6 Tips to Making Your Brand Cool to Gen Z on Social Media

"Ugh, Mom! You are SO uncool." For parents of a tween or teen, these words may seem as common as "Whatever" and "When will dinner be ready?" But substitute "Mom" for a brand's name... well now you are in BIG trouble. How can brands hope to stay 'cool' in the eyes of the world's most misunderstoo...

By Tim McMullen • Sept. 18, 2014

Google Is Changing the Close Variant Matching Option in AdWords

Currently, advertisers have the option to include or exclude close variant matching to exact and phrase match keywords in Google AdWords, but starting in late September, that's going to change. On August 14th, Google announced that they will be applying close variant matching to all exact and phr...

By Kristina Epping • Sept. 18, 2014

Online Marketing Lessons from SURGE's Triumphant Return

On Monday, Coca-Cola announced that it would resume manufacturing and selling SURGE, and it immediately became one of social media's top trending topics. In case you've forgotten the late-nineties, SURGE was Coca-Cola's answer to Pepsi's Mountain Dew. Unfortunately, long-term sales weren't quite ...

By Deborah Sweeney • Sept. 18, 2014

Creating Social Media Micro-Content With Long-Tail SEO

It can be difficult to make sure that your business is ranking highly based on your keywords on both Google and on social. Standing out amongst the chatter is one of the hardest things to do on social media especially with the increasing domination of social media in the marketing industry.It is...

By Warren Knight • Sept. 18, 2014

Don't Be the 'Rabbit' in SEO

What is Search Engine Optimization?SEO (Search Engine Optimization) is simply the process of affecting the visibility of a website or web page in a search engines organic (meaning, non-paid/natural) search results.Simply put: it's answering the question of "what are search engines looking for?" O...

By Jerry Nihen • Sept. 18, 2014

Globalbility: Generating Creative Ideas with the Ability to Be Understood Globally

After listening to The Social Shake Up presentation "From Real-Time Analysis to Storytelling: A Coca-Cola Case Study" from Doug Busk of The Coca Cola Company, it elevated the importance of global marketing in the social world. For me, having worked on advertising teams for some of the largest glo...

By Alicia Case • Sept. 18, 2014

3 Keys to Creating a Superior User Experience

With the massive proliferation of sites and apps, most will suffer the ignominy of remaining incognito. For some, they may think of themselves as the world's best kept secret. For others, I would argue, it is just as well! Why? Because so many continue to offer a very poor user experience.Why i...

By Minter Dial • Sept. 17, 2014

Three Reasons Why You're Not Succeeding Online

Building from a "Brand First" concept, I'd like to address the most common trouble areas that businesses have when taking their ideas to market. Here are three situations I commonly find our clients in when they first come to us-and what you can do to avoid them.You're Looking For a Silver Bullet...

By Jerry Nihen • Sept. 17, 2014

Why You Gotta Be So Rude? How to Handle Negative Social Media Feedback

As a writer who regularly -- and willingly -- has work posted all over the internet, (which is basically an open invitation for critique) I know firsthand how rude people can be.In fact, I recently got a comment from a man who told me that, out of all the people in the world, I was the one who c...

By Shannon Willoby • Sept. 17, 2014

The Blogging Sweet Spot: How Often Should You Post?

Ever website owner struggles with the practice of blogging. While it may be easy (allegedly anyway), it's a task that doesn't always bring instant results, or even direct ones. Rather, it's a practice that informs and educates readers, allowing them to circle back to a business over time. The uns...

By Bethaney Wallace • Sept. 17, 2014

How to Be Remarkable in a Noisy Social Media World

In 1928, a man named Otto Frederick Rohwedder created arguably one of the greatest inventions ever: pre-sliced bread. Rohwedder, a jeweller by profession, truly believed it would change the baking industry for the better. But bakers scoffed at his mechanical bread slicer - surely bread would quic...

By Iris Vermeren • Sept. 17, 2014

Four Ways to Prove the Value of Social Media to Your CMO

So you have ambitious plans for a social media program that will build brand buzz and drive business impact? There's just one problem: you need a big budget to match your big dreams. Though social media budgets are projected to double in the next five years, many social media marketers still repo...

