Posts Tagged ‘Facebook’

Follow with your eyes. Making the case for JumpSpark

August 16 2011

Much has been made the last few days about the similarity between Google+ and Facebook when it comes to user interface. Using special equipment, EyeTrackShop analyzed how individual users’ eyes bounced around the applications. The results indicate which areas on the web page get the most traffic and in what order the user navigates the page.

The results are telling. Both Facebook and the built-much-later Google+ share almost identical eye tracking patterns. While this may look bad for Google–unless it’s a coincidence–the results couldn’t be better for JumpSpark. Check out the visualization patterns and fixation patterns for Google+ and Facebook.

Google+ and Facebook VisualizationFixation Order Google+ and Facebook

JumpSpark, an online digital content library application now allows team members to post content to Facebook walls. That means any digital content you share from JumpSpark will appear in Area 1 of the image below. Your eye will go around the page before arriving on the Sponsored Links (Advertisements).

So, would you rather use JumpSpark to get your impressions and clicks on the Wall, or would you rather waste your money buying Facebook advertisements that go overlooked in the number five spot on the page. There is prime real estate on the Facebook page. JumpSpark puts your marketing content front and center. See below. Sign up here and give it a try.

JumpSpark on Facebook

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JumpSpark open for business

July 18 2011

For over a month we’ve been fine tuning our sales and marketing tool, delivering on our promise to make JumpSpark available to the masses. JumpSpark, a digital marketing library, is a software application built by VLG for its customers and now anyone in the world. Here’s what you do.

Sign up. No credit card needed. 30-days free.

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Build your library. Pick 10 pieces of marketing collateral and create assets in your library.

Share content. Use posts links to Facebook and Twitter, or use JumpSpark’s email builder to send effective one-to-one emails. These emails are juiced up, giving you real-time alerts when assets in the email are clicked. (Hello, sales!)

Sit back and watch as your team leverages JumpSpark to spread the word at a fraction of the price you’d pay to advertise on Facebook. It’s like crowd sourcing the dissemination of your marketing collateral, interesting articles, earned media, website and more.

Finally, if you’re in sales listen up. Do you want to know if the meeting went well? Want to know if they are blowing you off? That’s where JumpSpark comes in. Send email follow-ups and get real-time alerts when users click assets in the email.

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Because you have to it’s VLG.me

April 7 2011

If you fear social media but know it has to be done, we have the answer. By visiting this blog you’re a part of our own VLG.me efforts. Twitter, Facebook, microsites, vlgadvertising.com, and more are all tied into our solution that defines VLG as a thought leader in the interactive lead generation space. We want to do that for our customers, too.

How do you find out if VLG.me is right for you?

1. Visit your corporate website.
2. Count how many clicks it takes a user to reach specific product information.
3. If it’s more than two clicks, you need VLG.me.

Ready to learn more.

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Almost introducing VLG.me

March 2 2011

We are working feverishly to crack the social media nut for B2B marketers. Clearly, social media is a great vehicle for B2C marketing, but we’ve noticed a bit of confusion, angst and disappointment on this side of the fence. We did it. Now there is a solution that sheds the words “social media” to focus more on those that…

Wow, almost let the cat out of the bag. The point is business marketers do have a play online in the social media space, but it’s probably not what you think. Want to be among the first to get a demo of our new product line? Visit http://vlg.me to sign up. The more people you invite the quicker you’ll get an evaluation of your current online efforts and recommendations for improvement that may, or may not include using VLG.me at your company. Sign up today!

We fight boredom.

Click

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Frosty’s Revenge

December 22 2010

Play Frosty’s Revenge. Follow Frosty on Twitter.

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We know guerilla mail and microsites work. Would a traditional mail piece (with personalized URL) get enough traffic to a Facebook game to make it worth the effort (READ: investment)?

The jury is out.

After Jan. 1 we’ll give you quick stats on this new campaign approach. If our theory and research by other marketers holds, this is the start of VLG’s new product solution in 2011.

  • VLG mailer that is unique and thematically tied to a personalized microsite
  • Facebook game or page that is thematically tied to a mail piece and microsite
  • Facebook ads targets to a specific demographic driving traffic not to a game, but a microsite
  • A program-themed Twitter account used only for the duration of a campaign
  • Leads and measurable traffic that will reduce the cost-per lead and cost-per demo for our clients
  • YouTube video with same program tie-in to all creative elements above

Of course the same targeted solutions, with a long history of success will continue to create revenue opportunities for our clients, but it’s time for B2B marketers to embrace a social medium after a couple years of tap dancing around the role Twitter and Facebook play in lead generation activities.

