Last week Global Okanagan (or what some people remember as CHBC) featured a recent project that we've been heavily involved in over the past year. Called Our Okanagan, the project is a web-based local search engine and business hub that is focused on connecting local businesses and creating new opportunities for collaboration, employment, and investment.

TIP: If your business hasn't signed up yet, click the link above and create your profile!  The site is very powerful and goes beyond what you're used to seeing in a typical "business directory".  Make sure to check out the many advanced features and fill out the different sections of your profile for best results.

The project was a great experience for us and we enjoyed working with the project leaders Okanagan Partnership, and the folks at North Okanagan Economic Development Commission.  The story aired by Global was great, but I believe the way it was edited gives us too much credit.  We were chosen as the development partner, (and Touchpoint was chosen as the branding partner) but we certainly were not the initiators or the driving force behind the project.  We feel obligated to explain these points in case anyone gets the wrong impression.

I'd like to especially thank a couple of our own staff, Thomas Berger and Cara Reed who worked tirelessly on this project and helped make it something we're very proud of.

We're pulling back the curtains today to show how our Kelowna SEO company gets results. SEO stands for Search Engine Optimization and is part of a larger topic called Search Engine Marketing (SEM) which the art and science of promoting a website on the internet through organic (unpaid) efforts, which is SEO, and paid efforts, like Pay Per Click (PPC) campaigns.  But we're getting ahead of ourselves.  Let's rewind.

The world wide web is a big place. In fact there are around 110 Million websites in the big ol' WWW. It's pretty easy for your website to get lost in the mix.  A website is more or less pointless if no one is finding it. Web traffic is the life blood of many businesses (yes, even bricks and mortar!)  About 80% of people search for what they want on the web using Google, Yahoo or Bing.  As a business owner or marketing director, your job is to make sure that people searching for your products and services find your website.  Sounds simple, right?

Do a quick Google search for "kelowna marketing firm" and you'll see us near the top. We're actually No.1 right now, but things swap around a bit at the top of the pile. Also understand that we are in the organic (free) listings - these get clicked on about 77% of the time vs. the paid ads like the ones on the lilac background.

Business people are getting more familiar with internet marketing now, so you've probably heard of the term SEO which stands for Search Engine Optimization.  SEO encompasses a variety of different techniques, unique to the individual client, that will help them rank higher on Google and other Search Engines.  Then when people are searching for things like "kelowna bike store" or "best coffee shop" or "RV dealership software" your website will appear in the search engine results pages, called SERP's.  Page one is where you'll want to be - only 1 in 5 people ever look past page one.

At Twin Creek Media we work hard to make sure that our clients' websites are ranking high for the words that potential customers are searching for. The tricky thing about SEO is that Google and other search engines like to keep their ranking algorithms secret, so while we generally know how to kick butt out there, the rules are constantly changing.  Plus, you can't fix something unless you know what's broken.  This is why we measure a website's current performance first before jumping into making changes.  Twin Creek Media's SEO Score Card and Website Usability Score Cards will cost a business about $900 each.  About 90% of our clients choose to do our Score Cards first. It's surprising how many so called "experts" don't care to do this!  If you're talking with an Kelowna SEO firm, make sure you ask about baseline measurement and SEO analysis. 

Think about it like this: if your car is making "squeaking" sounds and you bring it in to the shop, would you rather the mechanic inspect it first and fix the source of the problem, or just randomly put on new tires, brakes, muffler, and fan belts "cuz it's gotta be one of those things..."?

Check out the image below and you'll see the numbers from Google Analytics for a month over month comparison.  We pulled the data today for a few of our websites that we manage... you'll see most are receiving more visitors this month compared to last month.  Not all of the news is good.  Those of you that understand web analytics will see that some the Bounce Rates are high and Time On Site is less than ideal.  Hey, we're not perfect, but we're not trying to hide anything either.  Note: The site names are blurred out for privacy reasons.  You'll also notice two of the sites are receiving very low monthly traffic... those are actually single pages, not full websites, that we're tracking but not currently promoting right now.We make continuous improvements based on the data.  SEO is an ongoing challenge.  It doesn't ever end. Translation: when you're budgeting, internet marketing & SEO should be planned as a monthly investment.

