Turns out the Old Spice Guy is more than the latest quasi-celebrity to get your girlfriend’s attention – he’s a social media phenom that has helped buoy sales of the men’s antiperspirant and fragrance line significantly. According to Dean McBeth, a digital strategist for ad agency Wieden + Kennedy, sales of Old Spice body wash have risen 55% and some SKUs are up as much as 1,900%.

McBeth spoke at the 140 Characters Conference in San Francisco August 19, detailing the success of the ad campaign featuring the chronically shirtless, no-longer-struggling actor Isaiah Mustafa starring as “The Man your Man Could Smell Like.” The campaign, which landed this year’s Emmy Award for Outstanding Commercial, obviously targeted men by way of the women in their lives. And it worked like a charm. It featured a television ad and numerous YouTube videos wherein Mustafa answers fan questions – including one from ABC newsman George Stephanopoulos on how President Obama could reconnect with female voters (928,468 views at the time of this posting). As of the time of the conference the campaign had received 1.5 billion impressions since its February launch, including 130 million video views. Old Spice Twitter followers were up 3200%, Facebook interactions had jumped 800-1,000%, Google searches were up 2,200% and traffic to the Old Spice website had risen 350-500%.

Mustafa, a former NFL wide receiver, is fielding film and TV offers. He has signed on for a leading role in Madea’s Big Happy Family, the newest installment in Tyler Perry’s Madea Franchise which started with Diary of a Mad Black Woman; and in a role in Horrible Bosses alongside Jennifer Anniston, Jason Bateman, Colin Farrell, Kevin Spacey and Jamie Foxx. He’ll also appear in the NBC TV series Chuck.

While we can’t promise an Emmy Award or film roles with A-list costars, AppSoft Web Design can help boost your company’s sales with a professionally produced commercial or PSA and / or a targeted social media campaign. Developed specifically for search engine optimization (SEO) and search engine marketing (SEM), our social media campaigns include management of your company’s Facebook, Twitter, YouTube or LinkedIn presences, plus keyword-rich blogging that will drive web viewers to your site and new customers to your click or brick stores. To find out how you can leverage the same tactics as the Old Spice Guy, contact Devan Stuart or Rachel Kuncicky at 904-241-9777 or 800-736-9112.

Once upon a time, search engine optimization (SEO) worked on a few proven techniques heavy on keyword placement and links. For the savvy web marketer, these few steps could place a website atop Google and other search engine rankings relatively easily, generating traffic and sales. No more. Today’s SEO is a much more complex animal with more factors playing important roles in the success of online businesses and ecommerce sites. The three most critical factors in the transformation of SEO over the past few years are the need for high quality content, social media and online video.

High Quality Content: One-time keyword stuffing works in SEO today like your mother’s 8-track cassettes work on your MP3 player. It simply doesn’t. Both search engines and live visitors today look for well-written and informative content, including website copy and blogs, that makes their visit to a site worthwhile. They want information and details that are updated regularly. Nothing will send a web visitor elsewhere quicker than recognizing a static site that hasn’t offered anything new in months.

Social Networking: Social networking websites have made such an impact that the words “Facebook me” are replacing “email me” among not just friends but business associates as well. Tens of thousands of businesses today use social networking profiles to more easily communicate with their audiences, grow their audiences and drive those audiences to their main websites and into their stores. A social media presence helps boost customer satisfaction by offering a perceived closeness to an actual individual than does an email form on a company’s primary website or a 1-800 number that takes customers through a maze of recordings and dial options before reaching someone who can listen and help. Social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter also help companies monitor the “buzz” about their products and services and tailor their overall marketing campaigns accordingly.

Online Video: Companies increasingly are using online video for SEO, informational, instructional and promotional purposes.  Once expensive and difficult to produce, high-quality video now is possible with affordable equipment and minimal training. Even a simple video, optimized appropriately, can help boost a company’s SEO ranking. Commercials, infomercials, how-tos and client testimonials all are effective ways to use online video to boost SEO efforts for online businesses.