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Frosty’s coming back

December 8 2010

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Frosty the Snowman always promised us he’d be back again some day. We embarked on a clandestine operation to celebrate the holidays and bring Frosty back, but something went wrong along the way.

Well, in a way that’s unique, memorable and just what the sales team ordered. Mark Friday, Dec. 13th on your calendar. Limber up those fingers. Frosty’s on his way.

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Cut out the fat

December 8 2010

Nope, this is not a holiday article about avoiding my aunt’s peanut butter crunch, my mom’s pecan pie, or my wife’s cookies. I’m not skipping those. However, I am putting my social media network on a diet. I’m taking a long hard look at all those friends, colleagues, followers and follows.

There is a trend toward exclusivity and intimacy, toward smaller groups not larger. Early in the social media’s life cycle bigger was better. We could do online what most of us couldn’t do offline–ramp up our numbers. Do I have more friends on Facebook, colleagues on LinkedIn, or followers on Twitter than that guy, or that girl? You get a friend request from your step-mother’s second cousin twice removed and you accepted it? You bet! Rekindling old friendships is great, but some of those fires went out for a reason.

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Introducing Diaspora, a Facebook alternative meant to facilitate management of small groups. That inside joke about so-and-so’s crazy night in New Orleans won’t work on your Facebook wall. With Diaspora you select only those that will actually get that joke. It’s quality not quantity. (Not necessarily the jokes, just the network.)

This is not an endorsement of Diaspora–the name sounds like a disease you don’t want to catch to me–but it is not alone in bringing similar tools to market. Tell us, are you using Diaspora? We’d love to hear your thoughts.

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Where do the cool kids hang out?

November 11 2010

Social media is not far removed from the high school lunch room. You have the jocks sitting over there, the nerds there, the debate team, the tennis team, 4-H (we are in TX after all), and the loners. You get the point.

It stands to reason that those same self-selected groups would manifest themselves online. Set Facebook aside. It’s clear old high school and college chums congregate together. Where does that leave your business?

Are you one of the cool kids or are you a loner?

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Chances are you are somewhere in between and in between is not always the best place to be. If you’re popular customers gravitate toward you, your products, your brand and more. If you’re a loner you know your place in the world and its not always a happy place.

What about everyone else in the middle?

You are overlooked.

Maybe it’s time to start thinking about how your company becomes the BMOC. Good products and services, a great story, and a great personality are the recipe for becoming the company others follow not a company that follows. Be bold! Go big or go home.

Hey, don’t be content with the middle or you’ll find yourself alone.

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Is social media useful to you, B2B marketer?

October 20 2010

Social media can be a difficult channel for some B2B companies to utilize. If they do have a presence on social media sites such as Facebook, companies tend to suffer from an overemphasis on selling or a failure to grasp the non-traditional way in which social media audiences communicate. While there is no silver-bullet approach, B2B companies can maximize positive recognition of their brand by following these simple steps:

  • The most important thing to remember about social media is that it is an interface through which you can engage directly with your customers. This can be a double-edged sword, but with inventive and diligent management social media users are a great resource. So, leverage the platforms to instantly and informally solicit customer feedback. “Feedback” on such sites as Facebook may consist of nothing mare than a “Like”, but it is a definite starting point.
  • Offer value to viewers. Share some industry expertise, incorporate a giveaway, post a product review. One question many B2B sellers forget to ask it, “What is the user’s incentive to view my content?”
  • Promote the personality of your business. Social media is a great place to differentiate yourself from the competition by adopting a clear and entertaining brand voice. Obviously at the end of the day the strength of the product is the most powerful influencer of brand loyalty, but think of a social media as an unconventional form of public relations.

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Search Made Simple

June 29 2010

There are so many search engines people use on an every day –- no, every hour –- basis and juggling all of them can take an excessive amount of time. Between Google, Yahoo, Facebook, Twitter, Amazon, YouTube and the unlimited amount of other websites designed to search for products, images and other online — driven content, it can be quite grueling to manage all your search. One website comes to the rescue!

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Favitt.com, an “all in one” search engine, enables single-keyword search across multiple websites at once. Favitt simplifies and personalizes the online searching process, making it the only search engine website totally customized to your needs. By creating your free account, you are allowed to add all the sites you frequent. It also allows you to customize the home page by uploading images onto the background.

Upload multiple images and Favitt will shuffle through them for a new background experience every time. This fun, effortless website is a one-stop tool for the inquisitive online junkie. It’s easy to say that Favitt is the multi-search engine made simple.

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