Bottom line?  Twin Creek Media will measure, improve, and grow your website's traffic. Tip: Traffic is great but the work isn't over.  Are the visitors high quality?  Do they match your customer profile?  Once all those people land on your site do they find what they're looking for?  Do they buy?  Do they sign up?  Do they fill out your form?  Do they phone?  What we're talking about now is page conversion - a topic for another time!

Contact us to find out more about our Kelowna SEO services: 250-762-4001

By Jennifer Thorimbert

We've been looking at this comic from XKCD today, and pondering how the web is changing relationships, and how large our social network "countries" are.  Here's a fun look at the numbers.

Facebook 3rd Largest Country by Population

That's right - with 500 million active users, if Facebook were a country, it would be the 3rd largest in the world, behind China (1.3 billion) and India (1.2 billion), but ahead of the USA (310 million). This means that you could travel anywhere in the world, and you're more likely to meet a Facebook user than an American.

Until April 2008, MySpace held the title of largest social network, and with today's MySpace user base of 66 million, it would rank as the 20th largest country by population, in between Thailand (67 million) and France (65 million).

In 140 characters or less: Twitter has 100 million users & 750 tweets/second or 65 million tweets/day.  Twitter would be 12th largest country, behind Mexico.

Farmville vs. Farming

Maybe more surprising than the Facebook and MySpace stats are those of Farmville: the most-popular app on Facebook has 60.5 million users. Almost as many people are watering pretend corn crops than are on MySpace at all. Farmville would be the 22nd largest country, coming in just behind Italy.

The International Federation of Agricultural Producers (IFAP) represents more than 600 million farmers in 79 countries. (Are you keeping track? There are more farmers worldwide than Facebook users - good news for our food production.) However, the laugh sets in when you check out IFAP on Facebook. The group isn't web-savvy enough to have a FB page, or even a group; IFAP is signed up as a person, and you have to request friendship to support them online. With 600 million IFAP members, it's sad to see they only have 879 friends (0.0000001% of their members). Meanwhile, almost 50% of Farmville users (24.5 million) have "Liked" their Fan page.

Mind Your P's and QQs

Wondering what the large QQ is on the bottom-right of the map? QQ is an instant-messaging program popular in China with more than 100 million users. Companies looking to reach a global, and particularly Chinese, market need to be aware of the popular websites and services unique to each region.

Get Your Business on the Map

How are you contacting your customers, and where do you look for new ones? If you're not on Facebook, and you're not Tweeting, you're missing out on potentially millions of opportunities. TV commercials, radio spots and magazine ads still have their place, but if you're business isn't on Facebook, many people won't come for a visit.

Remember that when your business is on Facebook, and your customers become fans, they're sharing your information with their network, and their network's network. Start playing the Six Degrees of Separation, and soon you've reached 500 million users.

Where do I start?

Not sure how to start tweeting or the best way to connect on Facebook? Contact us today to put together a social media plan - including strategy, training, and your first month's posts - for your business.

Every business has a few "raving fans".  These people are usually cherished individuals who talk about our company or group in such a nice way that more people become customers.  This article is all about empowering raving fans!  Hook up your social media accounts into your email blasts and you'll allow more sharing, recommending and commenting.  Free PR anyone?

Let me ask you a question assuming that you use email marketing and social media.  Are they separate in your company’s mind or do you make sure to bring them together?

As a company it can get tiresome dealing with email marketing and social media separately.  Why have two separate audiences when you can bring them together in one?

Grow Your Audience
The easiest way to connect the two is to make sure that your audiences know about both your email newsletter and your social media.  On your email newsletters add your latest Facebook post or tweet to your sidebar.  Or you can add the logos in your footer with links to your pages.  Using your Facebook Fan Page you can easily add a newsletter signup box and on Twitter you can tweet the link to your newsletter signup.  By doing this you can easily expand your email database and social media followers.

