In high school economics, I was taught there are two ways to ration – by queueing and by price. It appears that Facebook will apply the same lesson for users’ news feeds, marketing promotions and sponsored stories.

Introducing Facebook Sponsored Stories

Until now, marketing messages could be presented to followers via postings to their news feeds, and try to grow audience as the fans spread the posts to their Facebook friends. That feed in the heart of the screen is where Facebook users focus their attention. The alternative has been to create sponsored stories (available since early 2011) to reach the target audience. Only problem is, the sponsored stories have been part of the paid display ad placements, in the less visible right hand column. So, you either bought a placement in the less viewed ad section or waited in line for your audience to see you in the increasingly crowded news feeds.

That is about to change. Facebook will now allow you to move your message (sponsored story) to a prominent position in the news feed queue. You just have to pay for the privilege.  The central location of the feed is more valuable than the right hand ad column. But there are tradeoffs to consider. Beyond giving up the “free” feed, will your sponsored story cost more than it did in the Facebook ads section? (After all, Park Place costs more than Baltic Av.) Will the prominence be worth the cost? In fact, what elements will Facebook factor into the price?

The Price of Advertising on Facebook

Will sponsored stories in feeds go only to your followers, or be targeted like ads? If the latter, will Facebook targeting and placement purchase options be improved so marketers can focus the messages to better defined audience segments? Since so many Facebook campaigns are intended to reach users who have similar interests to your followers,  better matches against the massive Facebook profile database would be valuable, especially if the feed placements wind up costing more. Marketers should also have more options for duration of the sponsored story feeds, along with frequency. You’re looking for  the largest percentage of target audience to see the story, so gross impressions are not likely to be an efficient buy. Serving the story when the user lands on the feed will  be a better approach. Repetition will also be helpful, but not at the risk of annoying fans you’ve worked to attract and maintain. Passing along recommendations should still be a major goal. So you should be able to limit the number of times a user sees the feed item, and this may take some experimentation. Once again, better selection criteria and flexibility will be needed from Facebook.

Last, Facebook should drastically improve analytics reporting. The offering presently available isn’t granular enough to provide the information marketers will need to get the best value from the paid news feed.Especially early on, marketers and their agencies will need detailed data to see how camapigns are working and make adjustments to optimize. Data transparency has not been a Facebook core competency in the past. That must change if everyone – sponsors, users and Facebook Inc. – are to benefit from the change to the news feed and sponsored stories.

Join DragonSearch’s team of talented people who are self-motivated, innovative, and passionate about the Internet and the written word.  We are a LEARNING ORGANIZATION.  As a result, we provide the smartest solutions to online communications.  Our employees are invested in the ever changing industry of online marketing and they are constantly being provided with opportunities and challenges to learn and express their potential.  Are you passionate about research, data analysis, marketing, strategy development, and social media? If you are seeking a career that will challenge you every day, read on.  If you are just looking for a job, you’re in the wrong place.

Online Marketing Jobs in Kingston, NY

This is an excellent opportunity to join a growing Kingston-based company perfectly positioned in the dynamic business of Internet marketing.

To be successful in Internet marketing, you must have that rare combination of being extremely analytical AND creative.  If you are a technically oriented person who wants a more interesting, marketing oriented career, this may be the opportunity you’ve been waiting for. A background in Online Marketing, Search Engine Optimization, Social Media Marketing, Pay-per-Click, PR and understanding of HTML and other web technologies is a plus, but is not required. A desire to take initiative to make things happen, continually learn, excel and be challenged is required. This is a very dynamic industry and willingness to self-study in your own time is necessary.

Your responsibilities will include:

• Researching, creating, analyzing and managing online marketing strategies and campaigns
• Reviewing, evaluating website development, usability and performance, and providing recommendations
• Copywriting and editing
• Create in-depth custom tailored reports for and working directly with clients
• Building genuine relationships with bloggers and peers
• Continually broaden your knowledge of Internet marketing and beyond
• Taking initiative in your personal learning, growth with the company, and lead on projects
• Take the lead on projects with a flexible attitude to work assignments

Skills and Abilities:

The ideal candidate has an analytical mind and is a self-starter with a go-getter personality.  Are you someone who can bring something special to the table?  Are you someone who while analytical has demonstrated “out of the box” thinking?   You must have a ‘feel’ for marketing. You will be producing and managing online marketing campaigns for a variety of clients. You should have strong research skills, as you will be frequently reviewing and interpreting campaign data.  You should also possess strong writing and editing skills.  Excellent verbal communication skills are necessary.

