should Care Most About

By | digital marketing, Facebook, marketing, Utah | No Comments

Facebook boasts just over a billion daily active users, making it a huge storehouse of potential customers that businesses can pursue. Since most businesses and digital marketing firms are onboard the Facebook train by now, the next step for them is understanding some of the metrics Facebook provides — and how those metrics can be used to improve posts.

Page Views

Page views refer to how many people have visited your Facebook page. This is useful because it can show you how many people were either curious enough about your brand to look you up, or wanted to interact with more of your posts after seeing them on their news feed.

Reach

For Facebook, reach refers to how many users viewed your post. This helps digital marketing firms because you can see which posts gather the most reach, compared to which aren’t doing so well. While this information is useful, it it’s not nearly as useful as seeing how many people engaged with a particular post.

Impressions

While reach refers to number of people who saw your post, impressions refer to how many times your post was seen. This is different, because the same user can see your post more than once if one of his or her friends shares the post. Impressions are a useful metric because they give you a clearer picture of how many times your message is appearing to your audience — and can be a good indicator of how shareable it is.

Engagement

For digital marketing firms in particular, the keyword for social media is, of course, “social.” Engagement measures the percentage of people who interacted with your posts, either through commenting, liking, sharing, etc. This is one of the most useful metrics — because the best type of content is the kind that’s interesting enough for people to share with their friends. The beauty of Facebook is that if you’re sharing something your audience likes, they will do a lot of the legwork for you.

Videos

A major focus for all digital marketing firms is video. If you’re posting videos to your Facebook page, you’ll want to know how many people are actually watching them, right? What’s more useful, though, is seeing how long people have watched your video. Facebook will provide you with the number of times your video has been viewed for at least ten seconds. If videos consistently underperform and people begin to watch but quickly bounce, that’s a solid indicator that your videos need some improvement.

In Summary

Facebook provides these statistics for a reason, so don’t forget to make studying them a regular part of your social media strategy. Only by analyzing stats and understanding how your posts are performing can you continually improve your digital marketing game.

Apr 19
0

The Facebook Metrics You Should Care Most About

By | content marketing, digital marketing, Facebook, marketing agencies, Social Media, web development, website design | No Comments

Facebook boasts just over a billion daily active users, making it a huge storehouse of potential customers that businesses can pursue. Since most businesses and digital marketing firms are on board the Facebook train by now, the next step for them is understanding some of the metrics Facebook provides — and how those metrics can be used to improve posts.

Page Views

Page views refer to how many people have visited your Facebook page. This is useful because it can show you how many people were either curious enough about your brand to look you up, or wanted to interact with more of your posts after seeing them on their news feed.

Reach

For Facebook, reach refers to how many users viewed your post. This helps digital marketing firms because you can see which posts gather the most reach, compared to which aren’t doing so well. While this information is useful, it it’s not nearly as useful as seeing how many people engaged with a particular post.

Impressions

While reach refers to number of people who saw your post, impressions refer to how many times your post was seen. This is different, because the same user can see your post more than once if one of his or her friends shares the post. Impressions are a useful metric because they give you a clearer picture of how many times your message is appearing to your audience — and can be a good indicator of how shareable it is.

Engagement

For digital marketing firms in particular, the keyword for social media is, of course, “social.” Engagement measures the percentage of people who interacted with your posts, either through commenting, liking, sharing, etc. This is one of the most useful metrics — because the best type of content is the kind that’s interesting enough for people to share with their friends. The beauty of Facebook is that if you’re sharing something your audience likes, they will do a lot of the legwork for you.

Videos

A major focus for all digital marketing firms is video. If you’re posting videos to your Facebook page, you’ll want to know how many people are actually watching them, right? What’s more useful, though, is seeing how long people have watched your video. Facebook will provide you with the number of times your video has been viewed for at least ten seconds. If videos consistently under perform and people begin to watch but quickly bounce, that’s a solid indicator that your videos need some improvement.

In Summary

Facebook provides these statistics for a reason, so don’t forget to make studying them a regular part of your social media strategy. Only by analyzing stats and understanding how your posts are performing can you continually improve your digital marketing game.