Cross Posting
Constant Contact allows for a handy feature when you send out your newsletter.  You will be asked if you want to tweet this newsletter and you can choose yes or no.  By choosing to tweet the newsletter a tweet will be sent out through your company’s Twitter account with the title of the newsletter and a link to the web version.  This allows for your newsletter to be retweeted by your audience and get more people interested in what your company has to say.

Tips and Tricks
Here are some simple tips you can implement right away to engage your email database and social media audience.

Do you want to inspire a conversation?  Write a question in the sidebar of your newsletter and encourage people to answer it via Facebook or Twitter.  Or you could use survey tools like Survey Monkey and Poll Daddy. This could be a great way to get customer feedback for your business.

Want more interactions on Facebook?  Mention in your newsletter and your social media accounts that the 15th person to post their best experience with your company on your Facebook wall will receive a prize.

Want more interactions on Twitter?  Ask your audience an industry-related trivia question.  Make it fun!  Remember that Twitter is faster paced than Facebook so keep the comments/questions time sensitive.  Don't forget to comment and re-tweet (RT) other peoples' tweets.  JOIN in the conversations already happening!

Want more ideas to expand your audience and increase engagement?  Contact us today to set up an integrated marketing campaign that is the perfect fit for your business!

The Twin Creek Media team were curious to find out (A) the most popular smart phone and (B) the favourite service provider in the Okanagan and area.  We thought others might be interested too, so the results are public.  So place your votes and share these polls with your friends!

Facebook has recently come out with its own version of location-based social networking: Facebook Places. Facebook Place is now available in Canada as of September 24.

What is Facebook Places?
Facebook Places is a mobile geo-location application that allows people to “check-in” to your business.  If a person has a smartphone, they simply walk/drive/run/ski/bike/swim to your place of business, open up the Facebook app, and hit the button that tells all of their friends where they are.  Eg. James Shaw is at Starbucks.  So when a person is out for dinner, at the movies, or even grocery shopping they can use Facebook Places to check in to your location.  Your location will then appear on Facebook for your friends to see in their news feed.  Then, next time you are at a location you can see how many of your friends are there too.  A cool feature to Facebook Places is that by adjusting your privacy settings you can allow your friends to check you in.

You can access Facebook Places using the Facebook App for smart phones (iPhones, Blackberry, etc) or iPad.  Another option is to use the mobile website from your laptop or desktop: http://touch.facebook.com

For official Facebook Places information, please visit Facebook.com/Places. You can also Download the PDF Guide.

Why Should I Care?
Facebook is really popular.  Over 500 million people use Facebook.  Around 60% of Canadians aged 18 to 55 use Facebook - often every day!  The sheer size, time spent, and volume of conversations is astounding.  Smart business owners and marketers have recognized that the world hangs out on Facebook.  Yes, Kelowna, Vernon, Penticton, Kamloops, Vancouver business owners... your customers and clients are probably hanging out on Facebook.  Are you hanging out with them?!

How Can My Business Use This?
First of all, it’s important to have your business contact info listed correctly.  In a sense, Facebook is becoming the largest business directory in the world.  Also, with Facebook Places your company will have access to localized advertising opportunities as they come available.  Other GPS enabled apps like Foursquare allow virtual prizes like “mayorships” to the person that checks in at that location the most often.  Facebook may do something that encourages regular visits too.  In-line promos, discounts, etc. are likely to follow in the future to allow businesses to take advantage of this new marketing channel. Eg. “Check-in to get 10% off!”

I Want to Get Started!
The first step is to claim your business on Facebook Places.  Even if you are not ready to use Facebook Places with your business just yet, you should still claim your business.  Claiming your business allows you to manage the address, contact information, business hours, profile picture, admins and other settings.  By claiming your business now you can avoid any long waits later on down the road when you want to start using it.

Your business can also have it’s own page on Facebook, called a Fan Page.  In fact, when you claim your business for the first time, Facebook will turn it into a Fan Page anyway.  Fan Pages are a great way to engage with your customer base through stories, photos, videos, promos and other content.  The idea is to share news, tips and tricks, swap opinions and ask your customers questions.  It’s a social site remember!  As people engage with your brand they often become a little PR army spreading the buzz about your company to their friends around the web.

Can I Get Help?