By Mairead Ridge • Sept. 17, 2014

The 5 Best Social Media Campaigns of the Summer

Summer may typically be a slow time for marketing but that hasn't stopped some savvy brands from using this less-competitive time period to launch creative campaigns that stand out. And one of the best ways to get noticed during this marketing lull can be a dynamic social media campaign.Brands th...

By Justin Garrity • Sept. 17, 2014

So Your Offer Flopped. What Will You Do About It?

At Kayak, our core philosophy around websites, is that they exist primarily to generate leads. Where great content on your site attracts readers, prospects, and influencers, your offers convince them to take the next step. Plus, they can build trust and enhance your credibility all at the same ti...

By Randy Milanovic • Sept. 17, 2014

Brands and Media Can Create a New Information Experience

Which of these two stories from The New York Times is the more compelling: this piece about the mainstreaming of the Brooklyn beard, or this piece about women inmates in American prisons? The first article comes from the editorial pages of the Times; the second comes from its content marketing s...

By Jeff Pundyk • Sept. 16, 2014

Search & ROI: An Evolving Relationship

One of the beauties of paid search to Internet marketers has always been its ability to provide concrete ROI data. Compared to other online marketing efforts, like SEO for example, paid search advertising offered a clear view of click to buy, making it obvious what worked and what didn't. Today, ...

By Chris Marentis • Sept. 16, 2014

How to Build an Audience on YouTube

YouTube is a massive opportunity. Over 1 billion - imagine that! - unique users visit the social networking site each day. Over 6 billion hours of video are being watched on YouTube every month. It's constantly growing. YouTube has become a very important part of our daily lives. This social netw...

By George Mathew • Sept. 16, 2014

Combining Social Media with CRM for Even Better Engagement

Customer relationship management is essential for any company. Fortunately, these days, social media has made it easier than ever before. However, this only holds true if you're using it the right way. Keep the below advice in mind and you'll marry the two perfectly for better engagement.Choose Y...

By Reda Sedrati • Sept. 16, 2014

Don't Isolate Your Online and Offline Marketing Strategies

Don't Isolate Your Online and Offline Marketing Strategies Social media marketing has moved beyond the stage of "integral aspect" and is now the soul of many successful marketing campaigns. But people still watch television, go to stores and drive in traffic. They still check their mail and atten...

By Katherine Halek • Sept. 16, 2014

Harnessing the Power of Facebook's "Get Notifications" Feature

One of the most under-utilized features or functions on Facebook is the 'Get Notifications' feature. The average Facebook user likely doesn't even know it's there or what it does. What does the 'Get Notifications' function do anyway?When you click the option, which appears in a drop down menu und...

By Elizabeth Victor • Sept. 16, 2014

To Grow Your Social Marketing Budget, Determining ROI Is a Critical Job Skill

"We're the red-headed stepchild." My friend Dave, who is a global social director at a major fashion brand, lamented as we commiserated over oysters and drinks at Island Creek Oyster Bar in Boston (a must to visit if you're ever in the area).No offense to red heads or step children, but the phras...

By Nadia Uddin • Sept. 16, 2014

How to Create Content that Lives the Brand Promise

I was fortunate enough to talk to Steve Farnsworth recently, a great discussion with a fellow marketing geek. I was interviewing him for an upcoming magazine article about content that lives the mission statement. I've riffed on this before, noting brands like Subway that do a great job of it, an...

By Ryan Johnson • Sept. 16, 2014

6 Word of Mouth Marketing Tips to Get People Talking About You

Ready to give your eCommerce store a marketing boost? Have you thought of trying word of mouth marketing?Word of mouth is the strongest form of recommendation, and spreads quite quickly too. If people are talking about your business, then you can be sure you'll get a big lift in your sales from n...

By Zack Fagan • Sept. 15, 2014

6 Questions to Ask Before You Outsource Your Marketing

Running a marketing department has become a more complex endeavor over the past couple of decades. With the introduction of the Internet came dramatic changes in consumer behavior, followed by dramatic changes in the way companies market products and services, followed by dramatic changes in the ...

By Mike Sweeney • Sept. 15, 2014

Comedy in Content Marketing: To Be Memorable, Make 'Em Laugh

Do you want your content to be unforgettable? Do you want parents to pass on your blog posts to their children, and your white papers to their grandchildren? Of course you do! And the solution is simple - make your content hilariously, milk-exploding-from-nostrils funny. All right, maybe your cre...

By Larry Kim • Sept. 15, 2014