Apr 08
0

From Print to Mad Men: How Advertising Became Digital

By | content marketing, digital marketing | No Comments

Cup of Coffee By a Computer

The real point in advertising is to get the name and product out in the public — while simultaneously making it not only look good, but fantastic. With major changes in entertainment and culture, the way that advertisement companies have presented their clients’ products to the community has changed. It’s important to find the right marketing company so that you’re getting up to date strategies on marketing and advertising here in Utah. A lot has changed between the paper era of yesterday to the digital marketing era of today.

The Beginning

Advertising didn’t really show up until the 18th century when the printing press was invented. The first newspaper ad in America came out in 1704. Many of the first advertisements however, were for recruitment. In 1776, during the American Revolution, notices were put out asking for recruitment. It may not be advertising for a product, but it’s advertising nonetheless.

Getting Bigger

Soon events were being advertised, and not just in small print, but on billboards. The first billboard was put up in 1843 advertising the Ringling Brothers. This was a smart way to market, even if it hadn’t hit Utah yet — mainly because Utah hadn’t been established yet. This era was when advertising started to really kick off for companies. Kodak started advertising for their camera in 1891, and this was the beginning of brand identities. Slogans were being thought of and companies were finding target audiences.

The Mad Men

In the 1920’s, soap operas were now appearing on radio and television, creating a whole new market for advertising agencies. This gave companies the opportunity to reach a wide audience, and in 1941, the first television commercial was released by Bulva Watches — it only cost nine dollars. Then the mad men came into play, when advertising agencies hired psychologists to help them understand the nature of people and what was most appealing to different demographics. This would help with focus groups, and help advertising companies really create emotions and thoughts in their television and radio ads. 

The Digital Age

We’ve entered into the digital marketing era, where advertisers now put their names and brands on the internet. This helps digital marketing companies and advertising agencies reach out to more than 5 million people. Now, digital marketers are able to let the consumer see what they want to see. This makes digital marketing a lot easier in Utah and around the world.

Apr 04
0

Make Facebook Live Streaming Work for You

By | digital marketing | No Comments

If you’re unsure of what Facebook live streaming is, it’s the new way of entertainment and news to share information. Many digital marketing companies have used this to show behind the scenes footage, that is live, and viewers will stop what they’re doing on Facebook and see the latest of what’s happening in Utah.

How to Use It

Facebook live streaming creates a real time video for viewers to watch, much like a live show, but the live streaming can be done from someone’s phone or lap top. It’s free to set up but there are some steps that need to be taken to use it, so you can have more than 50 viewers at a time. This is really done to limit piracy. Digital marketing companies have used this to stream live announcements, and behind the scenes at their companies, allowing their followers to feel more connected.

In Utah, many news stations used the live streaming to show speeches from the presidential candidates and of course have used it to show the behind the scenes on their sets. Celebrities have used Livestream to create an interaction between them and their fans. And if a person misses the video, they can play it back even though it’s not live.

Periscope and Meerkat Related

But don’t Preiscope and Meerkat do the same thing? Yes they do, but Facebook has more of a public outreach and that is where most of your followers are going to be. Using the streaming service on Facebook will allow you to reach out to more of your followers from Utah, and around the world. 

More Uses

With Facebook Livestream, you can tag yourself in your video and your followers can too. This can help your digital marketing without having to do much work, except come up with a live video people will want to watch. 

Mar 22
0

Make the Most of Obscure Holidays With Content Marketing

By | content marketing, digital marketing | No Comments

From National Pancake Day to Froot Loop Day and Arbor Day, the world is full of random and obscure holidays. While some holidays are more reputable than others — Pi Day, for instance, is totally a real holiday — even the craziest of self-proclaimed holidays can be a great resource for content marketers.

In content marketing, even the best campaigns can sometimes get a little stale. Capitalizing on random holidays throughout the year can add a little spice to your everyday content marketing strategy and increase engagement.

Just make sure to pick holidays that are relevant to your business; a company that sells Jell-O in Utah, for instance, would certainly benefit from National Jell-O Week, which takes place the second week of February — and has been officially recognized by the Utah state legislature since 2001.

Obscure holidays are great for times of the year that fall though the cracks between more-established holidays such as Independence Day or Labor Day. Research obscure holidays in advance, and plan your content marketing campaigns accordingly.

