How can I promote my business online? Stir Internet Marketing Solutions For Business at http://www.StirSolutions.com - Full service internet marketing social media, search engine marketing and digital advertising agency serving clients in Vancouver, Canada, US and around the world

How Search Marketing Costs are Evolving

• Display advertising is growing faster than search advertising. Estimates suggest that display will be a bigger ad category by 2015. 
• Mobile search is still relatively small compared to traditional search marketing. This provides opportunity to advertise cheaper until smartphone penetration further increases and mobile advertising rates increase. 
• Mobile advertising isn’t ideal for every business. It’s better suited, for example, for a restaurant where potential customers are on the go and making last minute decisions via their smartphones vs auto marketers whose potential customers make slower decisions and do more research
• Keywords cost more now than they did only a few years ago, so with the same budget you can now purchase fewer keywords. The good news, however, is that the technology is getting more sophisticated. Google can serve better performing search ads higher in paid rankings potentially enabling you to get more leads

Read full article: http://t.co/dyFmUpAT

Are you looking for a search marketing consultant to help your business navigate online marketing decisions? Contact Brent Purves at Stir today for a free search marketing consultation today. http://www.stirsolutions.com/contact

All Your News is Now in One Place

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  Top stories since your last visit are at the top
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  Each top story is marked with a blue corner
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  Recent stories are below, in the order they were posted

Learn more about changes to News Feed.

Have you noticed that Facebook's news feeds have changed? Do you like the change?

Explore Social Media Week Vancouver

Social Media Week has started. Explore events around vancouver here: http://socialmediaweek.org/vancouver/2011/05/24/vancouver/

Watch live streaming video from smw_vancouver at livestream.com

Are you taking part in social media week in Vancouver? Attended any great sessions?

Business is all about people. Understanding people. Helping people. Connecting with people.

Sometimes, those of us who work in the online world get so caught up tracking followers, retweets, likes, page views and conversion rates that we forget something very important for social media success – engagement.

 

How to Engage Using Social Media
Want to start connecting with people in your social networks? Try these four simple rules of social media engagement:

1. Initiate contact. Make connections. Focus on quality over quantity.
2. Break through the wall. Think outside the box for ways to start conversations, to stand out from the crowd, to help people want to connect with you.
3. Be consistent. Establish trust by building consistent presence and positive interactions
4. Be authentic. Share real stories and facts, don't pretend to be something you're not. Focus on making real connections with real people and provide great information and resources

How Is Social Media Growing [Infographic]

When was the last (or first) time you were on Orkut, Qzone, Odnoklassniki, Vkontakte or could even spell these international social network sites if someone told you their names ;)

SHAPE Services, the company behind IM+ messaging applications, is launching a new app for iOS that brings aggregation to check ins.

CheckIn+ uses augmented reality technology to overlay a user’s current surroundings with places from select geolocation applications, allowing users to see each notable destination relative to its position in the real world, all as a live video image on their iPhone or iPad.

It costs 99 cents on itunes: http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/checkin-pro/id447334351?mt=8

Visit http://www.shapeservices.com/en/products/apps.php?platform=none to learn more and here http://www.shapeservices.com/en/products/details.php?product=checkin&platform... to download for iphone .

Let me know how it works for you in your city.

Menthos is making great use of social media marketing to promote its new gum UP2U. They have collected over 95,000 likes on Facebook already, with the first 1000 visitors who liked their page receiving free gum. Explore the custom Facebook landing page there that incorporates interactivity and opportunity to watch their promotional Youtube video: http://www.facebook.com/up2u?sk=app_100110883414355 They'll be building additional buzz in the next phase as they ask their Facebook fans to recommend their friends who might like to also receive a sample. How many free social media mentions can you get out of one stick of gum? Let's wait and see. What's your company doing to make creative use of custom Facebook pages and online buzz to promote your brand, product or services? The NYTimes article:

Mentos UP2U, its first stick gum sold in this country, the initial advertising efforts will be focused in social media like Facebook.

For instance, the new gum already has a Facebook fan page, at facebook.com/up2u, which more than 95,900 people have indicated they “like.” The first 1,000 visitors who clicked on the “like” button got free gum in a promotion that began on June 13 and ended on Wednesday.

Plans call for an invitation to be made next month on the fan page, asking those who “like” the new product to provide the name of friends they would want to receive samples.

How many free social media mentions can you get out of one stick of gum? Let's wait and see. What's your company doing to make creative use of custom Facebook pages and online buzz to promote your brand, product or services? Need help developing a social media strategy? We can help. Contact us at http://www.stirsolutions.com/social-media today.