Additional Desirable Qualifications:

• Exceptional time management skills
• Desire to learn about one of the Internet’s most dynamic industries
• Great sense of humor and positive attitude
• Inquisitive & receptive mind and a fun outlook on life

We’re always on the lookout for talent at DragonSearch. We offer an exciting professional environment where a diverse group of talented, experienced individuals work together as a team to build a new and exciting marketplace with a broad range of projects and services.

Apply for This Internet Marketing Job

We don’t have to tell you it’s a fast-paced environment, right? Or that we work in a team setting? Or that we practice and preach shared responsibilities? Of course not; you knew that.  In your application, don’t forget to include your salary requirements, along with any examples of your work.

Please send all materials to heather@dragonsearch.net.

Sometimes I’m utterly amazed at how some large businesses are unable to fix bad customer experiences. I’m sharing this story, not to browbeat my cell phone company, but to talk about the root problem.

Bad Customer Service Experiences & Customer Support

So here’s the scenario: in connection with our business cell phone account, I ordered a MiFi, one of those devices you can carry around with you and connect to the internet. I was amazed when I pulled the device out of the box, followed a few simple steps, and was immediately connected to the Internet. Awesome.Then I went to connect again this morning, but no-go, the thing just wouldn’t cooperate with this whole notion of connecting to the Internet. Call tech support.Robert, the technician, was quite cheerful, and asked me for this number, and that number, then wanted my business account number. OK, listen, I’m on the road here, I don’t have that with me.  No problem, just yank the battery out of the MiFi, and a magic number would be there. Only the battery wouldn’t budge.  “Robert, I can’t get to that number, the battery is stuck.” He said, “I’m sorry Mr. Dragon, but we can’t help you without that number, someone might be trying to get us to make unauthorized changes to your account.”

I admit, I wasn’t quite seeing the humor at that moment, and was getting mildly hot under the collar. And like most people reaching that point, I expressed my desire to speak with someone who wields a bit more power over there at the support center.

After 18 Minutes on the Phone with a Customer Service Representative…

So, then I spoke with Cheryl.  Cheryl pretty much repeated what Robert had said about devious people trying to do malicious things.  She assured me that it has happened, but that she would allow me to be helped.  Transfer back to Robert.

So, between each one of those transfers, I’m on hold, listening to the same looped voice recording, “because your life should be spent enjoying life, not trying to catch up. Rethink the impossible.”  If any lawmakers are reading this, I propose that making people listen to looping messages while on hold should be criminal.

Good Customer Service Makes the Impossible Possible

Finally, I got to Renee from the data center, and after about 20 minutes, she had me locate and push a little reset button hidden under the battery cover.  The clouds parted, angels sang, my connection to the internet resumed.

This corporation spends millions on their brand every year. They polish and protect their brand identity. The support crew is well trained – each time we concluded a discussion, they said nice things, and overall, they were likable people. But they couldn’t create a quick and easy customer service experience with this simple issue.

Total time on phone: 56 minutes.

Achieving Customer Service Excellence

Businesses must make a concerted effort to audit their customer support centers, and to create user scenarios – or what we called “Use Cases” in software development – and developed processes that are less painful to their customers. In this type of case, it would cost a small fraction of their overall marketing budget to do so. If the company really delighted customers, say, the way that they do at Zappos, then the customers would give back that marketing value many times over in the form of advocacy, word-of-mouth, and positive social mentions. Rethink the impossible!

Do you love numbers and statistics? Do you enjoy finding the proverbial needle in the haystack when looking at a mound of data? Are you a creative thinker who excels at writing and researching too?

If you answered yes to all, you’re in luck because an opportunity awaits encompassing all of these aspects and more.

Skills, Abilities, & Qualifications

• You have experience with Google Analytics and Google AdWords
• You have an analytical mindset
• You excel in the following areas: writing, communication, and researching
• You have a knack for writing short, succinct powerful messages used to capture an online user’s attention
• You actively research and learn something new every single day
• You enjoy sharing your knowledge and insights with the world via social media
• You are driven to be a thought leader

A sense of humor, an inquisitive & receptive mind and a fun outlook on life typify our ideal PPC candidate. We don’t have to tell you it’s a fast-paced environment, right? Or that we work in a team setting? Of course not; you knew that.