Run a local bakery? Consider running a sale for Cupcake Lover’s Day, or simply write a blog post or social media shout-out to get people interested. And don’t forget about National Donut Day. Work for a diner? Maybe Tater Tot Day is more your thing. The point is to get consumers thinking about your brand, in a more fun and genuinely interesting way. Plus, strange holidays are great for social.

No matter how strange the holiday, there’s almost always a way to work it in to your content marketing strategy. Whether you’re running a small business in Utah or a larger corporation based in the Big Apple, one thing’s for sure: People really, really love random holidays. Take the opportunity to celebrate, and connect with your audience in a way they’ll surely remember come next year.

Mar 14
0

How Mobile Marketing Is Capitalizing on Video Content and Geotargeting

By | digital marketing, Mobile marketing | No Comments

Before the Internet existed, news was read via newspapers; after newspapers, television became a supplemental news source. And with the introduction and explosion of everything-online, the Internet has become the newest primary method of news distribution. The catalogue of how news has evolved over the past 100-plus years speaks volumes in terms of how quickly major communication methods are changing.

Presently, digital marketing firms hold the torch in terms of relevant communication methods. And these agencies are spending a bulk of their resources focusing on what will be the future of advertising and communication: mobile.

Videos Have Advertisers Rethinking Mobile Strategy
With mobile communication taking over more rapidly than anyone in the 21st century could have anticipated, digital marketing firms and agencies are quickly adapting to construct advertising campaigns and methods that are congruent with the mobile takeover. One of the biggest advertising platforms that currently exist is video content.

Facebook, YouTube and similar publishers have long pushed video content. The marriage of video content and mobile devices has made digital marketing firms and agencies re-think the way they advertise within videos. The steady growth and eventual explosion of video content popularity has spawned an increase in programmatic technology and an inclination towards storytelling, rather than direct selling approaches.

Mobile GPS Systems Allow for Geotargeting
Advertising has long since jumped into the rabbit hole of personalized ads — and one of the more brilliant changes produced from this has been geotargeting (also referred to as geo-fencing). By using built-in GPS systems to their advantage, ad networks can pick out exactly where you are — which means they can then serve you a geo-specific advert based off of this information.

This is a win-win for consumers and ad agencies alike; mobile users are much more likely to click on an advertisement that offers services in their immediate vicinity. In return, ad agencies can collect more information about their customer base, thus creating campaigns that are geo-specific to not only your demographic, but to your personal preferences and retail history.

Mar 11
0

The Facebook Emojis We Wish We Had

By | content marketing, digital marketing | No Comments

Ever since the introduction of the “like” back in February 2009, Facebook users have been clamoring for a new way to react to friends’ posts, photos and status updates. For seven years, the Facebook “like” was the only way to react to someone’s post (without actually writing a comment), which left many users conflicted over the ethics of “liking” that status about grandma’s death or little Timmy’s broken arm.

That all changed on Feb. 24, 2016 when Facebook rolled out with a slew of new emoji digital reactions. The five new emojis — “love,” “haha,” “wow,” “sad” and “angry” — give Facebook users and digital marketing companies alike something to celebrate; in addition to giving users more freedom of expression, the emojis give Facebook & affiliates rather detailed information about user likes and dislikes.

Not everyone is happy about Facebook’s new emojis, however. The very day the update went live, comic artist Matthew Inman — better known for his page The Oatmeal — had already come up with a list of satirical new emojis for the social network, with reactions ranging from “meh” to “I just threw up in my mouth” and “I read this while pooping.”

In an interesting turn of events — or clever marketing ploy — anonymous programmers have come up with browser extensions intended to change the innocuous emojis into Pokémon or various images of spray-tanned American tycoon Donald Trump.

These so-called Reaction Packs open the lid to a Pandora’s box full of possibilities: from Studio Ghibli’s Soot Sprite reactions (which are already available) to Disney characters or SpongeBob reactions, the opportunities are endless.

This is good news for both digital marketing companies and trademarked character enthusiasts alike; not only can marketing companies gather data from the use of Facebook’s existing emojis, they may be able to incorporate brand-specific Facebook emojis to accompany a movie or product campaign, a la Twitter’s current hashtag emoji options.

Facebook’s new emoji reactions have only been live for a couple of weeks, and their future is as of yet uncertain. One thing’s for sure, though: there will never, ever be a Facebook “dislike” button. Sorry guys.