In 2010, Facebook will develop new tools to measure the ROI of marketing and advertising on their platform.

During the first day of Social Media Week 2010, Fabio Freyre (Facebook’s VP of Advertising), hinted that Facebook is currently in advanced stages of “developing additional tools and analytics” to measure online and offline engagement within their own platform. These tools will be stronger and more robust than the tools Facebook has previously made available, which merely poll users about brands.

One of the biggest questions regarding social media and engagement is, “how do we measure this stuff?” There are professional agencies that are dedicated to measuring social awareness, buzz, engagement, and ultimately return on investment (ROI).

Specifically with Facebook, how does one know how much value to place on a “fan” (a person who has attached themselves to the Facebook page of a company, brand, or organization) of a particular brand? How much is that fan worth? What is the scale of engagement that fan has with his “community”?
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It seems like everyone is talking about “real time” these days. But how is that affecting search? Our friends over at SEMPO New York seek to explore the answer to that question at an event they’re hosting as part of Social Media Week NY 2010.

Sounds like a great event and we look forward to attending.

From the event’s MeetUp page:

Please join us as we kick of 2010 in conjunction with Social Media Week.

This month we are joined by Trendrr, StockTwits, Sawhorse Media and Invoke Media/Hootsuite to address the concept of “real time,” from real time publishing, to real time analytics to real time decision-making. And of course, we will discuss the role search plays in the real time world we now live in.

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If you’re reading this blog, you probably know that Blue Fountain Media is a leader in web design and development (even Google says so). You probably know that online marketing—including search engine optimization and social media marketing—is the fastest-growing part of the company.

What you might not know is that everyone in the marketing department, from analysts and copywriters to project managers and the department directory, started out as an intern. We’re actively hiring interns for 2010.

Are you ready?

We’re looking for enough skills to contribute from day one, plus the potential to join our team full-time. We have some exciting new projects coming up in 2010, and we’re getting ready to take them on.

If you’re interested, you should have all of the following skills and characteristics:

• An interest in online media and online marketing.
• A blog, Twitter, podcast, Youtube channel—something that shows that you’re active on the Internet.
• Good writing skills (you should be able to inform, convince—and effortlessly sprinkle your prose with high-value keywords).

You should also be able to do at least one of the following:

• Code in HTML.
• Code in PHP.
• Design in Photoshop.
• Create the kind of attention-grabbing content that finds its way to the homepage of Digg, Reddit, and Delicious.

The internship starts in January. Internships typically last for six months, after which they generally lead to a full-time offer. After the first few weeks, we’ll help you specialize in one of the major components of SEO: on-site analysis, link-building, social media, or copywriting. The compensation for this internship is $500 per month, with frequent raises for interns who demonstrate skills.

To apply, send a cover letter, resume, and a writing sample (e.g. a blog post, school essay—anything over 500 words) to careers@bluefountainmedia.com.

The whole idea of social media marketing can be a bit overwhelming. People are connected to each other more than ever on social media platforms, creating conversation about your brand and industry.

There are so many platforms, so many choices and so many misconceptions.

Companies that are smart and disciplined in all other areas of their business sometimes act irrationally due to their lack of expertise in this area.

Common mistakes include:

• Ignoring social media marketing because it is so foreign to them. Social networks and blogs are the 4th most popular online activities online, including beating personal email. 67% of global users visit member communities and 10% of all time spent on the internet is on social media sites. On a daily basis, individuals are talking about your brand, so companies better listen.

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The success stories keep pouring in at Blue Fountain Media

Today, we feature our marketing efforts for Powder Room Graffiti, a new site that’s already generating great buzz.

We have been using a number of marketing tools to bring traffic to their site including search engine optimization, new content elements and a variety of social media tools.

This week, simply by posting some of the terrific Powder Room Graffiti content on the social media site reddit.com and linking back to the Powder Room Graffiti site, we were able to drive more traffic in one day than the site had received in the previous month.

This is just the beginning of what we’re going to be able accomplish.

“It’s really all about doing your research,” one of our social media experts- Joe- explained to me. “Find the right content, make sure it has a compelling headline, and place in on a site that fits your client’s demographic. It sounds simple, but there’s a lot of hard work that goes into it.”

Looking for similar results for your website? Give us a call at 212.260.1978.

Three members from the Blue Fountain Media marketing team, Alhan Keser, Zack Sinkler, and Byrne Hobart attended the first day of the annual Search Engine Marketing Expo at the Jacob Javits Convention Center in New York City on Monday.
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(photo source: Nima Badiey)

Mistakes are bound to happen! We all make them – but in life we try to avoid them. Sigmund Freud was once quoted:

“From error to error one discovers the entire truth.”

But when businesses are hard-pressed for time and money, mistakes are not an option. Even if you are a Fortune 50 company, you may be in greater danger to succumbing to SEO ignorance. Upper-level management may not understand what it is or why it’s even important. Here are five common mistakes to avoid at all costs:

1. Self-centered Marketing

Just because a landing page looks nice and has a lot of content doesn’t mean that it has any relevance. If your homepage is full of your “company”, chances are that relevance for your consumers as well as search engines is lost. Many companies make the mistake of adding too much of themselves on a landing page, without explaining to the user what they do, and how that will help the user. Make content relevant and straight-forward.
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We only use social media as a component of larger campaigns

With all the hype surrounding social media, it’s easy to forget that the big money has been made selling social media sites, not selling things through social media. For example, over a year and a half period, Dell got 0.0011% of its sales ($1 million divided by about $90 billion) through Twitter — and all they had to do was offer extra discounts! (During that time, Twitter raised $20 million from investors — and they weren’t exactly offering discounts on their stock).

So how do we help clients use Twitter without being used by discount-hungry fans and attention-craving social media mavens?

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Website Launch: SolarTown

In this economy, one of the best investments anyone can make is in saving money. At Blue Fountain Media, we’re finding more and more ecommerce web design clients are focused on giving their customers a chance to lower their utilities bills (and do something good for the environment). SolarTown (last mentioned on the blog pre-launch) doesn’t just help visitors make smart choices about solar power — it also helps dozens of suppliers sell their products to consumers around the country.

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By building an integrated campaign that takes advantage of both

Many of our customers have learned to rely on the steady traffic growth our high-ROI SEO can bring. Others are interested in using social media marketing to increase brand awareness and really get in touch with their customers. At Blue Fountain Media, we don’t just offer best-of-breed SEO and SMM solutions — we design our campaigns to take advantage of how both kinds of marketing can work together.
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