In your application don’t forget to include salary requirements and three reasons why we should hire YOU for this position.

Please email all materials to andy@dragonsearch.net

More Job Postings

DragonSearch is also looking for Copywriters, Social Media Strategists and PR / Marketing Interns. If interested in any of these positions, please email heather@dragonsearch.net

This year, the small business online marketing eBook written by Ric Dragon & published in November through McGraw Hill, “The DragonSearch Online Marketing Manual” has been nominated for the business book awards!

On January 31, nominations will be closed for the 2012 Small Business Trends Small Business Book Awards.  In its 4^th year, the contest allows the over 400,000 readers and fans of the Small Business Trends family of websites to choose which books in the last year were the best books for small business owners.

It’s an honor to be nominated, among respected peers in the business, marketing and internet marketing industries like Guy Kawasaki‘s “Enchantment” and Oliver Blanchard’s “Social Media ROI.” Some of our favorites have been nominated for the #BizBookAwards, too: Likeable Media’s “Likeable Social Media” and Jay Baer’s “The NOW Revolution” were excellent reads.

With nominations over, it’s time to vote for your favorite small business book. Voting begins February 1 and you can vote for as many books as you feel deserve it. What’s even better is that you can vote daily on the Small Business Trends site for your favorite books, to show full support.

To vote, just follow this link to the DragonSearch online marketing eBook and vote our guide to marketing a small business online as one of the best books for small business owners looking to have a complete marketing mix for their startup.

After voting, tweet the hashtag #BizBookAwards to let everyone know which small business eBooks helped you the most in the last year.

We’re really excited to be included in the impressive list of nominated small business books and to be in the running to win a small business book award from Small business trends. We hope to see you in the #BizBookAwards tweet stream!

Also, don’t forget that Ric Dragon’s next book, Social Marketology will be available through McGraw Hill in June 2012!

I think this ad found at Bored Panda is hilarious.  I wonder what this man would have done if his wife HAD burned the beer!  Again we see a beer ad where a woman is being subjugated to a cook/bartender.  He looks professional with his black suit and tie and she looks like his happy servant.  There is certainly an element of sexist advertising here and it seems many vintage beer ads play on this.  It’s as if the marketers are expecting men to drink beer and then act like jerks to their wives.  Or is it the other way around?  Were men so out of line in this era that marketers targeting their sexism?

Beer Advertising: Just a Product of the Times?

After looking at a handful of vintage beer ads, I can’t find one that isn’t subjugating women to lesser roles than their male counterparts.  In fact, most vintage ads period use the same marketing techniques.  I think this is simply a product of the times.  The workforce was primarily male and the advertising of the times reflect that.  The actions of women during that era also have an effect on advertising.  Many women were happy to land a successful husband and would be a matronly as possible to appease him.  They even went to classes to learn how to be the perfect housewife.

Sexist Advertising: What Would Grandma Say?

I do wonder how women of the time viewed such sexist advertising.  Something tells me the overwhelming majority were probably unaffected by it, as it was the status quo back then.  There had to be some free thinkers who could see through these ads though, right?  I mean, the woman in this ad looks completely helpless.  She burned something in a pan, smoke is pouring from the pan, she is crying, and she cant seem to even use a tissue correctly.  I am going to show this blog to my Grandmother and ask her opinion.  What would your Grams say?

The following is a guest post from Freda L. Thomas, MBA

It’s a jungle out there, with every widget and doodad being sold throughout the internet.  The approach you take when connecting with your online community should clearly describe the difference between your company and the competition and the reason why a customer should choose your product or service instead of another.

What is Your Unique Value Proposition?

Is it imagery, messaging, or a unique spin on customer service that makes you different from the norm?  Are you constantly updating special features based on relevance and consumer feedback?  Are your products and services localized or geographically relevant?

What are the fundamental benefits that will result in the consumer remembering their online experience with your company and sharing that experience with another?

According to strategist and Harvard Professor Michael E. Porter, your value proposition requires a new way of achieving a competitive advantage.

Your UVP is that tangible something that solves a problem or brings results.  It’s not about what you will do to get the customer to buy from you, but instead it’s about the intrinsic value the customer will receive as a result of doing business with you.