Claiming your business on Facebook Places is free but can be complicated if you do not have experience. We can help! Twin Creek Media has worked with many companies to build brand awareness through Facebook Fan Pages, Facebook Ads, and soon Facebook Places.  We often integrate marketing efforts across multiple social sites, like Twitter, LinkedIn, and YouTube and streamline the content updating process with software tools to make things EASY for you!  Contact us to set up a free meeting (if you’ve been ignoring social media so far and hate Facebook we'll sympathize with you... but you should call us at 250-762-4001.  Or email us at info@twincreekmedia.com

Newsletters are an extremely common form of communication between companies and their customers.  Email marketing is a great way to advertise special offers, grow your audience, and communicate with your customers.

Key Benefits of Email Marketing

• Maintains top of mind awareness through regular contact
• Drives traffic to your website
• Gives your reader something valuable (promotions, information, communication)
• Continues the relationship that began when they visited your website, store, or social media
• Integrates with social media (promotes your YouTube, LinkedIn, Twitter, and Facebook accounts)
• Highly interactive (You can't click play video on a postcard!)
• It’s trackable and measurable

Why Not Direct Mail?
Are you still using direct mail as a form of advertisement?  Direct mail is only as measurable as you want it to be.  For a truly trackable direct mail campaign you need to ensure that every customer brings in their mailout to redeem for the promotion.  This way you can count how many came in.  Plus, on top of that you have the cost of sending out the actual campaign.  Direct Mail has it's place, and can be effective to drive a brand new group of people to a website or to a store.  (After all, you are only supposed to email to list of people that have given you permission first!)

Email marketing requires only your time to type the newsletter and then simply click ‘Send!’.  Then you can monitor how many people opened the email, clicked on links in your newsletter (and which ones!), and if your newsletter was forwarded on to anyone.  Now isn’t that handy?  Email Marketing software either comes with a monthly subscription fee based on list size or pay-per-use payment plan - either way, it's WAY cheaper than direct mail.

Couldn’t I Just Use Outlook?
The problem with using an email program like Outlook or Hotmail is that you have a limited amount of email addresses that you can send to.  This can also be time consuming of ensuring that you have all of your customer’s email addresses in Outlook to send to.  You also cannot automatically personalize your emails to the person.  Finally, the biggest problem is that you cannot track how effective your newsletter was.

And just in case you’re still not convinced:

• Email's ROI index is 55 percent higher than any other direct-response marketing vehicle. - Direct Marketing Association (2008)
• For every dollar spent on email marketing in 2008, marketers can expect an estimated $43.52 ROI. - Direct Marketing Association (2008)

It all starts with your Customer List
Well, you can’t send out a newsletter without a list of email addresses.  Constant Contact allows you to import CSV’s of your customer’s email addresses.  You can also divide up your customer’s email addresses into separate lists.  For example, if you have multiple locations you can divide up your emails based on what location is nearest them.  This way you can better target your promotions to your customers.  For more information on how to build your email list click here: http://www.twincreekmedia.com/blog/2010/06/got-a-store-build-your-email-list/

Remember to only use email addresses that you obtained through your company.  Also, do not spam your customers or email out unsolicited emails.

Newsletter Basics
Help your audience solve a unique issue, find good information, and provide something of real value.  Don't SELL with an overtly spammy message!  Each time you send your customers a newsletter you need to be sure that it’s worth them opening the newsletter.  You want to make sure that your email list will not unsubscribe from receiving your newsletters as that defeats the purpose.

Some basic tips to follow are: use the right tone, you don’t have to always offer a sale, make them want to connect with you, and encourage them to share.

Always remember to proofread and test the newsletter before you send it out to your client list!

The Subject Line
This is one of the most important parts of your email newsletter.  When it comes to the subject line of the email - keep it short and simple!  You have 3 seconds or less for your customer to decide if they want to open your newsletter.  Using 30 - 40 characters including spaces (5 - 8 words) is usually a good guideline to follow.

Don’t use words like: free, guarantee, spam, credit card, etc.  Also, do not write in all capital letters and use excessive punctuation like “!!!” or “???”.  Finally, make sure that it connects with the content inside your newsletter.