AppSoft Development, headquartered in Jacksonville Beach, FL with operations in Orlando and California, can help improve your company website’s SEO with regularly updated, high quality, keyword optimized content and management of your social media profiles. Our in-house production team can write, shoot and edit your online video as well. To bring your SEO efforts up to date, contact AppSoft Development at 800-736-9112.

If you’re an online retailer and you have yet to log into the social media world, you’re undoubtedly missing out on a flood of new customers and revenue. According to a recent study by ForeSee Results titled The Key to Driving Retail Success with Social Media: Focus on Facebook, 69 percent of all online shoppers use a social media site. Of them, more than 80% are on Facebook – the dominant social media powerhouse that boasts more than 500 million users.

The study polled nearly 10,000 visitors to the biggest e-retail websites nationwide. Among the key findings on social media and online retailing:

• 56% of shoppers to top e-retail websites who interact with social media websites have elected to “friend” or “follow” or “subscribe” to a retailer on social networking sites like Facebook, Twitter and YouTube. This means that shoppers are choosing to engage in relationships with retailers via social media sites.
• 49% of respondents who “friend” or “follow” companies through social media do so to learn about special deals and options.
• 45% of users friend or follow companies to learn about products.
• Only 5% use social media primarily for customer support.

Of the online shoppers who regularly use social media sites:

• 81% use Facebook
• 31% use YouTube
• 22% use MySpace
• 16% use Twitter
• 12% use LinkedIn

An effective social media strategy drives new and existing customers to your main website, where visits turn into sales. Social networking sites such as Facebook and MySpace facilitate the long-recognized top marketing tool — word of mouth advertising. Happy customers tell their friends about your company via Facebook, MySpace, Twitter and LinkedIn friend and fan suggestions. And research continues to bear out the fact that a friend’s recommendation is a top factor in purchasing decisions. YouTube is a great spot for visual messages including commercials, infomercials, customer testimonials and how-to or instructional videos that showcase your company’s products and services.

Not convinced? Let AppSoft Web Design show you how a carefully crafted social media campaign can boost your website traffic and online sales. We offer multiple social media management, blogging and SEO/SEM packages tailored to fit any budget, whether you’re a mom-and-pop operation or a large company with hundreds of employees. Contact Devan Stuart or Rachel Kuncicky at 904-241-9777 or toll-free at 800-736-9112.

New research shows that colleges and universities nationwide increasingly are turning to social media to help recruit new students. Social media mixes may include presence on social media sites such as Facebook, MySpace and Twitter, plus the video sharing-turned-social network site YouTube, plus blogging, vlogging (video blogging), message boards and podcasts.

A full 88% of college and university admissions offices believe that social media is either “somewhat” or “very” important to recruitment efforts, according to a study recently released by the National Association for College Admission Counseling (NACAO). The study also revealed:

• 33% of colleges maintain a blog
• 29% maintain a presence on social networking sites
• 27% maintain online message boards or bulletin boards
• 14% use podcasts

The college-social media relationship is a two-way deal, as more than half (53%) of college recruitment offices report they monitor social media sites for “buzz” about their institution. This kind of readily available research allows them to tailor their social media approaches and messages.

“Social media tools, like Facebook, Twitter and blogs, are key to communicating with this generation of students,” says Joyce Smith, NACAC CEO. “While still no substitute for face-to-face interaction, social media have opened lines of communication and inquiry for both students and institutions that were inconceivable only a decade ago.”

Institutions reporting recent success include the University of Florida, which set out to recruit 10 to 12 additional graduate students each to three different programs. The idea came about via plans developed by students in a graduate-level public relations class. The students created Facebook pages for each of the programs and included course descriptions, faculty and student bios and information on research projects. Grad students and faculty members posted status updates and comments, and responded when fans (primarily undergrad students) posted questions and comments. The result: All three programs easily hit their recruitment goals.

The social media-as-recruitment tool approach can be used not only by schools, but by any organization or institution seeking to recruit new students, members, volunteers, etc. Examples include churches, nonprofit organizations, gyms and business networking groups among many, many others. AppSoft Web Design can help manage your organization’s social media and blogging campaigns, including writing search engine optimized blog entries and social media posts, plus recruiting fans and friends to your social media sites. All are designed to drive web traffic to your main website, where you can turn fans and friends into paying clients. Contact Devan Stuart or Rachel Kuncicky at 904-241-9777 or toll free at 800-736-9112 to get started.