The approach and position you take when promoting your products and services can either make or break you.  That’s why it’s important to know and publicize your value proposition.  This is where you get to focus on a distinct approach to gaining market share.

Starting Your Own Business and Your Unique Value Proposition

My new book, “Starting Your Own Business” can help you explore how best to promote your value proposition.

How do you tout your company’s uniqueness? Through online marketing!

• Let customers know that you value their feedback and comments by offering online polls assessing company and product performance.
• Create a unique selling proposition, (USP), something that captures the interest and attention of your target.
• Create sound bite marketing messages to explain the essence of your company and what you do.
• Insure that your company maintains a place of importance in the minds of the target by continuing to revisit and revitalizing your intention and your value proposition.

Freda L. Thomas, MBA

Freda L. Thomas is a New York State Certified Business Advisor with several years of achievement in business and economic development, serving NGO’s and micro enterprises.  Freda possesses 15+ years of experience developing, directing, and implementing plans that improve and expand an organization’s market position and financial profitability. Freda holds an MBA from Baruch College in New York City with a specialization in International Business. For more details about Freda, visit http://www.consultflt.com and fredathomasscholarship.org

Vintage ads always surprise us when they elevate terribly unhealthy products to levels of importance on par with the best things in life. When I first took a look at this vintage cigarette ad from L&M, my first impression was that the baby was going to be subjected to second hand smoke and in those days the public didn’t realize that it was dangerous to your health. Other tobacco advertisements even used endorsements from physicians! But when I read the copy on the ad “When a cigarette means a lot…” it seemed pretentious of L&M to compare smoking a cigarette to as much meaning as taking a family portrait of mother and child that will be a lasting memory for as long as they live. So I took a look at other L&M vintage advertising from that same campaign. Each one had a special moment that could be one of life’s fondest memories with the same slogan “When a cigarette means a lot…” – a hunting trip with your best friends, a soldier coming home with Christmas presents, a special moment with the one you love, and other special treasured family moments. What do these important life events have to do with a cigarette? How can it even compare? Well, in reality, it can’t. L&M is using an advertising technique that tries to build an association between these wonderful life events and their cigarettes. They are programming our emotions so that we hopefully reach for a cigarette automatically every time we rejoice in life’s special moments.

When a cigarette means a lot...

These Types of Advertising Techniques Are Still Used Today

In today’s world, we know that cigarettes are bad for us. But advertisers, especially in pharmaceutical marketing, still know how to use these types of advertising techniques to associate positive emotional images with potentially dangerous products. There’s a popular prescription sleep aid that advertises frequently on television. While we see images of happy people peacefully falling asleep with the help of a delicate green butterfly, the narrator is obligated to list the drug’s side effects, which include such nightmares as anxiety, memory loss, aggressive behavior, walking or driving without remembering, severe and potentially fatal allergic reactions, worsened feelings of depression and suicidal tendencies amongst people already diagnosed with depression… The list goes on and on. It’s actually sounds quite horrifying and most logical thinkers would assess that no sleeping pill is worth the risk of those side effects. Yet it’s a very popular drug. Why? Because clever advertising techniques make us unconsciously associate images of peaceful sleep with their medication – and when that insomnia strikes you badly enough, the images of restful sleep overpower the list of hideous side effects.

Social Media Marketing Provides New Opportunities For Positive Association

Social media marketing also provides a way to use those same advertising techniques to build positive associations in new ways. Unlike a photograph or TV commercial, social networking sites such as Facebook provide a way to interact with potential customers and engage them in a personal way. I took a look at the Facebook fan page for this prescription sleep aid. They provided a fun game where you make the green butterfly catch gold coins and flowers while avoiding birds, and they turn your high scores into donations for a popular charity. Butterfly games and charitable giving have nothing to do with sleeping pills and nightmarish side effects, but a business Facebook page or other social network brand page provides many social media marketing opportunities to build new and positive associations between customers and their brand name that helps to distract the public from the negative aspects of their product. So what if I go for a drive without remembering before I become suicidal and die of a fatal allergic reaction? They seem like such a nice company and they hold the key to my good night’s sleep.

Where else have you seen the association principle being used in advertising products that probably aren’t good for you?