Leading Email Marketing Software: Constant Contact
Constant Contact is really easy to use and manage on your own.  There are a variety of templates to choose from to make your newsletters more effective.  Since all of your contacts are imported into Constant Contact you can choose which email list to send out a newsletter to and each email will be personally addressed to that person.  Finally, you can view all the statistics and tracking for each newsletter that you send out!

Want more ideas to expand your audience and increase engagement?  Contact us today to set up an integrated marketing campaign that is the perfect fit for your business!

Since 2004, Twin Creek Media has been a strategic and creative marketing agency located in Kelowna, British Columbia. The firm has carved a place in the marketing world by becoming known for integrated marketing: combining the best of internet and digital with the traditional mediums of print, radio, and TV.

Twin Creek Media employs an executive team of five and a part-time creative team of 12 who together form a powerhouse of talent and experience. We are passionate about marketing and especially leading Okanagan businesses to integrate their current communications with the digital methods, such as lead-generating websites, ads on Google (Google AdWords), and engaging clients with current social media like Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn.

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Today Internet Marketing is at the forefront of most business improvement, marketing and advertising initiatives. We provide our clients with a single resource for dynamic, fully-integrated and seamless communication services. Our solutions for each chosen media are based on their individual and supportive strengths.

http://www.twincreekmedia.com/

Read our company blog on internet marketing, our marketing services and latest company news:

http://www.twincreekmedia.com/blog/

Having recently watched the movie Inception, I was struck by the parallels between ideas in this movie and the strategies and tactics used in the marketing world in which I work.  I thought it’d be fun to explore some similarities and differences...

Note: if you haven’t seen the movie, you probably shouldn’t read this post.  It contains a lot of spoilers!

Dom Cobb is a skilled thief, the absolute best in the dangerous art of extraction, stealing valuable secrets from deep within the subconscious during the dream state, when the mind is at its most vulnerable. Cobb's rare ability has made him a coveted player in this treacherous new world of corporate espionage, but it has also made him an international fugitive and cost him everything he has ever loved. Now Cobb is being offered a chance at redemption. One last job could give him his life back but only if he can accomplish the impossible-inception. Instead of the perfect heist, Cobb and his team of specialists have to pull off the reverse: their task is not to steal an idea but to plant one. If they succeed, it could be the perfect crime. But no amount of careful planning or expertise can prepare the team for the dangerous enemy that seems to predict their every move. An enemy that only Cobb could have seen coming. Written by Warner Bros. Pictures

Inception Idea/Plot/Quote	Marketing Lesson or (Twin Creek-ism!)
“Inception” means creating an idea in someone else’s mind.	Every marketing message, whether it’s a movie, radio commercial, magazine, Facebook ad, or Youtube video attempts “inception” to some degree.
They have Leonardo DiCaprio.	Twin Creek Media has Thomas Berger!
Eames: [Shows up while Arthur is in a gunfight] You mustn't be afraid to dream a little bigger, darling. [Pulls out a grenade launcher]	Sell the dream, not the product.
Cobb: The seed that we planted in this man's mind may change everything.	The goal of advertising is to plant a seed in the mind that changes one thing (the action you want them to take)
Eames: If we are gonna perform Inception then we need imagination.	The best advertising campaigns are usually simple, but highly imaginative.
They have Ellen Page.	Twin Creek Media has Amelia Penner!
Cobb: I think positive emotion trumps negative emotion every time.	Use positive desire and emotions to attract people to your product/service. Specs, facts & stats are secondary.
Ariadne: I just want to understand.	If a visitor doesn’t understand your website’s homepage within 5-10 seconds they will leave.
They are Hollywood movie stars.	We are marketing rock stars.

About Twin Creek Media
Since 2004, Twin Creek Media has been a strategic and creative marketing agency located in Kelowna, British Columbia. The firm has carved a place in the marketing world by becoming known for integrated marketing: combining the best of internet and digital with the traditional mediums of print, radio, and TV.

Have you ever been interested in how big Google's data centers are? Or how about what happens when you tweet or write a new blog post? Or just how much Google can accomplish in a second? All of those questions will be answered below!

Infographic by PPC Blog