In a recent survey by the webzine Practical eCommerce, a full 95 percent of responding businesses agree that SEO is important. In fact, effective search engine optimization has become a top priority for Internet marketing professionals nationwide. But there is a huge gap between the number of entrepreneurs and business leader who realize the power of SEO and those who understand how to build and use it to the benefit of their companies.

Among the highlights of the survey, completed by polling readers:

• 95% of respondents said SEO was important to their businesses;
• Only 3.1 percent said they didn’t know whether SEO was important and one lone respondent declared SEO decidedly unimportant;
• 82.2% of respondents said that their websites are search engine optimized;
• 11% said that their websites were not SEO’ed and 6.3% were unsure;
• 40.6% of respondents said they were confident in their understanding of SEO;
• 54.7% said they “somewhat” understand SEO;
• And 4.7% percent admit they don’t understand SEO at all.

An understanding of SEO’s marketing power is becoming increasingly important to a business’ bottom line and its ability to compete in today’s marketplace. Consider a recent Internet Retailer study in which 51 percent of retail marketers reported that at least a quarter of their website traffic comes from natural search, compared to just 28 percent who could say the same for paid search.

But if your understanding of the workings of SEO is limited, you’re not alone. SEO is an ever-changing beast and it takes a lot to keep on top of all the new developments in the search engine world. The AppSoft Web Design/AppSoft Development team keeps up-to-the-minute on all the latest in the industry. We can help you develop an SEO plan that boosts your business while meeting your budget. Options include SEO website copy, blogging and social media management. For more information, contact us via our online email form or the convenient Click to Call feature our website.

The rumor mill is churning about Google Me, Google’s much speculated social network. Word on the street is that the search engine giant is close to announcing the launch of the nation’s next big name in social networking, designed to be a full-on competitor to Facebook.

Thus far, there’s no official confirmation from Google’s Mountain View, CA corporate office. But Digg CEO Kevin Rose and former Facebook CTO Adam D’Angelo among other insiders claim Google Me is indeed coming down the pike.

“This is not a rumor. This is a real project. I am completely confident about this,” D’Angelo said in a recent post on Quora, the Q&A site he founded. “They realized that Buzz wasn’t enough and that they need to build out a full, first-class social network. They are modeling it off of Facebook. Unlike previous attempts (before Buzz at least), this is a high-priority project within Google. They had assumed that Facebook’s growth would slow as it grew, and that Facebook wouldn’t be able to have too much leverage over them, but then it just didn’t stop, and now they are really scared.”

If the rumors are true, Google has quite a challenge on its hands, particularly considering the limited success of Buzz (Google’s answer to Twitter) and Orkut, Google’s first social networking experiment that proved popular in India and Brazil but never took off in the U.S. Facebook today is 500 million users strong, having toppled MySpace as the world’s most popular social networking site in April 2008. Google Me’s success could mean a strong new player in not only the social networking arena, but in SEO and SEM as well. A spectacular failure, however, might make Facebook even stronger.

Incidentally, Google Me is said to be the social network’s working title. No word on whether it was inspired by “Google Me,” the 2009 documentary by filmmaker Jim Killeen, starring seven other guys named Jim Killeen.

Looking for the best Internet marketing tools to reach your adult market? For the best return on your internet marketing investment you’ll need to approach the younger and older adults differently, according to recent research by the Pew Research Center for People & the Press. The report, titled Social Media and Young Adults shows that while adults of all ages are more wired than ever, they approach their internet and social media use in distinct ways.

Research shows that Twitter, MySpace and mobile web sites are among the best Internet marketing tools for reaching young adults, whereas older adults are more apt to be engaged by LinkedIn and blogging. And Facebook appears to be the equalizer, proving to be among the best Internet marketing tools for hitting both the younger adult and older adult target markets.