In part I of Reaching On-Page Optimization Nirvana, I argued how simple keyword stuffing regularly fails to generate positive results when optimizing a web page, and in fact often causes the overall quality of the content to suffer.  Instead of naive keyword research that is focused around query volume, I argued for an approach that takes into account the broader goals of a company’s web-presence and integrates those goals into the website’s overall design.  In this post, I’ll discuss further ways of exploring these ‘lexical neighborhoods’ to deliver the most effective keyword research.

Taking a Stroll Through the Lexical Neighborhood

Only you, the business owner, possess the expertise to identify your core business, but once you have, there a number of techniques that you can use to identify the best keyphrases that reflect your core. The first thing is to consider your ‘lexical neighborhood,’ or core group of terms that describe your industry and what you do in it.

There are a number of ways to explore your lexical neighborhood.  Let’s explore a few:

Social Media

Perhaps the most obvious way to discover how people talk about your business is to get on social media.  After all, social media is where people go to communicate with each other online.  By querying your industry keyphrases on a platform like Twitter, you can quickly find out if people are using your terminology when discussing your industry.  You can also seek out industry thought-leaders and note what language they use when describing what they do.

Internal Site Search

Another avenue worth pursuing when seeking out ideas for keyword research is to take a peek into your site’s internal search.  By checking what your visitors are querying, you can find out what is at the forefront on their minds when they visit your site.  At the very least, you’ll find out what they think your site is about; if they are consistently querying for pages that you don’t offer, or for services that you provide but describe in a different language, then the data supplied internal site search can indeed be a rich vein of optimization opportunities.

Customer Feedback

Along similar lines, customer feedback can be an extremely important avenue for garnering insights into new keyword phrases.  A simple email form or link can suffice to prompt people to give you information for free. Be direct—ask your visitors if they found your site useful, and if not, further ask what they were looking for.  This is a great technique for identifying keywords you don’t want to rank for—keyword phrases that sound as though they describe your business, but really conjure a completely different image in the user’s mind.

Competitor Review

Your competitors can also be an excellent source of information for keyword research.  Taking a few moments to visit a competitor’s site can give you some insight into how aggressively they are pursuing SEO, while also alerting you to new keyword possibilities.  If their website is not heavily optimized and there is not much content, more traditional sales materials such as advertisements and brochures can serve as sources of alternate keywords to describe your business and industry. 

Google Trends

It goes without saying that Google is the premier source of web-information today, and they have a number of freely accessible tools that track querying trends over time.  Perhaps the most prominent of these tools is Google Trends, which documents how users in a particular country and region search over time.  Google Insights is another similar tool, but allows users to go much more in depth, allowing for filters on the query type, region, subject category, and seasonality.  Google Insights will also suggest related queries, making the tool especially helpful in keyword research. 

So there you have it, five easy ways to explore you lexical and expand your keyword research.  With these tips in mind, you’ll be sure to navigate the perils of keyword research and reach on-page optimization Nirvana!

With most of the vintage ads we have written about, we have disagreed with what the ad is saying, or trying to portray. I’ve always been one to go against popular opinion and this ad about television and children from Motorola is no exception. Being practically raised by television, I completely agree with Motorola that television can benefit your children. Besides, who doesn’t want the best? This ad says that when you own a Motorola, “you know you own the best.”

What are the Benefits of Television?

I was a nanny for a short period of my life in a home where the children were not allowed to watch television at all. This of course created a craving for watching all the television that they possibly could when their parents weren’t looking. Children have a lot of questions about things that sometimes you cannot answer on your own. Yes, we have the internet and we could explore a lot of answers through Google, but daily questions of “how is a saxophone made?” or “why do I have to turn off the water when I brush my teeth?” are much better answered by Mr. Rogers or Sesame Street. In fact, those are two questions that I actually did know the answer to because I grew up watching so much television.

I’m not sure I agree when Motorola asserts that “TV can mean better behavior at home and better marks in school” but it may have had something to do with my school years. Watching the television, just like reading can take you to many places that you might never be able to go. It introduces you to new ways of life and new ideas that you might have never thought of.

Children and Television

Am I saying that children should be watching TV 24/7? Of course I’m not, even though I don’t always practice what I preach… especially on weekends when watching entire seasons of 30 Rock. Still, everything should be in moderation.

Check out this list of reasons why TV is good for kids and be sure to let me know your thoughts on the subject in the comments below.