Among the highlights of the study:

• 93% of young adults ages 18-29 and 74% of adults across the board (18 and older) go online regularly;
• 11% of Internet users ages 30 and older maintain a blog, up from 7% in December 2007;
• 15% of Internet users ages 18-29 maintain a blog, down from 24% in December 2007;
• 47% of online adults use social networking sites, up from 37% in November 2008;
• 72% of online 18-29 year olds use social networking sites, compared to 40% of internet users age 30 and up;
• Adults of all ages are increasingly fragmenting their social networking experience, as 52% have multiple profiles today, up from 48% in May 2008;
• 73% of all adults have a profile on Facebook, including 75% of older adults and 71% of younger adults, making it the most commonly used social networking site among adults;
• 48% of all adults have a profile on MySpace, including 66% of young adults and 36% of older adults;
• 14% of all adults have a profile on the professionally-oriented LinkedIn, including 19% of older adults and 7% of younger adults;
• 19% of all adults, including a third of 18-29-year-olds post updates on Twitter;
• 55% of young adults have accessed the Internet on their cell phones;
• African American adults are the most active users of the mobile web and their use is growing at a faster pace than mobile internet use among white or Hispanic adults.

Determining the best Internet marketing tools for reaching various demographics, including younger adults, older adults and the increasingly consumer savvy teen market can be a daunting task. AppSoft Web Design can help craft an internet marketing approach that gets you noticed in your target market. Our expertise includes website design and hosting, SEM, SEO and social media management plus professional logo design. Visit our website for a look at the designs that have won our clients top search engine ranking and helped boost their revenues, then reach us via our convenient Click To Call Now feature and talk with an internet marketing specialist today.

The best Internet marketing tools to reach teenage consumers are social networking websites and mobile phones,according to a recent report by the Pew Research Center for People & the Press. The report shows that while teens are shifting their preferences, they remain a major social media force. And they’re ALWAYS on the phone, though more so with their fingertips than their ears.

Among the highlights of the Pew report:

• 93% of teens age 12-17 go online regularly. Of them, 63% go online daily;
• 73% of wired American teens use social networking websites, up from 65% in February 2008 and 55% in November 2006;
• 75% of teens own mobile phones;
• Teen mobile phone owners are getting proportionately younger – 58% of 12 year olds have them today, up from 18% of America’s 12-year-olds in 2004;
• 66% of teens text with friends on their mobile phones;
• 48% of teens have bought products online, up from 31% who had made online purchases as of 2000.

Although the report offers no statistics on the numbers or percentages of American teens who use specified social networking sites, much anecdotal information available via media coverage of the industry suggests that teens are beginning to shift preference to Facebook over MySpace, particularly older teenagers. And Twitter is more popular among teen girls (13%) than teen boys (7%). This supports industry claims that Facebook is becoming one of the most powerful internet marketing tools around today.

The ever growing number of teens who own mobile phones makes mobile websites increasingly important Internet marketing tools for companies targeting the teen market. And it doesn’t take a high-dollar research project to know that teenagers are not particularly patient. That means companies who fail to optimize websites for mobile devices, resulting in slow loads and limited functionality, are likely to lose out when it comes to reaching teens on the go.

AppSoft Website Design knows all the best Internet marketing tools available and just how to leverage each one to make sure you effectively reach your target market. Visit our website for a sampling of our clientele and work, and use our online Click to Call Now feature to talk with a website design, SEM and social media specialist today.

It’s been just over a week since its launch and the new Facebook “Like” button has proven a new force majeure in online search. The new button replaces the “Become a Fan” button and allows Facebook’s 400 million members to recommend websites, news stories, blog posts and music to friends. As of Wednesday, more than 50,000 website had implemented the new Like plugins as part of their web marketing strategies, according to Facebook’s blog for application developers.

What does this mean for your website and web marketing? By placing the Facebook Like button on your website, you allow visitors to recommend your site to their Facebook friends, who likely will pass it along to other Facebook friends and so on. These recommendations, which show up as posts on Facebook profiles, drive traffic back to your website, significantly boosting your web marketing efforts at little or no cost.

Consider that in March – after just six years in existence – Facebook surpassed Google as the site with the most U.S. visits; that Facebook today is the top source for traffic to major news and entertainment portals; and that the phrase “Facebook me” is replacing “E-mail me,” according to many entrepreneurs. If your company has yet to integrate Facebook and other top social networking platforms into its web marketing strategy, you are missing out on an already huge web marketing opportunity that is expected to grow exponentially and give search engine giant Google a run for its money, many Internet experts say.

Successful use of social media as a web marketing tool for your company involves much more than simply creating a static fan page or profile. The key to success is in consistent updating, promotion and interaction with your fan/friend base.  Many smaller companies are unsure how to most effectively use Facebook and other social media platforms, and many more find they simply lack the time or human resources to consistently manage their social media marketing efforts. AppSoft Web Design’s web marketing professionals know all the ins and outs of a highly successful social media campaign. We offer management of your social media web marketing efforts including creating and maintaining Facebook, Twitter and MySpace pages, YouTube channels and blogs with search engine optimized entries. If you’re ready to take full advantage of the social media web marketing phenomenon, call AppSoft Web Design’s Devan Stuart or Rachel Kuncicky at 904-241-9777 or toll free at 800-736-9112.

For Super Bowl advertisers, major plays in the big game are moving from the TV screen to the computer screen, proving that internet marketing via social media is an ever-intensifying factor in winning customers and sales for any company that wants to succeed today and into the future. Budweiser, a consistent favorite among Super Bowl advertisers turned to its Facebook fans to give the final green light on its Super Bowl commercial. Via a tab labeled “Game Day Pick,” Fans viewed clips of three potential commercials: One outlining the scenarios in which it’s appropriate to compensate a friend with a beer; another offering various tactics for getting a bartender’s attention; and the third starring the beloved Budweiser Clydesdale horses. It was no surprise either to marketers or longtime beer fans that the Clydesdales rumbled forward, winning by a long shot.

The ploy helped build Budweiser’s Facebook fan base. A Facebook user had to sign up as a fan in order to participate (Facebook forbids advertising of alcoholic beverages to underage users). When the company announced the contest on January 29, it had fewer than 135,000 fans. Today, that number is at nearly 270,100, meaning that Budweiser doubled its Facebook fan base with just one week-long promotion.

Other advertisers incorporated social media factors into their Super Bowl commercials and campaigns as well. In the two weeks prior to Super Bowl, Coca-Cola announced shortly before Super Bowl that Facebook fans would be able to send friends a virtual Coca-Cola, an image of a Coke bottle displayed on their Facebook pages and newsfeed along with a 20-second sneak peek of one of Coca-Cola’s two Super Bowl commercials. The company also donated one dollar to the Boys and Girls Clubs of America for each virtual gift sent. Pepsi, a faithful Super Bowl advertiser for the past 23 years, announced earlier this year it would forego a TV commercial altogether. Rather than pony up the average $3 million per 30-second slot, the company announced it would instead launch an online social networking campaign.

Perhaps the biggest benefit social media lends to advertisers is an instant gauge of how well received their commercials were among viewers. Mullen, an advertising agency with offices in Boston, New York, Detroit, Pittsburgh and Winston-Salem partnered with Twitter to measure Super Bowl commercials’ effectiveness via viewer tweets. More than 98,600 tweeting participants levied their opinions. Combining their comments with ad reviews and other metrics, Mullen declared Doritos, Google and Focus on the Family tops among Super Bowl advertisers.

The face of the advertising and marketing environment is changing rapidly. Consumers demand and expect interactivity, and only those who are fully engaged in the most effective online social media platforms will succeed in the coming years. AppSoft Web Development offers social media services for all clients. We can set up and maintain your Facebook, Twitter, MySpace and LinkedIn pages, building your fan and contact base and posting status updates designed to boost interest in your company’s products and services. We also offer blogging services – monthly blogs of 200 words or more written by a professional copywriter and based on your company’s keywords and monthly SEO reports. Tiered pricing levels assure quality social media and blogging services at a price any size business can afford. For more information, call Rachel Kuncicky or Devan Stuart at 904-241-9777.